Wellness Calendar: Sunday 5 October

Pickpocketing gems of wisdom
[Following on from the previous entry]
…Yet there is some good news. Over the past hundred years, a huge amount of research has been undertaken around the human condition. It’s safe to say, on a general level, that we now know what makes us well and what makes us unwell – without need for further evidence or consultation. This information is out there in the public domain. All we need do is match the bits of external knowledge that are pertinent to our own internal circumstances and we can be our very own self-directed, insight-making experts for the rest of our lives.
The only (slight) problem to this process is that much of the knowledge related to wellness remains professionalised. It remains within the realms of academia, within tight circles of professionals who are reluctant to break down this information into lay terms and share it with lay people.
Thankfully, more and more of this information is being pickpocketed and then broken down into bite-sized pieces so that it can be accessed by the masses. But there are still some major drawbacks. Some information that’s available to one and all, otherwise known as psychoeducation, is often so dogmatic and authoritarian/behavioural in design as to be disempowering. Meanwhile, other pieces of information that exist within, say, self-help books, programmes and webinars, only promote one method, one approach – which is great if it matches your needs, but less helpful if you require more flexibility and versatility.
Hopefully, it’s only a matter of time before there’s a giant shared vessel of information for all those who are interested in exploring their own well-being on their own terms; where people (young and old) can pick, mix and sieve their way through information to get to the golden nuggets. In the meantime, there’s always Self Detective.