Wellness: A New Map of Service

I show you this grid of care alternatives to point out an important fact. The care given in threefourthsof the grid, that of B, C, & D, can be considered the basis for what is meant by self-care. LettersB & D are wholly self-care, but because letter C (alternative expert-care) is really an aspect of the fieldof wellness care in the first place, it can be expected that these wellness practitioners and professionalswill also give to the client various self-care strategies. So you see, self-care is a conscious choice wecan make in sustaining health/wellness, 75% of the time! Let's now become familiar with the actualself-care process.The Self-Care ProcessIt was about 1980, after diligently applying my energy in a long process of personal wellnesscare (after all, you do have to practice what you preach, or someday you are going to get caught!) that Icontemplated just what process I was enacting. I thought, how could this self-care process be shown toothers? About that time, I discovered Richard Bolles' The Three Boxes of Life, wherein he discussed alife issues pyramid. The life issues pyramid is simply a way to consciously deal with issues as theyarise. The suggestion is that we are always hit first with the question, What's Happening? when someissue arises. Next, we attempt to integrate the issue resolution with Survival concerns. Then, we striveto develop a Meaning & Mission to deal with the issue. Finally, we assess some level of Effectivenessin resolving the issue.The life issues pyramid provided me with an important conceptualization for my own self-careprocess. It provided me with a safe structure, sort of speaking, in which to move with my own wellnesscare ideas. Of course, and as some of you may already know in reading my other materials, the lifeissues pyramid and self-care process have had a happy marriage. In fact, in my book Leisure Wellness:Concepts & Helping Strategies (1983), a whole section (identified as Booklet 6) was devoted to the lifeissues pyramid application to leisure and the self-care process. In this book, Chapter 5 ("A LeisureWellness Model") will also further discuss the relationship between the two. For now, however, let'slook briefly at just the self-care process.The self-care process basically consists of seven essential and interrelated steps:Step 1 - AwarenessStep 2 - Knowledge