What do I mean by “personal wellness”? It is the holistic practice that brings our best to every aspect of our lives. I will care for my body/mind/spirit to the best of my ability. Eating, exercising, meditating, loving, gardening, and so on. You get it. Everything we do is an opportunity to “do what is best” in that moment. I am the only person that can understand what I need. Yet, I also acknowledge that I do not have all the answers and will seek interaction and consultation with others who can help. Being able to reach out for help is a strength that is a core foundation of personal wellness. We are not isolated, nor are we separate. We are all a part of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
What do I mean by “planetary wellness”? It is the ability of our world to maintain a balance that benefits the whole Earth. Planetary wellness is an extension of who and what we are, as we are an extension of this planet we call home. Recent history has seen a grave error in thinking come to our mainstream worldview. In recent, I am thinking back over the past few hundred years. This error is based on the view that we are all separate and have no connection to each other. Also, that we as “human beings” are somehow separate from “nature”. This division has led to many unfortunate abuses of our environment, all in the name of advancement of technology and modern convenience. These abuses have decreased planetary wellness considerably.
Anyone who thinks that balance is being supported by the various environmental practices that are “normal” for our technology and lifestyles, is unaware of the connections we have with the greater whole. One way to support the balance of planetary wellness is to increase personal wellness. As each of us partakes in a holistic wellness practice, we make a contribution to the “whole that is greater than the sum of its parts”.
When we are sensitive to the imbalance that is produced by so many of our environmental practices, we can make better choices about which of these practices may need to be reimagined. We have been successful in so many interventions that have reversed severe harm, yet we somehow continue to take further actions that increase harm in new ways. I suppose this is like a pendulum swinging, one step forward, one step backward. Sometimes one step forward, two steps back.
My holistic wellness practice is designed to elevate my personal wellness, and at the same time, it is designed to benefit planetary wellness. We all have the opportunity to put energy into so many things that make a difference. Something as simple as recycling can shift the balance in a beneficial direction. What would it take for recycling technology to advance and offer the ability to recycle more of our waste? Something as simple as eating fresh, unprocessed foods versus processed and packaged foods that take so much more energy to produce, and increase the amount of waste that goes into landfills. There are so many examples of ways a healthier personal lifestyle will contribute to the planet’s wellness.
We are all interconnected in this holistic universe. We can regain the wisdom that was once a foundation of the common worldview. There are many on this planet that do practice this wisdom. Each of us can continue to increase this practice and shift the worldview towards a more healing intention. We can become much more far-sighted and consider the consequences of each action and the effect that will result. We can choose which actions based on our intention to minimize harm to our personal wellness, and the same time reduce the harm to our planetary wellness.
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