Oh, how far we have come.

Okay, so because of the holiday break I did not do unit 3 blog and I have no idea how to evaluate my progress or compare any changes. All I can do is talk about my overall progress and change over the course of the term.

When I started this term I had a very pessimistic outlook on things, especially life, but now I can see the good in every situation. I have always been pretty active and during this term I have stayed physically active up until a few weeks ago when they closed down my gym. Aside from being less active, I am in good physical health and eat right and take care of my body. Being a Nutrition student I know the value of eating right. I know I have grown greatly in my spiritual life and this growth came at a perfect time, because I had been questioning a lot over the last year and spent a great deal of time being depressed.  I know can really see how the mind, body and spirit are all connected.

About a year ago I found an awesome school for depth psychology but at the time I did really think I would have much interest in the psychospiritual teachings. I have a new found appreciation for it and am reconsidering the school. Through the learning in this class I have discovered that integral health is a great passion of mine. I am excited to see where this path will take me.

Introduction:

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself,” these are great and powerful words for any health and wellness professional to live by. I believe that if professionals truly want to help their patients flourish they will develop wellness in their own life. Practitioners will be more affective and more respected in their practice if they develop their own wellness. It is very important that professionals take care of their own health and wellness before they try to help heal others because this insures the flourishing of both the patient and the practitioner. The reason I believe the practitioner should focus on their health and wellness first is, because there is an energy that we all carry, most will call it mood, and if a practitioner’s energy is not in the right place for healing than they may not be really helping others achieve wellness.

Knowledge is also an important development for any professional to have. The more one knows and is open to new information the better they will be in assisting others in their journey to creating wellness. This is the area I need the most development.

Assessment:
Almost always = 2 points Sometimes/occasionally = 1 point Very seldom = 0 points

Spiritual Assessment-

            __²___1. I feel comfortable and at ease with my spiritual life.

            __²___ 2. There is a direct relationship between my personal values and daily                              actions.

            __²___ 3. When I get depressed or frustrated, my spiritual beliefs and values give                        me direction.

            __²___ 4. Prayer, meditation, and/or quiet personal reflection is/are important in                           my life.

            __¹___ 5. Life is meaningful for me, and I feel a purpose in life.

            __¹___ 6. I am able to speak comfortably about my personal values and beliefs.

            __²___ 7. I am consistently striving to grow spiritually and I see it as a lifelong                               process.

            __²___ 8. I am tolerant of and try to learn about others' beliefs and values.

            __¹___ 9. I have a strong sense of life optimism and use my thoughts and                                                 attitudes in life-affirming ways.

            __²___ 10. I appreciate the natural forces that exist in the universe.

__17___ Total for Spiritual Wellness Dimension

Score:15 to 20 Points - Excellent strength in this dimension.

Score:9 to 14 Points - There is room for improvement. Look again at the items in which you scored 1 or 0. What changes can you make to improve your score?

Score:0 to 8 Points - This dimension needs a lot of work. Look again at this dimension and challenge yourself to begin making small steps toward growth here. Remember: The goal is balanced wellness.

Physical Assessment-

            __¹___1. I exercise aerobically (vigorous, continuous) for 20 to 30 minutes at                                least three times per week.

            __²___2. I eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains every day.

            __²___3. I avoid tobacco products.

            __¹___4. I wear a seat belt while riding in and driving a car.

            __¹___5. I deliberately minimize my intake of cholesterol, dietary fats, and oils.

            __²___6. I avoid drinking alcoholic beverages or I consume no more than one                              drink per day.

            __²___7. I get an adequate amount of sleep.

            __¹___8. I have adequate coping mechanisms for dealing with stress.

            __°___ 9. I maintain a regular schedule of immunizations, physicals, dental                                 checkups and self-exams.

            __²___10. I maintain a reasonable weight, avoiding extremes of overweight and                          underweight.

___14____ Total for Physical Wellness Dimension

Score: 15 to 20 Points -Excellent strength in this dimension.

Score: 9 to 14 Points - There is room for improvement. Look again at the items in which you scored 1 or 0. What changes can you make to improve your score?

Score: 0 to 8 Points - This dimension needs a lot of work. Look again at this dimension and challenge yourself to begin making small steps toward growth here. Remember: The goal is balanced wellness.

Emotional Assessment-

            __¹___1. I am able to develop and maintain close relationships.

            __²___2. I accept the responsibility for my actions.

            __¹___3. I see challenges and change as opportunities for growth.

            __²___4. I feel I have considerable control over my life.

            __²___5. I am able to laugh at life and myself.

            __²___6. I feel good about myself.

            __¹___7. I am able to appropriately cope with stress and tension and make time                           for leisure pursuits.

            __²___8. I am able to recognize my personal shortcomings and learn from my                              mistakes.

            __¹___9. I am able to recognize and express my feelings.

            __²___10. I enjoy life.

___16____ Total for Emotional Wellness Dimension

Score: 15 to 20 Points -Excellent strength in this dimension.

Score: 9 to 14 Points - There is room for improvement. Look again at the items in which you scored 1 or 0. What changes can you make to improve your score?

Score: 0 to 8 Points - This dimension needs a lot of work. Look again at this dimension and challenge yourself to begin making small steps toward growth here. Remember: The goal is balanced wellness.

(Definition of Wellness)

Goal development:
My goal for spiritual wellness is to keep on right as I am. I would like to get to the point where I can openly talk about my beliefs. I feel like I am on the fence when it come to an optimistic attitude towards life and I know I’m getting better but even now and again I just feel life is not fair.

My goals for physical wellness are to get back into an exercise routine and adopt stress management techniques. I should make acupuncture and massages a higher priority in my life to release tension in my muscles.

My goal for emotional wellness is to learn to express my feelings. I have a hard time letting other people know what I am thinking and feeling and I’m sure this plays a part in why I don’t maintain close relationships. I currently do not have any close friends and would like to get back to having relationships with people other than my family.

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.

Practices I have already implemented in my life that foster the growth in my spirituality are meditation and visualization. I also believe eating foods that come from the earth is a good way to foster spiritual wellness. Foods that are unprocessed and untreated are what we call in my family “God’s food,” because they were made by God and in God’s earth. By eating God’s food, I believe you become closer to God.

Exercises I already do to improve my well-being:

§ Use the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, and walk whenever possible

§ Get consistent and adequate sleep

§ Listen to my body

§ Eat a variety of healthy foods

§ Meditate and visualization

§ Be inquisitive and curious

§ Practice acceptance

§ I am playful and laugh often

(Definition of Wellness)

I need to practice becoming more comfortable with my beliefs and feeling and express them more freely so I can build and maintain close relationships.

Exercises that could improve my personal well-being:

§ Smile at least 20 times each day

§ Get to know my personal needs and pursue things and people who nurture those needs

§ Join a club or organization that interests me

§ Positive self talk in regards to myself, life and situations I encounter

§ Use seat belts

§ Eat breakfast every day

§ Get back to exercising

§ Get a massage/acupuncture once a month

Commitment:
I will reassess my health and well-being by asking myself the same questions I did in the assessment portion. Now that I understand how important overall wellness is I hope I can continue to grow and learn more along the way. My goal is to make creating wellness my career, so I hope that I can help others to grow and learn as well. Have really enjoyed the practices that I have incorporated into my life from this class so I am going to keep go doing them until them don’t work for me any longer.

My mental fitness

I have been doing daily meditations and guided visualizations and have found myself to be a heck of a lot calmer. During the visualization I would think of money flowing into my life and as of last week I got a new job, after searching for months, and also my house sitting business is booming. Also like I have said before I have learned to just let people do their negative talking without joining in. Now that I meditate each day I have no desire for watching TV, instead I read or do research online. As of the last week or so I mostly only have time for schoolwork in place of the TV watching. I have seen many benefits from my daily meditation and visualization practices.

I believe I have gained a greater understanding of life and people. Since I understand people better I communicate better with them. Plus I know what people to keep at a distance. I feel like I have a clearer vision of where I’m going in life.

Overall I feel like I have reduced my stress, by knowing how to manage the stress, I am relaxed and happier. I can tell there has been an improvement in my attention, alertness, and mental flexibility.   

I did not care for the “Meeting Aesculapius” as much as I do Kelly Howells-Faith meditation. Link provided below. I have enjoyed the learning and expanding I have accomplished in this class. I should report that I don’t meditate twice a day but rather once. It was nice at first but then became overkill.  I can say that the meditating has helped me to be calmer. Mostly I do not give in to and encourage other people’s gossip. I now just let them rant on and don’t say a thing. By me not saying anything they usually stop and realize that they shouldn’t be talking in this manner. I plan to continue meditation. ~ I just got a new job this week and I have talked my boss into creating a meditation room for us as well as the patients ~  

As for the phrase, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself,” I believe it means that one cannot truly help another unless they themselves have sought out the same help. An example of what I mean by this is: you would not seek out someone who has never done yoga before to teach you how to do yoga. Many of the great healers have to go through and experience a great deal of unpleasantries before they are considered worthy of being a healer. It is because they have to travel the path first so they can lead others down it later. I believe this is very important for all wellness professionals. I do not think they should be obligated but it is better for the patient (client) as well as the practitioner that they have a close personal experience to relate to the situation.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s0jhWkqqts

Oh this is good

If I understand the Integral Assessment right, we were to relax our body and mind and once we felt truly relax we were to ask the questions: What aspect of my life psychospiritual, interpersonal, biological, or worldly is the source of my difficulty and suffering? What development is essential for me right now? What is my current level of development and what can I am for? What areas in my life are ready for development? And many other questions.

I really didn’t know what to expect going into the exercise, but I really thought it would open my awareness to the changes that have come about in my day-to-day life since meditating. But rather, I had the most amazing experience. I had been listing to a guided meditation (link provided below) were a few minutes into the lady says “ask any question you may have now,” so I figured this was a great prompted for this exercise.

My experience

I was listening to the guided meditation and it came to the part where I ask the question and I started to think of the first question but my body began to tingle and feel numb. Of course that is where my attention was focused. This feeling intensified into a calming peaceful vibration. At first I was scared because I didn’t know what was happening but I didn’t fight it. I heard a voice say “welcome, go ahead and ask your questions now.” So I ask, getting every question answered as if I was sitting down talking to another being. I asked the question “what areas in my life need developing?” and I didn’t get a response. I thought “I feel like I am loosing the connection. “ I want to describe this feeling like slipping from grasp of a friend who is trying to save you, but instead you fall in slow motion. No matter how much you yell for the friend to help you they cannot.

So now I am lying in bed rethinking the whole experience in awe of what just happened. I keep thinking of when body was tingling and I was scared even though it was peaceful. It dawned on me that the area I need to develop is trusting and allowing, not to fight what I don’t know or understand.   

Has this happened to any of you?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RltgopATeSM&list=PL683F0147B702CBA2&index=5&feature=plpp_video

Subtle Mind

v  Both the Loving-Kindness and the Subtle mind exercises were about the same to me. I liked them fairly well. Both got me to think about the way I think of everything. I felt a sense of discomfort with both; in the Loving-Kindness exercise I did not care for thinking of suffering while I was relaxed, and in the Subtle mind exercise I felt like I could not relax.

v  The techniques are very different though. Loving-Kindness gave me something to think of, which is easier for me. During Subtle mind I felt like my mind wandered more, and as I have stated before it is hard for me to quite my mind.

v  I find I am better at the witnessing mind technique once I am relaxed, usually after doing a guided meditation. I feel I get frustrated when I start off trying to quiet my mind and this frustration kind of ruins the whole purpose of the exercise.  

I have been keeping up with doing daily meditations and I feel much more relaxed than ever before. I do feel like I can choose how to react in situations, whereas before my reactions were automatic. I have given up watching TV in the last few weeks. I’m not really sure if there is a correlation between my meditation and TV watching, but I seem to think so.

Loving Kindness

So I listened to the Loving-Kindness guided meditation and I like it. This guided meditation inspired me to look for other guided meditations. I found several on youtube by Kelly Howell. I find her voice to be soothing and peaceful. I do one in the morning and another one again in the afternoon or evening. I really enjoy doing a guided meditation because I have a hard time quieting my mind. I also enjoy doing meditation before I go to work, because my boss is a high energy and go, go, go kind of persons so I feel calm and centered all day.