Welcome to our brand new guided interactive series – How to Flourish! Over the next 2 months we’re going to introduce you to a new theme every week that will contribute to your overall flourishing. But first, what is flourishing? To flourish means to thrive. And here at Well and Whole, we’re all about it! 

Our goal is to share our learnings and make this very tangible and actionable for you. Which is why we’re breaking it down into digestible steps to support you each week. After all, what good is it to know something valuable if you don’t act on it? And what could be more valuable than doing the inner work to create the outer results you’ve been looking for?

How to use this guide:

• For the sections entitled “questions” or “practice,” you can approach these a few different ways. You can just allow your thoughts to flow in a “brain dump” style journaling session, or using voice notes. Feel free to keep these to reflect later or even delete them once the thoughts are out of your head! You can also work through these questions with a friend or partner. 
• It may be helpful to do this work in short sessions daily or a few times per week. Get comfortable, make a cup of tea or coffee. Put on a soothing playlist or enjoy some quiet time. 
• You can also feel grounded by doing some deep breathing before you get started! 
• An easy exercise to begin with is inhaling for 4 and exhaling for 6, pretending like you are blowing out through a straw. This will help you activate your parasympathetic nervous system, aka the “rest, digest, recover” part.

Getting Intentional with Your Values and Your Perspective

Get Clear on Your Values and Vision

When you are clear on what you really want out of life and how you want to live, it’s so much easier to get it! Sounds simple, but many of us can feel quite unclear in this area. We may think about it when we’re younger, if we have a big decision to make, or when we’re going through a life transition. But outside of that, it’s easy to let the business of life take over and prevent us from regularly reflecting on these things. 

The other thing? Most people can tell you what they don’t want, but few can tell you what they do want! And they don’t realize just how different those two things actually are.

Questions to ask yourself:

• How well do you really know yourself? 
• Who are you, really? 
• When it’s just you and you don’t have to think about anyone else, who are you then? And what is important to you no one else is watching?
• What’s under all the layers and identities that you take on in different parts of life? 
• What’s really important to you?
• Does the way you live your life match your values? 
• Does what you want logically, emotionally, and intuitively line up? Or is there a bit of a disconnect?

Homework:

Get inspired and make a digital vision board!

We have a wonderful free resource on how to do this, and why. There is actual science behind creating vision boards, visualizing yourself achieving your goals, and how your brain and subconscious process images. 

This resource includes a journaling and visualization exercise, and a step by step guide for creating your digital vision board. We have even made a Canva template you can use to create your board and then download it to your phone to set as your background.

The link to download it is here

Choosing Your Perspective

You have the power to choose your thoughts and perspective. And for many people this is a radical realization. Surely, it doesn’t always feel this way. This is especially true when you’re in a period of high stress, overwhelm, or burnout. Being in these states can cause negative thoughts to spiral, but we promise you don’t have to stay there.

The first part of turning this around is that you truly have to believe you have the power to do this. The next part is to reframe your thinking. It may also help to think of yourself as having a relationship with your thoughts. And that’s what we’re ultimately changing. It’s not that you’ll never have negative thoughts.

The difference? You can choose not to let them overpower or overwhelm you. You can speak back to them! You can say, “okay I hear you, thanks for your input,” and then move on. You can do a little prep work and identify negative thoughts you’d like to swap for positive ones. You can build this habit and become faster at it over time.

You can also introduce new perspectives by listening to them, reading them, or even just breathing and learning to allow space between a thought and your reaction. For example, listening to podcasts that make you feel inspired, doing mindfulness, starting a positive visualization practice, or listening to calming music can help. You can also journal intentions and affirmations and look at them daily to stay connected to how you want to feel as your ultimate self.

Try this:

Pick one or two of the suggestions above and incorporate it into your daily routine.

Some of our favorites?

Free Favorites

• Our blog of course! – The Well and Whole blog 
• Wellness by Ella – podcast
• Meditations x Evlo – podcast with mindfulness and breathing exercises 
• Healthy Minds – science based mindfulness app
• Ibreath app – basic breathwork
• Oak app – a few basic breathing exercises, mindfulness, and sleep soundsInsight timer – tons of content – mindfulness, relaxation music (search binaural beats)

Paid Favorites

• The Source – book by Dr. Tara Swart about unlocking the power of neuroscience and your brain
• Become Your Future Self Now – book by Dr. Benjamin Hardy (which I’m currently listening to as an audio book!)
• Superhuman app – subscription – positive activations Deliciously Ella Feel Better app – subscription

And that’s part 1! We hope you enjoy taking time for your own self discovery as well as the homework assignments and the resources.

Next Steps

Feel free to reach out to us via email, instagram (or comment below!) with any insights, questions, or breakthroughs! We would love to hear what you love, what you’d like to see more of, and of course we want to see your vision board!!

Come back next week for Part 2 of our interactive Flourishing series! Next week we’re going to look at your mental diet and do a “mental detox.”

Want to get the series sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free email newsletter, Your Well and Whole Week! Each week we share a theme, a question, and a simple wellness practice for your week.

Looking for more personalized support on this journey? Want to go deeper? As we always say, it may be called “the inner work,” but that doesn’t mean you’re meant to do it alone. We would be honored to be your guides! Book a free session with either of us here. It may be the most valuable thing you do to move forward in your personal development journey!