Previously we looked at Creative Solutions towards bringing better wellness to the physical spoke of our life; making little trades for food or activities: chips for a handful of nuts or lemon water instead of soda or sugar drinks, or by simply adding a mile of walking where you may normally be watching a tv show. What if we began to make these little trades in other ways. As we look at our life in respect to the 8 dimensions of wellness, in our ongoing quest to achieve the ability to roll along this beautiful thing called life, perhaps there are other behaviors we can “trade-out” for better overall wellness.
In our think tank meeting on Monday, I was so impressed, elated and grateful when one of the best thinkers in the room began to look at the simple tasks laid before her and her great mind started spinning. I asked them to think of ways they could use the 8 Dimensions of the Wellness Wheel in order to come up with a creative solution with the goal in mind of hosting a community ” ice breaker”. An event that would serve as a way to get their entire dorm involved in something and introduce them to the community as a PEER SUCCESS TEAM, our newly invented mentor program. She had the idea to do a unit clean up- based on the environmental spoke of the wheel. Brilliant. I proceeded to tell her how in the big outside world they actually have Clean and Green Committees where you can involve your entire business-to host, ” clean up events ” in the area around your business.
What are other ways we can make little trades in our lives for better Environmental Health?
I remember when I was a small child, maybe around 1976. There was an older gentleman who would go down our alley and he had a poker and a trash bag and I thought he might be less fortunate ( to be picking up trash ) so I tried to give him my piggy bank. Come to find out, he was just keeping our alley clean of trash. We became friendly, as neighbors do, and sometimes I would help him. Prior to my arrest, I loved to grow flowers and vegetables, I would take bouquets and baskets of my bounty to my neighbors. Sometimes, our policies get in the way of recycling here in Federal Prison but I am going to meet this challenge with the deepest creativity I can muster.
There is one thing we all have in common and that is old socks. Let’s have an old sock revolution and everyone make sock puppets and use our creativity to put on a play. Look how well it worked out for Jim Henson.
I love ideas where the spokes of the wellness wheel collide, with an old sock puppet show, we foster family and community while reducing the use of plastic toys. Winning!!!
When taken captive and held IN THE ABSENCE OF PAINT, I replaced pen and paper to heal my broken life but in the end, my entire life became the medium. It all comes down to the POWER OF 24. The direction in which we channel our energy in the 24 hours we all have, each new beautiful day.
