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?

Health and wellness professionals need to be balanced in their psychological, spiritual, and physical lives.  When one area is out of balance it would be very difficult to complete an effective patient teaching.  Health and wellness professionals need to have their own lives in balance so that they can teach others from their experience.  They can’t teach what they do not know or what they have not experienced.  They need to practice what they teach.  They need to walk the walk and talk the talk.  They can’t give what they don’t have.  Client/patients are more likely to follow suggestions and instructions if they trust their health and wellness professional.  A professional who does not do what they are suggesting their client or patient to do is not likely to be trusted.

There is always room for improvement.  I need to develop and progress in all three areas to be in balance.  Spiritually is my strongest area.  My faith is strong.  I am very involved in my local church and my prayer life is very strong.  Psychologically I believe that I am much better than when this term began.  Meditation has become a major routine in my daily life.  I begin and end my day with meditation.  Before this term began I had never done any meditation.  I also listen to quiet worship music daily.  My email address is staying focused and that is what I strive to do.  I strive to stay focused on the positive and let the negative go.  I am not saying that I do that each and every time.  I am saying I have made a great deal of progress in this area.  I would have to say that physically is my biggest challenge.  Losing weight has been a huge difficulty.  My goal is to continue to go for walks and incorporate more exercise as my limits get better. 

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

I have my health in each area.  As stated above I am strongest in the spiritual area.  I lean very hard on my spiritual life to get me through each and every situation.  I would score this area an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being optimal.  Psychologically I have made a great deal of progress with the help of meditation.  Incorporating a daily routine of meditation has really made a huge difference in my moods, emotions, and outlook on life.  I would score this area a 7 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being optimal.  The physical area is my weakest.  Having high blood pressure, asthma, and being obese continues to be big issues.  I have finally begun to make some progress in this area.  I have begun walking a minimum of 30 minutes daily.  I would score this area a 6 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being optimal.  There is certainly room for improvement in all three areas.

III.  Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My goal for my physical area is to see my primary physician to see what exercises I can do safely since I had a total knee replacement two years ago.  I will not make excuses to not get exercise or be physically active.  I will increase my walking to a minimum of 45 minutes daily. 

My goal for my psychological area is to journal.  I plan to journal my feeling, emotions, and what I eat and drink daily.  I will also journal my weight so that I can see the progress.  I will continue with meditation daily and incorporate maybe some yoga or other methods to help with my moods and irritability. 

My goal for my spiritual area is to grow in my faith and prayer life, continue to be involved in my local church and church choir, and to go to prayer meetings and Bible studies.  I will also seek out friends from church to spend time with.

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.

Physical:  I will lose weight so that it will improve my blood pressure, breathing, perseverance, and endurance.  I will exercise 45 minutes daily.  I will seek the help of a nutritionist to help with my diet and learn more about what I eat and why. 

Psychological:  I will meditate every day for at least 15 minutes when I get up and before I go to bed.  I will journal daily so that I can see the progress I am making.  I will also journal positive things in my life so that I am not focusing on the negative. 

Spiritual:  I will spend time with friends from church doing fun things such as going to lunch, a movie, or a concert.  I will also find a female friend at church to be a prayer partner to come along side me to gain spiritual growth.

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?

I think that journaling will assess my progress very well.  Each day I will journal what I eat and drink.  My weight will be included weekly.  I will also journal every day to include feelings, emotions, meditation experiences, and any situations that arise and how I handled them.  I will seek out a nutritionist to help with diet, what I eat and why and I will journal the progress.  In the short term, I will see progress right away.  In the long term, I will see the progress and the weight loss.  I will see a reduction in stress and blood pressure.  I will also learn how to eat healthier for me and my family.  My asthma will get better as will my endurance. 

References

Dacher, Elliott S. M.D. (2006) Integral Health the Path to Human Flourishing

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., and Micozzi, M.S. (2005) Consciousness & Healing:         Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine

Unit 8 Loving Kindness and Meditation

The two exercises I chose for this blog are Loving Kindness and Meditation.  Loving kindness helped me to think more positively, be more optimistic and let go of some negativity and worry.  This week has been very hard to be positive or optimistic.  My dad fell and broke his hip on June 2 in Branson, Missouri.  He was put on an air ambulance to Omaha where they live so that he could have surgery.  He broke the same hip in 2009.  Dad had surgery on June 3 and then suffered a massive stroke.  On June 6 the doctors told us that dad would not recover and he was then placed in hospice.  My dad went to heaven on June 10 and we celebrated his life today at the funeral services.  I have had a very difficult time being positive.  I was very angry for a few days.  My dad broke his hip and now he is gone.  It is just hard to wrap my brain around that.  I have tried to meditate several times over the last several days.  I have not been able to concentrate or relax.  It has been very hard to stay focused and on top of things.  Dad lived a long happy life and he and mom were married for 63 wonderful years.  I am hoping that now since his services are over I can get back to whatever normal is.  I need to get back into my routine with meditation beginning and ending my day with meditation.  Making time for myself in meditation is part of taking care of myself.  As a mom I tend to take care of everyone else first.  I need to take care of me for awhile right now.  I have had to be strong and help take care of mom and the service arrangements.  Now it is time to take care of me.  It is time to get back to Loving Kindness and Meditation on a regular basis.  I am very grateful for meditation.  I am looking forward to reducing stress and maybe even my blood pressure again.

Unit 7 - Meeting Aesclepius

What an awesome experiene!  It was very relaxing and comforting.  As I reflected I remembered my Godmother, Nanny.  She is so special to me.  She has so much encouragement and wisdom to share.  My parents both passed away many years ago.  I never heard them say "I love you" or "I am proud of you" even once.  Yet my Nanny makes it a priority to tell me that she loves me and she is proud of me. Even during the times in my life when I was not making good choices, Nanny, still said she loved me and that she was proud of me and she knew I would get back on track.  I reflected back to last summer when I took my kids on vacation.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas, Texas.  What a wonderful place!  Before we went there we went to see my Nanny.  She had no idea we were coming.  I told her all about school and what I was doing.  My Nanny said that my parents would be so proud of me.  I told her no I didn't think they would be.  Nanny explained that they were just to into their own stuff to pay attention to anyone else but she was sure they would be proud.  She went on to tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was at how I grew up and became a good mom even without a good example of a good mom.  As I reflected it was great to look back at the progress and accomplishments in my life. 

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself."  I think that means that it is not enough to have book knowledge only even though book knowledge is good.  I can only relate to my own experience.  For example, I can read all or parts of the Alcoholic Anonymous Big Book and try to help  an alcoholic get sober.  I will not be very effective.  However, since I have been in recovery and clean and sober for 24 years I can be more effective.  I can share my experience, strength, and hope with them.  I can what has worked for me and what has not worked for me.  I believe that God allows us to go through certain things and go down certain roads for a reason.  We may not understand that reason but down the road there will be people we can help because of our experiences. 

I belive the health and wellness professional needs to be a good listener.  It would also help if you put yourself in their shoes so you can show compassion and empathy.  It is important to develop your own psychological, physical, and spiritual self.  It would be very hard for a health and wellness professional who is not well herself or himself to help someone who is sick and needs help.  You can't teach what you don't have yourself.  An active alcoholic can't teach another alcoholic how to get sober.  I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my own life by practicing meditation, relaxation, not focusing on the negative and worrying, being involved in my local church, and reducing my own stress.  I have found that staying in a routine really helps too.

Unit 6 - Loving_Kindness

In practicing the loving-kindness exercise first I was sad.  Not everyone will gain freedom from suffering and not everyone will find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.  My parents died several years ago.  Maybe I miss them because it is Memorial Day.  I just know that today I miss them very much.  I may not like how they handled things and some of the things they did, but today I believe that they did the best they could with what they knew.  I was 15 when dad died of a heart attack and 20 when mom died of cancer.  I learned a lot of things from them, mostly of what not to do.  I don't ever remember hearing a simple phrase like "I love you" from either of them.  I can't change the past but I can change what I do.  I tell my kids every day that I love them and I am proud of them.  As I continued the exercise I also felt confident and loving.  I can assist people in gaining freedom from suffering and finding sustained health, happiness, and wholeness. 

During the assessment I discovered that the area I have chosen to focus on is my emotional health.  There has been a lot of fear and negativity at home and work lately.  I have let it get to me and I have let it dictate how I feel and how I react to people.  I need to refocus my mind to be positive and happy.  I need to focus on showing loving-kindness and compassion.  I need to focus on what I have and less on what I don't have.

 I plan to meditate and pray more.  I also play to listen to quiet music more.  I believe that if I can get some physical exercise such as walking or riding my bike that will help too.  This weekend was a very stressful one because my daughter got hurt roller blading and we were at the hospital twice.  I finally realized that I needed to step back and relax.  I sat in my back yard swing with my headphones and music on.  It was not long and I found myself laying in the swing and actually fell asleep.  What was more amazing was the kids were quiet and let me sleep.  That was the best nap in a long time.  I woke up rested and ready to tackle whatever I needed to. 

Unit 5 - Subtle Mind

I think this exercise was much easier to listen to and much more relaxing than Loving Kindness.  the voices were softer and easy to listen to.  I liked the breathing exercises that were involved.  They were much easier to follow and focus on.  I had a much easier time relaxing and this time there was no frustration involved.  This exercise is one I will go back and do again and again.  I believe that the physical, mental, and spiritual wellness work hand in hand.  They sort of compliment each other. I think at the beginning of these exercises I was trying to hard to relax.  In the back of my mind I would tell myself that I had to relax.  The more I tried the more frustrated I got.  This time I waited until the kids were in bed and the house was quiet.  I think timing is important too.  I started doing these exercises just before I went to bed at night.  I found that I was much more relaxed and able to go to sleep.  More important, I found that I was able to shut off my mind and get to sleep faster.  I had been having a difficult time sleeping.  Now I am getting more sleep and an easier time getting up in the morning.  For this I am grateful!

Loving Kindness and Mental Exercises

After listening to the Loving Kindness exercise I was pleasantly surprised to be a little more relaxed.  I had to listen to it three times before I could concentrate and focus.  It has been a very stressful week and relaxing even a little has been nearly impossible.  I found his voice to be very monotone and almost annoying.  He was very hard to listen to.  I did enjoy the water sounds in the background though.  I have a couple of CDs of nature sounds that I enjoy listening to at night.  I had trouble with my mind wandering as I listened to this exercise.  I do not think this is one I would listen to on a regular basis. 

The more I practice this type of exercise the more it can help strengthen my mind.  Exercise for the mind is just as important as physical exercise.  Our bodies need to be in shape and our minds need to be sharp.  As we get older this becomes harder.

Mind and Body

Based on my reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being optimal wellbeing) I would rate my physical wellbeing 5 because I have weight issues and high blood pressure issues.  My goal for improving my physical wellbeing is to start exercising. I would like to start walking even for 30 minutes every day.  I could do this with my 14 year old daughter.  This would get us both up and moving and give us special time together.  It might even lower my blood pressure and help me lose weight.  My spiritual wellbeing I would rate an 8.  I am very involved in my local church.  I have a great deal of faith and trust in my God.  I listen to worship music and read in my Bible daily.  As with all things there is room for improvement.  I would like to increase my time in reading the Bible and listening to worship music to 30 minutes daily.  In my psychological wellbeing I would have to rate this also a 5.  Lately I tend to be somewhat moody, stressed and overwhelmed a lot.  My goal to improve this is to not look at the big picture.  I need to only look at one little piece of the picture at a time.  Work on one assignment at a time.  Tackle one chore at home at a time. 

The Rainbow Meditation was very frustrating for me.  I have not done anything like color therapy before and it was just too different.  It was very hard for me to concentrate and relax.  I did try to listen to the entire meditation.  There was no relaxing though.  My mind just could not stay focused.  My mind kept going to things that needed to be done, what are the kids doing, what am I going to fix them to eat, . . . . .  It was just too frustrating.  I am open to trying it again though.