It may be the end but it's also a new beginning!!!!

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?

I believe health and wellness professionals need to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because healing is so much more than just fixing the problem but fixing the issues causing the problems. Yes some things can be fixed with medicines such as strep throat but depression needs a little more help in the areas in that person’s life. The health professional needs to be able to help their patients in the best possible manner and to do this they would need to know how to diagnose them correctly and then finding the best way to heal that patient do that. Also they need to know that not all patients are a like so medicine may work for this one but meditation would be more beneficial for the next. 

The most important area I have for myself is physically. I know I have to start eating better and start exercising more and keep on a schedule with it. I cannot bounce back and forth when it comes to those things. I must create a life changing schedule that will work for what I have going on in my life and stick with it.

II. 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 by carefully looking at my feelings, my life and any medical issues I may have.

Psychologically I feel I’m pretty good in this section. If I had to chose one of the areas would be letting good of my anger a little more and not holding it in like I do. I have gotten better over the years but I still get worked up over simple things and I will keep them inside for the fear of hurting other with my words but what I don’t realize at the time is that I’m hurting myself by keeping them in.

Spiritually I do feel I need work on. I pray ever so often but in recent years I have felt like something is missing from that part of my life. I don’t do meditation or relaxing exercises and the feeling of believing in something higher. I have recently started to look into going back to church to get the spiritual part of my life back in order. I feel that if I am able to find God again and start living a more natural and rewarding life that I will feel better about my life and be able to deal with things more knowing that I will always have someone to help or even listen. Also I want to start meditating more. I feel that deep focus can really help clear my head and open my mind so that I may be able to really see what I might need to do. It is also suppose to open your creative side of your mind and that would be a plus to have.
And physically as I mentioned above need a lot of work. I am not super over weight but my weight and over health could be better. I feel if I get my old self back I can start to feel better about my life and myself. Right now I have a lot of negative thoughts about my image and the way I life that I do not enjoy life as I should. If I can change my physical portion of my life I do truly believe I can change my life completely for the better.

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

Physical – To lose my baby weight and start living healthier.
Psychological – Start meditating more and learning how to express my feelings more.
Spiritual – Find a church and start going back to every Sunday.

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’m going to start making sure I go to the gym at least once a day. I’m also going to start eating healthier by cutting out the junk food and work on healthy cooking.

Psychological – This I’m going to find different meditations I can do at home and start setting aside time once everyone goes to bed and giving myself that time too do them. Also going to work on expressing my thoughts sooner so that I do not keep the negative thoughts and feeling bottled up for so long.

Spiritual – Find a church that my family and I can start attending to find that spiritual connection I’m missing. I’m going to start praying more for help and guidance in the paths I should take in my life.

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?

The way I will assess my physical progress is by a scale and my outer image. By keeping track of my weight and the amount I have lost in the next six months will help realize (If I keep it up) what I have accomplished in the physical domain. I will also keep records of over all mood and feeling of the day to see if my inner self starts to get better.

For the spiritual progress can be assess by how I feel inside. As stated I feel like I’m lost or missing some thing. The progress of my inner self over the next 6 months will tell me if I was searching for my needs in the right place or do I need to keep looking? Once I find that I will feel the sense of completions inside of me.

And psychologically I will asses my moods and thoughts during the week to see if my negative thoughts hang around for awhile or am I getting better at expressing myself and letting go afterwards. Holding grudges is a major downfall I have so if I start to realize I’m letting go more than my practice is working.

Suzanne

2 Types of Exercises....

Exercises of the mind are all beneficial in their own way. During my time in Creating Wellness I was able to experience different types of relaxation exercises and I was am to gain something from each but more from some than I did others. 

The first exercise was Loving Kindness and I can say doing that I exercise I truly enjoyed my time. I was very relaxed awards and felt at peace with myself and my world around me. This exercise had you think about a loved one and then yourself. You were given time to dig deep and find those qualities you really enjoy about your loved one. Then it turned the focus onto yourself. It went on to explain you cannot love others unless you love yourself. Since then I have tried to focus on the good I have done and accomplished over the years. By focusing on those positive thoughts you begin to really love who you became and what you stand for and not the negative thoughts you have about yourself or the way you look. 

The next exercise I felt made a big impact on me was Journey to Relaxation. This clip I could just feel my stress floating away as I sat and followed along with the clip. Clips like this I do get the most from because I'm not big on visualizing people and things but when it comes to opening up my mind and just letting go I can do that with no problem. After the exercise I felt really good and way very relaxed. I could do that exercise every night if I just made myself find the time. 

I would have to set aside time during the evening once everyone in the house has gone to bed so that I could truly and solely focus on myself and the exercise I am doing. In doing that I was be able to relieve the daily stress and not let it build up, relax my mind so that I can focus on tasks better and improve my health all together. Throughout the past weeks I have came to realize how important and beneficial relaxation exercises are. They do so much good for your mind, body and soul that it is crazy a lot more of us do not take the time to do that. 

Suzanne

Meeting Aesclepius

1. Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness

My meditative practice the week and calming as always. I do enjoy my meditation time because it gives me a chance to sit back and free my mind. This week we were to focus on a wise gentleman and through the meditation we were give different thoughts and actions to do or focus on.

By doing weekly meditation I can say I have seem a decrease in the amount of time stress is effecting me. I have not been to over whelmed lately and the time that I did I was able to decrease that time that it took over me. I remember the other day I had so much that happen within a short amount of time that I wanted to scream but as I sat there feeding my son I closed my eyes and did a breathing exercise that I learn back a few years. This helped me to calm down and realize there was nothing I could do about the situation at the time and I will take care of each and everything one at a time.

2. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” is pretty simple in my eyes and it basically is saying that you cannot take someone somewhere you have never been because you don’t know how to get there. This is the same when it comes to health and wellness. If you do not know how to fix someone because you were never shown the signs and symptoms than you cannot help them at all. You would have to study that area and all areas so that you can inform yourself of what to look for and what is the best way to help that person.

Just like a doctor I know in order to get to ultimate health, happiness and wholeness I have to teach myself the way to get there. I have to find meditation and different work out to do that will give me the most benefits possible. I also have to know it will take time and it’s a growing process so there is never really an end.  

2 Different Types of Healing

Hello,

This week I was given the assignment of practicing the universal Loving Kindness and completing the Integral Assessment. The Loving Kindness was to close your eye for a few minutes and repeat the following phrases 10 times to yourself.

"May all individuals gain freedom from suffering."
"May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness."
"May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering."
"May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness."

The next exercise was the Integral Assessment. You were asked to close your eyes again and ask yourself "What aspect of my life - psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly - is the source of difficulty and suffering?" You would choose one area you felt was the source of your suffering. Next you were to open your eyes and then directed to focus on healing to a focus on promoting integral development. The questions you needed to ask next was "What area of my life is ready for growth and development? Is it the same area that also needs healing or is it another area? What would the next level of development look like?" You could write your thoughts down so that you have a visual to help you focus on it.

What I found out about myself is that I would need to focus on healing and growth on the biological side of myself. I say this because I am dealign with a lot of stress of school, my husband leaving us for a year and me having to do all of this on my own. I have always had help so this stage in our life is very scary for me. I know I'll get through it but I also know the stress I'm gaining from all of this is not healthy and I need to work on letting go of my fears and worries and know that I can do this and everything will work out.

The exercises I think will be best for me is meditation. I say this because it gets you to relax and helps you let go of the negative thoughts and feeling I maybe having at that time. Over time this exercise will get easier and become a great exercise for my inner self.

Suzanne

Subtle Mind Practice

Last week I did the Loving Kindness exercise and this week I was given the task of doing the Subtle Mind Practice. The Loving Kindness exercise you were walked through steps to take and think about during the clip but in the Subtle Mind exercise there is very little taking. Both clips are great but personally I would do Subtle Mind exercise more than Loving Kindness. I have always felt a calming sense coming from ocean sounds and gentle music. With this type of audio clip you are able to completely clear your mind. You are not waiting for the next direction from the speaker you are just focusing on clearing your mind and focusing on one thing......your breathing. 

Doing this exercise I could feel my thoughts clear out of my head and for my spiritual wellness that is great because I do not have all the chatter going on that we normally do and that chatter is what distracts us from ourselves. This clip also helped my mental wellness by releasing the negative thoughts I might have had. I can say before starting this exercise I did have a headache because I was thinking about everything I had to do when I got home from doing the nightly routine with my son, to homework, to task I have to complete at work and other personal things I had to take care of. My mind is always going 90 to nothing and it is really hard for me to clear it out without any help. With this type of exercise I'm able to clear my mind and in turn help my mental wellness out. But doing these exercises do not just help with my spiritual and mental wellness they all help my physical wellness. Since reading my weekly chapters I have had one thought stuck in my head and that is stress is the number one cause for heart problems. I have a kid to think about now and the fact I want to make sure I'm around for when he grows up and what not so I really try to do calming exercise to relieve that built up stress I may have from my day. I do not let it get to me because it is not worth it in the end. 

Suzanne