Wellness of Mind, Body, Spirit & Earth
But wait... what even is wellness?? 🤔
What is Wellness?
Every term my college seniors are asked to discuss this in their week 1 discussion posts.
Everyone immediately thinks of physical wellness.
We might live in the most unhealthy developed nation on earth, but we all know diet and exercise are important!
We just get confused on the details - not to mention the fact that so many live in food deserts with no access to healthy foods, often combined with no safe spaces to exercise!
Most students also think of mental health - the emotional dimension of wellness.
We've come a long way, in just a handful of decades, when it comes to mental health! We still have a very long way to go though....
Few students think of the other 6 dimensions that we cover in the class, 8 dimensions in all!
(photo courtesy of U. TN Knoxville)
➡️ emotional
➡️ spiritual (sometimes called existential wellness)
➡️ intellectual
➡️ physical
➡️ environmental (the earth we call home)
➡️ financial
➡️ occupational
➡️ social
So what is wellness? We know there are 8 dimensions to it, but what does it actually mean to be well?
I like to think of wellness as an optimal state of thriving.
Wellness looks different for each individual!
We can agree on 8 different dimensions or parts to wellness.
We can agree that wellness is important.
I think we all want to be in an optimal state of thriving, right?! But...
What does that really look like?
This is where the differences come in...
For someone who is introverted, social wellness isn't going to be as important or look the same as it will for an extrovert.
For someone who is 80, occupational wellness won't hold the same weight as it will for someone who is 25 and launching their career!
You get the idea...
We can agree that wellness is important.
I think we all want to be in an optimal state of thriving, right?! But...
What does that really look like?
This is where the differences come in...
For someone who is introverted, social wellness isn't going to be as important or look the same as it will for an extrovert.
For someone who is 80, occupational wellness won't hold the same weight as it will for someone who is 25 and launching their career!
You get the idea...
I'm most passionate about physical, emotional, spiritual, and environmental wellness... So let's chat about those...
👉 Physical wellness ...
This one is pretty obvious.
It includes how we feel in our bodies and covers topics like the foods we eat, the way we move our bodies, and - my favorite - plant medicines (though sometimes Western meds are important too!)
👉 Emotional wellness
This is our mental health and it's intimately connected to our physical health. Like more connected than you could imagine....
For example, low levels of Vitamin D can cause depression and our gut health (the amount and types of bacteria there) is one of the main things driving our mental health.
I'm super passionate about mind/body health and could nerd out discussing the many fascinating studies on this topic. So before I go overboard... let's move on to...
👉 Spiritual wellness
This is a confusing one! Most of us immediately think of organized religion, but it's so much more!
I love that some models are now calling this existential health - it's all about our sense of purpose in life and the feeling of being connected to something bigger than ourselves.
Spiritual wellness might come from traditional religion, but, increasingly, people are finding it in things like meditation; Eastern philosophies like yoga, Buddhism or The Dao; time in nature or nature-based spirituality; making music or art or poetry; or even volunteer work.
What gives you meaning and a sense of purpose in life?
👉 Environmental wellness
There's a saying I love...
We are a part of the earth and the earth is part of us.
So what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.
Needless to say, then, our health and the earth's health are super-duper interconnected!
One of my graduate degrees was focused wholly on ecopsychology - the study of how human health and nature's health are connected.
Click above ⬆️ to read all about it and to check out the book I wrote!
This one is pretty obvious.
It includes how we feel in our bodies and covers topics like the foods we eat, the way we move our bodies, and - my favorite - plant medicines (though sometimes Western meds are important too!)
👉 Emotional wellness
This is our mental health and it's intimately connected to our physical health. Like more connected than you could imagine....
For example, low levels of Vitamin D can cause depression and our gut health (the amount and types of bacteria there) is one of the main things driving our mental health.
I'm super passionate about mind/body health and could nerd out discussing the many fascinating studies on this topic. So before I go overboard... let's move on to...
👉 Spiritual wellness
This is a confusing one! Most of us immediately think of organized religion, but it's so much more!
I love that some models are now calling this existential health - it's all about our sense of purpose in life and the feeling of being connected to something bigger than ourselves.
Spiritual wellness might come from traditional religion, but, increasingly, people are finding it in things like meditation; Eastern philosophies like yoga, Buddhism or The Dao; time in nature or nature-based spirituality; making music or art or poetry; or even volunteer work.
What gives you meaning and a sense of purpose in life?
👉 Environmental wellness
There's a saying I love...
We are a part of the earth and the earth is part of us.
So what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves.
Needless to say, then, our health and the earth's health are super-duper interconnected!
One of my graduate degrees was focused wholly on ecopsychology - the study of how human health and nature's health are connected.
Click above ⬆️ to read all about it and to check out the book I wrote!
Can you be chronically or even terminally ill and still well?
Ok, let's just dive into the existential hard questions right away.... Phew! 😅
My short answer is "yes" and here's why...
Wellness isn't about getting every single dimension perfect. There's a concept of "healing when there is no cure" that comes from integrative medicine and the work of Dr Rachel Naomi Ramen ♥️ (you should definitely read her books if you haven't - especially if you struggle with illness or work in healing...)
If a person is well in other dimensions they could still struggle with one dimension - and have an overall feeling of wellness. Or...
They could be using that one dimension of chronic physical illness to bring about a deep dive into the emotional dimension - actually increasing their healing and on one level while deeply suffering on another level. (But let's be clear... I don't believe that we deserve illness so that we can grow. Growing is just an option that we always have - an option that becomes more obvious during illness.)
And let me be clear about something else (steps onto soapbox!)
It's absolutely ok if a physical illness or lack in one dimension of wellness is hurting your other dimensions too. In fact, that's really very normal!
Nobody wants to gaslight you or make you embrace toxic positivity! (At least not when I'm around because I don't stand for that crap!)
Life sucks badly sometimes!
But while our mindset can't change everything (some things might always hurt!) how we think and where we focus can help us find more wellness regardless of the path we're on! We can work to improve wellness in our lives even if some areas of life suck!
And we can live with disparate feelings and experiences...
Being really well in one area but really hurting in another is sometimes just part of being human.
I wish I could miraculously change that, but anyone who tells you they can is naive at best!
My short answer is "yes" and here's why...
Wellness isn't about getting every single dimension perfect. There's a concept of "healing when there is no cure" that comes from integrative medicine and the work of Dr Rachel Naomi Ramen ♥️ (you should definitely read her books if you haven't - especially if you struggle with illness or work in healing...)
If a person is well in other dimensions they could still struggle with one dimension - and have an overall feeling of wellness. Or...
They could be using that one dimension of chronic physical illness to bring about a deep dive into the emotional dimension - actually increasing their healing and on one level while deeply suffering on another level. (But let's be clear... I don't believe that we deserve illness so that we can grow. Growing is just an option that we always have - an option that becomes more obvious during illness.)
And let me be clear about something else (steps onto soapbox!)
It's absolutely ok if a physical illness or lack in one dimension of wellness is hurting your other dimensions too. In fact, that's really very normal!
Nobody wants to gaslight you or make you embrace toxic positivity! (At least not when I'm around because I don't stand for that crap!)
Life sucks badly sometimes!
But while our mindset can't change everything (some things might always hurt!) how we think and where we focus can help us find more wellness regardless of the path we're on! We can work to improve wellness in our lives even if some areas of life suck!
And we can live with disparate feelings and experiences...
Being really well in one area but really hurting in another is sometimes just part of being human.
I wish I could miraculously change that, but anyone who tells you they can is naive at best!
Maybe you're not thriving...
Or maybe you just want to take a pretty good level of wellness to ... well... the next level...
Take a look around here and follow me on Instagram and YouTube
I've got some great freebies coming soon and some super exciting courses in development!
Herbal education for busy families? I've got you covered?
Want to end screen time battles for good? Yep this is possible!
I can give you lotsa great ideas to increase your family's social and emotional wellness (and more) here!
I've got some great freebies coming soon and some super exciting courses in development!
Herbal education for busy families? I've got you covered?
Want to end screen time battles for good? Yep this is possible!
I can give you lotsa great ideas to increase your family's social and emotional wellness (and more) here!
A Little More About Me?
Juicy details + CV here!
Rebecca Grace Andrews MA, MS
