“Listen to the internal whispers, and tune out your inner critic“
It’s almost 2025?!?!? Wow… where did the year go. Among the holidays and end of year wrap up, it’s also time to set next years health intentions! Let’s refresh ourselves on why the 7-dimension model of wellness is important. Focusing on just one element (like physical) could make us feel depleted in others.
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.
Setting Your Health Goals
The American Heart Association recommends asking yourself these questions before setting your health goals:
- How much activity can you do?
- How much physical activity you can do will depend on your current fitness level. Find your starting point by recording your first fitness scores when you begin your program. If you continue to record your scores regularly, you can track your progress. A health or fitness professional can help you learn how to get your scores.
- Do you have any health conditions?
- If you have a chronic medical condition, such as diabetes or heart disease, you should talk to your health care team before beginning a new exercise program.
- In general, healthy adults who plan small increases in their weekly physical activity do not need to consult a health care professional before becoming active.
- Don’t wait to begin moving more and sitting less throughout your day.
- What activities do you enjoy?
- Research shows people are more likely to continue a fitness program they enjoy.
- If you have a blast on the dance floor, you might want to consider an aerobics class that includes dance moves.
- If you prefer to workout at home, try a virtual class, walking, running or even getting some simple equipment you can use at home such as hand-held weights or resistance bands
Last year, I set some pretty big personal goals to elevate my health:
- Beat my previous years race time
- Incorporate more miles in my weekly exercise
- Obtain an exercise certificate
- Maintain fitness while traveling
Setting those intentions began with listening to my internal whispers and tuning out the inner critic.
Although my internal wisdom rings primary, none could be accomplished without inspiration from those that have mastered what I wanted to achieve. As a true bookworm, I turned to books to help me find some inspiration!
Pro tip: Try Tracking Your Books!
In early 2023 I posted my 2022 book rankings. I keep track of what I read on Goodreads. Although volume is not always my primary goal, reading a diverse set of novels help me find the right messages for me rather than simply adapting the popular ones.
7 Books that Were Worth the Read in Each Principle!
On to 2024! As you begin to think about your goals, gleaning inspiration from the wisdom of others can be both motivating and helpful.
Professional: The Elevation Method by Tina Wells
The Elevation Approach presents Tina’s four-phase plan, a flexible and foolproof technique that helps you meet your goals without sacrificing joy for productivity and progress. Rather than treating work and life as separate and necessarily opposing forces, The Elevation Approach integrates your personal and professional ambitions, values, and responsibilities at every turn
Spiritual: The Gift of Rejection
The Gift of Rejection is a practical guide offering a new, unconventional framework for rejection; instead of being a pain to heal, it becomes a teacher to learn from. Nona shares insightful research, practical steps, and powerful stories from her own life as well as the lives of Bible characters and modern-day trailblazers to help you.
Social: Drop the Ball by Tiffany Dufu
In Drop the Ball, Dufu recounts how she learned to reevaluate expectations, shrink her to-do list, and meaningfully engage the assistance of others—freeing the space she needed to flourish at work and to develop deeper, more meaningful relationships at home.
Physical: And Then we Rise by Common
And Then We Rise is about Common’s journey to wellness as a vital element of his success. A testimony to the benefits of self-care, this book is composed of four different sections, each with its own important lessons: “The Food” focuses on nutrition. “The Body” focuses on fitness. “The Mind” focuses on mental health. And “The Soul” focuses on perhaps the most profound thing of all—spiritual well-being.
Emotional: The Self-Care Solution by Dr. Jen Ashton
Dr. Ashton becomes both researcher and subject as she focuses on twelve separate challenges. Beginning with a new area of focus each month, she guides you through the struggles she faces, the benefits she experiences, and the science behind why each month’s challenge—giving up alcohol, doing more push-ups, adopting an earlier bedtime, limiting technology—can lead to better health.
Month by month, Dr. Ashton tackles a different area of wellness with the hope that the lessons she learns and the improved health she experiences will motivate her (and you) to make each change permanent.
Intellectual: The Afrominimalists Guide to Living with Less
In The Afrominimalist’s Guide to Living with Less, Christine gets right to the heart of how childhood experiences and expectations manifest in adulthood, the delicate dance between needs and wants, and the complicated weight of familial and societal pressures. She presents a radical revisioning of minimalism, one that celebrates the importance of history and heritage, and gives you permission to make space for what really matters…your way.
Environmental: 7 Whispers from my Heart to Yours
In the 7 Whispers book, be prepared to make this book messy! Seventeen months into my personal wellness journey, a lightbulb hit. The 7 dimensions of health model, is an ongoing journey, not a destination. So, I chose to create the journal I wish I had. Elevating your health helps everyone in your life. This journal is filled with “quick read” nuggets and easy to follow templates that will help you swag and sway between each health dimension attuned to personal harmony. When we don’t, that’s when the body keeps score. Some of these lessons were hard fought, many laughter was involved. Take a walk with me and listen to the Whispers!
Each chapter of the book also has a “Let’s Werk” ending segment, to guide you through curious questions for self-knowledge.
The Journal does not require you to follow along chronologically. Instead, you can pick up and enjoy any chapter and come back to it when you have time.
It’s simply a Whisper I hope blesses each reader in a unique way.
Click Here to order your copy today!
Coming this month…..
In peace,
J