Several weeks ago I had to do a personal assessment on my psychological, spiritual and physical well-being; I would love to say that I have made significant improvements since then, but unfortunately not so much, but overall some improvement is better than none. Reflecting on the scores I gave myself on psychological 5, spiritual 6 and physical 8, some small changes have taken place, but not enough to grade myself much higher. Psychologically I had a problem with centering my focus and allowing myself time to meditate and practice breathing exercises. Currently I am working on my focus and am a little better than I was, as far as meditation I just simply have a lot going on with school, home, family, work and the other demands I have in my life, so I will admit that I don't practice as often as I should.
My spirituality has improved from a 6 to 7; I am improving my spiritual health by being more prayerful, forgiving and practicing gratitude. Physically I have included some weight training to my workout routine, nutritionally I have also made progress by monitoring my food intake with a journal which has made me more cognizant of the foods I’m eating and my portion sizes, so physically I would say that I stayed the same because I am not consistent with the changes. I continue to have a regular workout routine, working out 4-6 days per week for an hour to two hours each day.
My personal experience of this class has been rewarding, learning the benefits of both emotion and physical exercises and the effects to our total well-being. I have developed my total well-being in various aspects, learning the exercises that are beneficial and the proper techniques for better results. There was difficulty with some of the exercises, visualization, meditation and the loving-kindness was challenging initially, but like with most exercise the more you practice and the more effort put forth, that all leads to better results. As health and wellness professionals, our job is not only to help others achieve optimal health, but we must also seek optimal health for ourselves. With the understanding and challenges, it put us at an advantage to be more understanding to others and to realize that we may have the same issues, but we have different ways of handling them.
The gratitude and forgiveness exercise was especially important for me. We oftentimes do things with little or no thought to how it affects others and an act of forgiveness or gratitude go a long way. A few weeks ago I wrote gratitude emails and most recently forgiveness emails to several friends. The responses were overwhelming, everyone responded positively, to quote one friend, 'this was a first from anyone to me, it reminds me that an attitude of gratitude is a wonderful virtue”. I now have a clearer understanding of some of what the profession of wellness entails and I feel confident that I be able to touch lives in the future.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Unit 9 Final Project
I Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?
As professional it is important to “practice what we preach”. In order for us to be productive and effective in what we do we must have firsthand experience in developing mind, body and spirit. Our physical workout is more than just exercising our body; we sometime do physical exercise as a part of relaxing our mind and increase our focus. Each client must be treated as an individual and needs must be assessed as such, as individuals we have different ways of dealing with our setbacks in life and we have to make the clients feel comfortable enough to confide in the professional. I believe that I am a work in progress, there are many things in my life that needs t be improved, but most of all I need to prioritize my life and daily schedule in order to be progressive. Being true to myself and having realistic goals and expectations will allow me to be successful on my journey toward optimal health and wellness.
II Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
I would score my spiritual wellness at 6. Many things in our lives are brought to light because of something else that happened in our lives, I have a strong belief that there is a higher power and that prayer is extremely powerful. Spirituality allows us to develop a new perspective to see how life works and to develop a more meaningful relationship with life through whatever entity that brings us closer to spiritual wellness. I am making progress in my spiritual life through the practices of meditation and yoga. It’s truly a process and in time and with practice of the exercises it is allowing me to become more centered and more focused, it is opening the door to new levels of freedom, power and contentment.
Physically I would rate myself an 8. I am not quiet where I would like to be, but I am certainly making progress in the right direction. I have a workout routine that I am committed to and try not to get off course. I try to set new goals for myself along the way and challenge myself to reach higher limits in my physical fitness. There is so much more that I would like to achieve and I know with determination and strong faith it is possible
Psychologically I would rate myself a 6. I am work in progress. One of the things I have learned along the way is that I am responsible for my own happiness and in order for me to be truly happy on the outside, I have to also be happy on the inside. I have learned to prioritize my life and realized that I can’t be everything to everybody, by learning how to say no.
III Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
My physical goal is to develop a weight training routine and enhance it along the way to get to the fitness level I desire. I would also like to get better control on my nutrition, I tend to be swayed by what people around me order when I am in a group setting while at a restaurant.
My psychological goal is learning how to be more focus and allowing myself the quiet time I know I need and deserve. I would like to learn to not let the little things govern my life as much as they do which causes me to get more upset. I would like to get to a point where I can find an effective way to reframe the small things in my life that irritates me and turn them into a positive to reduce the stress in that area.
My spiritual goal is to be more prayerful and incorporate meditation and prayer into my daily life. I’ve recently started express gratitude to myself and to others in my life that is deserving of it.
IV Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.
Physical:
Zumba is a fusion of Latin and international music which a mixture of salsa, reggae and meringue. Not only is it fun it is a great workout and allows me change up my routine and introduce something new to keep me encouraged.
Walking outdoors, normally it is not something I do on a regular basis. I normally go the gym, but walking outdoors, experiencing nature creates a sense of calm.
Psychological:
Meditation allows quiet time to myself and creates calm
Yoga focuses on posture and stretching and more important breathing.
Spiritual:
Yoga teaches physical and mental disciplines, it tones and stretches muscles, and improves mental fitness. Yoga also has a spiritual connection, improves flexibility, strength, reduces anxiety and improves mental clarity.
Meditation is a discipline that involves training one’s mind; it is used for relaxation and stress reduction. It is a simple and inexpensive technique and requires very little time to practice.
V Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?
I believe that making the commitment to change our lives is sometimes harder than incorporating the steps to do. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to keep track of my progress; I keep a food journal and track my meals along with the emotions. That allowed me to realize that some of my eating had many emotional attachments. I have discussed my plan to become more physically with my family and try to include them in the decision making process so as to not let anyone feel like they are bring neglected.
Creating a journal overall allows me to record my goals and record my progress and monitor it regularly. Making our goal known to others , not beating ourselves up when we fall short of our expectations, include a reward system to reward myself when I reach a goal I set for myself. It is most important for me to be realistic about the goals I’ve set for myself, having unrealistic goals can be setting g myself up for failure. I recently wrote emails of gratitude to several friends and was amazed at the responses, not only was it an uplifting experience for me, there was gratitude from each and everyone for letting them know that they are truly appreciated.
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?
As professional it is important to “practice what we preach”. In order for us to be productive and effective in what we do we must have firsthand experience in developing mind, body and spirit. Our physical workout is more than just exercising our body; we sometime do physical exercise as a part of relaxing our mind and increase our focus. Each client must be treated as an individual and needs must be assessed as such, as individuals we have different ways of dealing with our setbacks in life and we have to make the clients feel comfortable enough to confide in the professional. I believe that I am a work in progress, there are many things in my life that needs t be improved, but most of all I need to prioritize my life and daily schedule in order to be progressive. Being true to myself and having realistic goals and expectations will allow me to be successful on my journey toward optimal health and wellness.
II Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
I would score my spiritual wellness at 6. Many things in our lives are brought to light because of something else that happened in our lives, I have a strong belief that there is a higher power and that prayer is extremely powerful. Spirituality allows us to develop a new perspective to see how life works and to develop a more meaningful relationship with life through whatever entity that brings us closer to spiritual wellness. I am making progress in my spiritual life through the practices of meditation and yoga. It’s truly a process and in time and with practice of the exercises it is allowing me to become more centered and more focused, it is opening the door to new levels of freedom, power and contentment.
Physically I would rate myself an 8. I am not quiet where I would like to be, but I am certainly making progress in the right direction. I have a workout routine that I am committed to and try not to get off course. I try to set new goals for myself along the way and challenge myself to reach higher limits in my physical fitness. There is so much more that I would like to achieve and I know with determination and strong faith it is possible
Psychologically I would rate myself a 6. I am work in progress. One of the things I have learned along the way is that I am responsible for my own happiness and in order for me to be truly happy on the outside, I have to also be happy on the inside. I have learned to prioritize my life and realized that I can’t be everything to everybody, by learning how to say no.
III Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
My physical goal is to develop a weight training routine and enhance it along the way to get to the fitness level I desire. I would also like to get better control on my nutrition, I tend to be swayed by what people around me order when I am in a group setting while at a restaurant.
My psychological goal is learning how to be more focus and allowing myself the quiet time I know I need and deserve. I would like to learn to not let the little things govern my life as much as they do which causes me to get more upset. I would like to get to a point where I can find an effective way to reframe the small things in my life that irritates me and turn them into a positive to reduce the stress in that area.
My spiritual goal is to be more prayerful and incorporate meditation and prayer into my daily life. I’ve recently started express gratitude to myself and to others in my life that is deserving of it.
IV Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.
Physical:
Zumba is a fusion of Latin and international music which a mixture of salsa, reggae and meringue. Not only is it fun it is a great workout and allows me change up my routine and introduce something new to keep me encouraged.
Walking outdoors, normally it is not something I do on a regular basis. I normally go the gym, but walking outdoors, experiencing nature creates a sense of calm.
Psychological:
Meditation allows quiet time to myself and creates calm
Yoga focuses on posture and stretching and more important breathing.
Spiritual:
Yoga teaches physical and mental disciplines, it tones and stretches muscles, and improves mental fitness. Yoga also has a spiritual connection, improves flexibility, strength, reduces anxiety and improves mental clarity.
Meditation is a discipline that involves training one’s mind; it is used for relaxation and stress reduction. It is a simple and inexpensive technique and requires very little time to practice.
V Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?
I believe that making the commitment to change our lives is sometimes harder than incorporating the steps to do. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to keep track of my progress; I keep a food journal and track my meals along with the emotions. That allowed me to realize that some of my eating had many emotional attachments. I have discussed my plan to become more physically with my family and try to include them in the decision making process so as to not let anyone feel like they are bring neglected.
Creating a journal overall allows me to record my goals and record my progress and monitor it regularly. Making our goal known to others , not beating ourselves up when we fall short of our expectations, include a reward system to reward myself when I reach a goal I set for myself. It is most important for me to be realistic about the goals I’ve set for myself, having unrealistic goals can be setting g myself up for failure. I recently wrote emails of gratitude to several friends and was amazed at the responses, not only was it an uplifting experience for me, there was gratitude from each and everyone for letting them know that they are truly appreciated.
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