Seventeen months into my personal wellness journey, a lightbulb hit just this week. Each week I write posts centered on one element of the 7 dimensions of health model, but I’ve never wrote a post explaining each one. So, I pushed aside the original post for this week, and re-ceneterd on the model that shifted my lens. Focusing on elevating 7 dimensions in my life, helped me realize “wellness is a lifestyle, not a destination“. No one gets all 7 perfect all the time. But rather, we swag and sway between each one attune to inner personal harmony. When we don’t, that’s when the body keeps score.
Dimensions of Health Model
There are several models to be adopted, one of note is the 9 dimensions of wellness from The Ohio State University which include financial and creativity as it’s own dimension.
According to Debbie Stoewen in the National Library of Medicine article “Change your Habits Change your life”; Wellness encompasses 8 mutually interdependent dimensions: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, vocational, financial, and environmental. Attention must be given to all the dimensions, as neglect of any one over time will adversely affect the others, and ultimately one’s health, well-being, and quality of life. They do not, however, have to be equally balanced. We should aim, instead, to strive for a “personal harmony” that feels most authentic to us
Social
Social wellness refers to our ability to interact successfully in our global community and to live up to the expectations and demands of our personal roles.
Creative
Creative wellness is to value and participate in a diverse range of arts and cultural experiences to understand and appreciate your surrounding world. I have first hand account; leaning into your emotions and views through the arts can be a great way to relieve stress.
Physical
Physical wellness encompasses a variety of healthy behaviors including adequate exercise, and proper nutrition.
Professional
Occupational/Vocational wellness involves preparing and making use of your gifts, skills, and talents in order to gain purpose, happiness, and enrichment in your life.
Spiritual
Spiritual wellness involves possessing a set of guiding beliefs, principles, or values that help give direction to one’s life.
Emotional
Being emotionally well is typically defined as possessing the ability to feel and express human emotions such as happiness, sadness and anger.
Environmental
Environmental wellness is having good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being. It promotes interaction with nature and also creating an enjoyable personal environment (both in and out of your workspace).
Intellectual
The intellectual dimension encourages creative, stimulating mental activities. Our minds need to be continually inspired and exercised just as our bodies do.
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To further open dialogue around the importance of personal harmony, over the summer you may meet a few Queens I admire tremendously. Their wisdom on various aspects twill be shared “interview style”..
As we begin the Queen series, some of the individuals that have signed up are living principles of wellness in meaningful ways. I promise you don’t want to miss each interview. I admire them deeply and know they will bring a level of wisdom worthy of reading.
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In peace, ✌🏾
J