Greater Well-being Through Practicing “Authentic Wellness”

The path toward wellness is unique for each of us. Consider your authenticity – essentially, who you are when you’re truly real and honest with yourself. What if you brought that awareness into your decisions about wellness? When we are deeply connected with our values, our gifts, our vulnerabilities and our hopes (our authentic selves), we are moving on a powerful path toward wellness. For each of us, this path is unique and continually unfolding each moment.

Here are four of several paths I teach my clients and workshop participants about connecting with our authenticity and thereby reaching our wellness goals and behaviors.

Paths toward Authentic Wellness:

1. Accept yourself with Compassio

We often trap ourselves with “insistences”, filling our mind with “shoulds, oughts and supposed to’s”. How effective does this seem for you? What typically comes with excessive insistences is stress related health problems such as ulcers, depression and high blood pressure. Acceptance, on the other hand, is about willingly receiving what already is here. Acceptance does not mean resignation. Quite the contrary: When we accept things and ourselves just as we are, it frees us to new possibilities.

Ask yourself “What in your life needs to be honored and accepted right now? Where do you need to be gentle with yourself? What possibilities does acceptance create?

2. Find your “Contem-place”

When was the last time you were a human being and not a human doing? Many of us with our harried lifestyles tend to have no contemplative, restorative experiences of quiet and solitude. We often have no physical place or space we’ve designated for quiet, a spot to meditate or pray and be alone with our thoughts and feelings. We all need to find our ‘contem-place’ – a specific place or process designed just for peace and quiet. So, do you have such a place? It doesn’t have to be fancy, but simply a place that cues you to slow down, to breathe and to just Be. This is how we reconnect with our authentic selves.

Ask yourself: Where is my Contemplace? How often would I like to go there? How can I create such a place? The quiet waits there for you and exists only for you to be still, to be at peace, and to go inward.

3. Reconnect with your Intuitio

Your intuition provides critical information you need to make meaningful decisions that come from your Center. The more mindful we are, the more deeply we become connected to that small inner voice of intuition. We notice more subtleties in our thoughts, feelings, attitudes and relationships. Nurturing our intuition and trusting it as a source of wisdom and direction is a critical and powerful piece in creating authentic wellness. Think of a time in your life when you deeply trusted your intuition. It may have saved your life, or at the very least led you to make very important and powerful decisions for your health and wellbeing.

“You cannot listen to the God of your heart, while you are busy monitoring the god of opinion” – Dan Millma

4. Build your ”Herd of support”

Many animals live in herds as part of a survival instinct. For humans, the herding instinct has become less necessary for physical survival. Nevertheless, meaningful connection with others is necessary for the survival of our well being and happiness. I’m sure you can think of many herds you are a part of, from your family of origin to your spiritual family and small, intimate herds of dear friends. Do you have a herd of support? Who makes up your herd of support? Your honest assessment may lead you toward some changes, along with increasing gratitude for those who know the song of your heart.

5. What’s next?

For starters, simply choose one of these paths and commit to working on that path regularly. Then, when you’re ready, attend to another path. Observe compassionately what works for you and make decisions with care.

Be authentically well!