Redefining wellbeing - a different take
The word ‘wellbeing’ is chucked around a lot at the moment in the wellness/health world.
But what does it really mean?
We tend to look at wellbeing as eating well, feeling good, looking after ourselves and being fit and healthy. These are just surface aspects to it, and of course they are good. No one can deny, these things may enhance our lives in some way.
But for me many years back, embarking on a ‘wellbeing’ journey so to speak, to try and sort out chronic health issues. I ended up learning the real essence of ‘wellbeing’, the true foundation. It’s more than green juices and having a good diet, at its very core it is true inner kindness and happiness.
These are fundamentally simple thing some would say, but when they aren’t applied at the core of ‘wellbeing’ we can often slip up. Why ?
Because our intention behind it, is outer stuff, which will sustain us for a time but ultimately we end up needing to seek more.
I certainly know I ended up in the hamster wheel of ‘wellbeing’ but at my core I wasn’t really happy, which would show up in many different ways. I always felt I wasn’t doing enough and constantly looked at ways I could do better with this, which lets face it actually undermines our approach to ‘wellbeing’. Deep down in me I knew I wasn’t laying a good foundation for my ‘wellbeing’, and kept tripping myself up.
Coming to the conclusion I needed to change this, I ended up letting go of all my preconceived concepts of what I should be doing, which isn’t easy because we cling onto what we know as it feels safe even when it's not. Realising I had to go inward for this, I used meditation as medicine and committing to this stillness. I asked myself what does this really mean for me on a deeper level, and I knew it had to be beyond the idea of healing myself because I knew deep down I would be onto the next best thing after that. I knew I had to really start listening to my inner being, which we are so disconnected from much of the time and we struggle to decipher the messages our bodies and mind are actually trying to tell us.
So I decided my aim was to learn to love myself, even the flaws too! This is a continual life-long thing I do, learning to appreciate all I do and being kind to myself. Realising over the years the one thing I hadn’t really been doing was being kind to myself. Kindness on a deep level, where we show compassion for ourselves. It’s funny to how we can be much kinder to those around us than ourselves. So realising this was my answer, I set this as an intention. A foundation that will serve me what ever I embark on, and the outer level will be supported with kindness and love. So what ever happens, the groundwork is there.
What does ‘wellbeing’ mean to you? Asking your self this allows you to really get clear.
As you ponder you on ‘wellbeing’ and how you can support yours, let kindness and love be a foundation to set you up for long term ‘wellbeing’. And like any muscle when we exercise it, it gets stronger to support us.