This post is for parents or caregivers who want to increase their energy and vitality, or who are looking at a holistic way to take care of their kids’ wellbeing.
Listen to today’s episode or read the post below, where I share my take on holistic wellbeing and the corresponding key areas to focus on:
Today, I want to share with you what it means to be a holistically healthy human being.
I personally learned some of these things only after I turned 30 years old, but they are things that I should’ve learned when I was 10.
That’s because during my teen and young adult years, I neglected a lot of things related to my wellbeing. I simply didn’t know they were important.
And it took me to go through an almost burnout experience for me to wake up and start paying attention.
Let’s dive into holistic wellbeing.
I like to organise holistic wellbeing under three big buckets.
The first one is the human body:
The Human Body
Our human body is a well of wisdom. It’s the most sophisticated technology we can ever have, so we need to understand how it operates to make the most of it.
From the viewpoint of holistic wellbeing, the physical human body is actually made up of 4 main bodies:
1) The material body – the bones, the muscles, the blood, the skin, all your organs ..
2) The emotional body – our emotions, and yes, I consider emotions to be part of the physical body, emotions are related to hormones, they cause visceral reactions in your body. Emotions are physical.
3) The mental body – our thoughts – how are our thoughts part of the physical? Our thoughts are neural signals that our brain creates and sends to the rest of the body. Notice how thoughts greatly impact emotions and the other way around.
4) The energetic body – this is the electromagnetic field that is surrounding us. We’re made of atoms & molecules. Every atom has an electromagnetic field around it, constantly relating to other atoms.
These 4 main bodies are tightly woven, like threads in a tapestry. They constantly impact each other. They’re in constant communication with each other.
When we’re not taking care of one of them, when one of them is out of tune, then all of them suffer.
This is what the term ‘holistic’ means:
One part affects the entire whole.
The approach that considers how emotions and thoughts are actually physical was a game changer for me.
When I started seeing my emotions and thoughts as part of my physical body, it became so much easier for me to get out of my unhealthy patterns.
I used to be a very anxious person trapped in the mind, stuck in its looping, but now I’ve learned how to calm my mind and my emotions by returning to my physical body.
For the energetic body, not everyone might be talking about the energetic body, at least not if you’re living in modern western society. But science has proven this energetic body is really important for the overall health. That’s why yoga, acupuncture, reiki, and other far eastern medicine modalities, have been on the rise.
This covers the physical human body.
Let’s move to the second bucket under holistic wellbeing:
The Soul
We are more than our physical body. We are souls having this body.
The soul is what brings life to the physical body. It’s the inner fire. With the soul, comes the dreams, the inner pull to make the most of life, to connect with other people and the world, to have purpose.
Also with the soul comes the lessons and the experiences that this soul is meant to have in this human body in this lifetime.
There are many layers to the soul, I’ll not go into today and keep it for another post.
All you need to know now is that the soul and its layers are the spiritual human body.
And spiritual wellbeing is simply staying connected to your soul, to your inner fire.
Let’s move into the third bucket under holistic wellbeing:
The Relationships with the Systems Around Us
This is what I call relational wellbeing
This is about having healthy relationships with the systems around us. These systems include society, culture, economy, the natural environment, and all the rest.
This is another important piece to holistic wellbeing. We humans cannot live in isolation. Regardless of our circumstances, we are always part of something bigger. We as humans need systems, we need structures to hold us as a collective.
Sometimes, the systems around us do not serve us, but what we need to focus on in terms of wellbeing is how we deal with these systems.
Sometimes, it’s not about breaking free from the systems or destroying them. It’s really about having a healthy relationship with them, knowing how to change them, knowing how to co-create with the collective to cause changes for the highest good.
This is also a big topic I’ll explore in another post.
Quick Recap
Holistic wellbeing means:
- Taking care of all your physical human body, including the material, emotional, mental and energetic bodies
- Taking care of your spiritual body by staying connected to your soul
- Keeping healthy relationships with the systems around you
I’ll leave you with a couple of questions to reflect on:
What parts of your wellbeing have you neglected?
What simple, small step can you start doing today to make positive change?
Please remember to hold yourself with compassion and patience.
The questions above are not to beat yourself up, but to be aware of where you’re at and where you’d like to be so that you can start somewhere.
Also, as parents, we get to be role models for our kids. Taking care of our own holistic wellbeing is essential for us to be able to take care of our kids.
I am starting a new series on holistic wellbeing for teens, where I’ll explore each wellbeing area in detail and share my top tips.
Keep an eye for my future posts!