What is Wellness? The UnCanny Philosophy

We’ve all heard the term ‘wellness’ thrown around. It’s something we recognize as being desirable and that we probably don’t have enough of, but it’s so vague. When trying to picture ‘wellness’, you might imagine someone relaxing on a beach in a hammock or executing a perfect yoga-posture in the sunset. But those images are only glorified representations of certain aspects of what wellness truly is. So what is it, actually?

At UnCanny, ‘wellness’ is literally half of our name :) So we better have a damn good answer for you…

You can very generally break down wellness into two categories: mind & body — or mental & physical. Within those two broad groups are several different subcategories that all play an important role. We’ll take a deeper look at what those subcategories actually are and follow up with some tips and best practices to make it happen.

The Mind (Mental)

Spiritual Health

Our spiritual health is very real. It has nothing to do with religious beliefs and has everything to do with connecting to your inner self. A good spiritual health looks like having a sense of purpose and maintaining a connection to something greater than just you. That ‘something greater’ can be anything — God, the Buddha, nature, quantum physics, or the flying spaghetti monster. It really doesn’t matter as long as you don’t reduce yourself to a worthless flesh-sack of bones marching towards death — because we are SO much more than that.

What brings you fulfillment? What makes you happy? Why do you do what you do?

These questions shouldn’t be ignored and are fundamental to having a healthy spirit. Oftentimes our spiritual health is dampened when we feel alone, unheard, misunderstood, and disconnected from others. We are intimately connected with everything in the universe — quite literally. On the macro scale that we exist in on an everyday basis, it appears all things are ‘separated’. However, on the deeper, quantum level, the distinction between individual things disappears and everything becomes a part of the frothing, ever-changing, connected universe that we are truly a part of. Recognizing this fundamental truth can help you achieve spiritual wellness.

Emotional Health

Emotional health is very close to spiritual health but manifests more openly in everyday life. If you’re feeling happy or sad, people can tell. And if you’re around others that are feeling angry, you can definitely pick up on it. Our emotional state doesn’t just stay within our mind — it permeates from our body and out into the area around us. Ever sit next to someone that is super nervous? You can feel their nervousness. Controlling and being aware of your emotional state is an extremely powerful tool.

There are several things you can do to maintain a positive emotional health. Generally, the goal is to be aware of and in control of your own emotions. If you’re feeling angry, recognize those feelings of anger and ask yourself why you’re feeling that way. Don’t try to hide from it or tuck it away, just try to understand it. Eventually, you’ll become more in-touch with your feelings and thoughts, which has some amazing implications. It means that other people can’t affect you if you don’t want them to. That person that was just rude to you on the phone? It won’t bother you.

Having strong emotional health cultivates resilience and allows you to walk through this life as an emotional warrior!

Relationships

As human beings, we’re inherently pack animals. Some of us might be more introverted or extroverted, but in general, we cherish community and relationships. It’s how we’ve gotten to this point in humanity. We weren’t hunting and gathering alone… we were in tribes. We’re still part of tribes today, they just look different than they did for our ancestors. Our relationships with one another help to define and make up who we are, for better or for worse.

In modern life, we have two different tribes: given and chosen.

Our given tribe is our family — our parents and siblings. The health of relationships with our given tribe can be difficult at times and usually holds a greater weight on our consciousness than our chosen tribe. If you have issues with your family, it has to be addressed and recognized or those issues will become toxic and fester inside of you, causing great damage to your emotional and spiritual health.

Our chosen tribe consists of our friends, coworkers, mentors, and more generally the community that we regularly engage with. Unlike our hunter-gatherer ancestors that were pretty stuck with their community, we have a lot of options in this day and age. You can find your tribe online, at music festivals, at sporting events, at dance class, or really anywhere that makes sense to you.

The most important thing to do is to ask yourself, “Does (person) make me feel good when I’m around them? Does (person) bring out the best in me? Does (person) keep me inspired or do they bring me down?” If the answers to those questions aren’t what you hoped, it’s time to reassess your relationships and find a new tribe. It’s OK to move on from people you used to associate with.

The only constant in this life is change. People change, and so do you.

The Body (Physical)

Exercise

Everyone knows that regular exercise is part of a healthy lifestyle. But what does that actually look like? Luckily, exercise comes in an endless variety of forms and you can find the perfect type of movement that works for you. Walking, running, climbing, biking, hiking, dancing, yoga, swimming, weight training — it doesn’t matter as long as you move!

There’s a phrase I love that perfectly describes one of the key benefits of exercise. “Be ready so you don’t have to get ready.” If you regularly move your body and stay active, you won’t have to ‘get ready’ for a physical activity. If you don’t exercise, you’ll have to prepare, avoid, or be completely exhausted by that same activity. Regular stretching and movement keep your body limber and ready to take on the world.

Besides just opening up the full potential of what our life in these incredible bodies has to offer, regular exercise actually gives us more energy and increases our ability to accomplish our goals. And although many people start exercising for aesthetic purposes, the benefits go beyond our surface and improve our internal conditions, supporting our organs, nervous, and immune system functioning. This is all even more important today because many of us live lives that are sedentary for the majority of the day. Gotta shake things up!

Money

This often overlooked and uncomfortable topic for many is, for better or worse, an essential part of our physical reality that has a lot to do with our ‘wellness’. Not having enough money can be very stressful, and caring too much about money can also lead us down the wrong path. Approaching money with the right mindset is so important. It shouldn’t control your life, but the fact is that we need it to stay alive. Money should certainly be a factor in your decision making, but not the primary motivation.

One of the most important things we can do is to live within our means. Naturally, this is subject to change over time due to fluctuating income and circumstances, but the rules generally stay the same. Don’t spend more than you have and don’t invest more than you can afford to lose. It’s also important to use money for the right things. Is that new flat screen TV really necessary? Is it actually going to make you happier? Or would your hard earned money be better spent exploring a new country and attending a conference for something you’re into? It’s almost always better to spend money on yourself and on new experiences instead of material things.

Food & Supplements

The importance of eating the right food cannot be understated, it’s arguably the #1 contributor to your wellness (or lack thereof). Many diseases that burden modern society can be improved or reversed by consuming the right diet.

As a general rule of thumb, a whole-food plant-based diet is the way to go. That means doing your best to reduce or cut-out eating processed foods and meats.

You don’t need to go vegan overnight to be healthy, but incorporating more of the good and consuming less of the bad will definitely move you in the right direction. Plant-based whole-foods are richer in essential vitamins, minerals, and other compounds that contribute to our physical and mental health.

However, the reality is that we don’t live in a perfect world. Every meal we eat can’t be perfectly balanced with the optimal foods groups. And even if it was, we grow our food in depleted soils, drink impure water, and breathe in polluted air. The good news is that we can choose the right supplements to support our health and wellbeing. Nearly everything we need to supplement with can be found in herbs or natural extracts.

CBD, or cannabidiol, is an amazingly powerful compound that interacts with a system in your body called the endocannabinoid system. The endocannabinoid system plays an important role in the proper functioning of your nervous and immune systems. When this system is functioning at full strength, all your body’s built-in tools work as they should. Regularly taking a CBD supplement should be a part of everyone’s wellness regimen and is one of the best compounds to bring your body to, and keep it at, homeostasis.

CBD truly treats the root of the problem, and even if you don’t ‘have a problem’ it can keep that same root in good condition to reduce the likelihood of a problem arising in the future.

Some Tips & Best Practices

• Start a meditation practice (Check out the Headspace or Insight Timer apps)
• Read books on how to improve yourself
• Hang out with people that share the same interests as you
• Talk to a therapist
• Keep in contact with people you care about
• Express your love and gratitude on a daily basis
• Explore different spiritual beliefs and mindsets
• Spend time in nature
• Join a gym (if you don’t know what to do, sign up for classes)
• Budget your money
• Plan out a path to self-employment if that’s your thing
• Eat more plant-based whole foods
• Stop drinking soda and other sugary drinks
• Start using some UnCanny Wellness CBD products
• Stay hydrated
• Breathe!

In Conclusion

Wellness is a true balance between a healthy body and mind.

It’s natural for you to have work to do in some areas but not others. The work that we have to do to achieve holistic wellness is often difficult and revealing of aspects of oneself that are uncomfortable to face head-on. Nobody is perfect, and it’s never worth it to compare yourself to others. That person doing a perfect backbend in a yoga magazine might not have any financial stability and relationship problems. Or maybe that wealthy businessman has horrible back pain and abuses alcohol. You just never know.

It’s important to remember that true wellness is a journey and not a destination.

Every day when we wake up we are faced with a new set of choices that either contributes to or detracts from our overall wellness. How we think, eat, feel, and move our bodies all paint the picture of wellness. The thoughts, actions, and diets that we used to identify with are just a part of the past if we want them to be. Our stories are ever-evolving, and we all have deep work to do.

At UnCanny Wellness, we’re here to support you on your wellness journey by providing high-quality hemp-derived CBD products. It’s only one component of the bigger picture that is wellness, but it’s a very important one.

What do you consider to be true ‘wellness’? Anything missing from our description?

If you’d like to reach out for any reason at all, send an email to YourFriend@UnCannyWellness.com