Optimal Wellbeing
To understand optimal wellbeing, we must understand the four facets of our being. Namely, our body (physical), heart (emotional), mind (mental), and spirit (spiritual).
The four facets of our well being are interconnected and interrelated so much so that what happens to one facet can greatly affect the other facets. The inter-relatedness of these facets is such that even if just one facet is out of equilibrium, all four facets may be dragged into a storm of cascading reactions.
OUR BODY: Our tangible structure and the five senses which enable us to touch, see, hear, smell and taste the world around us.
OUR HEART: Our range of emotions from fear and anger to love and joy; our life center and compass.
OUR MIND: Our knowledge, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs; our analytical self; the little voice in the “back of our head” (or, the “monkey brain” as Buddhists refer to it).
OUR SPIRIT: Our self-awareness and alignment with our top values, our relationship with our creativity, inspiration and life purpose, and our relationship with a Higher Power.
When we are in a state of optimal wellbeing, we proactively tend to, nourish, and nurture each one of our facets to support an overall state of equilibrium within and amongst the facets.
On the other hand, when we are in a state of distress, any or all of our facets is out of balance as a result of perceived stressors. Stressors may be of biochemical, structural, electromagnetic, emotional, mental, and spiritual origin. The first three types of stressors mainly impact our physical facet. The last three types of stressors mainly impact our emotional, mental, and spiritual facets respectively.
The word “mainly” implies that, regardless of their type, stressors may have ripple effect across facets. Welcome to the complex intelligent system called “human being”!
