Healthy Living DIY

Real question asked by the real person, "What's wellness coaching?" Situation: holistic expo in Fargo last weekend. Real person stopped by my booth and struck up a conversation.

The underlying question, though, is this, "What is wellness?"

Once you know how I answer that question, the coaching part is pretty self-explanatory. A running coach helps you tweak your running, a tennis coach helps you tweak your tennis, a wellness coach helps you tweak your welless. Right? Right.

"What is wellness?"

Well, one of the reasons it's such a great question is that there are so many different opinions and answers. In fact, I'd venture that nearly anyone promoting wellness has a slightly different take on it. So it's very smart to ask about theirs before you jump in to their program.

For me, wellness is nearly synonymous with healthy living. It's about consistently making choices you feel good about in every area of your life. To not do that is to slowly, surely, and insideously create frustration, dissatisfaction, stress, and ultimately ill health.

Most people I know would agree with that. And yet, ...

In this second article on the question, "What is wellness?" we'll briefly explore two wellness models you see around a lot today.

One quite popular model shows up all over -- and appears to be particularly often used by various universities. It was developed by Dr. Bill Hettler of the National Wellness Institute (which does not appear to have any government affiliation).

This "Six Dimensional Wellnss Model" focuses on domains of experience. In other words, this model encourages you to look at all the different aspects of your life and assess your wellness in each area. The main idea here is building a well-balanced life.

You're striving for a brand-new result in some very important area of your life. Of course you are! If we didn't set up these little games for ourselves, life would be dull and boring.

Take just a moment to identify what it might be. Just perhaps...

• Beefier organic veggies from your garden; healthier foods than you can get from the store.
• Success at a new business venture; financial freedom.
• Or the ever-popular ... losing weight! (You know I like to call it lightening up, don't you?)

Here's the deal. You already know what you think. The way you think has gotten you to the exact place where you are in your life at this moment. Surrounded by junk food, financially depleted, and possibly a little chunkier than you'd prefer to be.

What you need -- in order to take you to the next level in the area you're focused on -- includes three things. Information, support, and a new way of thinking. Fortunately, those three things are often quite easy to come buy. You can get them, often at no cost whatsoever, from the same place. With an investment of just minutes a day and absolutely no cash outlay, you can transform a whole area of your life.

How?

It's easy. Just...

Responsibility or blame? Hearing vs. listening? Will we ever get it right?

This weekend, I had a great opportunity to eavesdrop in on a conversation about certain principles of organic gardening. They correspond almost perfectly with some principles we work with every day in the holistic health field. We'll explore them in the next article.

But first, I want to make sure you can hear me.

See, over in the gardening conversation, something also happened that's often replicated in our (holistic health) world. Some people confused responsibility with blame. Because they didn't get the distinction, they were confused and offended by the information the person who started the conversation intended to convey.

It's too bad. They listened, but they couldn't hear. Not only did they get their feathers ruffled unnecessarily, but ...