I recently tried out a new coaching identity – Wellbeing Architect. It was suggested to me by a mentor; he felt my approach was ALL about Wellbeing in the broadest sense, no matter who I was coaching.  This blog is part of clarifying this and giving you insights into my approach.

So, you want to feel good?

We all want to be healthy and feel a sense of comfort and ease in life; being calm and happy at home and at work. As much as we want it, at times it is difficult to maintain our wellbeing, and sometimes we need support. Life gets out of balance – we get out of balance.

As well as feeling good we want to achieve peak performance at work – focused and with abundant energy to deal with people and projects. When we are well, we are clear, and we make better decisions.

To ‘fire on all cylinders we need to consider not just our physical health but also our mental, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

Create a Wellbeing Blueprint for your Life

This is where coaching comes in. It can help you to design and create a template that, on a daily basis, allows you to build a life worth living. Wellbeing is not the same for everyone and the mix of what contributes to wellbeing can differ considerably. These are the cornerstones:

Mental/ Psychological Wellbeing

EWe have heard a great deal about mental health over the past year as the lockdowns have exacerbated certain conditions and highlighted a lack of support.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs the NHS ‘5 steps to mental wellbeing’ offer a great framework:

5 Steps to mental wellbeing

1. Connect with other people

Good relationships help you to build a sense of belonging and self-worth, they give you an opportunity to share positive experiences and provide emotional support and allow you to support others.

2. Be physically active

Being active is not only great for your physical health and fitness; evidence shows it can also improve your mental wellbeing by raising your self-esteem, helping you to set goals or challenges and achieve them, causing chemical changes in your body and brain which can help to positively change your mood

3. Learn new skills

Learning new skills and discovering new things can improve your mental wellbeing. It can boost self-confidence and raising self-esteem, help you to develop a sense of purpose and you can connect with others. You can get excited about learning something new.

4. Give to others

Acts of giving and kindness create positive feelings and a sense of reward, giving you a feeling of purpose and self-worth while helping you connect with other people.

5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness)

Paying more attention in the present moment or awareness is a vital part of our wellbeing. Not wallowing in the past or dashing off into the future but being present to your life – right here right now!

Read more about mindfulness, including steps you can take to be more mindful in your everyday life.

My 6th Point

Connecting with nature is vital for wellbeing there is so much written on this. Check out this great article here – How Does Nature Impact Our Wellbeing? And there are many books on nature therapy and the role nature plays in wellbeing.

Simply being outdoors changes our mood and can help us develop clarity. Many people reflect and plan when they walk. There is a fundamental benefit to being in nature – in woods, on a beach, in a park, on a mountain … anywhere. Take your shoes off and become grounded. If you can’t get outdoors much – get some potted plants; the smallest connection with nature makes a difference.

Physical health and wellbeing

Eating well, exercise, attending to any illnesses or symptoms immediately, and ensuring plenty of good sleep. All these are essential for wellbeing. Easier said than done I hear you say, but we can learn new habits that move us towards wellbeing.  Take a look at this short video on starting small and there are some great books on creating good habits such as Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Social Wellbeing 

This is a sense of belonging.  This can be to a community of any kind, and it can also be our ability to make a contribution to society through voluntary work or being involved in community groups. Dancing is the best form of social fun, and even now we can dance outdoors.

Emotional Wellbeing

Emotional intelligence and our ability to understand our own and others’ emotions and to be able to regulate our emotions can be learned and practiced. This gives us considerably more resilience and motivation in life and contributes to happiness and our ability to feel positive emotions such as love, joy, and compassion. 

This can be a general feeling of satisfaction with life, a sense of calm, and a balance with our emotions. It is of course linked to mental health – thoughts and feelings are deeply connected.

Emotional intelligence and our ability to understand our own and others’ emotions and to be able to regulate our emotions can be learned and practiced. This gives us considerably more resilience and motivation in life and contributes to happiness and our ability to feel positive emotions such as love, joy, and compassion. 

Check out this great page – https://www.unh.edu/health/emotional-wellness and find out about emotional intelligence

Spiritual Wellbeing 

This is often misunderstood as something esoteric and possibly religious. However, it is concerned with all the other aspects of wellbeing in a practical sense – it is concerned with our sense of purpose and enables us to develop motivation and a sense of people and calm. Developing spiritual wellbeing connects us to others and to the process of life; we can trust more and tune into our intuition.

The Bigger Picture

In Wales, we have the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act and this includes a global, ethical and all-encompassing approach to wellbeing.

The wellbeing of the earth matters to us all. Biodiversity, clean air, clean water – we all need these. I want environmental wellbeing so that our grandchildren and their children will inherit a healthy planet. Wellbeing is also being used in public policy as an indicator of social progress.

Coaching

My coaching takes an integrated, person-centred approach, and wellbeing is always considered alongside the other issues you bring to the process from your management and leadership roles, decision making, career change, life purpose, life balance … whatever. Changing mindset, exploring your limiting beliefs, developing new productive patterns and habits, getting rid of unhelpful ways of thinking and habits that do not contribute to your wellbeing are part of the coaching process.  

Programmes are tailor-made for you. Contact me now for a free discovery session – Zoom or a phone call – or a walk.