Well-being is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health, high life satisfaction, a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress.
Dr. Tchiki Davis, founder of The Berkeley Well-Being Institute, has divided well-being into five major types:
- Emotional Well-Being. The ability to practice stress-management and relaxation techniques, be resilient, boost self-love, and generate the emotions that lead to good feelings.
- Physical Well-Being. The ability to improve the functioning of your body through healthy living and good exercise habits.
- Social Well-Being. The ability to communicate, develop meaningful relationships with others, and maintain a support network that helps you overcome loneliness.
- Workplace Well-Being. The ability to pursue your interests, values, and life purpose in order to gain meaning, happiness, and enrichment professionally.
- Societal Well-Being. The ability to actively participate in a thriving community, culture, and environment.
You can increase your well-being in any (or all) of these areas by developing skills and practices. I will list a few in each area with links to learn more. Dr. Davis goes into more detail in an article at Psychology Today.
- Emotional Well-Being includes skills of positivity, the tendency to be optimistic and have a positive outlook on life, emotion regulation, the ability to affect one’s emotions, and mindfulness, the ability to stay present. When we have developed our emotional well-being, we feel calmer and happier in this moment.
- Physical Well-Being includes a healthy diet and exercise routine, along with getting enough good sleep. When we have developed our physical well-being, we feel strong, healthy, and more alive.
- Social Well-Being includes skills like gratitude, kindness, and communication. When we have developed our social well-being, we feel more meaningfully connected to others.
- Workplace Well-Being includesprofessionalskills, living our values, and work life balance. When we have developed workplace well-being, our work, and therefore each day, feels more meaningful.
- Societal Well-Being includes skills that make us feel interconnected with all things, skills like compassion, fairness, and kindness. When we cultivate societal well-being, we feel like we are a part of something bigger than just ourselves and live happily.
Developing any new skill takes time, patience, and persistence. Dr. Davis assures us that “the longer we’ve worked on strengthening our well-being skills, the easier it is to be resilient, take the actions needed to bounce back, and continue moving forward.”
Well-being is a lifelong process of assessment, adjustment, and balance. Looking over these categories, what area calls to you for improvement? What area “feels off”? What do you want to learn? Tiny, daily adjustments will make a big difference in the long run.
In your journal:
- Write about a challenging time. What was missing, what did you do about it, and what was the result?
- Write about something you are good at or pleased about. Did you develop that strength or were you born with it?
- Write about an area you would like to improve and how you might learn a skill and/or practice a new habit.