In Wellbeing: The Artfully Lived Life, we are working from Aristotle’s belief that “The whole is greater than the sum of its’ parts.” Most of us have heard of the “mind-body” theories about being healthy. However, even mind-body approaches leave out important concepts related to our well-being as individuals.
Although these problems may arise from a diverse variety of sources, our experience with clients has shown that developing and practicing skills in five areas of our psychological lives (thinking, emotional, social, physical, and wisdom) will significantly improve overall well-being.
The Tools for the Artist Within
The essential tools for the Wellbeing: Artfully Lived Life program are:
- Acceptance of imperfections and mistakes as you engage in activities and pursue goals that give your life meaning and purpose,
- Forgiveness toward yourself and others for imperfections and mistakes you make as you are moving forward fully engaged in the present moment,
- Self-compassion, kindness, compassion, and care toward yourself and others in your world as you refine your many abilities.
- A Commitment to intention and focused action, and courage even in the face of adversity, and,
- Gratitude for all things, including the gifts of difficulties and experiences, as we strive to learn and grow.
MindView Domains
There are five MindView Domains, each with distinct responsibilities for creating wellness. For each of the MindViews we teach specific skills and tools that will help the individual to be more effective and successful. The skills that you learn in one mindview area, however, will be of benefit for the other MindView areas as well.
The diagram to the left represents some of the tools and exercises from each of the MindView domains that you will learn.
The wellness wheel diagram that you saw previously is a representation of how we address the overall person and the behaviors and tools that effectively improve interpersonal relationships and personal functioning on all levels. We help our readers to develop inner strengths and the inner wisdom that fosters and enhances the ability to make better and sounder judgments in their lives.
Observer-Manager
The Observer allows us to step back and observe internal and external experiences, then gather, integrate, and organize this information into behaviors that are consistent with our goals and values.
The Manager part of the brain directs our attention, organizes our working memory, and guides decisions. The skills taught in Wellbeing: the Artfully Lived Life program teach you to better recognize and use the Manager function of your brain, and to make choices that enhance your psychological well-being. Thus, information comes in through the MindView Domains and the Observer-Manager evaluates, decides, and executes. All we need, then, are the skills.
Wellness Tool Kit
The Wellness Tool Kit is also available to our readers. The kit contains some of the ^Pause & Reflect^ activities that are found in the book. They are a Laminated full-size page so you can write on them and keep track as you make changes and progress in your well-being. Or, as your goals are accomplished and redone. They also serve as good reminders to help you stay on track with your goals.
