Donald B. Ardell

Expand wellness programs beyond a prevention and medical management orientation. How and why to address preseentism and boost personal and organizational effectiveness with five strategies:

1. Teach critical thinking skills;
2. Introduce positive psychology about human happiness;
3. Promote new discoveries about meaning and purpose;
4. Assist employees better understand science while stimulating their sense of wonder, gratitude and commitment to reason and free inquiry; and
5. Raise interest in ethics and the nature, sources and applications of common decencies.

The talk describes obstacles to a gradual shift of worksite wellness to REAL wellness for quality of life enhancement.

Some topics should be avoided in polite society, but not these three!

"Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times. It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege, one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans, for in our hands lies the ability to shape our world, for good or for ill."

President Barack Obama, Address to joint session of Congress, February 24, 2009.

It is true today as it has been throughout human history that the most extraordinary times for the individual, as opposed to the nation or community, is the time he or she has. No matter how "extraordinary" another age or historical period might have been, nothing that took place during the Stone Age, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age or any more recent age since matters as much, to you living now, as the choices you make. For each of us, the present time is the most extraordinary time - no matter what events and developments went before over the course of human experience. Living in a manner that boosts your chances for happiness, health, meaning, exuberance and a life of reason with love given and received - that is both a burden and a privilege to pursue. These and so many other opportunities are entrusted to you, now. In your hands at this time, while you live, lies the ability to shape a small part of the world - the part you inhabit, for good or for ill. A REAL wellness lifestyle is something you owe to yourself. I believe President Obama would add that you owe it, as well, to your family, your community and last but not least your country. Choose REAL wellness.

Dr. Donald B. Ardell will describe REAL wellness is and show how you can enjoy a high quality of life based on shaping a personal plan to fit with the president's three priorities of energy, health care and education.

Outline followed for keynote at the Health Care and Business Roundtable in Boise, ID sponsored by Saint Alphonsus Health Systems.

* We (America) are not # 1 in the world in terms of health status (though we are #1 in spending on medical care, most of it for chronic diseases that could and should be prevented).

* Why things are so bad ("the Dark Side") - facts based on reports by the Institute of Medicine/NIH, Time Magazine ("Bitter Pill") and CNN's documentary "Escape Fire."

* Why health should be understood as either static or earned - and why one is desirable, the other disastrous.

* The optimal future - REAL Wellness!

* Key principles of four RW dimensions (reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty).

* Recommendations for business and health leaders to guide a REAL wellness revolution.