Living Well
Living Well Basics
Adam Fenske, M.A.
Think of a person you know who lives their life well. What kind of characteristics do they have? How do they think, behave, and find meaning in their life? What about you?
We would like to challenge and encourage you to become a person who is Living Well. This means a person who is striving for balance in Mind, Body, and Spirit. Notice that we said “striving” for balance, because balance is in constant flux; it is not a state to be achieved. As our Living Well Model suggests, Mind, Body, and Spirit are the three fundamental areas of the self. Mind deals with our confidence, understanding, stimulation, problem solving, and clarity. Body includes such things as health, nutrition, sleep, fitness, and sex. Spirit refers to meaning, value, emotion, purpose, awareness, growth, and faith.
When you imagine the activities in which you are involved on a daily basis, you may notice that these dimensions are not necessarily separate from one another. For instance, going on a hike may involve not only body, but also mental tasks of problem solving and stimulation, and spiritual areas of meaning and awareness. Not only do these areas blend and overlap but balancing may look different for each person.
The second part of our model, Working, Relating, and Playing represents the Engaged self. These are the tools we use to engage our body, mind and spirit. Working focuses on productivity, accomplishment, effectiveness, job , school, and home. Relating is about friends, family, love, relationships, community, and sex. Playing incorporates fun, free time, interests, hobbies, and laughter.
For example, our work often stimulates our Mind, play can impact our Body and Spirit, and relating often affects all three fundamental domains. Again, the overlap may be different for each person and it is important that your balancing works for you.
We hope we have given you enough description that you are now curious about each of these areas and how you can get on with Living Well.