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Hello again to all returning readers and welcome to those who are reading for the first time! This is the official blog for Life & Wellness Counseling and Consulting and we are glad that you’re here.
Today we’ll introduce a concept to be explored over the next 6 posts so be sure to check-in with us weekly because life is beautiful!
Everything about us has layers of depth. Our relationships, our values, our perspectives all have layers of depth and our health is no exception. Usually when one thinks about “health”, it’s most often physical health. Well we’ve adopted the concept that “health” is multifaceted and there are 5 key facets that we focus on at Life & Wellness:
-Mental Health
-Emotional Health
-Spiritual Health
-Social Health
-Physical Health
These 5 facets are interconnected and define the quality of an individual’s wellness. Also, we live our day-to-day lives, for the most part, with at least one exchange that can be characterized by each of these facets.
For example, you wake up in the morning and you may say a prayer or engage in some type of meditation. This impacts your spiritual and mental health. If you exchange greetings with loved ones and/or pets, that impacts your mental and social health. Then say you shower and have breakfast that’s obviously physical health. You’ve been awake for an hour, you haven’t even left home, and already you have had seemingly simple interactions that influence the state of your wellness.
Here at Life & Wellness, we believe that the quality of wellness is measured by 2 things:
the present cohesion of the 5 facets
the individual's awareness of how one facet effects each of the others
Let’s look at the individual cases of Denise and Robert. Both Denise and Robert have been told by their doctors that they need to change their diets and lose weight or they will be at an increased risk for heart attack and high blood pressure.
Denise: Denise discussed with her therapist her wellness goals and
together, they identified techniques that she could use to accomplish them. Denise wrote out her wellness goals and posted them strategically throughout her house. She then started walking a mile every day listening to spiritually inspirational music for encouragement and motivation. She began taking her lunch to work rather than eating out and getting the latest gossip from co-workers. This in turn helped her remain focused and less stressed at work. Twice a week she met with close friends, for a fun and energetic Zumba class offered near her home. Denise even got her husband and children involved by having each member of the family plan a healthy meal which they cook and eat together. After 6 months, she met her wellness goals and her doctor was very pleased with her progress. Denise continues to see her therapist weekly for support support when life circumstances threaten her circumstances.
Robert: Robert visited his local health and vitamin store and invested in weight loss pills, shakes, cleansers and a variety of other products to jump start his weight loss. He neglected to utilize the products as directed and continually told himself each day that one more day of procrastination couldn’t hurt. Robert was very stressed about his doctor’s warnings so he was less productive at work. Deadlines backed up and projects were incomplete. He chose not to take a lunch break until he got caught up on some of his past due projects. He also started working longer hours to increase productivity. As a result, Robert often missed out on gatherings with family and friends. By the time Robert finished working in the evening he’s too tired to cook dinner so he’d just grab some fast food on the way home. He constantly thought about work so Robert began to snack late in the evening along with having a few beers to help him sleep. After 6 months Robert has gained weight and is depressed about his image. He received a poor evaluation which became part of his personnel file at work. Robert even started to feel some anxiety about seeing his doctor and cancelled his last 2 appointments.
As we can see, Denise has a significantly higher quality of wellness than Robert because she recognized early on that she would need to engage a routine that included ways to improve all 5 facets of health.
Improving all 5 facets of health can be difficult, which is why at Life & Wellness, we employ a holistic approach to treatment which enables us to be sensitive to and supportive of all your wellness needs.
Next week, we will begin to take an individual look at the first facet of health – mental health. Next week we will answer questions such as:
What is mental health?
How to identify your mental health concerns?
How to take care of your mental health?
How does mental health effect the quality of your wellness?