It is obvious to state that wellness has been part of the human experience for millennia. The quest for wellness has been approached through many paths such as the philosophies of ancient Greece and Confucianism or religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and the Abrahamic religions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The word wellness itself (meaning being well or in good health) originates from the 17th century, however today’s understanding of wellness was inspired by Halbert Dunn’s ground-breaking lectures on his theory of high-level wellness in the USA in the 1950s, its roots and influences deriving from a myriad of cultures and religions as well as thought leaders. The term wellness has become so broad and diverse depending on the culture or country, that it is impossible to give just one definition; however, certain keywords stand out, such as proactive, personal responsibility, active process, optimal wellbeing, balance, holistic, fulfillment, evolving, etc. More lately, words such as thriving, vitality, potential and flourishing have been added, with resilience being one of the more recent words to be connected to the topic. While there is no definitive, international definition of wellness, what can be deduced from these many definitions is that its goal is for an individual to achieve the optimum state possible in every area of their life. This process is ongoing and is directly linked to behaviors, habits and personal life choices. Nowadays, wellness has been impacted by globalization, digital technology, and environmental challenges. As a result of all of these factors, and more recently because of the pandemic, wars in Ukraine and Israel, and the cost-of-living crises, the ongoing quest for wellness and an increased curiosity about how people can improve their wellness state has been re-ignited.
The subject of happiness is indelibly linked to the concept of wellness. Throughout history, philosophers have analyzed and discussed what constitutes happiness. In ancient Greece, this evolved around two approaches: hedonic and eudaimonic. Put simply, hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure in all its forms regardless of its long-term impacts, and in today’s world, when people refer to their happiness, it is often linked to short-lived pleasure, therefore this experience is often more likely to be hedonic. On the other hand, the eudaimonic approach is said to be connected to personal growth, self-fulfillment, immersed engagement, and meaningful behavior, which results in a deeper feeling of happiness and contentment, even though this feeling may be less intense at the time than a hedonic one. Understanding the eudaimonic approach is therefore critical to understanding wellness.
Happier people are more successful, have better relationships, experience more joy, have better physical health, and live longer. Eudaimonic happiness essentially means cultivating emotional independence from negative outside influences. This deeper level of contentment is essential to health, and for an individual to achieve this, eudaimonic skills should to be a key focus, preferably something to be taught in schools and learned from an early age. However, for many people, their natural default state is to carry around a low-grade level of dissatisfaction interspersed with bouts of hedonic moments. After all being pessimistic and cynical and using diversions such as social media, Netflix, food, alcohol or worse does not require too much effort. Given that not everyone is a born an optimist or brought up to be a positive thinker, achieving eudaimonic happiness and a day-to-day deeper contentment is therefore something that most people have to invest time and effort in. Just as one cannot get physically fit from sitting at home doing nothing, eudaimonic happiness and mental wellness are the result of taking charge and being proactive in controlling attitudes, thinking habits, behavior, and life choices.
The challenge in today’s consumer orientated global culture is that temptation to indulge in hedonic diversions are becoming ever more difficult to resist. In the past, humans purchased and consumed out of need. Today, in most societies, especially in developed countries, consuming has become a compulsion that has even evolved into a form of entertainment and addiction, where the average person gives little thought to the supply chain of the product they are purchasing and the damage and misery that such a purchase might be causing either to other people or to themselves. Manufacturers and suppliers are becoming more adept at employing ever more sophisticated tactics to make people addicted to their products and services, whether these be social media, gaming, pornography, or a new pair of trainers. Such manipulative tactics combined with an avalanche of marketing to trap people into mindless consumption highlights the pressing need for eudaimonic behaviors such as mindfulness, independent thought, personal discipline, and the cultivation of the skill or state of delayed gratification. This pursuit of a more socially and environmentally balanced form of happiness as opposed to hedonic or gratification-orientated pleasure is essential to pursue, as its benefits are wide-reaching not just for the individual but for society and the entire planet.
Not being influenced by outside factors can often be challenging. Certain situations will impact an individual’s state of wellness – living under oppressive or corrupt regimes, extreme poverty or polluted environments are just some examples. Arguably, one of the weaknesses of the modern popular psychology or self-help wellness movement is that it promotes positive thinking and mastery of a person’s internal world as a one-stop solution. Not only is this deceptive, but there is the argument that by downplaying external factors in life, not only do people run the risk of deluding themselves, but more dangerously, detaching themselves to the extent that they do not involve themselves in becoming part of a solution. This approach is also a very Western-centric / developed world way of thinking. It is easy for motivational speakers in highly developed and prosperous countries, most of whom have had little experience of what it is like to be living in an under-developed country with minimal opportunities and a lack of access to basic services or a warzone, to lecture on the power of positive thinking. On the other hand, paradoxically, some of the happiest countries according to international surveys such as the World Happiness Report are amongst the poorest. International, cross-cultural wellbeing, life satisfaction, or happiness analyses are illuminating in that they highlight these challenges as well as differences in lifestyles and cultural priorities.
Harking back to the father of the Western perception of wellness, Halbert Dunn, he defines wellness (or as he calls it high-level wellness) as, …”an integrated method of functioning which is orientated toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable [this requires] that the individual maintains a continuum of balance and purposeful direction within the environment where he is functioning”. This is a rather lofty definition, even though it does recognize the need to flourish in one’s given environment whatever that environment might be like. Put simply, wellness could be summed up as: “Conscious, ongoing actions to make proactive, positive lifestyle choices that enable people to maximize their potential to lead the most fulfilling life possible under whichever circumstances they find ourselves in.”
In other words, humans are not here just to live, but to shine, or as the writer Maya Angelou famously puts it “thriving, not surviving”, an expression that has now found its way into countless podcasts as well as international wellbeing studies. However, given the distractions and divisive agents described earlier competing to suck up every second of our attention, thriving and not being overwhelmed with the bombardment of information and diversions from the moment we wake up to when we try to sleep has become perhaps the hardest challenge for 21st century man.
In the 1970s, based on Halbert Dunn’s approach, a wellness wheel was created which referred to six dimensions of wellness: physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, emotional and occupational. As people’s awareness of health and wellness improves and general interest in the subject grows, these six domains have expanded to include other areas such as financial, environmental, political and sexual wellness. All of these dimensions are covered in our book, (including those areas that could be classified as the dark side of the wellness movement), entitled “Wellness for the 21st Century, thriving in a Post-Pandemic world”, now available on Amazon.
Michael Wallace & Melanie Kay Smith
For more information on this topic, you can read about it in our book “Wellness for the 21st Century, Thriving in a Post-Pandemic World”