Unit 10 Final Reflection

·  Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

Physical I thinking I am moving forward with a 6ish. I would safely say that this point I am a fresh new look at a 1 on psychological and spiritual wellness. Reason for this is the information I have received through this course and my prior course. I feel starting at a one is the ground level and if I can create a strong baseline or strong foundation will create a stable path, whether or not I progress or have missteps. I dislike making safety nets for failure, but I feel this is the most realistic point of view to have.

·  Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

I can safely say I have not made the full steps forward that I have wanted to make or that I should be at, at this point. The goals are still there and I still review them on a daily bases, but I not been able to make the time to do what I need to do at this point. Hope I hoping in the next week or so (once holiday decorating and all the holiday stuff is done) it will calm down and get additional time to practice and work on my well-being more.

·  Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

I am still doing the breathing techniques, but I haven’t had the time or the right mindset to start adding in the visualization yet. Physical activity is something that has increased more and more (which isn’t a bad thing), but it seems to have taken up most of my energy levels and time. At night I am working on the research for the spiritual side of this, but I must say I have been in too much of a forward fashion more of a stop dead in my tracks.

Hope you have a WONDERFUL Holiday Season and good luck on your upcoming courses!

Unit 9 Reflection

1. Introduction:
   Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically?  In order to for me to continue in any of the health fields, I need to make sure that I address and develop all three areas: mind, body, and spirit. This is not only a development but an evolutionary movement in life. If I do not do this development then I will not be able to assist the people or the lives I come across whether personal or professional.

What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

I would have to say for myself all areas need to be developed. I would have to say in the last couple weeks everything has gone down the tubes. Life has gotten too busy once again, but this should drop off for the next couple weeks. Every area of my health from nutrition to exercise to personal thought time has been completely turned upside down. The ultimate goal is to become whole and allow my mind-body-spirit to all work as one.

2. Assessment:
   How have you assessed your health in each domain? I have assessed my development in each domain, by what I have put into it, what I have received from it, and what I have been able to maintain. I started this course thinking I was at roughly a 5 in spiritual, physical, and psychological, but have I came to realize in actuality I am at only a 1.

How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

I know this sounds bad, but I think it’s extremely realistic, I feel as if I am at a 1. But now with a new found power to manage and maintain a forward progress in my complete development. Between this course and prior courses I think I have the needed tools to start my journey with all eyes on the goal. Prior to this I felt I was making progress but I haven’t been able to maintain it. It’s now time to point it together and make a plan that will allow for the success, but also for the moments of setbacks and to learn from the setback, in knowing for the future how to avoid them in the future (lesson learned).

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

Physical: I need to get back into the gym and get my nutrition back on point again. I personally believe this is my number goal at this point. It would help with energy issues I have been having and help give me an additional release for stress.

Psychological: This is the one that I am still working with. I have been doing the breathing techniques often. But I am looking at working with more of the mental exercises soon. Hoping within the next two week, having the time to focus on these and the imagery exercises. I real want to be able to sit down and read through the Dacher book again. That way I can focus more on the writing instead the information needed for a class. This will also give me time to research more.

Spiritual: This is one of the areas I am working on the research for. I am still somewhat confused with what it instills. I would freely admit I am completely lacking in this stage. I have my beliefs and I feel they are strong will guide me farther into my well-being. This will be a ground level entry point. Although, I am going to start looking more in to Buddhism (I do not know much of this religion, but it seems most of the modern eastern is coming from that direction). 

4. 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 have completely enjoyed Yoga. I will add more of this to my daily routine. I am going to research different eastern relaxing and that included movement into the methods. I hoping to get in a couple good hikes before the weather turns completely bad.

Psychological: I want to keep trying the loving-kindness and subtle mind. With a focus more on the visualization practices. Working towards the self-centering and making sure I am at peace with myself and others.

Spiritual: This one I cannot say what I can do for exercises.  When I see this I automatically think of religion. I am working on figuring this out. I am not a religious person and feel this is going to be hardest step for me. I can see the work on myself, but I am unsure of how to work in the spiritual. Would love some ideas on this one!

5. Commitment:
   How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months?

As long as I am moving forward I will take it as progress. I don’t feel I should put it on a scale, just because to measure something on one day will never measure the same as on another. Plus, there will days were I do not meet the standards I set for myself and this would cause a feeling of failure. Failure is not conducive to success. As long as a month assessment is done, I am thinking of starting a journal to keep track of success and/or failures.

What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

Staying on the positive side of the fence will help maintain the long-term practices. Reassuring me on a daily bases that not only am I doing this for myself, but for everyone around me. I also need to remind myself that I am not a one person army. Each person in my life is unique and adds a quality to my life. I need to take each person for what they are and not what I need them to be. It takes others in your life to help create the wholeness.

Unit Eight Reflections....

Two of the exercises I have already implemented into my life for my mental fitness are loving kindness and subtle mind. I am finding that these are the basics for me to developing my mental fitness. These both bring me to a calm place and allow me to focus on what needs to be focused on and what doesn’t need to be focused on goes out of my mind. These to me are just a starting point on my over-all journey to wholeness. I am hoping to add in both visualization and meditation within the next couple weeks. I am still having an issue with making the time for myself. But this should be changing over the next 2 weeks or so. I am working on washing the “sucker” of my forehead and learning to say “no” when need be. This should hopefully clean some of the stuff off my plate. I did make is a FULL week without agreeing to add anything more to my plate, so it’s a good start!

Unit Seven Reflection

How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

I enjoyed listening to the “Meeting Asciepius” but once again the speaking throws me for a loop. Then with the changing of the voice, it breaks my focus. I still LOVE the breathing techniques and will continue to listen to the audio tracks. Maybe one day I will be able to focus more on the train or lack of train of thought then it will become easier to listen to the audio and get to the point of not breaking my focus.

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?

This applies to the profession by having the understanding what you are trying to get other to do. You would not be able to understand the feelings or ups and downs an individual goes through if you haven’t been there yourself. I do feel we have an obligation to ourselves and society to continue on the patch of “wholeness” to better ourselves and the people we come in contact with. I feel for myself it’s more the centering. Currently I am feel like I am being pulled every which way except the way I am supposed to be going. This isn’t good for me nor the individuals around me. But I must say for once it’s not stressing me out. I am fairly calm about it. But I do need to start making my priority list again, this way everything gets done!