Wellness Tool: Pause and Reflect on Your PIES

Purpose

Life can often feel reactive, rushing from one responsibility to the next without pausing to check in with ourselves. The PIES tool (Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Social) gives you a moment to stop, notice, and reflect. By building self-awareness across these four areas, you can better understand your current wellbeing, identify what supports you, and take intentional steps toward balance and growth.

Steps

1. Pause and Breathe

   Take a deep inhale and a longer exhale. Repeat this a few times until you feel centred and ready to reflect.

2. Check In Briefly

   Consider what you notice in each area:

   • Physically – your body. Are you aware of any sensations, your energy, or your overall fitness?

   • Intellectually – your thoughts. Do you notice recurring worries, negative self-talk, or general patterns in your thinking?

   • Emotionally – your mood. How are you feeling in this moment, or how have you felt recently?

   • Socially – your connection to others (and, if relevant, to your spirituality). How proactive have you been in connecting with others? How are those connections—or the absence of them—impacting you?

3. Reflect More Deeply

   For each element (Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, Social), take a few moments to explore:

   • Give yourself a score from 1–10 for your satisfaction in this area.

   • Identify what is most influential in determining that score.

   • Notice what helps prevent the score from being lower.

   • Consider what resources you already use to support this area.

   • Ask what you could change to raise the score by just one point.

   • Choose a simple action you can take to support that improvement.

Taking time to pause and reflect on your PIES helps shift you out of autopilot and into awareness. This practice reminds you that wellbeing is not about perfection; it’s about noticing, learning, and making small, intentional shifts. With regular practice, you’ll build greater clarity, balance, and resilience in everyday life.

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Book Coaching

Credit: Inspired by - Julia Carden's PIES Check-In and Tool, Coaching Tools Vol. 3, Eds Passmore, Day, Flower, Grieve and Jovanovic Moon.