by HR professional in healthcare, London UK.
In medicine, and in life, ‘quality of life’ can be used as a measure or as a way of making decisions.
Quality of life has many definitions including:
- “The general well-being of a person or society, defined in terms of health and happiness, rather than wealth.” (1)
- “The standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group.” (2)
- “The patient’s ability to enjoy normal life activities.” (3)
- “The degree of satisfaction an individual has regarding a particular style of life.” (4)
- “A patient’s general well-being, including mental status, stress level, sexual function, and self-perceived health.” (5)
In health, decisions can be made based on quality of life e.g. helping patients make decisions about treatments, decisions about a care pathway through a particular illness, disease, or surgery, and decisions about end of life care. In our lives we can also make healthy living decisions about our quality of life – e.g. exercise, countryside walks, certain foods or nutrients. We also make quality of life decisions based on where we live e.g. to live in the countryside or in a certain town or village, and about what type of work or where we work e.g. flexible hours, or somewhere that is easy to commute to.
Whilst these conversations and decisions are important, do we ever consider our quality in life?
What if our quality in life is equal to or more important than our quality of life?
What’s the difference between our quality of life and our quality in life?
As with the definitions above, quality of life would seem to relate to two things –the quality of life based on an individual’s sense of wellbeing (e.g. what gives them a sense of wellbeing and what doesn’t – does having their family close by support them, or, do they like to live in the countryside, or by the sea), and also what is important to them in daily life about the way they function e.g. if they have a health condition, a clinician may want to understand from the patient which parts of the patient’s life are impacted and what matters to them most in their life at that time. For example, a patient may be asked if they prefer a drug that is effective for their medical condition but has a side effect versus a different care regime that has no drugs or side effects but is perhaps less effective.
What then is our quality in life? Whilst we each have a physical body, we are far grander than we realise and there is much more to us than our body. We are more than physical flesh as we are first and foremost a spark of divine light. This spark of light is our true essence, from which comes our true quality. Every one of us, no matter what walk of life, or age, or gender has an inner essence, which we can each connect to and it is living in connection with our inner essence that enables our true quality – our divine quality – to be expressed.
So how does this relate to living our quality in life or living a quality of life?
We can choose to live life in disconnection to our inner essence, which is living in disconnection to our divine quality. In living this way, we are denying our multidimensionality, living functionally in a physical body, but, living in a way that is reduced from, and in separation to, the whole of who we are.
Energetically this is a primary cause of illness and disease, as we are living away from our true self. If we live in this way, our wellbeing and quality of life is often based on bettering our functional physical body, and bettering our life e.g. our homes, social lives, material possessions, jobs, and making the best we can of the life we have – whatever we value in life, we make the most of it.
Or
We can choose to live life in connection to our inner essence, our divine quality, and as we move our body throughout our daily life, wherever we work or live, whatever our circumstance, our quality is with us – as we are that living quality, a quality that we then bring to all aspects of life, whether cutting up vegetables, cleaning our teeth, or serving customers as we work. Through living and breathing this quality, we are a living quality in life, and the ripple effect of this is that it emanates throughout our life – so that our quality of life is based on what has been first been lived as our quality in life.
Put simply, when we live a life disconnected to our divine quality we have a life where we are searching for quality from outside of us and we are constantly seeking to feed a feeling of emptiness, or imbalance or disharmony that we can feel – and we try and fill it up with material possessions, or great holidays, or bettering how our physical health is.
When we live a life in connection to our divine quality, we realise we are already everything, and whilst it is honouring to live and work in a way that is nourishing and confirming of our quality, we are not seeking outside of ourselves for something, as we can already feel a warmth and connection from within – we are living our quality in life – living from inside out.
I wonder how different the world would be if we were to all choose to live our quality in life? It is likely that we would not need all the entertainment and, for instance, some of the material possessions that we have nowadays. It is also possible that illness and disease would not be rising exponentially as it is now, as, in living our quality in life, we would be learning to live a life from inside out – and from this, we would take a far greater care of our physical body and how we lived our lives in every way.
In the words of modern day philosopher Serge Benhayon: (6)
“Body function and body harmony –
It is for all of us to learn this major difference.”
Surely this is a conversation worth having?
What if quality in life is the way to ensure a true quality of life?
References:
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/quality-of-life
- Oxford Dictionaries Accessed 29th August 2017
- http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=11815 Accessed 29th August 2017
- Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc.
- http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/quality+of+life accessed 29th August 2017
- Serge Benhayon, Esoteric Teachings & Revelations: A New Study for Mankind, Unimed Publishing 2011
Medicine and Serge Benhayon 
This is a great conversation to have with each other as is it possible we have got muddled between the differences of quality in life versus the quality of life. I know that my quality in life has changed beyond words can express since attending the workshops and courses of Universal Medicine.
HR, there is much to ponder over what has ben presented here, the difference between quality of life to quality in life. And many years ago, I would say the buzz word was, quality of life and now reflecting back what was the point when the quality to achieve this was quality-less.
I can feel the difference that in everything we do or be, that quality is essential. I’ve even experimented with this too to feel the difference. For instance, when I cook the vegetables, let alone the preparation that has gone into it, if I am not with myself and off with the fairies (in other words, my thought conversation is not with the food), the food tastes, well not the same, it kind of feel empty. Soon as my whole attention is with the cooking in everything I do, from the way I line the dish with grease proof paper, lay the vegetables and so forth, my food is certainly felt and tastes with love and joy, it feels wholesome.
There is much to ponder over in this blog, where is the true gold, quality of life or quality in life and which will sustain us – as everything has an ending…
Living from the outside in or the inside out – the difference between quality of life and quality in life.
Lucy, spot on, simple and to the point. No wonder people are so unsettled, living by what’s happening outside and not paying an iota of what’s actually happening inside. Live from there and we won’t need, long escaping holidays, we will be able to provide quality services and burnout and exhaustion will be wiped out.
Reading this again today I understood quality of life much more clearly, and it’s truly taking it to a new dimension by bringing in quality in life, our divine essence, which transforms every part of life and deeply nourishes the human body. Great quote from Serge too on there being a difference between body harmony and body function.
Even the very basic practice of being gentle with ourselves and our environment has a huge impact on our health.
Sue, I can say the same… since attending Universal Medicine courses I am definitely more healthy, confident, purposeful. My quality in life has improved dramatically, which in turn has affected my quality of life.
Ultimately we are all returning to a time where we’re all being the living quality of God and I know that that sounds ridiculously far fetched but it’s true. Currently we’re all living so far removed from that that we would find it difficult to even come up with what God’s qualities are.
This just shows to me the importance of the correct understanding of what a word or phrase of words mean. Just a change of one word makes a whole lot of difference to the meaning.
Yes it really does. I could see how quality of life is such a reduction of what we have available to us and that it is a constant searching for improvement. Yet quality in life is something we can be actively involved in that has incredible outcomes in all areas of our life.
The quote at the end makes a lot of sense. If the focus of life is purely on the function of the body then the being in the human body is ignored. The quality of the ignored being then affects the function of the human body. Connecting to my essence has been and is great medicine for the being and this has had beneficial effects on the body.
I really appreciate how your awesome blog always offers me the opportunity to deeply consider my quality, of life and in life. And I can see that without developing my quality in life, how I am in every moment, is the foundation for developing a true quality of my outer life. The outer quality cannot be all that it can be without the inner quality being all that it is first.
Great article Jane – it is so worth considering this way of living – from our essence, from the inside out. We can live in the world without being a slave to its demands and impositions.
There is a huge difference between the satisfaction of a tick box picture of quality, to the joy and expansion of living in a manner that is constantly exploring and deepening the quality we feel through our response to and relationship with life.
Very true, the tick box pleasure is fleeting whereas the joy of living with quality opens up to the possibility of there being so much more.
That’s true, we may have everything in a material sense, yet still feel something is missing and lack true settlement and contentment in ourselves. The inner emptiness so many people experience is related to not having that ‘quality in life’. The emptiness is a true signal that something is missing, and that something is ourselves. When we reconnect to our essence, our divinity within, we can begin to enjoy our quality in life.
The quality of my being is the foundation I am building in my day; without this quality essentially the truth of a woman being expressed through my body, I am lost and at the mercy to the outside world.
Reading that quote at the end about function and harmony reminded me of looking after potted plants. I mostly do function when I look after my plants, I water them, make sure they are in the right amount of sun and every now and then – if I remember – I add some fertiliser. Pure function. I remember attending an event when they had a permaculture stand and the plants there looked like they were thriving. And I realised we can make it about function and getting by, or we can bring a different quality or way of being to it and actually thrive – and harmony for me makes our humanity thrive when we are all working as one.
That makes so much sense – we can function or we can thrive. Function now is clearly a a reduction of the potential reality we could be living.
When we are more aware of the quality with which we live life, this alters the quality of our life.
Its really great to question this difference between ‘quality of life’ and ‘quality in life’. So much emphasis is put on the ‘quality of life’ but this totally negates the quality in which we do what we do. So by making the quality in which we do things our main focus, our ‘quality of life’ would improve immeasurably simply by virtue of that fact.
To even consider there’s such thing as ‘quality in life’ brings up a sense of responsibility many of us are trying to escape from – that there is something for every one of us that we are here to bring. Quality of life is very important, but it’s the logistics, and what goes in and out of that that makes it even more richer is our quality in life.
And then what really makes sense is that the only way to have true quality in life is to know who we truly are… Because otherwise we are trying to have quality in the illusion
Great question ‘What if our quality in life is equal to or more important than our quality of life?’ as it brings it back to responsibility and the responsibility we all have. As I have observed and also lived, many times do we want things better in life than we have, yet rather than looking at the first point (us) and within we look at everything outside of ourselves. Making it about the quality we bring and live, as I am learning, is imperative.
‘What if our quality in life is equal to or more important than our quality of life?’ One little word and a world of difference. The choice we have to play a part in the quality we bring into our lives and everything we do, rather than an expectation (sense of entitlement) about what life should deliver us. This is one of those questions that if we actually stop to consider opens up a whole lot of brilliant exploration.
When our focus is on our quality we naturally see the positives, the parts that are our strengths and there is less space for what we perceive to be our weak points.
This is so logical it is hard not to consider this hasn’t been our normal understanding “our quality of life is based on what has been first been lived as our quality in life.”
There comes a time where the way we live our lives no longer suits us, we no longer want to be smothered in all of the dilemmas and ills we have cast upon ourselves. In those moments, no “betterment” is enough, but only true love and integrity. In those moments, we begin to make steps towards our essence and a true way of life.
Yes, it’s the moment when you realise that all that you have around you, the home, the car, the money, the baubles may look great on the outside but on the inside you are still feeling as lost and as confused as you always have. And in that moment there is always a choice, keep accumulating the outer trappings or stop, and begin to consider that maybe there is another way.
It can be difficult to see that choice if one is wrapped up in the material and the search for fulfillment from an outer source and sometimes a point of crisis, a small tornado (or a big one) may be required to shake us up and clear our vision.
Living in harmony with our body and with our divine essence is to know who you are.
Such a good question Jane. We all have heard of quality instead of quantity and some people prefer to reverse it. This question brings it to the nitty gritty of what is really quality and how long does it really last for. If we’re not connected then there is not true quality.
The truth can sound so simple, like stating the obvious – but the fact that we ignore it so much is a huge testament to quality and how if not chosen wisely, energy will keep you busy investing in lies.
I remember there was a time when words like ‘divine spark’ and ‘inner essence’ all seemed a bit vague, and I did not really understand what they were relating to with regards to my everyday practical life. I mean, how does having a divine spark fit in or even help with the pressures and demands of a crying baby? But after some time of living with these words and of exploring their meaning in all sorts of everyday situations, I have come to know myself more, and to recognise that there is something eternally true about the core of who I am, and if this is the divine spark so be it – but this is me. And I can see this eternal core in other people too, even if they cannot see it themselves, which makes life full of a quality that is forever learning and exploring and deepening and growing – all and throughout the most basic and repetitive daily tasks.
The difference between body function, and body harmony… The word seems so simple any of the difference is so profound.