Unit 10

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

I am still packing my lunches and watching what I snack on at home.  Sometimes I backslide but most of the time I stay on track.   If I do snack on junk food I limit it to what the recommended amount is on the back of the package.  I have also started to buy the snacks that have the limit pre-packaged, 100 calorie snacks.

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

I am continuing with my meal planning, my meditation along with prayer and deep breathing exercises. I will be doing my physical exercising starting next week.  This week it is raining.

Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

I have experiences many things and done many things in this class I would not ordinary have done or been exposed to, but I have to say I am very glad I did them.  It has broadened my horizons and I will not be so timid for experiences that are foreign to me again. I may welcome them with open arms next time; never know what fun you might be passing up if you don’t.

Deborah Ward

Final Unit 9

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?

When an individual comes to a wellness professional for assistance they seek someone who is proficient in every area of their profession.  The professional has the ability to make what they do seem effortless, the exercises seamless and productive.   The practitioner makes it seem this way because they love what they do and it is important to make the healee feel at ease.   In order to create a productive healing plan the healee and the practitioner must have open communication and they need to establish a comfortable and respectful relationship.  The practitioner must be an attentive listener, compassionate, and aware of the healee’s lifestyle.  The practitioner after obtaining all the information from the healee must assess how the path to wellness should be planned and tailored for the individual’s specifications.  The practitioner plays an important role; they actually are the glue that connects the transformation process to the healee by hands on demonstration and by example to what is possible toward their own path of human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).  

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

            Looking back on my blog response to that initial question in January I will have to say I am glad I think I have improved on my scores a bit.  My Initial score for spirituality was an 8, physically, a 5 and psychologically a 7.  I am now happy to say, my spirituality has moved up to a 9, my psychological up to a 6 moving to 7 and physically a solid 6, which is very good for me.  I have started doing a few things different, I have combined meditation with prayer, and it is a wonderful feeling.  Calms you down and leaves you open for such wonderful revelations in the spiritual realm.   Afterward I am so calm and refreshed; that is until the next calamity hits, but the anxiety that usually accompanies these calamities are getting to be less and less the more I practice my meditation.  It has only been twice this month where my headaches were so bad I had to take medication, which was a big plus. My physical score may have something to do with that also.  I had started planning my meals in advance and taking my lunches and packing healthy snack.  In addition to reducing the number of headaches I got, it also reduced my waistline a bit, jeans are not so tight!  I walk the campus and I take the stairs going down I have to say, up is more challenging but I do that occasionally. The hardest for me is the psychological aspect; I tend to allow things stress me that I know I can do little to nothing about.  These are the times I find a quiet place and do my deep breathing and my meditation exercises. I recently learned to visualize the beach and my last vacation when I went on a cruise that is why my score is moving up to a 7.

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

            My goal for the physical aspect of my life is to increase my walking to two miles daily so that I can reach my short term goal of losing twenty pounds by the summer.  Then I aim to lose an additional twenty pounds by the end of summer or the beginning of fall, and finally ten pounds by the end of the year. Psychologically my goal is to let go of stressors that I have little or no control over.  These are stressors associated with my family.  I see where I have allowed some of their issues to become my burdens, and I need to leave them and not pick them up, and realize they are not mine to carry.  I am working toward the realization that the only and the best thing I can do for my family and myself is to pray for them and then let it go. God does not need my help.  He maybe trying to get their attention and I am getting in His way by trying to help them myself; they need to seek His assistance He is the one that can help them. This is how I will reach my goal spiritually.

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.

            I will continue to plan out my meals for portion control, which is one of my main problems with physical area, and psychological also; if it is on the plate I think I should eat it all.  Therefore if I use smaller plates and take smaller containers to work for my lunch and snacks then psychologically I have eaten a whole container.  If I use smaller plates at home then even if I am truly still hungry and get another portion it is still not as much as a standard size plate. The two positives I have working for me is I love fruits and vegetables and bread was never one of my favorite carbohydrates. I will be increasing fruits and nuts for my snacks.  I will continue as I have in the spiritual area combining meditation with prayer.  In addition I will include an exercise with meditation along with visualization, or nature CD’s to decrease stress.

           

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 used to have a journal a lifetime ago; I do believe I will start it again.  In the past it was a wonderful way of releasing my feelings and stress by applying it to paper. It was also a way to maintain track of a personal projects or goals.  I stopped after I had my strokes it was just too difficult to write and my spelling had become atrocious. This time around I think I will start a journal on my laptop, much easier, I think.   I will be able to actually read and understand what I write and there is spell check!

(P.S. My extra big plus I went to the Doctor today and I was told I was doing so well that my next appointment was pushed back an additional month. I usually have to go every two months but this time it’s three months.  This may not sound like a bid deal but it is for me. I think this is due to my two wonderful classes I took this term! I learned a lot.)

Good luck everyone.

Deb-

Beneficial exercises Unit 8

In this class I  have had the opportunity to open my horizons  to a variety of experiences I may not have done otherwise.  The two exercises I think I will be taking away with me and proceeding to incorporate in my everyday life are the deep breathing and meditation exercises.  Once I allowed my self to be open to these two exercises I was surprised first that they actually worked and once I got the hang of them, how easy they were to fall into a rhythm.  The meditation exercise I will be mixing with my prayer life for a more spiritual focus. The breathing helps me with stress and pain. I will be melding that with my exercise plan that I will be focusing on implementing sooner than later along with my daily walking.
These two seem to work for me the best now and seem to fit in with my current lifestyle.  I would like to think I have enough of an open mind to consider that later on maybe I can think about adding subtle mind or other exercises we have learned.
Deb-

Meeting Asciepius Unit 7

I have been doing much better with my meditation and breathing techniques.  They have helped with my stress level at home and work.  When it gets really bad I go in the bathroom for a few minutes it does wonders.  I have combined  meditation with  prayer and it has made for  stronger and longer concentration and peace of mind.
I also combined breathing and meditation techniques to help with the pain of one of my headaches, it allowed me to stay at work for the rest of the day without having to take any thing until hours later.

However I had a hard time focusing and keeping my concentration while trying to do the exercises "Meeting Asciepius" on track #4. According to the instructions we had to concentrate on a wise person.  My mind kept wondering and thinking why can't I concentrate on an object or an inner point within myself?  I would regain control but lose it again each time the voice would give instruction with the wise person, light was now emitting from the wise person.  Then further on in the track it was revealed, that it was supposed to represent our inner essence.  I will more than likely have to do this exercise again, now that I understand what the object of the concentration is really on.

The saying:  "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself".  Simply means that unless someone has taken that journey they cannot possibly be in any position to instruct another on that journey.  They need someone who would be able to guide them through all the pitfalls, trails, tribulations and rewards of a journey.
It would be have to be someone who had gone this way before, one who would instill trust in his students.

Deb-

Assessment Unit 6

I tried the loving kindness exercise on page 93. I stick by my initial thoughts this particular exercise is not my cup of tea. I am a prayer, I will pray for individuals who are suffering or  those who need to find health,happiness and wholeness.   I like the subtle mind much better I get more out of it. I find I like to be quiet for a little while, it helps me  to focus on what is really important and to find my center.  This helps especially after a long day at work, I find myself easily frustrated after working with budgets and problems all day. This and the breathing exercises helps to quiet my insides ( if that makes sense) so that I am not easily jangled when the rest of the family trickle in from work.  I have noticed that afterwards I am calmer and it is easier for me to joke and laugh even when I am left alone with a sink full of dirty dishes and my computer for company.

Deb-

I finally got to listen to the track

I liked this track.  I was much better than the loving-kindness.  Loving Kindness had a lot a do while attempting to be calm and loving.   The subtle mind track was much easier to focus on what I was supposed to do which was center my thoughts and not let them be so random.  It was easier than I thought.  In fact I was so calmed that when the female voice came in it was disconcerting, it threw me off.  I will definitely try this one again. Afterward I felt quieted and centered.
I thank everyone who reminded  me that there was a copy of the track on doc share!

Deb-

The Subtle Mind

Unfortunately I cannot really answer any of the questions pertaining to this particular practice because my disc had static on almost the entire track.  I was able to hear up until the female voice was explaining how to bring the mind back if it starts to wander. Then I heard this awful scratching in my ears, I had my headphones on, it was so intrusive I pulled them off!  Pulled me completely out of any comfortable plane I had started to relax into.  I have to say it was awful! I continued to listen, hoping maybe it was just skipping but the scratching continued  non-stop until it automatically switched to track #4.

I decided maybe I could do something if I just read it in the book and followed the directions from there.  It can be done but I was only able to do it for a very short time. It is very hard to block out all the stuff going on around you in the beginning without a soothing sound to concentrate on like the waves of the ocean.  It is also harder to concentrate on the breathing without it also.  The mind wander frequently.  In the beginning, one really needs the sounds or something else soothing to focus on. 

Deb-