Wellness trends come and go. However, over the years there’s been a steady increase in peoples’ awareness and the time spent caring for their health. When I work with clients, we address their overall health, including their time, their spaces, routines, and what feeds their bodies, minds and spirits. This supports them in being able to make time for everything from exercise, to spiritual practices to practical tasks like meal prep.
What is Wellness?
Mind Body Business talks about the seven pillars to wellness as it’s goes beyond eating healthy and staying fit.
Physical covers the foundation of nutrition, exercise, and other areas that support physical wellness.
Emotional wellness is connected to emotional intelligence and if a person is able to express themselves lovingly and managing and expressing one’s feelings constructively.
Intellectual means making time to learn and be curious. This includes being able to see things in a different way and builds psychological flexibility.
Spiritual involves seeking purpose and meaning in one’s life. Until I read this article, I had never heard of spiritually put this way. With my clients we start by reconnecting them with their life purpose and values, which is a spiritual quest. .
Environmental looks at an individual being mindful of how their choices can have an impact on the environment and if there are ways in which they can shift to have less waste in their lives. For my work it also means creating environments for ourselves that make us feel at home, comfortable and cozy and align with our core values.
Social means developing positive connections and relationships with family and friends. It’s important l to put energy into the ones that nourish you and help you grow. It’s equally important to recognize the ones that drain and take a toll on your health, so you can reassess and set boundaries accordingly.
Occupational stands for finding balance between your work and your personal life. Ideally we are able to do work that gives us joy and connects us to your life purpose.
Where to Start
Often when the new year hits, people jump to making long lists of new year’s resolutions. Sounds familiar? Changes are you have fallen into this trap before. This usually looks like thinking of ALL the changes you want to make and then trying to implement them all at once. This approach is too intense, too much and too fast and only sets you up for failure.
A better approach is to take some time over the holidays to slow down, go inwards and reflect or to check-in with loved ones. Take a look at what you value the most and start slow, maybe getting up earlier and filling that extra hour in the morning before work with some much needed self-care. The choices are yours. .You can use the seven pillars of wellness as an assessment tool to help you gauge where you are at and what you want to strengthen when it comes to your unique health and well-being.
Why focus on foundations of health rather than trends
Things will always be in a state of change. Looking at the last few years, for many this has meant being at home more, which has its pros and cons.And with many people now also working from home permanently or part time it’s important to make long term changes to your space to support you in creating an overall healthy life. Creating a space that is a place of relaxation, comfort and support when you are finished the work day is key to helping you maintain whatever changes you want to implement.
Jumping into wellness trends instead of focusing on what you specifically need can pull you away from knowing what’s best for you and what really matters to you and your family. I love helping people with their spaces for this reason: it’s an external reflection of what’s happening on the inside. I know I’m sliding down a slippery slope if my dishes start piling up and I’m not putting things away like I usually do. This is an indicator that I need to check in and see what I need so I can get back on track and thrive.
Being open to doing things different is key
At the end of the day we are multidimensional beings and that means there is always opportunity to grow, change and evolve. The more we are connected to ourselves, the more we know what is working and not working at any given moment. The trend is actually to see what’s going on inside of you and looking at how it is being reflected on the outside. This balance of looking both internally and externally as well as taking note of the constant small and larger changes helps in creating lasting balance and harmony.
