Unit 9 Project

I Introduction:

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so that they can be trusted by their patients. They need to be holistically well in order to have respect from their patients, as well. Practicing what they preach is very important to a lot of people. It would be hard for me to trust someone who told me to do something when they themselves did not life such a way. In my own life there are many areas that need to be developed before I would feel comfortable giving advice in the health and wellness area. I think that psychologically I am well. It’s the physical and the spiritual areas that I need the most work in.

II Assessment:

When I assess myself in these areas I try to be as critical as possible. I give myself an 8.5 psychologically. I set a goal to keep a journal every night before bed; however, I did not end up doing that. Instead, before bed I meditate, visualize, and do some deep breathing exercises & some reflection exercises. I know that mentally I have a clearer outlook on things than I did at the beginning of this class. I understand things better, I look at things from different sides, and I am less quick to judge people. I feel so much more confident and my self-esteem has increased tremendously as well. I feel like I am living my life more now rather than just existing in my life.

Spiritually I would say I am about a 6. Better than I was at the beginning of the class but I still have a ways to go. I am not doing a daily devotional, reading my bible like I had set my original goal to do, however, I pray daily. I meditate which also helps with my psychological improvement as well. I have been going to church more though not weekly as I would like. I do feel more of a spiritual connection and more of a deeper understanding of life, which I can not really explain where it came from, but let me just say, that I love meditation.

Physically, now this is an area that is not my friend. At the beginning of this class when we assessed ourselves I gave myself a 5 and climbing. Well many miles and many injuries later I would say that I am back to a 5. I do think that for a while I moved to about a 6 but I haven’t really lost any weight. I have had three hip injuries (all at the same time!) and I just found out that I have an auto immune disease. So until I need to start taking medication that I will require for the rest of my life and once that is regulated my new life partner will be under control. My hip has been healing for about 8 weeks with very little progress. If in six more weeks it is still not better I will have to have surgery to correct it. So I have simply digressed. I do feel better about my physical fitness, but I am simply falling apart.

III Goal development:

My goal for my physical wellness is still to be in a size 10 before August. My spiritual goal is to attend church more regularly. My goal for my mental wellness is to continue my reflection in the evenings and meditation as well. I could go on and on about all the things I want to improve on in these areas, however, you asked for one so I gave you one. There is always room for improvement and as I start trying to achieve these goals I may learn that these goals are not realistic for me and I may need to adjust them to fit into my lifestyle. I now know that trial and error is a good thing and that learning to fail is a great thing to learn.

IV Practices for personal health:

There is a new yoga studio that is opening this week by my house. Yoga is such a wonderful thing to help improve all three areas of self. This yoga studio offers a class that fits perfectly into my work and my new exercise schedules. I have also spoken with a cousin of mine who is a certified personal trainer and a certified yoga instructor to help me develop a new weight loss plan, something that I can do everyday Monday thru Friday and have my weekends to do what I want. Everyday after work or before work whichever works best for me I will do some form of exercise. Walk my dogs, go for a bike ride, do an exercise video, take a yoga class etc. I have a whole list of 20 to 30 minute activities that I can pick from to do everyday. She also has a blog that I read daily where she gives helpful tips on eating right and healthy, yummy, snacks and recipes. I have started to make out my menu for the week on Saturdays and do my shopping from the list of the things I need for my menu, which also saves me time and money. Sundays are spiritual days. Church in the mornings and something nature-ish in the afternoons (weather permitting of course). I will continue to do my daily meditations and learn new meditations for my spiritual and psychological growth. Also, for my psychological growth one thing that I have found helpful is to take some time out for myself. At least once a week I will pick a day or half a day to do something that I want to do. I am also going to start reading a book a month. A book that is not a school book, something that is from my ever-growing-never-slowing list of books I want to read in my life.

V Commitment:

In the next six months I will re-evaluate myself by trying to gauge what and where I am now with where I am then. I am planning to keep up with my blog and using that as my form of journaling. I will post helpful tips and tricks that I learn along the way. I will use this blog to help my in the next six months to re-evaluate and set new goals. I think that I will always have meditation in my life from now on. I will always have yoga and possibly even Tai’Chi if I can ever get that figured out! I will do all of the meditation exercises that I learned in this class and I hope to be able to pass them on and teach them to others one day. I have learned so much from this class about myself and about others. I have learned about what works for me and what does not. See you in Blog land.

My Favorite Exercise...

Of all of the exercises we have done in this course my two favorites are: The Subtle Mind & Visualization. I love them because they help me to focus on my goals and also to rest when I feel that I am going 100mph. I now practice Visualization every morning. When I get out of bed I stand in front of the mirror in the bathroom before I brush my teeth and I visualize how I want my day to go. The more detailed the better too! I think about going to work and being happy and not short with anyone, then leaving work full of energy and motivation to go workout and then getting home and fixing my husband and myself dinner and so on in as much detail as I can. I visualize my workout when I get to the gym I stand in the locker room after I change and visualize what I want to get done that day and not matter what I finish what I had visualized that I was going to do that day. It helps me to feel so accomplished at the end of everyday when I get done all of things that I wanted to get done. Also, when I feel that I am getting frustrated I use the Subtle mind technique to calm myself and refocus on staying positive. It also helps me to unwind at the end of the day.

Getting nowhere...

This week my mind is all over the place. I am taking pain medication and I can not focus on the meditations. I can not get through the assessmnt either. I hope that everyone else is having better luck!

The Subtle Mind...

I love meditation! I never really did it until I started this class, but now I can't get enough of it! This exercise was a great way for me to unwind and pratice being more witnessing. It is not very different from my usual meditation but I liked having the structured inhale 10 breaths and such. My mind was very clear at the end I felt alive and energized after every time I did it. I have implemented this into my daily routine and will continue to do this daily. I have been a little drugged up and on bedrest this past week but doing this has kept me in good spirits and helped me to stay more positive as to the outcome of my injury. Can't wait to do more!

Loving Kindness

I wish that this was my life...I wish that I could do this exercise all day everyday I wish that I had a CD player that worked so that I could listen to the disc part of it and I wish that I wouldn't have waited until Tuesday to do my blog. Unfortunately all of my wishes have not come true and though I did the 15 minute practice time (again) I wish that had all week to do this! I will however try to implement this practice into my week this week and have a better report for you all later in the week. I do however want to report to all of you about my Sunday!!

Sunday, my husband and I went to church with his mother and we met and saw a lot of his family and close family friends and the message that the preacher gave...well...it was spoken just for me!! I started doing a daily devotional yesterday and I have felt very rewarded! I feel as if God himself has been speaking to me everyday for the last couple of days and that my spirituality is going from a 3 to maybe even a 5 right now!! I hope that this post reaches all of you in good spirit and health!

Happy Tuesday & Be Blessed!

Relaxation is key...

I just finished the relaxation exercise and OMG I feel great now!! I feel like I can do anything right now! I am clear and focused on what I am doing and I really do feel all of the things it says to feel! I feel centered and grounded and balanced and loved and confident and I could keep going but I have lots to do!! I am very excited about this and I will do this one again! Even though my doggies kept barking in the back ground and they were all that I could hear in some moments I still really enjoyed it!! It was very easy to follow and I loved the mans voice!

New Link

I am a part of Team In Training a group that trains to run marathons while raising money for LLS! Check out my link and help me get to my goal for my marathon in San Diego!!

Rating my Wellness

I rate myself on a physical level at about a 5 and climbing. I am overweight and out of shape. I started running back in January and I have noticed improvements, however, I am really struggling with my diet. I could set a goal to lose a certain number of pounds or I could set a goal to keep a food journal (I have tried and failed several times at that) or I could simply be generic and set my goal to get into shape. My goal needs to be SMART! So, I want to be in a size 10 before my best friends wedding in August. I want to lose 20 pounds and "CLEAN" up my diet. I will eat mostly balanced, clean, small portioned meals. I will weigh and measure myself every week to track my progress.

When it comes to psychological wellness I would say I am about a 6. I have a handle on it but I am learning more about myself everyday and learning gets confusing! I don't think that I will ever be a 10, but hey nobody is perfect right? In this area I will set my goal to keep a journal. At night before I go to sleep I will jot down my thoughts and experiences from the day and go back and read it to reflect on my previous weeks.

Spiritually I am about a 3. I know that I have a lot of work to do in this area and I believe that God is trying to tell me. Yesterday, Sunday, my husband and I were hanging out on the couch watching golf and our doorbell rings which was very odd because no one ever rings our doorbell! When we answered the door we were pleasantly surprised by the family that was standing there smiling at us! The family at our door just happened to be one of the pastors at the church we attended last year before our lives got "too busy" for church on Sunday! They just stopped by to see how we are doing and to see if we needed anything! Totally out of the blue almost a year since we have attended they came looking for us! HE KNOWS!!!! So we completely intend to start going back next week! So, I make my goal to attend church every week and start talking to God everyday not just when it is convenient for me. I will get a daily devotional and implement it into my morning routine.

Reflective Exercise

I loved this exercise! Why can't all homework be like that?! When doing this I felt so relax and at peace. I even used the breathing to help me fall asleep. I usually toss and turn, but the other night when I laid down I took slow deep breaths in thinking "relax" and exhaled thinking "wake up energized". Not only did I fall asleep rather quickly I slept more sound than I have in a very long time and I woke up ready to run my 14 mile training run!! I will continue to do this exercise everynight when I need to fall asleep quickly!!

Welcome

Hello everyone! I am very excited about this experience! I have been wanting to start a blog for a while, I just never got the nerve to try it! I must admit it was a lot easier starting than I had anticipated! I can't wait to actually start blogging!! Also, welcome to my blog! Have a great weekend!