blog 9 final project

CREATING WELLNESS: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING Unit 9 Final Project HW420 Kaplan University Lisa Carucci I. Introduction It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically because they need to be able to recommend these practices to their client. In order to do so they need to feel passionate about it and deeply believe in what they are teaching their clients to get the full benefit. Clients will have less faith in their health and wellness professional if they do not practice what they preach. It is only beneficial to clients if they can look up to their teacher and have faith in what they are preaching. The areas I need to develop to achieve the goals I have for myself are to concentrate more on my mental and spiritual well-being. Since taking this class I have dedicated time most mornings to meditate. I have found this very beneficial. I feel I am better able to handle daily stressors. I have also been practicing intention, principle 3 in Dacher which is the mental ability to consciously choose and act. As Dacher states, “Without intention we cannot direct our life.” I have found this extremely helpful especially when I am in the moment stressed. I have been able to diffuse the stressed feeling quickly basically by being aware of what my thoughts have been doing to my body. 2. Assessment I have assessed my health in each domain by my physical symptoms and my appearance. As far as mental and spiritual I assessed myself by how I deal with daily issues, stress, and my interactions with others. I score my physical wellness a 7. I work out most days and I eat clean most of the time. I scored a 7 because I have stomach issues I believe are caused by chronic stress. I scored my mental wellness as a 5 I guess because as a psychiatric nurse I see some pretty bad cases, so with that said, I feel I am not so bad compared to them. I consider myself a Type A person and I let things bother me too easily. My body has suffered physically because of the way I handle stress. I am baseline anxious and worrisome and in the past couple of years I have really been trying to concentrate on my mental wellness for optimal wellness. I scored myself a 6 on spiritual wellness. I am not religious but I am very spiritual and feel I have a comfortable connection that way. Meditation will increase my spiritual awareness. 3. Goal development A physical goal I have for myself is to balance out my work outs more. I have been concentrating on cardio work outs and have been lazy about strength training because it is just easier and quicker to get on the treadmill. I will concentrate on mixing up my work outs. I will substitute a couple of cardio work outs a week with strength training. A psychological goal for me is to meditate daily even if it’s just for 10 minutes. A spiritual goal for me is also meditation and visualization to connect on a higher level spiritually. 4. Practices for personal health Some strategies I can implement to foster growth physically are 1) write out a work out plan on paper 2) set aside time every day to work out 3) find new active hobbies to keep myself interested in working out. I am self-motivated but I get bored easily so changing my routine will make my work outs more enjoyable. 4) eat healthy and take supplements and herbal teas to build up my immune system. Some strategies I can implement to foster growth psychologically are 1) set aside time every day to concentrate on my mental wellness. 2) Listen to healing visualization tapes. 3) Have reminders around me such as a peaceful meditation Buddha and my pink meditation bracelet to remind me of the importance of taking care of my mental health. Pink is a very healing color to me. Some strategies I can implement to foster growth spiritually are 1) meditate daily 2) visualization exercises to increase my spiritual awareness. 5. Commitment I will continue assessing my progress in the next six months by reviewing my goals at the end of each week. I will also assess how I am feeling physically, which is a reflection of my mental health. I have implemented a few strategies to help me commit to my mental and spiritual well-being. I have purchased a meditation statue I will see every day when I come downstairs to remind me of the importance. I have also purchased a CD on visualization and healing and will listen to it to help me with visualization exercises. I am also going to keep updated on new practices and studies. Physically I have maintained my regimen for several years now. It is much easier for me to be committed to my physical health. My motivation is I hate being sick and I work hard each day by eating clean most of the time and exercising. I also subscribe to several health and wellness magazines to keep myself motivated and updated on current information related to health and wellness. REFERENCES Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral Health. The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health. Schlitz, M. (2005). Consciousness and Healing. Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine.