Written by guest author: Nevin DeCroo
What is Holistic Wellness, and How Health and Happiness are Interconnected
Holistic wellness is an alternative point of view that sees the human body as a whole. Meaning overall wellness incorporates all dimensions of health related to the mind, body, and spirit, and they are all interconnected.
Health and happiness are key pieces of a life well-lived. Because of this, there is an emphasis on overall, holistic wellness and adjusting lifestyles to maximize vitality and joy.
Interestingly, these do not have to be separate pursuits! Health and happiness are inextricably intertwined. That means that investing in your physical health pays dividends for your mental health. The opposite is also true.
As more research comes out on the link between these facets of health, it gets more and more exciting. The ways you can take care of yourself and your body are endless (and perhaps so are the benefits)!
In this post, I am going to dive into my journey around holistic wellness and then share a few evidence-backed tips that you can use to bolster your overall health!
My Journey
Since I was about 10 years old, I have been interested in health and wellness. I liked the idea of working to improve physically so I could live vibrantly. This led to me working hard on my nutrition, fitness, and sleep.
When I got to college, I struggled mentally with the change. I was stressed. Making sure I got enough sleep and exercise were helpful, but they didn’t solve everything.
A series of classes inspired me to work on the mental side of my life. By happenstance, my professors taught about mindfulness, meditation, and subjective measures of happiness.
With a bit of practice, I began to see the value of these mental tools. If I invested in these as much as I did my physical health, I’d be able to experience a much more complete sense of overall wellbeing.
Over the next several years, I also became fully invested in the mental side of wellness. It’s as if this whole new realm had been opened. What I found, though, was even more exciting: there was a clear and distinct link between the mental and physical aspects of wellness.
The Holistic Wellness Link
As I alluded to, it always made sense to me that healthy physical habits could be good for the mind. After all, working out and sleeping are key pieces of happier moods. But I never considered the possibility that the link could work in the opposite direction. And, once I began to experiment with this, I realized the incredible power and synergy between the dimensions of holistic wellness.
The basis of the connection comes down to the cycles. What do I mean by that? Essentially, something causes something else… which causes more of the first… and so on.
For example, if doing good things for your health causes you to feel better mentally and feeling good causes you to do healthier things on average, you’re in a wonderful cycle. The fact that health creates a bit more happiness and also that happiness can create more health can be so powerful if you leverage it properly.
The potential uses for this are plentiful. It means that there are leverage points that you can use to increase your health or happiness by using a tactic that targets the other. It sounds complicated, but it’s more straightforward in practice.
Say, for example, you are feeling down. With the knowledge of cycles in your mind, you can do something good for your physical health that will, in turn, cause you to feel better mentally. Acting in this way jumpstarts a beneficial cycle that produces lasting effects. Trying to target something head-on can be difficult, but cycles allow you to approach wellness holistically in a way that brings about positive effects that last!
Before I go on, I must note that cycles can be positive or negative. While the positive cycles are good and bring about more desirable things for your wellbeing, the negative cycles are quite detrimental.
Tips for Holistic Wellness
How can you put the power of holistic wellness to work for you?
#1 Recognition is Key
Understanding how health and happiness are interconnected means you have to get good at finding areas to capitalize on. Do an audit of the cycles you may currently be in.
Make a note of the negative cycles and consider ways to break free. You can do this by changing the action piece of the cycle. Doing so will lead to different effects in terms of feelings and better actions down the line. For the positive cycles, consider how you can further leverage them in your life.
#2 Access Perspective
The cycles run on inertia that keeps you on the path you’re currently on. Luckily, developing lasting patterns doesn’t happen immediately. You can still indulge every now and again.
Taking the overall perspective that what you do on average will create more of itself can motivate you to take control of default habits while still leaving room for spontaneity and flexibility. A broader view of your health enables you to find many ways to create vitality without having to stress over perfection.
#3 Invest in Self-Care in all Facets of Life
Holistic wellness is inherently multi-dimensional. It includes the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational areas. Many people, myself included, focus too much on the physical aspect and overlook the others.
Take a balanced approach to your wellness. Make a list of various activities you find to be personally beneficial in each category of overall wellness. Plan these into your days and weeks, and know that the benefits will expand into all areas of your life!
Making changes can be hard at first, but they become natural over time. Rest assured that these new habits and tactics do not have to be additions to your current routine that take up more of your time and energy.
Rather, by using them to replace or optimize your current habits, you will be able to access the benefits of holistic wellness without having to add a bunch of actions and activities to your day-to-day life.
Benefits of Holistic Wellness
The ties between health and happiness are both exciting and profound. The benefits of taking care of any aspect of your wellbeing are multi-dimensional. Health and happiness improve each other!
If you can assess your current habits and infuse them with strategies to take advantage of the ties between mental and physical health, you will be on your way toward maximizing your vitality and joy.
Holistic wellness is a growing area of interest, and using its principles as the basis of your wellness routine and lifestyle is sure to lead to you living your best life!
Writer Bio
Nevin DeCroo is an author and blogger who is on a mission to help people live joyous and fulfilling lives. He is a graduate of Texas Christian University where he studied entrepreneurship and innovation. Read more about Nevin and his thoughts about personal growth, happiness, and wellness on his blog (nevindecroo.com) or in his new book, Life: Maximized.