Whole-person health in practice – part two
Whole-person health in practice – part two
We’re working through a little series exploring ‘whole-person health’ (you can catch up on the introduction by clicking HERE). Last week we looked at the role of physical health / movement – how it impacts the other parts of our health ‘wholeness’, some practical suggestions / considerations and also some links to other resources that you might find interesting. If you missed that one, you can click HERE.
Just as a reminder, these are the five pillars of health that I believe we need to consider ensuring we are ‘whole-person healthy’:
- Physical health / movement
- Mental / psychological health
- Nutrition / fluid health
- Spiritual health / mindfulness
- Sleep health & rest
So, this week I want to share some practical thoughts, suggestions, prompts and resources for you to dig into some more detail around the next one on our list of these – mental / psychological health.
What is mental health?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is: “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in.” Mental health is one of the components of wellbeing or whole-person health, so we all have mental health. And as such, having good mental health really is a basic human right. A way to consider or gauge your mental health is to explore it as a continuum – we’re all on here somewhere on any given day.
It’s important to note that mental health and mental illness (clinical diagnosis) are different things and can co-exist together. For example, someone can have a mental health diagnosis but actually be functioning really well – they may have worked hard to establish formal / informal supports, have developed habits and practices that protect them from known triggers or challenges, attend regular therapy / support groups and perhaps take psychopharmacological medicines to provide a buffer.
Another way of looking at it to consider mental health as consisting of three partly overlapping dimensions of wellbeing:
- Emotional wellbeing – the presence of positive affect (emotions) / absence of negative affect (emotions), and perception of life satisfaction
- Psychological wellbeing – self-acceptance, positive relations with others, personal growth, purpose in life, sense of mastery and autonomy
- Social wellbeing – social acceptance, social actualisation, social contribution, social coherence and social integration
We could get fully stuck in some conceptual weeds here but the important thing to remember is that there are no absolutes and because it’s so important to be mindful of the nuances in these sorts of discussions we don’t want to equate mental illness (diagnoses) with not coping with life and having poor mental health. There is stigma associated with all of these areas that we really need to be working to eradicate.
Buffering or strengthening your mental health:
If we go back to that definition from the WHO, wellbeing becomes vital in supporting our mental health – it’s the thing that takes us from ‘floundering’ to ‘flourishing’. It was the work of Prof Seligman in the early 2010’s that created the concept of ‘positive psychology’ which is not as naff as it sounds. Essentially, he argued that flourishing – optimal human wellbeing – comes when we maximise the following five elements in our lives (‘PERMA’):
- Positive emotion – being able to take responsibility for our feelings with an emphasis on cultivating opportunities for pleasure, happiness, satisfaction, comfort and gratitude
- Engagement – being fully engaged in living a full life, being absorbed and connected to activities where we are in a state of flow
- Relationships – cultivating healthy connections with people who give us support, meaning and purpose in life
- Meaning – being a part of, and working towards something that’s bigger than ourselves (beyond material objects / wealth) helps us to live rich, full and meaningful lives
- Accomplishment – pursuing success, achievement / mastery of things can build self-esteem, self-efficacy and a sense of accomplishment – which are all important in hard times
Positive psychologists have found that the humans that flourish most, having often discovered their unique strengths (either because life forced them to know them, or because they went exploring to find them), and have used their strengths for a purpose that is bigger than themselves / for their own personal goals. Within this wellbeing theory, there are 24 strengths that underpin PERMA:
- Wisdom (creativity, curiosity, judgement, love of learning, perspective)
- Courage (bravery, perseverance, honesty, zest / enthusiasm)
- Humanity (love, kindness, social intelligence)
- Justice (teamwork, citizenship, fairness, leadership)
- Temperance (forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-control)
- Transcendence (appreciation of beauty and excellence, gratitude, hope, humour, spirituality)
If you want some help understanding your own personal strengths you could start here: https://www.viacharacter.org/ This free assessment can be a great starting place.
Resources:
- The Imperfects – The Academy of Imperfection with Ben Crowe
- The Imperfects – Ben Crowe (Pt. 1) ‘Meet your Inner Fan’
- The Imperfects – Ben Crowe (Pt. 2) ‘Now BE your Inner Fan’
- The Imperfects – Kemi Nekvapil – How to Live Life Without Apology
- Feel Better, Live More – Dr Rangan Chatterjee with Robin Sharma
- The Huberman Lab – The Science of Gratitude & How to Build and Gratitude Practice
- The Jordan Harbinger Show – Martin Seligman | Flourishing in an Uncertain Future
If you’d like somewhere to talk about aspects of your whole-person health, please get in touch with us: www.theabaker.com.au / hello@theabaker.com.au / 03 9077 8194.