The Mental Game of Wellness - Living a Life of Sustainable Fulfillment.    Someone who has a strong mental game of wellness operates on a higher plateau than from basic mental health and lack of dysfunction. A person who is in the zone around wellness is operating at a high level of excellence in all spheres of their life. They are on their mental game. They are positive minded, optimistic, full of energy and living life to its fullest. This article examines the top ten aspects of the mental game of wellness.    723 words.

The Mental Game of Wellness

Living a Life of Sustainable Fulfillment

Bill Cole, MS, MA
Founder and CEO
William B. Cole Consultants
Silicon Valley, California

Mental wellness or mental health can be defined as the absence of mental or emotional disorders, or as having a basic level of well-being. The individual has a basic level of coping for the challenges life throws at them.

The World Health Organization defines the concept of mental health very clearly. They say it is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community."

I like to describe someone having a strong mental game of wellness as being on a higher plateau. A person who is in the zone around wellness is operating at a high level of excellence in all spheres of their life. They are on their mental game. They are positive minded, optimistic, full of energy and living life to its fullest.

This article examines the top ten aspects of the mental game of wellness.

The Top Ten Mental Game Of Wellness Factors

1. Self-Awareness Skills: Nothing of quality happens without awareness. No sustainable change is possible without awareness. Awareness is the currency of peak performance, learning, change and personal growth.
   
   
2. Sense Of Humor: Having a sense of humor gives us a sense of control over the uncontrollable. It is a mental catalyst we use to convert trouble into mirth and perspective.
   
   
3. Stress Control Skills: We need a well-rounded toolkit of stress skills we can use from cognitive, physical and behavioral standpoints. These need to be integrated proactively into our daily lives, rather than performed as a reaction to stressors.
   
   
4. Self-Coaching Skills: Self-regulation skills allow us to manage the physiological, behavioral and cognitive control variables picked up by our awareness. This self-coaching skill set operates in learning, training and performing modes.
   
   
5. Self-Support Skills: Many people have maladaptive self-nurturing skills. They are good at pushing themselves and punishing themselves when they do not reach their goals, but they are not very good at encouraging and motivating themselves. A solid, self-affirming self-support skill set is the mental and emotional glue that holds everything together.
   
   
6. Mental Toughness: Contrary to popular belief, being mentally tough does not mean being insensitive and crass to others. It means being able to push past normal boundaries of pain, tension, boredom and other pressured distractions to achieve a goal.
   
   
7. Energy Management Skills: Many people can be a peak performer for a time or two, but can they sustain it? Energy management is often the key in this arena. Wellness is derived from the proper mix of nutrition, sleep, rest, fitness and other factors, as well as the proper level of mental energy that comes from thinking correctly.
   
   
8. Work-Life Balance Skills: People who design their lives according to their core values and live these out daily have a high degree of wellness. They realize that balance comes in flexible waves, rather than from a rigid structure. A person's quality of life is directly related to their ability to create the proper work-life balance.
   
   
9. Optimism Skills: The field of Positive Psychology focuses on helping people thrive, not just survive. Its mantra might be: "to find and nurture genius and talent". The mental game of wellness supports this goal, in assisting people to live wonderful, fulfilling lives. One major way to achieve this is by being optimistic, forward-looking and to have an attractive vision for life.
   
   
10. View Life As An Adventure: If you can cultivate the sense that life is an adventure to be lived, a stage upon which to act, it changes the meaning and intention we bring to it. Here the three R's come into play as well: Reenergize yourself using the variety of life's experiences. Refresh yourself from your daily routine. Reinvent yourself by revisiting who you are and how you operate.

As we strive to create a strong mental game of wellness, this not only acts as a buffer against the many challenges of life, but as a performance multiplier and quality of life multiplier. As human beings we live as a totality, not as dichotomies. It is impossible to separate ourselves into emotional, physical and mental parts. We must focus on creating a robust integration of these aspects of ourselves so we can live fuller, more satisfying lives.

Copyright © Bill Cole, MS, MA. All rights reserved.

Bill Cole, MS, MA, a leading authority on peak performance, mental toughness and coaching, is founder and CEO of William B. Cole Consultants, a consulting firm that helps organizations and professionals achieve more success in business, life and sports. He is also the Founder and President of the International Mental Game Coaching Association (www.mentalgamecoaching.com), an organization dedicated to advancing the research, development, professionalism and growth of mental game coaching worldwide. He is a multiple Hall-Of-Fame honoree as an athlete, coach and school alumnus, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published book author and articles author, and has coached at the highest levels of major-league pro sports, big-time college athletics and corporate America. For a free, extensive article archive, or for questions and comments visit him at www.MentalGameCoach.com.

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