Professional Wellness Month is celebrated each year in June and it throws light on the workplace’s role in creating a holistic environment for employees. It also focuses on how organizations that place emphasis on professional wellness are largely successful, attract top talent, and drive employee retention.
I ask my readers to reject the assumptions and the criteria described by the Fair Labor Standards Act as they contribute to Unequal Employment Opportunities at the American Workplace. As such the Fair Labor Standards Act is not consistent with the Natural Law principle of Equality that formulates the Supreme Law of this Land. We need just one plan to promote the wellness of all workers without making any distinctions such as the hourly wage earners and the salaried class imposed by the US Labor Law FLSA.
Holistic Wellness at Work:
In order to undertake a holistic and personalized approach to care, this will require that employers look beyond the immediate or perhaps visible needs of their employees, and instead seek to offer care that will support them as a whole person, including their
Cultural needs (i.e. expression of self, sense of identity, values, beliefs, practices; cultural capability or competency, awareness, and safety; linguistic support)
Financial needs (i.e. money for housing, transportation, utilities, food, tuition, health care)
Mental and emotional needs (i.e. mindfulness, self-efficacy and self-esteem, coping strategies, resiliency, hope)
Physical health needs (i.e. exercise, nutrition, sleep, drug use)
Physiological needs (i.e. air, water, food, shelter, clothing)
Safety needs (i.e. security of body, employment, and resources; law and order, and stability)
Social needs (i.e. strong social networks, friendship, love, intimacy, family planning, home, and family maintenance)
Spiritual needs (i.e. connection to others, sense of belonging, meaning, and purpose)
Self-actualization needs (i.e. self-fulfillment, personal growth)
An integrated approach to Physical, Mental, Social, Moral, and Spiritual Wellbeing
Our efforts to support the well-being of Man get affected by our understanding the ‘real’ or ‘true’ nature of Man. I recognize Man’s Existence with Seven Forms or Dimensions. These are, 1. the Physical Being described by Human Anatomy, Human Physiology and other Medical Sciences, the human being in health and sickness, 2. the Mental Being, the intellect, thoughts and emotional states of Man described by Psychology and Psychiatry, 3. the Social Being described by Social Sciences, 4. the Moral Being described by Moral Science and Ethics, the power of discernment used by Man to make distinction between good and evil, and right and wrong, 5. the Spiritual Being described by Vital Power, Animating /Sensible Properties, and Conscious/Cognitive abilities of Man’s Corporeal Substance that develops and builds the cells, tissues, and organs of Human Body, 6. the Created Being which is reflected in the existence of man as an Individual with Individuality without any choice, and 7. the Rational Being which directs man to reconcile his behavior with his true or real nature that makes the man to review the actions performed in the external environment.
The Six Dimensions of Man contribute to six kinds of Behavior of Man; the physical, mental, social, moral, spiritual and creative facets of Behavior. For example, muscle cell displays the behavior of contraction in response to a stimulus; it is able to contract because of its contractile nature which gives it the power of contracting.
I account for Spiritual Dimension of Human Nature as that of generating a Singular, Harmonious Effect in the working of trillions of cells giving Man power or ability to perform his living functions such as Respiration and display his characteristic Behaviors like Feeding, and Reproduction.
The Diagnosis of Good Health is better than the diagnosis of ill-health
To diagnose ill-health is easy. The sick person may describe his ailments. In addition to a person’s subjective symptoms, ill-health shows objective manifestations. The art of clinical diagnosis in sickness and disease involves the use of signs and symptoms attributable to specific conditions that affect the state of health of an individual. However, the mere absence of ill-health does not necessarily mean that the person is positively healthy. Health, like beauty is often a matter of subjective impression. But, while beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the diagnosis of perfect and positive health is a verdict rendered after a carefully executed medical examination. The Diagnostic Process must be applied to the evaluation of the man to diagnose the condition called Good, Perfect, and Positive health. Medicine is not merely the Art of Diagnosing ill-health and it is equally the Art of Diagnosing Good and Positive Health.
The Rudi Connection at Whole Foods arrives at the Concept of Whole Medicine
I define the phrase “Whole Medicine” as a systematic study of the Physical, Mental, Moral, Social, and Spiritual aspects of Man’s Well-Being in relation to health and disease while the man exists as a Created Being.
Yes indeed, Life is Complicated. The complexity of Life includes not only the complicated problems of shopping for healthy foods but also the problems of shopping for Wholesome Health Care.
In my view, Medicine must be concerned with the status of man in the universe, in his natural environment, in his social community while the man exists as an individual with individuality. In other words, Medicine as a Science must primarily be concerned with the biological basis for the reality of man’s physical existence in the world. A systematic study of the biological basis of human existence would demand the study of Soul and Spirit as the vital, animating principle found in all living things. I seek the existence of Soul and Spirit in a substance that is basic to life activities. Spirit or Soul must be found in a living material substance that is responsible for all living processes. The term Soul and Spirit belong to the materialistic realm where the physical reality of man’s biological existence is established. Further, I do not intend to use the term Soul or Spirit as a metaphysical or transcendental reality independent of the living organism. I define the phrase “Whole Medicine” as a systematic study of the Physical, Mental, Moral, Social, and Spiritual aspects of Man’s Well-Being in relation to health and disease while the man exists as a Created Being.
Whole Dude - Whole Spirituality 