Unit 10 Final Post

I scored myself a 9 for my physical well-being, a 6 for my spiritual well-being, and an 8 for my psychological well-being.  I am progressing well in all areas and fell the one area that has improved is my spiritual well-being.  Not that I would increase it from a 6 to a 7, but I am more at peace with the goals that I have set.  They feel right at this time to move in the direction that I have decided to go with my spirituality.  The physical and psychological are both the same as the score goes, but I have lost a few pounds and feel balanced.

I have done well in working on my goals for the all three areas.  I have a routine with my physical well-being that it is all working well.  I am comfortable with the direction my spiritual health is moving.  I will continue to be more mindful of my psychological well-being, at this moment it needs more focus.  That is the beauty of being in touch with my evolving needs. 

This course has been very rewarding and I am pleased with my improvements that I am working toward.  There have been many rewarding experiences with this class including seeing what my peers are dealing with, the interactions on the discussion boards, including the interactions with our professor.  I personally feel so much more at peace with the direction my life is going and that alone is huge.  I feel more confident that I am a person who can help others modeling what I have learned through this class about the fluid state of learning and living in a higher state of well-being and how this can benefit everyone.  I know that I can provide quality support to those who will be my clients.

 

I wish everyone the best, Candii 

Unit 9 - Final Project

1. Introduction:

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, physically and spiritually? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, physically and spirituality to have credibility with our clients.  It is important to model the actions that we want to have mirrored from our clients increasing their ability to expand their level of well-being in all aspects of their lives.  Our actions can speak louder than words spilling over to affect those around us including clients or individuals we work with.  The ability to be at a higher level of flourishing is important in our profession for our clients to glean from us this process of the interconnectedness of the mind, body and spirit.  Walking the talk so to speak or modeling this transformation to a higher capacity is important to display with our ability to support their transformation. 

           I will need to work in all areas of the mind, body and spirit to round out my goals that I have for myself.  It is a constant process of improvement one practice at a time.  Since life is ever evolving so is our work with living and experiencing a higher flourishing of health.   

2. Assessment:

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

I have assessed my health in each domain on a scale of one to five.  One equals needs improvement and the five equals sustaining the practice.  I score my spiritual wellness as a three, moderately satisfied but would like to improve and reconnect with the religion that I experienced as I grew up.  I don’t think I can ever go back to being a go to church every Sunday kind of person, but I would like to share services with those that I love and cherish.  I am comfortable with my personal relationship with god, but would like to expand the relationship that I have on the social aspect.  I score my physical wellness as a three.  There is always room for improvement.  Even though I work out regularly I look forward to when school work does not dictate my decisions as to when I can exercise and what type of activity I will be able to complete on a time limit.  I give a score of 4 to my psychological wellness.  Over the last several months I have worked hard to improve my psychological health and well-being.  I completed a stress assessment class based on the teachings of Brian Luke Seaward, I have established a practice of using imagery to get me through tough situations and utilizing meditation throughout my week.  These activities include visualizing color meditation, results oriented outcomes, loving kindness processes, calm abiding and experiencing visions of Meeting Aesclepius.  By mindfully practicing all of these activities I will be working on the improvement of the mind, body and spiritual connection.   

3. Goal Development: 

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

I will improve my psychological health by completing my degree and reducing my stress.  I will improve my physical health by reducing my weight and getting better quality sleep.  I will improve my spiritual health by reconnecting with the faith that I was raised in having not participated in since my senior year in high school. 

4. Practices for personal health:

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Psychological, Physical, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

I will work on my psychological aspect by improving my ability to meditate, practice imagery, yoga and Qigong.  I plan to work on my physical aspects by continuing my exercise program with walking, aerobics, stretching, strength training and relaxation.  It is my intention to experience growth in the spiritual aspect of my life by reconnecting with the faith of my childhood and experience with my daughter and family members by attending services more frequently. 

To implement a program to improve my growth in my psychological domain I will set aside 30 minutes each day to complete an activity of which will be either meditation, imagery, yoga or learn the finer elements of Qigong.  The time will be dependent on my work schedule.  If I work early in the day then I will do it as soon as I get home from work and if I have to work late in the day I will complete these activities as soon as I get up in the morning.  I have selected two DVD’s from the library to help me learn a good foundation of Qigong.  To implement a more regular exercise schedule I will increase my walking and aerobic time to one hour 4 times a week, with stretch and strength training for 30 minutes 3 times a week.  To improve my ability to relax, I am going to get back into my routine of having a massage twice a month.  This will typically be scheduled on afternoons when I don’t have to get up early the next morning to allow me to lolly gag in bed.  All of this will help me to achieve better quality sleep.  My plan to get more in touch with my spiritual domain is to attend a local RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) process and start to attend services on a regular basis.  Classes begin in September and typically culminate at the following Easter vigil.  Even though I was baptized and confirmed as a youth, I would like to revisit what I was taught and experience what my daughter just learned through her RCIA process.  I never made her go to church or required her to be enveloped into my childhood faith as my parents did with me.  I did expose her to many faith options while she was growing up, this year she did settle and will be confirmed and baptized this Easter in the faith of my youth.  Her experience with the RCIA process has intrigued me enough to explore what she learned.  I will start to integrate attending church services back into my thought patterns and life.      

5. 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 will assess my progress every couple of weeks in each of the areas over the next several months.  I plan to be honest with my growth or evolvement of what practices I have cultivated in the areas of psychological, physical and spiritual health.  I am committed to making improvements in my integral health.  To track my progress with physical growth I have two apps on my smart phone that I will log my workouts.   Using Log My Run or Walk I get a weekly email with a recap of my progress of physical activity I completed during the week.  I also put a happy face icon on my electronic calendar for each activity that I complete.  I use a different picture for each activity.  I am going to add an icon for when I complete one of my psychological activities of meditation, imagery, yoga or Qigong.  I also use the Sparkpeople app and I am able to track the food I consume.  Even though I don’t really worry about my nutritional intake, I like to be able to see calories consumed and compare them to calories expended.  Another tool that I will be implementing is a simple way to journal called GLAD.   At the end of every day, I will write one thing that I am grateful for, one thing that I learned, one thing that I achieved and one thing that delighted me each day.  Once I commit to an activity like the RCIA process, I see it to the end.  I will be able to start it just after I graduate which will give me an intellectually stimulating activity that I require.  Until then attending a church service each month will be a big step for me.  This too will be logged on my calendar.  I am dedicated to being what people first observe about me.  I believe that all these activities will bridge the connection to my mind, body and spirit.  I will continue to investigate options to improve positive growth to bridge my mind, body and spirit.            

         

The two practices that I find to be the most beneficial to me at this time are the Loving Kindness and visualization.  One visualization practice that I connected to almost instantly is the color relaxation process and when I practice the loving kindness I think of my grandfather.  I also thought of my grandfather with the Meeting Aesclepius in unit 7, although I liked it fairly well I will incorporate it less frequently than the other two.  I truly feel that I have expanded my ability to bring together my mind, body and spirit. With continued practice I am sure my life and my health will flourish.

To implement these as habits in my daily life I will let my needs for the day dictate which mental fitness activity I will complete.  My goal is to add one of these somehow throughout my day.  This will be in addition to my daily physical activity that I may achieve.  One example will be next week while I am away from home teaching and staying in a hotel.  I am sure the fatigue and tension I will feel from the long days that I mostly likely might need to utilize the color relaxation process.  Not wanting to predict or plan, I will let each day unfold and listen to what my mind, body and spirit will need in addition to my workout. 

Candii

Unit 7 - Meeting Aesclepius

I had such success from the start on this activity and I appreciated the focus on wisdom for this meditation.  I found that it did not take as much time as it has in the past for me to quiet my minds chatter.   This is either from the fact that I am more relaxed today or that my work with stilling myself for mindful activities is starting to pay off.  I have spent time every other day focusing on some meditative practices.  I will continue to use this one and the loving kindness activity frequently.   

I have started to rely on these activities to keep me grounded in my pursuit of my psychological and spiritual wellness.  I have been feeling full, no long unsure of the knowledge of a higher level of living.  I know there is a greater purpose and I am experiencing calmness I have always strived to feel.  I will continue to utilize many of the activities that I have grown to enjoy like the loving-kindness and clearing mind activities like meditation or imagery.  These will help me to continue to foster a greater level of health and wellness. 

I relate the saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” to walking the talk.  If you do not model this type of fulfilling well-being how can you encourage clients or patients to engage?  I equate not modeling the higher level of flourishing and expecting patients/clients to do so like the practitioner who smokes, coaching patients that they need to stop their tobacco habit.  I do have an obligation to my clients to continue to improve myself personally and professionally in all aspects of a higher well-being.  I won’t know how to guide my clients unless I travel the path myself.  The authenticity will not be there for my clients to see or feel.  Implementing psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life can take on different forms but is necessary for my flourishing and being able to model this for clients.  This can begin by my practice of removing ego and judgement from interactions and removing negative internal dialogue that is so easy to do.   Candii

 

 

Unit 6 - Personal Growth Experience

I did appreciate the Loving Kindness meditation exercise.  Although it took me a about five minutes to memorize exactly what was written in the book, I realized that it truly was not  about being exact.  I guess that is the black and white part of me.  Once I got past that it did not have to be exact I was able to release my mind and complete ten minutes of the activity.  In no time at all it actually went fairly fast instead of the usual dragging feeling that I get.

The Integral Assessment plus what I have experienced in the last two weeks has helped me discover that I want to give enough time and energy to my worldly flourishing.  I gave up a “good” job 8 months ago.  I have continued to work on-call but continue to find myself being relied on in capacities that I am tired of after 19 years.  I discovered that while I feel respected and appreciated for my skills and abilities, this no longer fulfills me.  I am at a place in my life where I can have the luxury to make choices.  I want to get back to the feeling that I do what I do because I like doing it, not because I have too.  In the short term one activity that I am going to implement is that when I apply for jobs I will only apply for those that I know I really want.  I am also going to implement some clear expectations with my department about thier expectations around my free time, or what they perceive as my free time that is available for their needs.  In the long term I am going to finish my degree, work on getting a certification to help treat people with drug and alcohol problems.  I want to be a spirit in action once again to touch my clients, customers, and patients with this level of giving that I have not been able to do for a long time. 

I would also like to give time once again to my interpersonal relationship with my husband on a deeper level.  We are happy and have been in love for a long time.  There is nothing that would disrupt our progression forward; I feel that I do need to provide focus toward being mindful of this union.  Going to school, farming and work responsibilities don’t put this relationship first, it should be. 

This has been a great couple of weeks for me regarding the work of these units, I hope it has been for others too.  Candii

Unit 5 - Subtle Mind vs. Loving Kindness

I did have a harder time with the Subtle mind exercise than I did the Loving Kindness.  It very well could have had to do with the fact that the Loving Kindness exercise kept my mind active and the subtle mind exercise really required me to work on keeping my mind clear.  My thoughts are that the subtle mind exercise should be accomplished once someone is very practiced at this activity and the loving kindness activity could be performed and perfected leading a person to the position or standing of the level that I felt the subtle exercise takes. 

 

Physical wellness encompasses a routine expenditure of calories, nutritionally sound dietary intake and reduction of bad habits.  Mental wellness is the ability to open our minds to new possibilities, connections to people, coping with challenges that we are faced with on a daily bases.  Spiritual wellness helps to bring peace and harmony to all areas that binds or connects the mental, physical and spiritual all together.

 

I think the biggest connection in my life is that I have been trying to bridge the three areas of mental, physical and spiritual daily.  I am not perfect.  I am working on it and hopefully will continue to make progress.   I feel that it has manifested in my life in the physical aspect, the mental and spiritual are a work in progress.  I am not going to stop. 

Happy day, Candii

Unit 4 - Loving Kindness

I appreciated this experience to reinforce our need to unplug from all those things that keep us attached and drained.  The permission to let go of thoughts, images and feelings was very liberating.  I found the liberation and the suggestion in the book to start with 15 minutes and let it grow from there to be the best benefit for me, especially this week when I have had four very busy, long work days.  I liked the sound of the ocean in the background.  I would recommend this to others because we do need to learn to love ourselves before we extend our love to others.   

Mental practices such as the loving kindness activity or meditation are actions considered as a mental workout which boosts the brain to branch out and form new connections.  Through these of activities such as the loving kindness, we can grow and learn to express ourselves in psychospiritual/psychological flourishing and health.  For me to implement mental workouts to foster my psychological health, I will need to practice.  Making time in a quiet setting that would allow me to fully engage in this activity to get the most benefit is the best way I can improve in these areas.  

 

Have a lovely week, Candii

Unit 3 - Crime of the Century

Well-being:

My physical well-being as a 9.  I am pretty healthy, I don’t think I have had a cold or virus for about 2 years, I don’t take any prescriptions but I wish I could sleep through the night.  Once my 15 year old cat is gone, I know it will be easier to sleep through the night.  She wakes me/us up, not being able to remember where her food and water are we have to take her to them.  She is so healthy other than that, kitty senility.

My spiritual well-being is a 6.  I need to do more to clear my mind and connect with that higher place for myself. 

My psychological well-being  at a 8.  Mixed with not sleeping well, stress at work and days/weeks without the sun have really started to get me down at times.  I used to not have difficulty with the daily gray here in the NW but there are times it keeps me down emotionally at this time in my life.

Goals:

Physical:  I will continue my weekly exercise routine of walking 3-5 miles 4 to 5 days a week with strength training 2-3 days a week.  The days and times will vary based on my homework load and work schedule. 

Spiritual: I will work on my puzzle to clear my mind Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Time will be dependent on work schedule and homework load, but I will spend at least 45 minutes to clear my mind get out of the intense “work” mode.

Psychological:  I will discuss issue(s) that are bothering me with my spouse so that I don’t keep my mind active with them before trying to go to bed.  This will be a case by case situation. 

I will be mindful in each of these situations (physical, spiritual and psychological) at the moments I am fulfilling these goals.  This will include clearing my mind and put intention into what I am actually doing at that time. 

The Crime of the Century” Experience:

I was surprised by the title Crime of the Century. I connected to the rainbow imagery. I have connected to this type of imagery since being introduced to it through the curriculum of Brian Luke Seaward. I am not sure why I connected more to this rainbow activity, but I have. I use it almost every night after I am woken by my cat to go out. I use the color blue to return to a restful sleep.
 

Good night all, I wish you the best, Candii

 

Unit 2 Journey On

Happy day!  Welcome to my journey through my class Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing.  I hope that anyone following my blog will benefit from my experience with me.

I have learned over the last year of attending school that I can be in control of my future.  I felt like I was in control before, but honestly I was not.  I had so many demands on my life, I just went from one responsibility to another.  I have learned to say no and stand up for myself and I survived.  I am thankful that I have had the professors that I have had throughout this experience and the support of my husband and daughter. 

I did appreciate the relaxation exercise and have not been exposed to one quite like that before.  At first I could not stop yawning and the area I selected to lay down in was a bit cold, I should have gotten a blanket.  I was skeptical in the beginning because of the yawning, but by the end I was able to feel revived as it suggested.  I also selected to have those thoughts of being revived rather than giving into my fatigue of being awake since 2:00 a.m. this morning.  This is one that I would have to practice a great deal to feel any increase in body temperature, I am always very cold.  With practice I could be more successful with this type relaxation.

Have a lovely day!