Unit 10

      1. At the beginning of this unit I scored my physical well-being as an 8. I felt that I did a good job in exercising and eating fairly healthy. I felt that to improve my physical well-being that I should make exercise more of a daily routine and shop for healthier foods. I found my spiritual well-being to be a 7. I had started going to church more often and using meditation to help me connect with my inner self. I knew that I still needed to improve my spiritual well-being by using meditation and prayer more often. I found my psychological well-being to be a 7. I have learned how to cope better with stress and how to communicate better with others. I know that there is always room to improve.

      Now I would still rate my physical well-being as an 8. As much as I want to make exercise a routine, and plan to in the near future, there is a lot going on in my life right now. We are in the process of moving and my husband and I just got new jobs. I hope once we get settled again to make exercise a daily routine and buy healthier foods. I would rate my spiritual well-being as an 8. I feel that I have slightly improved here because of everything going on in our lives I know that none of this could be possible without God. Too many things had to fall into place for this move to work out. I pray and read the bible more often. I have an app on my phone in which I read a daily scripture. It really helps me to connect to myself and relate to others. I would rate my psychological well-being as an 8. I feel that I have slightly improved here as well. With many changes going on in my life I just keep looking at all of the positives. For some reason looking at the positives in my life makes all of the negatives just disappear. I can’t even think of anything negative that has happened since I haven’t been looking for them. Thinking positive thoughts really does lead to positive actions, behaviors, and words.

    2. I do not feel that I have reached my physical goals. I wanted to exercise more often and eat less pasta. I do not feel that I have been able to do either. I hope to continue to work on this. I do feel that I have reached my spiritual goals. I have really started to believe in myself and the power of God. I have been able to have more faith in God and believe that he will keep me on the right path. I feel that I have reached my psychological goal in thinking more positively. The power of positive thoughts is amazing. I did not think that this would help me as much as it has. I feel that everything just seems better when you look at the positive in a situation. This leads to positive thoughts, behaviors, and emotions as well as a positive life.

   3. I tried to implement daily exercise by setting a reminder on my phone. Although this did remind me it didn’t help me as much as I thought because I was busy doing other things. I feel that I should try to set aside more time specifically for exercise. I implemented praying and reading scriptures into my life. This just seemed to fit right in. With an app on my phone I can read scriptures from the bible at any time. I wanted to use meditation to help me to relax and connect with my inner self, but I have not found the time. I hope to implement this in the near future. I did implement positive thinking into my daily life. I found this to be very helpful in being happy with myself and others.

    4. Throughout this course I have tried different types of meditation and learned a lot about myself. The meditation exercises were great and allowed me to see that meditation can really help me in reducing my stress and coping with situations. I feel that this course has helped me to better my overall well-being: physically, spiritually, and psychologically. This course helped to put my life into perspective and showed me what was really important in my life. Health is connected to our entire being not just our physical being. To be healthy we must have a physical, spiritual, and psychological wellness. I think that learning about myself and learning different meditation exercises has been very rewarding in my personal life. It has been difficult realizing what I need to change in my life and finding the time to do it. Although you can sit down and make plans of how to better yourself and your health, if you don’t follow through it doesn’t benefit you. Being able to connect with my inner self, using meditation to reduce stress, using prayer and scripture to finding a deeper meaning to life will help me to help others. I hope that seeing how these things have affected my life in such a short period of time will allow me to pass my knowledge onto others. I also think that this will allow me to look at patients differently. I will treat the patient not the symptoms. 

Unit 9 Final Project

Unit 9 Final Project

            As a health and wellness professional it is very important that the development of the mind, body, and spirit are practiced. Practicing prayer, meditation, forgiveness, loving-kindness, mindfulness, exercise, and good nutrition allows for you to be able to help others to develop their mind, body, and spirit. In order to help others, the development of one’s inner self and consciousness must be discovered. Knowing firsthand what actually happens as we begin to develop and evolve a more expansive life allows us to educate others. (Dacher, 2006) In order to teach someone how to expand their lives and practice mindfulness techniques, first there must be some type of self-development and personal experience. It is important to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically to have a healthy and happy life. Connecting the mind, body, and spirit allows the body to heal itself and to relieve unnecessary stress.

            There is much work to do psychologically, spiritually, and physically to achieve the goals that I have set for myself. Developing a higher level of consciousness, a holistic way of life, spiritual connection, better eating habits, and routine exercise will be a step in the right direction to starting a life of well-being. These goals will help me to have more positive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Lifestyle changes must be made to reach these goals and to allow for a lifetime of happiness, well-being, and wholeness.

            Assessment of health, including spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being is necessary in keeping motivation toward a healthy life. A score of seven is the assessment of my spiritual wellness. Spiritual health is important and can be hard to maintain if the time and effort is not put in. Improving spiritual connection through others, the bible, meditation, and quiet time allows for the development of the inner-self. A score of eight is what I would rate my physical wellness. To stay physically healthy the body must have periods of rest as well as periods of activity. Exercise and good nutrition will help to keep the body physically well. Cutting out sugary foods and drinks, processed foods, and genetically modified products will allow for our bodies to maintain itself. A score of seven is my psychological wellness assessment. Communication with others, thinking positive thoughts, redirecting negative emotions, and coping with stress are a good way to work on psychologically wellness. Stress can really affect the mind, being able to control your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions will help to reduce the effects of stress.

            Setting goals is a great way to keep motivation toward making healthy lifestyle changes. Spiritual, physical, and psychological goals allow for improvement of health, well-being, and wholeness. Acknowledgement of needing to improve these aspects of life is important in growing as a person. Training your mind, body, and spirit will ultimately allow for total body healing and well-being.

            I have set spiritual, physical, and psychological goals for myself. Increased self-confidence, faith in God, and viewing the world with a positive attitude would improve my spiritual well-being. In saying this, it is important to keep these goals in mind and work toward them while practicing positive habits. Exercising more often and eating a nutritious diet would benefit me physically. Being able to make a habit out of exercising regularly and eating healthy meals will improve my health. Making lifestyle changes that will benefit me for the rest of my life and not just the next few years is key. Coping with stress with a positive attitude toward life and others is my psychological goal. Acknowledging emotions, thoughts, and feelings is important in changing them to more positive ones in order to reduce stress. Reducing stress benefits the mind, body, and spirit.

            Different strategies can be used to implement practices and exercises needed to improve spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being. Mediation and yoga are two great examples of strategies to benefit spiritual wellness. Practicing mediation or yoga in the morning before I start my day would allow me to make these exercises a habit. There are many different types of meditation exercises that you can do. Listening to a meditation track or sitting in a quiet room without distractions is a good way to start practicing meditation. Yoga, after a stressful day at work, would help in releasing stress. Using both of these practices regularly will help to reduce stress and increase spiritual well-being.

            Physical practices that I would employ in my life are a healthy diet and routine exercise. A healthy diet is important in making sure that the body is getting the nutrients that it needs in order to function properly. Going to farmers markets, eating small portioned meals, and eating at the same time every day will allow your body to get into a good routine. Routine is good for the body, it reduces stress. Exercise is a great practice to implement in life. Making exercise a daily habit, doing fun activities, and changing up the activities will help to benefit the body, physically.

            Psychological practices such as a witnessing consciousness and the subtle mind exercise are great ways to improve psychological development. The witnessing consciousness allows us choose to replace destructive emotions and attitudes with positive choices by understanding our thoughts and feelings. (Dacher, 2006) This helps to reduce anger, stress, and allows for a positive outlook on life. Practicing a witnessing consciousness as part of a daily routine can keep our emotions and feelings in check. The subtle mind exercise is great in relaxing and calming the mind, body, and spirit. Focusing on breathing in and out allows for all other thoughts to disappear. Practicing this exercise daily or when stressed will help to keep psychological wellness.

            Progress or lack of progress is important to keep track of. If the goals are too hard to reach, it will be hard to stay motivated. Keep motivated by setting obtainable goals. Make lifestyle changes and not just a temporary change. To assess whether or not my spiritual, physical, and psychological health has improved I will rate or score each domain every couple of months. If I feel like I am improving then I will keep doing what I am doing. If I feel that I am not reaching my goals in any of these domains then I will make changes to my goals so that I can make a difference in my mind, body, and spirit wellness.

            To maintain the strategies that I plan to practice, I will need to make sure that they work for me. Centering each practice around my life and my personal desires will be important. Making sure that I make lifestyle changes that are priority for my health and well-being will allow me to see the progress thus far and keep motivated. A daily routine that includes exercise, meditation, yoga, and a healthy diet would be great. This may not always work but as long as I stay on track most of the time I should continue to progress toward a life of health and happiness. Long-term practices allow for the complete development of mind, body, and spirit wellness and a lifetime of happiness, well-being, and wholeness.

Reference 

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach : Basic Health Publications.

Unit 8

Subtle Mind/ Meeting Aesclepius I liked the Subtle Mind and Meeting Aesclepius meditation exercises the best. I have continued to practice these two exercises throughout this course. I feel that I will continue to practice these exercises because they really help me to relax and reduce my stress. After a long day at work or after a stressful day it is nice to sit and listen to the Subtle Mind exercise or the Meeting Aesclepius. Both of these exercises have relaxing, calming music that help me to clear my mind. I liked the Subtle Mind exercise because it allowed me to just focus on my breathing. Not thinking about anything really helps me to feel less stressed. I really liked the Meeting Aesclepius exercise in that it allowed me to focus on a loved one and positive thoughts about them. This allowed me to feel closer to this person and to see them for all the good they do and to forget about any negatives. Not everyone is perfect so this allows me to truly appreciate what each loved one does. I feel that by implementing these exercises in my daily life that I will be able to be more mindful of others, positive in my daily thoughts and actions, happier, and healthier. Setting aside time in the morning or evening to practice these exercises will allow me to work on my mental fitness. Using different techniques from these exercises throughout the day can be useful in reducing my stress such as focusing on my breathing or thinking positive thoughts.

Unit 7

Meeting Aesclepius

This week I practiced the Meeting Aesclepius exercise. In this exercise I visualized a loved one, a man that I respect, love, trust, and strive to be like (my husband). I found the music relaxing and calming. I really liked this exercise in focusing on my husband and all of the characteristics that I truly appreciate in him. I found this exercise enjoyable and it allowed me to focus on all the positives of our relationship. I felt that I was connecting with my husband on a whole new level even though he was not present. Practicing meditation exercises like this can truly help you feel better about yourself, about others, and allow you to live a healthy and happy life. Mindfulness has allowed me to feel more positive in my daily life. It has allowed me to pray more and open my heart to the world. I plan to continue to apply these practices in my life by being positive, meditating, exercising, and eating well. All of these will help to reduce stress and allow me to feel wholeness in my life.

The saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”, is very true. If you have not opened up spiritually you will not be able to help others to do the same for themselves. As a professional you cannot teach someone to pray, meditate, forgive, or help them to connect their mind, body, and spirit if you have not done so yourself. If you do not meditate how can you explain to someone else how to do it, what they should be thinking, or feeling, if you do not know yourself. I feel that each of us being in the health profession is expected to develop our psychological, physical, and spiritual health so that we can help others to do the same. I think that by implementing meditation, exercise, prayer, yoga, and quiet time into my daily life will allow me to continue to develop my inner self and spiritual side. 

Unit 6

Universal Loving-Kindness Meditation

I practiced the loving-kindness meditation. I found it to be relaxing and stress relieving. The loving kindness meditation was easy to do. I sat in a quiet place and began to repeat the phrases:

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

I practiced this for 10 minutes and this made me feel at ease. I felt that this meditation allowed me to feel that I had the power to help others. This exercise helped me to open my mind and heart to myself and others. I also liked this meditation because unlike a recorded meditation exercise you can truly use this meditation almost anywhere.

I also completed the integral assessment. I had to focus really hard to think about my life and it allowed me to put my life into perspective. I found that I am good with psychospiritual and biological aspects of my life. I however lack on the interpersonal aspect. I find that it is easy for me when it comes to nutrition, exercise, meditation, and prayer.  On the other hand I am really bad at community, family, friends, and work relationships. I have never been good at relationships and I have very few friends, but many acquaintances. I think for me to work on my interpersonal skills that I first need to work on my inner self. I need to work on having a positive attitude and behavior. This will hopefully help me to develop into a better communicator and friend. This assessment really helped me to evaluate my life and to see where I need to make some improvements. 

Unit 5

The Subtle Mind Practice

I liked how Dacher talked about our breathing, how when our breath is calm our mind follows. I find this to be true for myself. I liked this exercise better than the Loving-Kindness exercise because I felt more relaxed and calm right away. I could easily start deep breathing, feel relaxed, and stay focused on my breath and not my thoughts. The Loving-Kindness exercise I felt was harder to practice because my thoughts would wonder when I was trying to think of certain loved ones or myself and then my mind would continue in a different direction. While the Subtle Mind practice you can just relax and not think about anything other than your breathing. I also thought it was hard to relax with the Loving-Kindness exercise when we were to think of a loved one suffering. I again liked the waves and flute noises in this exercise. The waves helped me to focus on my breathing and I breathed with the sounds of the waves.

Spiritual wellness is important to our mental and physical wellness as they are all connected. As we are able to connect with our spiritual side we can mentally and physically feel relaxed and calm. As our mind, body, spirit, and emotions are slowly progressing toward the positive side of life we will improve our mental health, our immune systems, and our connection with ourselves and the world around us. The connection of my spiritual, mental, and physical wellness has let me become a more positive person and I feel better about myself. 

Unit 4

Loving-Kindness

I found that the sound of the waves during the Loving-Kindness exercise helped me to relax and feel at ease. I thought it was difficult to open my heart like the lady said and allow happiness to fill my heart and thoughts. As the exercise went on I felt that it was a little easier to let myself go and feel love, kindness, gentleness, and peace toward myself and others. I didn’t like thinking about a loved one suffering but I could see how this might help you to cope with a similar situation. I would recommend this exercise to others because you never know what people are going through and this would help them to feel better about their selves. You need to love yourself before you can share your love with others.  

“Mental workout” is the concept of exercising our minds like athletes workout their bodies to stay in shape. To evolve our psychospiritual minds as we work toward health, happiness, and wholeness we must put the effort in daily. (Dacher, 2006) Working our minds for an hour a day can help us to work toward our mind, body, and spirit wholeness. Research indicates that loving-kindness attracts loving-kindness and that we get back what we give. (Dacher, 2006) I think that you can use mental workouts to help calm your mind and allow you to have more positive actions and thoughts. This will allow you to grow your psychospiritual mind.

Reference

 

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications.