Spiritual

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right

if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with Him

Forever in the next.

Amen.

This is the serenity prayer of 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). This prayer is to be fully accepted in the 12 step program in order to move on the subsequent steps. The serenity prayer is based on the concept of balance. Let’s take a closer look at this prayer and decipher its latent content: First is the concept of acceptance. More specifically, internalizing the serenity prayer means fully accepting that some things are out of your control. In the case of AA, it is accepting that one is powerless against alcohol, surrendering the effort to control alcohol use, and instead seeking guidance from a “higher power.”

Acceptance must take place nonjudgmentally—acknowledging that it is neither good nor bad to have or not have control over some things. Complete acceptance of powerlessness over alcohol, or over any stressor that is not within a person’s control, can lift an emotional weight from the person’s shoulders.

Finally, the serenity prayer highlights the concept of mindfulness. To be mindful is to be completely focused on the here and now—the present moment. To focus on a moment that will be or on a moment that was is not being mindful of the present moment. True mindfulness is a multisensory, present-focused orientation. Mindfulness helps a person feel grounded.

In sum, to be in spiritual balance includes accepting present circumstances, or the moment, in a nonjudgmental way. It also includes being focused on the present rather than on the past or future.

Physical

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion developed a balanced nutrition guide that replaces the well-known Food Pyramid with a more practical dinner plate showing suggested serving sizes of four food groups (20% fruits, 30% grains, 30% vegetables, and 20% proteins) and a glass representing dairy. Unveiled in June 2011, MyPlate is the most recent representation of over 100 years of nutrition guides. ChooseMyPlate.gov ^{[ 1]} is an interactive website that includes ideas for daily food plans for children, adults, dieters, and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. It also contains advice on eating healthy on a budget, food safety, physical activity, and other healthy-lifestyle topics.

The benefits of a balanced diet are many, one of which is to provide the body with energy for physical activity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) ^{[ 2]} recommends that, for adults, physical exercise be divided into aerobic activity and strength training. For aerobic activity (running, walking), the suggested time is 150 minutes per week of moderate movement or 75 minutes per week of vigorous movement. Activities such as mowing the lawn and brisk vacuuming also count as aerobic activity. Strength training is recommended twice per week and can include activities such as rock climbing and outdoor physical labor in addition to traditional weight machines. The USDHHS also provides activity guidelines for children, adolescents, and older adults.

The government suggestions for diet and exercise establish a good foundation for physical wellness. Along with a healthy diet and exercise, the government recommends that all Americans have an annual wellness checkup.

Intellectual

Intellectual wellness and balance is more of an active and challenging process. To achieve intellectual balance is to feel temporarily unbalanced. For instance, Lee Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist in the early 1920s. He stated that intellectual growth in children occurred within the social environment and on two levels, with assistance from others and within the child. Vygotsky coined a process called “zone of proximal development.” This is a space between what a child can cognitively achieve on his own and what he can achieve with assistance. The process of working within this space is called “scaffolding” and is where both intellectual growth and age-appropriate intellectual imbalance occur. So in a sense, intellectual balance is interrupted and later reestablished once a new concept is grasped.

This process of scaffolding can also occur as adults, although the process is much more self initiated. In other words, opportunities for intellectual growth can occur in the workplace, during social interactions, or reading about topics of interest. As adults become older, the lifelong process of gaining knowledge and responding to intellectual stimuli manifests into a sense of wisdom. Psychologist Erik Erikson stated that as adults enter old age, they reflect upon their lives. If older persons can reflect upon their lives and feel that their lives were meaningful, a sense of integrity develops . Through satisfaction and integrity, older adults perceive a sense of wisdom that they can impart on to others. ^{[ 3]}

Emotional

Like it or not, we all have emotions that need to be expressed. From the perspective of evolution, for example, humans need to respond to fear in order to survive. From a cultural perspective, emotions can be nonverbal methods of communication. For example, there are certain types of universal emotions that cross cultures. In other words, one person may not be able to understand a spoken language, but that same person would be able to understand feelings states in another person. Research suggests that there are six basic emotions that, no matter what culture, can be accurately interpreted. The six basic, universal emotions are fear, anger, joy, sadness, surprise, and disgust.

From a biological perspective, emotional stimuli are processed in the brain. Specifically, the limbic system, located in the forebrain, contains structures that include the amygdala, septum, and hippocampus. The amygdala helps assign emotional intensity to a given situation and helps us channel emotional energy into a behavior, most notably anger and aggression. The septum inhibits emotions: Damage to this area in animals has resulted in “septal rage syndrome,” which involves inhibition of rage. Finally, the hippocampus is less related to emotion and more related to memory.

From a balanced perspective, Marsha Linehan ^{[ 4]} talked about being in “wise mind.” Linehan developed a treatment model for those diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, the hallmark of which is emotional instability. Wise mind, which is the goal of this treatment also known as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), means that one is fully aware of the experience of an emotion. For instance, the tightening of the chest for anxiety, or the physical heaviness of sadness, are cues that should be responded to in such a way that it helps process an emotion. At the very least, in cases where there is nothing that can be done about the emotional situation, being in wise mind will help temporarily distract a person from the emotion.