What is Vitality?

Vitality Wheel of Life 1. Mind 2. Body 3. Spirit 4. Finances 5. Environment 6. Social 7. Career/Professional/ Academic

All of these areas can affect your overall health. It is about identifying what areas need attention and what areas may have too much of your energy.

• Mind – Thoughts and emotions: Thoughts create. Words are powerful. Evaluate the ones that aren’t serving you, and work on changing the neural pathways in the brain with meditation, affirmations and action steps to move toward your health outcomes. It is key in releasing the old trauma dramas, emotions and outdated beliefs that may be hindering your healing. Pay attention and become aware of how your body responds to the emotions that you are experiencing. Learn to transmute the emotions and not react.
• Social – Family, friends, relationships: These interactions affect your mindset and your day-to-day life choices, and can affect your health. What is your circle of influence? Who are you choosing to spend your time with? Do they value optimal health and vitality? If you don’t currently have a social network that supports your vision of optimal health, reach out and meet other people who are like-minded.
• Communication – Internal, external and body awareness: This isn’t what you say, it’s the response that you get. Internal communication is how we process things, our internal self-dialogue, and our own perceptions of the external environment. Don’t assume anything. People respond to their own internal map, experiences and memories through their behaviors. When processing information, we use our five senses: sight, hearing, feeling, smell and taste. We then internalize it based on our experiences and perceptions, and then we respond. External communication includes unspoken indicators. It is body language, posture, expression. You can often tell when something is wrong with a person before they even speak just by looking at their posture, facial expressions and movements. Becoming aware of others’ posture will make you aware of the messages you are sending to others with your own posture, body language and facial expressions. Practice becoming a non-emotional observer: When you are in an emotional experience and you feel triggered by the emotions, step outside of the situation. See yourself as an observer looking at the situation, as if it were a movie. It takes the emotion out of it and you can look at the situation from a different perspective. Then you can respond accordingly.
• Mind – The mind can be called the computer brain. The analytical side of the brain is responsible for processing thoughts, plans, mental capacity, emotions, and communication (internal and external communication). Many people often get stuck in the “thinky-thinky” of thoughts, worries or to-do lists. This can result in an overactive mind that gets easily stressed out. This is where the mindset muscle for healing gets worked.
• Body    – Health, including organ/body functions, breathing, sleep, stress management, and meditation. Your body reflects your overall state of mental and physical health and wellness. Evaluate the areas below that are influencing your overall health. You can rate them on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the optimum. What areas need some attention? What do you need to change or upgrade? How are your body systems working? What ailments are presenting? How much good quality sleep are you getting? How are you dealing with stress?
• Diet/Hydration/Nutrients – By now you should see the value of eating a properly balanced whole foods diet, getting enough water, and essential nutrients to improve the quality of your health.
• Movement – Exercise and body movement improve blood flow and feel-good hormones. How much movement are you getting?
• Environment – How does the environment that you live and work in affect your body systems? A stressful work environment can bring neck tension, headache, fatigue or anxiety/depression. A cluttered workspace can reduce productivity and focus. You are a product of your environment. If you are surrounded by an inspiring environment, you feel inspired. If you are in a toxic environment, you feel expired and exhausted. Change your environment to change your life. Your physical environment includes the place you live and work. Clear out a cluttered space. Ask yourself “why do I have this?” If it is not inspiring, get rid of it. Surround yourself with things, people, experiences and relationships that inspire you. Your inner self environment includes your inner values, strengths, skills, and talents. Which ones are serving you? What skills do you require to reach your health outcomes?
• Spirit – Focusing on a spiritual connection doesn’t necessarily have to have a religious connotation. It can be the connection you have with your higher power, source energy or higher self. The oneness or connectedness with nature, your inner guidance, intuition/gut instinct and self-awareness is present in all of us. It is a matter of paying attention and developing the skill to connect. Finding ways to expand in this area can be as simple as taking a walk out in nature to get away from the stresses of the day. Meditation is also a great way to clear the inner chaos so that you can be more open and connected to your inner guidance.
• Financial – Your relationship with money is an important part of your overall health and vitality. If you have a belief that it is hard to make money, you will follow that belief. What is your money story? How has it served you thus far? Take ownership of your story. Decide what to change, set new outcomes, beliefs, habits and rewrite an empowering story. There may be some deep-seated beliefs that you may have unconsciously picked up from past generations. You might even require some assistance in guiding you through it.
• Social – This is how you relate to others. Decide to surround yourself with inspiring, motivating, positive people. Create a powerful circle of influence of friends, business connections, coaches, and family. Laugh more.
• Professional – How satisfied are you with your profession or career? Does it bring you passion and excitement? Or do you hate your job? The energy that you surround yourself with will affect your overall health and vitality. If you are in a stressful job that you hate and have no passion for, you can feel depressed, energy zapped or may manifest stress related illnesses like high blood pressure, headaches, acid reflux. What makes your heart happy? Take time to connect to what your heart desires. What brings you joy in your life? How can you serve others to help you feel more gratitude and giving back?

Evaluating the spokes of the Vitality Wheel will help you see the areas in your life that may need some attention and maybe which areas are taking up too much time. It is about making small steps to improve your overall health – mind, body and spirit. FBN

By Christina Kovalik

Dr. Christina Kovalik NMD, LAc, The Vitality Doctor, is a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist specializing in hormone optimization, optimal health and vitality. She is a new Flagstaff resident, practicing since 2004, and opened her second location in Doney Park in 2020.    For more information, visit thevitalitydoctor.com or call 928-863-6086.