What is Well-Being?

People all over the world are united in a common purpose: to obtain a sense of well-being. But what is the definition of emotional well-being? Can it mean different things to different people? The truth is, no one can really hope to experience a sense of well-being without really understanding what it is and defining what it means to them as individuals.

Well-being is a multi-factorial concept – most of these factors are universal in the sense of well-being they impart. For example:

• Psychological well-being - Feeling mentally at ease is essential
• Environmental comfort - Being comfortable in one’s physical surroundings
• Emotional well-being - A person should feel happy and not be prone to emotional fluctuations
• Healthy living - People should have the ability to obtain healthy food and to exercise. This will contribute to physical well-being.

There are other factors which are very personal to an individual which contribute to a sense of well-being. For example: some parents experience a sense of well-being when they are around their children. Other people experience that same sense when sitting in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest!

We all have to figure out what that one special personal factor is which completes our experience of well-being. This, combined with the universal factors will allow us to achieve the ultimate sense of well-being.

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Well-being is a holistic and multidimensional concept that it involves a person’s physicality and psychology. There is not physical well-being without psychological well-being or the other way around.

The field of health psychology shows over and again how the body-mind dualism does not exist, how stress affects our immune system and our psychological health or how being happy or in a good mood can even minimise cancer symptoms and development (it is essential therefore not to forget physical well-being, although I will concentrate more in psychological well-being).

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Having an understanding of the self will help us understand our perspective of the world, our motivations and fears and we will be able to work on those to develop in life and have success in our careers or work. We will, therefore, be able to work with our motivations, understand and work with our complexes and fears, not get so hooked up in our anger and work in our vital energy, and goals. We can also develop our resilience skills; learn to be happier, and to see difficulties as challenges and mistakes as opportunities to develop.

All of this sounds very good and easy when things go well. But why is it so important to work on our well-being? We certainly want to be happy and successful. However, controlling what happens around us is impossible; we can only control what happens within us and this only to some extent. So working on our well-being is important to face difficulties in life, those “tragedies” that are part of life, such as bereavements, losses, illnesses or even natural disasters. Having a good level of well-being will be beneficial to face life’s challenges healthily and feeling in control.

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Being healthy and in control of life’s workload can also translate to being healthy and in control at work. Having staff that is able to face last minute problems with calm and practicality will be beneficial for the employer. But it will be especially beneficial for the worker, as she/he will not build in stress, will not carry weight on their shoulders and the problems at work will not have a knock on effect in the private life. An employer that invests in the employee’s well-being will reach objectives and goals, be more satisfied and adaptable to changes. If the employees also invest in their well-being, they will have more successful careers and lives.

In the bigger scheme of things, people with enhanced well-being, will be happier and healthier and will raise better future generations. And, although mixing people’s well-being with money does not sound good (but it is always good to convince businesses and government of its importance), a community with better well-being, will spend less on health funding (have lower mortality and morbidity rates), will have greater results at work and education and may even reduce criminality in society (and hence, reduce legal and police costs).

What I am trying to say by giving well-being a price (several things are measured by their cost in our society) is that well-being is important. Well-being is a multidimensional, holistic and broad concept that is about people’s quality of life, which will benefit companies and probably, communities (if enough people have high standards of well-being).