Unit 10

In unit 3 I rated my physical wellbeing a 6, my spiritual wellbeing an 8 and my psychological wellbeing an 8 as well. I originally scored myself an 8 in psychological wellbeing because I thought that I mostly had a great way of looking at things and I thought mentally I was fairly at peace with a lot of things in my life. However, I have learned throughout this course that in addition to trying to let a few of the things in my past go I also need to work on how I handle stressful situations and accepting things for how they are instead of trying to fix everything. I now would rate my psychological wellbeing a 5, I feel I am about half way to where I need to be. My physical wellbeing and my spiritual wellbeing I will leave the same because I still feel the same way about these areas that I did before.

My goal for my physical wellbeing is that same, to eat better by cutting out candy and exercising every morning. My goals for my psychological wellbeing is the same and I am adding that I need to keep up with the relaxation exercises we have done in this class to help me deal with and let go of my stress. My goals for my spiritual wellbeing are the same as well, I think that by doing yoga it is a great way for me to focus on my movement and clearing my head so when I am done I feel more connected to myself and my surroundings.

I have been cutting sweets out of my diet, although I did eat a lot of jawbreakers while writing my final papers, I have also been working out in the morning as well as taking my kids for walks in the afternoon. My morning workout includes yoga and simple deep breathing which has helped my spiritual wellbeing. I have also been keeping a journal that I write in usually once or twice a day and on days that are challenging I talk to my husband about my day and how I am feeling.

 Overall my experience in this class has been really great. I learned more about myself than I realized which has helped me to help myself in ways that I did not think about before, like how I handle stress. The exercises have been rewarding and challenging, it was difficult to clear my mind but just taking the time to relax and try and clear my head made me feel better. I now have more ideas on how people can cope with everyday life, and more ways of looking at life in general. I also can tell people that might be going through this journey that I know what it is like.  

Unit 9 Final project

My wellness goals

By Chelsea Barry

HW420: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

It is important for health and wellness professional to develop psychologically because if they have a client/patient that is coming to them for psychological help or advice the professional will not be able to truly help their client/patient if they them self are not psychologically developed. No one including professionals can help a person with anything if they cannot even help themselves.  A professional needs to be spiritually developed (even if they are not religious) for a few reasons; first, the professional is going to have client/patients that are spiritual and the professional is going to need to understand how the client/patient feels so they can do what is right for that client/patient and their beliefs. Second, the professional is going to be able to better help their client/patients if they are calm, focused and more patient which comes from being spiritually developed.  Finally a professional needs to be physically developed because it is hard to take someone seriously about how to live a healthy life when the person is not healthy. It is like going to a personal trainer that is overweight; you do not really trust their judgment about what to do to be fit. In general professionals need to be sure to “practice what they preach” because they are professionals. They are not going to have much success in their career if they are advising people to do things they are not doing or not to do things that they do.

Spiritually I would say I am fairly strong, I know how I feel about things and I feel strongly in what I believe. I feel connected to those around me and the world in general and confident in my presence in the world. Psychologically I am fairly strong (although I do need to work on stress management) I am focused in my goals, I know what is important to me in my life and feel fairly good about where my life is going. Psychically I need to do a little work; I am a little overweight and need to work at getting in shape. I do eat well and work out every day but there is defiantly room for improvement.

Spiritually my goal is goal is being more at peace, I have a tendency to worry about what is going on and I need to work on just being more accepting and more at peace. My goal for psychological wellbeing is pretty much the same thing; I need to work on my stress management and just relaxing more. Physically I need to lose some weight and be more in shape. Although I do eat well and work out every morning I need to do more strength exercises for overall fitness.

Spiritually I can make sure to do the relaxation exercises we have learned in this class and taking time every day (or at least as much as possible) where I sit quietly and take time for me to just be. Psychological I can keep a journal; I have done this in the past and really help to put things in perspective. Writing down my thoughts and feelings is kind of like a release and then rereading it later can sometimes make me realize how silly I am being. Another thing I can do is take walks every night, walking at night is a great way to clear my head and enjoy the outside when it is cool, not as bright and not as many people around. Physically I can do more weight exercises and since I have quit smoking I have picked up a habit of eating candy when I am stressed so by cutting back or eliminating candy from my diet I would be healthier.

For my spiritual and psychological wellbeing I will judge my progress by how stressed I am or how overwhelmed I become by situations. I will review my journal entries to see how I report feeling to see if there is a decrease in me feeling stressed. For my physical wellbeing I will judge how well I am doing by my weight (wither or not I am meeting my goal weight) as well as how I feel overall, if I am winded running around with my kids, how much energy I have throughout the day etc. Reminders  always help me in maintaining long term goals, when I become overwhelmed reminding myself that I do not want to be a person that is always stressed out, my husband also is really helpful in reminding me of my goals and helping me stay focused.

Unit 8

The first exercise I found most beneficial was the subtle mind exercise, I found this beneficial because although I had a hard time focusing I found it very calming and relaxing. The second exercise that I found the most beneficial was the visualization exercise; I really liked this one because I was able to feel the way I felt in the best moments of my life and that made me feel happier and more at peace.

I could use both of these every day to help me feel calm and happy and content with my life. By using the subtle mind to become calm and the visualization exercise to become happy and content I can truly enjoy every day.

Unit 7

I have been having difficulty focusing during the meditative practices, it has been a very busy and stressful few weeks and I have been having a hard time keeping my mind from wondering. The meditations even when I cannot focus completely have given me a chance to stop it is a short time in my day when i don't do anything and just rest. I do find that it helps me refocus my thoughts when I am done so that I can better thing about what I need to do. Just by continuing to spend that time each day clearing my mind will allow me to refocus myself so that I will not feel so overwhelmed.

The saying "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that a person that does not believe or experience something cannot teach another person about it. If a doctor has not truly experienced human flourishing they cannot educate a patient about how well it works. As a health and wellness professional if I were going to use human flourishing as a healing process for my clients I would want to make sure that I have applied human flourishing to my life first so that I can be honest and truly know what I am talking about. I think that as a professional that will want to promote psychological, physical and spiritual health for my clients then I will owe it to them to be the same way in my life. It is hard for someone to take my advice on wellness seriously if I am not living a healthy life myself. It is like a doctor that encourages his patients to quit smoking then when they leave they see him outside smoking, why listen to the doctor when he is doing the same thing? I cannot tell my clients not to "sweat the small stuff" when I go home and stress about every little thing. I can use all the tools we have learned in this class to implement psychological and spiritual growth in my life. I have learned to clear my head and let the unimportant stressful things go and not think about them, instead I focus on what truly matters and makes me happy and peaceful.

unit 6 exercises

I enjoyed both exercises however I did find it difficult to focus, that seems to be the major problem I have with these exercises, my mind likes to wonder. This week particular has been a busy and stressful week so sitting and trying to focus was not easy. I discovered that I tend to take on more then I need to or should, there are certain aspects of my life that I try to control that I can't and I need to just let go. I do not like feeling helpless in any aspect of my life but there are certain things that no matter how hard I try I cannot change, my husband tells me I need to take a deep breath and just let it go whatever happens happens. If things do not work out the way i want them to the world will keep going and I just have to readjust. Even the things that I could control does not always mean I need to, somethings need to be left alone. I carry a lot on myself and it makes me worry and stress so I am going to start trying to let it go. I hope to achieve this by walking more, I exercise every morning but I like walking in the evening when things are quieter, it's a great way to clear my head and just enjoy having nothing to do.

Unit 5 exercise

I found the subtle mind exercise more difficult to concentrate on compared to the loving kindness exercise. I think it was difficult for me to not let my mind wonder when there was nothing to visualize. In the loving kindness exercise we were asked to visual certain things and this week we just had to focus on our breathing which made it more difficult to keep my mind from wondering. I did find it frustrating but I also find the quiet music soothing and comforting.

Spiritual wellness connects to every aspect of a person's life including mental and physical wellness. When a persons has spiritual wellness they have a clear mind and have a more positive outlook on their life and are more prepared to handle tough situations so their mental well being is better.r I think if a person has spiritual well being then they want to be more physically fit and there are studies showing that if a person has spiritual wellness they are less likely to get sick and they have a stronger immune system. Everything I do effects the rest of me, when I am exercising I am clearing my mind (for the most part) and after the workout I feel better and accomplished so my mental state is better.

Loving Kindness

I found this exercise beneficial, I have done something similar in the past. A friend and I when we are feeling stressed or overwhelmed close our eye and imagine what is causing us stress then we breath our imagining that the stressful feeling is leaving us then breath in imagining our favorite calming color coming into us. It is a very useful tool. The only difficulty I had with this exercises is that it takes a while. i do not usually have more then about 5 minutes of quiet time at my house so when I need to do something to relieve stress or to feel more calm it needs to be quick. I did find picturing all the different situations beneficial and I felt really relaxed and peaceful when i was done.

Mental workouts are needed for us to use our minds to the full extent. It is something we need to do daily for it to truly work however. I love the example of Olympic athletes, athletes need to train everyday and challenge themselves for them to perform at their best and our minds are no different, they need to be challenged and worked so that it can be a truly strong muscle.