Unit 9 Project

        I.            Introduction:

It is very important for health & wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically prior to treating patients, because if we have not lived the life how can we give advice about it?  I would be very weary of a practitioner that only gave advice and never tried living the integral health process.  Psychologically, we need to be strong in our minds in order to deal with the challenges of life that come at us daily and to make the right decisions about life.  Our strength can be an encouragement for someone else who strives for the same strength.  Spiritually, we must know where our faith lies.  If we do not have beliefs, what are we living for exactly?  I know that I have a strong faith in God and I pray to him for my spiritual and physical healing, and I use the times when I am in meditation to pray and to listen to what I need to do.  A strong faith aids a strong mind.  Physically, a weak body cannot assist a strong mind, and strong spiritual being.  We need to be able to hold ourselves up and move daily to maintain our physical health.  We need these three aspects of our lives to be working together for our integral health.  I feel like I need to continue to work on my physical body, because I am not as strong physically as I feel I should be.  I realize that I am getting older and I will not be as active and strong as in my youth, but I can try to be as strong and active as possible.  I like being able to carry my own groceries into the house and not have to call my husband to help.

      II.            Assessment:

I can honestly say that when I first sat down to assess my health, I was basically focused on my physical health, because being concerned about my mental or spiritual health was not something I thought about.  Therefore, when I did the first assessment for the blog, I scored myself at where I thought I should be, not really knowing that how I scored myself was dependent on my thoughts and feelings at the time.  This was prior to me reaching a still place in my calm abiding mind.  Now that I can look at this question with some real thought, I would score my spiritual wellness an eight since I took this assessment several weeks ago.  The change has come in being able to calm my mind and have real inner peace.  My physical wellness has improved also up to an eight.  Since I began this journey, I have learned to listen to my body and rest when I need to rest.  I was so overworked before; there was little time to rest until I was completely exhausted.  This stress wore on my mental wellness too.  I was so stressed about my life, I was not living, and I was just passing through almost unaware.  I would score my psychological wellness a nine.  I am by no means close to ten, but much closer to being psychologically well.

    III.            Goal Development: 

Physically I plan to continue working toward coming off some of my medications as I get healthier.  I also plan to learn to swim over the next year so that I can add some non-weight bearing exercise to my routine and protect my joints while increasing my cardiovascular health.  Psychologically, I plan to continue to practice yoga and meditation for my mental workouts.  I realize that my body continues to crave inner peace and stillness, and being able to supply that relief has been a tremendous asset to my psychological wellbeing.  I also plan to continue praying and having faith in God that he will continue to bless me and help me to be a mentor for others that are on the same path to integral health and inner peace.

    IV.            Practices for personal health: 

Physical, one strategy that I can implement to help my physical health improve or grow is to be reasonable about what my expectations are.  I still want to exercise as I did before my mini-stroke, and I do not have the strength.  I will listen to my body and not push myself as hard as I did when I was 20, but at the same time, I will not give up trying to achieve a 45 minute a day cardio workout 3 x’s a week for life.

Psychological, I plan to continue to use meditation each day for a mental workout to strengthen my mind and reduce my stress levels.  I also feel that incorporating deep breathing into my daily routine while at work can help me to deal with stressful situations and challenges.  These two activities have already helped me over the last few weeks, and an ultimate goal is that I will always meditate and use deep breathing to calm myself and control my stress levels.        

          Spiritual, praying has always been my personal cry for help.  I will not cease to pray so that is truly one goal I have for myself over the remainder of my life for my spiritual wellbeing.  I also plan to use my contemplative practices to still my mind, and listen to what God has to say.  I always say that we pray to God for help, but we do not stop talking long enough to hear what he has to say.  I will use prayer and a still mind exercise to further my spiritual wellbeing.

      V.            Commitment:

I think that having experienced a still calm mind has opened my eyes to what my thought processes were when I was stressed out.  As I have stated several other times, now I crave to have that peace daily and meditate until I reach that level of calm.  I have found myself engaging in deep breathing before I realized that I was in trouble.  I want to be able to stand still and slide immediately into a still, aware state of mind, to be able to listen to my body and what it needs at the moment.  I would love to say that I will journal or continue to blog, but I know me, and I understand that I need to keep practicing each of the beneficial activities on a daily basis to get the full benefit.  If I do slack off and stop meditation, I am sure that soon I will realize that my mind if so full that I cannot think, and return to the practice.  I will say that I owe it to myself to be as healthy as possible, and if making life changes is what I need to do to be healthy, I will no longer be afraid of change.

Dina