Unit 10: Final Post

Well compared to Unit 3 I would say my ratings went up a little bit. My spiritual for unit 3 was a 7 and now I would say it is an 8, my physical was a 5 and I would say it is a 6, the one with the most difference would be my mental it was a 3 and is now a 6. The scores have changed because I have been working on these areas more. I have also been looking at them differently. When I go to the gym or for walks I also use that time to clear my mind, or pray and just relax. It has been quite enlightening for me. I think that the psychological is where I needed the most work but it is the place that I focused on more. I have been using a lot of the techniques and exercises we have learned in class and it has been helping.

My goals have been met. I have been meditating or using some of the exercises everyday. I want to use them for a longer time period perhaps that could be one of my next goals. I have also been going to the gym during my lunch breaks at work and I have been trying to eat better. I still need to work on that area, I do not know much about nutrition.

My personal experience in this class was seeing first hand that health and wellness works. I now have a much greater respect for it and wish that western medicine did too. I have improved my well-being and I think I now have the tools to improve even more. Right now in my life I cannot give too much I am not in that place but I hope very soon in the future to be able to devote more of me to health and wellness and really focus on it. This has definitely been rewarding for me because I have learned so much and these very simple exercises. It has been difficult doing some of these exercises and really trying to focus and calm the mind. I think that in the beginning the timing was difficult too. Right now it is trying to implement all of the nutrition, exercising, and mental fitness into my daily life that is difficult but I know with some more education and perhaps someone who knows about nutrition I can get to where I want to be.

It has been an exciting learning experience for me and I wish everyone the best of luck!!

Unit 9:

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so that way they can teach others and help others to develop their wellness in these areas. If we want to work with others and help them to develop we should be developed in those areas as well. We should not be hypocritical. I like the saying “practice what you preach”. If we are to expect others to follow our treatment plans and to develop in these areas then we need to make sure our treatment plans work and that we are able to help others develop. I personally need to work on all of these areas. I need to work on the psychological and physical more than the spiritual. I have not taken care of myself physically in a long time. I stress a lot and it causes me to have physical problems. I need to learn how to control my stress and mind and how to get back in shape. As far as my spiritual, I think I am doing well. I have strong beliefs and I have a good connection to what I believe.

            I have assessed my health in each one of these domains by giving a number value to each. I look at the way that I am and the way I could be and I can rate my health. Rating myself from 1-10, 1 being not so good and 10 being great, I give my spiritual aspect a 7, my physical a 4 and my psychological a 3. However I am slowly but surely working on all of these areas by doing the exercises we have learned in class. Right now because of some things going on in my life my ratings are a bit lower than they would normally be.

            One goal that I have for my spiritual is to pray more and read the bible more often with my son. I would also like to find a church when we move that I am comfortable going to. My physical aspect of my life could be improved upon. I would like to continue going for daily walks with my son and during my lunch breaks going to the gym. When we relocate after I come up with some sort of schedule I would like to continue by working out at home because I do not know when I’ll have the chance to go to the gym. I think if I can dedicate an hour a day to each one of these domains I can get to a rating of 9 in no time. As far as my psychological that will take much more work. I have noticed that no matter how helpful these meditations and exercises are for me at that moment it is so much harder to stay that way for the whole day. I find myself regressing to the former mentality before the exercise. I think I need to really focus and dedicate time to these calming exercises. I need to start off with 5-10 minutes a day and then increase the amount of time. I really need to stay focused.           

            I plan on using yoga for all of these domains. Yoga is a great physical workout, helps you to calm the mind and relax, and I find it to be spiritually connecting. I will also practice the visualization. I think that this practice is good for my psychological because it allows me to really focus on my achievements and put some things into perspective. I also like the loving-kindness exercise. I think that learning to create those feelings and hold on to them can really help me.

            In order for me to stay committed I need to have a journal and some sort of reward system for myself. I will write down in my journal much like the blog. I will write down how many minutes a day I have done each exercise for each domain. I can write down if I didn’t do something and how I will become more effective. I think I will also write down my feelings at the beginning of the exercises and at the end of them so I can look back and see that there was a difference.

Unit 8:

Well the two exercises that I found to be most beneficial to me were the subtle mind practice and the visualization exercise. The subtle mind was good for me because it allowed me to shut off the outside noise and the noise in my head and just have calm and quiet. I think that this could be applied to my life on a daily basis for 10-15 minutes a day or perhaps I can alternate days and do the other practice on the other days. I sometimes have such a hard time focusing or shuting off my thoughts and this exercise allowed me to do so. I need this every now and then.

The visualization that we just did in this unit I really enjoyed. I do not think of my own happiness and achievements and I should. I am way too hard on myself. At school I aim high and I try to do my best, when I get a 98% instead of a 100% I do beat myself up over it and I remind myself well you have to do better than that next time. When I should really just be proud of myself because there are people out there that are struggling to make a passing grade. I was having a discussion about this with my friends and they agree I need to not be too hard on myself. This exercise allowed me to think of a time I was happy and times where I acheived something that mattered to me. I was able to think of so much stuff and really soak it up and take it in. I was able to connect with those feelings and just be happy for what I have and not what I don't. A big problem for me is that I feel I can do better or do more but I need to reflect and look at my life, I am a mother, a military wife, and friend, a daughter, a worker, and a college student ready to graduate. I need to look at all of these wonderful accomplisments I have and be happy with them and enjoy them because they will only happen once. I don't want to look back in my life I say wow what good times, I want to sit right now and say wow what a great moment now in time.

Unit 7: Meeting Asciepius

This meditation exercise was difficult to me. First the speaker discussed how the mind can be chaotic like a waterfall but through practice we can quiet the mind to a river or stream. This is what I have been working on. In this "meeting Asciepius" I had a difficult time visualizing an individual that I feel is wise and loving. I visualized myself years from now. I had a difficult time stabalizing on that image. After the 4th time of re-doing this exercise I got it but it was difficult. I imagined myself being loving, kind, pure, wise and tried to see that in myself. I will say it was relaxing but I feel that I had to try much harder in this exercise than with some of the other ones.

Mindfulness and meditation have fostered an increase in my psychological and spiritual wellness. I find that it is easier for me to calm the mind now. When my children are driving me nuts I can just stop, close my eyes and breath for  a minute and bring myself to center and focus. I am finding that I can tolerate more and it has also been helping with my stress and anxiety. I can continue to apply these practices in my life to foster greater health and wellness  by doing what I have now been doing. I have been taking time out when my children go to bed and I sit in my bathroom with the candle lit and my smelly plug in that smells like lavender, I shut and lock the door and I simply have me time. I sit on the rug in the bathroom and close my eyes and calm my mind. I sometimes use the subtle mind or the loving kindness practice or I just pray.

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p. 477) means that in order to try to teach others or show others you need to have knowledge of what it is you are teaching or showing. How can you give someone directions if you yourself have never been to where they need directions to. It is like going to the gym to a trainer who is over weight, will they really be able to help you attain your goals? This applies to the health and wellness professionals because they need to know what they are talking about first hand in order to be affective and to have people trust in them. I am not going to learn the information in this class if I do not have a qualified teacher teaching me. (which I do). I think that in any field where you are working to help others you are obligated to be developing you health, psychologically, physically, and spiritualy. I could not give honest advice if I were not working on my own health. My future job is about helping others in many life circumstances but I think that my circumstances need to be well in order for me to help them with theirs.

I can implement this growth by continuing the meditation process. By continuing to eat healthy and take care of my body. 
Melinda

Unit 6: Mindfulness Exercise and Assessment

The exercise and assessment process is relatively simple. When I think of an assessment I think of finding out what area needs some work. Through a series of questions we can assess ourselves and our needs. We can look at any area of our life and figure out which one is ready to change. For example it can be our relationships, something biological, environmental, or emotional development. Once we have figured out the area we then meditate and become still and release all mental activity. We then focus on the area we chose and figure out what we can hope to accomplish for this area. Then we continue this for a few days. We then come back to stillness and focus on the healing aspect, and we figure out what the next steps will be.

I have discovered at no surprise to me that I need a lot of work. But when I really sit and think about it, it isn’t as bad as I make it out to be because everything I need to do better at can be connected to something else. For example I stress a lot about little things I have no control over but perhaps I can meditate and exercise to help me deal with my stress. While I am meditating I am also calming my mind and body and reducing my anxiety which I have a lot of. By exercising I am not only helping myself to deal with stress but I am helping my physical body. I also find that when I exercise I can think more clearly so I sometimes use that time to sort out some things in my head. However I went to the gym the other day, first time in a long time and I felt great then I caught whatever illness the my kids had days before only it hit me much harder because I was taking care of them, not sleeping or eating right myself. So now I have these, flu like symptoms and pain in all the areas I worked out. But I still somehow feel good mentally.

Well I have kind of answered the blog questions backwards here. The area I need to focus on would be mental; stress. I have chosen this area because it is the route of all evil for me. I get so stressed out about things I have no control over and it causing me to have panic attacks or to feel physically sick. I also sometime especially with school work have mental meltdowns when I am not understanding anything. I will re-read a million times ask my husband for help and I get no where. I no family where we are and we are the west coast they are on the east and by the time I get home from work, done cooking and cleaning and get a chance to sit and do some school work everyone back home that I could talk to are sleeping because of the three hour difference. I find myself stressing that too. But the list could go on and on forever. I have always had bad anxiety attacks that I take medicine for because sometimes it feels like I am having a heart attack of some sort. I am finding though that using many of these techniques is helpful now if I can become more holistic or integral and really apply it all the time in my life I think I can minimize the stress or even learn how to not stress some of the silly things I stress.  

Unit 5: Loving Kindness vs. Subtle Mind

Well I enjoyed the loving kindness exercise when I finally was able to do that one. I think for me it was easy to get into and think of the love that I feel for my son and push that out into the world. The difficulty I had was thinking of someone who was suffering, and not think of my own, or to not think of people in say Africa that are suffering much worse then anyone I know. It was hard for me to know who to focus one and if I focused on one person instead of another did it matter. I almost felt as though I wanted to focus on all the beings in the world that are suffering and take it away and fill them with the love I feel for my son.

The subtle mind, well let's see; something was wrong with my cd that I recieved from the school. I tried it in my computer, on my radio, in my car and it only plays the first couple of minutes as the woman's voice is telling you to relax and focus on the breath, and don't worry if the outside noise bothers you it will happen, well then the cd made the most irritating noise I have ever heard, it was this loud screaching noise. What a relaxating technique, I was in the mood lol.

So I turned to the book and used my cell phone to record my voice saying the instructions from the text. After all of that I found that this exercise was easy to do. I think it was easier to do this whole exercise as opposed to the struggles I had with the loving kindness. I found it was simpler, didn't ask of too much, and was easier for me to relax, or maybe it was because I had tried so hard to listen to it that I was determined to get it done. Either way I like both of these activities and I can definitely include them in my daily life.

I think there is a deep connection between spiritual wellness, mental wellness, and physical wellness. If I didn't I would not have taken this class. I chose to take this class because I believe that there is a connection and that we must work on all three areas if we want to be truly healthy and happy. This has manifested in my life in many ways. When I think negatively it creates stress, and physical sickness so that right there goes to show that there is some connection. I pray on a daily basis for random stuff, and I always feel so much better afterwards and there must be a reason why. That is part of the reason I took this class. I wanted to learn about these reasons these types of practices are recognized here in the US as they are in other countries. I hope to be able to incorporate more of this into my life.

Unit 4: Loving Kindness

Hi Everyone,
I have finally found a moment to myself to complete this exercise. It's amazing to me how I can tell everyone in my house that I am going to sit in the bathroom alone for 15 minutes and that is all I need and to go play out in the yard. Every minute on the minute I sware someone was banging on the bathroom door "mom, mom, mom, he did this, he did that, he said this, he said that" then finally when I think I have handled it in comes my husband "honey where's my cover, where's my boots, do I have clean socks?" And wow at that moment I could've really used that loving kindness, because I was not feeling any love or kindness.

So finally I did it. I think that the voice was soothing and relaxing and at the time I sat down to do it my house was so quiet. I immediately was calmed. Reading this exercise in the text made me feel good because I feel that it is something I need to do. I found this exercise to be very beneficial. I think this one was easier than the "Crime of the Century", that one I couldn't focus on the colors. With this exercise I thought of my son because I love him so much and it was so simple to surround myself with the love I feel for him and to put it out into the world. The difficult part was thinking about someone I know that is suffering. I don't know but it was hard because there are people all over that are suffering that I don't know and it was hard to not focus on that. Also it was diffifult to not focus on me in that instance. But once I was finally able to focus and finish the exercise. After the exercise I felt great, better, happy. I felt less stressed, and very free. I feel good today and can not wait to start my day.

I would recommend this exercise to others. I think it is simple and easy to do and we can all take a little time to do an exercise like this. The concept of "mental workout" is to basically workout the brain. If we spend time each day to use our brain to meditate and relax we can give it the exercise it needs which in turn helps all of the aspect of us. I can implement the mental workout in my own life for my own psychological health by just dedicating a meere 5 minutes a day for some meditation. If I can dedicate more time than I will. As for now I will start off small.

I look forward to the next blog exercise. I am learning alot of ways that I can improve my mental health just by sitting at home. However I think I may have to sit in my car far from home, with a fully charged lap top for some alone time.
Melinda