What is Wellbeing?

Jane Taylor
JT - Happiness is pretty simple someone to love, something to do, something to look forward to.

There are many people and organisations describing and defining wellbeing at the moment, have you noticed? So let’s discuss what wellbeing is…

What is Wellbeing?

Defining wellbeing is complex and an area that continues to evolve. Following are some definitions of wellbeing from a variety of sources:

Then, the following definitions go a little deeper, including –

  • Subjective Well-Being (SWB) was defined by Deiner (2009) as the general evaluation of one’s quality of life. The concept has been conceptualized as the three components: (1) a cognitive appraisal that one’s life was good (life satisfaction); (2) experiencing positive levels of pleasant emotions; (3) experiencing relatively low levels of negative moods (Deiner, 2009).
  • “Well-being is more than just happiness. As well as feeling satisfied and happy, well-being means developing as a person, being fulfilled, and making a contribution to the community” ~ Shah and Marks (2004).  
  • Headey and Wearing’s (1992) indicate that wellbeing is shown “as depending on prior equilibrium levels of wellbeing and of life events, and also on recent events.“
  • Dodge et al (2012) – “as the balance point between an individual’s resource pool and the challenges faced”.

What Influences Wellbeing?

Basically every aspect of your life influences your wellbeing. Researchers investigating happiness have found the following factors enhance an individuals wellbeing –

  • an enjoyable and fulfilling career,
  • adequate money,
  • regular exercise,
  • a balanced diet (food and water),
  • sufficient sleep,
  • an intimate relationship with a partner,
  • a network of close friends,
  • a sense of belonging,
  • the ability to adapt to change,
  • a safe physical environment (home and environment),
  • a sense of purpose and meaning, and
  • all of the above factors are interrelated.

Over to You…

What Does Wellbeing Mean to You? Does it include your –

  • relationships (social)
  • emotions (emotional)
  • body (physical)
  • thoughts (mental)
  • finances (financial)
  • living environment (environmental)
  • spirit (spiritual)?

I would be interested to hear what well-being means to you, so feel free to comment below!

If you are ready to reclaim your courage and take the next step towards your freedom and opening your heart, why not join our Toolkit?

References –

Diener, E. (2009). Subjective well-being. The Science of Well-Being, 11-58.

Dodge, R., Daly, A., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L. (2012). The challenge of defining wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(3), 222-235. 

Headey, B. W., & Wearing, A. J. (1992). Understanding happiness: A theory of subjective well-being. Melbourne, Australia: Longman Cheshire. 

Shah, H., & Marks, N. (2004). A well-being manifesto for a flourishing society. London: The New Economics Foundation.

Website Page Reference –

Today 19/10/20, I updated this page. The majority of the information remained the same, however I have added the Dodge et al definition and diagram. Thanks in advance for honouring my work 🙂

Taylor, J. (2012) What is Wellbeing? [WWW] Available from: https://www.janetaylor.net/what-is-wellbeing/ [Accessed …….. ]

Posted in

Leave a Comment