Spiritual Wellness: This involves fostering our interior life - practicing things such as discursive and contemplative meditation, custody of the heart, and private and communal prayer. We can take advantage of our rich faith and its long history, which consists of Liturgy, Sacraments, spiritual exercises, penances, and many great spiritual writings. Spiritual Wellness also consists of learning how we can implement the truths and practices of our Catholic spiritual life on a day-to-day and even a hour-to-hour basis. It can also consist in learning our God-given talents, and how we were meant to contribute to the body of Christ.

Emotional Wellness: This involves understanding our emotional constellation and nurturing our emotional health through learning methods and the environment that works best for us regarding processing our emotions. Some of us experience our emotions physically in different ways. Therefore, it is important to identify the unique ways in which we physically experience emotions. We all get triggered by different situations. Thus, becoming insightful about the situations which trigger us and learning emotional regulation skills can help us navigate our emotional landscape. It is also important to validate our emotions and give ourselves time to process them, but to also understand that the content behind them is not necessarily true - feelings are not facts.

Intellectual Wellness: Developing our understanding of truth, scholastic endeavors, and knowledge of the world around us. St. Thomas of Aquinas said that to contemplate truth is one of the highest goods we can participate in. This may consist in reading books, having conversations, or even taking classes. Intellectual Wellness can also consist of spending time learning the intellectual aspects of our Catholic faith and Scripture. It is not simply about learning, but also about keeping our brain healthy through practicing cognitive activities to enhance and maintain our information processing, executive functioning, and memory abilities.

Social Wellness: This can involve engaging in social roles effectively and comfortably which foster the greatest happiness and contentment. It involves developing healthy support networks in our lives, and fostering/sustaining thriving intimate relationships. Much of the time our intentions in social relationships can dictate the fruitfulness experienced therein. Therefore, it is important to practice custody of the heart - which is a prayerful internal reflection on our intentions with others, so that we can have the greatest depth of happiness within these relationships. Akin to this, we can also focus on loving and helping our neighbors through the strength that we gain from our relationship with Christ.

Vocational and Occupational Wellness: This dimension of wellness encourages personal satisfaction and enrichment in one’s life through the work we do everyday. This can involve finding the true vocation and occupation which God is calling us to. Even when we do not find our job situation ideal, occupational wellness means discovering the meaning and purpose we can get out of these situations. It can also consist of identifying the ways we can allow Gods grace to work through us with those we come in contact with on a daily basis.

Financial Wellness: This involves successfully learning how to manage the different financial aspects of life - how to budget, invest, save, and spend appropriately. Financial Wellness also involves learning to understand our own motivational elements in our various spending habits. Perhaps we are spending to fill an inner void, or so we can gain the esteem of others. In such cases we can practice custody of the heart and incorporate alternative intentions which are more conducive to happiness and authenticity. For us Catholics, financial wellness also consists of learning the value in tithing.

Environmental Wellness: This encourages us to live in harmony with the earth as the natural law dictates. It promotes personal interaction with nature in the ways God intended. This can mean simply getting outside into the wilderness or doing a retreat at the Companions of Christ the Lamb retreat center in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The focus of this retreat center is on getting back to Christ within the context of nature. Because the reality is that connecting with God and connecting with nature go hand-in-hand.

Physical Wellness: Relates to maintaining a healthy body and seeking care when needed. Physical health is attained through exercise, eating well, getting enough sleep, and paying attention to the signs of illness. It can also consist of having the most fruitful intentions and belief system regarding our physical health - that it is important to be physically fit for our health, but that our self-worth does not come from “being fit,” but simply from being an adopted child of God.