The final element of physical well-being issleep. And we all know the bottom line – we need to get adequate sleep. But what I hope we’ll learn today is that getting enough sleep is a REAL need, that is, if we want to be our best selves, our happiest selves. And I think you’ll agree once you hear how our brain responds to a good night of sleep, vs. an inadequate one.

Growing up, we all learned about the basic food groups and what we should ideally be putting into our body. But how many of us learned about the very real connection between our gut and our brain? Or between our gut and our emotions? Historically, nutrition education and research has focused largely on how the foods we eat affect our physical health. But the new emerging field of nutritional psychiatry, studies how the foods we eat impact our mental health - the way we feel emotionally.

The first step to fulfill our potential for physical wellbeing, is recognizing its inseparable connection to our mind and emotions. Think about the extent that our thoughts and feelings impact our body – how we literally hold our emotions and ruminations in our shoulders, in our jaw, in our stomach. And, the relationship is bidirectional.

Thus far we’ve covered intellectual wellbeing, relational wellbeing, and spiritual wellbeing. The two final areas we need to explore are physical wellbeing and emotional wellbeing. And while I would love to take credit for leaving these two specific topics for last, it was truly fortuitous. It's clear that all 5 areas of wellbeing are connected to one another, but there is a specifically inextricable link between our physical and emotional wellbeing.

Remember that slowing yourself down and paying full attention to whatever you’re doing, are key components in the informal practice of meditation; And it’s this practice which can directly increase spiritual well-being.

Let’s talk about the third area enumerated by Tal Ben Shahar - spiritual well-being. The first thing we need to clarity when talking about spiritual well-being, is the role that religion should or shouldn’t play in this discussion. We’re going to take the approach that while spirituality should be nurtured in religious contexts, it also can be learned and cultivated in day-to-day life.

Continuing our discussion about relational well-being, let’s talk about emotional attunement. It’s in the context of marriage that emotional attunement garners the most attention, but the truth is that emotional attunement is an incredibly powerful influence in friendships as well as in professional interactions.

Continuing our discussion about relational well-being, lets talk about two critical elements: empathy and emotional attunement. The sad truth is that empathy levels continue to decline across the globe, some research pointing to as much as a 40% decrease over the last 30 years. What does this all have to do with relational well-being?

Let’s talk about relational well-being. We mentioned last week that when we devote ourselves to deep learning, we strengthen neural pathways in our brain which then get utilized in many other areas of our life, the most important one being relationships. John Gottman, who is world-renown for his 40 years of breakthrough research on marital stability, talks about how important “deep knowing” is to a thriving relationship. He writes that couples tend to be curious about one another in their early courtship. But as life evolves, familiarity and routine, promote an illusion that we pretty much know most, if not all there is to know about our significant other.

Let’s continue our discussion about the potential for intellectual pursuits to increase our happiness. Remember that intellectual pursuits can and really should include learning new things, as well as deepening the things with which we’re already familiar. Today let’s talk about this latter pursuit, what we’ll call Deep Learning.