Thesarus describes wellbeing as a contented state of being happy, healthy and prosperous. Lets explore the definition in a more detailed manner.
Contented state refers to satisfaction, ease of mind and is a variable indicator. Level of contements will vary from person to person as we all are unique individuals. Can we actually measure contenment or give it a statistical value is quite a difficult task as every individual will have a different set of indiactors that could be materialistic, emotional or spiritual in nature. According to me a balance between all three is required but again the balance will vary depending on the individual. For some owning a new house will bring a state of ease and for someone else it may be finding new friends (social indicator?) or mending a disturbed relationship with a dear one. And for someone doing a self help workshop bring satisfaction. It is important to remember as each individual is different from others, it is asoultely okay to have different desires manifesting at different levels and we cannot really compare two sets of desires based on whether they are materialistic or spiritual. The form of desire is irrelevant. What is essential is that after acheiving a certain goal/ manifesting a desire what is the state of that individual. That is what will define contentment. Spiritually, contentment has been described as state of bliss and is eternal irrespective what is happening in your life, taht is remaing in a state of bliss even in times of adversity. For research purposes, various indicators of what makes people happy is used to measure contentment.
Also state of contenment can be closely asociated with being happy. Being happy can include many definitions such as good mood, positive state of mind, having pleasant emotions, being content, state of joy. I think we all understand what is to be happy. Personally, I can define being happy when I am kids, find a dress that fits perfectly or generally had a good day at work or even manage to medidate peacfully for 15 minutes.
WHO has defined being healthy as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The most striking part is that even WHO looks at being healthy as a positive state of being and does not talk about absence of "dis-ease" per se. Even if you observe the word disease - it is actually the opposite of being "at ease".
If we go back to contentment and being happy (which can be intertwined), I basically just stated that it to be at ease - at ease with with one's physical state of being, at ease mentally, at ease with our thoughts, at ease with our desires, basically being at ease where we are, how we are and what we are doing. This is the first step towards accepting our true self. Being at ease with ourselves is compeletely opposite of being judgemental about ourseleves, criticizing ourselves - be it about how we look, how much money we have, what our aspirations our, what so called disease we have (overweight, acne, diabetes, etc).
When we attain the state of being at ease with our present state, that is when we can talk about acheiving wellbeing in a true sense.
Being prosperous, according to me is not limited to financial or econmical succes. Prosperity includes a larger definition that encompasses around our whole life incuding relationships, finding love, peace, success, being abundant in life. And knowing that what we have is enough to be happy, to be content, enough for our well-being.
And one of my favourite movies of all times. Pusuit of happyness. Happy watching :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ6g8FLimdw
Well who doesn't want to happy? I guess we spend all our lives trying to achieve happiness. And the whole point is to be just happy now and here rather than waiting for someone or something to make us happy.
Recommended readings:
http://www.gretchenrubin.com/
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
and my most favourite author Louise Hay
http://www.healyourlife.com/topics/affirmations/happiness
Contented state refers to satisfaction, ease of mind and is a variable indicator. Level of contements will vary from person to person as we all are unique individuals. Can we actually measure contenment or give it a statistical value is quite a difficult task as every individual will have a different set of indiactors that could be materialistic, emotional or spiritual in nature. According to me a balance between all three is required but again the balance will vary depending on the individual. For some owning a new house will bring a state of ease and for someone else it may be finding new friends (social indicator?) or mending a disturbed relationship with a dear one. And for someone doing a self help workshop bring satisfaction. It is important to remember as each individual is different from others, it is asoultely okay to have different desires manifesting at different levels and we cannot really compare two sets of desires based on whether they are materialistic or spiritual. The form of desire is irrelevant. What is essential is that after acheiving a certain goal/ manifesting a desire what is the state of that individual. That is what will define contentment. Spiritually, contentment has been described as state of bliss and is eternal irrespective what is happening in your life, taht is remaing in a state of bliss even in times of adversity. For research purposes, various indicators of what makes people happy is used to measure contentment.
Also state of contenment can be closely asociated with being happy. Being happy can include many definitions such as good mood, positive state of mind, having pleasant emotions, being content, state of joy. I think we all understand what is to be happy. Personally, I can define being happy when I am kids, find a dress that fits perfectly or generally had a good day at work or even manage to medidate peacfully for 15 minutes.
WHO has defined being healthy as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The most striking part is that even WHO looks at being healthy as a positive state of being and does not talk about absence of "dis-ease" per se. Even if you observe the word disease - it is actually the opposite of being "at ease".
If we go back to contentment and being happy (which can be intertwined), I basically just stated that it to be at ease - at ease with with one's physical state of being, at ease mentally, at ease with our thoughts, at ease with our desires, basically being at ease where we are, how we are and what we are doing. This is the first step towards accepting our true self. Being at ease with ourselves is compeletely opposite of being judgemental about ourseleves, criticizing ourselves - be it about how we look, how much money we have, what our aspirations our, what so called disease we have (overweight, acne, diabetes, etc).
When we attain the state of being at ease with our present state, that is when we can talk about acheiving wellbeing in a true sense.
Being prosperous, according to me is not limited to financial or econmical succes. Prosperity includes a larger definition that encompasses around our whole life incuding relationships, finding love, peace, success, being abundant in life. And knowing that what we have is enough to be happy, to be content, enough for our well-being.
And one of my favourite movies of all times. Pusuit of happyness. Happy watching :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ6g8FLimdw
Well who doesn't want to happy? I guess we spend all our lives trying to achieve happiness. And the whole point is to be just happy now and here rather than waiting for someone or something to make us happy.
Recommended readings:
http://www.gretchenrubin.com/
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
and my most favourite author Louise Hay
http://www.healyourlife.com/topics/affirmations/happiness
Gallup, a strategic consultatncy company has a well-being index www.well-beingindex.com/
Very well researched. Superbly written.
ReplyDeleteThought provoking.
Amazing Hema ..State of wellbeing is very well defined. Very well written
ReplyDeletePursuit of Happiness is an inspirational movie
Well written Hema. Being at ease...not only helps in accepting things as they are.....also builds a calmer n more feeling of being secured ......
ReplyDelete