Sunday, September 21, 2014
Friday, October 26, 2012
Creating Wellness Experiences (Unit 10)
Complete the following and post in your
blog:
- Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?
For
unit 3, I rated myself 7/10 physically, 6/10 spiritually and 7.5/10 psychologically. Today, I would rate myself physically a
7/10, spiritually 8/10 and psychologically 6/10. I have gained something spiritually and lost something
psychologically over the last few weeks.
That makes sense considering the situation I am in currently in my
life. I think this class is to
thank for my feeling of advancement in the spiritual area. I have become more aware of myself and
have taken steps to foster a better connection with my spirituality, such as
practicing yoga, meditation and the subtle mind. Psychologically, I have been trying to reevaluate my life,
especially my relationships, to better myself. I realize that some of them are not healthy for me, but
letting them go is not an easy process and it has caused me some grief. I am trying to focus on the bigger
picture and not be too affected by small events of each day that threaten to
shake me emotions.
- Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.
Wow,
I have been pretty good with my physical goals, great with my spiritual goals
and fallen off the wagon with the psychological goals! Hmm… Well, that gives me something to
do today. I have just found some
guidance and that is a relief.
- Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.
Yes,
I have been able to ride horses, do yoga, practice meditation and feel much
better and more aware of myself. I
did yoga today and it was great. I
have been getting out in nature and that does wanders for my spirituality.
- Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?
This
course has been such a great experience.
I am sad to see it go. Now
where will I go for guidance and fresh advice? I have learned about being aware, about feeling subtle
sensations of my mind, how to let chaotic thoughts dissolve away, how to evaluate
myself on many levels and how important all aspects of our lives are for our
health and wellness. It will help
me assist others because I can help them look deeper into their own lives and get
to the source of the illness; instead of just treating the symptoms, we can
heal the whole person.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Plan (Unit 9)
The unit nine project is an
opportunity for you to create a plan that applies concepts you have learned
regarding holistic/integral health. The plan is created to foster growth and
health spiritually, physically, and psychologically in your personal life. Complete each of the five sections below and post the
project in your blog, also submit it as a single Word document in your drop
box.
- 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?
It is important for health and
wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically
because that is what they teach and live by. Health and wellness goes far beyond the hospital walls and
the prescriptions we take. In
fact, they are closer to a sign of illness, than of true health. Integral health and wellness are a way
of living. They require not only
knowledge, but also action. Therefore,
it is only possible to be healthy in the true sense of the word if health is a
constant part of life. Lets think
of it from the patient’s point of view.
Would we admire, respect and trust a doctor giving us advice is they
were healthy-looking but we knew that they were clinically depressed? What about an educated health care
professional that gave us nutritional advice by the pound but was so obese that
it was impossible for him to take his own advice?
Personally, I need to develop all
levels, psychological, spiritual and physical. The least developed would be the psychological aspect of my
life. I find it easier to make
restrictions that affect myself and only myself, which is why I am critical of
myself physically and why I am very into my spirituality. The psychological part I feel is
underdeveloped because I find it hard to control the parts of my life that
affect me as well as other people.
For example, I do not say no to people and I end up stressed because I
do not have the time to do everything I promised, or I have people in my life
that cause me more grief than joy, leaving me anxious. I definitely need to work on that area
of my personal development. I need
to heed my mother’s advice and “learn the power of the word no”.
- Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How
do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
Spiritually, I would give myself a
7/10. I feel that I am very aware
of my spirituality. I have a close
connection to nature that fosters this awareness. Without it, I would feel numb and non-existent. I feel my soul move and my spirit soar
to a beautiful place when the wind blows or waves crash. It brings me to life. My family has recently traced itself
back hundreds of years to the Wyandot (Huron) Indians near Ontario,
Canada. I grew up on the boarder
of New York and Canada, on a huge farm in the country. I think all of this ties in with me
being very connected to nature and my spirituality.
Physically, I would say I am a 7/10
as well. I practice yoga, run, eat
well and stay active. I could do
much better, but then again I could be so much worse too so I have to be
thankful for the physical health that I do have.
Psychologically, I am a 5/10…maybe
even a 4/10. I see so much
potential in the mind and I am eager to discover it but scared of the unknown
at the same time. I know a few
people who are so at peace.
Nothing seems to shake their world and I want to be like that. This course has helped me see that it
is possible for me to be lie that and it has helped me start to map out the
steps I should follow. It has been
an exciting journey so far and I have a feeling that I am just getting started.
- Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each
area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
Physical Goal: Some of my goals are
to eat proper nutrition and to make time to eat. I ran my first 5K run a few weeks ago and I would like to do
another within the next month or two.
Psychological Goal: My goal here is
simply to be more in control of my mind.
I want to have a subtle mind.
I want to have peace. And I
want it all to help me create the important questions of my life. I am on a hard path, but I think it is
a good one. I think it is the
correct one for me.
Spiritual Goal: I would like
to be more connected to my spirit and more guided by it. For this, I feel like I have to
practice listening to the soft whispers and be in quiet places where I can hear
it when it speaks to me. More
meditation, more yoga, and more time in nature will help with this goal.
- 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: I can run a few miles three
times a week and get physical exercise everyday.
Psychological: I will get outside
often and go to a peaceful place to meditate because that helps calm my mind. I am going to research parks and
beaches in my area to find good places to do this.
Spiritual: I will continue to think
of all people as one, with no one more important than the other. I will see myself as a part of this
whole and ask how I can better it all.
I want to be useful, to be positive part of change in the world. My goal is to make time to be quiet and
be aware of my spirit and its reactions to my environment.
- 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 have mapped out my goals in each
area of human development on a poster board. I dated the map so that I can recheck myself every month and
see if I am inline with my goals.
What I find interesting about these goals is that it none of them are dependent
on my location. I cannot use
travel to run from them. They all
originate inside me. For each
area, I wrote something positive, something I can work on, and a relative
question. For example,
psychologically, I feel like am in an interesting place in my development and
understanding of the world. I can
see the issues with increasing clarity.
That is the positive. The
part I can work on is being less disturbed, mentally, by these problems. This relates to my family, my work and
my view of the world. All of it
would benefit from less debilitating emotions and more action and strength. The question is: “How can I find the
unhealthy sources of stress and let them go?” I did this for each area of my development so that I have
something positive to be grateful for, something else to work on, and a
question to ponder because I find the questions to be just as interesting as
the answers. One question always
leads to more, such as “Why did I ask that question?” “How long has that been there?”
“What experience caused it?” “What do I want to do with the answer?” “Am I
scared of the answer?” and so on…
"A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or
taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and
drinking largely sobers us again."
-Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, 1709
Friday, October 12, 2012
Good Times (Unit 8)
All of the exercises, practice sessions and concepts that we
have learned have been helpful to me, including using loving-kindness, training
the subtle mind, using visualization, practicing meditation, Qigong and energy,
health as defined by different cultures and peoples, yoga, patience,
forgiveness and finding purpose and spirituality in life everyday. I am a Health Science major who chose Health
Science after contemplating Cultural Anthropology. I like people and anything to do with understanding
them. In almost three years of
Kaplan classes, this course (Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual
Aspects of Healing) has been my very favorite. I have completely enjoyed it.
When I think back on all of the concepts that we have
touched on, I feel that the subtle mind and learning about the four aspects of
integral health have been the most beneficial to me. These two concepts I had never heard of before. I have practiced “health” as I knew
it. I eat well. I practice yoga and meditation. But, those two concepts really opened
my mind to the depth of holistic wellness.
The subtle mind exercise showed me how profound and powerful
the mind is. It helped me
understand what I can and cannot control as well as how much I can control my
body. Even the physical heartbeat,
the racing breaths and the anxiety I feel can be relaxed to a great degree
though simply focusing on letting the rushing thoughts come and dissolve away
into nothing. I imagine and ocean
with waterfalls crashing into it and I go to the center and deep underwater and
feel the calming power of the mass of water. That image and the idea of the subtle mind enable me to
cherish my inner peace and use it for the health of my whole being.
The four aspects of integral health were also very
beneficial to me.
I knew about these aspects but I did not know the importance of balancing them
and developing them. I liked
assessing my personal growth in each area. I learned what areas I need to develop more and which ones I
could relax with. I know feel
great about deciding that a massage and family time can replace gym time and my
health will not decrease! The
other day, I practiced yoga, got a massage and meditated about a friend. I felt amazing! What I am trying to say is that
understanding that health is holistic helps me be aware of all four areas of
myself (psychospiritual, biological, worldly and interpersonal) and where I am
in this life.
Steph
Steph
Friday, October 5, 2012
Meeting Aesclepius (Unit 7)
I
listened to the “Meeting Aesclepius mp3”.
My first thought was of how beautiful and pure the background music
was. I have always had a deep love
for flutes, panpipes and wind instruments. By nationality I am French and Native American, so I like to
think of this as a living connection to my past. The mystical, airy notes calm me like nothing else.
To
meet my inner mind, I had to choose a person who I respect and look up to, be
it living or passed on. My mind
instantly gave me a vision of Gandhi, which I ran with. I visualized him, his light, energy and
passion. I took all of that in,
mentally. It was relaxing and
clarifying. I felt like I
could take my hard decisions and consult another entity within me for guidance
and advice. I will use this
practice to improve my life, my reactions and my health.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
!!SPLAT!! My Mind: On Paper & Exposed (Unit 6)
LOVING-KINDNESS:
I
can breathe in suffering and breathe out health and happiness for a loved
one. When I try to do it for
myself, however, it feels uncomfortable.
But again, I can do it.
When the voice in the exercise asked me to do it for people I consider my enemies, I
almost shut down completely. Wow,
that is hard...apparently impossible for me right now. I feel like it will
weigh me down and strengthen them.
Does anyone know how I can handle this in a healthy way? These are not just people that I have
disagreed with or something like that.
When I think “enemy”, some people who have done some pretty horrible
things rush to my mind. How do I deal
with this?
PERSONAL ASSESSMENT:
I
have completely my personal assessment. It includes all four areas of
development as well as the rings of body, mind and spirit and the lines of areas
to develop within each of the four areas.
Completing
an assessment such as this one is quite a strange and foreign sensation. How can it be that looking this deeply
and critically into oneself is not only strange, but also unsettling? With this exercise, I have learned what areas of my development I am comfortable
with and what areas are unnerving. I am
thankful for the comfortable areas, not because they are rather developed, but because they just feel good, they feel healthy. The other areas that make me feel uncomfortable, I will take
as a sign of a need for improvement.
The
areas I want to improve are the psychospiritual and the interpersonal. In the psychospiritual, I feel I could
improve on all areas in my everyday life.
For example, I should assess my relationships. Some of them cause me great stress. I could find ways to either make them
healthy or eliminate them from my life.
There are a few people I need to have serious talks with. I also need to be strong and make the judgments
I need to without being dependent on the other persons reactions. Interpersonally, my family is a major
concern. I feel the need to help
them with some issues and be more involved but it feels like closed doors all
around. I need to do some
out-of-the-box thinking and soul searching to find a way to move it all in a positive
direction.
I have mapped out my thoughts on a poster board and uploaded a picture of it below. I thought it looked pretty whacky to see myself exposed in all honesty on paper like this. But, it was kind of cool too, so I wanted to share it…
I have mapped out my thoughts on a poster board and uploaded a picture of it below. I thought it looked pretty whacky to see myself exposed in all honesty on paper like this. But, it was kind of cool too, so I wanted to share it…
Thanks for reading!
Stephanie Peterson
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)