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?
It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically so that they can provide the best care possible and meet the expectations of their patients (aka the “healee”). If a health and wellness professional is not fully developed in any one of these areas, I believe that they cannot fully understand their own needs, forget about the needs of their patients’. I agree with Dacher on many points including integrating these principles into our own life (as healers). “This means that we must be willing to explore the inner aspects of our own life through psychological development and contemplative practice.” (Dacher, 2006, p. 167). Once a health and wellness professional has developed their own mind, body, and spiritual connection, I believe they’re ready to guide their patients towards integral health, happiness, and wholeness.
In order to fulfill the goals that I’ve set for myself, I feel that I still need to work on all aspects of my health and wellness. Out of all of these areas, I feel most comfortable with my physical wellness and see it being pretty solid. The only goals that I have are nutrition related. I would like to continue to eat healthy, whole foods but also begin to slowly eliminate processed foods. With the changes already made to my diet, I have already reaped some of the benefits including increased energy! Spiritually speaking, I have yet to make a strong mind-body connection. I’ve had success practicing the loving-kindness practice in times where stress and anxiety were building but I think I need to focus more on clearing my mind and exploring the subtle mind practice more frequently. I believe that once my mind-body connection begins to strengthen that I will be in a better position not only spiritually, but psychologically.
II. Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
Prior to this class, I separated my physical health from my mental health. I didn’t understand what integral health meant until I began to read Dacher’s book. Through Dacher’s explanation of the integral map and our five guiding principles (holistic, evolutionary, intentional, person-centered, and dynamic), I’ve learned that in order to achieve human flourishing, that each area of our health needs to be focused on. To focus on each area of our health, I think a good assessment needs to be done. When I assess my own health, I allow myself at least fifteen minutes (minimum) to lay down in silence. During this time, I reflect on each area of my health. To do this, I visualize the thoughts that make me happy, the ones that don’t make me happy, and which ones I want to change. Depending on which area I decide to work on, I then decide what practice I’d like to utilize. I’ve found that the loving-kindness and visualization practices have been the most successful so I’ve practiced these more than mediation and the subtle mind exercise.
As a final assessment for this Unit, I score myself an 8 on my physical wellness because I exercise for at least thirty minutes a day, five times a week however, I still need to fine tune my eating habits. I have come a long way and have cut out a lot of unnecessary junk food but still want to work on eliminating overly-processed foods and replace them with whole, natural foods as much as possible. I give myself a 7 on my psychological wellness because I’m pretty stable and feel like I’m surrounded by good people who genuinely care about me. The reason why this score isn’t higher is because I still have some trust issues due to past experiences. I find that as I grow more individually, that I continue to feel more and more confident. I give myself a 5 on my spiritual wellness because I still don’t go to church and have been lacking in this area the most. Even though I haven’t advanced much in this area, I have begun to look into the different types of religion. I’ve begun this by researching and reading online articles. Once I’m ready, I plan on going to the local bookstore to buy some new books.
III. Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
Physical health goal: to eliminate as much processed and artificial food/beverages as possible. Last weekend I went out and bought myself a book called “The Clean Eating Diet Recharged” by Tosca Reno. I’ve read about half of this book already I’m that hooked! So far, I have incorporated some of her concepts including eliminating wasted calories from beverages. I’ve cut out all soda, fruit juice, and sweetened teas. I’ve been drinking no less than 12 glasses of water a day and although it may sound cliché, I already feel better.
Psychological health goal: to keep a journal (or blog) to reflect on my feelings when I start feeling insecure. I will admit I was a little hesitant about the whole internet blog idea but I really enjoyed the blog for our class! I will make my new blog private however, I think it’ll be a great outlet for me. I feel that writing down my insecurities will help me get over them. I tend to re-visit thoughts in my head over and over again. Writing them down and then re-reading them again, I think could help me “see” myself from the outside rather than from the inside.
Spiritual health goal: to pick a religion and begin practicing that faith. I was baptized as a baby but I’m still pretty clueless about religion in general. I’ve started some research already and think I have an idea of where I’d like to go. The next step would be to buy some more books and maybe even go to church. I think being somewhat spontaneous about it might work better for me.
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.
I believe in order to fully develop that mind-body connection (human flourishing), we need to have the ability to self-cultivate as well as implement strategies to foster growth in all areas of our health. To foster my physical wellness, I will continue to exercise for thirty minutes at least five times a day; keep a food log to track my calorie intake; give myself time to make a meal plan for the week to ensure I’m making whole, natural foods; and continue with current preventative measures such as taking a multi-vitamin. To foster my psychological wellness, I will practice meditation more often. To do this, I will start with small time increments and then work my way up to larger times when I feel more comfortable. Additionally, I want to begin writing in a personal blog. I want to be able to write something daily even if it’s a sentence. I think writing will become one of my biggest outlets. To foster my spiritual wellness, I will continue to practice the loving-kindness exercise. I may try to make this a more frequent ritual and practice it either first thing in the morning or right before bed. Additionally, I’m going to begin reading books about religion. If I’m still unsure about which religion I’d like to participate in, I’m going to read inspiration stories in order to help cultivate my spiritual wellness.
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?
Hopefully, my future assessment within the next six months will be about my success and not failure. I will be looking forward to see if my “ratings” have improved or not and at this time I’d also like to re-assess my goals to align with my life at that particular time. I have a lot of changes coming up in the near future (all good) so it’ll be exciting for me to re-visit these experiences not only in this blog but the personal blog that I plan on starting.
In order to maintain my long-term practices for health and wellness I’m going to look into volunteering my time to help others. I’m not sure how I can do this quite yet, but I receive newsletters from my son’s school all the time so I’m sure I can find something in there. I think it would be great to be a chaperone or a volunteer for an event at his school. I also am going to surround myself with positive people and try to keep the negative ones out of my life. I don’t like shutting anyone out but there are a few people in my life right now that I know for sure won’t change who they are and will continue to bring others down with them. I’d rather keep positive, like-minded people around me including my family.
I wish everyone the best of luck in all their future endeavors! This was an enjoyable class for sure! :-)
~Jen
Jen,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I think it is great that you are changing your diet to include healthy whole foods. I find making small steps such as eliminating caloric beverages easier than trying to do everything at once. I make one change and then once that has become a habit I then add another. I have made huge changes to the way I eat over the past couple of years. I did it one step at a time. You seem like you are on your way to a healthy diet. Good luck!
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteMaking small steps or plans make a world of difference on how you achieve your goals. I have found that when I eliminate one thing at a time I find it easier to conquer my other goals, but if I try to do it all at once I procrastinate and end up not doing it. So I wish you the best of luck with your goals!!
Cristine
Jen-
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point of better being able to relate to those who we are assisting in becoming healthy if we become healthy ourselves. I also relate as you discuss how you viewed your mental health and your physical health as two separate areas. As health care professionals I feel that sometimes we focus on different areas on people’s lives and making them healthy, but not always pulling all of the areas together and making sure it is all healthy and working as a whole. Thank you for sharing.
Audra