The flexibility of your personal mindset determines your societal wellness level.

The National Wellness Institute?defines?wellness?as “an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence”. I like this definition as it relates to this blog because of two key words ‘active’ and ‘existence’. The definition suggests that wellness is an action-oriented concept and that it is connected to how we exist in society. After decades of facilitating equity and diversity work in both education and business spaces…I have come to the realization that discussing topics like racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism with groups of participants is much more fertile coming from a wellness perspective. The often random acts of hate and exclusion towards others in society can all be placed on a spectrum of wellness and emotional well-being. Thus, discussions with those in society who enjoy privileged status through gender, skin color, language, sexual identity or physical ability — must be centred around their?mindset?as they go about their daily routines. We must actively assess how we are thinking about others if we are going to improve our collective societal wellness levels.

Awareness. Consciousness. Woke. Paying attention. No matter how these concepts are phrased, they all refer to individuals coming off of?mental auto-pilot! The internet revolution of the past two decades has amplified the voices of historically excluded and marginalized communities around the world. They are telling us that they are not well…they suffer from intergenerational trauma…they are ‘sick and tired’ of being sick and tired. If we respect (and not dismiss or challenge) first voice data — then we become open to examining how the society we live in is rooted in social hierarchies. These ingrained perceptions of who is strong, smart or capable vs who is scary, dumb and incapable — are mindsets or ways of thinking that have been thrust upon us since we were children. So, do not take the privileged concept as an affront on your work ethic or that you were given advantages like candy…that is not the case. Those who feel the shitty end of the societal stick are just saying that the hierarchical mindsets have lead to historic violence, subservience and systemic barriers FOR THEM. Simple. Factual.

How does this connect to wellness you may ask at this point? Your mindset about others affects your emotional state from the time you wake up in the morning to the time you fall asleep at night. How you perceive your significant other, how you perceive the person driving beside you as you go to work, how you perceive the person who does security at your workplace, how you perceive your co-workers…has an emotional cost. You interact with diversity hundreds of times per day. Each time you interact with someone outside of yourself, your?societal person evaluator?instantaneously calculates folks and puts them on a value ladder. The more inflexible your mindset is (closed, narrow, exclusionary) — the more negatively you judge people you encounter who do not look, talk, walk or think like you do. Therefore, your perception of the different people you encounter frequently during your day, has an inner effect on you. The angrier you are when you experience diversity…the lower your social wellness level. We see this on social media. The venom and negativity that people express when they are challenging those who challenge the status quo. This inner lava of emotion cannot be seen as wellness.?The more open you are to the fact that society does afford advantages to some and disadvantages to others — the more likely you are to go through your day with acceptance and compassion rather than anger and frustration.

So be mentally flexible. Be open-minded. Listen and respect the voices of those who are saying that day-to-day life has challenges for them — that may not be your challenges. This type of mindset opens you up to wellness. It allows you to be ‘comfortable in your own skin’. I own the fact 100% that I have male privilege in North American society. I am not angered by this mindset. In fact, I am freed by this self-acknowledgement. It allows me to accept and nurture women’s voices without feeling pissed off. Thus, it enhances my personal wellness. My ability to stretch my societal programming to understand that my female, indigenous, disabled, trans & queer, English as a second language earth partners are asking for healing space. The more flexible my mind is to accept these diverse points of view of those I exist with…the more positive and loving my day will be.?We are all in this together.