Unit 10 - FINAL BLOG

In assessing my healthcare I have to take inventory of how many practices I have incorporated into my life and how much progress have I made in each domain. I would score my physical well-being a 9 because of my eating organic, moderate exercise, and going green. I would score my psychological well-being a 9 because I am wiser than I was 3 years ago, more patient, and have learned how to laugh. I would score my spiritual well-being a 9 because of meditation/prayer to God/Jesus, reading the bible, and faith to believe. My score did change much from unit 3 because I already had incorporated these practices into my life before this course.

There are goals that I have set for myself in these three areas (Physical, Psychological, Spiritually). My physical goal is to lose 10 lbs including body muscle toning. I have made progress toward this goal. I have lost about 5 pounds during this course. My psychological goal is to stay in a positive state of mind. I am staying focus and positive by facing the challenges that come my way. This goal is to keep stress at bay which will allow me to move forward. My spiritual goal is to take time daily for meditation and prayer . Knowing that there is a true and living God that is love, that I can communicate with daily, allows be to spiritually develop. Opening up spiritually gives me peace, love, and kindness to care for others. This form of meditation is vital in helping me to reach my spiritual goal.

I have implemented meditation, nutrition, prayer, and exercise in these three areas. These activities had caused me to become more aware of my inner self. They have also cause me to grow and develop to serve others better.

This course has been wonderful. In the beginning it was difficult to connect fully with my inner self due to the different gods in the practices. Connecting with Jesus made it easier. It is easier for me to relieve stress, forgive quickly, and to be kind. This course has also equipped me to serve more effective and efficient in the health and wellness.

Unit 9 - Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Introduction:

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically because the human body was created into three parts – mind, body, and spirit. All three parts must be nourished or developed for the body to be healthy, happy, and whole. If one part of the body is malnourished, the whole body suffers and becomes out of balance. Developing in these three areas allows professionals to practice more effective and efficient. We become true healthcare professionals because this development opens us up to genuinely care for the well-being of others.

I need to develop more in all three area to reach my professional goal. The area that I need to work on the most is physical activity. My goal is to exercise a least 3 days a week for 30-60 minutes for physical well-being. My goal for psychological well-being is to laugh more which will keep stress at bay. This will help keep me in a peaceful state of mind.

Assessment:

In assessing my healthcare I have to take inventory of how many practices I have incorporated into my life and how much progress have I made in each domain. I would score my physical well-being a 9 because of my eating organic, moderate exercise, and going green. I would score my psychological well-being a 9 because I am wiser than I was 3 years ago, more patient, and have learned how to laugh. I would score my spiritual well-being a 9 because of meditation/prayer to God/Jesus, reading the bible, and faith to believe.

Goal Development:

There are goals that I have set for myself in these three areas (Physical, Psychological, Spiritually). My physical goal is to lose 10 lbs including body muscle toning. To achieve this goal I can incorporate more aerobic exercises for a full body work-out. I can also add weights into the exercises to help tone my body. My psychological goal is to stay in a positive state of mind. I can achieve this goal by staying focus and facing the challenges that come my way. Taking mental inventory regularly will make me aware of my emotional state and will pinpoint any obstacles that may need to be removed (Dacher, 2006). This goal is to keep stress at bay which will allow me to move forward. My spiritual goal is to take time daily for meditation and prayer . Knowing that there is a true and living God that is love, that I can communicate with daily, allows be to spiritually develop. Opening up spiritually gives me peace, love, and kindness to care for others. This form of meditation is vital in helping me to reach my spiritual goal.

Personal Health:

There are strategies that I have implemented in these three domains. My physical strategies are to keep myself motivated and committed to my exercise routine. I live in Florida and sometimes the weather is unpredictable. I love the outdoor scenery of trees, flower, and lakes. I like to power-walk around the lake which has a track around it. I have purchased Zumba Fitness for the days I can't get out to exercise. My psychological strategies, as I mentioned before, are staying positive and developing mentally. Reading positive quotes or scriptures will help me in this area. This area is constantly developing and changing. I must be willing to keep an open mind to change to have a healthy development. My spiritual strategies are staying committed to my daily prayer and meditation time. I like to meditate in the mornings for an hour but 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon works for me as well.

Commitment:

I plan to assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months by keeping a journal of all the activities and personal goals that set. My motivation is high in achieving all my goals. This journal will reveal the areas that I need to strengthen to successfully reach my goal. My long-term practice goals are connecting with other professionals that are in the Health and Wellness field to help guide me along this path. Connecting with others will help assist me in maintaining the Health and Wellness tools I have learned and to show accountability in all set goals. I believe that Health and Wellness is a life-long learning journey that requires work by both professionals and patients/clients to be effective and efficient in health and healing.

Beneficial Practices that Foster Mental Fitness

The two practices that is most beneficial to me was Loving-Kindness and Meditation.  Loving-Kindness enhances concern for the welfare of others. Wishing health, happiness, and wholeness to all individuals (Dacher, 2006).  It opens our hearts for concerns ,compassion, and diminishes self-centeredness.  Also, a subtle mind opens our minds and reveal wisdom that knows the truth for our lives and existence.  These are essential elements that heal at the source and drive human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).  I can implement this in my profession, which is Health and Wellness, by wishing health, happiness, and wholeness to all my patients as I treat them.  This practice will also allow me to have genuine concern toward my patient's health.
Meditation is a type of mind-body complementary medicine.  It produces a state of peace, stillness, and relaxation.  Meditation reduces stress and the conditions that it carries, such as, pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.  I can implement this practice into my profession which will help me keep stress at bay and stay in a peaceful state of mind.  This peaceful state of mind will allow me to stay focus and better diagnose patients.

Unit 7- Meeting Aesclepius

This meditative practice was strange to me.  The introduction explained that I should enter into an untamed mind, increasing stillness, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness.  The coach stated that I may just enter into one of these states.  Aesclepius is suppose to connect me to my inner healer at the source of my being.  Entering into the practice was very soothing and peaceful due to the sound of water or the ocean.  I was asked to visualize a loving man/woman that I respect, love, that taught me wise things.  I could create this person or this person could be dead or alive.  I was asked to connect and become one with this person.  This is when this practice became strange.  I am definitely not trying to connect with a dead person or someone that I just made up.LOL  After this deep connection I was suppose to become  this wise and loving healer. I learn at the very end that clepius was this healing god and this why I could not connect with this practice.  The one and only God that I choose to connect to is Jesus Christ. The person I chose to respect, love, that is wise is my mom.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself".  I believed this is vital in a doctor-patient relationship.  In the Health and Wellness profession, we as professionals must practice what we recommend for our patients.   We must lead by example to build trust between the professional and patient.
Yes, I have an obligation to my patients to continue developing my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually in order to be most effective for me and the patient.  If I am in optimal health on all three levels, I can teach them how to reach these levels and maintain. 
     

Unit 6- Universal Loving-Kindness & Integral Assessment

I did the Universal Loving-Kindness exercise and I repeated the phrases with my eyes open.  I thought about what the phrases meant.  The meant freedom from suffering and wishing health, happiness, and wholeness to all individuals (Dacher, 2006).  Based on the choices and decisions we have made in life, pains and suffering can be a good thing.  Some suffering has a way of changing our minds to make better choices, to be kind and caring toward others.  I believe some suffering can lead us to spiritual, mental, and physical freedom.
I discovered that flourishing is a life-long personal journey that must be modified from time to time as we develop and grow.  I need to grow and develop in long-term flourishing and not immediate pleasure.  I have found myself getting impatient due to past circumstances and situation in my life.  Some of the exercises that will help me flourish in this area is Meditation.  Meditation can train my mind to focus my bright successful future and not my past.  Also physical exercises like running, yoga, aerobics and nutritional therapies will foster greater wellness in this area.

Dacher, Elliott. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. The integral Assessment. Chapter 11. Page 105. Basic Health Publications.

Unit 5 - LovingKindness vs the Subtle Mind

The loving-kindness exercise enhanced concern for the welfare of others.  The exercise showed care and affection toward yourself as well as others.  The step that asked me to shift to thought confused me but I enjoyed the step that took me to total peace.
The subtle mind exercise addresses witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness.  I didn't understand how to give my soul and mind to my heart.  When I was asked to breath out health and wholeness for my enemies changed my train of thought.  I thought maybe my enemies wouldn't be sick of they weren't soooooooo evillllllll.

You can't have health and wellness without spiritual, mental, and physical wellness.  The are connected as a whole.  Of one is lacking all are imbalanced.  All three must be feed separately.  For example, Spirit (prayer), mentally (positive thoughts), and physically (exercise, nutrition).
In my personal life, I remember going organic.  Mentally I thought that everything would taste like rocks and twigs.  I began to pray and through faith I had the strength to mentally research organic recipes and physically prepare good organic soul food. 

Unit 4 - Loving Kindness

Loving-kindness practice enhance concern for the welfare of others. The first step was to think of someone you love with great tenderness.  Open you heart to fully experience this feelings.  Next, turn these feelings of care and affection toward yourself, being in a place of total peace.  The next step confused me when she shifted to thought.  I wasn't thinking about anything, I still connecting with this feeling of love.
When it was time to shift to the subtle mind, I didn't understand how to give my soul and mind to my heart.  I didn't know what it was suppose to feel like.  Visualization was on taking in your love ones and enemies suffering with a breath and breathing out health and wholeness for them with a breath.  I was doing ok until she asked me to do this for my enemies.  This messed up my whole train of thought.  My mind shifted and thought maybe my enemies wouldn't be sick if they weren't sooooo eevviill.  I am not going around making enemies but I do believe in reaping what you sow.  I hope there is someone out there feeling me. LOL :<)

A mental work-out is exercising our minds by progressive development of an expanded consciousness and its healing capacities (Dacher, 2006).  Some of the examples of a mental work-out and attitude is loving-kindness and a subtle mind.  Some of the benefits of loving-kindness is it attracts loving-kindness and calms our minds.  It opens our hearts for concern and compassion for the welfare of others and diminishes self-centeredness.  Another example is subtle mind which addresses witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness (Dacher, 2006).  This opens our minds and reveals a wisdom that knows the truth for our lives and existence.  I can operate in loving-kindness and wisdom which are essential elements that heal at the source and drive human flourishing (Dacher, 2006).