Have you ever thought about what wellbeing or wellness means to you? If you could envision yourself at your personal best and experience your life in a way that feels really good, what would that include or what would that look like?
I recently was asked this question, and it did make me stop and think. It’s funny because I focus on living and feeling my personal best to walk my talk in my business, but this takes it a step further. I realized it was more than about my health, fitness and self care. It is also about what I want to experience from life. I want to be delighted in every moment. For me this means feeling my personal best, being fully present in the moment, receiving the best life has to offer with gratitude, giving my gifts to others in the world, and cherishing the time I have with friends, families, colleagues and my pets. These things are what I envision my wellbeing to be. What about you?
I have since asked a few others this question, and their answers are very different and specific to what their heart yearns for. One gal wanted to experience total bliss in mind, body and spirit and live a writer’s life. Another wanted a life of balance, nurturing and creativity. The guy I asked wanted to live on purpose and feel the reciprocity of love. They didn’t stop with these statements. They elaborated on what their statement meant to them or what they saw themselves doing in their lives when experiencing wellbeing and each elaboration was very different.
The image of wellness and wellbeing is different for all of us much like values are unique for each person. Once you know your values and vision of wellbeing, you can look at how you are living your life today to see if it is aligned with what is important to you or with the decisions you make about spending your time. Most of us just try to get through our days and weeks with a focus on meeting our obligations without falling too far behind. Taking time to picture what our lives could be if we had wellbeing is the last thing many people think about.
Yet your obligations and choices might be very different if you had a wellbeing destination. In his book, Smart Women Finish Rich, financial advisor David Bach explains that the first step in successful financial planning is to identify why money is important to you and what it is you want the money to give you in life. Once you know that you can plan accordingly. His examples of value include freedom, security, happiness, peace of mind, helping others and independence. Many other investment firms now consider values, dreams and goals an important aspect of financial planning and wealth management. Coastal Capital Group, run by my good friend Dave Caruso, has long made this a key aspect of client guidance and he has witnessed the difference an emphasis on wellbeing makes in his client’s portfolio results.
The same is true planning for other aspects of your wellbeing, including health, fitness, creativity, enjoyment, spirituality, giving back, family time, you time, or whatever it is you envision gives your life meaning, vitality and fulfillment.
Creating a vision of what you want in your life becomes something to aim for. It isn’t wishful thinking beyond what you can have. You can decide which part of this picture is important enough to work towards now. Start by setting three and six months goals to reach milestones that will eventually get you there. You can even get started by setting specific weekly goals to reach these interim targets. Creating a vision of what you want in your life, milestone goals and weekly goals is the same process used by wellness, life, dream and career coaches to assist clients in moving towards a better life. You can do this for yourself.
This week paint a picture in your mind of yourself at your best and feeling wonderful. Really imagine this being true for you in a few years. Note what you are doing, what you feel like, and what gives you purpose, energy and contentment. Then consider which things you want to aim for this year and what steps you want to start taking in the weeks to come to have the life of your dreams.
Alice Greene is president of Feel Your Personal Best, a healthy lifestyle coaching company located in Newburyport, MA. Contact her at agreene@feelyourpersonalbest.com or 978-465-3555x5.
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