Am I well?

Many people do not realize that wellness encompasses all areas of your life. We usually think of the physical and neglect the mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health. If you do not think that this is true, think about the many phenomenal athletes who deal with certain "issues." To be a well person, we need to work on everything. Earlier this month at the BeautiControl Leadership Conference, we were blessed to learn from Speaker, CEO, and President of the Energy Project Tony Schwartz. He gave us all a quiz called the energy audit. I learned that my total energy is low. As a health educator, I've taught total wellness thousands of times. Personally I know that it can be difficult to do the "right" things. So what does total wellness look like? Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself so see if you are on the right path and if you aren't, there is no place like the present time to make a change.

1.     Do I have a strong sense of self?
2.     Am I willing to accept new ideas and try new behaviors?
3.     Can I handle a setback without losing my self-esteem?
4.     Am I aware of my emotions and do I manage and express them in an appropriate way?
5.     Can I recognize an emotional problem in myself or others and do I seek help when I need it?
6.     Do I feel that life has a meaning?
7.     Do I live by values?
8.     Can I manage my stress with skill and enjoyment or is it overwhelming?
9.     Do I have a feeling of purpose and a sense of life values?
10.     Do I get enough sleep?
11.     Do I use food to meet nutritional needs?
12.     Do I maintain an appropriate weight?
13.     Do I use over the counter drugs with respect and prescription drugs with care?
14.     Do I abuse drugs including tobacco and alcohol?
15.     Do I try to maintain physical fitness?
16.     Do I take preventive measures to avoid accidents?
17.     Do I realize that infectious diseases are a real possibility? 
18.     Do I take measures to prevent infections diseases (especially STDs)?
19.     Do I know my disease risks?
20.     Do I use the health care system wisely?
21.     Do I have supportive friendships?
22.     Can I effectively resolve conflicts?
23.     Can I socialize well with others without the influence of alcohol or other drugs?
24.     Can I form a successful long-term partnership?
25.     Do I continue to grow, learn, and face new challenges throughout life?
26.     Can I relate to the larger environment (home, community, world)?
27.     Do I share in the responsibility for the larger environment?

If you are not making good health decisions, you may need a little motivation to change your behaviors. Motivation is the force that moves people into action. Motivation can come natural or it can be learned. There are 4 factors that motivation is shaped by: the value of the reward, timing, costs associated, and probability. People generally fail to do better because of one of those things. Lets think about a person who wants to enjoy an unhealthy food. If you enjoy the food now (immediate reward, yum!), you won't notice your weight gain (consequences) until next month (pay later). If you choose not to eat the food, you may not see any weight loss until next week, or you may not see weight loss at all. You have to know, and really believe, that you will benefit before you'll be willing to change a behavior. That's why you need my blog (smile). So how do you go about changing? Look at these five steps.

    Awareness: I could choose to change.

    Thinking: I know how to change.

    Emotion: I want to change.

    Decision: I will change.

    Action: I am changing.

These steps do not always go in this order but they always seem to appear. Do you think about your own behavior and possible changes? If so, you should realize that it is important to know when you are ready for a change. A lot of thinking goes into changing behavior. Others may push you to alter your behavior, but only you can actually do it.  When you are thinking, something is happening so don’t worry too much about what others may think they see. Thinking actually moves you to the decision point.  Energy is totally wasted struggling with other people’s beliefs and even your own guilt and shame over failures. You will need to make changes in your own time. People can push you, and this may help or it may not. Only you can act. Success requires many practice runs. Be sure to be gentle with yourself when you fail. Notice I said when.  Make changes one at a time and set realistic goals. When you set a goal, think about the behaviors needed to achieve the goal, prepare, commit, and measure your progress. Also, there is this little thing called hard work. Be careful about quick solutions. I believe in miracles but I know that change requires some effort. Finally prize yourself enough to invest energy and effort into your own wellness. I promise you that you are worth it. 

Yahrasiel Colbert

The Real Spa Girl