Dimensions of Wellness: Intellectual Wellness
Intellectual Wellness
Are you a life-long learner? You should be. And this doesn’t mean you need to go to school forever and ever. That’s the stuff of nightmares for some people.
Intellectual wellness is the aspect of wellness in which you continue to expand your mind by increasing your knowledge, skills, and even your creative abilities throughout life.
While you may think you are knowledgeable in many things, there is always something to learn. I guarantee it.
Why should we continue to learn? It helps enhance our personal ability to open our minds to new experiences and ideas that can help us make informed decisions and can be applied to productive group interactions. You can also share your skills and new knowledge with others.
While there are many things we can do to improve our intellectual wellness, you need to make sure that it is something you want to learn or at least try. You don’t need to become an expert in the area, be open to learning and trying.
Two suggestions first:
Try something challenging to you personally. If it is easy, is it really expanding your knowledge?
Keep in mind that if you choose to share what you have learned with others, you don’t need to convince them they need to do it too or think the same way.
Here are some ideas for increasing your Intellectual Wellness:
Read for fun. Yes, we are busy, but try to find 15-30 minutes a day to read a book. And consider inviting two or three friends to read the same book and get together (virtually or in-person) to discuss it – even if everyone hated it. It happens.
Improve your skills This can cover so many things, but here is one example. You may know how to cook or bake but try something different to challenge yourself. Within reason. Trying to be a teppanyaki chef at home may not be the right fit and scare the family. (Do you have to look that one up?) But try a new technique or challenging recipe. Even if you never do it again, you tried it out.
Learn a foreign language. Even though travel to other countries is significantly limited right now, you can still try learning a foreign language and plan for that trip. You don’t need to be fluent or perfect! Learn enough to get yourself from the airport to your accommodations, find a public restroom, and order water. Once your tickets are booked to your destination, you can add more phrases in your newly learned language. When learning different ways to communicate, your mind expands.
Do puzzles. If you “hate” puzzles, this one is for you. Whether it is the crossword, sudoku, or a jigsaw puzzle, working through the words, numbers, or patterns works your brain and helps build or maintain your intellectual wellness.
Do this: write down FIVE new things you want to do to increase your intellectual wellness in the three months. Remember, you don’t need to be proficient. Just try it.
This was previously part of the 12 Days of Wellness 2020 – emailed to participants of that holiday email campaign in December 2020. Additional posts about the dimensions/pillars of wellness continue each week on #WellnessWednesday for six weeks in total.
