Wellness Of The Soul

Eliminating the things you love is not wellness. 

Wellness feeds your soul and makes you feel good. -Iman

Here we are, ten days into the new year, and from what I can see, the resolution game is still strong.

Wellness seems to be a hot topic for 2018 resolutions. I'm seeing granola bars and tangerines in my students' family cookie plates and candy dishes, and folks wearing fitbits walking briskly around the neighborhood whom I have never seen before. 

And that's good. Diet and exercise matter. I am all for fresh fruit.

But I wonder if there is more to wellness than pulse rates and BMI counts. 

To be honest, I'm done beating myself up over the state of my body. I do the best that I can to eat right and exercise, and I am learning to forgive myself for my inevitable imperfections. 

I am more concerned with the wellness of my mind and my soul. 

Quite by accident, I listened to a podcast yesterday that suggested the following exercise: 

Define three things about yourself that have always been true. For a point of reference, look back to who you were in kindergarten, and connect the dots between that person and who you are today. 

Here's what I came up with:

1. Visual storyteller

2. Compassionate listener

3. Organized doer

The idea is to let those qualities lead you into making decisions about your life. Let them become your own personal North Star, a true and unchanging picture of who you are, and a guide to where you should go. Move in the direction of those parts of yourself; set priorities so that you can not only exercise but grow in these characteristics. 

It's been less than 24 hours since I formulated my list but I've already noticed that my head feels clear and more certain. I see which parts of my life connect with this newly defined concept of who I am, and which parts do not. I'm energized to try new things in 2018, confident that I will be able to tell what's good for me, and what's not so good.

To me, this new picture of myself feels like the emotional equivalent of at bite from a fresh, snappy apple. It's only a first step, but my soul feels well indeed