Exploring the 5 Most Important Aspects of our lives is that we all want happiness and peace but are are we looking after our heart, mind and body to achieve this? Are we nurturing our psychological, emotional, social, spiritual and occupational needs?
I say things like ‘imagine’ a lot, because I believe it’s so important to imagine a perfect world and an exciting, perfect life. Finding that I do this imagining, that way I end up working for a better tomorrow and a better future for my kids. I’ve noticed over my life that when I imagine, I genuinely start working towards that thing I’m imagining and that creates a better me! We need to start thinking… thinking of a better future and a better life for ourselves and others. I would like to start with a couple of ‘Imagines’ …
Imagine…
you invested in yourself, and then imagine, the world invested back in you?
Imagine… you thought ‘Hey, maybe I need some help with this area of my life?’ and you went and got that help?
Imagine… you took back complete control of your life, and set forward on the path that is good for you?
Imagine… you could take back your health?
The incredible truth is, you can achieve what you imagine! Imagining is the first step-it sets everything in motion. Therefore the next step would be to choose the best method, and person/people to help you on your journey. We want: the 5 Most Important Aspects of our lives to be in order.
The great thing about actively choosing to imagine the good and making the decision to follow through is that just by thinking these good ‘imagine’ thoughts, it changes the structure of our brains. The cortisol, the negative stress hormone, in our body decreases and our serotonin, our happy neurotransmitters, increases. That information alone should spur you on to working on the changes you need!
What is it we are searching for?
Because we are all different people with varying morals, values and goals, although we all live unique lives, at the end of each day and most importantly- our innermost want, need and goal is the same. . We all want to be happy and have peace and harmony. When we are happy, we have peace. We feel content and complete; our lives feel balanced, controlled and worth living. Why then do we not live our lives in a way that will enable us to achieve this universal but very basic want, need and goal?
Living a healthy and balanced lifestyle means to live your life to the fullest. It means taking responsibility for the way you live your life. It means taking healthy action towards achieving your goals, and in doing so, achieving that innermost goal we all retain, HAPPINESS and PEACE. This means that we need to work on, nurture and balance all the aspects of our heart, mind and body that make us human. Sometimes that means seeking help. Often, when we are in the fish bowl of life, we can’t see the bigger picture and we need someone else to help us understand how to constructively look at the finer details of our lives that we can’t fully see or understand, just because we are too close and too engrossed.
This also means, that for us to be considered healthy, these aspects-psychological,emotional, physical, social, spiritualandoccupational, need to be aligned. Healthy does not simply mean the absence of disease; it means our entire being is working as one.
Research give us Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which are fundamental to living a good life and living it well, but we skim over the surface of most of these and we don’t always dig deep to find out if our Psychological/Emotional, Physical, Social, Spiritual and Occupational needs are always met.
So, what does this mean in practicality?
We consist of basic needs spiritual, emotional, psychological, social and physical
5 Most Important Aspects of our lives
PSYCHOLOGICAL/EMOTIONAL-
Your psychological well-being means acquiring appropriate coping mechanisms, problem-solving skills and decision-making skills so to avoid psychological distress. It is also having the ability to acknowledge your emotions and deal with them in an appropriate manner-by putting what you are feeling into words and being in control of them.
PHYSICAL–
Your physical health refers to being fit and free from illness. This requires regular exercise and good nutrition- what you feed your body is, after all, what you feed your mind.
SOCIAL-
Humans are social beings. To be our best selves, to thrive- we need other humans. Meeting people, getting along with people, maintaining and retaining healthy relations- these are the things that make us feel a part of something, fulfill us, fuel us and our self-image. Close friends and family bonds who provide unconditional love, support and care make us who we are. It is imperative that these relationships have healthy boundaries.
SPIRITUAL-
To nurture one’s spirituality, one needs to spend time following the spiritual, religious or belief system of their choice. It is being mindful of one’s spiritual values and morals and nurturing these by living them out in your day-to-day life. It means reading, praying, reflecting and/or meditating.
OCCUPATIONAL-
Outside of sleep, we spend most of our time at work. We need to feel fulfilled in our jobs and careers. We should have obtainable and achievable goals to work towards. Feeling appreciated and valued is the driver that gets us up and to work with a simile on our faces.
If any of these aspects are neglected, your lifestyle will be unbalanced, therefore never achieving peace and happiness. They are all linked and of equal importance. If you neglect one sphere, very often this will start to negatively affect another sphere- leading to a total breakdown in the end,!. They all need to be working in harmony with one another.
The problem is that, very often, we know there is something wrong and deep down there is a void in our hearts, minds and bodies- but we don’t know what it is or where it is coming from. This is usually because we do not know or see the importance of the link between the mind and body and what this means for our overall wellness. We cannot feed or nurture one, without the other. Counseling means very little without considering your nutritional and physical health needs and vice versa. The scary thing is, sometimes we don’t even realize there is a missing part of us until we explore it.
This leads us to asking the question, how are you? How are all the aspects of your heart, mind and body? Are you looking after the 5 Most Important Aspects of your life?
Is there something you need to start working on? Don’t wait. Start TODAY, because today is IMPORTANT. Today could shape and change the rest of your life!
Take an easy, free Mental Health quiz and find out more: https://www.connectablelife.com/wellness-questionnaire
