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.