During my coaching sessions or during a group training I always ask to my clients “What is wellbeing? What does it mean to you?”
It is fascinating to hear the answers I receive. They are so different, so varied and, sometime, unexpected, however, they can always be grouped into four elements:
- Having engaging and meaningful activities – work- sport- hobbies- being in flow
- Accessing inner resources to cope when things go wrong
- A sense of vitality/health/energy
- And in addition to these personal and internally focused elements, the importance of having supportive relationships and a sense of connection with others, a sense of belonging
Well-being can be defined as the essence of human experience – the purpose of human endeavor. Philosophical studies of wellbeing started with Aristotle thousands of years ago but in recent years the concept of well-being has moved to the real of science with much research done to understand what determines the quality of our experiences of life and what will enrich those experiences.
PERMA: Positive emotions -Engagement – Relationships – Meaning – Accomplishment
Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology, the science which studies the pursuit of happiness explains wellbeing with an acronym: PERMA
Positive emotions – Engagement (flow) – Relationships – Meaning (contributing to something higher than self) – Accomplishment.
When I work with busy professionals, entrepreneurs and corporate teams, I find that, in a professional contest, the above components of well-being can be populated in the following way:
Positive emotions: interest, joy and pride for the work we do, feeling serenity and safety in our work environment
Engagement/flow: participating in engaging and meaningful activities which make us feel competent and fulfilled
Relationships: feeling respected, cared, valued and inspired by our colleagues, our managers, our employees, our team, our clients
Accomplishment: being engaged, fulfilled and rewarded by and for the work we do
Meaning: being in alignment with the company ethos and mission
The facilitators
I think of vitality and resilience as two qualities which can be developed and that will act as facilitators for our wellbeing.
I consider vitality as the state of being strong, healthy (physically and mentally) and active, a state which brings optimal energy levels and positive mental attitude.
Resilience is the quality that allows us to cope when things go wrong and adapt to changes beyond our control. Resilience is the results of with being able to set boundaries, priorities, developing a creative and strategic thinking, tactical work and most importantly the ability to focus on the immediate: mindfulness.
Although these two qualities are crucial for our wellbeing, and always feature in the answers I receive, we often fail at giving them the attention they deserve and the preparation they need to develop and thrive. At best, we take them for granted, at worst we are not even aware that we might lack of them!
Take stock
This can happen as the result of being in the “no time” mindset or the “luxury” mindset.
“I am too busy to exercise” “I don’t have time to eat healthily” “taking time off is a luxury” “I can’t go to bed early, I have too much to do “etc. etc. and the list goes on and on.
Does the above sound familiar to you?
If it does I invite you to take 10 minutes to think …
(and please resist the default mode of thinking you are too busy to take 10 minutes to think about yourself…)
How is your own sense of vitality (how healthy do you feel, how much energy do you have, how alert and focused you are, how strong and fit do you feel, how well do you cope during a busy working day)?
How resilient are you (are you able to set boundaries, priorities, think creatively and strategically, are you mindful)?
Take stock of where you are and think of the areas that you need to improve.
You can use a questionnaire that I give to my clients to assess their current level of health/energy and vitality. If you wish to understand which aspects of your vitality need more attention, go ahead and take the test.
I hope this will be helpful to understand the steps you need to take towards your optimal vitality and health.
Wishing you the best health and vitality,
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