by HeartWorks | Sep 20, 2015 | NST Column |
As Published on New Straits Times – 2 August 2015
More People are moving into a proactive, integrated, wellness-oriented approach to improve their lives, writes Jaime Shine
More and more people are aware of the term wellness as being more than just a spa experience but a holistic approach to better quality of life. People are adjusting from reactive, conventional, medical oriented, problem solving approach to a proactive, integrated, wellness oriented approach to improve one’s life.
It is evident through statistics that there has been a huge shift in recent years as political and business leaders around the world and companies like Google and Accenture have put health and wellness in place to improve productivity and a create a happier workplace. It is a US$3.4 trillion market that includes preventive health, alternative medicine, workplace wellness, wellness real estate and global wellness tourism. At 3.4 times larger than the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, it is a force to be reckoned with.
So what does wellbeing mean to you and your family and how do you include it in your life? In my context wellbeing, simply defined is a state of being healthy and happy, having a sense of belonging and connection to others and to a purpose in life. It can be expanded into 5 different aspects, and when improved, can have positive affects to all areas of our lives.
PHYSICAL WELLBEING – MOVE
Our body is a temple. A functional one is having a healthy, fit and strong body allowing you to go and do whatever your heart desires. It is the energy and stamina to go the extra mile, pushing through the elements, having perseverance and being able to finish what you started.
The dysfunctional physical body ranges from sleep disorders, spinal injuries, pain to illnesses and diseases. All of which put a damper into our spirits, as we are then unable to move forward to achieve what we have set out for.
MENTAL WELLBEING – THINK
Without a doubt our mind is a brilliant entity. It creates our thoughts, perceptions and concepts, stores our memories, focus our intentions and allows us to analyse, strategise and more. A functional one is a conscious mind, fully aware of everything that is happening to you internally and externally in the present moment.
A dysfunctional one is the monkey mind, always turned on, unable to relax, constant analyzing, filled with doubts and worries, overly self critical and causing stress, anxiety, depression and even mental illnesses.
EMOTIONAL WELLBEING – FEEL
Perhaps the most overlooked but powerful aspect of our being is our emotions. When fully functional, it allows us to tap into and connect deeply within ourselves and use our natural ability and acumen that is our second brain – the heart, to decipher all the information available to us. It acts as a guide, fuels us to make decisions and carry out our actions.
When dysfunctional, emotions like fear can be crippling, anger can be destructive and sadness, heart breaking. When we are unable to comprehend our emotions, we will feel stuckness or stagnation, hindering other aspects of our wellbeing.
RELATIONSHIP WELLBEING – CONNECT
We all naturally crave for connection to fellow human beings as it makes life more meaningful. In essence, anyone that you form a connection with is a relationship. These can be with people or an entity – family, your romantic partner, work relationships, friendships, relationship with money, self and a higher intelligence than ourselves, the Divine are all relationships. When functional, your relationships bring you great love and joy, a sense of support and belonging in your life. When dysfunctional, it can create the greatest pain, heartache you have ever experience and the rest of your life no matter how functional can be destroyed together with it.
SPIRITUAL WELLBEING – LIVE
Lastly, the core and essence of living holistically, the one that links them all together is Spiritual Wellbeing – how you choose to live your Life. Spiritual wellbeing must not be mistaken for a religious practise, instead it is living life in an empowered way where you have a choice to decide for yourself; stripped bare of any religious, cultural or society’s influence.
When dysfunctional, you make choices based on what your parents say, what society thinks or how you are supposed to behave. When it is fully functional, you make empowered decisions based on what makes your heart sing aligned with your passion and purpose. When you give yourself the permission to do whatever that your heart desires, your creativity and passion is born and so is your purpose.
The old school success formula has always been study hard, get good grades, get a good job, rise among the ranks and earn lots of money in the process. The new success formula will be to incorporate total wellbeing in your life. Uncover your dreams and passions, strategise to make it happen, develop meaningful relationships as your support system, fuel your physically fit body and use your emotional acumen to drive you there. The result: a happy, meaningful, prosperous and fulfilled life.
The question therefore lies in not whether or not you want to incorporate wellness into your life but can you afford not to?
by HeartWorks | Sep 1, 2015 | Enriching Articles |
It may or may not have crossed your mind but relationships, though filled with love you have for each other, may bring upon a time when it becomes unhealthy for you and your mate. How does this happen when there is still so much love? Well, to begin with the relationship may have started off on the wrong foot in the first place. Lust, loneliness or ego may be the wolf in sheep’s clothing disguised as love.
How to Identify if you are in an Unhealthy Relationship
1. No Love, No Respect, No Trust.
When love is real, you feel it. It brings out joy and happiness and the best in you as an individual and as a couple. No one needs to win because you are both on the same team. There’s mutual trust and respect and there is kindness. These are the most important qualities healthy relationships are built upon.
2. Heavy on One Side
Codependency in a relationship spells disaster in the long run. Your mate is solely reliant on you for emotional, mental, physical support and becomes needy. On the flip side the dependant becomes a martyr who rescues the other constantly to feed his own ego. Both parties are feeding off each other’s lack and continue down the spiral of disempowerment.
3. The A Word – Abuse
Abuse on any level – physical, emotional or mental should not be tolerated. This does not mean you leave the relationship immediately at the slightest error, it means you ensure you communicate clearly to your mate that it is not OK to speak to you that way or how it their actions has affected you and do so immediately. When things does not improve and the abuse continues, then it is a clear sign to leave.
Other signs of unhealthy relationships:
– Conflict and arguments keep coming up on the same matter and neither wants to let their ego go.
– There’s no communication or intimacy
– Either one chooses to change the other person rather than work on oneself.
– There is no partnership or team effort in any matter, its my way or the highway
– You loose yourself and unsure who you have become
There are many different facets to each relationship and each one is different. It is important to be impartial when looking at it or get a third party’s perspective on whether it is best for you to stay on or to move on. Always use your inner guidance on how to work through most of the issues you may be facing and decide if the love you have is worth saving.
Empowered by Jaime Shine
by HeartWorks | Sep 1, 2015 | Astrology, Enriching Articles
Pisces Full Moon. Leaning into the landscape of your dreams
30 August 4:39 am Kuala Lumpur
This month’s full moon falls in the sign of Pisces. I’ve always loved days of the Pisces moon. It’s gentle and mystical tone makes one more receptive to the beauty in the world. Music sounds sweeter, our emotions more sensitive and finely tuned. With Pisces energy our dreams become deeper, more lucid, vivid and alive.
The watery realm of Pisces is related to the ocean, and to oceanic consciousness. This consciousness allows us to see and feel connected in our hearts with all of life and creation. This embryonic state of consciousness, and our longing to return to this primordial state of oneness is deeply embedded in each one of us, having experienced this oneness while we were still in our mother’s wombs. This Pisces moon we may renew and dream our way back into feeling this inter-connectedness with life, and with the divine.
We can renew our spiritual sides and pay attention to our intuition, and to the symbols and signs that come through our dreams and synchronicities. Is there a special message coming through for you, or a hint to nurture a certain connection or aspect of your life?
We may be feeling more emotionally vulnerable during the full moon, and more so with the moon in Pisces conjunct to Neptune and opposite to Jupiter in Virgo. We could feel overwhelmed if the moon shines a light on areas where we feel like we haven’t achieved or gotten what we want. We may feel we are not quite where we want to be in life.
With this sign and planet combination, this could relate to spiritual ideals and where one is in one’s spiritual life. Pisces is related to the emotions, so if this is the case for you, take time to sit with your feelings, and as the moon moves from fullness to her waning phase, begin releasing and letting go of those emotional holding patterns.
Know that we will have the opportunity to begin moving forward, and to seed our wishes and intentions when the moon comes to the new moon phase.
With the potential for greater heart connected-ness, compassion and connection to the spiritual realm, the flip side of Pisces is the potential to become caught up in escapist tendencies, illusions and addiction. The balance and antidote to this, is found in the sign of Virgo.
The Sun and Jupiter newly moving in the sign of Virgo suggests tending to our daily lives as a form of devotion. Where Pisces is connected to the realm of dream, intuition and consciousness, Virgo is related to our bodies and to our daily lives, our health, to service to others and our work. Both signs are related to healing.
Here we are encouraged to cultivate mind-body connection as spiritual practice. The inspiration of Pisces needs the practical magic of Virgo to bring our dreams into earthly manifestation. By the light of the moon, we can now discern where we need to focus in order to bring our goals to fruition. We can also see now where we need help, and who we can co operate with for mutual support.
From the fullness of the moon, we now move towards the waning phase. As the moon decreases in light, we are aided in letting go of outworn patterns, releasing grievances, and moving into a space of forgiveness and compassion for ourselves and others.
This moon phase, we can offer up an addiction or bad habit that we wish to be rid of in our lives. The sign of Virgo is related to health, and to clean and healthy eating. This is one of the best times of the year to get on track with changing your eating habits, and for beginning that healthy diet.
Jupiter’s recent ingress in Virgo suggests that our way forward, beginning from this season until he leaves for Libra in September 2016 involves making our own luck. This include making our own luck through service to others, chopping wood and carrying water, paying attention to, and tending to the details of the grand vision of our lives, and putting in the work.
We will explore more deeply how we can work with this energy to create more contentment and fulfillment at the next new moon report.
Wishing you a most inspiring full moon!
Empowered by Melissa Lin
by HeartWorks | Aug 11, 2015 | Astrology, Enriching Articles |
14 August 2015, 22:53 Kuala Lumpur
The sky is lighted up by fiery Leo energy with this new moon.
New Moon times can be said to be the coming together of the masculine yang of the Sun and the feminine Yin of the moon. This monthly marriage of the Sun and moon is a time for us to be still, and to tune into our inner knowing as to where we are, and how we are in our lives. It is during this time that we can plan for what we wish to see unfold in our futures. New moon times are especially potent for wish making and intention setting.
The sign of Leo rules the heart. Leo energy is warm, life affirming, expressive and creative. This new moon in Leo is conjunct to a retrograde Venus, who has been asking us to consider what our hearts truly value, and whether we are expressing and aligning with our hearts, and expressing the truth of who we are in our lives.
Some questions to consider during this new moon are, where and how do we experience joy in our life? Are there areas in our life which could use more playfulness and spontaneous expression? What are our values in friendship, romance, love and creativity? Do we feel that we can express and create a life based on our heart’s true values? How is our heart doing?
With Uranus trined to the new moon, we may find that it is easy to break through any stale mates with regards to old patterns that hold us back from living and expressing from our hearts. We may also find it easy to renew affections and relationships at this time. Uranus trine to the new moon also speaks to creative break throughs and realizations, innovation and genius. The Leo Sun and Moon combination asks us to shine our light out onto the world, and to live a life aligned with our heart’s fire.
Empowered by Melissa Lin
I am an artist and astrologer who is currently living in, and exploring the wonderful wild world of Gabon. I have been interested in all things magical from a young age. That includes astrology, numerology, music and art. I began studying astrology during my Saturn return, and became a certified astrologer with Nightlight Astrology.
Astrology is a tool that offers wisdom and insight into the human soul and psyche. It can help you to align and return to who you truly are. It is a journey into self understanding that leads to self acceptance, self love and joy.
I love working with people using Astrology to uncover and reveal each person’s unique life path. Each person has special gifts and abilities, and Astrology can help one in finding and expressing those gifts.
Apart from mapping your story and potential, Astrology can also help you to see where you are in the cycle of life, helping you to navigate life challenges, prepare for and create options for a happy and bright future.
If you are interested in exploring your natal chart, or want help with career, emotional,relationship or money questions from an Astrological point of view, get a reading here.
