Reimagining Midlife Wellness, Part II – The Athena Principles
This is the second installment of a multi-part series focusing on Reimagining Midlife Wellness, an essential topic for several reasons:
It’s important to stay well in times of transition;
It’s vital to stay well as get we older; and
Vitality is essential if we’re going to make the most of our next chapter.
Since wellness is unique for each individual, in this series of articles, I’ll share some thoughts and provide a framework to define what matters most to you at this stage of your life and ways to continue to take positive action to be well.
In Part II of the series, we’ll be exploring the five Athena Principles along with tools and practices you can use to enhance your wellness and well-being. You can get a free downloadable overview and action plan of the concepts we’re discussing today at athenawellness.com/actionplan.
First, let’s start with the significance of Athena.
Athena was a Greek goddess who signified both strength and wisdom, two qualities I help my clients access in themselves, especially in times of personal and professional transition. Athena represents the perfect balance between left-brain logic and objectivity and right-brain intuition and creativity. She was independent, unapologetically herself, and fully owned her power.
What I love most about this archetype is Athena’s search for knowledge, wisdom and a fondness for the betterment of herself and her community. It’s her unrelenting quest for inner knowing and enlightenment that I find most compelling.
My book, The Athena Principles, provides a holistic, integrated approach to create a lifestyle of principled practices and actions. Even though the book was written with overworked professionals in mind, it’s also a lovely invitation to reimagine our midlife experience.
The core message of the book is this: You can align your life with your deepest desires by reconnecting to your body, mind and spirit through the exploration of five Principles and related practices. This, I have found, leads to enhanced well-being and wholehearted living, which I define as being well so you can do the things that light you up with the people you love.
The Athena Principles combines wellness philosophy with a three component methodology:
Tools to assess your current state of wellness, provide clarity, track progress, and set new objectives;
Principles, which provide a solid foundation and serve as a guide for current actions and future decisions; and
Practices that, when performed regularly, aim to create good habits and increase well-being.
The methodology recognizes that wellness is a fluid process that thrives with a flexible approach. It regards wellness as a practice, honors and cultivates inner knowing, and provides accountability. It can provide you with a foundation for making change, a vantage point to help you see where you’re working against yourself, and a scalable process that can grow with you.
Let’s take The Athena Principles methodology components one by one, starting with the Tools:
The first tool is the Holistic Wellness Spectrum, which is a broad inventory that can help you determine where to begin your wellness journey. It can be used repeatedly and is a useful tool to find new entry points to further increase wellness once progress has been made in other areas.
The Spectrum is categorized into three sections. The first is Vitality and it includes activities related to physical movement and nourishment. Vitality is where most people start when they think about taking positive steps toward enhanced well-being.
The next section is Flow and it includes ideas for simplifying life routines, living intuitively and finding meaning and purpose. It also includes creative expression, exploration and inspiration.
The last section is Connection, and it includes a list of contemplative practices and ways of connecting with ourselves, in our relationships, and with our community. It also includes our natural world, adventure and celebration.
The second tool is the Wellness Assessment, which is used for orientation. Think back to the last time you were in a large setting, such as an airport. Most likely there was an illustration depicting the layout of the environment and a red circle with the words “You are here.” The wellness assessment will provide a similar depiction of where you are in your journey and it can be completed in under five minutes. It’s a simple evaluation used to rate where your current level of satisfaction is in each of the Holistic Wellness Spectrum categories.
These tools are effective because they give you clarity. They also give you a chance to reflect on why a particular starting point is best for you in this moment. For those under extreme work pressure, for example, a good place to start to increase wellness may be to decrease stress, not add to it. In this case, focusing on quality sleep or stress management will pay bigger dividends than adding the pressure of trying a new boot camp regimen.
The second methodology component are the Principles: The Athena Principles
The word “principle” is defined as “a fundamental truth that serves as the foundation for a system, belief, behavior or a chain of reasoning.” Here is a brief overview of the Principles:
Principle 1 – Self-Compassion: The care for one’s own well-being in the form of self-acceptance and nurturing support.
Principle 2 – Intention: Intentions help us aim, set direction and connect emotionally to what we want. It’s the heart-based “Why” behind the urge to transform.
Principle 3 – Consistency: This is the secret ingredient to the whole equation. Consistency is how you choose to show up for yourself and stay committed and engaged throughout the process, especially during challenging times.
Principle 4 – Growth Mindset: How you view the wellness journey will determine your progress and enjoyment. Applying a growth mindset where challenges are seen as opportunities will position you to move forward with grace and ease.
Principle 5 – Accountability: A systematic way to check-in with what you commit to accomplish, celebrate the wins, and compassionately adjust where needed.
The last methodology component are the Practices.
Practices are simply actions that we do for the purpose of learning, growing or experiencing. The practices I recommend are specifically designed for you to discover and connect with your deepest self. This allows you to access your innate wisdom, or what I like to call my still point, a place of calm and knowing. The more you know this inner voice, the better prepared you'll be as you walk the path that takes you from head to heart and invites you to live wholeheartedly as your truest self.
At its core, creating a practice is a method for developing new levels of self-awareness. If you're intentional with your practices, you'll find they'll inform and support your life choices going forward. These practices are meant to be incorporated in your daily life with the ability to be amended and scaled as you grow and develop. I highly encourage you to modify them in ways that best suit you.
Let's review the four types of practices we'll be working with. They are: contemplation; journaling; positive action; and holding a question. Let's take them one by one.
Contemplation. I intentionally use the word contemplation because it means deep, reflective thought, which is the state of mind and spirit we're looking to nurture. You may also think of these practices as visualization or meditation.
Feel free to modify the practice in a way that will lead you toward inner attention and positivity. For example, if you try to focus on sound or breath and that's not working for you, take the contemplation practice outside, walk in the woods, sit by the water, gaze at the night sky or just be present. Then get to the spirit of the practice in a way that supports reflective thought.
The next practice is journaling. I will readily admit that for some folks, the thought of writing stirs huge fears. Let me assure you, if you can write an email or send a text, you have the ability to journal.
If you do enjoy writing or you keep a journal, you can expand your current practice. If you don't enjoy narrative writing, no worries. You can use a bulleted list. You can use your phone, maybe your notes app, or its audio, video, or camera capabilities. If you're more artistic, you can use the writing practice as a time to doodle, sketch, paint or collage. If you want a portable or virtual option, you can also use an online journal, some of which have multimedia capabilities. Whatever method you choose, you're creating a safe place for learning what wholehearted living means for you.
Consider your writing practice as a protected space, a private sanctuary if you will, where you can identify where your inner and outer worlds are not congruent; where you can explore new areas of interest; and where you can dive deep in fearless conversations with yourself.
The next practice is positive action. It's been my experience that the best way to ensure there's a solid understanding of a new concept is to take a related positive action: a small, intentional step toward a new way of being.
Taking small actions and consistently reinforcing them with a positive outlook will help you connect with and learn to trust your inner wisdom.
The last practice is holding a question, which gives us the opportunity to examine our beliefs, traits, characteristics, roles, and social connections, and decide if they're still the best choices for us as we move forward. Learning to hold a question can facilitate this process and help us determine what stays in our lives and what needs to change.
When we hold a question, we let it sit, which is useful when the answer is not known or readily apparent. In this space of curiosity, we open ourselves to possibilities that stretch beyond our logical mind into the realm of the heart, which invites innovation, connections, and creativity.
There's also power in the asking, in giving ourselves permission to not know and to work through it. It's a practice that keeps us present. These are big, open-ended questions that will invite you to be curious and go deep as you design your future.
Here are some thoughts as you create your own practices:
You have options. Work with the practices in whatever way makes sense. Make them your own by listening to your inner guidance and amend them as you see fit. Try them out. Treat them as a living laboratory, one that can support change and encourage transformation as you experiment and discover.
Commit. Determine when and where you'll practice. I suggest designating a place where you will feel comfortable and creating a schedule that's sustainable. The magic is in the repetition and the honoring that comes from building the habit.
Stay open. Invite bewilderment and not knowing and living with your questions.
Be kind to yourself. That can take the form of suspending judgement on your efforts, which is especially important in the beginning, starting in small time increments, and giving yourself space to experiment or to allow yourself to just dream.
Above all, remember that the point of practice is to create an engaging conversation with your inner wisdom. I believe creating supportive practices will help you move toward what matters most while taking good care of yourself along the way. And these practices will help you rely on your own insight and keep you on a path that's right for you.
It's been said that the longest journey you'll make in your life is from your head to your heart. I believe it's also the most important. This can lead to reshaping your current life into an integrated one that flows with vitality, creativity and connection.
There isn't a right way to keep yourself well at midlife – only the right approach for you. This is your journey and you get to navigate it your way. And I know that just like Athena, you already have the strength and wisdom for the journey ahead.
Journal Reflections: Which elements of the Holistic Wellness Spectrum do you find compelling? Which Athena Principle resonated most and which one needs more focus? How might you begin to incorporate the practices into your life today?
Notes:
You can download The Athena Principles overview @ athenawellness.com/actionplan to help you chart your unique path.
If you prefer, you can listen to this article here: Episode 215