By prioritising Wellness, we ensure our personal needs are being met and we feel our best. This in turn greatly increases our chances of realising our ambitions.
When we are busy working hard to achieve our goals, we can become so focussed on the end result that self-care gets forgotten. At these times Wellness can feel like an extravagance or an additional chore, but this is precisely when we must ensure it remains a priority. When we burn the candle at both ends, it’s vital that we replenish our energy levels to maintain our endurance for life and everything it has to offer!
Wellness can be practised in many ways and there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach. Some people can’t live without yoga, some swear by meditation, others rely on regular exercise. Even the most time-pressed of us can find creative ways of incorporating it into our schedules – and we don’t need to commit to hours; ten minutes every day can be just as effective and make a real difference. The key is to make it regular and a priority.
Here are five ways Wellness actively helps us achieve our goals:
1. Embrace intuition for enhanced clarity
Our intuition is a valuable but often an overlooked resource. By prioritising Wellness, we allow ourselves to become more in touch with our inner voice. With the pace of life ever increasing and with incredible advances in science and technology, our intuition has been reduced to little more than a remnant of our childhoods. Through Wellness practises, we can rekindle that connection with ourselves and harness the energy that comes from trusting our instincts. Learning to listen to our inner voice can bring a clarity of mind that can be applied to many aspects of our lives – decision making becomes easier, as does spotting our true supporters from those who are toxic. When we take back trust in ourselves, we can enjoy an extra boost of confidence too.
2. Increase endurance and productivity
When we invest time in daily Wellness practices, our stamina for focused and effective work increases. We will notice that we are able sustain clear thinking for longer periods and our productivity will get a boost, meaning that we achieve more in our time spent at work – think quality over quantity! Another factor that has a significant impact upon daily productivity (but one which can be a bit of a sensitive subject) is alcohol consumption! When we drink more than we should, our bodies grapple with the effects for days afterwards, so on a regular basis this will clearly impact upon our ability to achieve our goals. If we are really serious about realising our ambitions, it might be worthwhile taking a look at our alcohol intake, to see if there’s scope to cut back – it could help bring your goals just that little bit closer.
3. A healthy gut equals a healthy mind
The link between the gut and the brain is becoming increasingly understood, with studies showing that gut health actually influences mental health. In fact, it has been proven that our gut contains as many neurones as a cat or dog’s brain! No wonder it’s frequently referred to as our “second brain”. We can look after our mental health as part of our daily Wellness routine, by ensuring our gut is well fed. We can do this by limiting our consumption of processed foods and refined sugars and opting instead for a diet rich in wholefoods.
Boost beneficial bacteria levels by avoiding unnecessary antibiotics and regularly eating fermented and cultured foods – this will ensure your gut biome is optimised to support your mental health.
4. Improve focus with better sleep and meditation
The importance of getting enough sleep cannot be overemphasised (yes, we are saying it again)! It has been proven that good quality sleep is essential to performing at our best, across all areas of our lives. Simple as this sounds, it's not always easy to achieve. A good way to help things along is to set aside a couple of evenings each week to relax at home and get to bed at a sensible time. Additionally, meditation can be a valuable tool for improving decision making - why not try ten minutes before bed to promote relaxation, or first thing in the morning, to focus your mind? Insight Timer App and Meditation Podcasts are brilliant free resources to start your meditation journey.
5. Increase your longevity for long term success
Sometimes our goals are long term aims which may take years to achieve. Therefore it’s important to maintain our wellbeing daily, so that our achievements haven't been met at the expense of our health.
It's been proven that long term stress causes a variety of health issues such as heart attacks, type two diabetes and other serious conditions. Worryingly these conditions tend to appear later in life, often when it is too late to help.
Prevention is far better than cure and by dedicating a little time each day to your Wellness, your health and wellbeing will benefit now and in the long run.
When we're working towards our big, courageous goals, remember that we're also creating the life we want to live everyday. What will you do to keep yourself well today?
By Gemma Coldwell - Contributing editor
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