Icebergs reveal only about one-tenth of their actual mass above the water, with the remaining nine-tenths submerged. Did you know your state of wellness is the same?

Your current state of health, whether you view it from a perspective of dis-ease or vitality, is just like the tip of an iceberg. This is the part that shows, the part that you can actually see.

To really understand all that is creating and supporting your current state of health, you must look beneath the surface of the water. Author and Wellness Expert John W. Travis calls this “The Iceberg Model” in his “Wellness Workbook.”

The first level below the tip is the lifestyle or behavioral level; it represents what you eat, how you use and exercise your body, how you relax, how you deal with stress in your life, and how you keep safe from the hazards of living. This is all for us to consider the lifestyles we are following, for some of us live in ways that are self-destructive. And we may feel that we don’t have the power to change things.

That leads us to look deeper, going to the next level, which is the cultural/psychological/motivational level. At this level, we find what moves us to lead the lifestyle we’ve chosen. As a coach, it is this stage I ask my clients to consider the possible “payoffs” that come from making those lifestyle choices, both the good and the not-so-good. It is at this stage that we might also become conscious of any psychological payoffs that came from our childhood experiences with either one or both of our parents.

The next level in our exploration of our wellness would be the spiritual/being/meaning realm (or, with my background, the transpersonal or metaphysical). This “level” includes the mystical and mysterious. It includes everything in the unconscious mind. It includes the Big Questions: What’s my reason for being? What’s the real meaning of my life? What’s my place in the Universe? Travis states that the way you address these questions, and the answers you choose, will reflect themselves in all the other levels above. This “realm” determines the tip of your iceberg, representing your state of health as one of dis-ease or wellness.

What does the tip of your iceberg suggest about your current state of wellness? Is it from a place of dis-ease–or of vitality? Would you be willing to go deeper, to look below the surface?

If you would like support in your exploration of wellness, check out my Thirty-Three Six Wellness page for more information about my work as a mind-body-spirit energy medicine practitioner.

Your partner in going deeper, beneath the surface,

James