FINAL post

After reflecting on previous things said, I can honestly say that the scores I gave myself before have yet to change.  I would score myself exactly the same as I did before.  I can say this, because I have yet to make any changes.  All though it is an excuse, I have made no strides in changing because I have been focused on other things right now in my life and it is just not a priority.  After this term, I plan to cut down on classes to take one class per term, and we have hired a book keeper to assist in our business.  With more time to myself and more time to waste, I plan on working towards improving all areas of wellness.

With all of that said, I do feel like I have gained something from this course.  I have the knowledge to use for myself or to share with others.  Either way, I have the knowledge and it is up to me to make use of this knowledge.  So, in a general sense, I do feel like I have improved my overall well being.  I have recognized my weaknesses and I have a plan in place to build upon it.  I just have to take forth the action.

Unit 9 Final Project

Unit 9 Final Project

Grace Glenn

Kaplan University

Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

May 9, 2013

Professor Mark Maule

I.                  Introduction: 

       It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because in order to integrate these concepts into the lives of others, clients, patients, family, and friends, professionals must be aware of their personal inner growth through flourishing psychologically, spiritually and physically.  Health and wellness professionals have to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically in order for professionals to lead their patients and clients down the pathway to reach optimum health and wellness. The professionals must use pathways and roads that they have also travelled.  In order to connect the world through wellness, professionals must develop awareness for others through their personal experiences, whether they are physical, spiritual or psychological. In order for us to have empathy and understanding, we must also know and understand the current struggles of our clients so we can offer to them the best advice, care, service and support and have them feel that we are with them on their sometimes long, forbidding journey to health and wellness. Professionals can do this by promoting a healthy mind, body and spirit and by leading by example.   

            In order for myself to be successful as a professional in the health and wellness industry, my biggest area that I need to work on is sympathy and empathy.  I do a very good job of understanding, relating, and building rapport with people.  But sympathy and empathy is definitely my weakness.  It is an emotion that I don’t share very well.  It is something that I will have to work on and improve in order to sustain relationships with weaker mentalities and need a little bit more motivation than others. 

II.               Assessment: 

          I can happily admit, that although I really did not have the patience for these practices, it has been something that I have learned to be an alternative to when I am feeling like I need some “me” time.  Although no immediate changes now, these practices have opened my eyes and something that I am more aware of and maybe something I’ll practice more in the future. 

            As far as rating my overall wellness, I would rate my spirituality about a four, my physical wellness a nine, and psychological wellness an eight.  My spirituality is still a low number because that is something that I will have to get into later.  Right now, spirituality is low on my list of priorities, so I feel no need to adjust it or make it better.  I don’t really agree with some things on many different religions, I will have to do some more research and see if I can come up with believing in a higher power.  As far as my physical wellness, my body fat percentage is low, my muscle mass is high, and I am in great health and condition.  There is always room for improvements, which is why I gave myself a nine, otherwise I would rate myself a ten.  Lastly, my psychological wellness is pretty high also.  Other than my high level of confidence, rational and realistic thinking, and being pessimistic and an optimistic at times, I would rate my mental wellness at being pretty well.  I have a positive outlook on life, I genuinely care for others, animals, and living creatures, and I maintain a healthy lifestyle.  With those few things stated, I can honestly agree my overall wellness better than average. 

III.             Goal Development: 

            One of the awesome things about life is that you can always create goals, reach goals, and then create new goals. Every day I give myself daily goals to accomplish.  I also have long term goals.  But, I am definitely a fan of life’s challenges and then conquering them.  After taking this class, I have also set certain goals in certain areas. 

            For my physical wellness goals, this is hard for me to put together because I am constantly working on improving my physical wellness.  I made a commitment to myself four years ago to pursue goals involving my physical physique.  I have reached several goals and I am constantly setting new ones.  But at this very moment, the goal I can set for my physical wellness would be to tone up my arms a little bit more and continue to reach a minimum of four days being active and productive out of the week.  And then maybe to walk my dogs a little bit more.  We could all continue to work on our physical wellness.

            For my psychological wellness, the goal I would like to set for myself is to take more time for myself during the day.  This would not include my considered “me” time when I go to the gym.  I would like to set a few minutes out of the day to relax and do nothing or at the most, walk my dogs.  I feel like sometimes I overwhelm myself with things I want to accomplish during the day and then I feel a bit frustrated when I am unable to complete those tasks.  If I just take a few minutes to myself, give myself some positive affirmations that I am acknowledging that I am having a productive day, and that it is okay to relax for a few moments.  I think this little time daily will help me from feeling overwhelmed at times. 

            As far as spiritual wellness goes, I am still lost at what kind of goals I would like to set. But, I guess the obvious goal that works for me is to take a little time once a month to do some research on different spiritualities.  Possibly I will find something that intrigues me and develop some spiritual wellness.  Right now, this is not a priority, so this is definitely a long term goal to accomplish. 

IV.           Practices for personal health: 

In order to accomplish these goals, I need to have practices and a strategy in place.  That’s one of the things we learned in previous classes, in order to achieve change, preparation and planning must be in place.  For my physical goals, in order to tone up my arms, I need to make sure I include more arm work outs and lifting into my exercise program.  And to get to the gym or do more exercise throughout the week, I am going to make sure my fiancé’ and I spend a day during the weekend doing something productive together.  For example, we could walk the dogs together, go for hikes, bike ride together, or even go to the gym together. 

            For my psychological wellness, I am going to schedule a time during the day, to set aside for my “me” time of relaxing.  It will only be for like thirty minutes and I will schedule it into my phone calendar with all of my other daily reminders and scheduling.  This way, I will stay on track and will be constantly reminded to take the few minutes to myself.  

            For my spiritual wellness, I am going to do the same thing.  I am going to pick a day out of the month and schedule an hour or so to research spirituality and religions.  I will schedule it in planner, just as if I was scheduling a meeting or an appointment.  If I start slow, by just taking one day out of the month, I won’t overwhelm myself and feel like I am really forcing something on myself that I don’t want to do.  Maybe, I will find something interesting and will bump my research time up to once a week.  

V.               Commitment: 

          In order to track and recognize my progress, I do need to have something in place so I can visually see how I am improving.  I think the best way to go about this for myself is to do this the same way I track my work out progress.  I am going to keep a log of all of the goals I want to accomplish and the plans I have set in place.  I track my workouts on a weekly basis.  I write down how many repetitions, how many sets, how much time it takes, and what kind of fatigue I am feeling.  Then, of course, I also track my weight on a weekly basis as well.  By doing this, I am constantly able to track my progress.  I believe I can do the same for my physical, psychological, and spiritual goals.  I will keep a log of everything and make notes of the things I want to implement and practice.  By having this all down on paper, I am sure that I have a plan for positive change and improvement.  

REVIEW of Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation

As I sit here and think about all of the exercises I have done.  I am still 100% sure that the best way for me to relax is while on vacation, getting a massage, or sitting on the couch with my little furry ones, my husband by my side, watching a comedy and sipping on a cocktail.  However, when choosing between the actual practices, I believe the one we did last (Meeting Aesclepius) is the one I most connected with.  It is difficult for me to sit and wish happiness among strangers, or imagine a scenery that I have been to when I can just go there.  But, visualizing and thinking about someone who I care about seems more real to me and true genuine feelings of happiness.  As I said in my last post, thinking about my Mother was a good practice for me.  I could feel her strength, her humor, and awesome personality and think about all the wonderful things I have had the opportunity to share with her.  I could try to implement this practice into my life on a weekly or monthly basis.  Not a certainty, but of all the practices, this would be the one I would do.

Meeting Aesclepius mp3

I listened to this Mp3 and it took me awhile to get comfortable.  In general, meditation is tough for me to get into.  Right now, I am just really thinking about the million things I want to do today before my fiance' and I get massages.  So, my main focus right now is to finish this blog. Lol.  Listening to the Mp3, I was already thinking about how long this was going to take and what I could be doing instead of this.  So first thing first, if you are going to practice mindfulness meditation, not only make sure you have the physical time to do so, but the mental time.  However, the ocean sounds did relax me for a few moments.  I am leaving for Cancun in a couple of weeks and I was already visioning myself on my vacation. And then when I was told to vision someone special, I began to think of my Mother.  She is my best friend, and once I began thinking of her, I was completely at ease for a few moments.

Mindfulness meditation has not fostered my psychological or spiritual wellness because I wont allow it to.  Although I think these things we are learning is beneficial.  It is simply not a priority for me right now.  Perhaps in the future when I am really ready to give this shot, I will be able to appreciate the benefits.  However, right now it is just a class and has really nothing to do with what I am interested in, which is fitness and nutrition.  In the event I am ready to really try this, I suspect I could try mindfulness meditation on a daily basis.  It looks like it really needs five or ten minutes out of your day.  I could incorporate some mindfulness practices in my daily routine if I choose to.

Describe the saying, "one cannot lead another, where one has not gone himself."  This is pretty self explanatory to me.  Basically, people shouldn't advise other people on their lives without having the knowledge or experience themselves.  It is best to keep our mouths closed before we tell others what to do when we truly don't have the experience or knowledge to do so.