Passion is Lifesaving

I briefly mentioned Hauora in my previous blog, and I think it is important to understand what this is, especially amongst my rainbow of emotions this week. 

Put simply, this Maori concept, created by Mason Durie, is comprised of four aspects; spiritual, mental/emotional, social and physical, to reflect different parts of our lives, to view our wellbeing holistically. These aspects are commonly referred to walls of a house/whare. Metaphorically speaking, if one of these 'walls' crash and burn, the other walls of the whare may collapse too.

Model located from here.

Today I realised how important it is to have things in your life that you are passionate about, and how these passions can influence your wellbeing, your four walls, greatly.

I always knew this was true, I have experienced both positive and negative aspects of my wellbeing spiralling other aspects out of control many times. However, it wasn't until tonight when I really felt a sudden change in my wellbeing. You could say it's as if my whare was rebuilt in 24 hours, on fast forward.

I am clearly passionate about physical activity, sport inclusive. For instance, I have been playing social football for the past few months. Our team certainly aren't All Whites, but we try our best and have a heap of fun in the process, which was the whole aim of the season.

Tonight we played against the top of the table. We were the bottom. And it was absolutely bucketing down. Prior to the game we considered forfeiting as the weather was so average and we were feeling pessimistic about playing the top team. But, they had terrible attitudes.

The opposition talked each other down. The whole game. I couldn't believe how negative they were toward one another, even though their skill level was astounding.

The adverse comments, alongside our team being supportive and encouraging, got in their heads. They cracked, and we won! 

This simple passion for sport completely and utterly reshaped my wellbeing. My rainbow of emotions leant more towards happiness than of recent. This passion saved my sanity.

What's the moral of the story? Always engage in things you enjoy, do things you are passionate about, because you never know how 40 minutes may lay the foundations of a strong, rebuilt Hauora.

If you would love to learn more about wellbeing models including Hauora, visit this website. In addition to Hauora, there are Pasifika models discussed such as Fonofale and Fonua.