Be healthy in mind body and spirit!
One of the greatest wellness lessons we can possibly learn is how to listen to our mind, body, and spirit/soul. Every aspect of wellness is wrapped up in our ability to simply listen to our body. This means listening to physical needs – aches, pains, energy, etc., paying attention to our thoughts and emotions – understanding them and developing more healthy, positive thoughts vs negative, to understand our soul – our purpose, spiritual needs, what balances us, and what brings us peace.
Becoming You – Not What Society Influences You to Be
Learning to listen to your mind, body, spirit/soul is not simple. It takes years and years of practice and is an ever-evolving challenge. This world moves so fast and we are constantly being influenced by the outside world. From the time you are a child the world is influencing you. Schools teach how to conform to a certain way of thinking. You are taught how to fit in, society wants you to follow a herd mentality. Many people lose a lot of their creativity and critical thinking abilities, and confidence to be true to themselves.
It is easy to unconsciously conform to thinking like the herd. Corrupt marketing, politics, and the government know this and take advantage of it. They influence how we think and respond in the world, how we see food, how we see health, etc. I could write a lot on this topic because I see so many things wrong here.
Stripping Away Society’s Influences
You are lucky – if you can strip away everything the world creates you to be and truly become who you were meant to be. In this world it is hard to strip away all the voices and influence of the world and listen to your own mind, body, and soul. Many people walk through life never becoming the person they were meant to be. A lot of people go through life adopting other people’s values and beliefs without discovering their own. Sometimes people are just running on autopilot, many people don’t want to stand out, fear gets in the way, or past trauma (I’ve heard we all have it – just some more than others). I’ve heard we also inherit trauma. But there is always time to change and evolve as long as you are still breathing!
If you are lucky enough – you can see the truth about what it truly means to be healthy. To truly embrace wellness you have to be open minded and be able to critically think about things. You can’t just believe everything you see and hear because the world is often trying to influence you for material gains. Wellness is more than what you eat, how much you exercise, and how well you manage stress. Wellness is being healthy in your relationships, environment, how you think, feel, and how you are living a life true to you, true to your soul. It is about working toward being a better version of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, in relationships, and so on.
Self Discovery & Listening
I’m on a continuous journey of self discovery. I have grown in my 30+ years on this planet in ways many people don’t even after 60+ years on this planet. Unfortunately, it is because I have faced a lot of extremely difficult life challenges. Although my personality is also considered an “old soul.” I know a great deal about my personality, my social needs, physical needs, my soul, and who I am in general. I still find myself learning new things year after year. It’s exciting and I think it is one of the best parts of life – constantly discovering and creating who you are.
It can be easy to get caught up in making others happy, taking care of others, and forgetting to take care of yourself. Yes, it is good to take care of others, but you can’t pour from an empty cup. We don’t live in a culture that values wellness. Many fail again and again to listen when their bodies are physically telling them to drink more water, to eat more vegetables, or to rest. We are all going to fail to listen, but the key is to listen more often than not.
From My Experience
Listening to My Body
In the past, I didn’t do a great job at listening to my body. Unfortunately, I’ve had to learn the hard way how to really listen to my body – illness made it impossible not to. I became very mindful of my bodies needs from unrelenting pain. So I can usually tell when my body hasn’t had enough vegetables. I see sometimes that my hunger isn’t for food – it’s because I need to drink more water. I’m very mindful of when I need time alone or more time to rest. There are many things I’ve learned to pay attention to. But there is still room for improvement.
How to do you listen to your body more? Oh that’s a difficult question to answer. It just takes practice. Working on being more mindful through meditation or other practices may be a great place to start. It’s also important to read my blogs on clean eating and wellness to learn what the body needs to function at its best, and the things that cause it to not function correctly. You have to know when your body is functioning at its best and pay attention to why that is… is it because your not stressed, slept enough, are well hydrated, have been active, and ate a healthy meal? When you feel awful what is that one thing you neglected to do?
Listening to my Mind
Illness has also forced me to listen to my mind more. I’ve always been pretty good at listening and analyzing my thoughts and feelings (sometimes a bit too much). That is just an innate trait of my personality. But I’ve had to reframe some of my negative thoughts and viewpoints. I used to be quite the pessimist, and it took some work to become more of a realist.
How do you listen to your mind? How do you improve your mental health? This is something I will blog more on later, but journaling, reading books that help reframe your thoughts, affirmations, and getting to know yourself better through personality tests can all help.
I know a lot about how my mind works. I like unraveling and organizing complex ideas, creatively solving problems, finding deeper meaning behind things, I like puzzles, strategizing, analyzing, and more.
Listening to My Spirit & My Soul
Listening to my soul has been one of the greatest challenges. Listening to your soul is paying attention to that spiritual hunger you feel for meaning or purpose. If you feel like something is missing in your life, that’s probably your soul talking. However, deep down none of us feel fully complete or satisfied. As long as were on earth and human we won’t be. Its literally impossible.
How do you listen more to your soul? I might write on this more later on, but this woman has an awesome blog all about listening to your soul. Here is a good article to start with: Helpful Tips If You Feel Something Is Missing In Your Life. I also think this might be helpful 10 Signs You’re on the Right Track to Finding Your Calling.
Having a Sense of Purpose
I hear many people go their whole lives without ever finding a sense of purpose. They work toward monetary things, bigger house, bigger paychecks, focus on living the American dream, but never reach their full potential. None of us will ever really reach our full potential though because there are too many worldly things to get in the way. But we can come close, we can come exceptionally close. I’m far far away from it though. I’m regularly dealing with obstacles that get in the way. But I know what my soul is saying and that’s half the battle. Figuring out and satisfying my soul is something I’m always working on.
One thing I know is that my soul craves the desire to do something life changing which is why I write this blog, create resources for chronic pain sufferers, and help wellness businesses – I’m working toward a wellness community for wellness practitioners. I know my centralized goal and God’s purpose for me is to spread wellness, resources, and information to help people live healthier (body, mind & spirit).
Being Creative
My soul also craves being creative which is why I write, why I try to utilize my innovative, creative problem solving abilities in my business, and do all sorts of arts and craft projects in my free time.
Being in Nature & New Adventures
Lastly, my soul craves nature and new adventures. One of my goals in life is not to live an ordinary life. I hate when things become too routine. This is evident as I own my own business, but I also choose to follow my own path in my personal life. My craving for nature and adventure has always made it obvious to me that I was not meant to live in Wisconsin forever. I’ve always wanted to move, but it never quite felt right. This year, it finally did.
I’ve always been drawn to nature physically, mentally, and even spiritually. I love being active and being outside. It calms my body and melts my stress away. The winter months have always been hard on me, but some years have been better than others. I have found many ways to be active and somewhat happy in the cold months. I’ve also been lucky to be able to take so many awesome trips to warmer climates over the years. But in winter, I literally get chills down to the bone and even a hot shower can’t warm me up. No joke – it literally takes hours for me to warm up sometimes!
Moving to a Place that is Right for Me
I’ve also always been drawn to the water, even as a kid I loved to go swimming. Then I found myself owning a jet ski and exploring lakes all around the area for 13+ years. Now I own a kayak and enjoy exploring rivers. Being a nature lover, I have also been into hiking, frisbee golfing, and biking at all the best places in my city and beyond. I’ve had many great adventures in Wisconsin.
A waterfall I hiked to.
My craving for adventure and nature is never wavering – it calls for me, it energizes me, and it makes me feel the most alive. I found out recently that my personality type usually needs nature more than other types. My husband has always been drawn to nature, but it doesn’t call to him the way it calls to me. But his craving for new adventures has also increased over time. This is why I’ve chosen to start a new life in a new state. I’m now in South Carolina in an area known to be one of the best places for nature lovers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Some people need other people to recharge, some people can recharge being alone reading books or doing puzzles, some people need nature like me, and so on. It’s different for everyone.
In Conclusion,
Spend more time listening to what your body needs for a wellness lifestyle. Chronic illness happens when our bodies are out of balance. Many health professionals will say, “disease starts in the gut,” and many will say, “most illnesses form from stress.” Who is right? Both are right because stress takes many forms. It can be physical, mental, or even spiritual tied to ignoring your purpose – what you soul is calling you to do.
I also think that is important to understand what we need down to the core of our being. My soul craves meaning, nature, adventure, writing, creating, new experiences, deep connections – lots of time with my husband, and time with family and friends. I know my body needs to be active everyday and needs lot of chocolate (seriously), and my mind needs to be creative, and it needs to analyze and deeply process the meaning behind things.
View All Wellness Lifestyle Blog Posts:
How an Unhealthy Spine Can Cause Numerous Problems
How Relationships Influence Our Health (in multiple ways) & Our Success
Effectively Communicating for Stronger Relationships
Managing 3 Stages of Stress (Conscious, Hidden Stress & Preventing It)
Cardio vs HIIT – Find out the Benefits of Both!
How Exercise Can Be Natural & Fun
Nature Heals the Soul, Calms the Mind & Restores the Body
Everything You Need to Know About Supplements
How to Sleep Better & What to do When You Can’t Sleep
Importance of Each Sleep Stage, Sleep Schedules & More
How to Increase Water Intake & Choosing Clean Drinking Water
What It Means to Live A Wellness Lifestyle & Why It Matters
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Why We Need Critical Thinking & Barriers of Critical Thinking
I have a Wellness Coach Certificate, I'm an entrepreneur, an innovator, writer, and artist. My expertise includes over 7 years of marketing, research, and developing content for holistic health businesses. Plus, my own personal journey of becoming chronically sick: understanding what went wrong, and finding a way to heal and live a healthier life. I have a passion for wellness with a wealth of knowledge surrounding: wellness, flaws in healthcare, root causes for chronic illnesses, and alternative treatments.
