Finding Joy in the Journey into Wellness at Life University

Everyone wants to be healthy.
Deep down we all want to be well and most of us have considerable knowledge about health and wellness. Yet many of us have difficulty living a healthy lifestyle in spite of knowing what's good and bad for us. In our society obesity and sedentary living are increasingly on the rise. Stress, anxiety and the rapid pace of life seem at times to be growing almost out of control. In the face of these facts, how do we start a new trend in positive healthy living with lasting results? So many health fads come and go as quickly as they came. How do we take effective meaningful action to improve our health?

At Life we believe the key is applying our knowledge in consistent action to form healthy habits.
Our habits makeup our lifestyles and have great power to shape our health and our destiny. Our mission here at Life is to help you to change your habits for the better in areas like activity and exercise, food choices, stress management and spinal health (chiropractic and spinal hygiene).

Changing habits as you know is often difficult. That's why we have provided a number of tools to help you begin new positive health habits. Usually before beginning any new health regimen it is wise to assess where you are in terms of your lifestyle and the daily health choices you make. The spinal hygiene journal that we have provided is designed to help you assess your daily activities and the health choices that you make habitually. Tommy Thompson, the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services has applauded Life University's Spinal Hygiene program calling it an "important and laudable service."

Before making abrupt changes in your lifestyle, we recommend completing a spinal hygiene journal for a week or two, noting the patterns of healthy and unhealthy choices you are making. After you have analyzed your strengths and weaknesses, you may wish set some specific goals and create a plan to improve your level of wellness. We have provided examples of some of the wellness plans that students here at Life have created for themselves in varied dimensions of wellness.

These plans are not meant to be copied verbatim, but rather to serve as examples of the goals others are pursuing in their quest for better health. To be most meaningful a wellness plan really needs to be developed by each one of us individually, based on our age, health status, interests, values, beliefs and specific needs. We recommend that you create your own plan by forming realistic, specific, measurable goals (so you can determine the extent of your success). Once you have created a trial plan, share it with others knowledgeable about your health (like your health care practitioner) before you begin implementation. This will help to assure that you are on the right track with your wellness goals.

Additionally, we have included a Wellness Planning Calendar to assist you in allocating time to accomplish your goals.

Remember that in health matters gradual changes are usually the safest and often effect the most lasting improvements. Take small steps at first.

If your plan involves changing levels of activity and exercise complete a PAR Q and YOU Form before you begin. If you answer yes to any questions check with your health care practitioner to make sure your activity levels will be safe. If you are healthy and cleared for activity you may use the Activity Calendar that we have provided to monitor and chart your activity levels. As you begin your wellness plan you may also use the Wellness Diary to monitor your goal accomplishment. The wellness diary provided is an open Excel format. The domains of the diary will mirror those in your personal wellness plan. Enter a 1 for each week you complete your goals in a particular domain (for example 30 minutes of daily exercise) and a 0 for each week you don't complete your goal.
Let's review this wellness planning sequence.