Part 6 of the 6 Dimensions of Wellness: Spiritual

Now if we were ever going to sing Kumbaya? TODAY WOULD BE THE DAY.

Can you believe we finally made it to six out of six wellness blogs? This blog (the final piece to the installment) is all about the principles, beliefs and values that give meaning and purpose to your life. A key piece to the wellness puzzle. Have spiritual wellness means you’re living in a way that’s consistent with how you see the world – while also being respectful of others.

When you’re “spiritually well” you can:

• Love freely- And you “Spread it around like wildfire” (If you haven’t seen “Never Been Kissed”, this reference may be lost on you).
• Show compassion- You’re able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.
• Forgive others- Have you ever heard the saying “Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die”? Being able to forgive is key.
• Experience joy- A lot of these tie into the other dimensions of wellness – this one falls into the Emotional Wellness bucket.
• Seek fulfillment- You’re able to find purpose in your school, work and social/community activities.
• Be altruistic- Do things for people even though you know you may get zero benefit from it.

If you can practice the seven below steps – you’re going to be on your way to spiritual wellness…which makes the full wellness circle complete.

1. Know and live your values, beliefs and convictions– This is obviously going to be a very personal journey for each one of us. – For me? I’m a Jesus-follower, so my values, beliefs and convictions are based on the teachings of the Bible. I try to love, serve and treat everyone the way I would want to be loved, served and treated. -Knowing what my values, beliefs and convictions are shapes my everyday behavior and therefore shapes my world-view and ultimately my life. That’s why it’s so important.
2. Be respectful of what others believe-You may not believe what I believe and I may not believe what you believe. And that is A-OK.-Just because someone doesn’t believe the same things as you does not mean they hate what you believe. There’s room for more than one opinion or way of life without it being a personal attack on what you believe. -Please remember this when you’re on Twitter.
3. Find out what gives your life meaning and direction-What gives your life meaning and direction are things you have or do BECAUSE of your values, beliefs and convictions.-Helping people become the best version of themselves is something that gives my life meaning and direction. It’s what I’m most passionate about.-Maybe for you it’s by living your passion (riding, work, school) or maybe it’s your family, kids, ect.-If you don’t know what gives your life meaning and direction? I found the book “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl to be a great resource for me personally on this. But there are countless other books out there that can help as well.
4. View life as a learning experience (not something you need to get perfect every time) so you can live in the moment and also look to the future with optimism-Making mistakes is inevitable. No one gets this “crazy-thing-we-call-life” right 100% of the time.-Use your mistakes as an opportunity to learn about yourself. And your growth from mistakes will make you strong and smarter so maybe you can avoid making the SAME mistake in the future.
5. Volunteer in your community-Again, a lot of these are tied into the other dimensions like Social Wellness.-Helping and serving others is good not only for those you’re helping, but also for yourself! And remember the part about finding meaning and purpose for your life? This is something that can help you do that!
6. Set life goals and work towards achieving them-Goal setting is SUPER important in competition, and I’ve talked about that before. It’s good for just life in general too!-An important step in this process? Write them down! Having a physical piece of paper with your goals written out helps in working to achieve them.-What else does having goals do if they line up with your values, convictions and beliefs? Gives your life meaning and direction. Shew! Seems like this is all woven together somehow.
7. Make time every day for personal reflection-This one is self-explanatory, but important.-Spending time everyday praying, meditating or however you like to reflect will help to keep you centered, grounded and focused.

THIS WRAPS UP OUR SIX (SEVEN IF YOU COUNT THE INTRO BLOG) PART DEEP DIVE INTO WELLNESS.

What did you think? I hope it gave you some insights into different aspects of your life that maybe you didn’t even think about before. Although I focus a lot on physical wellness, none of the aspects are more important than the other. I’d love to hear your comments, thoughts and questions on the series. Click the button below to either send me and email or set up a time talk. Now let’s get after it!