What self-care practices can you put into place to thank your body?

1. What is spirit to you?

2. What spiritual beliefs do you have?

3. Where do you think these beliefs came from? Were they taught by your family or did you come to these beliefs on your own?

4. How strongly do you feel about these beliefs? Are they solid or a little shaky?

5. What spiritual practices do you currently do?

6. What practices would you like to try or improve in?

7. Are you putting positive or negativity energy out into the world?

8. What negative thoughts are you telling yourself?

9. Where do these negative thoughts come from? Did someone feed these negative thoughts or are they things you picked up from other’s thoughts?

10. What would it take to improve your spiritual state and reverse these negative thoughts?

11. Are you able to tell the difference between ego and intuition? This can be difficult to tell. Intuition is usually a gut feeling or from the heart. Ego stems from the brain and will usually be in a negative tone. Can you tell the difference between yours?

12. Do you practice using your intuition?

What you seek Is seeking you -Rumi

Thought Process questions for the spirit continued...

1. List 3 spiritual practices you can start or improve in! (ex: I will follow moon phases)

2. List 3 negative thought patterns you carry with you. (ex: I never complete anything)

3. Turn those 3 negative thoughts to positive thoughts/goals. (ex: I complete all projects I start.)

4. How will you be able to tell the difference between your intuition and the ego?

A spiritual journey can be different for each individual. It is what you decide it is. It doesn’t have to be religious, perfect, by the book, or daily. It just has to make sense to you and be effective. There are plenty of activities that can be considered spiritual practices. I made a list of some examples below.

-Pray -Meditate -Light candles while setting intentions -Write in a journal -Sip tea or coffee while counting your blessings -Use aromatherapy (diffusers or incense) -Do some yoga -Take a walk or hike to reflect -Read a book about spirituality to gain different perspectives (I recommend Spirit Junkie by Gabrielle Bernstein) -Set intentions for moon phases -Utilize crystals -Plant something or work in a garden -Dance (can be seen as a type of praise) -Try sound healing -Attend a spiritual event (they offer retreats now) -Do something nice for someone in need -Seasonal ceremonies/rituals -Try fasting (requires discipline but encourages focus) -Create an alter -Practice breathing exercises -Practice finding the good in every situation

Be the Light

The last section on the Wellness Wheel is completely optional. You can fill it in with any other area you see fit. You may want to add extra sections to the existing ones or you may want to add a whole new category in. Some common categories you could add would be:

Environmental Your environments can play a huge part on your well being. Think about the places you spend most of your time. Home and work typically. Are they clean and organized or messy and stress inducing? Is there good energy? Do you live in a state that is not conducive to your wellness? Are you all about sustainability and stuck in a place that can’t even recycle paper and plastics? These small things all make a difference.

Parental This is a challenging one. Balancing life and parenthood can be so difficult. You are concerned about your child’s health, education, development, social and emotional, etc. It is another job and the return isn’t monetary to help cover all those diapers but you do get it back hopefully in love. It is important to not be so critical on yourself as a parent and to take breaks when needed. This is a great section to add to your wheel!

Financial Let’s face it, that saying “money can’t buy happiness” can feel like a lie most days. It may not buy happiness but it has the power to buy you freedom and feeling free can equal happiness. When you don’t have debt hanging over your head and you have extra cash to save for emergencies, you feel better about things as opposed to having a medical emergency and no money saved to help cover the bill. Maybe you add in flow (in vs. out), investments, assets, and goals.

Relationships Your relationships can play a huge role in your wellbeing. Although we should not depend on others to make us happy, it is kind of human nature. If our marriage isn’t going well then we tend to not feel good about the outlook on life. If we don’t have a great relationship with our kids then we are stressed and unhappy. As humans, we need human interaction and the better those interactions are, the better we are. We become inspired, uplifted, a little more confident in things. Assess your relationships and work on the ones worth your time and love. Release the ones that are not.

Self Love You are already focusing on your mind, body, and spirit but I am sure you can add self love to the wheel. Are you practicing self-love? Are you treating yourself to mani-pedis or a new pair of shoes you’ve been dying for? When is the last time you took a bath or allowed yourself to indulge? I’m sure you know what to add!

As we come to a close on the March Wellness month, I want reiterate how important it is to maintain health in all three areas. They are all connected and when one is out of balance, it’s easy to feel like the others are out of whack as well. It doesn’t mean that you will stop experiencing stress. It means that you will be able to deter and eliminate some stresses. I promise if you put in the work, you will reap the benefits. You don’t have to do daily or weekly check-ins but I do recommend at least doing monthly check-ins so that you are aware of your mental state. This will help you identify any patterns that could be eliminated. For example, if you have been suffering from chronic migraines, you can do a quick check-in.

For mind, have you had a lot of stress from work? Have you skipped your weekly meditation sessions?

For body, have you fed your body the proper nutrition and water intake it needs? Have you been giving yourself movement breaks or getting enough sleep?

For spirit, did you skip journaling this week or a religious service that usually provides you with some hope and inspiration?

After going through a mental check-list, you can easily pin point problems and make time to accomplish these neglected areas to feel better. Once you become aware of the things that drain you, it becomes easier to bounce back.

Take it one day at a time until it becomes a habit. You got this!

Image from intenSati