Physical mental emotional health wheel4/19/2024 ![]() ![]() Intellectual – refers to our creative outlets, ability to take on challenges that expand our knowledge and skills.Emotional – representing our psychological well-being, our ability to manage the challenges of life and feel fulfillment.Physical – representing our physical body, need for movement, nutrition and rest.These dimensions often include the following items: Most contain six to eight separate parts, representing the different dimensions of our lives. ![]() There have been many evolutions of the Wheel of Wellness, or Wellness Wheel. Then, you can reflect on how you got there, and where you want to be. As such, it is an excellent tool for creating awareness of where you are in the moment. The Wheel of Wellness provides a snapshot, or big picture view, of your current sense of balance, not a historical overview or road map to the future. All you need is a willingness to reflect honestly on your life and an openness to change. And, while it definitely will behoove the wellness professional, or even avid personal development enthusiast, to understand the psychological underpinnings of a wellness wheel activity, you do not need a degree or a professional to facilitate your understanding of this exercise. However, despite its academic origins, from a creative standpoint, its components feel rather intuitive to anyone who takes the time to pause and reflect on the areas of their life that contribute to feeling “whole” and balanced.Īccordingly, you can find varying perspectives on this original model all over the Internet. The theoretical model of the Wheel of Wellness was developed in the 1990’s, as a result of actual scientific research in the field of individual psychology, from which some characteristics emerged that correlated positively with health, quality of life, and longevity (Myers & Sweeney, 2004). It is a visual tool to prompt new awareness to challenges you may not be able to articulate, otherwise. This broader view can give you more information about which resources you need to recalibrate the imbalances in your life. like having acne, being overweight, anxiety or experiencing physical pain), the Wheel of Wellness might help you zoom out your lens and begin to see the interdependent parts of your life that manifest in those symptoms, or at the very least, contribute to their intensity and overall impact. If you find yourself identifying with a symptom (ie. As my awareness of holistic health and wellness expanded, it inspired some “inner work,” and shifts in my lifestyle that improved my unwanted symptoms and quality of life considerably. Systems generally need all parts to be functioning optimally to for the whole system to work most effectively. ![]() Thankfully, in the subsequent decade, or two, my evolution seems to have reconnected me with that inner knowing we all have, but often ignore, which is that our body is a system. Having never been given the framework of “wellness,” I felt there had to be an external fix that I had not found yet! Spoiler alert… there wasn’t! I would scan through the symptoms of a myriad of diseases, trying to find a solution to my chronic acne and weight gain. ![]() I will share some reflections on the insights it has prompted for me, both as a coach and a health-seeker, and how the Wheel of Wellness might help guide you on your wellness path.Īs a teenager, in the late 1980’s, before the Internet took hold, I remember spending hours in my room, immersed in a huge Mayo Clinic medical book. The evolution of our cultural awareness of the mind-body connection seems to be illustrated by the wheel of wellness, both giving us a metric for individual assessment, but also a collective overview of what we value in the pursuit of balance. Many personal development exercises have crossed my path at various times in my life, but it was not until I began my graduate studies, in health and wellness coaching, that I was more thoroughly introduced to this tool as a means of assessing individual wellness. If you have ever seen a wellness professional, or delved into the process of finding balance in your life, you probably have experience with some variation of the Wheel of Wellness, Wellness Wheel, or Wheel of Life exercise. ![]()
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