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.