Intentionally cultivating well-being will be more effective with a few key elements…

1. Mindful Awareness

“Mindfulness is the practice of calling the thinking mind back to where the body is so that the two become as one in the present moment.” - Dennis Merrit Jones, The Art of Uncertainty

Mindful awareness is about noticing what is happening when it happens. In other words: purposefully paying attention to the present. 

This doesn’t mean you need to be a practiced meditator. It’s simply about bringing awareness to your internal world as well as your external world. 

• Internal world = thoughts and emotions

• External world = everything around you. 

To practice mindful awareness, you can engage in meditation practices (mindful breathing can be a good place to start). You can also practice intentional journaling, or have reflective conversations with trusted friends or loved ones. In both journaling and reflective conversations, the idea would be to (a) think about your thoughts and emotions in different experiences, (b) reflect on why you have those thoughts and emotions, (c) imagine what thoughts/emotions you’d prefer to have, and (d) brainstorm how you can work toward that.

Spend some time reflecting on the following questions:

• What is your reason for wanting to cultivate your well-being?

• How much does that reason motivate you? Is it enough to keep you dedicated, in small ways every day, to supporting your own well-being? 

• Dig deep: What are the currents inside of you that give you the intuition “There has got to be more to life”? 

• What is your vision for how you want your life to be – where are you, how do you feel, who are you surrounded by?

“Transformation requires an open-ended willingness to be fully vulnerable to the experience of the unknown.” - Frank Ostaseski (The Five Invitations)

Cultivating your well-being will likely require some change on your part. This could mean changes in how you think, your behavior, to your environment. It could also mean creating space for what is good for your well-being by clearing out what isn’t. 

These changes may be small, or they might be quite big. Are you willing to at least look at those potential changes head-on?

“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” — Yogi Berra

“If one knows not to which port they sail, no wind is favorable.” - Seneca

Your intention for doing this work should inform where you place your attention.

Your intention might be to improve some area of your well-being. If that’s the case, your attention should follow: What you focus on grows. 

This work requires focus, discipline, and attention to what is or isn’t working so that you can adjust as you go. Just know that we will also practice gentleness, lightheartedness, and self-compassion along the way. 

Making improvements to our lives, and turning them into habits or deeper changes, is hard work! While it can also be uplifting, regenerative, and fun, it helps to have others by your side who are doing the same work.

That kind of community can provide the support, accountability, shared experiences, and shared goals that help you stay on track, that help you reevaluate when something isn’t working, and that celebrate your wins with you. 

Whether you find that community through this course or with others in your life, I strongly encourage you to connect to it early on in this process.