unit 10 blog

My scores haven't changed too dramatically since unit 3.  My physical well-being scored a 6.5 in unit 3 and is now a 5.  This is because of some recent health issues that have limited the amount of exercising I can do.  Exercise is a great stress reliever for me and invigorates me physically.  Hopefully I can get these issues resolved so I can have a better quality of life.  My psychological well-being scored a 7.5 in unit 3 and I would consider it to be the same today.  It probably would be higher, but my health problems have kept me a little more anxious than I would usually be.  This course has helped me deal with these issues psychologically and has helped me keep a more positive mind frame throughout.  So the resources this course has made available to me and my health problems kind of cancel each other out to keep my psychological well-being the same.  My spiritual well-being in unit 3 scored an eight and is the same today.  I have continued what I have been doing to keep my spiritual well-being good.  I say a little prayer each day and continue to read the spiritual reading I get in my email daily.  This helps give me ideas on how to live a better life and I try to follow that.

The progress I have made for the goals I set for myself in unit 3 have been kind of slow.  My goal of gaining 5 to 10 pounds hasn't really made any progress given my recent health problems.  My appetite is still good and normal, but I have not been able to implement the activities I had hoped to improve my physical well-being and exercise the way I would like to gain weight.  My spiritual goal of doing more to help others in need hasn't progressed much either.  It's been difficult to get through work and school while dealing with my health problems that it's hard to find motivation to become proactive in reaching my goal and finding an organization to do volunteer work at.  It is a lame excuse and I hope to work harder at it once my health problems are resolved.  I have made good progress in my psychological goals of implementing new relaxation and stress management techniques.  I use the Subtle Mind exercise and am planning to start doing transcendental meditation soon.  My time management skills have gotten considerably better over this term as well. 

My experience throughout this course has been positive.  While my scores might not reflect it, I feel that given my decreased physical well-being, maintaining my psychological and spiritual well-being throughout that has been a positive I believe.  Usually if something like that would happen, I would get too down, but I feel like I have been more optimistic throughout my health problems because of what I have learned in this course.  The most rewarding part of this course was learning all of the practices and exercises that can help.  These are useful practices that can provide benefits for others who I wish to share them with as well as myself.  This course has really made me more aware of being attentive to each person’s individual needs and accommodating to those needs to best help them.  If we integrate the practices we hope to teach into our own lives, we can understand how these experiences can help others so we can best serve them.

unit 9 final project

As health and wellness professionals, we have an obligation to develop the psychological, spiritual, and physical aspects of our life.  It is important for us to practice what we preach.  We might have some knowledge and background about what we hope to teach, but if we have not spent the time experiencing it and living it, how effective or beneficial would our advice be.  Before we help others, we need to begin to develop our lives in all three aspects.  This can help us better relate to our patient’s trials and tribulations and develop a stronger understanding of what they need to succeed.  According to Dacher (2006), “to become the agents of a more expansive health, we must begin with our own life. This is not only book learning. It is hands-on learning. This means that we must be willing to explore the inner aspects of our own life through psychological development and contemplative practice”.  By taking time each day to do things to manage our stress, exercise, or help others we can make strides in improving our own growth.  I need to develop in all three aspects to achieve the goals for myself.  All three aspects need considerable work before I can achieve integral health.  The psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, and worldly aspects of my life need to develop more to achieve my goals as well. 

                  I have assessed my health in each aspect of my life (physical, psychological, spiritual) on a scale of 1 to 10.  Earlier this term I rated the physical aspect of my life at 6.5, the psychological aspect of my life a 7.5, and the spiritual aspect of my life an 8.  Now I would rate my physical well-being a 5 given some recent health issues I have encountered.  These health issues have not allowed me to exercise, which takes a toll on me because exercise is something I love to do.  Exercise is probably my greatest stress reliever and not being able to exercise can have a negative effect on me, both mentally and physically.  I would rate my current psychological well-being at 7.5 still.  This course has helped me find ways to keep my psychological state where it is, given the health issues I am currently dealing with.  I still get frustrated and angry at times, but I find that the practices I have learned in this course to be beneficial.  The Subtle Mind exercise is one of the practices that help me relieve some stress when I am unable to exercise.  I find that I have a more positive mindset and am hoping more for the best of things.  I used to be more of a pessimistic person and practicing the Subtle Mind exercise has helped me create a more positive outlook on things.  I would rate my current spiritual well-being at an eight too.  I have continued what I have been doing each day to keep my spiritual well-being good.  I do say a prayer each day and I also get a daily spiritual reading in my email which helps provide some guidance in my life. 

                  One goal I have for the physical aspect of my life is just to get back into good enough condition to start exercising again.  Once my health gets back into good enough condition to exercise again, I hope to start training for the Birkebeiner.  The Birkebeiner is a cross-country ski event on February 26 that covers different distances.  I have never participated in this event before and would enjoy the challenge.  Hopefully I can get my health issues resolved so I can have enough time to train for this event. 

                A goal I have for the psychological aspect of my life is to become a more relaxed and less stressed individual.  This course has already helped me quite a bit in this aspect.  I have noticed that since I have started this course I tend to not get as worked up about little things.  I still do get easily frustrated with things at times and hope to make improvements with this.  After I read the book, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, which is a book that discusses the effects stress has on the body and how it contributes to so many things in our lives, I realized I need to get my stress under control.  Stress really doesn’t do anything good for our body unless we are getting ready run away from a robber or something physical like that (fight or flight response).  Therefore, I need to take the appropriate steps to create a sense of calm about me and my life.

                A goal I have for the spiritual aspect of my life is to do more things to help others.  Whether I volunteer, or take part of something to help others, I want to take some of the focus off of myself and focus on helping others.  I think this will help broaden the spiritual aspect of my life.  I feel pretty good about other aspects of my spiritual life, and I think doing things to help others will provide me with a new sense of spiritual well-being. 

                There are a few different strategies I can use to foster growth in the physical aspect of my life.  First, I need to be persistent my doctors to try and find the best solutions to help deal with my health issues.  I am also planning to see a holistic doctor to see if she can provide me with alternative solutions to what my traditional doctors have come up with.  Another strategy I can use, once my health issues are resolved, is to create a workout for myself to help me train for the Birkebeiner.  This will consist of a lot of cardiovascular exercise.  I hope to do some kind of aerobic exercise six days a week, whether it includes running, biking, or skiing once snow falls.  Continuing my weightlifting regimen three or four days a week once I get healthy will help provide me with extra stress relief that is beneficial.  All of these can help me improve my physical well-being.

                One thing I hope to start doing to foster growth in the psychological aspect of my life is transcendental meditation.  I have read a lot about the benefits of transcendental meditation and think that it would help me achieve my goal of becoming more relaxed and less stressed.  I plan to ask my holistic doctor when I see her about it and where I can learn how to do it.  I have also found a website that provides a telephone number I can call to get information about attending events where I can learn how to do transcendental meditation.  Once I talk to my holistic doctor about it, all I have to do is call and get started.  Another thing I plan to do to improve my psychological well-being is to use my time management skills to help create a schedule of things I need to do so I don’t get as stressed when I have things to do and am running short on time.  I can get a calendar book to keep track of things I need to do each day and allow time to accomplish each task.

                To foster growth in the spiritual aspect of my life, I need to find an organization and get in touch with them to see if I can do some volunteer work.  This will help me achieve my goal of doing things to help others in need.  I could find an organization to do volunteer work at in my local yellow pages or on the internet.  Another thing I can do to improve my spiritual well-being is to attend church more often.  I consider myself a spiritual person, but not too religious.  I think that attending church more often will help add another aspect to the spiritual aspect of my life.  I could either attend the church that I still attend on rare occasions, although it is an hour away, or I could find a new church in the city where I am living now.  Whatever I choose to do, attending church on a more regular basis will help improve my spiritual well-being.

                I can assess my progress over the next six months in a couple of different ways.  I could rate my psychological, physical, and spiritual aspects of my life before I implement my practices, and then each month following.  At each monthly interval I could take notes on how my progress is progressing or not progressing and come up with strategies to maintain or improve my practices.  I could also use the Integral Assessment to assess my biological, psychospiritual, worldly, and interpersonal aspects of my life to see if there is an area where I need to focus on more.  If there is an aspect that is causing other aspects to suffer, then I need to focus on that particular aspect. 

                One thing I can do to help maintain my long-term practices for health and wellness is to include social support when trying to accomplish my goals.  I think social support is a big thing when it comes to doctor visits as well as exercising.  A person will be more likely to exercise if they have someone to go to the gym with or to go walking or jogging with.  I love exercising to begin with so I shouldn’t have a tough time maintaining this practice.  Having someone to try transcendental meditation with can also make it more likely for me to start and continue it as well.  Spiritual wellness deals a lot with social support.  People are usually socially involved, whether it is attending church or church events, volunteering, or helping others in need.  I think that developing a social network in the spiritual aspect of my life will help me maintain my spiritual practices.                      

Unit 8 blog

The two practices or exercises that I found to be the most beneficial are the Subtle Mind exercise and the Integral Assessment.  I think that by using the integral assessment we can get a better understanding of what we need to work on and  what we could excel in.  It also can help us find the best tools to help us succeed in the areas we want to work on.  The Subtle Mind exercise is one of the practices that will help me foster greater mental fitness.  The way it helps dissolve all of my mental chatter and clear my mind of negative thoughts is very beneficial for me.  I can implement these practices in a couple different ways.  I could start by completing the Integral Assessment to help me understand what areas of my growth and development I need to focus on.  Completing this practice every few months will help me assess my progress in achieving greater mental fitness.  I can implement the Subtle Mind exercise in my life by designating a certain time each day to complete this exercise and clear my mind of my daily activity.  Whether I am completing the same Subtle Mind exercise or do some Transcendental Meditation, as long as I make an attempt to do it daily I can make strides towards improving my mental fitnes. 

Unit 7 blog

I found the exercise this week to be relaxing.  Although, I did not find it as beneficial as the other meditation exercises we have done so far.  This exercise, like the exercises, did help with developing a clear and still mind that can help increase my psychological wellness.  Meditation allows me to not focus on the million other thoughts in my head that are causing stress or other negative feelings, and gives my mind a break from what's going on in the day.  I think that if I continue to try this exercise I will continue to notice more and more benefits.  It takes time and patience, I'm not going to notice a breakthrough the first time I listen to it.  I think that as long as I continue to listen to all of the meditation exercises and practice them, I will hopefully foster greater health and psychologicial or spiritual wellness.

The saying, "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" reminds me of the phrase, "practice what you preach".  If we have not gone down a certain road, we don't have that life experience to share with others and guide them through that path.  We might have some knowledge about it, but without the time spent experiencing it and living it, how effective or beneficial would our advice be.  If a person goes to see a registered dietitian to get advice on how to lose weight, and they are overweight and have health problems, how much belief will that patient have in them when they get instructions from the RD.  We do have an obligation to our clients to develop our health in all three aspects to provide the best example possible and provide them with hope.  By taking time each day to do things to manage our stress, exercise, or help others we can take strides in improving our own growth.

unit 6 blog

After completing the universal Loving Kindness exercise I really noticed that during the exercise all of my attention was off of myself.  I wasn't thinking about myself at all and was thinking about those who I knew were suffering and how I could help them.  It gave me a better feeling inside knowing that all of my attention during that exercise was focused on helping others. 
The Integral Assessment was extremely helpful.  It helped me better realize what aspects of my life are ready for growth and development and which aspects are the source of difficulty and suffering.  It really seems like the biological aspect of my life is the biggest source of my suffering.  While for others different aspects can cause biological suffering, it is the other way around for me.  If the biological aspect of my life is suffering, it causes the other aspects of my life to suffer.  It can cause my psychospiritual aspect to be overrun with negative thoughts and anxiety.  It can cause my interpersonal aspect to suffer by taking out my frustrations on those who don't deserve it.  And it can affect my worldly aspect by not allowing me to continue an active role.  The aspect that I have chosen to focus on my growth and development of is the psychospiritual.  I think that I am ready to continue my growth in this area and I believe that development in this area will allow the other aspects to develop and proceed towards integral health.  One exercise that I think will help foster greater wellness in this area is transcendental meditation.  I believe this will help me gain a clear and still mind that will allow me to organize my thoughts in a better way so I can gain a better sense of what drives my life.     

unit 5 blog

1. While both the Loving Kindness exercise and Subtle Mind exercise were both relaxing, they did have some differences.  I think the Loving Kindness exercise focuses more on shifting your attitude towards a more positive side.  The Subtle Mind exercise really focuses on clearing your mind of all thoughts while focusing on a focal point.  They are both similar in that put your mind at ease as well as calm your mind.  While the Loving Kindness exercise was relaxing for me, I found the Subtle Mind exercise to be much more beneficial.  By focusing on my breathing, it really does help me dissolve my other thoughts.  I have struggled a little bit when doing this exercise because my mind still likes to wander while I'm trying to focus on my breathing.  I think that with more practice the Subtle Mind exercise will help give me a clearer and calmer mind that will allow me to use the deeper aspects of my mind.

2. Spiritual wellness plays a big role in our mental and physical wellness.  Just think of all the times when you heard about someone living when a doctor told them they wouldn't make it.  I'm just guessing their spiritual wellness was pretty good.  This kind of spiritual wellness impacts our mental and physical wellness and makes us believe that we are far more capable of what we ever thought of.  Our spiritual wellness expands on our possibilites as humans and provides us with added strength and hope.  It has the potential to lift up our mental and physical wellness by alleviating our fears and giving us a new sense of control and comfort.      

Unit 4 blog

1. I found the exercise to be very relaxing.  It was somewhat of a difficult exercise at times in trying bring to mind someone we care about to our thoughts and feelings to trying to visualize loved ones and strangers who are suffering and breathing to take their suffering away.  It was covering a wide range of things throughout the exercise.  I listened to it a second time and reread the exercise as well.  This seemed to help me get a better  grasp on how effective this exercise can be.  I think this exercise would be beneficial for others and I would recommend for people to at least try it.  I really think this exercise would be beneficial for an individual who holds resentment against another person.  I think it would help them realize that an attitude of loving-kindness would give them a better sense of wellness and they would see a difference in how others approached  them compared to having an attitude of negativity.

2. The concept of a mental workout is that we need to keep our mind sharp and alert by using our mental capacities and resources daily.  It is just like physical exercise, if we stop practicing we will see a drop off in our ability to perform effectively.  The benefits of a mental workout include opening up our mind and developing an expanded consciousness and it's healing capacities.  Other benefits include a trained mind and diminished self-centeredness.  It is pretty easy to implement mental workouts to foster our psychological growth by taking 5-15 minutes each day to do different types of comtemplative practice.