STRESS—just saying the word might make your shoulders tighten a bit, right? But here's the good news: stress doesn't have to be the unwelcome guest, it often feels like. Today we are going to unpack this infamous word, what it means, types, how it affects the body, and how to...
Read MoreThere are four main pillars to overall well being, mind, body, spirit, and emotions. For true health to be achieved all pillars must be in balance. This is where holistic health and wellness diverges from traditional healthcare. Below you will find a brief description and some ideas on how to achieve balance in each pillar in your own life.
Mind:
The mind is a powerful and amazing place. However, it can also be a dark and ruminating place. It is important to be aware of your thoughts and the messages you are sending to your body and soul.
Here are some choices for bringing balance to the mind pillar:
- Journaling-write what you find yourself thinking about. Is there any action that you can take to help this situation? What are you chronically telling yourself? Is it even true? Is it helpful? Is it your voice or someone else’s?
- Keep a list of the thoughts that you think about most, put tally marks next to them as you notice them passing through your awareness. Awareness is sometimes the best first thing to create change. Don’t judge the thoughts as they pass through, just wave goodbye to them. If it is something that needs action-take action, or make a plan to take action.
- If you find yourself struggling with rumination or constant negative thoughts, consider seeking professional help. No one can help as well as a professional-never underestimate the benefits of mental health.
Body:
The body, the vessel, the shell we wear to protect our souls from the world around us. They are amazing and do so much for us, but we tend to feed them garbage and expect them to have infinite energy and never accumulate fat.
Here are some choices for bringing balance to the body pillar:
- Track your food. The only way to really know what is going into your body is to track it. There are many free apps available and are great resources. A pad and pencil work too, but if you want to track macros and truly be accountable for your consumption, a food tracker is best.
- Stop loving food that does not love you back. If you find that eating certain foods makes you grouchy, bloated, or zitty maybe tap the brakes on those foods and love on something else for a while. Sensitivities can contribute to low energy, bloating, weight gain, mood irregularity, problem periods, and overall blah. If you are unsure which foods don’t love you, keep a food diary (this is also why food trackers are helpful) you can rate how you felt before and after a meal or snack, this will help you track down your unrequited love.
- Move your body! This is literally one of the reasons it was made and yet so many of us spend hours sitting and only moving our thumbs. As the saying goes, you are only one workout away from a good mood. Movement doesn’t have to be something you hate or something that causes you pain, find something you love and try to raise your heartrate for at least 30 mins 6 days a week. I would recommend lifting something heavy for at least 2 days per week, something cardiovascular that you like for 3 days a week, and have one day of recovery with yoga, stretching, or pilates, and one day of rest. Ease into the movement and remember “motion is lotion”.
- Love your body. Try to look at yourself in the mirror and list at least 5 things that you like about your body or something that you are proud of your body for accomplishing. Try to list new things everyday. Do this everyday and your body and mind will thank you.
Spirit:
This means different things to different people. This doesn’t necessarily mean going to the closest religion pool and diving in, it means trying to connect with something bigger than yourself. No matter what you believe or who you believe in (if anyone) try to relish in the vastness of it all and understand that you’re a piece of a big picture. You are not on your own kid, you never have been. People are able to overcome amazing struggles and challenges by recognizing that there is something bigger outside of themselves.
Here are some choices for bringing balance to spiritual health pillar:
- If you believe in God pray to God, if you believe in the universe, pray to that, if you believe in Fran the donut goddess in the sky pray to her. Prayer is amazing, healing, and allows the spirit to release what it thinks it must carry alone. Give it away, let it go, and say thank you.
- Practice the lost art of selflessness. Give to someone else expecting absolutely nothing back. Don’t video record it, or add it to your Facebook story, do something kind that is completely anonymous. This could be something like picking up litter, making sandwiches and delivering them to homeless people in your area, volunteering, donating money to a charity, offering someone your time, or complimenting a stranger.
- Use your gifts. Find something you are passionate about and do it. Make that craft you’ve been putting off, try pottery if you’ve always wanted to, put on your roller skates and listen to ABBA, whatever it is that you always wanted to try or something that you used to love doing as a child- DO IT!
Emotion:
Some of us have emotions all the time, non stop, like a never ending rollercoaster, never knowing what to do about it, but a lot of us don’t deal with our emotions properly-if at all. When it comes to emotions we do a lot of stuffing, stuffing it down and stuffing our faces to avoid our emotions; nothing good comes from this. Learning to properly approach emotions can help with properly balancing them.
Here are some choices for bringing balance to the emotional health pillar:
- Meditate, sit with your emotions and let them pass over you. I always say that emotions are like tunnels, if you don’t go all the way through, you can’t go anywhere else. If you need to cry, yell, scream, laugh, then do it-all the way. Feel it all, and breathe through it. If you are unsure what you are feeling, ask yourself, notice where you feel it, talk out loud to yourself for guidance.
- If not for them, for you. Let it go and open your heart for healing. Try to move forward. This is in no way condoning their behavior or actions, but it allows your heart to heal, for your well being.
- Write it out. Write out a letter to someone that hurt you and then burn it or shred it. Write out the sappiest love letter that you can. Words are easier written than said. Write down how you feel and why. Try to become aware of your feelings, then you will learn to not stuff them down.
- Express yourself. Find your voice and speak. Tell others if they hurt you and how they made you feel. Be honest with yourself and others and express yourself, fully and authentically. You can be honest and be kind.
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