Unit 10

Looking back on my assessment from unit 3 I have progress a little bit and still working towards it.  Here are my previous rating: psychological – 2, spiritual- 5, and physical -3. These are low because I feel there is a lot of improvement that I need to do. Now that I am re-evaluating each domain I am going rate these domains again, so currently I am going to rate my psychological domain as a 2; this is staying the same because I still have not moved forward with getting help to heal the wounds of my past out of fear which is excuse I keep using and I just need to jump and take that step. I am giving myself a rating of 6 in the spiritual domain because I still feel that I have a lot of work to do to be where I want to be, this has improved slightly and I am continuing to work on it daily. I am giving myself a 6 in the physical domain because I am back to working out a few times a day and working on getting back on track with my nutrition. I am still overweight which puts me at a high risk for many health conditions and will continue on the path I am on.

The goals that I have set for myself are as follows: Physical- I will lose 50-90 lbs. by December 31, 2013 in order for me to feel better about myself and be more physically fit which will help sustain a healthy body, mind, and spirit because I will be filling my thoughts with " I can" attitude instead of the " I can't".    The actions that I will take to reach my physical goal will be to get back on track with good eating habits and workout daily, by focusing on losing 10lbs a month starting in April and by letting people know my goal so they can help me stay accountable.

Spiritual- I will take part in daily scripture study and prayer so I can feel more in tune with the spirit and help me become more in tune to the things that I need to be doing to better myself and be more positive. I am also going to be implementing the practices that we learned in this course and do them as often as possible.

Psychological- I will face my fear of the thoughts that I have of the things that will come up if I were to go to a therapist and I will be strong so I will start by going and talking with somebody to help me get these thoughts out of mind that are holding me back from reaching my full potential and so I can get the help the I need to feel like I am worth something.
I feel I have made some progress in the first 2 goals the third goal I am still finding myself putting it off which is not good so I am going to let other people know about this goal and have them keep reminding me that I need to get it started. 

I have started implementing the activities except for the psychological activity of starting the process of going to therapy for my past. This is something that I have been taught that I don't need to do and I am also scared about what might come up that I have suppressed for years. 

This course was really interesting for me and I believe that I am starting to become a stronger a person as I I am doing the practices and working on calming my mind. I still have a lot of work to do but I plan to continue to work on it. I did find talking about my psychological assessment and things and the feelings that it has brought up from my past but now I know that this is something I do need to seek out help for and without this class I may have kept it buried for many more years. This experience will improve my ability to assist others by telling them my story about what this class did for me and how the aspects of the class has helped me to build a stronger inner being. 

Unit 9 final project: My Action Plan

Unit 9 Final Project: Assessment

Anna Hill

Kaplan University

HW420

Professor John Aguilar

April 29, 2013

Introduction:

There is a saying “one cannot lead another where one has not gone him or herself.”  (Micozzi, 2005)This quote explains why it is important for a health and wellness professional to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically because this quote is talking about being an example. As a health and wellness professional we will be telling people how to better their lives but how can we expect them to do something that we ourselves may not be doing? This is why it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop in all three domains because we can’t ask others to do what we ourselves have not done or have attempted to do. We must lead by example and do it ourselves.

As we have gone through this course I have been able to see my weaknesses and strengths; I still need to work on area of each domain. I fall short primarily in my psychological and spiritual domain. I do have a strong hold on my physical domain although there is always room for improvement.

Assessment:

At an earlier point during this course we were asked to rate our psychological, spiritual, and physical domains in our lives; here are my previous rating: psychological – 2, spiritual- 5, and physical -3. These are low because I feel there is a lot of improvement that I need to do. Now that I am re-evaluating each domain I am going rate these domains again, so currently I am going to rate my psychological domain as a 2; this is staying the same because I still have not moved forward with getting help to heal the wounds of my past out of fear which is excuse I keep using and I just need to jump and take that step. I am giving myself a rating of 6 in the spiritual domain because I still feel that I have a lot of work to do to be where I want to be, this has improved slightly and I am continuing to work on it daily. I am giving myself a 6 in the physical domain because I am back to working out a few times a day and working on getting back on track with my nutrition. I am still overweight which puts me at a high risk for many health conditions and will continue on the path I am on.

Goal development:

   I have rated myself pretty low on all categories and therefore I am going to make a goal for each one that I will work towards in the next year.

Physical- I will lose 50-90 lbs. by December 31, 2013 in order for me to feel better about myself and be more physically fit which will help sustain a healthy body, mind, and spirit because I will be filling my thoughts with " I can" attitude instead of the " I can't".    The actions that I will take to reach my physical goal will be to get back on track with good eating habits and workout daily, by focusing on losing 10lbs a month starting in April and by letting people know my goal so they can help me stay accountable. 

Spiritual- I will take part in daily scripture study and prayer so I can feel more in tune with the spirit and help me become more in tune to the things that I need to be doing to better myself and be more positive. I am also going to be implementing the practices that we learned in this course and do them as often as possible.

Psychological- I will face my fear of the thoughts that I have of the things that will come up if I were to go to a therapist and I will be strong so I will start by going and talking with somebody to help me get these thoughts out of mind that are holding me back from reaching my full potential and so I can get the help the I need to feel like I am worth something.

Practices for personal health:

There are many strategies to improve in each domain but the strategies I will be using are:

Physical: I will continue to work out 3-4 times a day doing a mixture of cardiovascular and strengthening exercises to improve my endurance and help get me back to a healthy weight. I will be setting up monthly check-ins with the Wellness Center on Fort Carson to get myself physically assessed and get a Bod Pod assessment done every three months. I will continue to focus on my nutrition and possibly ask to get a referral to a nutritionist.

Psychological: I will be contacting Army One Source to start seeing a therapist to help me figure out what I am holding deep inside and help me release it so I will stop sabotaging my efforts in everything that I undertake. I will also work continue journaling which helps me get my thoughts out and will allow me to see where some of my past of surfacing which I can bring up in my sessions with a therapist.

Spiritual: I will continue daily prayer and scripture study and practicing mindfulness meditation practices and continue with the practices from this course.

Commitment:

I will assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months by following up with the Wellness Center then also taking a look at this project again and seeing how far I have come with my goals in all of the domains and then re-evaluating where I am at; at that point. I can use the practices that we have learned throughout this course to help assist me in maintaining my long-term endeavors to achieve optimal health. I also plan on re-reading Dacher’s book a few more times to help me remember to apply the things that I have learned on a daily basis in my life to help me become stronger so I can be a better person to those I come in contact with as well as be stronger and healthier form my family. 

References

Micozzi, M. S. (2005). Consciousness and Healing. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.

Unit 8

The two practices that I feel would be most beneficial in my personal life would be the Loving-Kindness practice and the Taste of Human Flourishing Visualization that we used this week in unit 8. The loving -kindness practice can be implemented in my life to help me developed a stronger mind by doing my best to practice this at least once a day; because this practice helps me think more positively I think if I start having negative thoughts about others or more so about myself then I need to stop what I am doing and go do this practice to remind myself to stay positive and to focus on that and not being negative. The visualization practice I can implement by using it as an assessment tool; I can revisit it about twice a month to help me remember my goals and what I am striving for and where I still need to improve whether it be in the happiness, wholeness, or health aspect of human flourishing.

Unit 7

I am starting to really enjoy all these different practices that we are doing. I actually really enjoyed this one more than the others because I just felt that it was easier to connect with and I felt a higher sense of achievement meaning that I was able to make it through and feel the connection with person that I was envisioning which is a connection that I haven't had for awhile.  Using mindfulness and meditation practices has fostered an increase in my psychological and spiritual wellness in many ways some to include a deeper connection within myself. I feel like I am starting to remember who I am and what I wanted to become so I can strive to be a better person to myself and other. I can continue to apply these practices daily to continue my journey in integral health and to reach my full potential.

The saying "Once cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is talking about leadership. A person can't promote something that they have not tried themselves it would be hypocrisy for one and for two the person promoting it wouldn't know all the ins and outs to it. A leader will find out for themselves first and then tell others about the experience because then they will know for a surety that it might be something good for others try but they have to believe it and go through it themselves. This applies to the health and wellness professional on many levels because there are so many people that are looking for guidance and want their questions answered about their health and if they ask us if we have tried it or how do we know its going work then if we have taken part in the exercises then we can tell them without a doubt the truth of what we found it by participating and then we can help them reap the benefits of the exercises that they were given. 

Yes I do feel that I have an obligation to my clients to constantly be working on my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually because I need to be an example to them of what I am trying to get them to do and I need to be implementing all these things in my daily life so that way I can be that example of what integral health can be. I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my life by using the model of integral that Dacher has laid out in front of me and using the practices of loving - kindness, subtle mind on a daily basis, by becoming more in tune to my inner being and finding myself once again. 

Hello All,
       I was asked to describe and complete the exercise of loving-kindness from a few weeks ago and the integral assessment process. As mentioned earlier a few weeks ago the loving - kindness exercise or practice helps a person discover what selflessness means; it helps us think about the people we care about most and to act as if we are doing things for them and to let go of all negative thoughts against them and other people or circumstances that may arise in our daily lives. The integral assessment process is very unique and powerful; it helps us figure out what areas in our lives we need to focus on more whether that is our psycho-spiritual, biological, interpersonal, or worldly aspects of our lives. There are many levels of development within each aspect that affects our lives and that we need to work on more in some levels that others just depends on our own circumstances. If you are not a member of my class and you have come across this and have questions please feel free to contact me and I can help you understand more and possibly help you start your journey to integral health.
      As I took part in the assessment I discovered that I have a lot of work to do and that it could explain how I have been feeling about myself lately. I thought about how I have been using excuses for everything when I hate excuses and that is just one thing that is tearing me down. The biggest area of growth and development that I need to start working on ASAP is my psycho-spiritual area and the level of emotion. I tend to hold everything in and not say things out loud in fear of hurting others so instead I hold it in and hurt myself until I break. Through the weeks that I have had the opportunity to take part in the is class and go through the exercises and recording my thoughts a lot of emotion from my past, present and some for my future have really surfaced and I keep trying to push it back down and hide it but the more I do these things the more I feel I need to let it come out especially when dealing with the emotions of my family issues which over time have lead with feelings of feeling hopeless, worthless, and overall just not good enough. After completing this assessment I have determined that I can't do this by myself, I need to ask for help and I need to stop being scared of what will happen so one of the activities that I will be starting will be talking to somebody a professional who can help walk me through my issues and help me come to terms with them. I will also continue to practice the loving-kindness and subtle mind practices as often (daily if possible) as possible.
       I am being very blunting honest with all who reads this because I want to help people understand that there is a way to find yourself again to find your inner being and reconnect with different principles and aspects in your life that you once had but lost and you can find it again. I am slowly rediscovering myself and I can't wait to back to true happiness and health in my life.

Subtle Mind

I found that both of these practices are very different; the loving kindness exercises focuses of being at peace has you focus on a loved one and their suffering but to learn how to let go of the suffering whereas the subtle mind exercise focuses on the three levels of the psychospiritual flourishing; the witnessing mind, calm-abiding mind, and unity consciousness. The main goal of this practice is train the mind to bring forward our constant mental activity of our feelings, emotions, images and our thoughts. You can see how different the two practices are but how beneficial they both are at the same time. The benefits of the loving kindness exercise is to teach our minds how to let go of the negative aspects that we have in our daily lives and the subtle mind exercise helps us train our minds to calm, to be a witness and to unite all aspects of ourselves to each other our minds, body, and spirituality together. I didn't really have any frustrations with either one of these I felt that they both are helping me rediscovering a deeper sense of myself and its helping me realize where I need the most work. 

We have three types of wellness that we all need to strive for they include our spiritual wellness, mental wellness, and our physical wellness. Many people only focus on one of these and the most common is the physical wellness because that is the one that everybody can see. However as an individual even if you are working on your physical wellness you may also feel like something is off and in most cases it is because you are probably not working on your spiritual and mental wellness. I am guilty of this myself and I am excited to tell you that after taking this class and learning this concept I am anxious to start working on all aspects so I can start feeling better all the way around. All three of these aspects are connected together because of the connection that our body has with our mind and the connection that our mind has with our spirituality it is all intertwined together and we can't reach total wellness without working on all three of these aspects. 

Loving Kindness

Hello Everybody,
I was asked this week to listen to a mp3 recording of another practice that we are learning about in the integral health class that I am taking. I was asked to listen to it daily and record my feelings so I could describe them and I have to be honest I didn't get a chance to listen to it everyday this week during the unit but on the days that I did get a chance I felt so much better. The practice that I am talking about is part of a loving kindness practice that is where we stop to think about all the things that are negative in our lives and come to terms with them and toss them aside and then practice just showing love and kindness to everything and everybody around us. I have to say this past week has been very challenging for me in dealing with moving my in-laws out and coping with the stress of their illnesses as they are both in nursing homes and need help with everything. It is just a burden and sometimes I do need to stop thinking about me and to be more patient with them so I found this practice very beneficial to me and reminded me of that fact when I did listen to it. It helped me re-center myself and helped me calm down when I have been the most stressed durning this "vaca". I would refer people to this practice because it is a good reminder of who I want to be and I would like to share that inspriation with those I come across.

Mental workout is a neat concept in that in order to achieve the highest level of health a person must have great mental health which leads the concept of a mental workout. This is where people are working on meditation skills because it helps "train the mind" and when the mind is being trained or is trained then you are experiencing a mental workout. Just as you have physical workouts you have to workout your brain so that you can reach whole health which will lead you to much more happiness in your life.

My Personal Reflection of my Physical, Spiritual, and Psychological aspects of my life

             When reflecting on my overall level of wellness of my physical well-being I would have to rate myself as 3 because I am overweight and therefore it put me at risk of developing different health conditions. I would rate myself as 5 for my spiritual well-being because I feel that I am not as in tune to myself spiritually as much as I know I can and should be and lastly I would rate by psychological well-being as a 2 because I know I need to face things that have happened in my past with my family that I have buried for many years and have learned to pretend that all is well but I know that inside I don't feel that way and I need to let it out but I just don't know how. 

           I have rated myself pretty low on all categories and therefore I am going to make a goal for each one that I will work towards in the next year. 

1. physical- I will lose 50-90 lbs by December 31, 2013 in order for me feel better about myself and be more physically fit which will help sustain a healthy body, mind, and spirit because I will be filling my thoughts with " I can" attitude instead of the " I can't".
2. Spiritual- I will take part in daily scripture study and prayer so I can feel more in tune with the spirit and help me become more in tune to the things that I need to be to be doing to better myself and be more positive. 
3. Psychological- I will face my fear of the thoughts that I have of the things that will come up if I were to go to a therapist and I will be strong so I will start by going and talking with somebody to help me get these thoughts out of mind that are holding me back from reaching my full potential and so I can get the help the I need to feel like I am worth something. 

       The actions that I will take to reach my physical goal will be to get back on track with good eating habits and workout daily, by focusing on losing 10lbs a month starting in April and by letting people know my goal so they can help me stay accountable.  I have already mentioned the actions I will take to work towards my spiritual and psychological goals. 

         For those of you who are not in my class I was asked to listen to a  relaxation exercise and here is the link to it ( I am not sure if you will be able to listen to it or not and I apologize if you can't but if you can please take the time to do this now) http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/TheCrimeOfTheCentury.mp3 

      I found this exercise to be calming. I enjoyed the connection of color from the rainbow to an object or aspect of life like love, the feeling of being centered etc. This exercise gave me a sense of things to aspire to and things that I can accomplish and that I do have meaning and that I am worth something to myself and the others around me. 

Relaxation exercise

This is not the first relaxation exercise I have done. I really enjoy these techniques and I know they work. In the Turbofire stretch 40 workout Chalene does a relaxation exercise at the end of it and I love how it makes me feel re-energized and ready to take on the rest of the day. Just as this exercise did, it helped me re-focus myself and to stop worrying about things for a few minutes. 

It is important to take at least 10-15 minutes daily and just relax and think about relaxing without thinking about anything else during that time so that your body can release unwanted tension and it will help us become healthier people. 

WELCOME!!!

Hey All!!
I would like to welcome everybody to my blog, I am very new to this concept but am looking forward to learning how to really apply this with my current assignments for school and then expanding on it to use in my business to further assist my clients to help them reach their goals. I look forward to learning more as we go through out the classes and share with each other but also look forward to helping everybody that stumbles across my blog.