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By MAS Team
One in five Kiwis experiences a mental illness each year. Almost all of these people will recover or live well with the right tautoko (support).
Te Whare Tapa Whā is a model of health that helps us identify where we need extra support. It describes health as a wharenui (meeting house) with four walls. These walls represent:
Connection with the whenua (land) forms the foundation. When all four walls and the foundation are strong, we feel strong too, including our top two inches (our mental wellbeing).
Taha wairua explores your relationship with the environment, people and heritage in the past, present and future. Your spiritual essence is your life force – your mauri. This is who and what you are, where you have come from and where you are going.
The way people view wairua can be very different. For some, wairua is the capacity for faith or religious beliefs or having a belief in a higher power. Others may describe wairua as an internal connection to the universe. There is no right or wrong way to think of or experience wairua, but it is an important part of our mental wellbeing.
As part of exploring your way to wellbeing we encourage you to think about what wairua means to you and the things you can do to strengthen your wairua.
Perhaps you might explore your creativity, or volunteer in your community. Or you could develop mindfulness techniques that you can support your wairua as you are dealing with stress at work or building resilience during your studies.
Feeling comfortable in your identity, values and beliefs will help you to feel secure in who you are and what you stand for. When you are content with yourself you are better able to cope with challenges, build strong whānau relationships and discover the things that uplift you.
At mahi and during study, taha wairua needs may be supported through creating a respectful environment where mindfulness and kindess are encouraged, bullying is not accepted and diversity is embraced.
Take some time to reflect on what taha wairua means to you. If you tried out any of the activities above, what specifically made you feel good and what didn’t? If any of the activities helped to boost your mental health and wellbeing why not find ways to include them regularly in your week.
From self-checks to reading up on the symptoms, being more aware of breast cancer and its risks can help save your life.
Most of us wouldn’t head for a trip overseas without travel insurance, but what about domestic travel? If you have contents insurance with MAS, your stuff is most likely automatically covered under your policy if you’re on a domestic trip.
These five ways to wellbeing from the Mental Health Foundation provide a blueprint for the simple actions we can do everyday to improve our wellbeing .
Use your MAS Member number to join Āki, the MAS Wellbeing Hub. Āki is free and gives you access to videos, articles, recipes, great discounts and regular prizes.