Final Reflections

At the beginning of my creating wellness class, I was asked to rate my wellbeing. On October 7^th I rated myself as follows: Physical wellbeing = 8, Spiritual wellbeing = 7, and Psychological wellbeing = 8. In my final project  on November 18^th I rated myself as follows: Physical welling = 5, Spiritual wellbeing = 7, and Psychological wellbeing = 6. My scores apparently changed but the decrease in two of my scores is not due to regression. After learning more about what each area really consist of, I realized I wasn’t doing quite as well as I thought. I don’t take this as bad though. It is actually good because I gained knowledge and it has enabled me to identify specifically what I can do to improve.

My original goals were to: Physical = become more physically fit, control eating habits better and make healthier choices; Spiritual = be at peace within and feel a complete connection with my personality, intellect, will power and emotions; Psychological =  finish training my mind and maintain it where my mental state is at peace at all times. I have not made progress towards my physical goal. I have not been running now that it is cold outside. Plus I have been so occupied with work and school, I haven’t made time to go to the gym. I have been eating better and controlling my portions and choices. I have been working towards my spiritual and psychological goals as well. I have definitely been praying more, meditating more, having positive self-talk and I have become more aware of my negative emotions.

The creating wellness class was very beneficial. I do feel as though I have slightly improved my wellbeing. I find the meditation practices rewarding but most rewarding is the overall knowledge I have gained. Nothing was really difficult but I just wish the class wasn't so fast paced so I could have focused more. My experience in this class will definitely improve my ability to assist others. I plan to share what I have learned with others when needed. I would love to see other people take my advice and make natural changes in their life that would foster a greater wellbeing and growth.

Fostering Growth in My Personal Life

Introduction:

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because your duty is to help others foster their well being. You cannot do so if your overall health is not up to par. Also, there is more to teaching others than just verbally educating them. You must be a role model as well which means you must properly develop in all areas. Personally, I need to develop more psychologically and physically.

Assessment:

I have assessed my health in the spiritual domain, on a scale of 1 to 10, as a 7. There is always room for improvement and further knowledge. Physically I am a 5. There is much room for improvement. I definitely need to incorporate exercise and or yoga into my daily schedule. Also, I need to eat healthier and make time to prepare my meals. Psychologically I am a 6. I really feel as though I need to meditate more and find better ways to cope with daily stressors. I tend to let them get the best of me at times.

Goal Development:

My first physical goal is to exercise at least 30 minutes each day. My second physical goal is to prepare lunch at least 4 days a week for work. My psychological goal is to find an opportunity in every situation to be thankful and or positive. My spiritual goal is to meditate more, at least twice a day.

Practices for Personal Health:

To foster growth in the physical domain I will go running and also go to the gym. Staring my day with a form of exercise will get my heart pumping. It will also give my energy to carry me through the day. To foster psychological growth, I will meditate and practice breathing exercises. These will allow me to train my mind, clear it of negative thoughts and promote positivity. To foster spiritual growth I will practice yoga as well as meditation practices. Yoga actually benefit me in all areas. It will promote flexibility, balance, calmness and focus. Prayer and meditation will be helpful to starting my day with the proper mindset. They will also give me a boost at any time of the day. For example, I could take a few moments just to be thankful or say a prayer for someone else. It really does evoke a sense of happiness to help others even if you have not done anything physically.

Commitment:

In the next six months, I will assess my progress or lack of progress by reviewing my actions. I will take some time to reflect in order to determine what I have or have not done to work towards the previously stated goals. Strategies I can use to assist in maintaining long-term practices for health and wellness would be leaving myself notes, or setting alarms as reminders. Also, I can pray and ask for encouragement and strength.

Mental Fitness

After considering each of the exercises that I've learned, I determined that the subtle mind and universal loving kindness are most beneficial to me. I can use both of these in my personal life to foster my mental fitness. The subtle mind exercise is going to help me achieve a personal goal of being able to clear my mind and block out mental chatter as well as other distractions. Universal loving kindness is going to help me to increase my capacity of love that I show to myself, family, friends, coworkers, strangers and my future clients. I would be able to let go of negative thoughts, grudges and anger so that I can really feel a deeper level of happiness and peace within.

Aesclepius & Leading

The meeting Aesclepius exercise was interesting. I chose to visualize my grandfather. He passed away in 2011 but he was and always will be a very important person in my life. He taught me so much and thinking of him helps me find peace and enables me to get through challenging times. Mindfulness and meditation is important in my psychological and spiritual wellness because it helps me to focus, maintain calmness, reduce stress and clear my mind of the irritating chatter. It helps to eliminate stress and enables me to find the positive in all situations. I will continue some of the practices I have learned in combination with yoga and my nature runs to foster greater health and wellness.

In my opinion, the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not yet gone himself" means that as a health and wellness professional I must master the concept of achieving complete wellness before I can instill the techniques and knowledge into another person. I do feel as though I have an obligation to my clients to develop myself psychologically, physically and spiritually. This is all part of leading and teaching. I am a role model and must be as one instead of acting. To be is natural as acting is just something you do for show and is temporary. I chose to make permanent changes in my life in order to achieve wholeness.

Growth & Development

The universal loving kindness exercise was short and simple. It focused on your capacity of loving kindness which you share with loved ones but it focuses on spreading it towards everyone even enemies and strangers. Our text stated that learning this can help you to let go of anger and hatred. I think that is really good and important. I already feel as though I have a huge heart and I am always open to helping others but this exercise and topic opened my eyes to see that there is much more to learn. I can expand my mind and heart even further. I intend on practicing this exercise more especially before work and on my breaks. I really feel as though it will help motivate me and put me in a better mood as all of my customers are not so friendly when I’m only trying to help them. Also, I have been pondering on what direction I should take with my experience, wisdom and degree. I know whatever I choose, I want to help people so this exercise would be useful.

I think my focus of growth and development needs to be in psychospiritual flourishing and then biological flourishing. I need to gain emotional control, period and this will also help me work on fitness, nutrition and self-regulation. Growth and development in these areas will definitely make me feel better and promote wellness and wholeness. I can practice meditation, praying and learn about different exercises like those in our text. I have to start training my mind first and then incorporate the physical acts of exercising more and eating right.

Subtle Mind & Wellness

So honestly I think the guys’ voice is boring like “dry eyes, gets the red out” lol. Sorry but it was hard for me to even listen to him in the beginning. Once the lady started talking, I starting listening. Also the ocean sounds always take me to a peaceful place and it’s like everything around me disappears. I like the fact that she gave ample time to allow me to focus and refocus if I lost that focus. The loving kindness exercise touched several different areas which could be helpful in different peoples focus areas. This subtle mind exercise focused on just you. I feel as though a person may want to master this one first to learn to relax, focus and breathe properly. Attention span and focus is the first steps in my opinion.

Spiritual, mental and physical wellness are all intertwined. You can’t neglect one part and expect the others to flourish; you must find and maintain balance. In my personal life I pray, meditate, go on nature runs, choose to eat healthy foods, complete puzzles and utilize my creativity. These are just a few things that help in maintaining my balance.

Mental Workout

I think the concept of mental workout is to progressively develop expanded consciousness and its healing capabilities. The benefits of mental workout are related to reduced stress, increased focus, better sleep and things like better perception. To foster my psychological health I could implement meditation and prayer at the start of my day, find the positive side of all situations, count my blessings, avoid confusion and busyness, and have positive self-talk. These are just a few things that I do and suggest to others.

Loving Kindness

This exercise was better than the last one. What I liked most was the fact that the ladies’ voice was soft and soothing, not boring and the sounds of the ocean and flute was nice. I often listen to sounds of nature and flutes to sleep better anyway so this was perfect for me. In the beginning of this exercise, it asked me to think of someone I hold dearly. I immediately thought of my grandfather who passed away and then I thought of my cat Smokey who just passed away Friday. I started to get emotional but I had to refocus and think of the happiness they brought me when they were both still living. The exercise shifted my focus to myself so I was able to let the sad thoughts go completely. I was having a very hard weekend with the passing of Smokey so this exercise allowed me to clear my mind and refocus my thoughts. I found myself at peace because of this exercise. Even if it was only temporary, it was very beneficial. I would definitely recommend this to others because sometimes you need direction and natural ways to calm the mind, body and soul. I do feel some of the things were not for me but I understand the concept or the reason behind touching so many different topics in the exercise; which I believe is to satisfy a wide range of personal areas. This way there is something for everyone in it.

Relaxation

I completed the relaxation exercise titled “The Crime of the Century”. I am not very sure what the title meant as it had nothing to do with what the exercise consisted of. Of course I was able to relax and follow the instructions; I can relax anytime my eyes are closed and I’m in a quiet place. It was somewhat beneficial because I learned points of the body to associate certain feelings and thoughts with. Imagining beams of light was not soothing to me though. Overall, I still found the exercise beneficial as it was a learning experience. I would do this again on my own without the recording and without imagining the different colors.

Ratings, Goals and Moving Forward

Based on my reflections, I would rate my physical well being an 8 because I feel as though I am physically well. I have no illness, only allergies and a great immune system so I rarely get sick. I would rate my spiritual well being a 7 because I know I have much more to learn but I am on a good path compared to where I was say 10 years ago. I would rate my psychological well being an 8 because I no longer suffer from depression, which I battled with all my life until April 2013. I found peace within, changed my perception, became closer with god and removed negative people out of my life.

My physical goal is to become more physically fit. I want to go running almost every day consistently. I also want to control my eating habits better and make healthier choices. I am trying to reprogram my mind, as I did before, to eat to nourish the body instead of eating because something tastes good which leads to overeating. Spiritually, my goal is to be at peace within and feel a complete connection with my personality, intellect, will power and emotions. Psychologically, my goal is to finish training my mind and maintain it where my mental state is at peace at all times. I want to always view things in a positive way no matter how negative it may be. I want to have complete emotional control.

To move toward each of my goals, I need to make time for running and also treat it as a priority. I need to pray and meditate more, do more research and be true to myself. I need to continue training my mind, have positive self-talk and be aware of negative emotions.

My love for Nature

I just thought I would share a few pics from my nature run last week. It was so relaxing and refreshing :)

 This marsh is beautiful and the grass was taller than me...

 Mid-way through the marsh; of course I had to stop & admire the water...

 End of the marsh...

 I love running stairs :)

 The deck at the top of the stairs, overlooking the marsh...

 Beautiful view of the Appomattox River...

 I love love love water...

 Continuing my journey through the woods...

 Almost over :(

 Finishing my run with a steep hill. To the top I go... Until we meet again :)

Reflection

I really enjoyed the "Journey On Relaxation" exercise. After a busy day at work, it was very helpful last night. I think it's amazing how you can feel so many feelings throughout your body just from believing, focusing and relaxing. It doesn't take much practice but a lot of people just don't try. I think about people who spend ridiculous amounts of money searching for ways to unwind and find peace when true peace is all in the mind.

"True bliss cannot be measured by gain or loss" -unknown

Welcome

Hi everyone! I am so excited about this Creating Wellness class. I'm just mad that it is so fast paced. I feel I won't get to really enjoy it or get into it the way I desire. This is my first time using a blog so bare with me lol... Ok lets start this journey :)