Wellbeing is about people and communities being whole. It’s the set of needs and experiences universally required in combination and balance to weather challenges and have health and hope.
All of us — from janitor to judge, senior executive to senior citizen, adult to adolescent — are hardwired for wellbeing.
Science and human experience tells us we all are driven to meet our needs in five domains of wellbeing: social connectedness, safety, stability, mastery and meaningful access to relevant resources.
One domain isn’t more important than the others — in fact, they’re interconnected and we’re hardwired for balance among these five domains. Building assets in one domain sometimes means giving up something we value in another and asking, “Is it worth it to me?”
Click on any part of the star to learn more about each domain:
Access to external resources like food, shelter, air, water and experiences like rest and movement.
Relationships and belonging with people, nature, places and experiences, including across time.
Rhythms and patterns that help us feel rooted and confident, able to weather change and plan for the future.
The ability to express our core identities without pain, shame, fear or danger, as defined by us.
Feeling significant and that we can make a difference.
The immediate and long-term wellbeing costs of a decision or (in)action.
We’re all driven to meet our needs for wellbeing based on what’s available to us. Our brains are hardwired for the Five Domains of Wellbeing and they guide our everyday behavior.
Interested to explore these five essential domains? Download our PDF or watch this video to learn more:
The drive for wellbeing is universal, but access to it isn’t. The racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression baked into the fabric of our country mean that our society is set up to provide access to wellbeing for some, and undermine it for others.
To create durable change, we need to:
