Unit 10 - Forward and Onward

For the most part my ratings remained the same as they were in Unit 3, psychological – 7 and physical – 7.  However, I have lowered my spiritual rating from a 7 to a 5.  I did this because I feel I have the most work to do in this area.  This course made me see I need to do extensive soul searching if I am going to learn more about myself.  I am making good progress in the achievement of my goals by exercising, eating healthy, and meditating on a consistent basis.  Doing the exercises we learned this term has helped and I plan to continue to do them going forward.  This course opened my eyes to some truths about myself I was ignoring.  I know my well-being has improved and I am open to face the challenges of changing and embrace the growth that I know will come.  Throughout the course I have shared information with my friends and family, some were receptive and some not so much.  But, that’s okay because starting the path of self-exploration and improvement will only work if the person is in the right mindset accept what they will discover about themselves.   

Uint 9 Final Project

       Introduction
            It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because they cannot effectively provide the guidance and care to their clients if they are not whole themselves.  Part of the practitioner’s role in the helping their clients achieve health and wellness entails drawing from their personal experiences as a tool to enable healing.  They are task with providing clients the tools to eliminate destructive emotions and patterns and teach them how to replace them with positive, productive attitudes and behaviors; this can only be accomplished if they themselves are mentally developed.  Spiritual development is essential for practitioners because they must teach clients how to become clear, focused, and confident.  If the practitioner is spiritually conflicted, this will not happen.  Practitioners will be faced will many challenging situations that will require them to create treatment plans for the clients as a whole, not just the physical symptoms like most western medicine dictates.  Dacher states, one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself as “the ability to see the divine in everyone and treat each individual as though he or she were Christ or Buddha himself can transform suffering of illness into the grace of healing.”  The Integral Vow practitioners make required them to dedicate themselves to self-development and explore their inner selves, so they can make a positive impact on their external world (in this case, it refers to their clients).  A mentally, spiritually, and physically imbalanced practitioner could do more harm than good for clients.

            I need to continue to work on my spiritual development.  My doubts about God and my not understanding why he allows so much suffering to those who believe him cause me to feel tremendously conflicted at times.  I know my doubts stem from the sudden losses of loved ones.  In my heart, I am a spiritual person, but my faith is shaken and for me the two are intertwined.

                                                                   Assessment
            Using a scale of 1 -10, I would current assess my physical well-being to be a 7.  I have been working out on a regular basis and I see the results of my efforts.  I am getting very close to reaching my physical image goal and my recently doctor’s check-up confirms I have made significant improvements to my physical health.  Psychologically, I am at a 7.  I attribute this rating to my meditative practice and the exercises I have learned from the course.  I consistently practice and look forward to my introspective time that allows me to focus and be silent. I practice making myself see the positive benefits of having a positive mental state and seek to always see the positive side of stressful situations.  At the beginning of this class, I rated my spiritual well-being a 7.  This rating does not apply to my current state of being.  I currently rate myself a 5.  The exercises in this course forced me to try to look even deeper into my inner self than I had been doing and it made me face the fact that my spirit needs healing.  I still have my doubts and question the why of spiritual things more than I feel I should, which makes it hard to come to complete acceptance.  This is why I will continue my meditation, with the knowledge that it will eventually help me achieve full acceptance and peace.

                                                         Goal Development
            My goal for my physical health is to keep my body strong and treat it with respect by exercising and eating healthy.  My psychological health goal involves me not allowing small things aggravate me and continue to make myself see the positive in situations.  My spiritual health goal will be to find peace with my beliefs and face the sadness that hinders my development in this area.  

                                                 Practices for Personal Health
            The strategy I will implement to foster growth physically is to exercise at the same time at least five days a week and eat six healthy meals a day.  I have been using this strategy for almost sixty days now; it has become a part of my lifestyle.  I have been using the Loving-kindness and subtle mind exercises to foster my psychological growth.  I find these two exercises to be effective because I can easily apply them while I am at work when I feel stressed.  They help me become clear and reverse negative feelings to positive when I need it the most.  Meeting Aesclepius and my morning meditative practice is helping me grow spiritually because both exercises have resulted in my uncovering things I did not know about myself.  They are helping me come to terms with my true feelings about incidences that have occurred in my life.  

                                                            Commitment
            I will assess my progress or lack thereof over the next six months by being aware of myself mentally and spiritually.  Meaning, I will acknowledge the change in my attitude and behavior.  I will ask myself if I feel at peace and have a calm-abiding mind.  I have enrolled in yoga session on Saturday mornings because I know they will benefit my efforts to maintain the growth I have experienced from taking this course.  My physical progress will be easy to maintain, because I have committed changing my lifestyle to being physically healthy and through my daily exercise and change in eating habits.  

Unit 8 - Which Exercise Worked for You

The two exercises I have determined to be most beneficial for me are Loving-Kindness and Meeting Aesclepius.  Both allowed me to discover something about myself I was not aware of prior to performing them.  I did not know how to effectively turn my negativity towards people I dislike around until the loving-kindness exercise.  Being able to release the ill I feel and mentally send loving-kindness makes me feel less stressed and calm when I am in the presence of people I dislike.  As of late, I find I utilize this exercise quite often because I am currently working on a work project team with a person I dislike.  I take a few minutes before each meeting including that person to do living-kindness and it is working for me. 

The Meeting Aesclepius from unit 7 made me realize I had not dealt with the loss of a significant loved one.  The realization was profound and since it happened, I have focused on healing myself.  I am doing that by repeating the exercise and instead of stopping due to feelings of sadness, I push through those feeling so I can just feel the happiness that person brought to my life.  It not easy but, I am determined to continue to practice the visualization of my Grandfather because I know he would not want me to associate his memory with sadness. 

I feel both exercises have made my “mental fitness” that much stronger. 

Unit 7 Meeting Aesclepius

This week's exercise was good and bad for me.  Good because I focused on my Grandfather, who everyone has told me I look and act like.  It felt good to focus so intently on a person until you feel their presence surrounding you.  I was really close to him so at one point I felt sadness because of how much I miss him, which was not what the exercise wanted me to feel.  Once, that happened I lost my concentration all together.  This is why I say the exercise was good and bad for me.

As, I have stated in previous blog entries and discussion board post, I practice meditation on my own and started doing so during my Mother's struggle with breast cancer.  Meditation helps me focus and maintain my calmness during challenging time.  I also feel more at peace with myself and the things I have learned and am still learning about who I really am.  I definitely feel my psychological and spiritual state is much healthier since starting my practice.

The Consciousness &Healing - Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine describes the statement one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself as “the ability to see the divine in everyone and treat each individual as though he or she were Christ or Buddha himself can transform suffering of illness into the grace of healing.”  I think this is telling health and wellness professional to value their patients and genuinely focus on healing as a transformative process that will benefit both parties.  I do not feel people who choose to be health and wellness professionals can effectively perform their jobs if they themselves are not psychologically, physically, and spiritually healthy.  I think it becomes a matter of 'practice what you preach'.

Unit 6: Loving Kindness/Integral Assessment Exercise

The loving kindness exercise is very useful to me at this time in my life.  For the last two months I have been working on a project at my job that requires me to interact/collabrate with a person who has a personality that clashes with mine. (I referred to this person during the first loving kidness exercise)  Well...since my introduction to this technique I have used it send loving kindness to the person I dislike and I must say I have noticed I am slowing but surely not allowing myself to feel negativity towards my adversary.  I also have discovered the tention I that use to plague me when I had to interact with that person is no longer there because I have been determined to change my mental state when they are around me.  I do this by taking a few moments to quietly tell myself that 'kindness is healthy and anomosity is not and I choose to send out kindness for my well-being'.

The integral assessment of myself revealed I am focused on my health and being healthy.  I think having my mother be diagnosed with cancer and die within the same year has made me determined to improve my mental and physical health.  I have become dedicated to my exercise program and meditation practice.  They both make me feel better about myself, but I know I have a long way to go before I have made a complete lifestyle change. 

Unit 5: Subtle Mind

This week I have to say all the exercises are starting to seem the same to me.  The guide is leading me towards relaxation, the soothing sounds in the background, etc…  With that being said, I must admit I preferred the loving-kindness exercise more than the subtle mind.  The subtle mind just put me to sleep and I am not complaining about that because I need the sleep, but maybe that happened this time because it felt really drawn out.  I know my physical and spiritual wellness is improving.  I attribute the improvement to my personal meditative practice, my diet, and exercising. Overall, I just feel I am in a better place in my life, because I am taking the time to improve myself mentally and physically. 

Unit 4: Loving Kindness Exercise

After the day I had at work, I felt I was in the vortex of negativity.  This exercise was much needed!  A colleague really irritated me today and for some reason I could not release my negative feelings towards him as easily as I have been able to in the past.  The guided practice providing me with focal points for my energy through the breathe helped allot.  Especially, when she asked that I send loving kindness to someone I consider an enemy. Wow!  Can you say 'hit the head of the nail'?  I pictured him, released the ill will I was feeling, and was in a much better place with how my day was progressing once the exercise was done.  This is yet, another exercise I will recommend to my girlfriend.

To me the concept of 'mental workout' means you actively train your mind to exist in a positive state and be open to giving and receiving positivity to your every intention.  This is not something that can be achieved overnight.  It takes time and is something that must be practiced on a continual basis in order to reap its' benefits.   

Current State of Being

I rate my:  

Physical well-being - 7     I recently had a physical and I am in good health.  I gave myself an eight because I want to exercise more and get a P90X body.  (LOL!)  I've set a target date of August 1st to achieve that goal. 

  

Spiritual well-being - 7    My spiritual well-being is a seven because I know I 'm not higher than that.  Sometimes, I doubt and question the why of spiritual things more than I feel I should, which makes it hard to come to complete acceptance.  However, through my meditation I know I will eventually help me achieve full acceptance.   

  

Psychological well-being - 7  I rate this area a 7 because I am still working on the physical and spiritual.  The way I see it, my psychological well-being has to be in about the same range so I am strong enough to improve the other two.  I practice making myself see the positive benefits of having a positive mental state and seek to always see the positive side of stressful situations. 

Unit 3 - Relaxation Exercise (Prism)

The Unit 3 relaxation exercise titled 'Crime of the Century' is very misleading to me.  I expected to hear a story about a crime and was not at all expecting to be lead through the seven Chakras.  Once I let go of my anticipation of the guide changing to a crime narrative, I allowed myself to be open and embrace the instruction.  I did began to feel connected and centered.  In my mind I could see the colors emanating from my body and felt more and more relaxed. I have taken yoga classes and there are certain poses that can be done to unblock Chakras and allow energy to flow freely within your body.  This exercise reminded me of that. By the end of the exercise, I felt very aware of myself and loose.  It cleared my mind and allowed me to focus on things I need to complete before I retire for the night. 

Reflection on Unit 2 Relaxation Exercise

I have been doing meditative exercises for a while now and I thoroughly enjoy them.  I found the guided exercise to be just what I needed today because it has one racked obstacles.  Listening to the voice telling me what to do to redirect my body's blood flow was useful because I felt myself just letting go of the day's stress and relaxing.  In fact, it worked so well that I dozed off for a little bit. (lol) I must say this was one of the more enjoyable exercises I have had to do for a class since starting Kaplan.  I plan on have my girlfriend listen to it tonight because I think she will find it useful, as well.

Welcome to Strength of Balance

Hello!  Nice to Meet you!

This is my first time writing a blog, so please bear with me.  I am not exactly sure what to write about. But, since the blog was created for my Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing class, I have to assume it is going to get deep.  Which I'll admit is a little scary, but I guess we'll see how it goes. 

In any case...welcome to my blog and I look forward to the journey we are all about to go on. 

Stephen~~