Healing Is A Journey – Caring For Your Health In An Integrative Way
Updated: Nov 14, 2024
Suría Toussaint Calzadilla is a Certified Integrative Health Coach, a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, has a Master's Degree in Organizational Psychology, and is the founder of Healing Journey con Suría (Healing Journey with Suría). Her purpose and passion is to support people with their well-being goals in an integrated and sustainable way.
Have you ever been intentional in thinking: What are my well-being goals? What do I want to accomplish for my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health? Do I have a holistic view of health?
In my personal experience, it took me many years to understand that being healthy is not only having physical or mental health and that healing is a continuous, never-ending process. I used to think that if I ate balanced meals and worked out, I was healthy; if I could manage stress (or believe that I was managing stress), I was okay. But the reality is that when life caught up and gave me a wake-up call, I learned that being and feeling healthy has much more to do than just being aware of what I ate and the physical activity I did.
A few years back, after acknowledging that I was 31 and a cancer patient, I thought to myself, “How can this be? I just turned 31. I’m a healthy person. I have my whole life ahead of me!” I couldn’t believe that after having what I thought was a “healthy lifestyle,” I was faced with this health situation. Nonetheless, I realized that life holds many lessons and gifts in every situation. The key to this is the perspective with which you see things and how you change your thinking process to “For what reasons is this happening to me?” instead of “Why is this happening to me?”. But this is a topic for another article!
By shifting my mindset, I had an “aha moment” and realized that healing is a continuous, integrated process. I wanted to heal physically, but I needed to work on other aspects of my life, like expressing my emotions and connecting with my purpose and something greater than myself. I had to work with my health holistically in a way that worked and made sense to me. I understood that being healthy meant much more than doing everything physically possible for my cancer to go away. I started seeing my healing journey in a much more integrated way.
As a result of this and the learnings I had in the past three years, I decided to become an Integrative Health Coach to support people in understanding that every decision they make regarding their well-being is a step towards the objectives they want to accomplish for their health.
So, the point I want to get across is that you need to be clear and aligned with what you really want for your well-being and how this resonates with you and your purpose. One of the best ways to make sustainable shifts and willingly decide on healthy habits is to connect with your bio-individuality. There’s no “one size fits all” approach to taking care of your Integrative Health. Holistically caring for your health looks and feels different for everyone. Accepting that your journey is different from others will give you peace in knowing that you are doing what you truly need to be doing and, thus, feel healthy.
I always tell my clients that to make new habits sustainable you need to connect with what resonates with you, your needs, and preferences. There needs to be an emotional connection with what you’re doing and why you are doing it.
5 steps to identify and achieve your wellness goals
1. Make a list of what you want for your health
a. Think about what you want to accomplish and how you want to feel (physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually).
2. Identify and jot down why this is important to you
3. Write what you have done up to now to support your well-being
a. Has this worked? Why or why not?
4. Reflect on steps 1-3 and set specific well-being objectives
a. Be reasonable in identifying these objectives. Start with the ones you connect with the most in this moment.
5. Identify a habit, activity, or mindset to support each goal
a. Remember to think about your bio-individual needs and preferences, and how this connects with you.
b. Consider realistic options that you can sustain.
Sharing with you part of my story helps me get across that living a healthy lifestyle requires much more than one aspect of health. It requires recognizing the importance of multi-dimensional health and your bio-individual needs.
Shifting your perspective on health may take time. The first step is to identify the objectives you want to accomplish for your well-being and how you’ll do this, in addition to connecting with what truly resonates with you. Working with experts in this field, like an Integrative Health Coach, can facilitate the process and support you in your healing journey. Remember, you have everything you need to start living your best life. Just stay true to yourself!
Read more from Suría Toussaint Calzadilla
Suría Toussaint Calzadilla, Certified Integrative Health Coach
Suría Toussaint Calzadilla is an experienced Coach in personal and professional development, focused on guiding people to maximize their talents, potential and well-being. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and undergoing treatment and procedures to achieve full remission, Suría experienced her own healing journey and developed a different perspective on life. She has since completed the Health Coach Training Program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and continues to expand her skills and knowledge with related courses. She has launched her Certified Integrative Health Coaching career through Healing Journey con Suría (Healing Journey with Suría) and has supported women between 30 and 45 years old to live their best life.
