Emotions are powerhouse signals of information (knowledge) that effect overall (mental) health and bodily functions. Without mastery, your life (mind, body, spirit) will flow in the direction of your predominant nature (feeling).
Where does a mother carry a child in pregnancy? In her heart (solar plexus). Our feelings are the womb of the mind (emotion, energy) at the center of our being. Feeling is the creative source for intuition (knowing) and the body wisdom.
Our emotional nature (feeling) knows infinitely more than the intellect (thinking). For example, if a person had to continuously be aware (conscious) of all functions of the autonomic, central, and parasympathetic nervous systems, it would be impossible. Yet, with God (faith), all things are possible. Intuition is cultivated by degree of emotional intelligence.
Only thinking of wellness in terms of physical health — nutrition, exercise, weight management is only part of the equation. Wellness is a holistic integration of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, fueling the body, engaging the mind, and nurturing the spirit (Stoewen, 2017). A striving for health is living life fully‒ a quality of life (lifestyle).
Wellness necessitates a care minded stewardship of our thinking and feeling, for ourselves and those we care for about us. To ensure high-quality patient and client services, we have an ethical obligation to address our own health and well-being (Stoewen, 2017)). Sufficient self-care prevents us from harming those we serve and ourselves.
Wellness encompasses eight mutually interdependent dimensions: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental.
Attention must be given to all the dimensions, as neglect of any one dimension, will adversely affect the others, leading to an unhealthy well-being, and quality of life. Progress not perfection is the aim. They must harmonize not requiring absolute balance.
The eight dimensions of wellness are useful to understand, cultivate, and harmonize in our daily practices, until they become positive forming habits. It is a lofty goal, but one step at time, one day at a time, focusing on mental (intellectual thinking), physical, spiritual, social, environmental, financial, vocational; culminating in emotional wellness, as our aim.
What we aim for, with persistence (guidance), we can achieve.
Poor emotional health is a conduit for poor physical health. We must become expert of our emotions or be easily swept away in negative patterns. Thinking and feeling must again harmonize.
When perception (awareness) rules the mind, our understanding or will (choice) grabs hold of pain and suffering. This can lead to the victim mentality, instead of a victor mentality, which maintains responsibility for its choices.
Motion creates emotions (positive and negative). Physical activity is necessary. Our physicality does make an impact on our energy (drive). As Nandkar (2020) points out, “once physical stress is produced in your body, you are not able to complete your task because your body is not able to respond or cope with the stress.” (p. 779).
A consistent (daily) amount of movement will improve mental and emotional wellness. It is important to note that minimizing (or eliminating) toxins (alcohol, nicotine, sugar) must be a part of a wellness plan.
The aim for overall wellness is soundness of mind (body, spirit).
The aphorism, “as a man (woman) thinks in his heart, so is he (she),” not only embraces the character but the emotional nature of a person’s daily life. Thinking in the heart is feeling. I become what I think and feel every moment of the day. What I harbor in the womb of the mind will give birth at a future (present) point in time.
References
Nandkar, R. (2020, June). To study the effect of lockdown on physical, mental and emotional health of common people. International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, 5(6), 777-785. https://ijisrt.com/assets/upload/files/IJISRT20JUN637.pdf
Stoewen D. L. (2017). Dimensions of wellness: Change your habits, change your life. The Canadian Veterinary Journal = La Revue Veterinaire Canadienne, 58(8), 861–862.
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