by Christina Carney
What would happen if you threw away everything you thought you knew about wellness and being well? If you’re anything like me, you’ve worked hard for your wellness and this probably sounds like a terrible idea. But I’m not suggesting that you stop cultivating wellness in your life, rather that you bring a spirit of inquiry to it: a beginner’s mind.
“There is a concept in Zen Buddhism known as shoshin, which means “beginner’s mind.” Shoshin refers to the idea of letting go of your preconceptions and having an attitude of openness when studying a subject.” – James Clear
When we bring curiosity to our wellness practices numerous possibilities rise up. We may be able to go deeper with it, having a better understanding of how it helps us and finding new ways to connect with it. We can continue to learn from our practices and renew our commitment to taking care of ourselves.
There’s also an opportunity to assess if those practices are still working. When a practice becomes a habit, we may not realize that it’s not really supporting us in the way it did in the beginning. It’s in our wheelhouse, so we do it, but it ends up being an empty gesture. It can be hard to let go of something that once gave you so much, but it also means you make space for something new. I find that part of cultivating wellness for myself also means continuing to evolve and transform. I never want to stop growing. That means that what I do to nurture and care for myself may also change.
There’s another way I think a beginner’s mind can be applied to wellness. What do you believe about being well? What messages have you been given about being healthy? There are plenty of messages that come out of the mental health system and many of them are limiting in nature. Let’s look at the idea of medication management. While medication may be a part of someone’s wellness, should that be the barometer for being well? Perhaps, for some, this may be true in the beginning. Sometimes the basics are a struggle – sometimes just getting out of bed is a win. But once you’ve been able to establish a baseline for taking care of yourself and feeling steadier, what then? How do you blossom if the definition of wellness means you take medication when you’re supposed to?
Another way I see this showing up is in advertisements and media, where “healthy” often means white and slender. Wellness becomes about how you look, not what’s going on inside you. It’s disconnected from real life and doesn’t have anything to teach us and yet, it can worm it’s way into our psyche’s, making us believe that to be well, we need to look perfect. These are the messages we need to unpack. What are the stereotypes about wellness that you’ve internalized?
A beginner’s mind lets us see all this with fresh eyes. Bringing curiosity and inquiry into all aspects of our lives is important, but bringing it to wellness may be the most important thing we can do. You deserve to transform, to expand and to thrive: we all do. That means allowing our wellness practices – and our understanding of wellness – to breathe, to live, to change.
Christina Carney is the Coordinator of the Peer Voice Project at Via Hope, a leadership program for people with lived experiences around trauma, mental health and substance use. You can read her blog on leadership here.
