Chapter 1

By: Luke Frankel

In Chapter 1 we read, “In 1968, René Dubos proposed an even broader definition of health. In his book So Human an Animal, Dubos defined health as “a quality of life, involving social, emotional, mental, spiritual, and biological fitness on the part of the individual, which results from adaptations to the environment” (Donatelle 5) I was enlightened in the fact that for most of my life I have been only taking care of one or two of the 6 dimensions of wellness. In this section we talked about physical, social, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and environmental health. Idealistically, you want to have a healthy balance in all of the six dimensions. My example would be that I love going to the gym six days a week, and I take care of my body in the nutritional aspect. But, that is only one part of the six dimensions of wellness and I really need to step up my game on the other five dimensions.

For each of the other 5 dimensions I will try and give an example of what I can do to better myself.

Social: I normally have a solid friend group who I have known for years and love them all dearly, however there is always room for improvement and sometimes I feel as if though I am letting them down when I do not feel like going out with them. I will try and make myself spend more time with my friends, doing things I do not necessarily enjoy, but nonetheless spending more time with them.

Intellectual: School is a great way for me to expand my horizons, and learn new subjects that will help me further my education. I plan on also reading at least one book every month that is not required by school.

Emotional: Emotionally I have always felt rather stable, and I usually think before I act based on an emotion, even in the strongest cases. However, it is important to understand that we need to make sure we are creating positive feedback loops in our brains in such a way that promotes success within ourselves and with our relationships. So i will try to push the boundaries and let others know how I am feeling or ask them how they feel.

Spiritual: I grew up in the Catholic faith and that is how I have always associated with spirituality. Even though I do not practice anymore, I still understand that the relationship with oneself and the world around you is an important facet of a healthy lifestyle. I plan on keeping up with my ten minutes of meditation a day and possibly increasing it into two 10 minute sessions.

Environmental: Environmentally I need to work on understanding how the world around me affects my health. I also need to work on understand what I can do to fix and make the world a better place to live in that is safe for all of us. I will try to educate myself on this topic more.