Dear <<First Name>>;

A couple very cool things have happened in the last month. First, I offered my teleseminar Creating Internal Harmony last week, and I’m celebrating how it went and the feedback I received from it. (If you want to listen to the recording, go here, and check out the course I’m offering on the topic at a rock-bottom price! See the sidebar for more information).

I also went to a weekend training where I met a lot of awesome folks, all dedicated in one way or another to helping people live better lives. My excitement about both of these—and the increase in wellbeing I felt from them—inspired me to write this month’s article on our overall wellness. 
    

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Healthy Habit: Assess Your Overall Wellbeing (and Take Steps to Improve It!)

by Julie Stiles

It intuitively makes sense that the more we create balance in our lives among all aspects of ourselves, the better off we will be. But does this concept have concrete implications for our health? It turns out that it does.
 
Gallup has been doing research for decades on wellbeing, and in 2005 began a global research study that continues today. Wellbeing is defined as more than just happiness, it is “about the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities. Most importantly, it’s about how these five elements interact.” Thus, they distinguish five dimensions of wellbeing: career, social, financial, physical, and community.
 
Their research shows that the more dimensions of wellbeing a person is thriving in, the less disease burden they have, or the less likelihood that they will develop a new disease or have a recurrence of a previous one. The cost of not thriving is significant; research finds a 60% difference in annual disease burden cost between people who are thriving in all five dimensions of wellbeing versus people who are thriving in none of the dimensions.
 
It makes good sense, then, to regularly assess where you stand in each of the areas of wellbeing, and take steps to increase it if you find an area in which you feel less than satisfied. Long-term financial, health, and overall quality of life benefits result from making sure we are thriving in as many dimensions as possible. Let’s take a look at each area.
 
Career Wellbeing
Do you enjoy what you do each day? Gallup defines career wellbeing broadly; it is simply how you spend your time on a daily basis. A stay-at-home mom and a corporate office worker spend their time very differently, yet both can either be thriving in their career wellbeing or unhappy. How satisfied do you feel with how you occupy your time? Are there changes, even small ones, that you could make to increase your satisfaction in this area?

Social Wellbeing
This dimension refers to whether you have strong relationships and love in your life. Again, your own satisfaction is based less on what others think you have or don’t have and what you think about it. Whether you have a partner or are single, how do you feel about that? Whether you have lots of acquaintances or only a few close friends, does that provide what you need? See if anything comes to mind that you would like in this area to increase your wellbeing.
 
Financial Wellbeing
How well do you manage your economic life? This one can be difficult for a lot of people, particularly if you weren’t taught well how to effectively manage finances and find yourself in debt. If this is an area you struggle with, there are plenty of resources where you can find help, from low- or no-cost classes to hiring a financial advisor. What might you do to increase your financial wellbeing?
 
Physical Wellbeing
Are you healthy, and find that you have enough energy to get through your day without resorting to artificial means? This dimension, of course, is influenced by everything from how and what we eat to our exercise to our physical environment. Not having enough energy to get through the day can be a warning sign that we need to make a change before we get to the point of losing our health. Most of us have at least a few things we know we could do to improve this area. What are yours?
 
Community Wellbeing
How engaged do you feel with your community or the area in which you live? This is another dimension that we might overlook, especially if we feel maxed out between our career, social, and home life. If this is an area you have not paid attention to, think about in what way you could contribute to your community that would feel the most exciting to you. What small step could you take toward making that happen?
 
These five do not cover every possible area of our lives, but they provide a good starting point for reviewing how you feel about different dimensions and whether you want to make any changes. What small step can you take in the next week to increase your wellbeing in one of these areas? Remember, taking that step is good for your health!
 

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EWG Dirty Dozen

The Environmental Working Group has released the 2011 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce. How do your favorite fruits and vegetables stack up? Apples, strawberries, asparagus, blueberries, avocado, watermelon, celery, and onions all show up on either the Dirty Dozen or Clean 15 lists, but I'll let you look up which list they are on! You can download the guide here.

Here's how I think of these lists. The Dirty Dozen—produce with the highest levels of pesticides—are the ones I want to buy organic if at all possible. The Clean 15—produce with the lowest pesticide levels—are where I can save some money and buy conventional. There is one exception for me though; corn appears on the Clean 15 list, but buying non-organic corn means most likely buying genetically modified corn, so I move corn to the dirty list.

And if your favorite doesn't appear on one of the two lists? Check out the complete list of 53 fruits and vegetables here and see where it appears!