Wellness Within: Discovering Yourself
Wellness within is a series of steps into discovering your authentic self; in order to live your most healthiest life, you must be genuine to yourself.
One step that you may take in discovering your most authentic self is to reflect on your life socially.
Before chasing others for their approval of you for the sake of companionship, first you must do yourself the biggest favor by observing yourself.
Observing yourself from within may help you understand who you are as an individual rather than within a group context. Eventually you may reflect upon who you are within a group but first take a moment to identify yourself.
From the fresh age of just two years old, we wander & experiment; we look to our caregivers within a controlled environment and observe other children. Eventually, we decide with whom we are friends with by elementary school by following common interests whether it is from popular culture or cartoons or whatever your preferences are. However, by the time we reach the age of puberty, when our bodies change we may either remain with the same group of friends or seek others to be friends with. Once we get to High School, the same thing occurs and so it does eventually in University or College.
As social beings we long for acceptance from others just as we have thousands of years ago as nomads when survival of the fittest was the way of life. Now that we live in a structured society we must understand that socially we have to reflect within who we are as a person despite how we were raised, what our socio-economic status is, etc...
So now, taking a look at your journal, begin to examine yourself:
• What kind of food do I enjoy the most?
• What are my interests?
• What are my hobbies?
• What are my habits?
• What are some things that I'd like to change about myself?
• What do I see in others (find specific characteristics that you admire from your inner circle or anyone that inspires you to view the world from a perspective that is different from yours but helps you understand yourself better).
For example, Anna enjoyed reading books by Anne Rice and Stephen King, she was an introvert & could not stand socializing. Each weekend Anna would browse through the library to look for new books within her genre. While browsing she had noticed a sign on the bookshelf that had said Book Club Wednesday Evenings. Although Anna could not attend the Book Club in person, she had decided to send her colleague who is equally a bibliophile a message through social message. She had asked Lauren if she could participate in the book exchange she had been running. The book exchange was a fun project Lauren came up with after networking with other social workers during meetings, seminars & trainings across the country. Anna received random books each month as chosen by an anonymous sender within the group. Once you were done reading the book, within a group chat--you would share a review & then the sender would to decide whether or not to identify themselves.
Eventually, the readers were all given the option to read a book of someone else's choice, from their own perspective, something that made them feel good.
Whatever makes you feel good may not make others feel good.
For example, if you love every sushi--that does not mean that your friend will love sashimi--not everyone enjoys raw fish. The same applies to everything else in life--whatever works for you may not be suitable for anyone or everyone else.
However, finding that others may have a common interest also does not mean that they are identical to you.
Each of us has our own preference, maybe Lauren doesn't like Sushi at all, she loves romantic genres... but not just any romance... she enjoys science fiction romance. Where an alien falls in love with a regular man and now he is responsible for saving all of humanity without discriminating that all aliens want to destroy humanity and watch the world decay with death and destruction.Lauren may enjoy this while eating vegan & gluten free pizza.
Never be ashamed of what your preferences are.
So long as you are not hurting others with your individualism, do not let that harm others.
For example, maybe Lauren's preference of books may offend Jessica who grew up Christian, this book is not suitable for her. That does not mean that Jessica is now forced to read the book--she decides what her preferences are. Without offending Lauren, Jessica can politely let Lauren know that she is not used to such books & that the book makes her feel very uncomfortable.This brings respect within the group context.
Be yourself & you'll Love yourself.
x Amela Sandra
One step that you may take in discovering your most authentic self is to reflect on your life socially.
Before chasing others for their approval of you for the sake of companionship, first you must do yourself the biggest favor by observing yourself.
Observing yourself from within may help you understand who you are as an individual rather than within a group context. Eventually you may reflect upon who you are within a group but first take a moment to identify yourself.
From the fresh age of just two years old, we wander & experiment; we look to our caregivers within a controlled environment and observe other children. Eventually, we decide with whom we are friends with by elementary school by following common interests whether it is from popular culture or cartoons or whatever your preferences are. However, by the time we reach the age of puberty, when our bodies change we may either remain with the same group of friends or seek others to be friends with. Once we get to High School, the same thing occurs and so it does eventually in University or College.
As social beings we long for acceptance from others just as we have thousands of years ago as nomads when survival of the fittest was the way of life. Now that we live in a structured society we must understand that socially we have to reflect within who we are as a person despite how we were raised, what our socio-economic status is, etc...
So now, taking a look at your journal, begin to examine yourself:
• What kind of food do I enjoy the most?
• What are my interests?
• What are my hobbies?
• What are my habits?
• What are some things that I'd like to change about myself?
• What do I see in others (find specific characteristics that you admire from your inner circle or anyone that inspires you to view the world from a perspective that is different from yours but helps you understand yourself better).
For example, Anna enjoyed reading books by Anne Rice and Stephen King, she was an introvert & could not stand socializing. Each weekend Anna would browse through the library to look for new books within her genre. While browsing she had noticed a sign on the bookshelf that had said Book Club Wednesday Evenings. Although Anna could not attend the Book Club in person, she had decided to send her colleague who is equally a bibliophile a message through social message. She had asked Lauren if she could participate in the book exchange she had been running. The book exchange was a fun project Lauren came up with after networking with other social workers during meetings, seminars & trainings across the country. Anna received random books each month as chosen by an anonymous sender within the group. Once you were done reading the book, within a group chat--you would share a review & then the sender would to decide whether or not to identify themselves.
Eventually, the readers were all given the option to read a book of someone else's choice, from their own perspective, something that made them feel good.
Whatever makes you feel good may not make others feel good.
For example, if you love every sushi--that does not mean that your friend will love sashimi--not everyone enjoys raw fish. The same applies to everything else in life--whatever works for you may not be suitable for anyone or everyone else.
However, finding that others may have a common interest also does not mean that they are identical to you.
Each of us has our own preference, maybe Lauren doesn't like Sushi at all, she loves romantic genres... but not just any romance... she enjoys science fiction romance. Where an alien falls in love with a regular man and now he is responsible for saving all of humanity without discriminating that all aliens want to destroy humanity and watch the world decay with death and destruction.Lauren may enjoy this while eating vegan & gluten free pizza.
Never be ashamed of what your preferences are.
So long as you are not hurting others with your individualism, do not let that harm others.
For example, maybe Lauren's preference of books may offend Jessica who grew up Christian, this book is not suitable for her. That does not mean that Jessica is now forced to read the book--she decides what her preferences are. Without offending Lauren, Jessica can politely let Lauren know that she is not used to such books & that the book makes her feel very uncomfortable.This brings respect within the group context.
Be yourself & you'll Love yourself.
x Amela Sandra
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