Unit 10

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?

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

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

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?

My physical wellbeing was at a 7 in unit 3. I think my physical well being stayed in the same area. I have not been working out as much as I should be. My goal is to just force myself to make time. For my spiritual well being I rated myself a 10 in unit 3 which was probably not right. I think a 10 would be someone who has their life perfect with their spiritual well being and no one is perfect. I would say mine is at an 8. We  make mistakes and do not spend time with our creator as much as we should so I would rate myself as that.  My psychological well being is at a 9 in unit 3. I would say mine went down to an 8 now. I only say that because I am under a lot of stress for my future and am having trouble staying motivated. I have become worried about school funding’s and interviews coming up. I can try not to worry though.

Overall I have made some progress my simply analyzing and becoming aware of my consequences and choices. I think I am in a normal to average range for all of my goals. I have kept my head held high in hopes that everything in my life will turn out right. Most of this entire course has helped me through my psychological wellbeing. It has transformed the way I think before I act and I can see a positive difference in my relationships. 

Unit 9

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?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically in order for them to gain experience to help others. Do not just preach it, act on it.  Chances are, if a patient is not healthy in one of these areas then they probably have issues with the other two. The important thing is to incorporate all three into a healthy lifestyle in order to benefit the most. Personally, I need to work on my physical goals. I have trouble staying motivated because my mind makes up excuses to not be active. I am not lazy, I work, do homework, and then I do not motivate myself to get up and work my physical body out.

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

Early in the class we had scored ourselves on our wellness, spiritually, physically, and psychologically. Looking back on my scores and comparing them to now they have changed. I assessed my health by looking at my mind body and spirit and asked myself, Does it match up to what health, happiness and wholeness is? My physical wellbeing would be rated a 7 still because I have not changed my body that much yet. I fluctuate from working out a couple days a week to not at all. My spiritual well being was at a 10, but I am rating myself as a 9. Through assessing my spirituality I found that I might have been too narrow minded on how things need to be done all of the time. I realize they do not have to be my way and that I can open up my spirit to relax and know that I can still be confident in my belief in God with out having to criticize how other think of their spirituality. My psychological rating is at a 9 still. I have maintained my score because I feel that my mind has not changed. I know that I could not be a 10 because their will be times that I am not such a positive person no matter how hard I try to be.

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 work on my outer body and what I consume. My goal is to tone, and loose excess fat by doing 3 days a week of cardio, and weight lifting. My psychological goal is to learn how to quiet my mind even more when I begin to get upset. To think positive thoughts that will not make me upset with a person. I need to always remember that the mind is a powerful muscle and with it I can do anything such as controlling my emotional feelings. My spiritual goal is to practice what I preach by reading the word of God at least every Sunday and setting a good example to my close friends in hope that one day they will want to have a relationship with God.

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.

Physical implements:

1           1.     I can practice yoga exercises more often to strengthen my core and flexibility.

2           2.   I can eat the recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals based on the myplate.org website.

Psychological:

1.     I can work on the loving kindness exercise to help with keeping a positive mind and attitude no matter how much something may bother me.

2.     The Subtle mind exercise can help as well for creating positive energy around me. I will try and think of two positives for every negative.

Spiritual:

1.     Spiritually I can use meditation with worship music to focus on God.

2.     I can also use alternatives such as aromatherapy to help calm my nerves and open my mind up so I become stress free.

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?

I will be able to assess my progress with my goals in the next six months by looking in the mirror for improvement of my physical body. If I am working out like I am supposed to be then I should be in great shape by the time six months rolls by. I am using some swimsuits that I just ordered from Vitoria’s Secret to be my motivation in assisting me with my goal. For my psychological health, I will have to practice with how I think about things and prevent myself from overanalyzing. My motivation will be looking at how well my relationships with my loved ones are progressing. Spiritually, I will assess my progress based on how many times I pick up my Bible or set time aside. I can use the strategy of time management to wake up early and read and by setting my bible out to remind me.

Visualization and meditation

The two exercises that I enjoyed the most would be the visualization and meditation. I enjoyed the meditation one because it has really helps calm my mind. I find it to be helpful to do on days that I am stressed the most or by doing it at the end of a busy day. It makes your mind concentrate on letting go of things that make me stressed the most. I feel energetic afterwards as if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. It helps me collect my thoughts and it gives me a better nights sleep. The visualization exercise helped me see what is ahead of me in life. It helped me focus on a visual aspect on how I see myself in the future with my job, my location, how I imagine my house to be, and my family. It gives me a realistic opportunity to make things right in order to achieve my goals in life. 

-Elise

relaxation

The next loving kindness activity is supposed to visualize someone who is well minded and think about them. The first thing that came to my mind was God. When I think of God it reminds me a lot of how I strive to be like him and what areas in my life I can fix to get closer to him. It did relax my mind and it gave me an overwhelming peace of mind with loving kindness to give to others.
The quote that is given to us, "One can not lead another, where one has not gone himself" sounds exactly how it is said. No one can tell someone to do something with out knowing what experience is behind it. Practicing what you preach is the best method. That goes with anything whether it be religion, or in decision making.

Unit 6 loving kindness meditation, integral assessment

1. Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93
2. Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).
3. Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?
The loving kindness meditation exercise was a little different. It was a little frustrating to me because of the reading. It wasn’t until the third or fourth time of reading all four lines that I fully understood what I was saying.  In the directions it said to close my eyes and say it but because I had to read it, it was not that enjoyable. It would have been better to listen to it and repeat after someone one line at a time. The integral assessment was interesting to me. I really felt like I was evaluating myself into what steps I need to take in my life. I felt like I discovered or realized what my focus needs to be on. It is my psychospiritual side. I have been out of touch with it recently and I notice a change in my relationships when I stay connected to God in particular. I also have chosen to focus on my actions and how they can grow and develop. In the past I have noticed how people judge other people on their actions and they do not forget it either. Especially if it is someone close to them like a friend or girlfriend, they will always remember that “one time” you acted out of line or said or did something wrong.  People like to talk, and when they do, it can be bad. I just do not want to be the person they are talking bout so for me, I know that it is better to stay quiet, than to say something and regret it. I have actually grown to learn how to be responsible with certain things that we drink when out with friends. I know my limit and want to keep it like that. Some ways that I practice this is by doing yoga, or exercising. I notice that when I stay confident with my body then my mind stays confident with smart decisions and I end up having a happy night. Also, when I practice yoga I notice I am a more easy going, stress free person to be around. 

comparing exercises

*Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

The subtle mind exercise should help maintain or increase my positive thoughts. When doing the loving kindness exercise it was a little frustrating to me, maybe a little more than the subtle mind exercise. It was difficult for me to concentrate on my emotions with both of them though.

*Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The connection between spiritual wellness and physical wellness is the fact that when we keep our bodies fit, or healthy it effects our emotions. For example, a person that stays in shape and exercises on a weekly routine will have a more happier, energetic, forgiving, or sense of belonging mind set compared to a person who is not very active in taking care of their body and ends up with a depressing mind set. So for me, I notice a change in how positive I am when I exercise during the week. I enjoy feeling sore in my muscles because it makes me feel like I accomplished something. I do not do this as much as I should though

loving kindess, unit 4 exercise

Hello class and prof, this week’s unit 4 is about loving kindness. The exercise this week was very different. I was not very impressed and it was not what I thought it was going to be. I thought the exercise would be similar to what you would get at a massage place. It was not difficult to do but I kept getting distracted easily. If anything I felt irritated with it for some reason. I do not think I would recommend this to others but I am sure that maybe there are people out their that would enjoy this. A mental work out is simply like a physical body work out. Just like our body needs exercise to keep our blood pumping our mind needs exercises and mental challenging games to keep our mind functioning only to benefit us. Mental workouts can reduce negative emotions and replace them with positive ones.

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