I’m grateful for the wellness-minded. I love when people consider the whole of a person and not just any ONE area. I love when I can discover ways to take care of my mind, body, and soul in a wellness-minded fashion instead of reacting to a health concern or emergency. Wellness-minded people pay attention to how their emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, occupational, environmental, and financial aspects of their lives all work together to live healthy wholehearted lives. I love keeping myself educated in all these different areas of well-being. I’m definitely stronger in some areas than others, but that is where my appreciation for other people’s journey’s takes hold. I get AHA moments of how the different areas connect all the time. I’m fascinated by how the mind works with the body to create wellness, good health, sickness, and disease (dis-ease). I can only move further along on my journey of wellness by remaining open to learn, change, grow, and expand through listening to other people’s experiences.

The more tuned-in I am to my wellness, the more I recognize when I need to work on particular areas to reach my optimal energy alignment—love, abundance, and peace. I don’t figure all this all out on my own. I read EVERY DAY! I get outside assistance when I need it. I do my best not to contribute my energy to places that will feed my energy of fear, lack, and separation. My focus is on fueling my energy of love, abundance, and peace. Wellness-minded people are the ones who help me, which is why I’m so grateful for them.

Now, there is always a shadow side of every human. Even certain wellness-minded people can get lost and consumed by the energy of fear, lack, and separation. Just because someone is wellness-minded doesn’t mean they are perfect and perfectly balanced in all these areas of their lives. We are all on a journey. One person may have focused a lot on one or a few of those areas and really struggle in others. They are on a journey just like me, we are all just doing our best to live wholehearted lives. I’m NOT going to agree with all of their perspectives of truth, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not open to appreciate what does resonate with me.

Right now especially, I find many people are stuck in a black or white zone. I see a lot of all-in or all- out thinking. I lived there as a teen, which led me down a very dark path. It took me over a decade to figure out the damage I was doing to myself with that black and white thinking. When I opened up my world to the grey, I truly began to understand the value of a concept I learned in AL-ANON, take what you like and leave the rest. That has become a mantra I use on a regular basis to remind myself to listen openly to others. I pay close attention to where my energy is aligned. If I’m making a choice out of fear, lack, and separation, I know I’m not focused on my wellness. I’m fueling energy that will create dis-ease in my mind, body, and soul.

Today, I commit to living wellness-minded. I decided today is a wonderful day to focus on my wellness journey. It’s been a long time since I wrote down where I was and what my goals are for each area of my wellness. I find that it’s good to look at each area and see where I am, how I’m aligning that area with the energy of love, abundance, and peace, and figure out my goals for each particular area. Here’s my plan:

1. Take out some paper and a pencil—When doing this kind of work, I find physically writing things down helps me connect more.
2. Write the different areas out with plenty of space to write under each one. I will probably use two pieces of paper and have two to three areas per side: Emotional, Spiritual, Intellectual, Physical, Social, Occupational, Environmental, and Financial.
3. For each area, I will ask myself these questions: How am I taking care of myself in this area of my life? What energy am I aligning with the majority of the time in this area—Love, abundance, and peace or fear, lack, and separation? What would help me align with area with love, abundance, and peace? What is my goal for this part of my journey?
4. I will wrap it up with a prayer thanking the Divine for any messengers, signs, and assistance that is sent to align me with the energy of the love, abundance, and peace in each area. I will also ask for help deciphering what is coming from the energy of fear, lack, and separation and what is coming from the energy of love, abundance, and peace.

I find that when I set-up seeing clear messages of love, abundance, and peace or fear, lack, and separation, I’m shown VERY clear messages, signs, and assistance. For example, many things I’m reading right now are showing me where my thinking and beliefs are still tied to lack. I see it clearly because I will either read the word, “lack” or someone will say it while explaining something. The energy of fear, lack, and separation is ALL a part of fear, but just thinking about fear, I found that I was missing the parts of fear that were tied to lack and separation. Breaking it down helps me see it all more clearly. This is also why it’s important for me to look at all the different areas of wellness. They are all a part of wellness, but breaking them down helps me to see each area a little more clearly. I might be feeding one area constant love, abundance, and peace, but then in another area I’m still connecting my energy to fear, lack, and separation, which is why if something coming from that area triggers me, I might slip into the energy of fear, lack, and separation fully and go down a negative spiral.

Doing this can sometimes bring up some stuff that I was avoiding looking at. When that happens, I remind myself that I’m looking at this through a lens of perspective. I can change any perspective that is not serving my highest good. If I have trouble seeing a healthy perspective, I go in search of it. I may search out Ted Talks, Byron Katie’s work, YouTube videos, and/or read books and articles to help me move out an old belief that is not serving me in a productive way. The healthier I am body, mind, and soul, the more I get to serve others from a loving place. That is what makes all this work worth it!

With Love, Abundance, and Peace,

©Rachael Wolff 2021

Author of Letters from a Better Me: How Becoming an Empowered Woman Transforms the World (Available in audio, ebook, and paperback from most major online book retailers)—click on title for more information