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What Wellness Means to Josh Rosebrook – WELL Summit

What Wellness Means to Josh Rosebrook – WELL Summit

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jr-9454279These days, many people are resonating with the lifestyle of wellness. It’s truly incredible to witness our culture awakening in a collective desire for mindful, healthy, empowered living.

But what does “wellness” really mean? How does wellness make a real impact in our lives in the same way that it inspires us?

There are books, people, brands, design aesthetics, Pinterest boards, Instagram photos, filters, fonts, color palettes, clothing styles, attitudes, foods and a plethora of memes that showcase, express, expose and sell this purported image of a spiritual and emotional experience offered as a lifestyle of wellness that we connect to. What wellness means and our relationship with it, is layered, personal and so much more than a marketing, lifestyle trend (of course): It’s our innate desire to connect, be and live healthy and happy.

What does living wellness mean to me most simply? Constant self-assessment. A continual checking-in, an exercising of my ability to acknowledge and act in alignment with what I know I need at any given moment.

This is what I ask myself and I encourage you to ask yourself too: What is best for me right now, no matter what anyone else might think? Ask yourself daily or several times a day; nothing is too big or too small— this is the constant checking-in, the self-assessment that leads to being true to yourself.

Wellness is being true to myself, asking myself what is right for me, regarding any situation, event or moment—this takes courage and self-awareness and many times, we seemingly disappoint others when we are being true to our highest needs. But really, we carry no responsibility for their choice of reaction to any of our decisions.

Twenty years ago, I would have called practicing my lifestyle of wellness as having “discipline.” Today, discipline is too strong of a word to describe wellness. Discipline can connote rigidity that doesn’t quite nurture our sensitivities enough. Living wellness can require a certain amount of self-discipline at times, but there is a deeper truth to remember: Everything is always totally ok and completely right, no matter what we do or don’t do. Here we absolve ALL pressure and resistance, and THAT is wellness.

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Neal Halfon

Neal Halfon, MD, MPH is founding director of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, and also directs the Child and Family Health Leadership and Training Program in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Dr. Halfon is professor of pediatrics in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; health policy and management in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; and public policy in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Is well known for his health related publications.