This tool uses holistic self-reflection to help you identify personalized self-care needs, and avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Through this exercise, you’ll learn to streamline your self-care practices.
By assessing your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being, you’ll establish an accurate baseline of your current state. This understanding enables you to tailor your self-care practices to meet your specific needs on a given day. With this knowledge, you can develop achievable self-care goals that align with your overarching vision for your life.
“What do I need today?”
To answer this question effectively, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your current feelings and needs. Your feelings and subsequent needs are likely to fluctuate from day-to-day, if you really tune into them!
The more you do this exercise, the better you’ll begin to understand how the different areas of your health are connected. When you notice these patterns, you’ll be able to make micro-changes that have a big impact in the long run.
Exercise: Inventory of Holistic Health
This exercise can (and should!) be done regularly, so you can start to identify patterns with how you’re feeling, and adjust your goals as needed. Listen to the exercise in the audiocast above that accompanies this tool. The guided exercise portion starts at 3:45 into the audiocast and is very grounding and relaxing!
Directions
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In this exercise, you will take an inventory of four areas of your health: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. You will give yourself a rating between one and five in each of these areas. 1= feeling unwell. 5 = feeling your best.
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Remember to use mindfulness as you determine these ratings, which means staying in the present moment, and avoid labeling anything as “right” or “wrong.” You should rate yourself based on how you are feeling at the present moment.
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Answer the questions at the end of the exercise.
Before beginning, get in a quiet and comfortable space. Become present by taking three deep breaths.
Physical Check In:
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Start to bring awareness to your physical body. As you check in with your physical body, what do you notice? What do you feel, physically? Is there any part of your body that feels like it needs some extra attention?
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Give your physical wellbeing a rating between one and five.
Mental Check In:
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Tune into your mental space. What do you notice about your thoughts? what your thoughts are centered around. Yourself or others? Are they fast or slow? Heavy or light?
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Give your mental wellbeing a rating between one and five.
Emotional Check In:
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Tune into your emotional space. Check in with your feelings. Allow them to show up, without holding back, and without judgment. What specific feeling is rising to the surface? Can you allow this feeling to be fully present without trying to change it? Notice what your emotions want you to know.
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Give your emotional wellbeing a rating between one and five.
Spiritual Check In:
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Tune into your spiritual space. This is specific and individual, so please use your own definition of spiritual health. If you’d like, you can use our definition: connectedness, gratitude and joy.
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Give your spiritual wellbeing a rating between one and five.
Whole Self:
- Bring your awareness to your entire being. Bringing these four areas of holistic health together, what do you notice now?
- What was that experience like for you? Do a brain dump on anything that came up.
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Were there any common themes that came up during this?
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Did any areas of health feel connected or disconnected?
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Did anything in the exercise surprise you?
Goal Setting
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Look at your ratings in each category. Next to each, draw an arrow, and write down what you want your rating to be. Be realistic with this! Start with a new rating that is no more than 3 numbers higher than where you are now.
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Choose one area: physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.
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Write down one thing that you could do today or tomorrow to get closer to your goal number in that area? Remember to think small, microchanges.
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Write down one thing that you could begin to let go of in order to get you closer to your goal number.
