Understanding the 8 Dimensions to Wellness

There are 8 Dimensions to Wellness that impact every area of our lives . Understanding how each dimension impacts us on a daily basis is step one to developing a wellness lifestyle. Balancing the 3 fundamentals with in that make achieving overall wellness in each dimension a breeze.

Obviously, if you have a disease you will need to work on that on different levels (through traditional medicine and maybe some not-so traditional avenues), but in general terms, achieving wellness and balancing wellness is not that difficult.

For me the 3 fundamentals with in the 8 dimensions of wellness are well-being (having a purpose), clean living and whole nutrition. These 3 are the underlying foundation to my lifestyle of wellness. They help everything else fall into place.

Understanding the fundamentals to balancing wellness through an integrative approach will help you on your journey.

What is an integrative approach?

An integrative approach simply means encompassing every area of our lives into this new method and lifestyle.

That means mind, body and soul working together to achieve a state of balanced wellness. Please understand that not everything will be balanced at once. Sometimes the scales tip more for balanced food and family, other times (like when there is a work deadline) the shift happens more for work and intellectual balance. The key to note here is that you understand where you are putting your energy and you choose to focus more in that area.

Conscious choices is the underlying secret ingredient to balancing wellness. Consciously choosing to do something means that you are actively pursuing extra effort in that area of life without neglecting the other important parts.

The 8 Dimensions to Wellness broken down

Emotional Wellness 

inspires self-care, relaxation, stress reduction and the development of inner strength, while having the ability to acknowledge feelings of stress, anger and fear.

Social Wellness 

is the ability to relate to and connect with other people in our world. Our ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends and co-workers contributes to our Social Wellness.

Spiritual Wellness 

is the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives. The ability to develop congruency between values and actions and to realize a common purpose that binds creation together contributes to our Spiritual Wellness.

Environmental Wellness 

is the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the air, the water and the land that surrounds us. The ability to make a positive impact on the quality of our environment, be it our homes, our communities or our planet contributes to our Environmental Wellness.

Physical Wellness 

is the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress. The ability to recognize that our behaviors have a significant impact on our wellness and adopting healthful habits (routine check ups, a balanced diet, exercise, etc.) while avoiding destructive habits (tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc.) will lead to optimal Physical Wellness.

Occupational Wellness 

is the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or our chosen career fields while still maintaining balance in our lives. Our desire to contribute in our careers to make a positive impact on the organizations we work in and to society as a whole leads to Occupational Wellness.

Intellectual Wellness 

is the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences, adopting a growth mindset and striving to be more. The desire to learn new concepts, improve skills and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning contributes to our Intellectual Wellness.

Community Wellness 

is the desire to connect with peers and have group interactions that collectively lead to community betterment. The deep commitment to helping others, the empathic ability to understand and connect with our community needs contributes to our Community Wellness.

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I hope this was helpful in understand the 8 dimensions of wellness! Do you have questions?

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Eryn