Time flies when you’re having fun, or when you’re busy, or when you hit the snooze button for the 3rd time in the morning; in fact let’s just agree that time flies most of the time. We’re already in the last quarter of the year and I’ve barely gotten used to writing 2014. We’ve seen a lot of ideas, resources, and inspiration come from MINES in the last quarter and to get us all on the same page I bring you 2014’s last edition of “Bridging the Gap.”

Now remember, Bridging the Gap aims to take all the stuff we’ve been talking about this last quarter and bring it full circle and connect it back to your own personal wellbeing, as we continue to paint a broader picture of health. So without further ado, lets to do a recap of what we saw in Quarter 3 of 2014 which included both our next round of wellbeing topics, as well as a slew of ideas coming from our experts here at MINES. As always let’s talk about those wellbeing topics first.

Quarter 3 introduced environmental wellbeing as our new topic and then explored some new connections between some wellbeing topics we have seen in the past. July looked at the connection between physical wellbeing and the newly introduced environmental wellbeing dimensions. It was the middle of summer and we wanted to shed light on how the environmental conditions in both our natural and urban areas impact our physical health and are related in more ways that you may have thought. Next, August is the time of year that most kids start returning to school and will continue to grow both in body and mind, so what better time to explore a new connection between the familiar topics of physical and intellectual wellbeing. We looked at mindfulness techniques and ways the mind can bring balance to the body and how the body can bring peace to the mind through exercise and stress management techniques in order to support this connection. And finally, September focused on environmental and intellectual wellbeing as we brought the quarter to a close. This connection focused on the concept that although we as humans have the ability to shape our environment to an extent, we cannot escape the fact that the environment we live in will inevitably shape at least some features about who we are and how we behave.

Now let’s talk about those blog posts. By now it’s no secret we like to share inspiring and helpful stories as well as helpful resources on our blog, and these last 3 months have been no exception. We saw Dr. Robert Mines talk about “Developmental Stages versus Skills in Leaders by Managerial Hierarchy,” which took a look at a complex issue facing a lot of businesses as newer generations clash with older ones. To follow that up our expert case manager Whitney Stone gave us plenty to think about in her examination of “The Second Question” which put how we align our identities with our profession under the microscope. Next Ryan Lucas, manager of engagement and development, looked at an important healthcare issue in his post “Healthcare is not just about the people who work in Health IT it’s about everyone”. And then finally BizPsych consultant Marcia Kent gave us our regular dose of inspiration with her latest “reframe” which focused on challenging your perceptions and looking at things from a whole new perspective.

To finish off this season of TotalWellbeing we will be looking at the connection between emotional, spiritual, social wellbeing as our final pieces of the wellbeing puzzle for the year. We don’t want to give too much away right now, however, so you’ll just have to stay tuned.

For now just remember to take a moment to breathe, relax, and get ready to finish the year strong. And to make sure you do just that, MINES will continue to support you with helpful resources, inspiring stories, and useful tools to make sure you have what you need to get a running start at 2015. You can also email us at: Communications@minesandassociates.com, and let us know what you like, questions you may have, and what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. See you next time!

To your total wellbeing

-The MINES Team