Unit 10- How Far Have I Come?

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?

Previously, I rated my physical as a 3, spiritual as a 1, and psychological as a 7.   The only rating that I would change is spiritual.  I would now rate my spirituality as a 5.  I previously thought spirituality had to include religion, but now realize that it can be just being at peace or finding your inner self.  I have made progress with loving myself and making peace with myself, so therefore my spirituality score goes up.  The other two domains remain the same.

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

I did not have a goal set for spirituality, but made progress in that domain anyways.  Unfortunately, even with a goal in the physical domain, I have not even attempted to make an effort toward this goal.  Psychologically, my goal was to exercise to reduce my stress.  I have found meditative practice to help me with this, so I am currently working toward this goal and it is going well. 

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

I am not currently implementing any activities toward my physical goals.  This does not mean it will not happen, but it is not currently happening.  Amazingly, although no goal was chosen for my spiritual domain because I thought I didn’t need it, I am currently implementing meditative practices to become more connected to my inner self.  I am also implementing these practices to clear my mind and thoughts to help reduce my stress which promotes well-being toward my psychological domain.

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?

As I stated in my discussion, this course really surprised me.  I dreaded taking this class thinking it was going to be boring and ended up really finding myself here.  I was able to really take a good, deep look at who I am in all three domains, see what things are great about me, and things that need work.  Most importantly, I found out that before anything, I needed to love myself.  And I have learned to do that.  It is an amazing feeling and it really wasn’t that difficult.  That probably has been the most rewarding thing through all of this.  Losing so many feelings of negativity and feeling happy and positive for a change.  What I am finding is most difficult is letting go of grudges and negative feelings toward others who have hurt me very badly.  Forgiveness is very hard for me.  Loving-kindness isn’t as easy as it should be.  I will continue to work on this.  Smiles and happiness are contagious and I want that to radiate from me.  I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to take this course so that I can continue to work on my happiness and improve my well-being.

5. Participate in the blogs of at least two classmates.

Blog posted and I have participated in two other blogs.

Unit 9- Final Project: Personal Assessment/Plan

 

Personal Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Laura M. Beote

HW420- Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Kaplan University

4/18/13

 

Personal Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

I.                   INTRODUCTION

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

If I were a mixed martial artist, teaching courses in the arts of Jiu Jitsu, karate, and other forms of self-defense, it would be expected that not only do I have knowledge of these art forms, but that I also have experience on the mats and actually perform these practices.  It takes education and experience to become certified to teach mixed martial arts (MMA).  One cannot teach MMA based on education alone.  If you have never practiced MMA, you cannot teach someone else how to do it.  When you, personally, have not experienced something yourself, you cannot teach it to others.  This leaves your clients lost, having little trust in you and your credentials and left with many questions that you most likely cannot answer.  Well, the same goes for health and wellness professionals and their need to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically.  Although there is much you can learn about this from books and courses, if you don’t develop in these areas personally, I don’t believe that you can teach or guide others on their journey to human flourishing.  There will be many questions that will go unanswered, experiences that you cannot relate to, emotions that you couldn’t empathize with, and it would be hard for you to give advice or suggestions based off of a client’s experience.  When you have not experienced something like this personally, a client is not going to feel that sense of trust and connection with you, and any information you give them is going to feel like you are preaching to them rather than helping them.    I know that at this point in my life, I would not be able to guide another person on a path to human flourishing, as I have not worked on my own.  I need to work on developing my own health psychologically, spiritually and physically.  Once I have achieved whole health and happiness in these areas, maybe then could I help another.

II.                ASSESSMENT

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

In the reading from our book Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing (Dacher, 2006), it covers something called the Integral Assessment.  This integral assessment has me take a careful look at my current circumstances, identifying the aspects of my life that require attention, determining the specific changes I wish to address, and establishing a way (program of integral practice) that will promote these changes (Dacher, 2006).  Within this assessment, there are six principles that are used as guidelines for me to follow to help transform my life and health from conventional to integral.  I have used this process and these principles as a guide in assessing my health in each domain.  Unfortunately, my assessment for each domain is simple and sad.  I have to be honest with myself with this assessment if I expect to make real changes in my life.  Physically, I do nothing to improve my health, fitness or nutrition.  I have medical problems and complain about them, yet I do nothing to help improve them when I know I can.  Psychologically, I am a high stress, low tolerance, and very emotional person.  For the most part, I know what triggers my stress and most of my emotions, but I do very little to avoid these things.  I tend to take my emotions out on others and get upset when they complain about it.  I feel like I never have time to myself, but yet never strive for inner peace or connectedness for spiritual healing.  I will go as far as saying that I seem to be very selfish.  I don’t think that I have ever said that about myself before.  Maybe this selfishness will allow me the opportunity to work on who I am and what I need in my life.  If I have to rate or score my wellness physically, psychologically and spiritually, I would rate myself as very poor in all domains.  I’m not saying there isn’t something good about me in each domain, but if I’m being honest, I really need to work on myself and each of these requires immediate attention.

III.             GOAL DEVELOPMENT

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

To have goals, you have to have motivation or desires for something.  This was a little bit difficult for me to come up with at first because I wasn’t really sure if I desired or was motivated to change anything at this time.  Then I thought about it for a while, and realized, even though I may not be on a journey for complete health and wellness at this point in my life, I do have the desire to change things in each of these domains.  Maybe small changes will turn into a desire to continue on for the journey/path to human flourishing.

Physical- My goal here is purely fitness and nutrition related.  My plan is to develop a schedule that incorporates a daily exercise routine that is fun, keeps me motivated, and helps me lose weight.  Along with the exercise, I want to incorporate a healthier way of eating.  Not a diet, but cutting out fatty foods and replacing them with healthier options.  Because I am impatient and low tolerance, I will have to work on realizing that things take time and progress will not be seen right away.  I cannot give up after two weeks.  I want to exercise and eat better to lose 35-40 pounds.

Psychological- My goal in this area is to start focusing on my stressors, my triggers and my emotions.  I need to learn to breathe and remove myself from situations that will cause a negative response from me which in turn leads me to be stressed out.  My stress affects me in every way possible, but it also affects those around me.  I have found a meditative practice from our book, Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing (Dacher, 2006), and I would like to start trying that out when I feel overwhelmed.  This meditation is called The Subtle Mind practice.  It helps eliminate racing thoughts and overwhelming craziness in your head and replaces it with calm and peace for a still mind.  My goal is to attempt this meditation at least once a day to reduce my stress levels.

Spiritual- I am not a religious person and I always thought that this is what spirituality was, so it took some time to understand what it meant and figure out what my goal was when it came to spirituality.  After thinking about it for a while, I realized that my goal is to find out who I am and understand me.  This means finding a way of figuring out who I am and who I want to be.  Am I okay with not having a desire for whole health and happiness, or am I just in a slump and needing a kick start to begin my journey?  This is what I need to find out.  I think one of the best ways to connect with myself would be through yoga or meditation.  I want to take personal time by myself to see if I can create a peace within myself and set my mind up for stimulation.  So my goal is to attempt to connect with myself. 

IV.             PRACTICES FOR PERSONAL HEALTH

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

After figuring out what my goals were in each domain, it was nice to know that I have something to strive for.  The next step for me is to come up with implementable strategies for these goals in each of the domains that will allow me to foster growth and development as I work toward reaching these goals. 

Physical- Since I know that I want to lose weight and start eating healthier, my plan or strategy to do this is pretty much the same as outlined in my goal.  I need to find exercises that I enjoy that will keep me motivated so that I will continue to exercise in order to lose weight.  I will need to find a workout plan that incorporates aerobic activity with strength training 3-6 days a week, based on my current fitness levels and start there.  I could go to the gym and speed walk for my cardio and do free weights for my strength training.  I also have two different CDs for home workouts.  I have the Insanity series that incorporates aerobic and strength and I also have Zumba which is dancing, that also gives you a total body workout.  Because I always use the excuse that I can never seem to find the time to exercise, scheduling my routine at the same time every day and making it a priority along with my other daily tasks is essential.  With that, buying healthier foods to take place of the fattier foods and replacing less healthy foods that I currently have in my house will help me eat the way that I need to.  I don’t want to go on a diet, I want to eat healthier.  I understand that diets are difficult to stay on and can be detrimental to weight loss success.  Healthy eating is part of a lifelong process and lifestyle that I want to have as part of my health and wellness plan.  I will be patient and consistent and realize that things take time.

Psychological- Because I am a high stress person and tend to let just about everything get to me, the way I handle things is not ideal.  My stress affects my whole being and those around me.  I am aware that I need to avoid my triggers and remove myself from certain situations at times, but finding a way to do so is what I aim for.  My strategy for clearing my mind, body and soul from so much stress and emotion is to practice a couple of daily exercises for release.  I think I will start my day off with a daily meditative exercise, the Subtle Mind, to clear my thoughts and frustrations so that I can begin my day with clear and positive balance.  This will allow me to open up my mind, heart and soul with less stress and anger and allow my thoughts to be calmer and still.  Throughout the day, if I find that I am tensing up or allowing my emotions or stress get to me, taking time to meditate again would help reduce these negative feelings and subside my negative reactions.  Another exercise that I believe will be helpful in fostering my psychological health and wellness would be yoga.  I would love to start practicing this art form as it is a great way to induce positive thoughts and self-connectedness.  It also improves physical health in the process.  This does not have to be done every day, but maybe a few times a week for optimal psychological wellness for me.  I believe it will help strengthen my mind and allow me to open up to new things and help clear my mind.  This, like meditation, can be done on an as needed basis.

Spiritual- Because our mind, body and soul are so very much connected, exercises in this domain are the same for me as in the psychological domain.  I will incorporate yoga and meditative practice (Subtle Mind) for spiritual wellness.  I am very unsure of my journey as of right now, where I want to start and where I want it to lead.  What I have come to realize is that I do not know myself as well as I would like.  This is where these exercises and practices will come into play.  Yoga will allow me to connect with myself and help me figure out who I really am and who I want to be.  It will give my aching soul a way to rest and find peace so that I can really look at who Laura has been and who she desires to be.  It will be a personal time to myself that allows me to assess my love and life for me, so that I can really assess my love and life for others.  I believe the Subtle Mind practice will allow me to calm my mind, still my thoughts and control my emotions so that I can welcome positivity into my life and soul.  Incorporating meditation and yoga together would be very beneficial for my spirituality and finding me.  I will implement these practices/strategies daily to weekly so that I can feel more relaxed, calmer and more open and in tune with my surroundings and myself.  I believe this will open up doors for beautiful exploration.

V.                COMMITMENT

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

Assessing my progress or lack of progress in the next six months will be easier for my physical domain than it may be for my psychological or spiritual domains.  I could always keep journals for each domain as to what I am doing to stay on track and note progress throughout the process.  My physical progress will be noticeable to the naked eye.  I will be able to see the results in the mirror and by how my clothes fit.  Since I am very critical of myself, noticing change in the other two domains may not be so easy for me, even if others are able to see it.  What I am hoping for is others to comment on how they see changes in my attitude and applaude me for new ways that I handle my stress.  I would like to hear people tell me that I look and seem happier than I had been and that “something” seems different about me, but they’re not sure what.  I need to hear good things about my transformation if I am actually sticking with my practices.  Hearing these positive things will be my way of knowing, my assessment, of the wonderful progress that I am making toward my goals in health and wellness.  If I am not hearing such things, maybe I need to get to the bottom of the issue, find out what it is that went wrong and fix it.  If need be, re-assess my strategies and try something else.  There isn’t only one way to health and happiness.  Finding what works for me is what I need to do, even if that means a lot of trial and error.  I want health and happiness that radiates onto others so that they can feel it.  I want a transformation that makes me feel happy, healthy, beautiful and at peace with myself.  I want to know who I am and actually love me!

 

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications.

 

 

Unit 8- Subtle Mind and Visualization Practices: How I Love Them

1. 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 determined that the two practices that have been most beneficial for me are the Subtle Mind practice and the Visualization practice.  These are the only two that happen to have a positive outcome each time I’ve tried them, and when finished, I have felt better. 

The reason the Subtle Mind practice was chosen, and will continue to be used in my personal life, is because I am one of the many people on this Earth that live a “busy” life that also includes a busy mind.  My thoughts are constantly racing, even when I try to lie down at night to sleep.  I live a high stress life and it affects every part of my body.  With the Subtle Mind practice, it has allowed me to calm my mind, slow down the racing thoughts, ease my stress, and brings me calm and peace.  When I am finished with the practice, I feel like I can concentrate, I think more clearly, move and talk slower and feel less rushed.  My body even feels less tense.  Being able to slow myself down like that is very beneficial for not only my mind, but for my physical and spiritual well-being.  It is truly a great feeling.

When doing the visualization practice, it brought me to a place of happiness and overwhelming joy.  Again, I live a busy, high stressed life, as I am sure many people do.  If I can take time each day to sit and bring myself to a place where happiness and joy surrounds me, and when I am finished, I feel so amazingly vibrant and full of positivity, I will definitely incorporate this into my life.  Things like this take some practice, but I never realized how much just imagining positive, happy things could bring such relief and pleasure to your day.  My mood unfortunately affects those around me, so if I can bring happiness and positivity to others rather than stress and negativity, I definitely want to do that.  I truly do love this exercise.  I love where it brings me and how it makes me feel physically, mentally and spiritually.

Laura Beote

Unit 7- Meeting Aesclepius Reflection

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?

I have to say, this meditative practice was very different for me than all of the other ones.  I only did it one time because it was all that I could handle.  This was the first time I have ever felt emotional during any of these practices.  When it asked us to think of a person who was wise, it made me think of my deceased step-father.  He was a man that was very smart, loving, kind and funny.  I could go to him for advice for anything.  He was the type of person who would listen and cared and would give you the shirt off of his back.  He has been gone for 12 years but when I think of him his image is still very fresh in my mind.  I got emotional when the practice asked us to take in the love and kindness of our person.  For some reason, I started bawling.  I felt so overwhelmed with emotion, love and relief.  I have never felt like this before and don’t know if it is normal.  It was very hard for me to understand yet exhilarating all at once, if that makes sense.  It scared me.  Because of this, I don’t know if I want to allow meditative practices to make me feel like this again.  I don’t know if this is normal or if this is good for me.  When it was finished, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole thing and I didn’t like feeling unsure.  Other than this one time, none of these meditative practices have done anything for me and I can’t really say that they have done anything for me to increase my psychological or spiritual health right now.  I would really have to focus more on them and practice them more to see a change I think.  I could really use the Subtle Mind practice more in my life though, just to ease my ever racing mind on a daily basis.  I really do think that practice, if I stick with it, would actually slow my racing thoughts down and allow me to think and concentrate a little more.  I just may try that one more often.

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?

Well, let’s look at it this way, how can you train someone in mixed martial arts if you have never learned it or trained in it yourself?  You can’t because you would not have any experience in the subject nor would you have any knowledge about it.  That is ridiculous.  I wouldn’t want to have an instructor in school that hasn’t been through school himself/herself.  As a health and wellness professional, it is your obligation and duty to be educated and experienced in whatever subject/field you are promoting or teaching.  At the very least, you need to be working on the same things that you are trying to teach to your clients so that you can share your experiences with them and also share understanding and compassion.  You will not be a good teacher if you cannot listen and understand or be able to offer advice because you do not have the knowledge or experience in the field.  Plus, it leaves the clients feeling like they have nobody to turn to for advice or help.  That is not good.  I am not looking for spiritual growth in my life as of right now.  As far as psychological growth, I think I could find a lot of ways to reduce stress so that my mind could slow down, reduce emotions and my body could relax.  Working with the Subtle Mind practice would probably be a good start for me.

Unit 6- Loving Kindness Revisited and an Integral Assessment

1. Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93.

Complete.

2. Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).

Complete.

3. Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

I sat here listening to the Loving Kindness exercise with much distress.  My internet has gone down and luckily I had saved the exercise to my desktop so that I could practice the exercise and complete my homework.  Unfortunately, the first time doing this exercise, was not a success because it really didn’t do much for me.  This time around, it was a horrible failure again.  I tried hard to concentrate, but my mind was racing and my blood boiled with anger as I thought about the loss of signal with my internet.  I couldn’t help but worry about whether or not I was going to get my homework turned in on time.  I had been smart enough to copy and paste my questions into word documents for preparation prior to loss of signal, but that doesn’t help with getting it turned in, does it?  If you can’t tell, I’m a high stress, low tolerance type of person.  I have been trying to take time to find outlets to relieve my stress, and meditation is one of them.  When I am too stressed out, it seems that not much works for me.  So unfortunately, the Loving Kindness exercise today, was nothing but a mere aggravation for me.   

This would be a great time to discuss the assessment process.  Noticeably, just from this post, we can tell that there are a few things I need to work on in my life.  My mind is definitely a source that doesn’t seem to slow down.  My thoughts are always racing and it is very hard to concentrate at any given point.  It makes it difficult to listen, to think and even to sleep.  I get stressed out and don’t know what to do with myself sometimes.  This causes emotional, physical and mental exhaustion for me.  Because of this, my body suffers, which is another level of development that needs improvement.  I need to get sleep to help regulate my well-being, I am slightly overweight, so I need to work on my fitness and nutrition, and I need to calm down, which will help ease my mind, body and spirit.  I want to focus on meditation as an exercise to foster growth in all of these areas for development.  It is something that I enjoy and makes me feel good about myself when I do it.  It doesn’t take a huge part of my day to do, and I can do it anytime I feel overwhelmed.  I just need to find a way to get it to get me through the really rough times…the ones like today where nothing seems to matter but me and my emotions.  I think I will practice the Subtle Mind exercises often to focus on my mind first.  This is where I feel most of it starts and stems from.  If I can get this to a level that is satisfactory for me, other lines and levels may change and my needs may change.  So wish me luck. 

4. Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students. Provide them with feedback on their strategies for growth and wellness.

Blog is posted and I have participated in the blogs of two other classmates.

Unit 5- Subtle Mind Reflection and Mind-Body-Spirit Connection

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

I loved that both exercises had the waves crashing in the background.  The Subtle Mind exercise was more beneficial for me than the Loving Kindness exercise.  The Subtle Mind exercise had less narration and allowed me to focus more on myself and my mind rather than having to focus on what was being said or asked of me in the Loving Kindness exercise.  I had frustrations with the Loving Kindness exercise, but the Subtle Mind exercise was awesome.  I felt so relaxed, so in tune with myself and my thoughts, and was amazed at how much control I actually could have over my focus and thoughts.  I normally have constantly racing thoughts and during this exercise, I was able to put them to rest for a while, and even when I was distracted, I was able to witness and return to my original focus point easily.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I felt like I was almost in a trance or a state of sleep, but was awake and fully aware of everything.  I think one of the things that really allowed this relaxation during this exercise is the time given to connect to myself without narration, without distraction.  I could focus and hear the sounds of the waves and flutes as I breathed in and out, feeling so in tune with myself.  I loved it!

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

Many think that spiritual wellness has to do with your belief or connection to a higher power.  For me, this is not the case.  My spiritual wellness is my belief and/or connection to myself and my soul.  My spirit, if you will.  It is vital to be spiritually healthy to truly be mentally and physically healthy.  But the same is true if you change any of these around.  You cannot have one without the other two.  To have true wellness, I believe that a person has to experience their own level of wellness spiritually, physically and mentally altogether.  It will take time to reach this, and each level will most likely be reached at different times, but it takes all of them as a whole for complete wellness.  Many people are on a path or journey for complete wellness.  I have not felt that desire inside yet.  I am not a person who, for some reason, thinks or digs deep like that.  So, unfortunately this connection really hasn’t manifested in my life yet.  I can’t say that there won’t be a day that I won’t decide that it’s time to change things, but as of now, this is not a journey that I have chosen to take. 

3. Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students. Provide them with feedback on their experiences. Do you have any suggestions or support for them? How does their experience compare to your experience? What have you learned from their blog?

I have posted my blog.  I have also commented/posted on two other classmates’ blogs.

Unit 4: Loving Kindness Reflection

1. Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

This loving-kindness exercise was amazing, to say the least.  I came to some very surprising realizations during this exercise.  The first part, when we were asked to think about someone close to us, I immediately thought of my two daughters.  I couldn’t help but smile and immediately felt the love and tenderness that I hold toward each of them.  They are truly my whole world.  I was able to focus on their smiles and the love that they return as the sounds relaxed my body.  The sound of the waves in the background are personal and relaxing to me, as I once lived in Hawaii and is the one place I always loved living.  The beach was always my go-to-place to relax and wish to live there again one day.  It was soothing to be able to observe my positive and negative thoughts, to just kind of release them, if only for moments, without any attachment.  I must say, though, it was weird trying to feel love for myself.  I have never really looked at myself that way.  I have always directed feelings of love and kindness toward other and never myself.  The exercise says that you can’t extend those feelings of love and kindness to others without feeling them for yourself first, but I don’t believe that is true.  I think that it is kind of selfish to think you have to be happy to make someone else happy.

 I was very pleased to take in the suffering of a loved one during this exercise.  I have a nephew that is suffering from cancer and is struggling terribly from it.  To think that I could breathe in the bad and breathe out health and joy is merely a wish, but one that I would definitely wish every day if it could come true.  During this part, I love how the flutes played as the waves crashed.  To me, the sound of the flutes almost symbolized healing and it felt amazing.

One surprising realization, the part where it asked us to take on others struggles and suffering, even those who may be enemies, and breathe them in, I found very hard to do.  I’m not a person who hates, but I do have a couple of people that I cannot find it in my heart to forgive or like.  This is where I got selfish and did not want to take on their struggles.  I felt that their struggles were created because of their own selfishness and they needed to find a way to release them.  I refuse to wish kindness and happiness for these people as I feel that they do not deserve it.  I also have too much going on in my life, too many of my own struggles in my family, to worry about theirs.  Mean, possibly, but that is honestly how I felt. 

I would definitely recommend this exercise to other people because it does relax you, it does bring you to a certain place of your own, and it gives you a certain identity in your soul.  Whether you know where you are in your happiness or not, it will bring you there and you get to choose whether you want to change and work on it.

2. What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

I think mental workouts are a way to prime our minds for future development.  It opens our hearts and souls for love and kindness.  It allows our minds to experience wisdom and truth in life.  Mental workouts are proven to expand our minds, allowing endless possibilities in development and allowing relaxation and healing capacities.  The mind is a powerful thing and can be a useful tool when exercised regularly.  It can also reduce anger, hatred, fear, worry and other disturbing emotions while enhancing positive emotions such as love, patience, acceptance and kindness.  Whatever practice you decide to take on to work your brain, it will take discipline, perseverance, and effort.  As with any workout, it is essential to set aside time out of your day to work on or practice it and make it part of your daily routine.  As time progresses, so will your path to human flourishing. 

3. Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students. Provide them with feedback on their experiences. Do you have any suggestions or support for them? How does their experiences compare to your experiences? What have you learned from their blog?

My blog is posted and I also posted on two other classmate’s blogs.

 

Unit 3- Physical, Spiritual and Psychological Goals

1. 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?

Physical well-being:  3. I am very out of shape, overweight and embarrassed of the way that I look.  I don’t like to be seen much and spend a lot of time in sweats.  I feel horrible about myself and know that I have to make a change, but lack the motivation to do so.

Spiritual well-being:   1. I have never been a very spiritual person.  Wasn’t raised that way and never was really interested in spirituality.  I have too many issues and problems with my faith to have any form of spirituality in my life.

Psychological well-being:  7. I have some hurdles that I need to get over to be happy, most of which have to do with my physical appearance.  I have migraines that affect my happiness also.  It tends to take a toll on my psychological well-being.  Other than those concerns, I’m stable and focused. 

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

Physical- I would like to gain some motivation and eventually start exercising so that I can lose weight.  Not only would I look better but I would feel a lot better about myself and my self-esteem would increase.

Spiritual- I don’t really have a goal here.  I’m not unhappy with my spirituality or lack of.  This is a personal choice and not something I necessarily want or need to fix.

Psychological- I think starting with some exercise would get some negative energy out and make me feel a little better.  Also, making sure that I have outlets to vent and get emotions out to keep my emotions stable.

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

I think one of the most important activities that I could implement in my life to help me move toward my goals would be some positive affirmations.  Because I lack motivation and have low self-esteem, lots of positivity and support would be beneficial every step of the way toward my goals.  I would like something or someone telling me how great I am and telling me that I can do it.  Then I could actually implement physical activities.  Start off slow and gradually work my way up to more challenging exercises, making myself feel and look better, and being proud in the process. 

4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? Etc.)

Normally, I like to listen to relaxation audios because they can get me to finally wind down after a stressful day.  Unfortunately, this audio was not one that could do that for me.  It was hard for me to focus on and it got frustrating to listen to.  Frustration started early on in the audio.  The gentleman that was narrating seemed to hesitate a lot making me lose focus of what he was trying to talk about.  Also, when I listen to these things, I like to hear talking as a smooth flow and this was not the case.  The narrator also had my mind wandering off too much trying to focus on images and colors that got me too involved when I just wanted to relax.  I found myself trying to keep up with what he was trying to say more than being able to relax.  This was not a beneficial relaxation exercise for me at all.  I tried to do it again, but within the first three minutes, I had to turn it off.  Sometimes, there are just ones that don’t work, and this is one of those. 

5. Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students.
   Provide them with feedback on their goal strategies. (Would their strategies be beneficial for you? Why or Why not? Do you have any suggestions for them? Would their strategies work for your clientele? Why or why not?)

I participated in two other blogs.

 

Unit 2- Relaxation Reflection

I love listening to relaxation audios.  I have to say though, it was a little difficult to relax while listening to this the first time around since I was sitting at my table, on my laptop.  I had my kids also sitting at the table eating dinner and messing around, so I wasn't able to feel the effect that this audio had the potential to make me feel.  I absolutely loved the sound of his voice and the tones in the background.  I have had a terribly rough day today, so I fully plan on bringing my laptop into my bedroom this evening as I prepare for bed, and letting the audio do it's job.  I live a very stressful life and lately have found it difficult to wind down at the end of the day.  I couldn't be more excited to listen to this audio again this evening for a relaxing night and peaceful sleep.

Unit 2- Welcome!

This is my very first post to my blog/page and I'm not sure if it is going to work correctly.  I welcome all of you to my page and hope that what bit of information that I have on here, you find interesting and informative.  I also welcome any hellos and feedback throughout the course.  I plan on working on an exercise and healthy eating journey while I am going through this class, so please feel free to comment on my posts and offer advice if you have any as I start a beginning and a new me!