Last Thursday Bridges Unite joined forces with ESPN to bring you our Women in Wellness Edition. It was an exciting night, as our community keeps on growing and attracting women and men from all walks of life and backgrounds.
The topic of Wellness is one that we all know about, but do not always apply to our lives. We were joined by Elizabeth Bracero and Veronica Vidal to shed some light into how to lead healthy and happy lives by harnessing the power of our spirits, minds and bodies.
Below are the key take-aways our panelists shared with our Bridges Unite community.
VERONICA VIDAL
The whole-being is composed by 5 aspects:
1) Physical wellbeing
2) Emotional wellbeing
3) Intellectual wellbeing
4) Spiritual wellbeing
5) Relational wellbeing
“STRESS IS NOT THE PROBLEM, LACK OF RECOVERY IS THE PROBLEM.”
The need of multi-level recovery
The 3 M’s approach simply means that we need to allow recovery at 3 levels:
1) Micro Level (minutes, hours) –
2) Mezzo Level (nights, days)
3) Macro Level (weeks, months)
DEFINE : WHAT DOES HAVING A “LIFE” MEAN TO YOU: What does it look like to you?
Use the THE 3 C’s of ACTION tool:
1)Commitment
2) Connection
3)Contentment
“If we are so rich, why aren’t we happy?”
“The richest banquet, the most exotic travel, the most interesting attractive lover, the finest home – all of these experiences can seem somehow unrewarding and empty if we don’t really attend to them fully – if our minds are elsewhere preoccupied with disturbing thoughts. By the same token, the simplest of life’s pleasures – eating a piece of fresh- baked bread, seeing a work of art, spending moments with a loved one – can be amply rich if we bring a full attention to them. The remedy to dissatisfaction is inside of us, in our minds, not in groping for new and different outer sources of satisfaction” -Tara Bennett-Goleman
ELIZABETH BRACERO
Get out more often. If you have a regular corporate job or even your own business, chances are you spend much of your time in the office and not a lot of time going out and having fun. During weekends, you’re probably busy with work or running errands. Make a point to go out with your friends at least once a week. Get some sun. Go out and have a change of environment. It’ll be great for your body and your soul.
Pick exercises you enjoy. When you enjoy the sports, you’ll naturally want to do them. Exercise isn’t about suffering and pushing yourself; it’s about being healthy and having fun at the same time. Adding variation in your exercises will keep them interesting.
Work out different parts of your body. Don’t just do cardio (like jogging). Give your full body a proper work out. The easiest way is to engage in sports, since they work out different muscle groups. Popular sports include swimming, biking, tennis, boxing, basketball, squash, frisbee, and more.
Cut down on processed food. Processed foods are not good because (1) most nutritional value is lost in the making of these foods and (2) the added preservatives are bad for our health. Many processed foods contain a high amount of salt content, which leads to higher blood pressure and heart disease. Processed foods are anything that is not in its raw form. In general, most food in supermarkets are processed — the more ingredients it has on the label (especially the ones ending with ‘ite’ or ‘ate’), the more processed they are. Watch out for those with salt/sugar in the first 5 ingredients and go for natural, whole food as much as possible.
Have healthy snacks. If you’re hungry at work, eat healthy snacks like fruits, nuts, salads, and vegetable juices. These are nutritional and don’t give you that sugar rush. Have them readily available so that you can get a munch and stop when you’ve your fill. Stay away from cookies and candy bars.
Live a life with purpose. Positive health starts from within! Ask yourself these two questions. Are you living a life of meaning? Are you living in line with your purpose? It is important to have a healthy work-life balance! We should work to live not live to work! Life is a gift!!!!