Unit 10 Final Post

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?

      As I reviewed my unit 3 assessment and reflected on all three areas I realized my  psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being were all solid, but there was definitely room for improvement. I gave myself an 8 on a scale from 1-10 in all three areas. Now my scores are the same. I still give myself an eight in all three areas, because for the most part I haven’t done things any differently.

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

      My diet is still pretty good and I work out regularly, but the one goal I wanted to develop for myself to improve my physical well-being was exercise frequency. My plan was to make sure I rode my bike at least 3 to 4 times each week or every other day. Well, that hasn’t happened and I need to improve.

      The spiritual well-being goal I set for myself was to make sure I set aside time each day to pray and meditate. Also, I wanted to learn how to get more accomplished from within the spiritual realm. I haven’t really made any progress. When we’re doing the meditation exercises in class it’s one thing, but to do it on my own I just haven’t made time for it yet.

       My mind I believe is sound. However, the goal I set for myself is to strengthen my mind and use more of it by doing brain exercises, taking supplements for the brain and eating healthy brain foods. For the most part I have done that, but I know there is still room for improvement.

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

      Physically and spiritually I know I have not implemented the activities I chose for well-being. Psychologically I have been doing the breathing exercises, taking the supplements to enhance brain health and eating healthy.  

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?

      Personally my experience throughout this course has been beneficial. I believe I have improved my well-being. The breathing exercises have been most rewarding. The meditation and prayer is a goal I set for myself. However, it has been difficult for me to make time to actually stick to the goal I set. Over this 10 week course I have picked up several nuggets along the way. The information I learned and the different exercises we did were all part of a great experience.  My ability to assist others has already been improved based on the information we’ve learned and the experiences I’ve had throughout this course.

Unit 9 Final Project

 

     It’s important for everyone to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically, so for health and wellness professionals it is that much more important. As health and wellness professionals we should lead by example. I need to develop in all three areas; spiritually, psychologically and physically.

       I assessed my health based on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the highest. Spiritually, I gave myself an 8.  Physically I gave myself a 9 and psychologically I gave myself an 8.

      My physical goal is to have healthier eating habits, psychologically my goal is to use more of my brain and spiritually my goal is to learn more about God.

      Physically the strategy I plan to use is to have an accountability partner to workout with and someone to encourage me and help keep me focused along the way. Another physical strategy I will implement consists of me walking my dog, Jake. Jake is a very strong dog and he is hyper. His energy inspires me to do more physically. Jake helps me to build up my legs, physical endurance and stamina. He was an unlikely source for physical exercise however his contribution to my life both physically and emotionally is beyond measure.

      For psychological strategies I plan on taking 30 minutes every morning prior to starting my day and using the time to energize my mind thru mediation and yoga stretches. During this phase I will have the time to allow my mind the opportunity to be free and open for the events of the day. In doing these things every morning I think my mind will be more receptive to information coming from outside sources.

      For my spiritual strategies I would like to tap into my Cherokee roots and channel the spirit of my ancestors. I come from a strong line of warriors, willing to fight for what is right. I want to continue my spiritual growth thru spiritual contact. I would also like to commune more with nature as a part of my spiritual strategies. Nature has so many healing properties and I want to be able to draw from nature to build up my spirituality.

      Assessing my progress will be easy for me over the next 6 months because I will keep a daily log of my activities. The log will have all the goals and strategies that I have set for myself. As I complete each activity I will check it off the list adding the beginning and end times.  For example, as a measureable, if walking Jake a mile currently takes 20 minutes I should be able to walk him for 2 miles in 20 minutes in 6 months. That is a solid measurable goal. I would use the same strategy as a long term practice as well. I would add to my task in order to make the long term strategies more challenging however I will stay true to the initial exercise.

     

Week 8 Loving Kindness and Meeting Aesclepius

      I have actually enjoyed all the exercises and practice sessions in this course. The 2 I find to be most beneficial for me are Loving kindness and Meeting Aesclepius. It’s always a good thing to show love to anyone, including you’re enemies. I know that sounds good but it is a lot easier said than done. This meditation practice exercise is helping me to become a better person.

      With the meeting aesclepius exercise I was pleasantly surprised to enter a place I have never been before. It was awesome for me to spend time communicating with my grandmother and other ancestors. For me to receive some of my grandmothers qualities is a plus and only makes me stronger and more of a loving person as she was. I will continue to practice both of these exercises in my personal life to foster “mental fitness.”

Week 7 Meeting Aesclepius

       As always I enjoyed the meditation exercise. However, this time it was a much deeper experience for me. The wise and loving person who I respect and honor and know that we have a special connection is my grandmother. She passed away many years ago, but I still remember her and the times we had like it was yesterday. She is the one who introduced me to her God to begin with. We had a very spiritual connection through this meditation practice. It seemed that I was in touch with several of my ancestors.

     Meditation has fostered an increase in my psychological and spiritual wellness by simply assisting in quieting my mind. When the mind is quiet the body will follow and this allows one to hear from their spirit more clearly. This was the most powerful meditation experience I have had and I’m looking forward to continuing these sessions.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself"

      This applies to the health and wellness professional in that if you have not experienced a thing for yourself, whether it is your own personal experience or from studying and research to where you have an understanding of what it is all about then there is no way you can properly teach another about that thing.

      I believe we do have an obligation to our clients to be developing our health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. These people put their lives in our hands, they trust us and they look up to us. So, I think we should at least let them see that we know what we are talking about by being an example before them. I don’t believe in practicing what you preach, but I do believe in preaching what you have already practiced and what you know works.

      Prayer and meditation is a great way to implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life.

Week 6

Universal Loving Kindness (meditation) Exercise:

I enjoyed the relaxation part of the exercise and the fact that it caused me to focus on others instead of myself, but I didn’t understand the purpose of chanting something I did not believe was possible. I would love to see all individuals gain freedom from suffering and I would like to see all individuals find sustained health, happiness and wholeness. The thing is I don’t think it’s possible for me to assist all individuals in anything.

Integral Assessment

I could really do better in all these areas, but I discovered I need to focus on growing and developing in the interpersonal area of my life more so than the others. I’m going to work on having better relationships with people.  To foster greater wellness in this area I’m going to continue with the Universal Loving Kindness (meditation) Exercise.

Week 5 Subtle Mind

        I enjoyed the subtle mind practice. These breathing technics are great tools for easing your mind. Before this exercise I was use to taking deep breaths to slow my heart rate down when exercising, but I didn’t give much thought to the fact that the same breathing technique would calm my mind as well. Where the breath goes the mind goes was an eye opener for me and I really enjoyed the exercise. The loving kindness exercise was more difficult for me than the subtle mind exercise mostly because we were asked to take in the sufferings of my loved ones and blow them out or something like that. That was difficult for me and I did not quite understand what I was supposed to gain from doing that particular part of the exercise. I find the Loving kindness and the subtle mind exercises to be very beneficial. One other thing I got from this exercise is the different relationships that exist within our bodies. The brain/lungs relationship with breathing is one and there are many others.

        We are three part beings and we need to nourish each area of wellness in our lives. My spirit is as perfect as it will ever be, so when I am led by my spirit man my thoughts and my body tend to line up with my spirit. My mind is focused where it should be, so I’m using wisdom and making better decisions. As a result I’m eating better and exercising so my body is on point as well. Personally, I use to be a very religious person and that did not work out very well for me. However, I am thrilled that I did learn about spirituality and the spirit realm from that religious upbringing. Once I began to be led by the Spirit life got easy for me. Now I get to rest in a peace that surpasses understanding.

 

Week 4 Loving Kindness Exercise

Week 4 Loving Kindness Exercise

        I found this exercise to be beneficial. It’s always good to take some time off and relax. The sound of the waves splashing made it quite easy for me to relax. Also, it’s a lot easier to focus on these pleasant thoughts and breathing techniques when you’re in the comfort of your own home with no adversary and a lot more difficult when you’re away from home and all of your irritating buttons are being pushed. Practicing walking in love is something I do daily, so this loving kindness exercise was not difficult at all. However, it was kind of challenging to take in the sufferings of my loved ones. I did not like that part of the exercise.  Overall I would still recommend it to others. I just might leave out the part about the suffering love ones.

        The concept of mental workout is a workout for your brain. The same way we go about exercising to build up and strengthen our bodies we have to do the same for our minds. Equally as important as focusing on actual mind exercises I think eating brain foods or supplements play a vital role in giving our minds what’s needed to experience healthier brain function, sharper minds and clearer thinking.