Unit 10

These 10 weeks have been very beneficial for me. I used to concentrate on the physical and nutritional areas of my life, not realizing that my mind needed it's own time. I now see that we need to include the mental exercises so that we can be healthy in every aspect of our life.We release toxins from our physical body when we work out, we detox our systems when we switch out junk food for whole food, therefore we detox our minds when we practice mental wellness and release all the negative thoughts from our minds. Comparing the improvements made since Unit 3, I can say that my physcological health has been the one to improve the most. I am spending more time working on my meditation techniques which is leading to mind clarity, self-awareness, and less stress. This is really great at a time when there is so much going on in my professional life that would normally have me completely stressed out. Instead I'm using what I have learned through this class to keep me grounded and focused on the positive. My plan is to continue to exercise daily, eat healthy, and meditate daily. I found a place close to home where they offer free classes on meditation so I am planning on taking those classes so that I can improve my techniques. I want to continue to benefit from all that I learned in this class. I wish everyone the best on their own personal health and wellness journey!

Unit 9

Introduction:

In order to be able to understand and help each individual patient/client, health and wellness professionals must embrace all the aspects of integral health themselves.  As stated by Dacher, when we bring a matured inner life to our work, we also bring calm, care, and delight. Through our daily practice, we stabilize our mind and open our heart. (Dacher 2006).

I still have work to do in each area for integral health.  I am one that believes that there is always room for improvement and growth.  We make those improvements and achieve that growth through constant education. 

Assessment:

During my assessment I looked at where I was one year ago to where I am today. I only have myself as a “measuring stick”.  Physically, I am stronger today than I was before I started working out.  Psychologically, I have made great improvements because I have learned to think before I react to certain situations.  My stress level is not what it used to be and my normal blood pressure is testament to that.  Spiritually, my faith is strong yet I still have not made a true effort to find a church that I can be actively involved in attending regularly. I know I have room for improvement in all areas.

Goal development:

Physical:  I have a goal of regaining my total plant base, nutritionally dense eating lifestyle so that I can achieve my weight loss goal of 30 pounds by my next birthday in March.

Psychological:  The goal is to give myself more time each day for meditation and relaxation. 

Spiritual:  I would like to find a church to attend regularly and that I will feel comfortable in.

Practices for personal health:

Physical: I can continue to exercise each morning as I have been but also try to add in an evening walk or run to help clear my mind after a long day at work.  I will restart my meal planning so that I can stay on track with my plant base eating lifestyle.

Psychological:  I can continue to develop my meditation as it will help with my mental clarity and my spirituality.

Spiritual:  Prayer and meditation can help me open my mind and heart.

Commitment:

I plan on keeping a journal in order to track my growth in each area.  It’s not a journal that I will do daily but one that I can go to as I take notice of every small change or improvement in any aspect of my life.  The purpose of this journal is so that it will help me see if I need to make adjustments as I move through my journey.

Unit 8

The two exercises that I find most helpful for me are visualization and meditation. These two exercises help me start my day on a positive note. As I focus on my breathing, I visualize my little corner of paradise or me walking along a beautiful beach having my daily conversation with God. After an intense workout each morning, it helps for me to take a few minutes to just breathe and relax before getting my busy day started. Mental fitness is a very important part of my life. Working in hospice care, I deal with a lot of sadness, pain, suffering, and stress. I need my own time each day to recharge and clear my mind and soul in order to keep myself balanced throughout each day.

Unit 7

During this exercise, I thought of a patient that I took care of a few years ago. He and I grew very close during the time we had together. I thought of all the chats that we had and all the love that poured through while he spoke of helping to raise his neices. It was obvious that he loved them as his own and they loved him just as much. When I was first assigned to him, I was told that he was very difficult and cantankerous toward all of his caregivers. To this day I only remember him calling me "baby" and kissing my hand after each visit. He loved Dr. Pepper and honeybuns so I made sure that he had one of each during each visit and he would give me the biggest toothless smile that would light up his whole face. These special visits came back to me and filled me with love and peace because I had the privledge of giving him special care at the end of his time here on earth. I also received something special when he trusted me to care for him and showed me so much affection all the way to the end.

The saying "one can not lead where one has not gone", holds true for me. If someone has not experienced something for themselves, then how can they truly lead by example? As an example, I chose to change my eating lifestyle to a plant base diet. As my health, attitude, and physical self changed, it was noticeable to the rest of my family. My husband, daughter, and one son followed my lead because of the improvements that they saw in me. I now have other family members asking me how they can make the same changes. It's about leading by example.

Unit 6

In this exercise Dacher asked us to close our eyes for a minute and rest into the natural ease of our mind and body then repeat a certain phrase. Loving kindness is something that I can open myself up to. It is easy to feel good towards and wish the best for those that you love and are close to. Can we do the same for those that have hurt you or that you're angry with? At one time I would have said, "no" to that question. I have been gradually learning to also open my mind and heart to those that I used to have hard feelings towards. Forgiveness is becoming a healing process that I'm truly benefitting from.
The assessment just reinforced the fact that for me, my eating lifestyle, my physical fitness, and my relationship with God are the areas that are very important in keeping me on the right path to taking care of myself so that I may also help others learn to care for themselves. I will lead by example and not by empty words.

Unit 5 Blog

These two exercises were very different for me. I was able to relax and focus on each aspect of it even though there were hard parts to it, such as the forgiveness part of it. It did help me though. I found the subtle mind exercise very difficult to get through. It's probably due to this being a very challenging week for me so I have a lot of things going through my mind. I was not able to focus on the exercise so I was never able to clear everything and stop all the other thoughts from interfering. I do plan on trying this exercise again later as things settle down again around here.
Our mind, body, and spirit are all connected one to the other. If one area is not well, it affects the other areas of our life. A few years ago I was in a position that was very high stressed. The stress affected my physical and spiritual well-being. Once I was able to balance and relieve the stress, I was able to focus on my body and spirit.

Unit 4

I found this exercise to be somewhat enlightening. It was wasn't difficult to focus on my loved ones and to enjoy the feelings of peace, love, health, and happiness.  It was difficult though to feel them suffering. I always have a hard time dealing with my loved one's suffering in any way. When the exercise moved towards bringing in everyone, even those that we are not fond of, it really got difficult for me. I have been so used to shutting certain people out of my daily thoughts because of the fact that they envoke negative thoughts and feelings, it was hard to bring them into this exercise.

As for the concept of "mental workout", I see it as exercising our mind, training it as we do when we are training physically. When we decide to start a physical regimen to train our muscles, we follow this regimen until we get the desired results. The same applies to our mental workouts, we follow through with our mind, body, and spirit until we get the desired result of psychological flourishment.