When It Comes to Your Well-Being, What’s the Next Message You Need?
Have you ever had an “aha moment” about your well-being?
If so, what did it look like? How did it impact your life?
For me, it was more of an enthusiastic stumbling rather than a definitive moment of clarity. My awareness and appreciation of health and well-being was something that evolved and deepened over the years, taking many forms, as I journeyed from injury recovery to finding relief from mental and emotional stress. Except for recovering from my shoulder injury, I wasn’t actively pursuing a state of well-being. Honestly, I’m not sure I even knew what that meant or had the awareness to know what I needed. It wasn’t until I explored different practices that I discovered there were different “being states” that included having greater mental clarity, calmness, inner peace, emotional balance, contentment, and so much more.
Three invaluable lessons I learned along my well-being path.
American spiritual teacher, psychologist and best-selling author Ram Dass wisely said, “The next message you need is always right where you are.” Three key messages I learned along my well-being path are:
Learning a new practice or a new "way of being" takes time and an open mind. Immersing yourself into a practice and letting go of preconceived notions is a process that takes time. As my journey continued, it took less time to let go of concepts and enter each new well-being practice with more of a beginner’s mindset. I was curious, accepting of new ideas, inspired to learn, and open to possibilities.
We don’t know what we don’t know. I can't stress the following points enough. Please always be gentle, patient, compassionate, and non-nonjudgmental with yourself. Learn to trust your inner heart and its guidance. And remember, whatever wellness journey or challenge you are facing is a vital magnet that’s drawing you to the exact wisdom you need in that moment.
There are parts within us that don’t want to experience well-being. Confusing as it may sound, we all have these conscious and unconscious parts within us that try to knock us off course. Masters of camouflage and self-sabotage, these parts constantly use all kinds of tactics. They can be convincingly loud and stubborn, cleverly distracting full of excuses and complaints...and more! Recognizing, accepting and healing these parts is part of the well-being journey.
Unlocking my personal puzzle of well-being.
I’m grateful for all my teachers who shared their practices with me. Through this exploration, I was able to form an experiential “felt understanding” of well-being and its personal significance for me. Each path I ventured down seemed to lead me to the next door and deeper realizations. It’s as if each puzzle piece was perfectly laid out for me to discover until one day I could see the whole picture with the specific elements that unlocked well-being for me. Ram Dass was right. The next message I needed was exactly where I was!
Where are you in your well-being journey? Let me know and let's decipher the messages that have shown up in your path.