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?
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?
I will start saying that health and wellness professionals should practice what they preach. In order to help another individual, client and/or patient, the health and wellness professional needs development in all aspects, psychologically, spiritually and physically. By being in touch with their own mind and body, they can then better their patients and their practice as they can give true informed advice on health and wellness. In return, these listed developments help in a positive state of mind and spread the positivity through their profession and their patients and/or clientele. In all honesty, I have room for improvement in the development in all three aspects of psychologically, spiritually, and physically. I would put psychologically first as that needs the most attention this point in time. Life has thrown a lot of curves ball my way and I am trying to learn and adopt positive attitude and outlook in all that has come and that is to come. Spiritually is next, as I am still working with my meditation exercises and find certain moments difficult as finding quite time and stopping the mental chatter. Physically I would say this is my strongest as I have changed my eating habits and brought them into my home to better all but also training for a marathon you need to be physically fit!
II Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
II Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
I have often thought about and evaluated my health and wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically. I rate them from lowest to highest, slow being needing more work and high being more developed. Starting from the lowest to the highest psychologically, spiritually, and physically; I give my psychological wellness the score of 5 out of 10, spiritual wellness the score of 6 out of 10, and physical wellness the score of 8 out of 10. For my psychological wellness, I score it a five because I need to reach out to others more than taking on the world and all their stress on my own. My spiritual wellness I give the score of six because, I still have troubles with loving-kindness and truly listening to my heart. My physical fitness would be my highest rating at the score of eight because in our home, our nutrition is very important but what makes it not a 10 is I need to add in more daily exercise.
III Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
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 wellness is to make the time and room to work out more. I have signed up for a marathon for a charity and I actually did this more my spiritual wellness but also for my physical wellness. We are to train 3 times a week with our team and then continue training at our homes and this will force me to get my physical fitness in check. My goal is to either walk or ride my bike once a day along side with my training with my team. My goal for my psychological wellness is to reach out and let others help. We have taken in a good friend and his 4 children. I have taken on the role of their caregiver in helping our friend out and it is challenging as I have the trouble to just stop and sit down and ask for help. It has been challenging this week to take care of them, then mine on top of it, and get my schoolwork in. My true goal is to hang up my supermom cape and let someone else try it on for size once in awhile. Lastly, a goal for my spiritual health is to take my marathon experience to the full length of helping others. I am doing this marathon in honor of a child that is suffering from a blood cancer, Leukemia. This experience will reach my spiritual wellness in all lengths for heartwarming to challenging my emotions. This in return can help in my goal to conquering loving-kindness.
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.
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.
My first strategy to in fostering growth in my physical development is using the exercise, yoga. Yoga helps to give on balance mentally but as well as physically. Yoga can help in easing muscle aches and tension, tone muscles, and as well can help ease stress and anxiety, which in return can have a negative effect on one’s physical health (Ross & Thomas, 2010).
My plan for implementation of yoga is to practice this exercise once a day. My plan is to do my yoga workout in the mornings. I have used yoga for quite some time now but have fallen out of a daily routine and by me applying this daily exercise, I can honestly say this is a good way start my day off. I feel invigorated and alive when I do yoga and it really does help in positive emotions for the rest of the day.
The practice I can implement to foster growth for my psychological development also goes with my last strategy/practice for my physical development. Training the mind can enhance my mental and physical well-being (Dacher, 2006). Being in good health and practicing regular exercise of the mind using a carefully arranged procedure can help in the development of the inner self. This can have positive effects on stress management and help relax the mind. We train our minds to view the world in a more positive manner and in return, not only our minds reap the benefits, but our bodies as well. Stress and anxiety can alter our physical being and since the mind and the body are connected, training the mind would be a good recommendation for mental and physical well-being.
My focus will be to keep my mind and body healthy, to keep a healthy immune system. Other ways to implement this into my life is working on positive emotions and letting go of the negative ones. I can try mental imagery, focusing on my internal and external health to better my mind and my physical self.
The practicing of human flourishing for wholeness can help in fostering growth for my psychological development. Since wholeness is within us indefinitely no matter how negative and stressful emotions can get, it is in us to experience less stress in ways of learning how to still the mind (Dacher, 2006). For psychological wholeness, the outermost level and the inner level of wholeness combined together can then create a “higher level of wholeness” (Dacher, 2006, p. 141).
I can implement human flourishing for wholeness in my life by allowing me to feel, allowing me to see the happiness that lies beneath me and feeling the true wholeness, that life has to offer me. This will take much effort on my part as stress and negative emotions sometimes seem to want to take over the stillness but learning to control my mind and become truly aware. Reminding myself that it is ok and continue forth with exercising the mind for true wholeness.
Meditation is a spiritual and calming practice. By combining a still mind and special breathing, it can send one into a “state of deep inner peace” (Thibodeau & Patton, 2008, p. 417). Meditation can ease the mind while bring forth positive emotions and feelings.
Along side with practicing yoga in the mornings, I can implement meditation into my daily workout as well. Yoga is a calm-binging practice as well as meditation. I will not just stop there, I have new challenges in my life and practicing meditation can help me get through them. I plan to practice meditation in the evenings as well to help wind me down as I have late nights of homework ahead of me; this will help ease my mind.
Universal loving-kindness is a spiritual practice that one concentrates on to send positive emotions and loving all including your enemies. Loving-kindness can help one reach out to all and get past the ugly negative emotions that one can harbor.
For class we were to practice the universal loving-kindness exercise. I had a bit of trouble with fully completely this exercise. This is reason why I chose this one exercise for an example how to foster growth in my spiritual development. My issue with this exercise was, loving my enemies. I plan to implement this exercise into my life by practicing each week and not give up on fully completing it. I feel with combining all meditation exercises with the universal loving-kindness exercise that one day I will be able to love my enemies. This is a deep exercise and one I am determined to complete!
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?
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 have decided to start journaling. I may keep up with my blog but I feel the need to write. I feel by me journaling I can keep track of my goals and since it is on paper, I will be more apt to sticking with them. Alongside with journaling, I have downloaded audio meditation exercises to practice in several different aspects as well finding one for children. Having my son join me in will help me set forth a continuing goal that I will set for life, not in 1 year I will reach this goal, but one that is never-ending. I am looking at my progress as a continuation to the next, when I reach a certain height, I can go further. There is no end to this path, there is just consistent learning and new challenging to meet and I am exciting. I will do this for the next 6 months and long-term to keep up with the maintenance. In return, my family will be by my side joining me in this journey to better all our health and wellness.
References
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health.
Ross, A. & Thomas, S. (2010). The health benefits of yoga and exercise: A review of comparison studies. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine 16 (1), 3-12. Retrieved August 7, 2010, from Academic Search Premier database.
Thibodeau, G. A. & Patton, K. T. (2008). Structure & function of the body (13th Edition). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
5 comments:
Hi, I have found keeping a journal helps me to stay on track. Its a great tool to review progress or set backs and a way to analyze how the modalities are working. I find it encouraging how you are planning and training to run a marathon for a young child with blood cancer. That is amazing. Its also wonderful that your are including your family in this journey a great way to teach them about health, happiness and wholeness- the integral way.
Jen W
Life is full of challenges isn't Jennifer?? But with all that we have learned from this class it should help make life a lot easier. I know that I will be doing much meditation once training starts which is this Saturday! I want to wish you luck in our new practices!
Pam, I Love your statement about hanging up your Super woman cape and letting others help. I think I need to realize that myself! I tend to try to do everything myself and not let anyone help me, because I always feel like that if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. It definitely makes life easier though, to share some of the work load with others. And in the grand scheme of things, if it is not done exactly how I would do it, I guess it really doesn't matter all that much, as long as it gets done. But I am right there with you on needing to hang up the Supermom cape and pass on the workload!
Pam-
I swear you and I are the same person! I too am completing school for Nutrition and I feel like you and I are in the same exact places regarding our wholeness (psychological, spiritual, and physical). Physical is my strongest aspect also and my mental and spiritual are second. They are pretty close though, I would rate mine around a 5 or so.
I know exactly how you feel when you said "stress and negative emotions sometimes seem to want to take over the stillness but learning to control my mind and become truly aware. Reminding myself that it is ok and continue forth with exercising the mind for true wholeness". I honestly have trouble with that too, but I think once I have control over my emotions and thoughts, my wellness will improve greatly.
I really enjoyed your paper!! Good luck in the future!
Danielle
Hi Pamela,
Firstly let me comment on the wonderful graphics presented. It is important to practice what we preach. Training and developing skills physically, mentally and spiritually are important in teaching others about their achievements. Your progress and achievements are great and practicing meditation and yoga on a regular basis will definitely contribute to a healthier lifestyle. It is effective in reducing stress and increasing mental clarity and awareness just to name a few. Your strategies, journalling and goals will be effective in achieving health, happiness and wholeness. Good luck.