Wellness is being fit, healthy and fulfilled in all

aspects of your life, here's why it's REALLY important.

Wellness is beyond good enough, or not sick, it's optimal health , progress and growth in all aspects of oneself and their relationships.

It's not characterized by comfort, or a static state. It's a dynamic, progressive and changing. It includes effort and healthy discomfort both physically and mentally.

Wellness is expansion, growth and progress in ones physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social life.

It's also been described as "the constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest potential."

One day in 2002 I was shopping at Costco in Calgary and made my usual stop to check out the books. I saw a book called Body for Life, and the cover sheet had small photos of dozens of people with awesome bodies.

Excited to see if I could get a body like that I bought the book and followed it's advice. Sure enough over time I had a body like the people on the cover.

At 35 I had my first 8 pack abs!! Yes I said 8 pack because with enough definition you see eight abdominal muscles, not six.

On top of that I had a been promoted to the prepress department in the printing factory I worked at, with regular raises, great work conditions and a high salary cap.

I was certainly fit, strong, and looking good financially so my life must have been awesome right?

Not exactly, I had something closer to the body I'd always wanted, but I hated my job, didn't get along with my co-workers, had no social life to speak of and was only happy about my body, but nothing else in my life.

Even though I had 180 days a year off I piddled virtually all of them away doing nothing that progressed my life. I was fit, physically healthy, and had cash, but I wasn't WELL.

Jump forward to today, December 29, 2009 to be exact.

I like my job teaching English as a Second Language in Osaka Japan.

I work an average of 12 to 15 hours a week making a modest amount above subsistence income, but it's a good thing because it's intentional.

I use the majority of my free time to develop my two businesses I'm absolutely passionate about.

Eventually they will replace my teaching, at which point I'll LOVE my jobs.

I'm happy about my life and fulfilled at least 90% of the time. Any emotional upheavals I have are now opportunities to grow rather than crises to dread.

I started a weekly mastermind group where friends and I put our heads together to find solutions to any personal or career goals or challenges.

The best thing about the group is the mental benefit of being around positive solution oriented people who are truly interested in helping each other. We all make weekly progress toward our goals.

Finally I have a regular and active social life filled with quality positive people.

In a word I'm well.

What's the difference? what changed? lots.

Virtually all the positive events came from a few specific changes I made which led to my wellness and it's continuous improvement.

The changes started with a single personal tragedy that I will detail later on the self improvement page.

At first the changes where slow and gradual, but I could see something was changing.

Shortly after I arrived in Japan the changes became turbo charged by meeting the right people with the right beliefs.

The main things that change for me to go from basically depressed and hating life to "If I die tomorrow, I'd die happy" were:

1) Progress – regularly practicing something that takes effort with progress as the main goal. A sense of progress is one of the most fundamental components of mental wellness. "Rolling stones gather no moss."

2) Growth – this is similar to, but not the same as progress, growth is getting better at something.

It's progress in the direction of improving yourself.

Making progress at juggling is cool, but in itself isn't growth of you as a person.

3) Regular activity toward a goal - is taking specific regular actions that lead you toward something specific and ultimately attainable.

Goals without action are dreams. The sense of progressing toward a goal, and eventually achieving it does wonders for your mental and emotional wellness.

Depending on what the goal (competing in a martial arts tournament, running a four minute mile or losing 20 pounds of fat) it could enhance you physical wellness too.

4) Finally, establishing beliefs and habits of thinking that support my goals, and eliminating those that don't.

I've put this topic under Yoga because of it's astounding wisdom in the area of wellness and approaching it holistically.

Wellness includes mental, spiritual, and physical aspects which you can think of as:

Mental – the intellectual exercise and growth of the brain and mind which are inseparable from each other, and from the body.

Mental wellness includes what you consistently think and your perspective, especially in bad circumstances.

Spiritual – isn't necessarily religious, but about a sense of meaningfulness in your life, or a “higher purpose” beyond the daily necessities.

I include emotional well being here because a sense of happiness and fulfillment doesn't come from the logical parts of your brain. Emotional wellness is virtually the same as spiritual wellness in this case.

Physical – this is the focus of this website “physical fitness”, and how to get and maintain physical health and fitness.

Here's the trick, the three can't truly be separated.

Regular cardiovascular exercise has been shown to have a comparable effect as taking a prescription antidepressant.

True, I was physically fit without being happy, but even then I felt emotionally better than when I wasn't exercising.

Unfortunately my mental and spiritual/emotional fitness was terrible and undid much of the mood elevating benefits of my regular exercise.

This is where yoga is brilliant, it has long recognized the false separation of mind, body and emotions.

Yoga has mental, physical and breathing exercises to promote all types of wellness.

Pranayama – are breathing techniques which produce benefits for regaining or improving wellness of mind, body and spirit.

There are numerous meditation and visualization exercises to improve all three aspects of wellness.

The better known Asana's or postures obviously have physical benefits, but many are described as having specific mental and emotional benefits also.

I have MUCH research to do before I can properly refer to specific techniques, but I will add techniques, links and information in the Yoga or Self Improvement sections as I research it further.

Below are some down to earth ways you can do immediately to improve any of the three aspects we've talked about.

Ways to promote your mental fitness are:

- learn ANYTHING new, our brain physically changes making new connections whenever we learn something new.

- practice and improve a mental skill you already have
- crosswords
- play games
- cards games that require mental calculation or strategy

Our brain is like our muscles, if we don't use them they get weak.

Improve your emotional fitness by:

Observing what makes you happy, smile or laugh.

Then intentionally do that stuff regularly, or to improve your mood when you need to.

Try some new beliefs, or frames of reference.

YES you CAN choose what you believe.

Even if it's just "I'm going to act as if I believed__________"

Changing and choosing beliefs is probably the single most significant method I've used to change my life.

If you want more money imagine or study what rich people believe.

You can always return to believing "Only lucky or dishonest people get rich" if you want.

BTW, Rich people tend to believe things like:

"There's always opportunities, you just have to find them.", and "I can do anything if I'm totally committed to it.";-)

Know thyself:

Pay attention to what your good personal tendencies are and make a habit of promoting them.

Also be aware of what your bad personal tendencies and work to prevent or diminish them.

Volunteer, teach someone something, help or mentor someone, smile just because you can, or when you see something that makes you smile, milk it for all it's worth.

Attend a spiritual or religious event if that's meaningful to you.

Meditate, it's a scientifically proven technique to enhance your mental and emotional state and reduce stress.

Physical – exercise, go for a walk instead of reaching for a caffeinated drink.

Go to the training section of this site for tips on how to get the most out of every minute of exercise.

Take the stairs, and walk to the store that's a block away.

Stop and dance to some music you like that's on the radio.

Find fun active stuff to do in your daily life.

Well being is a choice.

Put progress, growth, regular activity and your beliefs to work for you and you will transform you life.