Kagalingan The Filipino’s search for well-being, happiness and health

Kagalingan is a Filipino (Tagalog) word with various meanings --- well-being, health and happiness, being proficient at something. Living in harmony with one’s fellowmen, nature, and a Higher Being (relationality, sociality), and having access (however limited) to the ‘good things in life’ (material sufficiency, food security) are essential to a Filipino’s sense of well-being. The reciprocal link between health and well-being is such that health (physical, mental) influences well-being (and even happiness), and well-being itself influences health.
Social relationships are rooted in material conditions of living, and consequently, are integral to well-being and health. Hence, well-being is not all about health (whether it be good health or poor health) as it is usually defined from a biomedical perspective. The shared perceptions and experiences (intersubjectivity) of daily living are material, subjective, and relational processes and experiences intersecting and operating at different levels (individual, family, community, societal). Such intersubjectivity contributes to kagalingan, and ‘a good society’ (not just ‘a good life’ or ‘the good life’).
Efforts to improve health should recognize that health and well-being (from the people’s perspective or even from a biomedical perspective) are socially constructed. Perceptions of what is good (or ill) health, good (or less than optimal) well-being are shaped and recognized, negotiated by people who interact with each other within a specific socio-cultural milieu. The opportunities and challenges which individuals, their families and communities face in learning how to live well and be well, and still feel good and feel well, need to be better understood.