Are we all well?
By Leticia Trejo
I am remembering a very particular meme, author unknown, or at least the image did not contain the name of the author, alluding to how difficult it is to recognize our state of mind. It went something like this:
Hello, how are you?
-I’m fine.
Good of good or bad, but you don’t want me to know you’re bad?
-Fine, shut up and give me a hug.
Does the answer sound familiar? I believe that from a very young age we are taught that the right thing to do is not to show our emotions, so we get into a conflict because our heart, our guts, our breathing and our whole body screams at us that we are bad, but our mind is forced to deny any intense emotion that puts our interpersonal relationships in trouble. This is why visiting a psychologist is so important, to learn to express what we feel without being ashamed of it, to let the body and mind integrate and reconcile feeling-emotion-response in a safe space (maybe there are exceptions with unethical psychologists, but that is not our topic today).
When I began to delve deeper into the study of the Six Dimensional Wellness System I realized that there are six key questions that can help us to self-evaluate and thus find answers that will help us generate strategies to achieve balance in our integral health. These are the questions I designed a few years ago:
Physical wellness: Are you happy with your current physical condition?
Mental wellness: Do your thought patterns promote the achievement of your goals?
Family (social) well-being: How are you nurtured by your emotional ties?
Work (community) well-being: Do you love what you do to live in prosperity?
Financial well-being: To what extent does your financial health influence your level of satisfaction and happiness?
Spiritual well-being: Are you at peace with your place in the Universe, does it give meaning and purpose to your life?
The design of these questions inspired by the six dimensions of wellness was born out of the sad recognition that most people do not like the idea of visiting a psychologist. It is difficult to accept that there is still a cultural resistance, a deep-rooted belief that only «nutters» should visit, or that it is only when you have serious emotional problems that you should make an appointment with a «shrink», as some people offensively put it. These questions are not really profound, nor will answering them solve all the problems in our lives, but it is a start. The person who stops to answer them honestly to himself could start a path of inner reconciliation that, with the right counseling, could give him a guide to where he should direct his efforts to move from the place where he is now to a better place, with healthier relationships and clearer goals. If you answer them, dear reader, it only remains for me to wish you a stimulating and challenging journey that fills you with the desire to live and learn.
Translated by Christalle Dalsted
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