Demystifying Wellness:

We started with 3 Ways to start practising wellness in your everyday life…

From there we broke down the difference between obligations and intentions.

Next, we will look at the difference between thinking and feeling and how it relates to the cultivation of personal wellness.

Thinking Versus Feeling

What we know, intellectually, is that in order to heal ourselves, we have to nurture our Mind, Body, and Spirit at once.

We know to treat ourselves with love, patience, and kindness; but do we know what it feels like?

In order to truly practice holistic wellness a shift has to occur where we take what we have learned from our thinking selves, and through the active application, demonstrate or teach our feeling selves.

Thinking

Thinking, in this case, means we are exercising or demonstrating a rational, logical, understanding of knowledge.

The basis for this kind of thinking is empirical or evidence-based and is often bolstered by research, statistics, and “facts”.

When we read, our minds learn and retain information in our logical, intellectual mind.

A process of communication between the feeling and emotional brain that allows us to place the information in a greater context and engage in relational thinking.

Feeling

Feeling is another kind of thinking, it is our emotional, intuitive, instinctual understanding or knowledge. Relational thinking and contextualization enable us to process the information in a holistic way. This creates an imprint in our minds and makes an emotional impression.

Relational thinking and contextualization enable us to process the information in a holistic way. This creates an imprint in our minds and makes an emotional impression.

If we make a habit of noting the sensations and feelings that accompany information, we can teach ourselves to feel wellness through repetitive practice.

The cultivation of the feeling of wellness, or the feeling of balance, will perpetuate itself with continual practice so that when we relapse or return to unhealthy habits, we can return to that feeling more easily.

For more on habits…

Our Muscles, Brains, and even our Spirits remember…

When we practice anything for prolonged periods of time all aspects of our Being remember the actions, thoughts and feelings creating a sort of pathway.

Body

If we practice yoga, for instance, for 60 days straight, our bodies learn the movements and sensations and will remember them. That is why, when we return to yoga after abandoning our practice, our bodies still know the way to move.

Muscle memory is the most common example of this. That’s where the sayings about riding a bike come from. We develop reflexes that are ingrained in us, even when we fall out of practice.

Even the word “reflex” comes from “reflection” which is to look backwards or to remember something. Reflection implies a kind of retention.

We not only learn we retain.

Emotions

Our emotions are the same. If we spend a lot of time with a troubling emotion or reaction, we create a neurological pathway in our minds making it more likely that we will return to that thought the next time a similar situation arises.

These neurological pathways can be rerouted but depending on how many times you have followed a thought, it can be hard not to follow it again especially in times of high stress or intense emotions.

Spirit

Spiritually, we remember the connective ecstasy or elation we experience and this memory creates a longing in us to recreate that sensation.

The major difference between spiritual memory and the others is that it is the least intelligible of the three. Retention of Spirit is not as predictable as is it with the others because Spiritual cause and effect are more ambiguous.

The remembrance of spiritual connection and elation creates a longing for further experiences. We long for a return. 

Longing is instructed by the development of mental and physical wellness. In essence, the Spirit learns from the emotions and sensations and is indirectly informed by the intellect.

Which is why we can observe our bodies and minds in the first place, the Spirit is like a third person witness to the self.