How to Create An Intentional Culture of Wellness by Matthew Federici

To seek real change in our lives, it is possible when the journey starts with intentionally looking at how we see our self in the world and ends with making some attempt at a deep, critical self-reflection about whether that self exhibits the values you hope to practice in your life.  Each person has a choice to evaluate their systems of thought and question whether those systems were explicitly chosen as representative of their personal values, or whether those systems were implicitly inherited from their embedded histories.  This is important because there may be habits of mind that are defining wellness in our lives and maybe limiting how we respond to the world in healthy, self-determining ways.  We have inherited much of how we see and interact in the world through our culture and change requires a great deal of unlearning. 

Culture is the result of beliefs systems that are internalized and then shared as a group experience.  That shared experience validates and sustains those belief systems and behaviors, which sometimes are called traditions.  Often times we are not even aware of how our behaviors/traditions are shaped by these unchallenged and inherited beliefs and experiences.  These traditions can also perpetuate or mask traumatic experiences for many of the individuals within that community.  For example, we can often see a history of mistreatment of people in a community based on race, ethnicity, gender and disability.  There are even traditions which seek to preserve, ignore and/or rationalize the negative treatments of people.

We can reflect on our own and our community's culture by looking at our internalized language and external language (i.e. the conversation of our thoughts and in our relationships).  In our language there are codes to our cultural belief system, which directs how we behave in relationship to self and others.  Examples of these are internal thoughts such as “I shouldn't ask too many question; people will think I am being difficult” or “I am a fragile person because I cry often in stressful situations.”  These are not statements of fact, but rather beliefs about how we, and others, are to be and act, often which we inherited from our culture.  Our values are those beliefs, which we are intentional and consciously choose.

To “create a culture” based on wellness, we have to be intentional about discovering which values support our vision of wellness and which ones we have inherited through our culture's belief system that do not. To be intentional about a culture of wellness requires an ongoing, conscious effort to evaluate, question and to be self-determined to uphold those beliefs in our life and relationships.  The Copeland Center is an international community focused on the discussion of values and ethics and discovering those values, which promote wellness both individually and as a community. Click here to learn more about our values and ethics.