Reaching My Goals

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically wellbeing; because they need to be an example to how beneficial it is to develop this aspect of their lives. They also will be in a better position to assist individuals that maybe struggling to develop these aspects because they will understand each step of the process.

During the unit 3 personal assessment of my psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being, on a scale from 1- 10, I gave myself the score of  8 on my wellbeing, 9 on my spiritual wellbeing and a 3 on my psychological wellbeing.

To improve my physical wellbeing, I have decided to adjust my diet. I do not indulge in many unhealthy foods, but I do have my moments when I eat things that I know is not good for me. My goal is to increase my fruit and vegetable intake and add 10 more minutes to my doggy walk. To reach this goal I will add more fruits and vegetables to my grocery list and leave the house 15 minutes earlier than I usually do to walk the dogs. To improve my psychological wellbeing, I have decided to add more meditation exercises to my routine and spend more time taking care of myself. I also brought a yoga DVD, so I plan to incorporate that into my weekly routine. To improve my spiritual wellbeing, I have decided to add more time to my prayer time and I plan to join the missionary society at my church. I honestly feel that helping others is a very important way to improve my spiritual wellbeing.

To assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months, I will file a copy of my grocery list to make sure that I am continuing to add fruits and vegetables and eliminating junk food. I can review the file every six month. To remember to review the file, I will set an alarm on my phone and write it on my calendar. As a member of the Missionary Society, if I do not show up or participate in functions, other members will be there to encourage me to continue in our good work. Measuring my psychological wellbeing will be difficult. I will know if I am improving because I should feel better.

To maintain long-term practices, I have to keep in mind that the improvements that I am making in my life make my life much better. It is also helpful to find someone to share these experiences with so that you can encourage each other.

 

The New Me

During the unit 3 personal assessment of my psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being, on a scale from 1- 10, I gave myself the score of  8 on my wellbeing, 9 on my spiritual wellbeing and a 3 on my psychological wellbeing. At lot has changed since unit 3. Now, I give myself a score of 9 on my wellbeing, 9 on my spiritual wellbeing and a 7 on my psychological wellbeing. The improvements in my score are attributed to the increase of psychological and spiritual exercise that I have been applying to my life. Though my life did not become easier, I have been able to manage it a lot better. I spend more time using meditation exercises and spend quality time with myself praying. I have also started going to the spa and getting massages. That one addition to my lifestyle has truly changed my life!

This course has changed my life. There are things about myself I never thought to reflect on and improve until this course. I have learned not to be too hard on myself and view everything from a positive perspective. Like anything in life, when we start out, we are all gun-ho about it. Then some of us begin to slowly creep back into our more familiar routine. This, I fear, is one of the difficult things that I must face about this class. During this course, I was going through a rough time and I feel that that had a lot to do with my embrace of the practices. Now that I am improving, I cannot start to slack off. 

I talk to my family and friends about the benefits of the exercises that were presented in this class. I also talk to them about the importance of taking care of themselves as a whole. Most of them embrace the exercises, especially when we did it as a group. Therefore, to me, the way to help others benefit is to share your experiences with the exercises and your personal outcomes.

My Favorite :Subtle Mind

As this week draws to a close, I am sad because my Grandmother has passed away. Throughout this time of sadness and grief the things that I have learned throughout this course has provided comfort. Though I have tried many of the exercises that we have been assigned throughout this course countless times, the one that I love the most is subtle mind. I use this exercise countless times throughout the day. When I control my breathing, my thoughts are more clear and controlled. The other exercise that I enjoy is the love-kindness exercise, though not as enjoyable as subtle mind, love-kindness helps me relax my mind and body. Like most things in life, practice makes perfect or at least it makes it easier. To implement these exercises, I just take a couple of minutes out of the day and do the exercises. Some days are harder than other days because of the other commitments that I have, but I make it a priority to do these exercises and they have been extremely helpful.

Meeting Aesclepius

I found this week exercise difficult. I had a difficult time finding someone to focus on. I tried “making someone up” but that was even more difficult. At the end of the week, I finally was able to stabilize an image of an individual in my mind. Of all the exercises we have done, I like this one the least. I could not fully focus and feel that I truly missed the full effect of the exercise.

I have been making more of an effort to practice meditation. In addition to the love-kindness exercise, I have downloaded a couple of podcasts on my I-phone. One of the podcast is title Mediation Station, by Stin.  I listen to the episode titled ZZZZZZ… to help me fall asleep and I listen to Morning Kicker and Body Change Meditation in the morning. These podcasts have drastically improved my wellbeing. I also listen to a podcast titled Mediation Oasis. I listen to the episode titled Deep Rest Guided Meditation when I cannot still my mind, then I do the exercise love-kindness from the class.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself.” This saying focuses on the need to experience something in order to get the full understanding. When we experience something we are better able to weigh the pro's and con’s and we become sympathetic to others who maybe struggling through the thing and can had better give advice. I find it difficult to take advice from someone who has no idea what it is like to be in the situation. I do believe I have an obligation to continue to develop my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. For one, I must show them that I see the importance of psychologically, physically, and spiritual health. I cannot expect them to complete the exercises that I give and advise them on the importance of reaching complete wholeness, if my life is not an example of that. To continue toward my goal of complete wholeness, prayer, exercise, eating healthy and volunteering my time are great exercises.

Love-Kindness- The Reoccurring Theme

Love-Kindness- the reoccurring theme.  This week, the love- kindness exercise required me to focus and repeat a phrase for 10 minutes (Dacher, 2006).”

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.

The exercise was designed to “be quite powerful in expanding my mind and heart (Dacher, 2006).” However, I did not quite get there. I tried this exercise repeatedly. In the end, I found it to be okay, not as great as the others. I think I prefer me exercise with a little mp3 assistance.

After some deep self -reflecting, I determined that I need to focus on my mental health. Lately, I have been a wreck from what I perceive as stress. To work on this issue, I decided to do something that I already love to help me. I love to read. Therefore, I have decided that I will start on a book called “Battlefield of The Mind” by Joyce Meyer (Meyer, 2002). My friend brought me the book today. I have faith that it will make a difference.

 

Reference

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

Meyer, J. (2002). Battlefield of the Mind:Winning the Battle in Your Mind. Nashville: FaithWords.

 

 

Subtle Mind

This week I substituted my Love and Kindness exercise for the Subtle Mind Exercise. I found that I like the subtle mind exercise a lot better. As a singer (armature singer), I practice my breathing all the time. Therefore, I understand the importance of control your breathing. I also use the breathing exercises when I am nervous. Compared to Love and Kindness, Subtle mind is much easier exercise for me.

Taking care of one’s inner self is very important. To me prayer (spiritual) combined with faith/ belief (mental) and exercise (wellness) is the way I try to maintain the balance in my life. One without the other is okay, but when you are able to apply them to one situation. You feel so empowers and whole. There is peace.

Love and Kindness

This week’s exercise started rough. In the beginning of the week, I found it difficult to focus. My husband had a couple of days off and he wanted my attention. Later in the week, I found a groove. I listened to the recording when I woke up in the mornings and it shaped the rest of my day. I was happy.  Was it difficult? At first it was. I really do not like the male voice that is used in the recording. However, once I was able to overlook that, it became less distracting. I would recommend this to others, only requesting that they give it a fair chance. Maybe a week or two and if they do not feel different then at least they tried it.

Metal workouts are very similar to physical workouts. In order for your body and mind to get in a routine, you must train it to do so. This requires you to start small so you do not hurt yourself or in the case of the mind, burnout. Then as you began to get in a groove, you add on to the regiment. In the case of the mind, because of its ability to heal, the more better you are at focusing and training, the better your position is to affect your health.