Final Thoughts

I went back to my Unit 3 posting and this is what I had blogged:

My goal in my physical well-being would be to maintain good health! I need to get more sleep! A goal for my spiritual well-being would be to nurture that which is already there. I may need to spend more time around like-minded people rather than by myself. And my goal for my psychological well-being is to encourage and uplift myself, and to not feel guilty or beat myself up when I have achieved these goals.

I had given myself an 8 in physical and spiritual health as they were areas I needed to just maintain and continue improvements. I gave myself a 3 in the psychological area because it was an area that needed much improvement. I was heavily dependent on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications. I am currently needing the anti-depressants but have backed off on the anti-anxiety medicines! I am able to feel panic attacks coming on, and can control myself better. I still struggle, but yoga has become my ammunition for kicking it. I have reached the goals I set for myself, and I have done what I set out to do. Better health, more sleep, and continued improvements were my goals and I have reached them.

The most difficult thing about this course was the amount of course work. For a class that highlighted stress and ways to improve and manage stress, this one sure brought it on! But I have improved a little through the struggles, and look forward to finishing strong. 

Final Project

Introduction

            It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop themselves psychologically, spiritually, and physically. Psychological development creates self-discipline. Self-discipline allows an individual to prevent emotional and mental breakdowns. Spiritual development encourages physical healing. Physical development promotes better healing because an individual is in tune with their bodies enough to know their limitations. Self-control encourages balance.

            My personal area of growth would need to be the physical area. I have problems with anxiety and depression. Being able to be in control of my physical well-being would be a huge accomplishment for me. I am getting there but have to take it one day at a time. If I cannot be able to conquer the physical problems that hit me, how can I encourage patients or others to do the same?

Assessment

            I would rate myself a ten in the area of spiritual health. In all other areas, I would rate myself a five. My personal life needs much work. I am not stable in the areas of psychological and physical health. I am struggling with anxiety and depression I feel like it is a daily uphill battle. For me to be able to help other individuals in these areas, I would need to figure out plans to manage my own personal struggles.

Goals and Practices

            A goal for me in the physical realm would be to incorporate more yoga into my daily routine. My life feels like one gigantic ball of stress. With the addition of yoga, I hope that I will be able to better manage my stress. So, a goal here would be to manage stress more successfully! A goal for me in the psychological area would be to incorporate more meditation. Meditation will help me to better control my breathing and to help me to manage the chaos that rules my mind. A goal for me in the spiritual area is to continue centeredness with the Lord and keep on track! Knowing that He is in control will allow me to relax—I don’t have to have all of life figured out all the time!

Commitment

            In order to assess how I am doing with my goals and development, I will need to keep track of the practices I am implementing in order to achieve these goals. When was the last time I did yoga or meditation? How are my stress levels? If they are higher than they were in the past, have I gotten behind in my maintenance? Keeping track of my “upkeep” will indicate where my stress levels are at, and why they are where they are.

The Most Beneficial Exercises

I gained the most benefit from the Loving-Kindness exercise and the Meeting Aesclepius exercise. With the Loving-Kindness exercise I had to focus on another individual and think positive thoughts about them. I think the weirdest thing for me was actually focusing energy and thoughts on a person that gave me good feelings. Allowing myself to experience good feelings for them through this exercise helped me to think about others and not so much myself or the negativity I sometimes feel when focusing on myself.
The Meeting Aesclepius exercise was interesting for me. It was not an easy one for me to do because I could not actually visualize someone who passed nor could I put myself in any type of exercise that involved making up a person. I think being able to experience negative feelings, though, and work myself through those feelings of loss was very beneficial for me. I was able to pull myself out of it--I have never been able to do that before. Usually, the negative feelings swallow me and I find myself engulfed before I know it. All in all, incorporating these exercises into my daily life would just involve experiencing them on a regular basis in order to improve my "mental fitness". Both would be extremely helpful in my daily struggle with depression and anxiety.

Meeting Aesclepius

This exercise was really weird for me. I'm not gonna lie! I struggled to see a person that had passed that was wise....and I couldn't envision a fake one, or the beam of light. The music and waves were relaxing, so I was able to think about a friend who had passed. There was no connection that I was able to make though that would have made me one with them. Meditation itself though has helped me to stay calm and use my head in stressful situations instead of letting my emotions get ahold of me. It also has really helped to calm my breathing. With anxiety problems, calm breathing has been hugely beneficial!
"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means a few things to me. The first thing it means to me is if one individual is trying to help another struggling individual and they have no experience with the problem being helped, what good are they? The blind leading the blind is what happens. It also seems very hypocritical in a sense. One can have every good intention to help (even if they don't have experience) but there are some who claim to know, yet they don't really know. Being genuine and speaking from experience is what truly helps a person going through the same thing.

Assessments

This weeks assignments were pretty good for me. I was able to center better and I was focused. Breathing deeply and forcing myself to repeat over and over that the pain and suffering in others would go away. Also, focusing on the areas in my life that really need true development and growth took a little painful time. I had to keep starting and re-starting. I know the areas that I need to fix, it's just too painful right now to think about it...and all the work that needs to be done. The psychospiritual areas of my life need more focus. Deeper meditation is needed....along with time, space, and peace and quiet.

The Subtle Mind vs. Loving Kindness

This exercise was difficult for me. I had a hard time concentrating on the clip and the waves seemed long and drawn out to me. The periods of time during the music and waves crashing, I found myself getting easily distracted and drawn to other things. At some points I even dozed off! This was difficult for me partly because I am uncomfortable taking time like that to focus on myself and my inner thoughts. The loving kindness clip was easier because I could think about others.
I think that spiritual wellness and mental/physical wellness go hand in hand. In these moments of meditation, inner thoughts that affect me mentally and physically, are dealt with. When they trouble or make home in my head, my body is affected. Whenever I am stressed, dealing with the things that cause me stress are what brings me the most relief. It's like a load is lifted off my shoulders. So, they are def. related. One cannot sit alone--they affect the entire body equally.

Loving-Kindness

This exercise was very interesting to me. I don't think I've ever taken the time to actually sit still, in the peace and quiet, and allow myself to feel love. It was a good experience for me! It not only allowed me to feel love for the person but to think about why I loved them. The only part that scared me was allowing myself to feel the unhappy feelings with love. And letting them pass over to continue to feel all the "sensations". I am beginning to enjoy these little excerpts---mini getaways from the exhaustion of life. This is a good exercise for anyone because it allows a person to stop, be still, and experience necessary feelings! Mental workouts are instances where we experience "unadorned awareness" and we do that continually. Proven benefits are better mental health! And like the exercise states- loving yourself is crucial in loving others. Incorporating this into my daily life will be difficult but necessary. Taking these brief moments to be quiet and love myself will help me to weave better mental health into my everyday life.