September 2023                     

 

Dear Kaibigan,

The Giving Well turns TWO this month!! Happy birthday and birth month to our fellow September babies!

We dedicate each September to spiritual wellness because we use our birthday to reflect on how we’ve lived over the past year, the relationships we have, the ways we’ve cared for our health, and how parts of our life collectively add to our sense of joy and fulfillment as humans.

The spiritual wellness dimension is a broad concept that represents one’s personal beliefs and values. It involves recognizing our search for meaning and purpose in human existence and developing an appreciation for life and the natural forces that exist in the universe.

Laura and my conversations with one another and with you this past year have primarily centered on two topics – our relationship to ourselves and having purpose and a sense of balance in how we live. Essentially, how we live in alignment with our values while being compassionate towards nature, ourselves and others.

These year-long talks and the principles interwoven in our various offerings to you have homed in on self-care as being a basic right we have as people, not a ‘thing’ we have to earn or be permitted to do. Self-care, or caring for oneself, in my strong opinion, is a necessity to prevent discomfort, to manage the impacts of stress, and to maintain a hopeful mindset about our situation and ourselves. Self-care activities can look like being kind to ourselves and others, recognizing when we’re tired or are being negatively affected at work and in a relationship, not imitating what we see on social media or in the media without first considering how it makes sense for us and our situation, practicing gratitude, and connecting with supportive individuals such as our community elders and loved ones.

Laura and I organically established that The Giving Well’s ethos in practice and what we’ve been instilling in you through self-care over the past two years have been about what we coin as “wellness-centered living”.

We define Wellness-Centered Living © as –

A lifestyle framework that integrates multidimensional wellness principles and:

· Cultivates benevolence, empathy and compassion towards oneself, cultural diversity and humanity;

· Supports one's long-term pursuits;

· Prepares one for longevity using one's unique abilities and ambitions; and 

· Guides behaviors and decision-making that equally values one's wellness health and that of their community by not destroying others and things around them.

Part of wellness-centered living is making hard yet doable choices that are salient to you and pairs with your current capacity – intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual. For instance, some days you’ll want to and be able to say yes to certain ideas that come your way. Other days you’ll want to yet not have the resources, motivation or willingness to say yes. Or you truly aren’t in agreement with an idea and won’t go along with it. It’s your right to say, “not today”, “I don’t have the capacity”, “I don’t want to”, or in another respectful way to say “no, thank you”.

Keep in mind, that wellness-centered living “cultivates benevolence, empathy and compassion towards oneself, cultural diversity and humanity”. Preserving your energy by kindly saying no when you don’t have capacity is practicing wellness-centered living because you’re empathizing with what you need in that moment while also doing no harm to others or your community by committing to a request or idea that you may likely not hold as valuable. You may inadvertently feel resentful towards them or not put in your best effort should you go along with an idea that you don’t respect. 

I want you to have trusting relationships, make daily choices that add meaning, participate in your community as your authentic self, and behave in ways that affirm your beautiful existence. Wellness-centered living is the manner in how you do so. There will be moments when you must end a relationship to someone or an entity due to toxicity and burning of trust. Wellness-centered living is the manner in how you can heal your heart and wellbeing. You will have to look at your behavior and be sincere about your contributions to a given situation or how you are treating yourself and others. You will have to edit specific habits, be they from trauma or naivete, because they are barriers to goals or dreams. Wellness-centered living is the manner in how you can continue to evolve with courageous humility.

 

Our pasalubong for this month is a collection of activities to practice wellness-centered living, a conscientious lifestyle to enhance your spirituality and how you show up in your life and relationships with humility:

•  List the ways you can have fun on your own and with others.

• List the positive thoughts you had about yourself this past week or month. Return to these thoughts during stressful or emotionally challenging times.

• List the encouraging statements you said to yourself this past week. List the encouraging phrases you said to someone else.

• Choose one person from your friendships with whom you would like to spend time over the next week and make plans to do so today.

• Decide on a co-worker or non-personal associate to be the recipient of your act of kindness this week. Repeat this each week by choosing a new person. How will you be kind to them?

  • Will you volunteer to take on a task from them?

  • Will you stop talking badly about them behind their back...even just for this week?

  • Will you bring them a snack or share lunch together?

  • Will you show interest in them by asking about their favorite show, sport or musician?

  • Will you point out one thing you appreciate about them or their contributions?

• Pick a family member who doesn’t live with you and choose to connect with them over a call, mailing a greeting card, or sending an e-card. Go beyond sending text messages and liking their social media posts.

• Record at least 2 ways you can save money or spend less in the next 14 days to lessen financial stress and keep you on track towards responsible spending and financial resiliency. Tell your plan to a loved one or trusted person to help keep you honest in following through with your ideas.

• Spirituality is personal to each of us. It includes the belief that there is something beyond us. Describe your definition of your spirituality or spiritual wellness. What’s one way you can apply your spirituality in how you interact with your neighbors, community and nature?  

• Think on how your birthday moves you to reflect on what you’ve done, your aspirations, your degree of contentment, and your connections in this world and beyond. Share with The Giving Well community your birthday reflections story here.

• List the choices you have made in the last 30 days that line up with the definition of wellness-centered living.

• List at least 3 ways you can rest and recharge during the next 7 days. Repeat every 7 days for 6 weeks to make these choices a habit.

  • Will you dedicate 1 hour each day to no screen time?

  • Will you take 15-20 minutes to nap or do a mindfulness exercise?

  • Will you do stretching exercises to loosen tight muscles?

  • Will you eat a meal outdoors in your yard, a local park or another area where you’ll be surrounded by trees and plants?

  • Will you only spend time, take calls or respond to messages from people who uplift you rather than choosing to be drained by negative social interactions?

 

Again, wellness-centered living is a lifestyle framework that is rooted in the principles of our 10 wellness dimensions and holds your and everyone else’s wellbeing equally valuable. In other words, each of us are innately deserving of respect, compassion and care. Our daily actions need to reinforce this notion.

Laura and I plan to encourage your wellness-centered living during this next year by continuing to focus on self-care and your relationship with yourself, along with friendships. I’m excited to hear your stories and for you to have loving relationships. I hope that our upcoming wellness assortments will be emboldening and comforting additions in your life.

 

Supporting your longevity and ambitions,

Angel