Written by Brenley Cunningham
It’s important to understand that living a full and healthy life isn’t exactly a simple process; that’s because the steps to truly living better aren’t linear. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of living your best possible life, it’s essential to take an integrative approach. This also means it’s important to understand how the three key pillars of health – mind, body and soul – impact your overall wellbeing.
The Mind
Your mind is responsible for everything you do in a day. The first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is think. Before you get up to have a snack or exercise, your brain decides what you’re going to eat or how you’re going to work out. You use your brain more than any other muscle in the body – which means it’s an imperative piece of the puzzle when it comes to health and wellness.
Your mindset is essential to building a foundation for achieving your goals. The mind, much like the body, also requires maintenance in order to keep it strong. This means things like setting daily intentions, establishing positive affirmations, and being grateful to yourself for what you do each day, all play a huge part in ensuring your long-term success.
The Body
We all know that exercise is extremely important. Regular exercise not only affects how you look, but it reduces inflammation and risk for chronic disease, improves mental state, and more. It is important, however, to recognize that exercising the body is more than just training hard: it’s training smart.
Everybody is different, and what works for one person might not work for someone else. Just because one person loves their 90-minute at-home workout session, doesn’t mean you will. Living your best life means optimizing how you choose to move your body, and being mindful when you need to take a step back. It doesn’t mean dreading your next workout, but finding the workout that works best for you based on your individual needs.
When you match your exercise plans to your specific goals, not only does your body benefit, but it also directly impacts the mind. For example, if you enjoy your morning runs, completing that last mile won’t only make you sweat, it’ll clear your head and improve your mood, thus positively reinforcing your mindset.
The Soul
To ultimately achieve a balanced approach to health and wellness, it’s imperative to acknowledge the importance of the feeling you get when your soul is truly happy. While the mind and the body are relatively easy to address, the soul can be a bit more challenging – as living your best life in your soul is a feeling, rather than an action.
The number one thing that has the biggest influence on how you truly feel is community. When you have a group of individuals around you (even virtually) who lift you up, empower you, and who keep you connected to yourself and to your goals, you are able to better connect with your soul on a deeper level. This in turn fuels your mind and your body, and ultimately completes the pillars of wellness.
