Unit 10 Blog

Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas. How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

In unit 3 I scored my physical well-being as an 8 because I was trying to improve on my weight and learning how to make healthier food choices. I would now rate myself a 9 because I have improved on my weight. Since unit 3 I have lost 12 pounds and I am making better healthier food choices without any struggle.

In unit 3 I rated my spiritual belief as an 8 and now I would say it is more like a 9. I have learned how to strengthen my faith by attending church regularly and meditating with prayer. I feel as though I have made progress in this area compared to before when I didn’t attend church and always made excuses for not making time to attend.

In unit 3 I rated my psychological well-being as a 7 because I was learning how to deal with life’s stressors. I didn’t quite know how to cope with stress and would let every little thing that would go wrong get the best of me. I have since learned how stress affects the body and therefore I have learned to deal better with stress. I have learned to tune out all of the negativity that brings on stress and I have learned to clear my mind and relax when I am not at work. I don’t bring my work home with me anymore and that has been a benefit on my mental health. I would rate my psychological well-being as a 9 on a scale of 1-10.

Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

I believe that I have made progress in the goals that I have set for myself. Physically I wanted to lose the weight and get to a normal weight for me so that I could lower my blood pressure and blood sugar levels. I have since lost the weight and I am feeling very comfortable with how I look and feel and my blood sugar levels have been at a normal range for about 1 month now. I have also maintained a normal blood pressure level.

Spiritually I wanted to strengthen my faith and learn more about the word of God. I am currently attending a bible based church and I am practicing how to meditate with prayer. Psychologically I wanted to learn how to deal with stress and how it affects the body. I also wanted to be more open minded so that I don’t let every little thing get the best of my emotions. I have not let my emotions or difficult situations overcome me with stress and I am able to deal with what life’s stressor’s in a calmer and more rational way.

Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

I have implemented all of the activities that I chose in each area. I am making better food choices and exercising regularly. I am strengthening my spirituality and I am not getting frustrated or losing control of my emotions over little things. I am able to deal with stressful situations in a more positive manner.

Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

This class has helped me to learn how interconnected physical, spiritual and psychological are. Without one we can’t have the balance needed for the other. I have learned how to meditate and keep my mind clear so that I don’t let the negativity going on around me take control of my peace. I have grown spiritually and psychologically. I am no longer a full time worrier; physically I am in good shape and health wise I am doing great to stay fit and healthy. I am finally learning how to relax and enjoy life.

 

 

Unit 9 Final Project

                                I.            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? I believe that as wellness professionals we must lead by example if we want our patient’s to follow our advice. I must first have an understanding of what health and wellnesses is for me and have the experience of living the lifestyle that I will ask my patients to incorporate into their lives. Because I am still learning I feel that I need to improve in all areas but the one that is of most difficult for me would be physically. I don’t really have a schedule where I practice physical activity daily. I usually just do as much as I can when I make time for it. I need to discipline myself and set up a schedule so that I can incorporate physical activity daily to my lifestyle.

                              II.            Assessment: How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically? I would score my psychological, spiritual and physical wellness as a 7 on a scale from 1-10. Although there is still room for improvement I always make time for prayer in my busy ever day life. I am always praying for myself, my family and others. I find peace in my life when I pray and I believe that my spirituality development is much higher than my psychological and physical development. I find myself slowly improving with my psychological development because I think that I am a natural worrier and I still need to improve on not getting all worked up over small stuff.  Physically I am doing good I have lost most of the weight needed to lower my blood sugar and cholesterol levels and when it comes to eating healthy I have improved in that area tremendously.

                            III.            Goal development: List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual. A spiritual goal would be to continue with prayer and keep an open mind to further my spiritual development.  I am also planning on attending church on a regular basis because I always felt a sense of tranquility and belonging when I used to attend. I will develop a schedule so that I can incorporate attending church and bible classes to further my spiritual development. Psychological goal is to practice stress relief exercises such as meditation and keeping a positive attitude toward life and not letting the small stuff take control of my peace. Physical goal is to continue with my healthy eating habits and to make time to perform physical activity daily at least 3-4 times a week.

                            IV.            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 can implement to foster growth psychologically is to reshape my thoughts of work and not let it consume me so that I  can learn to relax when I’m not at work and not let my job consume my life.  Focus on my inner thoughts and learn to tune out all the negative noise around me so that it does not interfere with my thinking. Spiritual strategies would be prayer and meditation.  I will continue to meditate in prayer and attend church regularly so that I can continue to learn about the word of God and foster spiritual growth. Physical strategies would be eating healthy and exercise. I will continue to make healthy meal choices and keep a log of all my meals so that I can continue to progress to a healthier eating regimen.  I will make a schedule of my daily exercises so that I can allot the necessary time needed to perform physical activity daily at least 3-4 times a week.  I will also keep a log of all the activity that I perform daily to help motivate me to continue and slowly incorporate more time to being physically active.

                              V.            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? Spiritually I can assess my progress by my feelings of wholeness and the practice of loving kindness towards others. I will also determine my progress if I find myself making more time for prayer and meditation than before. I will also determine progress if I am attending church regularly and not skipping days. Physical progress I can determine by the journal that I will be keeping if I have increased in physical activity or decreased. I will also be keeping a food journal and I can determine If I am consistent on making healthy choices and by weighing myself at the beginning of the six months and then at the end of the six months to determine if I have lost or gained weight. Psychologically I can assess my progress on meditation by my way of thinking if I am able to calm my mind and clear my thoughts. I can also access my progress of meditating daily if my blood pressure, cholesterol and anxiety levels are low. I will also be able to assess my psychological progress by how I react to different situations that tend to bring on stress.

Dacher, E.S., M.D. (2006) Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health

Unit 8 Blog

The practices that I have learned in this course have taught me that spiritual wellness, physical wellness and mental wellness are all connected. They go together as a unit. If someone is not physically well then their state of mind and spiritual wellness might also be affected.

The two practices that I believe were most beneficial to me are visualization and meditation. I plan to implement visualization in my personal life because it helps to distract the mind from unnecessary suffering and bring harmony and peace to my inner self. Visualization exercises also help with relaxation, healing and pain management.  I also plan to implement meditation practices into my life because they have positive effects on health such as bringing the body to a state of calm and inner peace. I believe these two techniques will help me to achieve mental fitness. They will also help me to reduce stress levels and lower my blood pressure so that I don’t have to raise my medication dosage. These exercises will help to stimulate the brain and expand my way of thinking to a higher level of focus and a more positive attitude towards life. By practicing these exercises daily I will improve my health psychologically, physically and spiritually.

Dacher, E.S., M.D. (2006) Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health

Unit 7 Blog

I enjoyed the meditation practices for this unit because it was easy to relax with the sound of the waves and soft music. I normally relax by listening to music or walking on the beach. I felt as though I was able to focus on imagining someone else beside me. I was able to imagine my father because he passed away 6 months ago and I miss him very much. When the woman spoke of imagining the wisdom of someone else I remembered how wise my father was and the life lessons he taught me through his experience. The practice took my mind off of all the daily clutter and my thoughts of other things that at times will interfere with my peace of mind. I found myself breathing deeper than normal and it felt very relaxed. I am going to implement these exercises daily in my life to improve my health psychologically, physically and spiritually. This was my favorite exercise and I would recommend it to everyone I know that needs to relax and improve their spirituality.

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself". I believe the saying means that we as health professionals need to lead by example. If we want our clients to develop integral health I have to know what I am talking about by my experiences in practicing integral health. If I am teaching a client to implement physical exercise and better eating habits into their lifestyle I need to fully understand and be an example of what I am telling my clients to do. We need to “practice what we preach” so to speak.

Unit 6 Blog

I very much enjoyed the Universal Loving Kindness exercise because this is something that I practice on a daily basis I just didn’t have a name for it other than praying. I pray for my children, grandchildren, husband, brothers, sisters and friends daily. I ask the lord to keep them safe and to fill their lives with many blessings such as health, prosperity and joy.

I completed the integral assessment exercise but I couldn’t really focus because I felt my mind wandering off somewhere else. I guess maybe I was too stressed that day and should probably try it again when I’m off from work so that I won’t have my mind cluttered about work and be able to focus on my inner self.

The area that I chose to focus on to grow and develop would be my health.  Over the past few years I have become comfortable with my weight and haven’t focused much on my health. About three months ago I had a good scare at the doctor’s office with my lab results. I have since lost 12 pounds and have been maintaining a log of my blood sugar levels which are consistently at 110 fasting which is a huge improvement from the lab results which showed my levels were over 200. I still have a lot of work to do concerning my health. I am learning to put more focus on my mental and physical health and wellbeing by getting enough sleep, exercise, eating healthy and not stressing over little things.

Unit 5 Blog

I enjoyed the subtle mind exercise more than the loving kindness exercise. I wasn’t able to focus and concentrate with the loving kindness exercise. I couldn’t really understand when the person was talking due to the static and the voice sounded a bit muffled. I relax better with soft music or sounds like with the subtle mind exercise. I was able to focus and I enjoyed the sounds of the ocean it was very relaxing. I could imagine myself standing by the ocean and enjoying the fresh air and watching the waves come on to the sand and return. I would recommend the subtle mind exercise to everyone out there I thought it was a great technique for relaxation. I would recommend the loving kindness also only because maybe it might work for someone else since we all have different ways of relaxing.

What I learned from the readings is the connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is that, they go together as a unit. For example if someone is not physically well then their state of mind and spiritual wellness might also be affected. If all are all connected with each other for example if someone has no spiritual beliefs they might not feel there is purpose in their life. Feelings like these might cause them to feel depressed and disconnected from society causing their mental and physical health to decline. If there is spiritual belief then there is meaning and purpose in one’s life and this will give them the motivation to strive for mental and physical wellness.

Unit 4 Blog

When I first listened to the tapes I was not able to feel completely relaxed because I felt distracted by the noise of the air blowing on the recording and I couldn’t really hear the person speaking clearly the sound was a little muffled. I listened to the tapes a second time and I was still not able to relax due to the noise on the background of the recording. I think it might also be listening to someone talk me through a relaxation technique that might be distracting to me. I believe that I can relax better if I would have listened to relaxing sounds or music. As for recommending this tape to someone else I would because we all have different techniques on relaxation and it might be of some benefit to them.

The concept of mental workout is to stimulate the brain by enhancing our learning not just through educational goals but through relaxation exercises such as meditation and concentration. These exercises will help to stimulate the brain and expand our way of thinking to a higher level of focus and if necessary to have a more positive attitude towards life.

Experts believe that when we exercise it releases chemicals that affect our way of thinking and that make us feel good and put us in a good mood (mentalhealth.org). When I perform physical exercise workouts and listen to relaxing music for at least 10-15 minutes a day sometimes more if possible. My mind as well as my body starts relieving stress and tension which causes mental fatigue. If I had a bad day at work it relieves my anger and frustration. After I complete both my mental and physical workout I feel like a new person and I am ready to face another day.