Final Project

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?

It is important to consider our health as whole beings; psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Reaching wholeness requires us to transform our minds as well as our hearts (Dacher, 2006). This type of whole health results in integral health (Dacher, 2006). In order to help patients achieve integral health the health care practitioner must be able to relate to the individual patient in order to help the patient reach their own potential of wellness (Dacher, 2006). A health care professional that encompasses all the areas of wellness has the ability to understand what it means to comprehend medicine on a larger spectrum, then a health care professional that solely depends on the physical part of healing (Schlitz, et al 2005). Integrally trained physicians are also able to determine what type of healing is necessary in regards to conventional, alternative or holistic (Dacher, 2006).

I believe I still need to work on my spiritual wellness to get closer to complete wellness. Having thought in the past that my spirituality was complete and at the level I should be at, I realize now that I am many levels away from where I should be. I feel spirituality is a very important factor of attaining integral wellness.

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

Assessing my health psychologically, spiritually and physically I’ve had to take a look at myself as a whole over the last few weeks. Scoring my wellness spiritually I would score myself at a six out of ten. I believe I am spiritual to a certain extent, but I have noticed a gap where improvement can be done. Physically I would score myself at a nine out of ten. I take my own physical fitness seriously because of the importance it has on my longevity along with the intense feeling of wellness it provides for me on a daily basis. My psychological assessment would fall at an eight out of ten. Psychologically I believe I am strong however there are many issues that life throws us in which I believe I can use help in improving. Being stronger on a psychological level would also allow me to use meditation exercises more effectively.

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

A goal I have developed for me to reach optimal physical fitness is to transform my body into a stronger entity. By doing so, my mental health will be affected by having had strengthened my will power as well as improving my cardiovascular health. In improving my psychological health I believe more meditation is key. My goal is to benefit from meditation in order to reduce my daily stress and allow my mind to rest. Goals to attain better spiritual health once again would include meditation and possibly more prayer. With the hustle and bustle of life in general prayer has almost gone by the wayside in my life. This is not to say my faith in the power of prayer is lacking, simply that the practice of it and the spiritual benefits can be improved.

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.

Strategies I can use to implement psychological growth would be introducing more meditation by practicing and fully participating in it on a daily basis. This exercise would help me in dealing with daily stress. Another exercise would be to include yoga into my physical fitness routine. I believe my battle with meditation is a practice that not only has a good physical affect but would benefit me mentally as well. Strategies I can implement for optimal physical wellness include dedicating more time at the health club as well as incorporating new forms of exercise into my routines. This would create more personal challenges for me to achieve. Spiritual strategies include more prayer time and possibly making more efforts to attend church regularly. Actually attending a place of worship may help me to put specific time aside for reaffirming my faith.

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?

In order to assess my progress in six months I believe it would be important for me to keep a journal which documents schedules and any changes I may be going through or noticing. By documenting my daily goals in a journal I will also be able to reassess my current situation as to whether any improvements are needed in any particular area of my plan for attaining complete wellness. This is very important because if I am able to follow the goals and exercises I set for myself and attain results, my feelings of fulfillment will improve as well as bring me closer to achieving total integral healing.

References:

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc..

Schlitz, M, Amorok, T, & Micozzi, M.S. (2005). Consciousness & healing: integral approaches to mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

Asciepius Exercise

Doing this weeks Asciepius exercise brought up many emotions and memories for me. The person that layed on my mind was my mother, who passed away 14 years ago, when I was too young in my opinion to deal with something so intense. I've struggled with this loss since it happened. I was able to go back to the many great memories I have of my mother. I was also able to remember exactly why I've struggled with he loss for so long. I went back to the moment in which I remember sitting in my living room listening to her talk, and thinking to myself that I had so much to learn from her. It was great to look back to the many good memories but in the end I was left feeling sad.

What the saying " Once cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means to me is to make sure you are able to heed your own advice before you give others advice. If you are not able to follow your own advice how do you expect others to take you seriously. I believe many of us have been guilty of this some time or another. We are very quick to give advice to other people, however sometimes that advice is easier said than done.

Loving-Kindness exercise

The possibility of sending good thoughts to someone in need of wholeness of any kind made doing this exercise more useful then I originally believed it could be. I must admit I am usually on overload, so I have been mostly skeptical that this type of exercise could be useful in my life. I was not able to remember all the phrases this exercise required me to recite right away. However, after saying them out loud several times the words came out a little bit easier and a good feeling also came about in myself. I suppose it was a feeling of selflessness, which was very welcoming and awarding.
The area I've chosen to focus on is interpersonal growth. I find that many times my patience wears very thin when dealing with others, whether it be my family, friends or most often with strangers. I have a hard time being as understanding about someones personal situations as I would like to be. For example when dealing with a "rude" employee of an establishment I find that I immediately feel the need to say exactly what comes to my mind, rather than taking a step back and trying to give the person the benefit of the doubt. It's possible they are having a bad day and most likely receiving any comment or attitude from me is not going to do anything to help their situation. I am going to try to practice putting myself in the shoes of others in order to try and gain some more compassion and understanding.

Reflecting on my well-being

I enjoyed doing this exercise because it is not often I sit back and reflect on myself as a whole. When reflecting on my physical well-being I would say I give myself a 7. I am in good health and do what I can to improve my health through a good diet and exercise. I've given myself a 7 because I feel there is certainly room for improvement. I do try to follow a good diet but many times my busy schedule gets in the way of allowing for the time to prepare healthier meal for the entire day. I do find that if I do eat out I do consciously try to choose the better option but nonetheless preparing my own meals would be optimal. As far as exercise I find that I do stray away from my goal of 4-5 times a week. Again, this is usually due to my busy life and not putting aside enough time for myself. The goals I would like to set for myself in this aspect are simply allowing myself to put more time aside for preparing weekly meals and incorporating more exercise in my life. These goals are not only good for now but are good for the long run.
In rating my spiritual well-being I give myself a 6. I do believe I have much room for improvement in this aspect. I've let my spirituality falter over the years and feel that I need to get back to spirituality on some level. I don't believe being spiritual involves going to church on Sunday or joining some kind of organized religious group. I feel that being spiritual is being at peace with myself and a higher power as well as having faith. My goal is to create a better spiritual relationship with myself and to try and strengthen my faith.
In rating my psychological well-being I would give myself a 7. Again, there is room for improvement in this aspect of my life as well. I sometimes allow my busy life and work schedule cause me stress and make me a negative person at times. I find that when I'm stressed about situations I don't react well to others. A goal for myself in this aspect of my life would be to be able to take a step back and assess a situation before reacting to it. By giving myself some time to absorb a situation and think of the right way to approach it I can avoid many issues such as arguments or coming across too brass to others.
I did this weeks relaxation technique and found it was very helpful, especially where my psychological well-being is concerned. I helped me to relax my mind for a moment and my mind did not run in every direction.

Another term...

I'm so very excited about another term at Kaplan. Another term is just a step closer to completing school all together. I find the terms just fly by. This is my second experience with blogging. I had to do a weekly blog for another class and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately by schedule is so crazy I don't have the time to keep a personal blog on my own, which I would love to do. Sometimes you just need to vent to whomever might be listening. I think once things slow down a little bit having my own blog is certainly on my "to do" list. I look forward to reading everyone's blogs. I thinks it's a great way to get to know everyone.