These days, it seems like nothing takes time anymore: just push the button, and the screen comes on.  Jump in the car, turn the key, and speed away.  Pick up the phone and get results for whatever you are working on.

It’s different when you’re talking about wellness; your body is not something that responds to outside influence immediately.  Neither is your mind.  Both take a lot of work to change, and both work together in a kind of “synchronicity”.

Yet, just as with any living thing or any complex machine, your personal wellness has many parts that need to work together.  We know that the body and mind are interconnected, and it’s true that various aspects combine to form what we think of as our “mental”, “psychological” or even “spiritual” wellness.  These kinds of wellness are by nature interlaced, and the results we get depend partly on how well we get them to “gell”.

Along with these we also have our “wealth” (financial situations), our “health” (personal fitness), and our relationships, and all of those other elements that contribute to how we feel and act.

During our ‘day/night’ cycle, we bring all of these together and make them real – as you sleep, your subconscious takes over, working over the events of the day and your active thoughts to ‘update’ that connection between your body and your mind.

How do you feel in the morning?  Troubled about the economic future?  Distracted by problems on the horizon?  Or ready for a new day?

If your results are less than desirable, keep putting work into crafting that active thinking that will get you toward better holistic wellness by learning how to “absorb” negativity (in both events and feelings) and project the positive.  

Basically, taking care of your body is like taking care of any other living thing.  It’s like gardening, with that same day in, day out perspective: just as gardeners patiently follow the long process between planting the seed and seeing the final lush result, the fitness participant begins with just his/her own initiative, and nothing more.  But gradually, with the positive outlook and hard work you are capable of, you can turn your various wellness spheres into one humming engine!

When you have begun to weigh the scales in your favor, you will feel the tipping point.  After results start coming in, that’s when “anyone can believe”.  But the true believer has faith, even before seeing results, that their work on their outlook will take them to better health.

Basically, the key to wellness is a serene and steady outlook.  Your body works with your mind, and vice versa.  Getting fit is great.  Learning to be patient about getting fitness results is the icing on the cake.  Those who have both of these can keep themselves in shape for the long term, and be confident that they have not only the muscular and body conditions, but the will to succeed.

So take time to smell the flowers, and make time in your schedule to be patient.  Go to the drawing board and re-create your routine so that you have a place for the long term.  Be relentless about change, and dedicate yourself to re-shaping how you think about your daily priorities.  Goal setting and change are hard work.  But in the end, as you watch yourself grow, you will see how that first spark of ambition becomes a real result!

Justin Stoltz, Fitness Future Correspondent