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To be considered completely well, one has to be healthy in all facets of
life, not just the physical one. There are six elements of wellness which we need to have before
achieving total health, and these are:
Physical Wellness
Physical well-being is the foremost thing which comes to mind when
wellness is mentioned; some even thought that physical fitness is synonymous to wellness. Physical
wellness includes building strength, flexibility and endurance of the muscles, especially the heart
muscles but fit and strong is not just what wellness connotes.
The quest for attaining physical wellness enables one to be attuned to the
body’s vital signs, to learn to respect it and heed the early warning signals emitted by it.
Another point of concern when working towards optimum wellness is to take on the responsibility of
refraining from too much consumption of alcohol, drug misuse, and tobacco.
Aside from just staying away from illness, physical wellness also involves
consciously keeping fit through exercises and eating healthy, of knowing how to take care of small
ailments and recognizing when conditions necessitate calling for help from medical professionals.
The knowledge that you look good through your efforts and the wonderful feeling that goes with it
will do wonders to your physical health and self-esteem and give you a sense of purpose and
direction.
An obese matron found that when she adhered to the diet and exercise
regimen recommended by her doctor, she did not only lose weight, she actually felt good. She can
now wear more flattering dresses and she gained enough confidence to start going out again. After
so many years, life feels wonderful again. There a many of us who were stuck in the same situation
but not everyone are as sensible as this lady.
Social Wellness
Also known as Interpersonal Wellness or as Multicultural Wellness, Social
Wellness is defined as the capacity to interact with other people, to communicate with them and
create a healthy relationship with the aim to promote a wholesome and harmonious living
environment, one filled with respect for oneself, for others, and for the different cultures which
those around us have.
It also includes active participation in activities which will foster
concern for the society’s common welfare, maintain nature’s beauty and balance, and develop
supportive relationships among friends, family, and
others.
Every Year, the Red Cross conducts bloodletting campaigns and it has
always been my practice to lend a hand by assisting in the registration (too scared of needles to
donate blood) and in drumming up support.
They gave me a card for my efforts. I never thought that the day wherein I
would need to use my card will come. My sister-in-law had a miscarriage and needed standby blood,
just in case. With my card, which is transferrable by the way, they didn’t have a hard time even
though her blood type is somewhat rare. Only then did I realize the importance of contributing to
civic works, aside from the feeling of fulfillment, that is.
Maintaining social connections also helps keep illnesses at bay and makes
us more likely to perform well under stress and to cope with problems and frustrations. The cliché
which says that “laughter is a good medicine” can be linked to social wellness since human
associations bring happiness, and death rates of those who are without such relations are much
higher.
Emotional Wellness
To be emotionally well means being able to handle whatever life brings.
Since we do not have control over most situations, we have to take on a positive attitude towards
things, no matter how stressful they are. Awareness of our feelings, thoughts, and behaviors is
also important to emotional wellness.
When we are emotionally healthy, we have an optimistic outlook and still
enjoy life regardless of failures, we can express and manage our emotions properly and freely, we
are more adaptable to changes, and can deal with problems more effectively.
Like social wellness, our relationship with others is also vital to
emotional wellness since the support, respect and trust of other people will have a significant
impact on how we come to grips with life.
No other blow can be harder than being diagnosed with cancer! This was the
bad news my former colleague (may she rest in peace) received when she had her breast lump
biopsied. She acknowledged the situation without complain; her being a religious person and her
large circle of friends bracing her up through the ordeal.
Her emotional wellness manifested itself through her ability to accept
everything and enjoy her remaining life as normally as her pain permits.
Intellectual Wellness
This is the facet of wellness which promotes stimulating and creative
activities of the mind. When you are intellectually healthy, you will take advantage of every
chance to expand your knowledge and skills, to question things in order to gain more understanding
of fresh ideas.
This could be in the form of reading, of visiting places which are havens
of culture and information, and of pursuing challenging tasks which are new or those which inspires
creativity.
Intellectual wellness is achieved through constant mental exercises, of
keeping up-to-date with current issues and new innovations and to view difficulties encountered as
just another challenge to contend with which may even serve to provide you with more important
discoveries.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of telephone, did not
consider age as a hindrance to creating innovative, useful things. At the age of 12, he was able to
build a dehusking machine from simple equipment; this he did in order to make dehusking a bit
easier than how it was done at that time.
This is also another aspect of intellectual wellness, to acquire knowledge
and use it to benefit not just yourself but the community as well.
Spiritual Wellness
It is a given fact that there are different views on matters of
spirituality. Spiritual Wellness doesn’t imply that you need to be part of any religious sect. It
is the pursuit of knowledge regarding the purpose of our existence; why are we here and what do we
need to do in order to be in harmony with ourselves, with other people, and even with the world we
live in.
Some of the ways to achieve spiritual health are prayers, practicing
meditation, Yoga, and doing other activities which are spiritual in nature and significant to your
beliefs. In the course of your journey towards attaining Spiritual Wellness, you need to learn not
to be close-minded to the beliefs of others, to be tolerant and curious instead. Taking time to
relax, to examine and develop your values, to learn acquiescence even for grief and pain are also
means to getting your goal.
When my friend died of cancer, I found it hard to accept at first but
later, when I stopped trying to deny what happened, I found solace in the thought that she is
finally free of the pain. I found peace in prayers and acceptance. My ongoing search for spiritual
wellness taught me to be stronger in my spiritual beliefs, and it includes seeing the positive side
in every problem life throws.
Environmental Wellness
It is the recognition of the importance of taking care of our environment
by improving our daily habits; to maintain a lifestyle which is not harmful to nature and to be
actively involved in activities which aim to preserve it.
When your environment is disorganized and crumbling, it is hard to feel
comfortable and without anxiety. In order to have a personal environmental wellness, you need to be
around people who are healthy, to act responsibly for the environment, and be in harmony with
it.
These activities include, but not limited to, recycling, making sure that
the surrounding is safe, and participating in environmentally-friendly pursuits of the
community.
To promote environmental health, we have to create awareness of the
limited natural resources of the earth and to take steps to conserve them. Some of the little
things you can do to save up on the resources of nature are:
Go easy on your water. When you brush your teeth, use a glass and don’t
leave the water running. When you wash the car at home, make sure you use a shut-off nozzle on your
garden hose.
Use recyclable paper bags when you go shopping and not the non-biodegradable plastic bags as a way
of minimizing waste.
Learn to segregate and recycle your trash.
Respect every species living on earth for each has its own role in our
ecosystem.
Try to tell others about the importance of caring for the environment and
everything that is in it.
Knowing about the six elements of wellness is not enough; total wellness
is realized when you have attained every one of them. Remember, this is not a one-time
accomplishment; one has to continuously work towards achieving them.
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