Why Stretching Will Keep You Happy and Fit
October 17, 2020Wellness of Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
Fitness and wellness go hand in hand. Wellness refers to the condition of good physical and mental health, especially when maintained by proper diet, exercise, and habits. But do you know if you are really well? How can you tell?
The first place to start would be with the examination of your eating habits. Since you are a product of what you eat, if your eating habits are unhealthy, or do not provide for the nutrition needed, you're not going to be healthy as well. Moreover, everyone benefits from exercise. It keeps the body conditioned, our mental sharpness working in tip top condition, and thanks to the physical aspect, we also get a boost to our cardiovascular health.
What about stress? Stress is the number one contributor to heart attack and stroke. Stress is basically an out of control situation for most adults today. It's mostly due to how we manage our time. We manage to schedule every moment of our free time, but we leave ourselves with no time for quiet reflection, or time to deal with life’s unexpected emergencies.
Your Mind
We all need the benefit of spiritual reflection as a way of cleansing ourselves from the toxins of daily life. Meditation is preventive maintenance for the mind. It gives us the opportunity to reflect on our inner self, and to listen to the inner voice that is supposed to help guide and direct our mental processes.
Your spirituality and meditation practices are tools to keep your mind healthy. The mind is a complicated and versatile machine, but it can become overwhelmed and unable to function correctly if you don’t take the time to keep it well.
Our mind has varying levels of operation. Scientists call them brainwaves. As you pass through the different stages of your day, you enter the various stages of brain wave activity. The brain then uses this information to rest and process all the pieces that it has received. If you don't give adequate time for these processes, or you simply don't get enough rest, then the mind cannot maintain its state of wellness.
Alternative medicine practitioners and holistic healers believe in the power of the energy that flows through our bodies, and this energy radiates from the mind as well. Breathing techniques, music, aromas, and candle therapy are some of the ways that you can use to reflect on your day, allow your mind to rest, and replenish it for further use.
Your Body
Nutrition refers to the nurturing of the body, as well as your ability to keep it healthy and functioning. The body's wellness occurs when all the bodily processes are functioning at peak levels. What will it take to reach this state? It will take more than a walk in the park or a trip to the gym.
Many factors come into play when you consider your body’s wellness. The daily intake of food, vitamins, and water are absolute necessities. There's also the conditioning of the body in order to deal with day to day activities.
The body makes up all of our physical processes, our mind, and our being as a whole. In most cases, we only think about the physical aspect when thinking about our body - weight, muscles, strength, and shape. But the body is much more than that. What about your organs? Are they functioning well too? Daily exercise, taking the time to rest, and making sure that there is adequate supply of vitamins and minerals are necessary for healthy function.
You cannot abuse your body for years and then hope for immediate results in trying to attain an overall wellness. It didn't become unwell overnight, and it won't become well again that quickly.
Your Spirit
Wellness of the spirit refers to your ability to deal with the chaos of daily life. Today, the inability to cope with it exists in the form of anxiety attacks. The attacks can range from mild to alarmingly severe. During an anxiety attack, your system goes into a form of shock. It is like your spirit has lost control.
Losing control can be momentary, or it can last for a long time. The most debilitating part is the being unable to function even in the most usual of routines. For instance, short trips to the grocery store become seemingly impossible.
The hectic lifestyle of this modern world only intensifies the need for our spirit to have a chance to be heard. We drown out any opportunity to connect with ourselves. We are even proud of being able to multitask everything, but it leaves us with no spare time for a conversation with our inner self. It's impossible to listen to your inner voices if you're always talking on the phone, listening to Spotify, or watching Netflix for hours on end.
Wellness comes through concentrated effort, discipline, and devotion to your body, mind, and soul. The wellness of your spirit affects all other parts of you as a person.
Give yourself adequate time for your nutritional and physical fitness needs. Also have some quiet time for your mental needs. How well you allocate time for these needs, and the choices you make in fulfilling these needs keeps you well.
Start your wellness journey today!
