Unit 9 - Final Blog

Introduction:

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

Health and wellness professionals need to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because they need to be able to have gone down the path of integral health in order to share their knowledge and experience with their clients.  In order for a health and wellness professional to be able to truly assist their patients they need to know what obstacles and challenges their clients will face and they need to work together to overcome these.  Credibility also pays an important factor when dealing with health and wellness professionals.  If the health and wellness professional has been able to develop themselves and has gained knowledge from their journey, their clients will trust them and follow their advice for their own well being journey. 

There are several areas that I need to develop in order to achieve my goals.  My greatest challenge is developing my spirituality.  This is an area that I have struggled with for many years. I am truly ‘lost’ in this area and not sure what direction I need to pursue in order to find my spiritual happiness. Since this has been a struggle for me, I have basically been avoiding making any type of steps that might lead me to some answers.  I keep receiving mailings from my local church and I am thinking about stopping by for one of the fellowship meetings.  My hopes are by attending one of these meetings that it might spark an interest in further developing the relationship with the church or possible lead me in a new direction that could provide the spirituality that I have longed for.

The second area that I need to develop would be working on my physical self.  I was taking care of myself about three months ago, but I have seemed to fall off the wagon.  I weigh myself every week and I am maintaining my weight but I need to be more conscious of the food choices that I am eating.  I also need to incorporate exercise back into my weekly routine.  I was doing well with the exercise in the beginning of the summer, but have lost my motivation and have stopped exercising all together.  In order for me to reach my goal of taking care of my physical self I will start to keep track of the foods I am eating on a daily basis.  This is a great tool to keep my on track on what food items I am consuming.  I will also sign up for a 5k race in my community in the early spring so I can work on training for this over the fall and the winter.  Once I commit to a 5k race, I will definitely run it.  This is also a great goal since I will be 40 years-old in the beginning of the year!

 Assessment:

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

Wellness spiritually – score 5

Physically – score 6

Psychologically – score 8

Wellness spiritually – This is an area where I need to focus more of my attention.  I started to focus on my spiritually several years ago before my daughter was born but shortly after she was born I stopped practicing.  I have not been able to commit to my wellness spiritually and have been struggling with myself because I am not focused in this area.  I have reached out to a volunteer group and I am hoping to start volunteering there soon. I am hoping that maybe this experience will help lead me to a path of spirituality.

Physically – This is an area that I could also focus on to improve my assessment score.  I need to dig deep within myself and commit to an exercise and eating routine that I could incorporate into my business lifestyle.  I also need to make a concerted effort to also focus on ‘mental’ exercises more often during my day to help me cope better with stress and help relax my mind. I think this domain I will be able to raise my assessment score to at least an 8 by the upcoming holidays.

Psychologically – This is an area where I feel comfortable with.  I believe that I am mentally strong.  This course has allowed me to be more aware of my mental state and I am conscious on how I react to situations.  I find that I am trying to be more patient and less stressed throughout my day.  I am keeping a positive mind frame and sharing my positive ‘voice’ with my friends and family.   

Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My physical goal is to make better food choices and to exercise a minimum of twice a week.

My psychological goal is to continue along my path of gaining integral health into my life as well as continue to grow my mental well-being.  I believe I am on a good journey already in this area.

My spiritual goal is to really do my due diligence and find a resource that can assist me with gaining a sense of spirituality in my life.  I will make an attempt to go to some of the fellowship meetings at my local church to see if I can find enlightenment there.

Practices for personal health:

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

The strategies that I plan to implement are as follows;

Physical – I will start to incorporate exercise into my weekly routine.  I plan on doing 30 minutes of cardio a week.  I am also looking into taking yoga classes.  I will plan to attend one in the next two weeks.  My diet also needs a change.  I will begin to incorporate daily juicing back into my daily diet.  I will begin juicing immediately.

Psychological - I am always looking to improve all aspects of my life and this would also include my psychological domain.  I would like to improve on my overall mental health.  My mind seems to always run on ‘overload’ and it is important for me to learn how to truly relax my mind.  My hopes are that a clearer mind will allow me to make the correct decisions and lead me down the correct path along my journey.  The exercises that will assist me in obtaining my goal of psychological wellness are meditation and positive thinking. I will immediately incorporate 10 minutes of daily meditation into my schedule.  This is a realistic goal for me because I have a difficult time settling my mind.  I will also make more of a concerted effort to bring positive thoughts into my life.  I will focus on the positive and the good and try and eliminate the negative thoughts. 

Spiritual - This domain is the area that needs the most improvement.  This will be a long journey but I am willing to take the necessary steps in order to achieve spirituality into my life.  I think this is sadly long overdue.  I have reached out to a non-profit group in my community; Feed the Children for volunteering options.  Unfortunately, our calendars have not been able to connect in order for me to volunteer.  I will reach out to the coordinator on Monday to ensure that I get a volunteer time slot on the calendar for the month of October.  I also plan on volunteering my time for this organization one time a month.  I will also try and achieve my goal of spirituality by responding to the RSVP invitation that I received from my church for attendance at the fellowship meetings.  I think that reconnecting with my church and being with a group of people with the same common interests will be a positive experience.  I hope that the fellowship meetings will lead me to continue my spirituality growth.

Commitment:

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

In order to assess my progress I will keep a journal.  The journal will serve as an excellent resource for me in order to keep my thoughts and goals on track.  In the journal I will outline key target dates with my goals.  For example:  Lose two pounds by October 13.  Look at possible 5k races that I would be interested in running in by October 20.  Sign up for 5k race by November 15.  Realistic goals like this will allow me to stay focus and remain positive.  I will also log in my journal my thoughts for the day.  I would like to write about what items that worked for me in a particular day and what was some of my struggles and challenges. 

The strategy that I would like to incorporate in order to maintain lifelong practices in health and wellness are to get my husband to take this journey with me.  We have done this in the past and we were both successful. My husband has been mentioning for many months now that he wants to get back to the healthy lifestyle that we had several years ago.  We were both vegetarians and exercised faithfully.  I think that having the support of my husband will also be a huge benefit for me.  We will be able to assist each other and it makes the journey a little easier when we are both making the conscious steps together. 

In closing, I just want to thank the professor and my classmates for making this class very enjoyable.  I got off to a rocky start but I am very happy with my progress in this class both academically and physically.  This course was truly enlightening and I am thankful that my advisor recommended it to me.  I am going to be sharing my text book with my husband so he can also learn about the journey I made in the last nine weeks of this class.

Namaste

Week 8 Post

Unfortunately for me the practices that we learned in this course such as Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, and the Visualization exercises did not work for me.  I found each time that I would sit down to listen to these exercises that my mind was not able to relax.  I was not able to clear my mind enough to relax and receive a benefit from the exercises.  I personally do not care for these exercises because I do not like too much talking and direction in my meditation practices.

I do however found that ‘straight’ meditation has provided me a benefit that I have incorporated in my daily life.  I take the morning to clear my mind and take deep breaths while I gently stretch on the edge of my bed before I start my day.  I find that starting my day off in this fashion allows me to stay focused for the morning and walk with a purpose.  I feel blessed to enjoy my mornings and share another day on Earth.  I have also incorporated small little meditation sessions throughout my day to keep me grounded.  I will take advantage of small opportunities of time when I can close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to clear my mind.  For example:  When I ride the elevator at work alone, I take that time to close my eyes and take deep breaths.  Also, when I walk outside I try to engulf the beauty of the tree and sky while taking in a deep breath.  It is the little things like this that keep me going throughout the day.  I find that my focus is more positive. 

I do however want to take my mediation practices further.  I am currently looking into taking yoga classes again.  I am very interested in taking a hot yoga class.  Yoga was very enjoyable for me both physically and mentally when I practiced several years ago.  Yoga allowed me to focus on myself while helping clear my mind.  Yoga is a practice that I could absolutely incorporate in my life.

Week 7 Part II

In my initial blog I did not write about the Meeting Aesclepius exercise.  Sorry, I misunderstood the question.  I spoke about my meditative practices this week....the ones that worked for me!

The Meeting Aesclepius exerise did not work for me.  I have had a diffucult time with the exercises in this course because I am not able to relax enough for me to truly concentrate on the exercises.

This week's exercise I was off to a rough start because I could not visualize a person that I wanted to focus on.  My mind was racing too much so I decided to create a Buddha in my mind.  This also did not work for me because it was difficult for me to relate to a 'figure or person' who was not real.  I could not share anything such as emotions or feelings to a make believe vision in my head.

Week 7 Blog

I have conducted a few meditative practices this week.  I find that little meditative sessions throughout my day have been keeping me focused and grounded.  I have been taking a few minutes here and there to take deep breaths and clear my mind.  This week I have also focused a lot of my attention to nature.  I am truly enjoying the change of seasons that is taking place here in the Northeast.  Even today for example, I was getting ready to put my daughter into the car because we were on our way to do a few errands.  My daughter said to me I was just looking at the tree and it is so pretty.  I pulled her out of the car and held her.  I told her to look at that pretty green tree against the blue sky (the sky was such a pretty blue today) and the large white fluffy clouds.  I said, now that is pretty.  I told her to take a few deep breaths and enjoy the air too.  It was a nice little moment we had.

I will continue to take the few moments during the day to focus on me.  I find that just taking these moments has made me tune more into myself and my surroundings.  I hope that I will be able to get into a more ‘formal’ meditation practice in the near future.  I do find that taking time for yourself and mediating is therapeutic mentally and physically.

The saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself’ (p 477) means that you cannot instruct someone properly down the road of integral health if you (the instructor) have not experienced it yourself.  As an instructor you are not able to give your student the real benefits and tips of mediation if you don’t mediate yourself. 

This applies to the health and wellness professional because it is important for the professional to believe and practice what they preach.  You would not want to go into a doctor who has been insisting you get the flu shot for example, because the professional feels that you need to have it to prevent this illness.  You would be very surprised if you found out the doctor himself does not get vaccinated for the flu shot because he believes that the vaccine causes more harm than good.  How would you feel about the doctor?  Would you trust him? 

You do have an obligation to your clients to develop your health, psychological, physical and spiritual body.  You cannot be a hypocrite and not practice what you are preaching.  It is just like an overweight doctor looking you in your eye and telling you that you are unhealthy and need to lose weight.  The doctor’s credibility would go right out the window. 

I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life my continuing my meditative practices.  I am starting to look at the world with new eyes.  I feel blessed and happiness when I am able to get up and start a new day.  I was never a morning person and hated to get up in the morning.  Now, I think of waking up as a gift and I find that I have a little more pep in my step in the morning.  Spiritually this is still a bit of a challenge for me.  I recently received a letter from my church to sign up for cottage meetings.  The cottage meetings are a forum to share fellowship.  I am thinking of signing up for these cottage meetings in hopes that I can find a spiritual path to follow.

Week 6 Blog

The exercises were both difficult for me because I am still having an issue with being able to ‘calm’ my mind long enough to focus on the exercises.  I did however take something away from the exercises just by reading them.  In particular, the loving-kindness exercise brings to light that there are many people in this world who are suffering, have poor health, or lack happiness.  The reading of this exercise has allowed me to think about these situations as I go through out my day.  I was not able to concentrate on the universal Loving Kindness exercise for the entire 10 minutes but it really had put life into perspective for me.

I have discovered that I need to be thankful for my health, the health of my family and my life.  These exercises made me realize that there are many less fortunate people in this world.  I have decided to finally commit to a date and volunteer.  I have a full plate and have wanted to give back, but just never put a date on the calendar.  I will be volunteering this Friday at Feed the Children, a local charity in my community.  I will be packing humanitarian boxes for those in need.

I have chosen to focus on trying not to be so reactive and complain about people.  I am trying to make steps by ‘letting’ the little things go that would normally annoy me.  This is a difficult task but I am trying to make a difference.  I am learning that by getting stressed and aggregated doesn’t change or improve the situation.  The only thing that happens is that I get myself stressed out.  I am also trying not to let other people stress affect me.  This is the hardest by far!  My husband is just too much when it comes to complaining.  I am almost at the end of my rope with his constant complaining.  It is very challenging to keep myself in check and try and ‘shut him out’ or try and not get myself worked up because of his issues.   The exercises that I am trying to incorporate are to take deep breaths when I have a situation that affects me negatively.  I am also trying to look at a positive side of the situation versus focusing on the negative.