A Guide to Holistic Living

What is Holistic Living?  

Holistic Living is living life in such a way that you have developed a deep understanding of mind, body and soul, and how each of these dimensions of your life are inter connected. It’s truly a remarkable way to live one’s life.

When you’re living a holistic life, you are not just able to see and understand the close connection between mind, body and soul but see the bigger picture as it unfolds. Today, it has become even more important for us as people to integrate holistic living into our lifestyle. 

The world has become so capitalistic, and there’s so much pressure on people to be a certain way and achieve certain things. The human race is experiencing burnout more than ever before and we need to take matters into our own hands before it’s too late.

Why is Holistic Living important?

Holistic living is important for a variety of reasons. You can only get so far with dealing with day to day stress without proper stress management. 

By adapting a more holistic lifestyle, you can slowly start to manage stress better and start healthy habits that will nourish your mind, body and soul.

Below are some great reasons why holistic living is so important, and why you too should consider it.

• To understand how different aspects of your life are interconnected

• To know how to take care of your mind, body & soul

• To ensure your actions are in alignment with your values and goals

• To prevent yourself from different illnesses both mental and physical

• To improve your mental clarity, focus, and attention

• To increase your levels of energy and redirect it towards the right things

What are some characteristics of Holistic Living?

You might be someone who’s already making efforts to bring a positive change into your life and wonder what a holistic lifestyle looks like. Chances are that you are already to some extent practicing a holistic lifestyle.

Here are some of the characteristics or qualities of a holistic lifestyle.

1. Mindfulness

You are mindful of your actions most of the time. You make mindful choices when it comes to food, exercise and rest. You eat healthy food that nourishes your body, exercise regularly to stay active and give yourself enough rest every night. 

Another important aspect of mindfulness that needs to be incorporated into a holistic lifestyle is meditation. Having a regular meditation practice will make you more mindful of the present moment.

2. Living with Purpose & Intention

Holistic living is also about living with purpose and intention. You avoid doing things mindlessly and always have good reasons why you give energy to something. Every action you take is justified and done with the intention of moving towards your goals in life or improving yourself.

3. A Mindset for Learning and Improvement

A holistic lifestyle is multi dimensional and there’s so much to be learned. Hence, you keep an open mind and actively study about the subject because you want to get better at it.

Like anything else, holistic living is also something you need to learn about and make changes based on what works for you. Remember, every person is different. 

4. Willingness to Take Action

In holistic living, you are always ready to take action when needed. You can learn all the information you could possibly get from books and the internet. But if you’re not taking the required actions, you won’t see much changes in your life. Holistic living is driven by action towards what’s best for you. 

5. Seeing the bigger picture

A holistic lifestyle allows you to see the bigger picture. You are aware of how each and every choice you make has a ripple effect and understand the consequences of your actions. Therefore, you are more mindful, and you understand that holistic living is a daily choice and a lifetime commitment. 

How do I start Holistic Living?

If you have read this far, then I would like to think that you are serious about a holistic lifestyle and are looking for inspiration on how to get started. Below are some of the things I personally did over the years and still continue to do.

1. Review your current lifestyle and position

If you want to achieve success in anything, you need to know where you currently stand. Without a proper assessment of your current life, you will not be able to make the best choices in terms of habits to prioritize, and habits to let go of. 

Be honest with yourself and write down where you currently think you stand when it comes to how well you address the needs of your mind, body and soul. 

2. Commit to a lifetime of learning

Before you even start, understand that holistic living is a lifestyle and requires daily work. Without this mindset, you are very unlikely to succeed. Be ready to commit to a lifetime of learning, unlearning, changing and sustaining different kinds of habits or actions as needed throughout different stages of your lifetime.

What you need today, might not be what you need tomorrow. 

3. Start a daily practice

This is something I always recommend to anyone who’s looking to make a positive change in their life. You can make all the plans and try to make it perfect. But the reality is that doing something on a daily basis is harder than most people think. 

To develop that kind of commitment, you need to have a simple daily practice for long enough. I would highly recommend you start with a mindfulness meditation practice. 

4. Take deliberate action to address what you need to change

When you’ve established a fairly consistent meditation practice, you’ll start to see that you’re already in a different head space and looking at improving other aspects of your life. This would be a great time to start setting goals and make an action plan on how to get there.

By then, you’ll have better discipline and be ready to take very specific actions to help you get there. Set goals for your physical, mental and emotional health, figure out what you need to be doing daily and start giving it your best shot. Everyday!

5. Be consistent in your efforts and never stop trying

The truth is holistic living can be hard, inconvenient and there will be times that you feel like you’re missing out in life. But remember, the whole point is the bigger picture. There’s a reason for every sacrifice you make today and it will bear fruit when the time is right. 

No matter how hard things get and how many times you fail to do what you’re supposed to do, get back in there and try again. And again, and again. 

Holistic living is an amazing way to live your life and you should not see it any other way. The time to make the change is now. I have no doubt you’ve got what it takes!