It still seems strange to me, with the current emphasis on physical health and fitness, that we aren’t also focusing on mental wellness. While in the past, the body and the mind were viewed separately, and patients’ concerns were treated by specialists (by health care providers for physical health and mental health providers for the mind), we now know clearly that the body and the mind can’t be artificially separated. Physical health affects mental health and vice versa.

It’s also clear from all the loneliness and unhappiness or lack of contentment in our world that one can have the absence of mental illness yet not have mental wellness. If your overall health is important to you, then consider checking in on your mental wellness. Are you content?

In looking at mental wellness, first consider your sense of autonomy, which is part of psychological well-being, according to the work of Carol Ryff. Basically, autonomy means you have a voice and choices. You are psychologically free, and you’re not acting on autopilot or controlled by someone else or a group. Consider these questions:

Autonomy means that you are secure in your thoughts and ideas and who you are.........

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