Nine Dimensions of Health & Well-Being

Though the Y has evolved over time, our holistic approach to health and well-being has been a consistent theme in our history.  Everyone has a different definition of their own well-being.  However, studies have shown that assets in the Dimensions of Healthy Living categories improve well-being for all.  Our Y focuses on programs and services that support everyone involved in our Y through these dimensions, including:

• Health: Practicing positive habits that include physical activity and healthy eating
• Achievement:  The confidence, competence, and satisfaction gleaned from learning, goal attainment, and skill building
• Belonging:  Having the connection to and support of a family, group, or community
• Relationships:  The individual bonds created with and among individuals
• Meaning:  Having a strong sense of hope, faith, and purpose
• Safety:  The state in which basic physical and emotional needs are being met
• Character:  Personally accepting and demonstrating positive values
• Giving:  Acting on the desire to be of service to others
• Inspiration:  The positive benefits derived from exposure to and engagement with art, culture, or nature.

Find out more about your own health & well-being by printing out and completing the following activity and answering the questions below.

1.  How are you right now?  Plot a point in each wedge for how satisfied you are with your well-being right now, on a scale of one (the center of the circle) to ten (the outside of the circle), with ten being the most well you could be.  Connect the adjacent dots.

2.  How do you want to be?  Repeat the exercise, plotting points for where you would like your well-being to be.  Again, connect the adjacent dots.

Where are the gaps between where you are right now and where you want to be? What are some of the ways you could close the gaps between the two graphs?