Well Being

November 30th, 2012

You wake up each morning and get out of bed to begin your day. Maybe you notice how you feel, and maybe not. Well-being awakens with you to some degree each time you rouse, but to what degree and how you then go about nurturing it within you is a daily practice.

What is Well-Being?

The term “well-being” is one of those that has been around for generations and who’s meaning continues to expand. The concept of achieving well-being is the goal of every healing modality from traditional schools to alternative healing arts. Familiarity with the subject, like many other topics, began to take on a generalized reference to all around health.

Currently there is a revival of interest in “well-being” with more specific implications. In other words the vague concept of wellness or general health is opening to well-being as a life style or a life experience. When transposed, well-being is “being well”. Here is where each one of us gets to embark on a journey into the experience of well-being for us as individuals, as a community, and as a planet.

In almost every language, a common greeting is “hello, how are you”. In response we commonly hear, “fine thank you, how are you?” Often though, we also hear a litany of responses that reflect whatever the listener is feeling at that moment. It may include anything in the realm of human experience. “I am sad, my dog died”; “I am broke, I lost my job”; I am angry, my partner left me”, I am sick, I have a cold; and endless other descriptions of our mental, emotional, physical, financial, and personal states that reflect our sense of being, but not necessarily a sense of well being.

For many, well-being refers to one’s answer to “how are you….really? Taking it one step further, the answer to that question is more likely, what is your perception of how you are, your personal well-being. But well-being is a many faceted reflection of the fullness of your life experience. As we go beyond personal well-being we come to discover our professional, fiscal, spiritual, community and global well-being. Take a moment and reflect on how you approach your well-being in reflection of not only yourself and your career but your community and the planet that is your home.

So what does supporting our well-being really mean then? Think of phrases like: getting in tune with, finding harmony, getting in alignment, finding contentment, synchronicity, fostering the sense of abundance, and most certainly a profound sense of gratitude, as possible indicators of our experience of well-being.

More than ever, there is unlimited support for self care and opportunities for finding the balance in our lives that supports well-being on every level. Being well is essential to the quality of life and ultimately happiness. Each of us is endowed with the means to identify and respond to our needs for being well. The notion of getting ourselves fixed in some way has given way to the self empowerment movement. As resources abound and continue to multiply, the journey to wellness is a smorgasbord of opportunities to live our lives fully with limitless abundance, freedom, happiness, and what every you need to enjoy the ride.