Achieving Wellness

Tiffany Griffith

Hello, are you well? What does it mean to be well? Wellness is more than feeling healthier or being happy. Wellness is the ability to make choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life— it's a process of change and growth.

Am I well? Not quite. There are some hardships in life that can create 'speed bumps' on the journey towards wellness. Think of life as ocean waves— waves constantly flow, moving towards land and then they disappear. Things in life come toward us as the waves do to the shore, but they always seem to pass. This is why wellness is an active process.

That's not to say someone cannot be well. A person can be well one moment, and not well in another. It all depends on what helps us achieve wellness. There are eight different dimensions of wellness: emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, occupational, physical, social and spiritual wellness. Wellness encompasses all eight dimensions. So, are you well? Are you spiritually well? Financially well?

For one person meditation may help them achieve spiritual wellness and exercise may help another achieve physical and emotional wellness. Personally, both meditation and exercise help me move towards wellness.

Exercise helps me release happy and healthy hormones to my body making me feel better both physically and mentally. I find mental clarity in fitness. My anxiety levels are much lower after completing some kind of exercise.

Meditation allows me to let my thoughts freely flow between my conscious and subconscious. It allows you to process your thoughts in a way that is calm, peaceful and accepting. Your thoughts can flow and be released so they do not cloud your mind.

So the key is to find something that moves you closer towards complete wellness. Making this a priority will help you achieve much more than wellness in your lifetime.

Be well.