Well-being is a diffuse concept to which each person gives their own meaning. This human faculty is born of an inner conviction and responsibility.
- The 7 pillars of well-being according to traditional medicine
- Buddhist precepts to gain well-being
- Well-being according to the precepts of yoga
- The 9 guidelines of well-being according to the Zen tradition
What is wellness? We have almost always used this word as a synonym for health as opposed to the discomfort that disease causes us. But how many meanings does it encompass for us?
It is important that we learn from our own culture and others to improve well-being. Know our physical and cultural heritage, our ancestors, establish a harmonious relationship with the environment and that this relationship and cultural improvements are intertwined to improve every day.
WELL-BEING: MEANING
The most important definition is made from an individual assessment. I define my well-being because I am satisfied with my life and my health, because my positive feelings about life predominate over negative ones; It is a grace to which I aspire from my ethics and my particular values.
Well-being is at the core of happiness, which gives meaning to life. This sense can be perceived from the most comfortable place to the most bitter prison, everything depends on the person.
But not everyone understands well-being that way. In fact, this word has defined above all the standard of living and progress of a country. The term refers to the quality of life evaluated by certain economic indicators, such as income, employment, housing, environmental conditions, social class, sex…
Well-being has also been understood as a formula for correct living, good social behavior, full mental faculties, good mood and affectivity, satisfaction with oneself, with family and friends … All this encompasses the welfare situation.
THE 7 PILLARS OF WELL-BEING ACCORDING TO TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
What determines a person’s level of well-being? So important is that it gives rise to political factions within a ministry or a Social Welfare Counseling. But where does that kind of well-being, health, or grace lie? Does it depend on others, on neighbors, on politics, on capricious divinity?
Or does it depend rather on us, to collect our heritage, our environment, our ability to learn and form a goal, a meaning to our life, that encompasses reality and transcends it, that passes through an acceptance of what we are and marks a meaning and a purpose in the life we choose, a positive relationship with others and autonomy and control over our environment?
Living with joy and sadness, with euphoria and depression, with pride and shame, with affection and envy, with ecstasy and stress, with satisfaction and anxiety … All this amalgam of positive and negative aspects mixed in the present, the past and the future are part of our well-being.
All this has been experienced repeatedly and, in that experience, we have developed physical and ethical skills that improve our condition of well-being and we have applied them to our behavior trying to repeat them.
This has given rise to different cultures and within them to habits, customs or morals. However, there is only one way to achieve it: to know that well-being resides in our hands, in our strength, in our voice, in the pen that I now handle to transmit my thoughts, in my words and in what they can awaken in your mind.
The key is that we decide our well-being. These 7 pillars are closely related to how we achieve it:
- Food. Take care of the balance and the quality and quantity of food so as not to overload the body.
- Exercise. Movement, whether in the form of sport, yoga or tai chi, prevents numerous ailments.
- Peace of mind. It requires confidence and knowledge of oneself, ability to accept and relax.
- Spiritual life. Understood as the personal search for answers to essential questions.
- Relationships. Strong affective bonds not only protect the person but are a factor of longevity.
- Work. It can be both a cause of stress and a cause of personal fulfillment.
- Environment. It includes the purity of the environment but also the quality of the place where you live.
BUDDHIST PRECEPTS TO GAIN WELL-BEING
Science investigates the factors of well-being and health and based on this makes its recommendations.
In the past, this body of knowledge was transmitted mainly through religions. In this sense, it is curious to see how the World Health Organization attaches increasing importance to immaterial factors as a pillar of well-being.
A good relationship with the community or even spiritual values is considered to favor longevity.
Probably what Christianity sums up with the expression “love your neighbor as yourself” is one of the best medical and psychological advice.
Buddhism also offers some precepts of universal validity:
- Correct knowledge. It leads to an understanding of equality among living beings (which includes all animals), the doctrine of rebirth, the law of cause and effect (karma), impermanence…
- Right thinking. It promotes aspirations without selfish motives or harm to others. Thoughts of renunciation, love and non-violence.
- Correct language or speech. Refrain from lying, gossiping, slandering… Speak with truth and kind words.
- Right action or conduct. Respect the five precepts: not to kill or harm any living being, not to exercise violence; not to take what does not belong to us; not to lie or insult; not using sexuality incorrectly; Do not ingest substances that cause you to lose consciousness.
- Correct livelihood. Exercise work that is not harmful or harmful to other living beings.
- Correct attention. To the body, considered as the best means we have to live at this time; to sensations and emotions, both pleasant and painful, valuing all of them; to the activities of the mind, considered as changing; to phenomena, observed as transient, without their own nature. Apparently, Buddha knew quite a bit about quantum physics…
- Concentration and meditation. They allow to calm and restructure the mind, strengthening concentration and the development of deep vision.
WELL-BEING ACCORDING TO THE PRECEPTS OF YOGA
Long before, yoga already proposed another series of equally valid precepts:
- Yama. Not violence, not killing, not offending or lying, not to ambition or treasure, not to abuse sexuality.
- Niyama. Cleansing body and mind, cultivating an attitude of contentment and satisfaction, austerity, self-study and surrender.
- Asanas. Exercise and physical postures; Through them the nervous impulses and internal energies are balanced.
- Pranayama. Control and regulation of prana or vital energy through breathing exercises.
- Care of the mind. Especially through the practice of meditation.
WELL-BEING ACCORDING TO THE PRECEPTS OF YOGA
Long before, yoga already proposed another series of equally valid precepts:
- Yama. Not violence, not killing, not offending or lying, not to ambition or treasure, not to abuse sexuality.
- Niyama. Cleansing body and mind, cultivating an attitude of contentment and satisfaction, austerity, self-study and surrender.
- Asanas. Exercise and physical postures; Through them the nervous impulses and internal energies are balanced.
- Pranayama. Control and regulation of prana or vital energy through breathing exercises.
- Care of the mind. Especially through the practice of meditation.
