Introduction to Holistic Living - Reduce Your Risk
When you hear “holistic lifestyle,” what comes to mind? Maybe it looks like that friend who wakes up, makes their bed, takes a walk, goes to yoga, drinks their green tea, meditates, and does a full skincare routine – all before 8 AM. Or maybe you think of that person who has a thriving career and a full social life, yet never seems overbooked or stressed by it.
In reality, a holistic lifestyle is all about balance and mindfulness – whatever that looks like for you. While we might hear a lot about diet tips or workout plans, there’s so much more to a vibrant, healthy, holistic life. And luckily, it’s within reach for anyone who is willing to prioritize and intentionally choose the life they want to live.
What is Holistic Living?
Put simply, holistic living means caring for all parts of yourself – mind, body, and soul – and considering them all as vital to your well-being. Although that sounds a little hippy-dippy, it’s actually quite wonderful.
While we often think of health in distinct categories like diet or fitness, a holistic approach reminds us that all parts of us are deeply connected and impact each other. A holistic lifestyle is a way of living life that lets you look at the big picture – the whole person. You don’t try to make your life better by focusing on one thing like eating well, personal growth, spirituality, or creating contributions. You focus on everything because it’s all interconnected. Even physiologically speaking, emotional and physical pain are processed in the same exact part of our brains. Like a stool with three legs, if one leg is deficient, it can make the whole thing unstable. Similarly, holistic living acknowledges that true health is only possible when mind, body, and soul are nurtured and in balance.
A holistic lifestyle is going to look different for everyone based on their values, schedule, and goals. It isn’t one size fits all. Rather than an “all or nothing” approach, go for balance and remember that every little step counts. Observe yourself-all of yourself- and create a lifestyle that nourishes you as a whole. Holistic living acknowledges that all three parts of your wellbeing to nourish – mind, body, and soul are interconnected. Each affects the other. For example, if you aren’t getting enough sleep (body) because you are anxious (mind), you may withdraw from your friends and family (soul). They all work together and they all affect each other.
Mind
Tending to your mind is just as important as tending to your body.
We tend toward forcing ourselves into the expectations of what we think we 'should' do. Whether that's working harder, forcing positivity, or ignoring our emotions.
Taking a holistic approach allows us to step back and assess how we're feeling mentally. What are the thoughts and emotions going through your head? How are they affecting your life? Keep in mind that your emotions often manifest in your body.
From there, it's easier figure out what you need. For example, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you might need a mental break from creative work. If you're feeling anxious, it might bet time to step away from the expectations of social media.
It’s important to cultivate a healthy mind because our mindset ultimately controls our actions. What we think, we create.
Body
The body part of holistic living is usually the easiest to understand because it’s physical. We can easily see and measure the effects of nourishing the body.
Nourishing the body in a holistic way involves a lot of elements.
You know that it’s important to take care in determining the foods you eat. The more you nourish your body, the better it functions. And you also know that moving your body is important.
But when taking a holistic approach to nourishing the physical body, we also take into consideration things like sleep patterns, our connection with nature, the types of products we use in and on our bodies, and the health of each body system.
In holistic living, we also focus on wellness – living in a state of good health. We want to live in a healthy state rather than fix problems as they occur.
Soul
The ‘soul’ category can be a little harder to pin down, especially if you’re still figuring out where you fit into the world. But that’s okay, nourishing your soul can help you get closer to that understanding.
Of course, nourishing your soul can mean spirituality, but it’s also so much more. Living life aligned with your values and living with purpose are both essential. Nourishing your soul requires deepening your connections with others and spending time on meaningful contributions to the world.
Over time, as you nourish ‘soul’ elements, you’ll create a deeper relationship with yourself and how you connect with and understand the world around you.
Outside of knowing that we need to nourish the mind, body, and soul, it’s helpful to understand the qualities that help us live a holistic life.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness means being aware and present in the moment. Being mindful will help you better understand how you're feeling and what you need.
Mindfulness is key to living a holistic life because we need the presence of mind to fully understand ourselves and our needs as a whole. Additionally, the present moment is the only place where we can fully experience life and integrate growth into our lives.
Any time you take a deep breath to focus, you’re being mindful. When you take time to think before you act, or take a step back from your emotions and act based on your values, you’re practicing mindfulness.
Intentionality
To live intentionally is to live life on purpose. When you live from a place of intentionality, you live based on your values.
Intentionality encompasses purpose, simplicity, prioritization, time management, and control over where you place your energy.
To live holistically and see the big picture, you must live on purpose instead of on autopilot. You make conscious choices that help guide you on your path.
Balance
Since holistic living involves nourishing the mind, body, and soul, it’s important to find balance. As we’ve talked about, you need to nourish every part of yourself in order to be well as a whole since everything is interconnected. Give each element the time and energy it needs so that the 3 can support each other.
Holistic living isn’t an all-or-nothing approach. Instead, find balance by incorporating small, sustainable changes into your life and grow your holistic lifestyle over time.
Remember that sometimes certain areas of your life will require more attention than others, so it's okay if it isn't a perfect balance.
Practice
Holistic living isn’t a destination, it’s a lifelong journey. It’s a lifestyle. And so, it’s fitting to live a holistic life as a practice.
Holistic living is something you must practice every day to integrate into various aspects of your life. Like we talked about with balance, there is no need to do everything all at once. Instead, create a holistic lifestyle practice by creating sustainable habits and slowly incorporating them into your life.
With practice, you’ll be able to experience continued growth along your holistic living journey.
Benefits of a Holistic Lifestyle
Improved overall physical health
Boosted productivity and creativity
Reduced stress and improved mood and emotional resilience
Greater clarity in goals and habits
Increased satisfaction with life and relationships
How to Live a Holistic Lifestyle
1. Identify your values and goals
What one person considers to be a key part of a holistic lifestyle might not hold any importance for another person. That’s why it’s so important to take time to reflect on your personal values, purpose, and goals and decide what “holistic” means to you – and what’s realistic for the season of life you're in right now. It can be helpful to look at a list of values (like this one from Brene Brown), journal, or talk this through with a counselor, mentor, or trusted friend. What do you want to prioritize in your life? Where do you feel like you’re knocking it out of the park? Is there anything that feels out of alignment? Getting clear on what matters to you will help clarify where to invest your time and energy.
2. Eat foods that make you feel your best
It’s easy to overcomplicate things when it comes to food and diet, but it comes down to what makes you feel energized and healthy while still allowing you to enjoy the foods you love and live your life to the fullest.
For some people, that might mean eating intuitively or following a plant-based diet, while for others, it might mean meal prepping or eating clean 80% of the time and indulging guilt-free the other 20% of the time. Focus on staying hydrated and getting a wide variety of nutrients by eating a colorful array of whole foods like fruits, veggies, healthy fats, protein, and fiber-rich grains, and you’ll be well on your way to feeling your best!
3. Find movement you love
There are thousands of workouts out there to choose from, but the “best” one is the one you love doing. Lifting weights or going for a run definitely count – and so does dancing, biking, swimming, hiking, kayaking, playing tennis, taking a group fitness class, walking, and even doing yardwork!
Whatever it is for you, make time to move at least 30 minutes per day, or more if your job involves a lot of sitting. Moderate daily exercise is great not only for your physical health, but can also help improve mood and cognitive function.
4. Get some sleep
It’s a no-brainer, but it bears repeating: if you do nothing else on this list, focus on getting plenty of high-quality sleep. It only takes a couple of nights of poor sleep to see how it can affect your focus, mood, creativity, motivation, and even hunger.
Aim for 7-9 hours per night to set a healthy foundation. It can be helpful to create an evening wind-down routine that includes shutting off the screens several hours before bed and enjoying your favorite relaxing activities like reading, journaling, listening to calming music, or just snuggling with a pet for a bit to help you drift off more easily.
5. Make time for quiet and reflection
Holistic living also includes caring for your soul. Whether it’s a spiritual practice, gratitude journaling, meditation, prayer, breathwork, yoga, therapy, time in nature, or a simple self-care practice, make space for a little silence and self-reflection in your weekly rhythm.
In our noisy world full of notifications and distractions, it can be challenging to make time to truly process experiences and emotions. Practices that connect us to ourselves, a greater sense of purpose, or a higher power are integral to a holistic lifestyle.
6. Prioritize relationships
Areas of the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives are called “Blue Zones.” Along with their diet and movement habits, one thing all the Blue Zones have in common is that inhabitants prioritize and nurture their social relationships.
In fact, studies find lower rates of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and possibly even cancer among those who have strong social bonds and loving relationships with family and friends. No matter how busy life gets, make time to connect with loved ones, say hi to neighbors, call that friend you haven’t seen in a while, share a meal, or join a local club or organization.
7. Get outside
The average American adult spends just five hours per week outdoors. If you have an indoor or remote job, it takes intentional effort to get outside – but the benefits of nature are wide-ranging, from improved memory and creativity to lowered stress and improved health markers.
A big day of hiking or a camping trip can be especially restorative, but taking your exercise outside, sneaking in a 10-minute walk at lunch, or sipping your coffee on the patio all help you reap some of the benefits – and Vitamin D! You can even take normal daily activities like playing a game with the kids or meeting up with a friend to a local park or the backyard.
8. Build habits and routines
Feeling overwhelmed about creating a more holistic lifestyle? Creating habits is one of the easiest ways to make these practices stick – and many of them can be combined! Habit stacking is a method of adding new habits you want to build onto habits you’ve already mastered. For example, do your daily exercise outside for some fresh air or listen to a guided meditation while you shower. (Tip: The Superhuman App has audio meditations for skincare, walking, cleaning, and more!) If you already drink coffee every morning and want to remember to take a daily vitamin, put your vitamins in the same cabinet as your coffee cup. Now you’ll remember to take it when you pour your daily cup! You can follow this principle with any routine you’re trying to build.
9. Meet Yourself Where You’re At
The first step in habit creation is meeting yourself where you’re at. You have to get ~uncomfortably~ honest with yourself and asses where you’re at. It’s tempting to think about where you want to be or where you think you should be. In order to grow and to create the lifestyle you want, it’s crucial to understand where you’re at right at this moment. Take into consideration each element of holistic living – mind, body, and soul. Dig in to see if you can pinpoint areas that are affecting each other.
10. Focus on One Thing At a Time
You can’t do everything all at once or you’ll go crazy and you also won’t be able to make lasting change. Instead, pick one (or just a few) areas of your life that need the most nourishment, and focus on that thing. Remember that even if you select an area of your life that seems like it’s in just one category, it will be affected by and affect the other categories.
For example, if you want to have more energy you might need to create better sleep patterns (body), reduce stress (mind), and control the energy you give to others (soul). Having more energy is still a pretty big topic, so I would encourage you to break bigger topics like these into smaller, bite-sized chunks.
11. Research + Learn
Once you’ve determined the area in your life that needs the most growth, it’s time to dive into research and learning about that topic.
Since all of our holistic journeys are different, it will require research and learning on your part to discover the best strategies to implement into your life. You can find information in bookstores, on blog posts, and even on Pinterest. There are so many great thinkers and leaders in the holistic lifestyle realm, so take time to find the ones who resonate most with you.
Remember that a lot of learning comes from trial and error in your own life. It can be discouraging, but trial and error is part of the process of discovering what works best for your life.
12. Set Purposeful Intentions
Since holistic living is a lifestyle and not a destination, it’s often best to start by setting intentions instead of goals. Of course, you’ll need to break those intentions down into small goals to take action toward your intentions.
Intentions help us create a lifestyle rather than achieve a specific goal because they keep is in the present moment and focus on how we want to live each day.
Example:
Goal: Stop feeling guilty after spending money
Intention: cultivate a healthy money mindset
The word ‘stop’ in the goal implies an end result. It implies that you will not feel better (or be better) until you reach that end goal. The intention, however, can be integrated into each day in different ways as you continue to grow. We can only live in the present. So setting intentions that help us enjoy life each day on the journey is what we’re aiming for.
13. Integrate Sustainable Action
Once you’ve set intentions, you can then set smaller goals or tasks to take sustainable action and create habits that help you build a holistic lifestyle. The key is that whatever action you take, you need to be able to sustain it over time since you’re creating a lifestyle.
As you continue to grow on your holistic lifestyle journey, these habits will change and evolve based on your needs at any given time.
Once you start to integrate changes in one aspect of your life and it becomes a part of your lifestyle, you integrate changes into other aspects of your life as well by repeating these steps. Go back to step one and re-assess where you’re at now, and begin again
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Resources:
https://www.gomacro.com/how-start-holistic-lifestyle/
https://firstday.com/blogs/news/16-holistic-lifestyle-tips-how-to-create-one-for-yourself?srsltid=AfmBOoon8k-9JOEVsnZhzBr9nb4m9gf4pUErGFXSbWk5xYZPKgOHUS-y
https://wildgroveessentials.com/blogs/blog/introduction-to-holistic-living-for-beginners