Final Thoughts for Creating Wellness

1. 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?

From the unit 3 assessment I rated myself at a 4 for physical wellbeing, 1 for spiritual wellbeing, and 6 for psychological wellbeing. I think I still rate myself the same for these areas due to many setbacks I experienced this term. The relationship just continues as it is my son’s father, and this is where the problem is. It’s his words that do not match his actions. I believe this is why it affects me spiritually as well as I don’t have any faith or hope for relations to continue. He just wants his way and disregards what I have said to him and my feelings.

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

I have not made much progress towards these goals yet. I have to first adapt a better schedule and routines for my daily activities as I work non-traditional hours. I feel as though I am starting to implement towards changing jobs as I have had an offer to take a part-time job at a daycare center. There are many positives looking at this and both my son and I would benefit.

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

I have hung out with a few friends since unit 3, which is stated in unit 3’s assessment. I have taken some time to have fun with the few friends I do have. I have taken some time to myself to relax by taking warm, long baths. Other than that I have not implemented many activities I chose to do.

4.    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?

My experiences throughout the course were like a roller coaster. I hate to blame others because it doesn’t prove anything but my problems are relationship based. I have had to deal with unnecessary stress from my son’s father and him leaving town twice in the past 10 weeks. I had to deal with my son being in care of people I don’t know. My focuses were not really at school, although this class was quite easy for me. I have felt as though my wellbeing was at stake the whole term. The activities and practices of listening to the mp3’s I found rewarding as they were relaxing enough to help put me to sleep, as I have had much trouble with sleeping routines. I hope that I am able to talk to others in the future about similar issues, because I now know what I need to do in order to feel free, relaxed and happier for myself and my son.

Changes - unit 9 Blog

Introduction

Ordinary life often presents an individual with extraordinary challenges, complexities, setbacks and hardships.  Psychological health concerns itself with how you cope, how you are doing in response and whether you find life to be interesting and enjoyable.  Although life is better when we feel good, there is no avoiding the fact that there will be ups and downs.

The spiritual wellness involves seeking meaning and purpose in human existence. It includes the development of deep appreciation for the depth and expanse of life and natural forces that exist in the universe.

Physical wellness involves eating well and being physically fit. It would not make sense for an overweight doctor or person to explain to a client how make the necessary changes before disease starts. Practice what you preach!

For myself, I need to work on all these areas myself. Psychologically, I need to free myself of the toxic relationship I’m in and change jobs. I have a lot to do in order to change my attitude as well. The number of life experiences in the recent past (5 years) has taken a toll on me, so I feel as though I am ready for changes right now. I feel as though life has done a domino effect on me. The psychological wellness had taken effect on my spiritual wellness as well. I don’t have much faith for relationship with my son’s father or much else. So with that, I know I need to really utilize meditation, yoga, counseling, and attending church. Lastly, I have physical wellness halfway down. I eat right for the most part, slipping in some junk foods too. I’m almost 2 years from having my son and still have the baby weight on. I could really make use of putting in more activity and/or walking to start. I also like to take care of myself by taking baths, doing my own manicures and pedicures.

Assessment

In my own assessment on a scale of 1 – 10, with 1 being low and 10 at the highest I rate myself psychologically at a 5. I still have my opinions, values, and beliefs. Changing attitude is not an easy thing to do. Some may say if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. With that said, I’d like to make the changes for both reasons. My son deserves a happier momma.

Spiritually, I think I rate myself about the same as psychologically- at a 5 because my life is meaningful and I do feel I have a purpose. I do have deep feelings, but the problem is expressing them.

Physically, I rate myself at 8. I eat generally well most of the time, but could use a bit more activity. I could also integrate much more fruits and vegetables in my diet as well.

Goal development

With the New Year upon us, I almost always make some goals for myself for the upcoming year. In my psychological development, the first goal to be done is free myself from a bad relationship. As soon as I do that, I can make better changes in other areas as well such as moving back to Massachusetts to be with my family. A goal in my spiritual development would be to become happier. Physically, my goal is to lose 20 pounds.

Practices for personal health

A couple strategies that I would implement to foster my psychological growth is raising my aspirations by embracing and living by higher values and getting some counseling. I need to reach out for help with a professional who knows about family laws and also to the few friends I do have where I live. Having higher values for personal growth would be to look at others’ personality, trust, commitment to job/ career. Practicing trusting my intuitive skills will help me in life to not make poor choices in friends/ boyfriends. I value having the few friends I do have, I sure hope that models well for my son.

Spiritually, I plan to start practicing writing gratitude and practicing kindness more often. Doing both of these practices may even help promote a happier feeling inside. I could get a journal just for writing my gratitude and appreciations into as well as continuing to journal. Practicing kindness will help me feel better about myself as well. I recently thought of volunteering or playing with the kittens and cats at a cage free shelter.

Physically, walking at least an hour every day will help lose weight. I will also implement using my Nintendo Wii because I have a Wii fit game. Other Wii games also make the player stand and move to play, so interacting games such as these will help burn calories.

Commitment

I will assess my progress in the next 6 months by keeping a journal that I can write everything in. I plan to get help from a counselor, track my psychological changes as well as physical changes. Strategies to maintain long-term health and wellness would be continuing to document, seeing my chiropractor once a month and maintaining a more relaxed demeanor by getting regular massages. 

A Better Me - unit 8

Let's see if I can really focus on this. I've been sick with a bad head cold for about 2 weeks now. Seems as though I feel worse right before feeling temporarily better. I am just glad I've been able to have some peace and quiet as my boyfriend has had our son, so I can get better. 

Since the beginning of this class, I have realized some things about myself and my family. I have realized that I have always been kind of the nervous type. As a child I remember some bad habits, nail biting and hair twirling. I actually kicked the nail biting in my early 20's on my own! But as I went through my divorce, my anxiety went through the roof. I went to a counselor to get some help and she diagnosed me as having general anxiety. I know many people in America have this, I am not the only one. So with this in mind, I believe that meditation is beneficial for me. 

Any kind of meditation is fine with me, I think I may even have meditation music somewhere. If I do continue to practice any of the exercises from this class it would be the loving-kindness and subtle mind exercises. I just need to calm my mind of the endless chatter going on in my head. There are many issues that are just on-going in my personal life that are very bothersome. I know my feelings are valid for the situation but I continue to feel undecisive about what to do. 

I think that with any meditation, better sleep and a new job will help me to become the person I used to be. Happier and well-balanced.

Unit 7

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?

This meditative practice was visioning an older, wiser person and ‘becoming’ that person. I chose to envision my 88-year-old grandmother. It was easy to see her in my mind, in front of me. Seeing the white beams of light was easy to place as well. Having her whole body become into me, was a bit weird. It reminded me of the movie Ghost. Meditation can foster an increase of spiritual wellness because it makes you stop, breathe, and focus. Doing this practice can lead to better health and wellness because it takes you out of reality; it takes you into another world.

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?

Being impeccable with your word is a great suggestion. Many people don't realize the power of their words and see the harm that can be caused with speaking carelessly, thoughtlessly or aggressively.

The saying “one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” is a practice what you preach and a say what you mean and mean what you say kind of term. Taking this advice to an extreme may cause someone to ignore their intuition about others, or common sense about someone's behavior that's damaging. It can also open people up to manipulation if they train themselves to believe someone's explanation of negative behavior rather than judging the behavior on its own. This is the story of my life with my son's father and how I implement it in my personal life. 

Integral Assessment

I know that this is a day late but better now than never!
I practiced some deep breathing the other day, while I drove in my car as I worked throwing newspapers out my car window. I was quite angry about my sons father leaving town, leaving us alone in town with no one else to help. Or at least there is one person, but I see this person I don't care for. Why would I leave my son with someone I don't trust or even hardly know?! Anyway, to relieve the tension I practiced focusing on my newspaper route and deep breathing. It really helped me. I didn't feel so much anxiety built up. 

The 6 Principles of Integral Assessment
1. The goal of integral health is to alleviate needless suffering and promote human flourishing.
2.Integral health recognizes the distinction between short-term relief of needless suffering and permanent relief.
3. Integral health recognizes the distinction between immediate pleasure and long-term flourishing.
4. Psychospiritual development is an essential component of integral health.
5. Integral assessment relies on deep listening and guidance.
6. Integral assessment addresses the aspects, levels, and lines of development that are relevant to our current circumstance.

What I discover about myself during this assessment is that I am in a lot of pain and distress in important areas of my life being a mother. Family life is distressing because there is none. My son's father is causing a lot of this; I would have to physically leave the state of Washington to move on in my life. That is how I would further grow and develop. My life does not need to be like a movie; I don't want to be a part of it- so I need to make the change in order to get out.
In #2 I realize that I would be more understanding of my sons fathers mistakes if things were different; if he had really taken action with his words. He has gone the opposite direction- leading me to think that he loves living a complicated life. I may end up having a heart attack from all the stress.
I realize that I flourish around people, for the past 4-5 years I have been a bit isolated doing online schooling and working a non-traditional job delivering newspapers. This kind of schedule has put me at risk of health and mental distress from the lack of sleep. I know I am much happier when I have a full nights sleep! 
I also realize with all this nonsense in my life, I flourish talking out my issues and problems to a counselor. Journaling has helped me in the past as well. I know that improving my attitude is another thing. I hate being so mad and frustrated all the time, it's very draining emotionally and physically. I just feel that if certain things change, so would my attitude.

Unit 5 The Subtle Mind

UNIT 5 BLOG

Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

I opened up the audio of loving kindness first to spark my memory on how I felt during that experience. I remember the little bits of frustration not knowing what to think about during some of the long verbal pauses. But the best part of that experience was visualizing my son and how that motherly kind of connection and love I experienced. I could feel myself really opening and actually smiling to myself with that thought. The other part of it that was frustrating for me was visualizing the enemy-person in front of me. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t do it. Maybe in time it will happen, but not now.
Listening to the subtle mind exercise, using the breath as key during this it was an automatic relaxation for me. I totally benefited from this by falling asleep. Also doesn’t help that I have been awake since 2am this morning and here I am typing away doing this in the early evening of Sunday night at 5:30 pm. Doing this exercise after being awake all day like this made me realize how tired I really am! Looks like I will be going to bed early. (I deliver newspapers early in the mornings everyday.) I need a new job!


Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

I think that spiritual wellness and well-being are a part of the same healthy life. When spiritual wellness is strong you have a tendency to feel better about yourself. Providing a positive outlook on life will translate to a better mental health feeling happy, stronger and in control. For me, this is a big step in surviving a crisis in life or that of someone I have loved.
My spiritual wellness started failing me after a nasty divorce. After that it was, one thing after another. So now I feel as though I have no faith, no healthy spiritual wellness due to some serious blows to my heart. This has really affected my mental and physical well being. My mental well being is now accentuated by extreme stress and anxiety. I know that I cannot continue this very much longer because in the long run it will affect me physically. This is how all 3 have manifested in my life, and as soon as I am done with school- hopefully after this term- I will be able to start making some choices in my life to improve myself for me and for my son.

UNIT 4 Loving-Kindness

For Unit 4's audio on practicing loving-kindness, I enjoyed it for the most part. The relaxation pieces made me want to fall asleep, but the visualizing people and opening my heart to feel a certain way was interesting. I easily visualized my 19-month-old son, and could feel myself beaming. He is my only pure happiness right now. I could easily feel the emotions and myself open up during this. I could picture a person possibly suffering, my 88 year old grandma. She is being cared for in an assisted living home in Massachusetts because she is becoming more and more unstable on her feet. I don't always know what is going on in my family because I live in Washington state and most of my family resides on the east coast in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

The parts I had a hard time with was the big empty-ness of the sound of waves. It was relaxing, but I didn't know what to be thinking about at times so I was drifting to sleep but was startled each time the voice started up! Then the part about visualizing a field of people in front of you; family, friends, and enemies. I actually do have an enemy at the moment and I just couldn't put that person there. I had no problem putting everyone else there in front of me, my son, his father, my family. But that one person, ooh, just couldn't do it! Maybe its my anger, resentment, I don't know! I just wasn't able to give that person a kind thought or feeling. It could be something inside of me still dealing with the person because of a complicated relationship.

This is a kind of exercise I know I should be practicing everyday. As our reading in the texts have stated about the relationship between lifestyle/ attitudes and heart disease, I feel as if I am setting myself up for a heart attack one of these days. My constant negative attitude and outlook really needs to change! I feel as though my only happiness I have is my son sometimes!

Reflections

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

A.    Physical wellbeing: 4

My rating is at this level because my sleep patterns are regulated not by my body’s needs but by my job’s demands. So in cause of that, that takes motivations away to be active when needed to be. Work is more mentally challenging than physically beneficial. Driving for a living does not provide cardiovascular activity needed for a healthy body.

B.    Spiritual wellbeing: 1

My rate is a 1 because I have a low outlook on life. My outlook is more materialistic and external factors tend to make me happier. I believe that my affected sleep patterns are also a part of this.

C.     Psychological wellbeing: 6

My rate is at a 6 because I do not have a mental disorder, but have experienced some situational depression. I have a value for self-care and take time to try to relax in times of high stress or anxiety. Another reason why I put myself at a 6 is because I am not around enough positive relationships. I am a bit isolated as I work (driving in my car) and as I attend school (online). My interactions are mainly with my son and his father, and my next-door neighbors.  

1. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

A.    Physical- A goal for my physical well-being is to take at least 30 minuets to walk everyday or practice yoga. When my physical sense is better, I will feel better about my own image of myself.

B.    Spiritual- I could attend a non-denominational or Catholic church in my area to help my spirituality. I could simply be a guest at a Kingdom Hall with my son’s grandma & aunt to be around positive relationships. It would be as if I am killing two birds with one stone: to be in one place to help spiritual and psychological well-being.

C.     Psychological- In this pessimistic disposition and learned helplessness from being isolated, there are many kinds of activities and/ or exercises I could do to improve my life. Gaining more social support through others such as friends or family helps and is also “associated with better quality of life.” (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005) If I also made changes to find another job, I would be around people. We are all wired to be around each other, socially speaking. Being around people helps us in many areas of life, to problem solve, and to find our true selves. Next in making a job change, my sleep patterns will make a switch which will affect positively in the long run in all areas of health & life. It will also make a happier me, ready to deal with the day’s ups and downs.

3. Listening to that audio was actually very relaxing for me. I seem to want to drift off to sleep when I do these exercises. But after the voice stops I wake after a few minuets. I am enjoying doing them because it helps me to wind down. This one in particular, had a very colorful rainbow involved and it was a little bit hard to envision these colored orbs coming out my body. The breathing focus is always good for me to do.