The Six Dimensions of Wellness and Achieving Your Full Potential

The Six Dimensions of Wellness and Achieving Your Full Potential With Terry and Roy

The six dimensions of health and wellness are physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and vocational. These dimensions are also interrelated. If you are having trouble at work this can lead to deficiency in other areas. If we are off on our physical shortfalls it can have an effect on our emotional dimensions. We need to work hard to balance all of these and every day. Not easy.

About Terry and Roy

After years of weight, health and fitness challenges, Roy Barker and Terry Mallozzi made a commitment to changing their eating habits. And implementing realistic fitness goals for them. They chronicle their journey for health on the Feeding Fatty Podcast speaking to experts about related aspects of health challenges (type 2 diabetes, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism), losing weight (need to) and staying positive (easier said than done). Little did they know it’s not just counting calories and cutting out sweets.

www.feedingfatty.com

Full Transcript Below

The Six Dimensions of Wellness and Achieving Your Full Potential

Sat, 5/22 5:43PM • 20:30

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

wellness, physical, meditation, couple, people, podcast, social, crossword puzzle, nice, find, occupational, pencil, dimensions, learning, week, good, encompassing, long, talk, cocktail napkin

SPEAKERS

Terry, Roy Barker

Roy Barker  00:03

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of feeding fatty. I'm Roy,

Terry  00:07

I'm Terry.

Roy Barker  00:07

So we are the podcast that we are chronicling our journey through wellness, that encompasses a lot of things, different things from day to day. But, you know, as well as we, you know, we want to talk about things going on in our life as well as have professionals on from time to time. And we've got, we've had a lot of great interviews in the past, and we have got a lot got a lot of great more, a lot more great ones that we have already got taped. And then we've also got, you know, probably a hand while probably a couple fistful of people that are out there waiting to, to get a recording date. So yeah, we're very excited about that. Thanks for our listeners, and to all of our guests that come on, y'all are the ones that really make this great, but sort of day, I think we want to talk a little bit about wellness, it was kind of a, the six dimensions of wellness, it was kind of a long journey about how we got to this subject that I won't go into the whole whole thing. But we were on another podcast I was listening to something came up about, about loneliness, and how detrimental to our health it can be. And so, you know, we started looking at these six dimensions of, you know, their interdependence, I guess is another way to look at it to to Achieve Wellness.

Terry  01:31

Yeah. And let's describe, let's define what wellness is. It's, it's the practice of building a holistic sense of fulfillment, in your health, you know, in all aspects of your life. So,

Roy Barker  01:49

yeah, and this particular model, I mean, we want to be sure and give credit where credit is due. Because while we would love to say that, you know, we penciled this out last night on a cocktail napkin, that's not the way that this was a developed by Dr. Bill Hitler, he is a co founder of the national wellness Institute. And, you know, they developed this in it's been around, I think, it looks like since about the mid 70s. So it's nothing new. But it is kind of interesting, you know, when we think about the different components, and let me just the other thing, I think we need to say too, is that dependent, you know, there wasn't eight, a model that had eight dimensions in it, I think you found one that had seven,

Terry  02:30

like 6789, there was one that had nine, nine,

Roy Barker  02:34

so yeah, and this, I guess we decided to go with this, since this is a reputable institution with, you know, some, I guess, people that do research and things like that, yeah, and they've been around for quite some time. So, but anyway, we'll just talk about these six are physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and vocational, or occupational, depending on where you read it. A couple others were that were left off, were the only eight model were financial and environmental. So we may just hit on those that they're not going to be as big since we don't have a lot of research on those. But, you know, I think it's important because really, you have to be hitting on all of these and you know, somebody that like me, that probably eats emotionally, you know, if I get kind of out of whack on any of these, you know, it probably would make me want to eat or be bored enough to eat. So I think that we have to think about our wellness, not just in our diet, or our weight, or our exercise, but you know, this all all six of these dimensions.

Terry  03:45

Yeah, and I mean, everything works together, so you can balance yourself and, and just be more complete right now. And I think would be remiss, also, I wanted to make sure that we mentioned that global wellness day is June 12 2021. So I'm excited about that. We're gonna have to celebrate, we're gonna have to go out and eat a big meal. Like cake, and wine. No, I'm kidding.

Roy Barker  04:13

Yeah, so let's just start with the occupational that's the one that they've got the top of their list. But basically, what this is just saying is that, you know, we need to have satisfaction and enrichment through our life's work. And, you know, on, on our business podcast, we talked about that quite frequently, especially if you're an entrepreneur is that you really need to find something you like, because you have to put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it. And, you know, there's nothing worse than getting up in the morning and just feeling like you have to take a beating if you you know, go to a place of employment or even if it's your own business,

Terry  04:50

so you need to look forward. You need to look forward to everything but especially work if that's, you know, something that you spend a long time you know, Building relationships there, honing your craft all of that you need, you need to find some satisfaction in that.

Roy Barker  05:07

Yeah, because we will typically spend, you know, half of our waking hours there. And most of us spend a lot more than that, you know, we're fortunate enough to do a lot of our stuff together. So it's not like, you know, we're being neglectful. So that's a positive. But, you know, you really need to find, if you could find the podcast I'm working on for the businesses this week just happens to be the profit with the purpose. And so that's one thing that he's talking about is not only finding something that you like, but you can also have social impacts as well. And one was, you know, a lawyer that did some housing law that, you know, she would actually take on some cases for free, I think, to, you know, help people that were going through hard times and trying to be evicted. So, you know, there's a lot of things that we can do to earn a living, but yet, we can also have some run off to that social impact. So I think that's very important.

Terry  06:07

Yeah. And I guess we'll cover social in a minute. Yeah. But the next one is physical, the physical dimension, yeah, the need for regular physical activity. You know, they physical development encourages learning about diet and nutrition, while discouraging smoking and alcohol and drug use. Yeah.

Roy Barker  06:33

And, you know, when we talk, this is physical, all encompassing, but you know, when we talk about exercise that, you know, I'm of the belief that our weight can be controlled, you know, probably 75 80%, through our diet, we don't, the exercise has very little impact on that weight loss, but all the other physical benefits that we get from that the endorphins that it releases, just keeping your joints and everything limber, because I know I said, when I sit in a chair too long, I know, I start getting, you know, very tight, and just harder to, you know, stretch to get up. And part of that just from, you know, not getting ups frequently enough to take a walk. So I really feel like and that's something that, unfortunately, it started raining today. But that's something that, you know, I think we are going to start working on more this week is just yeah, we used to be fairly good about getting out and taking those 15 minute walks. And I think we're going to try really hard to get back into that again. Yeah,

Terry  07:34

I've just been finding, finding it. Well, it's just been hard for me to find the motivation to do it. I'm just so tired. And so I don't know, I I don't know where you find that motivation helped me. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, really?

Roy Barker  07:52

I don't either, I think. Yeah, you know, and it's Jay, you know, we've just had, I think we've had a lot of stressors, the last month or so. And we've been really busy and staying up too late and not doing you know, again, this just gets back to the, you know, some of the other things that we talked to the sleep, you know, it's very important for us, and you know, that makes you tired, where you don't want to, you know, get out and go do that walk.

Terry  08:17

So yeah, and if I had I mean, like, this week has been beaten on me as far as sleep just because, you know, I've been waking up early in the morning, and then staying up and just start starting to get lost in my phone. And then next thing I know, it's seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and I'm like, Oh, my God, I need to go to bed. Yeah, you know, and then that just sets the tone for the rest of my day. So I have not been very fruitful.

Roy Barker  08:45

Yeah. Well, we can get back into that. I think that's a, that'll be, it'll be good. It'll be good. I think you'll help your sleep as well.

Terry  08:53

I think so.

Roy Barker  08:54

So the The next one is the emotional. And, you know, this is just talking about the awareness and acceptance of your feelings. And, you know, we, we've touched on that before that, you know, you can't block off bad feelings, and we've got a guest coming up on. I think she's coming up on feeding fatty. We haven't taped her yet. But I've talked to her a little bit. And, you know, we when we had a conversation the other day, that's one thing that she said is that we can't block those feelings or these thoughts from coming in. And so what she just was recommending is that you just acknowledge it, and basically say, Thanks for reminding me brain and because she just said if you don't, it will just be a constant reminder. And just that nagging where if we just accept it, sometimes even set with it for just a minute, then you know, we can deal with that.

Terry  09:52

Yeah, and emotions are just so, so tricky. If you don't deal with them, they have a tendency to creep back up and then you're If you stuff them down and stuff them down, and then you don't know what to do with those emotions, or how to deal with them, you know,

Roy Barker  10:07

yeah. Yeah, and there's things that we can do. And I don't want to belabor it too long, because, you know, sometimes we can control those. And sometimes we can't. But if, if you're in a bad situation, look for ways to change that to where you can gain that happiness back there. Sometimes there are things we can do. And unfortunately, there are times where we just can't But

Terry  10:34

no, and you know, finding, finding your gratitude, just giving yourself grace, and being kind to yourself. That's, those are huge. You know, it just sounds so simple when I say it out loud. But really, you have you have to practice all of that.

Roy Barker  10:51

Yeah. And you know, I think we released an episode last week about our meditation journey. And then a couple weeks ago on the Reiki, reiki, I can't. So but you know, I think this meditation, it's been good. And I've been really staying on top of my journaling, and it's not always it's not, you know, for me, the journaling is not bad. I mean, I don't really, you know, my life is pretty good. So I don't have negative a lot of negative stuff to journal. But it's still just good, just rattling the thoughts down and just keeping up with it. So, again, it's a couple of different things that be might suggest that, you know, give it a try. And

Terry  11:35

then you don't have to write the best novel, you know, that's sometimes what I do is that when I sit down journal, Oh, my gosh, I got to write a whole novel, and it has to be perfect. Now, you can just do some bullet points and get on with it, you know?

Roy Barker  11:47

Yeah. And that's the same thing with the meditation, I think people are like, Oh, I can't, my mind is not still I can't stop. But you know, you don't have to you don't have to be perfect at it. Every time. They're just like myself, there are days I'm better than others. Sometimes my mind is running all over the place. But it lets me realize that my mind is running all over the place to try to take a step back and take those deep breaths. So

Terry  12:13

anyway, yeah. So the next so the next one we're going to go to is the spiritual dimension, and it recognizes your search for meaning and purpose. And your existence. You know, that that is hard? That's hard to find, you know, I don't know.

Roy Barker  12:33

Yeah. Well, that kind of gets back to our meditation. Yeah, yeah, it's a good time to, to, you know, to your higher power, I don't want to, you know, say, everybody may not believe in, you know, that God is that person, but whoever they feel like, because it doesn't matter, it's whoever you feel like is your higher power, it's a great time, just to take a few minutes to say, thank you, thank you for all these good things that have happened to practice that gratitude. And then

Terry  13:03

it opens you up to receiving, you know, more positive vibes. And it just all around. I mean, it does. Like I said, it sounds so simple when you say it out loud, but it really is true, it just, you know, practice what you preach.

Roy Barker  13:20

Yeah, and you just got to take the top, make yourself do it, and just sit down. And like I said, Some days are gonna be better than others. But

Terry  13:27

in whatever works for you is what works for you. It's, you know, it doesn't have to be a certain way. And if you need, you know, Google if you need to have some low, some way to help help you search in your spiritual, spiritual guidance and all of that. And your spiritual dimension of wellness.

Roy Barker  13:52

Yeah, so the next one is social. And this is just talks about contributing to one's environment and community, the interdependence between others and nature. So I think it looks like it's fairly all encompassing. That, you know, we are social beings. And this is kind of what led us to this is, you know, the, in the other podcast, I was listening to this morning, where the guy talked about that, actually being isolated. It can have the same effect on us as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. And I saw somewhere else, they actually said 15 cigarettes a day, so I guess that's, I don't know, like, almost a whole pack or something. Oh, yeah. So anyway, it is real and we are social beings. And I think we can, you know, it's getting a little easier to do that face to face now. But still, if you're concerned about that, I think, you know, for me, zoom is pretty good because our, that FaceTime whatever because Cuz you still get to see the person, you get to have some social interaction. And I know that you and your ladies group that y'all have been doing the, you know, y'all do a call, yeah,

Terry  15:11

y'all did a call party stuff, we do that we try to do that once a week. And sometimes it drags out for a couple of weeks, but we're actually going to go have lunch, we've had a couple of outings now that the masks are down and everybody's vaccinated. So it's, it's nice to be able to have the physical presence, you know, and to hug or bump fist or whatever it is that you choose to do. Is is a nice thing. Also, you know, volunteering, you can do that how, you know, you can do that in a number of ways. But that's that can help with the social aspect. I mean, kill two birds with one stone, you know?

Roy Barker  15:57

Yeah. And there's so many people out there that need to eat them need it,

Terry  16:01

and you need to give it I mean, it's just makes you feel so good. And, you know, just helping other people No, helps yourself. It's like the, I don't want to like it, liken it to this 12 step program, but it kind of is in that, you know, you just, it just it just, it just helps your well being. Yeah, sorry. I lost it.

Roy Barker  16:31

No, I mean, it's good to give in makes you feel good for giving back. But it's also that social stimulation, and when, unfortunately, when we all get older, and you know, we're gonna wish we had that. So anyway. Well, the last one is the intellectual. And it just talks about the recognizing your creative, your stimulating many, many mental activities and how you expand your knowledge. And so we should, that's another thing is we should always be be learning, I think it helps to keep the brain young and there's a while we didn't pull it for for today, there's a lot of research out there that you know, if you do these, even if it's something as simple as doing a crossword puzzle to keep your mind active, you can help ward off, you know, a lot of dementia. For a while, you know, there's some some you can some you can't, but it does give you a fighting chance anyway.

Terry  17:31

Yeah, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, learning a new language, you know, learning anything

Roy Barker  17:38

learning instrument. We have,

Terry  17:41

yes. Oh, Patrick Patrick.

Roy Barker  17:45

Not long ago, talking about how the especially older people have been really reaching out trying to learn an instrument. So

Terry  17:54

yeah, again, for brain health. I mean,

Roy Barker  17:56

it's never too late. And, you know, music always kind of sees you anyway, whenever, you know, whenever you're maybe a little down, play a little music or put the radio on. So that's always a good thing. Good memories. It's

Terry  18:10

nice to go down memory lane.

Roy Barker  18:12

Yep. All right, well, unless you have anything else, those are pretty much covered the six dimensions, again, they are get back up here. And they are emotional, occupational, physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual. And we have to, you know, have a good balance and try to be in a good place. And all of those things, I just challenge everybody to go over to the national wellness Institute. And there's a lot of literature on it. And there's other literature, you know, just Google it, but go over and take a look at it, and see if it can help you and your wellness. This one happy global wellness day, June 12. Yep. That's right.

Terry  18:55

Yay. I'm going into it. I'm like decorate. Okay.

Roy Barker  19:04

All right. Well, that's gonna do it for another episode of feeding Fanny. And, again, if there's a topic that's that that's on your mind that you feel like you'd really like us to either talk about or find a guest, please reach out and either by email or social media, let us know. We'd be glad to cover you know, some things that the listeners want to want to hear. Oh, great. That's gonna do it. You can find us of course at www.feedingfatty.com. We are also in all the major podcast platforms, all the major social media networks, and we got a new logo that we didn't even talk about. Got a new logo that should be coming out. I put it up on the podcast cover this week, will probably take me a few days or a little longer to get it put out on all social media but we'll eventually get it changed out so be interested to see what you think Terry? Pretty much design that when it's Just a white background with more pencil pencil looking lines, and it's kind of based off of the old Alfred Hitchcock getting his show he had a little drawing of a of a man. And so that's kind of what this looks like. profile. Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, give us some feedback on that if you'd like this one and see what you think we'd be glad to hear from you. All right. Until next time, take care of yourself and take care of your families.

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