Improve your life holistically: the 6 factor model for psychological well-being

In 1989, Psychology professor Carol Ryff established The 6 Factor Model of Psychological well-being.

She did this by analysing texts from Carl Jung to Aristotle & others about what makes humans thrive & feel fulfilled. 

The model divides Psychological Well-being into 6 categories:

1. Self Acceptance.
2. Personal Growth.
3. Purpose In Life.
4. Positive Social Relations.
5. Environmental Mastery.
6. & autonomy.

1. Self Acceptance:

When you have low self acceptance, you feel discontented, regretful, & disappointed in yourself & your past. You don’t give yourself room to learn and grow. But instead you wish to be someone else entirely.

High self acceptance is the opposite of that. When you accept who you are, you develop a positive attitude towards yourself. You accept & acknowledge all of your attributes, the good & the bad. 

You view your past & whatever mistakes you’ve made as lessons to learn from, instead of regrets to dwell on. 

2. Personal Growth:

Right now, you either have a fixed mindset, or a growth mindset.

With a fixed mindset you feel stuck. There is no possible room for growth or development over time & you’re unable to embrace new attitudes & habits because “you’re wired this way”.

With a growth mindset you embrace change. You realise you can reprogram your mind & begin to slowly shift your habits & behaviours. You develop foresight knowing you can learn & do anything with enough time & persistence. 

You don’t think “this is who I am”, but “how can I become better”.

3. Purpose In Life:

A weak sense of purpose gets you stuck in nihilism. You can’t figure out “why you’re here”, so you take that as an indicator of an empty & futile presence.

“Nothing matters so I don’t either”. You don’t have big dreams because you don’t see the point. Or maybe you do have big dreams, but you still stand in your own way by thinking there’s no point.

With a strong sense of purpose you have goals, dreams, & ambitions. You may not know “why you’re here”, but you don’t care. You acknowledge that you’re here now, & you must do what you can to live the life you want by helping yourself & those around you.

4. Positive Social Relations:

Positive social relations are warm, fulfilling, & honest. You care about people’s welfare & you have strong empathy. You can be affectionate, intimate, & vulnerable. & you’re also mindful of the give & take nature of healthy relationships.

Negative Social Relations:

This means a struggle to be warm, open, & caring. You’d have very few deep connections & that makes you feel lonely & frustrated. On-top of that, you’re unwilling to make compromises in-order to maintain meaningful relationships. It’s all about “you”. There is no understanding of healthy relationships.

5. Environmental mastery:

With high environmental mastery, you feel in charge of the situation you’re in regardless of what’s happening in the world. You recognise that you have the ability to change the context you live in, no matter how difficult.

With low environmental mastery you struggle with managing your days. You feel powerless. You think just because what’s happening in the world is out of your control, then so is your own life.

6. Autonomy:

With high autonomy you’re independent & self-determining. You can resist social pressures to think & act in a particular way. You can control your behaviour internally, & you judge yourself by your own standards.

With low autonomy you worry too much about other people’s expectations & opinions of you. You rely on their judgment to guide crucial decisions, & you give in to social pressures to think and act in certain ways.

Now that you have an understanding of what constitutes holistic well-being. How do you put this framework into practice?

Start by analysing yourself according to the framework & write down what you learn about yourself.

Then, create a simple action plan on improving the areas you need to work on. For example if you have low autonomy, your action plan to fixing that could look something like:

1. Research & read about how to become more independent.
2. Practice what you’re learning while giving yourself time to internalise new behaviours & patterns.
3. Forgiving yourself for slacking every now & then, recognising your humanity

You get the point. It’s not rocket science, but it’s not a walk in the park either.

Changing yourself to better fit the version you have in your mind is no easy task, but what else can you do? Sit around and watch your life pass by?

Take daily action. You’re worth it.