A reflection on health and wellbeing

In unit 3 I scored my physical a 7, psychological a 7, and spiritual a 6.  For my final, I scored myself a 6 for my physical, a 7 for my psychological, and a 7 for my spiritual.  I'm still in the process of developing these.  I have good days and bad days when it comes to my physical, so there may always be a slight difference in numbers depending on how I feel that day. Overall, my score would be very similar to how I scored myself for unit 3.  I haven't made a ton of progress but, looking back over my goals, I also haven't been following the activities I set myself.  I do try my best to get in daily exercise, but I just haven't found the time to meditate or pray. Finding quiet time when your husband is away and you have 3 children, is almost near impossible.  I think my biggest accomplishment this term was joining a weekly yoga class.  This allows me quiet time for physical, mental, and spiritual.  I currently go once a week but it may be necessary for me to go more in order to reach my goals. I have gained more confidence and feel that I am on the right track.  What I've learned from this course and have applied/am applying in my life will serve to assist others in the future.  I'm training to be a health coach, so I feel its important for me to experience and understand the struggles that my clients may be going through.

Steps for Maintaining Health and Wellness

Introduction

Health and wellness professionals should strive to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  Working in the field of health and wellness, it is our job to help others develop these areas.  But how can we help others if we ourselves are not developed in those areas?  Dacher explains, “To become agents of a more expansive health, we must begin with our own life” (Dacher, 2006, p167).  When these areas are more developed in our own life, we are then in a better position to help others. I need to develop psychologically so that I can address issues with clarity and wisdom.  I need to develop spiritually so that I have a genuine compassion for others. And I need to develop physically so that I am capable of the physical requirements of the job and can be an example of preventative and integral health.  Health is a lifelong process so there is always room for development.  I would like to develop more physically in order to feel like I am ready to start helping others.  If one area is lacking it may show up in another area. Since working on the mental and spiritual aspects in this class, my physical development has started improving, which goes along with the concept of the mind-body connection.

Assessment

We did an integral assessment during this term.  This is one way that I can assess my health to find out if any area is out of balance.  If you work on developing the mind, you can be more in-tune to notice when something is not right.  If a person struggles to sleep at night because their mind refuses to calm, this may be an indicator that they need to work on psychological development.  Having regular checkups with a physician can be a way of assessing physical health.  This is something I need to do soon.  I would score my physical health at a 6.  As far as my spiritual and psychological health, the mental exercises have helped a lot over this term with assessing where I am.  I still need work but overall, I would give both areas a 7.

Goal development

It is important to have realistic and achievable goals. My physical goal is to walk five days a week for at least 30 minutes each time.  I love weight training. I hate cardio.  But I know that cardio is necessary.  I don’t like to walk outside alone, so I plan on walking on the treadmill or following along with a video.  My psychological goal is to attend yoga class once a week.  It is very difficult for me to find quiet time at home.  My gym offers childcare so that make it easier for me to attend classes.  The yoga class does visualization exercises at the end of every session, so this will be a great opportunity for my mind, body, and spirit.  My spiritual goal is to spend more time outdoors.  Hiking is very recharging to me but it may not be doable until the weather gets warmer.  Until them I will make a goal to spend time in prayer every night.  I think spending just five or ten minutes in prayer for others will be a peaceful way to calm my mind before sleep.

Practices for personal health

There are various strategies one can take to foster personal growth.  In the physical domain, I plan to get regular exercise, which includes cardio, strength, and flexibility.  I stated earlier that I have a goal to walk five days a week.  In addition to that, I would like to include 2-3 days of strength training, and at least 1 day of flexibility.  This could be my yoga class or a stretching class.  I also plan to schedule an appointment with a physician to have a full checkup done.  This will help me determine where I’m lacking physically or if there are any medical issues that I need to deal with.  Psychologically, I plan to practice yoga once a week and try to do the subtle mind exercise at least twice a week.  In order to find time to practice meditation, I will need to find a quiet time in a peaceful setting.  This will probably have to happen on the weekends when the kids are visiting grandma.  In addition to yoga and meditation, I have also started deep breathing when I drive my kids to school.  Getting three kids up early and out of the house is not easy. It’s very stressful.  I just take deep breaths and by the time I make it to the first school, I have calmed down.  Spiritually, my first strategy is to make time for prayer.  Regardless of religion, prayer has shown to be beneficial.  I want to make time for this at night after I get into bed. My second spiritual strategy is to implement the universal loving kindness exercise every morning.  It is only a 10 minute exercise, so I should be able to fit it in even before I get out of bed. This will help me open my mind and heart.

Commitment

Health and wellness takes a lifelong commitment.  To insure that I am making progress, I need to do regular assessments. For this I could do the integral assessment.  One strategy I have for maintenance is to write things down.  I am a very organized person that likes to plan things so it works for me to schedule activities on my calendar.  It also helps to write my goals down and hang them up on the refrigerator.  Periodically, I could re-assess these goals and my progress and make any necessary changes. Overall, I plan to make sure that I am following the integral map which is based on the five guiding principles of an integral approach: holistic, evolutionary, intentional, person-centered, and dynamic (Dacher, 2006).  I want to remember that my health covers the entire person. I am capable of evolving my potential. Mentally, I am in charge of my decisions and actions. I am unique and have my own set of needs. And I can flourish no matter what the circumstances.

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications 

Just extra

In addition to my regular post this week, I thought I'd share this picture :)

Beneficial Mental Exercises

So many of the exercises were beneficial throughout this term, it’s difficult to choose just two.  My first choice of mental exercise that I think is most beneficial is the Universal Loving Kindness exercise.  This is the exercise found on page 93 of our textbooks. I think this exercise is extremely beneficial to those in health care and fitness professions.  We are working to help someone else reach their health goals, we should be mentally fit.  This exercise allows us to open our mind and heart to all individuals. Since this is a short exercise (about 10 minutes), I plan on doing it every morning. My second choice is visualization; specifically, the visualization exercise that was found on page 144-145 from this weeks’ unit.   This gives me the opportunity to relax and reflect back on when I felt happy, and healthy, and whole.  I think implementing this exercise would be very beneficial. It gives a person a chance to remember and focus on the good times. Afterwards, we can reflect on what it is in life that causes us to not feel this inward peace all the time, and work towards changing that.

Cultivating Psychological and Spiritual Wellness

I didn't too much care for the Meeting Aesclepius exercise.  Being Christian, I don’t feel comfortable putting emphasis on other gods.  I used this time to reflect on the wisdom, speech, and heart of Jesus, or Yeshua, if you prefer.  When asked to allow this person to dissolve and enter my body, I did feel a sense of wisdom and clarity for a moment. I still enjoy practicing the universal loving-kindness exercise and just simply listening to relaxing music while focusing on my breathing and clearing my mind.  I do plan on continuing meditation.  It has helped my psychological wellness.  I am calmer and better able to handle stress.  As a result, I don’t turn to food for comfort and I am finally losing weight again. It is difficult to find time to meditate. I’ve got three kids running around screaming.  My two year old is a major distraction.  I found out that if I sit there with the calm music on and close my eyes and ignore him, he will either leave the room or climb up in my lap to see what I’m doing.  Then he gets a small dose of sitting calmly just for a minute or two J

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”. I completely agree with this.  It is our responsibility to practice what we preach, so to speak.  If we don’t experience it ourselves, how will we be able to honestly describe it to our clients? We should be developing our health in every aspect so that we can show others how to achieve wellness.  I honestly think that those that have struggled and overcome make the best mentors because they have a better understanding of what the client is going through.  To implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life I plan on continuing with meditation, positive thinking, yoga, regular exercise, studying scripture, prayer….whatever it takes and whatever I feel is the correct path for me at the time.

Universal Loving Kindness and Psychospiritual Development

I enjoyed the universal loving kindness exercise found on page 93.  I turned on some zen music to help drown out my kids but overall, I was able to keep my focus on repeating the phrases.  Repeating these 4 sentences helped me keep all other thoughts out for the entire 10 minutes.  It helped me to open my heart and feel more compassion.  I think this would be a great exercise for all health professionals to start their day out with.

On page 115 was the Integral Assessment.  We were to clear our minds and then ask ourselves what area is the source of our difficulty and suffering - psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly. I'm sure that every area needs work, but I think overall I need to work on the psychospiritual.  This seems to lead to the others.  My life is led (or halted) by fears. I do not get involved in the world because I'm afraid I'll get hurt or embarrass myself.  I don't go to the gym for fear of the unknown. The list could go on but I'm sure ya'll get the idea. I let fear control my life and so this is the area that I need to develop.

To improve in this area, I plan to meditate regularly while repeating positive affirmations such as "Fear has no hold over me".I will remind myself of all the things I have accomplished when I thought I couldn't.  Also, my religious side has been known to help me with this.  There is a certain bible verse I repeat to myself over and over when I get overwhelmed with fear or anxiety. I just replace (us) with( me) to make it more personal. It is 2 Timothy 1:7 - 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Subtle Mind

The subtle mind exercise was similar to the loving-kindness exercise because both required a quiet spot, free of distractions. The loving-kindness exercise focused on thinking of others whereas the subtle mind exercise didn't want to bog down the mind with thoughts.  We were asked to focus on our breathing and keep our mind from wandering.  The mind wants to think, so when thoughts did pop into our heads, we were supposed to gently acknowledge them then return our attention back to our breathing. Although this exercise was difficult for me to do, I enjoyed it and do plan on practicing it more.  The breathing really helped create a calmness, but I had a really difficult time keeping my mind from wandering.  Once I thought I had a control on my mind, my head felt clearer but I couldn't stop fidgeting.

This class is all about how the mind, body, and spirit are connected. Physical and mental wellness are important because together, we can reshape our biology- Rewrite our health. But spiritual wellness is necessary if we want to fully develop. We cannot fully develop our mind/body without psychospiritual development.  As a christian, I believe in helping others in need or in times of trial (as I'm sure most religions believe).  However, if I'm not willing to take the time to focus on the needs of others (like how the loving-kindness exercise leads us to do) my mind and body are not going to be willing to do so. Spiritual development helps us reach higher levels of the mind and body.