By Melinda Perkins –

As we stand on the precipice of this year’s end and next year’s beginning it’s natural to pause, take a breath and look over our shoulder at the path we’ve traversed. Across the year here at PHA, each month we’ve explored a different landscape that, when put together, defines the overall quality of our Precision Life. Let’s take a moment to journey through the highlights and lessons, examining the topography of our experiences.

Happiness: The Landscape of Joy 

Whether it’s a triumphant client WIN, a cherished family event, or a professional milestone, the elements which define our happy moments are biologically and psychologically based. This makes them personal at a molecular level.Take a stroll down memory lane by scrolling through the photos on your phone – a visual diary of joy and accomplishment. Reflect on the landscape of happiness. What does it look like for you? Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing in those most vibrant moments?

Environment: The Nourishing Petri Dish of Well-being

Our surroundings influence us on a biological level, turning genes off and on by the moment and across the days, weeks, months. Pause and consider the spaces, people, and places that shaped your daily life. How did they support you, challenge you, change you; silently sculpting your experiences?

Genius: The Forest of Your Biologically Predisposed Strengths

Your neurons fire and wire and your hormones ebb and flow, continuously crafting and supporting your natural gifts. This is the internal scene that sets you apart from every other person on the planet. Reflect on the skills, talents and abilities that make you shine in your industry and your community. Recognizing and leaning into your expertise is the key to continuous growth and fulfillment.  

Learning: The Terrain of Your Knowledge, Your Way

Who you are on a cellular level, right through to the chemicals that surge through your tissues and the way your muscles move in response to stimuli determines what methods of information absorption work best for you. From lessons learned to skills acquired, consider how you leaned into your biological strengths to expedite learning and retain information longer. What settings, structures, protocols and subjects defined the topography of your knowledge acquisition?

Love:  The Scene of Connection and Communication 

From the care we take with ourselves to the way we engage with other people, places, situations and things, how we love is biologically unique to us. Who were the clients that brought a smile to your face? What colleagues did you connect with? How did you deepen your relationships with those close to you? What skills did you level-up, places did you explore and things did you acquire? These elements combine to craft your specific landscape of love.

Stress: Settings that Evolve Strength

It’s tempting to define our lives by the stressors we encounter, conquer and succumb to. Instead, challenge yourself to look at the methods, timings and modalities which help you naturally flow through life’s peaks and valleys. When do you feel bulletproof? How do you intentionally add stress to spur growth and resilience? What activities increase your zen? Evaluate the elements of your ideal stress habitat. 

Sleep: The Land Where Chronobiology is King

Sleep quality sets the scene for life. Being rested or not largely determines how you experience the world, interact with what it tosses your way and work out ways to craft your future. The formations in our best sleep terrain are largely decided before birth. Your chronobiological rhythms, daily energy flow and natural brain states are biologically and psychologically unique to you. Whether you assess the data from your wearable, flip back through the pages of your dream journal or simply reflect on your sleep habits and hygiene, sweep your eyes across what constructs support your ability to rest. 

Mental Health: Waves of Thought, Gales of Feelings

From feeding our brains to working them properly to getting in that perfect brain state for flowy functionality, mental health incorporates a vast vista of biological predispositions and lifestyle choices. Take a look at yours. When does your brain feel in peak form? When have you felt the most ease, the best equipped to handle a curve-ball, and the clearest about your past, present and future? Look across the landscape of your best mental health and see where peace prevails.

Lifestyle: The Territory of Habits, Fiascos and Routines

Like rearranging the elements of our backyard for optimal practicality and pleasure, we can adjust the components of our lifestyle to align with our biology and psychology for top flow. Consider your daily, weekly and monthly practices and patterns. Where did you thrive? Where did your energy, vitality and enjoyment fall flat? It’s a balancing act that is intensely personal. The facets that you pull forward and those you push into the background will suit your specific genius, desires and intentions.

Mindfulness: The Property of Presence

When you gaze across the panorama of your mindful moments, how you collected them will be as specific to you as the contents they encompass. The only similarities with anyone else on the planet is the way they impact your life. In the chaos of the health industry, mindfulness emerges as a powerful tool to maintain the level of professionalism and decorum you need to support your clients. Explore your mindfulness techniques across the year and the ways they brought focus and serenity to your daily life.

Fitness: Moving Mountains

From the way each one of your 600 muscles is shaped to how they attach to the bones and move your limbs, everything about your physical body is unique to you. Naturally, then, the way you build strength, the times when you have the most stamina, the methods you use to recover are all precisely tuned to you, too. As you glance back across the landmarks of your fitness scenario, ask these things: Did you play up what your body is built for? How well did you utilize the stress and recovery cycles to optimize your biological strengths for a healthier, more resilient you?

Food: Fuel for Life

Do you cringe at the word ‘diet’ or recognize that it’s simply a way of life? Your way of life, just as every other aspect we have discussed, is distinctly your own. What you ingest has no more or no less significance than any of the other factors. With this lens, gaze across the scene of your yearly nutrition. How did you place your meals and the contents of your plates, cups and bowls to keep your body and mind running with powerful precision? Reflect on what worked well and explore opportunities for nourishment that align with your individuality.

When you’ve taken in all the nuances of the well-trodden path behind you and cast your eyes forward once again to the crossroads before you, we hope what you see is more vivid and detailed.  The brilliance of your individuality will light the way to a life more precisely tailored to your needs and a future filled with purpose, growth, and success. This is the Precision Life!

If you’re interested in learning how to apply precision methods and technology solutions to your service offering check out our Level 1 Course for Health Professionals