Dear Editor
I am currently engaged in university courses in health, safety and environment. An interesting single course is dedicated to Wellness in the Workplace. The first few pages try to define wellness and even I was surprised to learn the long-time efforts of professionals to define it. Because of the ongoing controversy in our local newspaper, I thought I might point out a few things.
Six Dimensions of Wellness: Social, Occupational, Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual and Emotional.
Wellness equals “The active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more healthy life.”
Wellness was a word created by health promotion specialists in the late sixties to describe the determinates of well-being. The course goes onto describe the fact that we all have a personal responsibility to look after our own well-being. Defining wellness is a matter of learning what will improve the quality of our own life.
Wellness is about choices. It is a way of life. Wellness is a process. Wellness is awareness. Wellness is a positive acceptance of oneself and acceptance of others.
If one becomes aware of their interdependence with others and their environment then one can make the choices necessary to live in harmony with both. This too plays a role in the definition of wellness.
This is a very condensed version of decades worth of research, but it sure supports the theory that everyone has their own path leading to wellness. For myself, husband and the neighbours I know, Ashcroft, and its way of life, combines many of the top attributes of Wellness. It’s location, community attitudes, environmental involvements and spiritual awareness conveys a conscious effort on the part of many to ensure their own wellbeing and that of those they work with and live with.
I am proud to announce loud and clear to the rest of the world that Ashcroft is a place to find and foster Wellness in all its dimensions.
Loretta Ornery
Ashcroft
