What is wellness?

We have included What is Wellness? as a new category because there are so many dimensions to this topic. There are many approaches for understanding wellness and achieving it. There are a myriad of remedies to help attain an ongoing sense of well-being, fulfillment and wellness.

I'm going to start at the back with what wellness isn't. If someone is popping pills to hide physical symptoms, it's pretty obvious they are not living in a state of wellness. The same is true if they are on drugs to hide emotional pain.

What about someone who is healthy. They have no illness and no symptoms. They're not popping pills. Are they living in wellness? Not necessarily.

Wellness is not a state of non-illness. It is not the absence of symptoms. It is a positive state. My answer to what is wellness is this.

Wellness is living life to your full potential in harmony, in balance, in physical, emotional and spiritual health. It must take into account age and make-up, but can still be studied and assessed.

Interestingly, the term was coined by an astoundingly foresighted medical doctor, Dr. Halbert Dunn, in 1958. He titled his research paper "High Level Wellness for Man and Society." He believed that wellness was the next huge challenge for health care professionals. *

It is the conscious act of taking responsibility for your own well-being. It is a holistic state of health, balance, and connectedness that allows you to exercise your full potential. In this state we easily carry out our chosen path in life. We fulfill our responsibilities to ourselves and service to others with ease, contentment and joy. We meet, greet, and work with our highest destiny.

Yeah, it sounds like a tall order. Like most things that sound really huge, it is the process that matters most. Once on that path, the rewards are great and each challenge becomes a natural next step.

On our site you can find answers your questions about what is wellness and writing from experts on the topic. We discuss the 7 dimensions -- social, physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, occupational and environmental.

You can aso find natural remedies for each of the dimensions of wellness. We look forward to your input as well.

After all, we can support your choices, but the choosing is your own.
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* Dr. Dunn was chief of the National Office of Vital Statistics, of the U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington. His article was later published in the American Journal of Public Health.