Unit 10

In Unit 3 I scored myself as followed. Physical- 7, Spiritual-8, Psychological- 5 I feel like I have made some progress and slipped up a little bit in each area. I would now score myself a 5 in physical, 8 in spiritual and a 6/7 in psychological. Physically, I have really struggled finding the motivation and time to dedicate to exercise and preparing healthy meals for my family. It's usually just getting food on the table before everyone gets beyond hungry every night. Spiritually I am feeling good about still. I have not been as good as I should about reading my bible and spending time journaling as I would like to but there is progress in that area. Psychological i raised my score a little bit because I feel more at peace about things and have found ways to deal with my emotions and feelings in a healthy way.

I set some goals in Unit 3 for myself in each area. For physical I had wanted to try 3 new meals every week and go on a walk every morning with my kids and dogs. We have tried some new meals and been on a few walks but nothing like I had planned. I would like to have another try at this goal though.  For spiritual I said I wanted to spend 15 minutes reading the bible and journaling everyday. I have not been great at this task either, but have made some progress. I would like to try harder with this goal as well. Psychological I said that I would like to journal and meditate daily and I have not done so at all. I would like to try this one again too. One of the things that I need to implement to accomplish these goals is to get up before my children every morning, I have struggled with this for a few reasons. My children are not consistent with their wake up times, and I have 3 of them so that is challenging to work around. Another thing is that I have been staying up late completing homework and other things that need to be done, so I am very tired! I plan to give this another try and if it does not work, try something else.

This class has been huge in my life. Such a perfect time for me to have this class, as I am going through some difficult times right now. It was such great timing. It has given me lots of tools to handle my stress and lead me to a better life all together. It has also taught me that I deserve to put myself up there at the top. I need to take care of me too. I think this class has assisted me in being able to help others, I have learned to overcome a lot of things in a calm, healthy way and I feel like helping others to do the same would continue to help me as well. I throughly enjoyed this class!

Unit 9 Project

Introduction

It’s very important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because it all begins within us. When we are passionate about something, its contagious! People will see the light in our eyes, and the joy it brings to us, they will want in on it. When I am seeking help from a professional, I am looking for someone who is practicing what they preach. I want to work along side someone who has been through the journey themselves. To achieve the goals I have for myself, I would like to develop more in the psychological area. That is the area I struggle in the most with being consistent.

Assessment

I have sat and thought about each domain of wellness. I have thought about the highs and lows that I have had in each area. I would score my spiritual wellness at about a 6. I am very close to God, very involved in my church. I pray and worship daily. Need to get better about reading my bible though. Physically I would only give myself a 3. I am so busy during the day with my children, that I don’t make time for myself to exercise as I would like to. In the psychological area, I would score myself as a 4. My mind is very active and it has been a challenge to silence it with everything I have been going through lately.

Goal Development

For each area, I have come up with a goal for myself. In the Physical area, I would like to practice yoga at least 3 days a week as well as walk around my neighborhood 3 days. In the psychological area, I would like to practice meditation daily. This is an important area for me to push myself in to help relieve stress. In the spiritual area, I would like to read my bible every morning before I even get out of bed. I would also like to spend some quiet time in prayer as well.

Practices for Personal Health

In order to foster growth in each of these domains, I must implement new practices and ways to help me. In the spiritual domain, I stated that I would like to read my bible every morning as well as spend time in prayer before even getting out of bed. In order to be able to do that, I must wake up earlier than everyone in my house. I will set my alarm for 5:30 am and spend time alone with God before my children are up and ready to play. In order to get up so early, I will also plan to go to bed about 30 minutes earlier. Physical domain, I would like to practice yoga and walk at least 3 days a week. In order for this to happen in Florida this time of year, I must get up early and go for a walk first thing before it gets too hot. I like to practice yoga at night before bed, this helps me relax and calm down before sleep. Finding different yoga tutorials and videos online has always helped me stay interested in trying new yoga poses. Psychological domain, I expressed that I would like to practice meditation daily to help my stress levels. I figure that I can fit this in while I do my prayer and bible time right away in the morning. If adding the meditation in during my morning time does not work, I will add it in the evening before bed when I practice my yoga.

Commitment

In order to keep track on my progress in the next 6 months I decided that I would keep a journal. I can log daily what was accomplished concerning my goals and trying to reach them. I can write about what I prayed for, needed prayer for. At the end of each month, I will go back and read the journal and see how well I have done. Seeing the work I have accomplished as well as feeling it, feels great! I also think it would be fun to look back at all I have overcome!

Unit 8

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

I have enjoyed all of the exercises in this course. Subtle mind and Visualization proved to be a bit difficult for me. I really enjoyed Loving Kindness and Meditation though. I know I will continue with meditation daily as it was the most beneficial for me. I would like to be able to meditate on the day before even getting out of bed. I would also like to be able to meditate before getting so stressed out about something. Instead of getting myself all worked up, I would like to meditate and get it taken care of before that happens. 

Unit 7

I had a really hard time with the Meeting Aesclepius exercise tonight. I am not very good at visualizing a person of situation like she wanted me to. I was able to make one up though and somewhat follow along in the exercise. I would like to try it again and see if I can get a different experience. Meditation has helped me quiet my mind and balance out my life. The benefits have been so great as far as helping my stress levels, anxiety, patience and time management. I struggle to set aside time daily to practice but I would like to begin doing so before even getting out of bed in the morning. I feel like this would be a great start to my day.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" I believe this mean that you cannot successfully help someone through something until you have first hand experience. For example, if I am going to someone for anxiety, I would want them to have overcome anxiety themselves so they can share first hand experience. Maybe they have been through some of the same struggles as I have. I think a wellness professional has an obligation to practice what they preach. If not, I don't believe they will be very successful in their practice. Clients can usually see right through that. 

Unit 6

I sat and did this exercise, repeating the statements the book told us to repeat. Each statement had me envisioning different people in my life. Some I speak to everyday, some that I have not seen or spoke to in years. I really like how it made me think of other people and not only myself and the people that I talk to daily. We tend to get caught up in our daily life and struggles that we forget to pray and think about others. This was a good reminder to slow down and do that!  This class and book have opened my eyes to so much, but I really have discovered that I need to give myself some attention and focus on my interpersonal a lot more. I plan to work in meditation and quiet time to my daily routine as well as much more yoga which is much better for me than just plan meditation. 

Unit 5

1. Our assignment this week was to practice the Subtle Mind exercise which helps to tame the busy mind. The Loving Kindness exercise had us thinking about others, this exercise was focused on us and our minds. This exercise was a lot of work for me. I am a person that goes 100 miles an hour all day long and so does my brain. I had to keep going back to my breaths and saying "focus on your breath, focus on your breath" in my head. Hopefully after a few days, I will not need to do this anymore. After I was finished with the exercise, I did feel more relaxed and like my head was not as jumbled. This will take some work for sure, but I am excited to see the progress.
2. I think spiritual wellness is very important in our lives. I see it as giving all our worries and fears up to someone else that has more power than us. When our mind is not consumed with things (worries, fears, stress) we can focus on things we enjoy. Our minds and bodies also feel a release of tension, pain, stress. I begin my morning in prayer, I thank God for my children, our health, our blessings and ask for guidance in other areas that I am struggling it. My mind is then clear of all of the things that I cannot control, I gave it all away. When I am stressed, I take a minute and pray about my situation, I then take a minute to pray for others that have it so much worse than me. It really helps to put things in perspective and be thankful.

Unit 4

1. Our assignment this week was to listen to an exercise on Love and Kindness and describe our experience. I found this exercise to be very beneficial, though difficult. It was hard to turn off all of the outside thoughts and feelings and focus on the experience. I though it was beneficial, because it was getting us to stop focusing on ourselves and think about others. I would recommend this to others, especially those going through a tough time. It helps to put life into perspective in your life. 
2. Mental workouts are to get our brains thinking about a certain topic, teaching them to stay focused on a single topic instead of all the wandering thoughts that full our brains all day long. Meditation helps to foster psychological health.