Spiritual Wellness: Honor that Which is Sacred, Meaningful and Purposeful:

The quality of loving-kindness is the fertile soil out of which an integrated spiritual life can grow. With a loving heart as the background, all that we attempt, all that we encounter, will open up and flow more easily.-Jack Kornfield

• Defining personally what really matters
• Embracing the notion of an Higher Being ordering the cosmos
• Finding a sense of meaning and purpose
• Using tools to cultivate a more intuitive approach to life (i.e. journaling, creating collages, meditation, prayer, spoetry in motion, etc.)

Emotional Wellness Acknowledging and Expressing Feelings

Every relational encounter brings us back to our core beliefs about love, loss, endings, beginnings, unfinished business, unlimited possibilities, closure and completion of life cycles. -Temille Porter

• Acknowledging areas of competency as well as growth edges
• Forming circles of trustworthy, honest and respectful friends
• Seeking the higher ground in conflicting situations
• Holding on to hope and optimistic in challenging circumstances

In Ancient Kemet (Egypt), Ptah refers to the divine source of all life, power, health and creations. Hotep means “satisfaction” and “peace”. Therefore, Ptahhotep means, “he who acts so that God is satisfied” (Asa Hilliard, pg. 97).

Employing clear, calm and grounding practices that nourish our hearts, enrich our minds, bodies, spirits and souls is a radical and compassionate act of loving kindness that begins inwardly and eventually extends outwardly.

To live, love and be well is a matter of choice and perspective. Wellness is a multi-dimensional and interactive continual process that can be summarized in the following 6 domains of intentional engagement towards enhanced quality of living:

Finally a study validates what I have been telling students and clients for the longest time: movement makes mind/body health much better! Rather than focusing on burning fat or altering shapes, a daily commitment to simply move, as scientists continue to confirm, will lead to an instant shift in mood.

According to a New York Times article (6/19/2010), Laura Blue writes that exercise “…not only relieves depressive symptoms, but appears to prevent them from recurring”.

Neuroscientist Phillip Holmes reports: “…that exercise is the more normal or natural condition, and that being sedentary is really the abnormal situation…”. This news article further asserts that: “Our brains simply may not be built for an environment without physical activity. Research has also suggested that exercise may be an effective treatment not just for depression, but also against related anxiety disorders and even substance dependence.” (Blue, 2010)