On the path...

Okay, so it's been QUITE a while since I've posted and I'm working at getting more consistent at updating here. Which brings me to the topic of today's post. The question I have is, where are you on your wellness path? As you know, the approach to wellness that I believe is the most effective is when we apply wellness principles to multiple areas of our lives at a time.

Wellness is the degree to which we each experience health and vitality in multiple areas of life. Those areas include the physical, bio-chemical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial, social, and career. For example, what this means is that while each of these areas is clearly a part of wellness, by only focusing on one area we limit the amount of wellness we can achieve in our own lives. The illustration I often use with my patients is that of a theoretical marathoner. The ability to complete a marathon requires a significant amount of physical fitness and ability. But, if this fictional character of ours is mentally and emotionally burdened with excessive debt, or goes home and screams at his wife and children, while he is clearly physically very fit, his overall wellness is highly lacking.

Often we see patients in our office who first seek us out to eliminate some physical or organic ailment. What we work very hard to do is to help each individual move beyond simply removing that which bothers them, and into increasing their overall wellness and subsequently their effectiveness and enjoyment of life.

So, how do we do this? We do this by what I call "being on the path." My confession to you is that I recently had the epiphany that my own physical fitness is an area that I had neglected for far too long. And, in so doing, I was allowing my lifestyle choices to contradict that which I was advising my clients about. This week I have committed to doing what is necessary to get back to the gym consistently and even begin running (short distances, mind you) to get back that which I have lost. (I'll leave the long distances to Michelle, my little half-marathoner.)

So my question to you and yours is this: "Where are you 'on the path'?" Are you neglecting areas of your life that can contribute to (or detract from) your overall wellness?

We don't all have to look like Jason Statham or Jillian Michaels to have wellness in our lives. We just have to be "on the path."

Please comment and share. I look forward to seeing your responses!

Dr. Brian