Staying Motivated & Spiritual Wellbeing

Welcome to the December 2019 edition of TotalWellbeing, your guide to the 8 dimensions of wellbeing. This month we will look at staying motivated, resolutions, and nurturing your spiritual wellbeing. The holiday season signals the end of the year and with it brings a fresh start, but also the pressure of starting a new year with new goals, aspirations, resolutions, and responsibilities. So how do you stay motivated through it all? It’s important to seek change and keep things fresh. Just because things may not change around you doesn’t mean you can’t change your own activities, seek out new hobbies, learn new things, and meet new people. Focus on searching out new things that may be interesting to you or help you do old stuff in new ways or from a different perspective. For more information on staying motivated, holiday entertaining on a budget, and reducing kid’s holiday stress, check out these helpful articles, free webinars, and the information below.

Also, one more friendly reminder that you can now access your counseling services with MINES through an online text and messaging platform! It’s counseling whenever, wherever! Call us anytime for more info or to get set up!

Remember you can always catch past issues of TotalWellbeing on our newsletters page. This newsletter is aimed at providing helpful information about various aspects of your wellbeing and then connecting it all back to important and relevant parts of everyday life. If you have any thoughts, questions, or content you would like to see covered here please get in contact with us. You can email us directly by clicking here.

To your total wellbeing,

The MINES Team

Seven Ways to Beat the Burnout Blues

You may be experiencing burnout if you feel bored, fatigued, apathetic, impatient, and constantly irritated with your co-workers. Don’t panic, there’s hope. Some of the secrets to long-term job happiness are revealed in the 7 tips below:

1. Change positions within your company — See how your skills can be applied in new ways within your company and seek out new opportunities to contribute.
2. Find like-minded people — Finding people with a similar sense of humor, interests, and experience as you can help you see things in new ways and find fresh ideas that work with your lifestyle.
3. Seek out short-term projects — Short-term projects can be a great way to explore new things and work with new people. Kind of like a test-drive for new hobbies you may like to take a deeper dive into.
4. Get more education — Nothing like fresh skills and new knowledge to open new doors.
5. Keep on learning — Stop. Learning. The more you learn, the more exposure you have to opportunities in the world you may have never even knew existed.
6. Have pride in your job — Doing your job the best you can and having pride in your contribution can help you enjoy your job, endure rough patches, and beat burnout even in the worst of times.
7. Don’t wait — If you start to experience burnout, don’t wait until it affects your work and you start looking for a new job. Instead, try making positive changes in your present job. Talk to your supervisor and discuss changes that could reenergize you!

Check out this article for a full breakdown of these 7 tips.

Remember that if you or a household member are experiencing burnout and want to talk to someone about it, we are here to listen. Please call us at 1-800-873-7138 to get connected right away. Also, PersonalAdvantage has a ton of great resources and FREE webinars this month to help you focus on your wellbeing while also being productive at work and home.

Question of the Month

What motivates you? How can you utilize your motivational forces to help you keep focused on your goals in 2020?

Quote of the Month

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou

Supporting Your Spiritual Wellbeing

Because spiritual connection and spirituality is so personal and can mean something different to everyone, it can be hard to tell others how to support their spiritual wellbeing. Remember that spiritual wellbeing is not necessarily religious and can simply be your personal connection to the world and those around you, your sense of place in the world. From this point of view, try and contemplate the ways that you connect with the world around you and take time to yourself to be mindful of little things in your day to day lives that ground you and bring you joy. Below are some tips on how to be mindful of the bigger picture in everyday situations:

• If you do not currently have a spiritual outlet, consider revisiting your childhood faith or another group that interests you. This could be a nature walk group, a martial arts class, an artist group. Anything that connects to you!
• If you plan to see a doctor regarding a physical problem, be sure to mention any major life events that you may be experiencing, such as menopause, divorce, or the death of a loved one. This may be affecting your health and may influence the course of treatment your doctor recommends.
• Build quiet, contemplative time into your daily or weekly schedule. Slowing down can help soothe even the most restless spirits. Use this time to meditate or create something. Draw, write, or paint. Anything that allows you to express your inner thoughts in a way that is meaningful to you.

For more resources on supporting your spiritual wellbeing, log in to PersonalAdvantage today.

This Month’s Focus

Free Webinar:

Putting Out the Fire: Preventing and Managing Burnout

MINESblog:

New to TW? Check out our past Blogs!

Last month: National Alzheimer’s Awareness Update 2019

Important Links

Visit our BLOG

MINES and Associates

2019 Training Catalog

Balanced Living Magazine

LinkedIn

MINEs Archives

Contact Us

Email MINES

De-cluttering Your Life and Spiritual Wellbeing

If you missed us last month, last year, or you are new to TotalWellbeing, you can catch up on our newsletters page. Remember, this newsletter is aimed at providing helpful information about various aspects of your wellbeing and then connecting it all back to important and relevant parts of everyday life. We will continue to focus on looking at each facet of wellbeing from a small, personal, level and then look at how it connects to the bigger community level as we explore how our wellbeing is tied to the world around us in often surprising ways.

To your total wellbeing,

The MINES Team

Less is more, stay mindful

One way to simplify your life is to practice mindfulness — to slow down and recognize and appreciate the simple things in life. To be mindful instead of mindless, stay in the moment and be conscious of what you’re doing. Don’t think ahead or look back.

When we look ahead constantly, we not only rush through the less pleasant tasks, we also tend to hurry through the things we love to do, because we’re always thinking or worrying about what we have to do next.

A good way to practice being in the moment is to follow your breath, a technique that doesn’t require any special training or self-consciousness. To breathe mindfully, take notice of your breaths and try to make them as calm and even as possible. Your breaths should be long and slow and should come from your diaphragm rather than your upper chest. Pay attention to each breath, letting thoughts fall away. For more check out this article.

If you would like to talk to a counselor or wellness coach about these topics, please call us at 1-800-873-7138 to get connected right away. Also, PersonalAdvantage has a ton of great resources and FREE webinars this month to help you focus on your wellbeing while also being productive at work and home.

Question of the Month

What is one small thing you can start doing every day to help de-clutter your work or living spaces?

Quote of the Month

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” — Confucius

Community and Global Perspective

A simple way of enhancing your Spiritual wellbeing is by connecting with others around you and getting a sense of their feelings about their own purpose and meaning. Connect with friends, neighbors, and family members. What are their goals? What drives them? How do they approach each day with purpose? On one hand, you may find inspiration and shared meaning with those that mirror your aspirations, and on the other hand, you may be able to help others find what they need to renew their own sense of connection and meaning. By connecting with more people you will be exposed to a variety of viewpoints, beliefs, and lifestyles that will open your mind to new ideas as well as reinforce what’s already inside you strengthening your own sense of purpose at the same time.

This Month’s Focus

Check out this month’s webinar: Clear Your Clutter

MINESblog:

Sleep and Nutrition Go Hand in Hand

New to TW? Check out our past Blogs!

Important Links

Visit our BLOG

MINES and Associates

2019 Training Catalog

Balanced Living Magazine

LinkedIn

MINEs Archives

Contact Us

Email MINES

How Challenging Relationships affect Your Spiritual Wellbeing

To your total wellbeing,

The MINES Team

How Difficult Relationships Can Disrupt Your Spiritual Wellbeing

First, we would like to define Spiritual Wellbeing as it can be misinterpreted. We are not here to discuss various religions or belief systems. Spiritual Wellbeing as defined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is simply your sense of purpose, feeling of belonging, and ability to find meaning in the world around you. Everyone nourishes their spiritual wellbeing in their own way. Looking at this that definition it is probably easy to see how difficult relationships and hostile people might disrupt your sense of purpose, place, and meaning, especially as it applies to the workplace. If a particular relationship in your personal or professional life is difficult right now, ask yourself:

• Is this person always this way or just this way once in a while?
• Is this person having a hard time right now that might be affecting their behavior?
• Are you having a hard time right now that may be affecting your feelings and the way you see things?
• Do you often enjoy this relationship, or do you mostly feel hurt?

If the things another person says to you or does to you make you feel hurt and the person won’t stop doing those kinds of things, he or she should not be in your life. It is always your choice whether or not to have a relationship with another person. Reach out to others for information and advice, but the final decision should always be yours.

If you would like to talk to a counselor about these topics, please call us at 1-800-873-7138 to get connected right away. Also, PersonalAdvantage has some great tools and webinars this month to improve your knowledge around dealing with stress and maximizing your life by reducing worry. For more be sure to check out our “Difficult Personalities” infographic.

Question of the Month

What are the things in your life that help give you a sense of belonging?

Quote of the Month

“This above all; to your own self be true.”

– William Shakespeare

MINES Updates/Community World View

Today’s world is full of “us or them” mentality. This can be seen in the current political climate, social media movements, and cultural issues and it can often be tough to find your place in all of the chaos. At these times it is often best to take a step back and try and get away from the noise and constant feed of information. Get offline, go somewhere peaceful so that you have a chance to catch your breath and connect with yourself and reflect on your own thoughts away from the barrage of outside opinions and demands. Then when you return to the daily rush, make sure to keep that connection with yourself.

This Month’s Focus

Check out this month’s webinar on Managing Toxic People

MINESblog Review:

The Importance of Walking and Talking

Break Free from Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Check out this Month’s Infographic

Important Links

Visit our BLOG

MINES and Associates

2018 Training Catalog

Balanced Living Magazine

LinkedIn

MINEs Archives

Contact Us

Email MINES

August 2016: Spiritual Wellbeing

Get Involved!

Welcome to the August issue of TotalWellbeing! This month we talk about Spiritual Wellbeing. This topic can be hard to define as it often means different things to different people depending on values, goals, beliefs, and background. But there is one aspect of Spiritual wellbeing that is common to us all and that is the drive to accept ourselves, the world, and our place within it. If you are feeling out of sync with yourself or the world around you it is important to take the time to meditate on the issue(s) that may be affecting you. While it is never a good idea to dwell on negative feelings, it is important to understand why we may be feeling them so that we can make changes, refine our values and understandings, and ultimately bring ourselves back into alignment so that we can feel better and move forward. For a closer look at this month’s topic and helpful resources please check out The Path and The Connection below.

Much more information on a variety of topics is available on MINESblog. Here you can expect blogs, articles, and tips provided by members of the MINES Team. Last month you may have heard about a little game called PokemonGo. In case you didn’t notice it has been quite the social phenomenon, and we couldn’t help but look at some of the wellness and social psychology implications of the game, so check out what Ryan Lucas, our Manager of Engagement & Development, had to say about this latest craze. And of course we will have some more great articles coming up so make sure to subscribe.

As always, for more information please check out the links to the left or hit the share button to send us a message. See you next month!

To your total wellbeing,

The MINES Team

The Path: Spiritual Wellbeing and Perspective

To be at peace with your surroundings you must first be at peace with yourself. This is no secret.  If you are stressed, distracted, or otherwise out of alignment with yourself it is hard to focus on your day-to-day life. You may find yourself unable to enjoy certain activities, find it hard to focus at work, or find your productivity slipping, all because there is something on your mind that is distracting you, or making you question your values or purpose. When that happens it is important to take the time to self-reflect and think about why you feel this way. To help bring yourself back into a place where you feel satisfied and fulfilled on a spiritual level, it is important to take time for yourself. Relax, seek to define or re-define your values, think about how those values guide your actions in your day to day life, and consider how you can refine the aspects of your life that you can control and let go of the things that you cannot such as the values and actions of others, or the state of the world as a whole. Come to terms with these things and it will be much easier to come to terms with yourself and find inner-peace.

One of the key ingredients to Spiritual Wellbeing is self-acceptance and mindfulness. The ability to be self-aware without being overly critical of yourself can be tricky but not impossible. The key is to get above the negative thoughts in your head that are keeping you from being fully present in the moment. Don’t try to stop negative thoughts, as that is almost impossible, instead simply try to accept them and let them pass without affecting you. Use these 8 techniques for self-acceptance to help practice.

Try the Exercises Here!

The Connection: Get Involved

Wellbeing does not simply start and stop at the individual. Our community is connected to each of our own individual wellbeing in a huge way. When we are well we can better function within our community.  We can help our fellow humans thrive, and in turn, when our community is prospering, it helps each of us reach our goals as individuals. So why not help our community so we can all thrive together? Each month we will strive to bring you resources that can help you enhance the wellbeing of those around you or get involved with important causes.

While Spiritual Wellbeing focuses on looking within, we can’t truly be at peace with ourselves unless we understand our place in the world around us. It is important to remind ourselves from time to time how we work within the grand scheme of things. A great way to do that is to get out and interact with other people and at the same time find purpose for ourselves by helping others. Volunteering and helping with community-based events is a great way to do this. Volunteermatch.com makes it easy to find opportunities in your area where you can reach out and make an impact in your own community.

Find Opportunities Here!

Don’t forget that PersonalAdvantage, your online benefit through MINES, has tons of great resources for all the dimensions of wellbeing that we discuss here. If you haven’t checked it out yet, or want to see what resources they have for this month’s topic check out the link below. You’ll need your company login, so make sure to get that from your employer.

Check Out PersonalAdvantage Here!