Learning about the Eight Dimensions of Wellness can help you choose how to make wellness a part of your everyday life. Wellness strategies are practical ways to start developing healthy habits that can have a positive impact on your physical and mental health.
The Eight Dimensions serve as a reminder that we are ‘whole’ human beings and need to treat the whole versus one part and neglect the other part. The key is balance. Once we have the tools to achieve balance and continue to maintain the process, we will be happy, healthier and more satisfied. The trick is to integrate these into your life whereas it becomes a natural response versus work.
Here are some tips on how to master each of the eight areas of wellness:
1.Emotional – Coping effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships.
These are the areas that require a person to have healthy relationship skills. The first part is to have a healthy relationship with yourself, and then you are creating the foundation to having healthy relationships with others.
2. Environmental – Good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being.
There is an old saying “you are who you hang around with,” and that includes your environment. Healthy-minded individuals seek healthy-minded environments.
3. Financial – Satisfaction with current and future financial situations.
Taking care of responsibilities creates self-esteem and competence. Taking care of business breaks through the fear that your finances are in control. Go step by step, but address finances, or they will continue to trip you up and control you. It is actually fun to take care of your responsibilities once you see the positive effects of less stress.
4. Intellectual – Recognizing creative abilities and finding ways to expand knowledge and skills.
Remember your brain is like a muscle and deserves to be exercised, strengthened, and nurtured with nutrition.
5. Occupational – Personal satisfaction and enrichment from one’s work.
Find out what you really love to do; ask yourself what you could do if you had no limitations. If you can identify what you really enjoy doing and could get paid for it, there is a strong likelihood that it is not too far from your reach, but you will have to work for it. The irony is that it won’t feel like work.
6. Physical – Recognizing the need for physical activity, healthy foods, and sleep.
This is so important for stress management and to have the ability to maintain what you have accomplished and have the energy to pursue a life worth living. Take care of your body, but don’t obsess over it. Think of it as a tool to do what you need to do, to get you where you need to go.
7. Social – Developing a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system.
We are social beings and seek the connection with people; all people seek this in order to feel a part of a bigger picture. Attending to relationships is important. The goal is to attend to those relationships that are healthy versus destructive. End hopeless relationships.
8. Spiritual – Expanding a sense of purpose and meaning in life.
This is the key to everything. If you have some kind of spiritual path that YOU are comfortable with, that is the best way to overcome the obstacles that life can deliver. You will see them as challenges versus limitations if you have a spiritual path to follow.
(source: SAMHSA)