Final Review

In Unit 3 I gave myself a score on a 1-10 scale a 4 physically, 7 spiritually and a 5 psychologically.  Throughout this course I have made goals for myself and have been working on these areas so that my rating has improved a little.  Now I would rate myself as a 5 physically because I have made steps to incorporate exercise into my daily life.  Spiritually I give myself an 8 because I did begin attending church again.  Psychologically I give myself a 7 because I have been working hard to improve my mental health.  I have enjoyed the meditation exercises I began to include in my daily routine and I am taking steps to start taking a yoga class in the near future. 

I have made changes in each of these areas and I have taken the necessary steps to improve my health and well-being. Therefore, I feel that I am well on my way to achieving my goals in attaining integral health and human flourishing if I stick to my plan and not let anything get in the way. I still have work to do though. However, I have learned and experienced the importance of maintaining balance in all areas and believe that will be the motivation I need to continue forward.

Learning that I can control my migraine headaches through meditation has been most rewarding to me.  Incorporating these steps and activities into my daily life until they become a habit has been difficult; however, I know that if I just keep being consistent it will all become second nature to me. 

In order to help others, I must first help myself.  I need to experience these changes and newly learned habits in order to provide assistance to others so that I know what I am talking about and can have an understanding what the people I am assisting are going through.  I have to maintain good health and well-being in all areas so that others will look at me and know that I know what I am talking about and they will want that for themselves.   

Meeting Aesclepius

Meeting Aescelpius was an interesting meditative exercise for me.  I was able to capture the image of my grandmother who is my hero and the person I look up to the most.  She is the image of wisdom, strength, and endurance. However, I kept losing focus of her as other thoughts would enter my mind and I had to keep bringing her back into focus over and over.  The one thing that I did find interesting when I did have her in focus, was all the images of her that ran through my mind like a movie from when I was a little girl to the present.  In that sense it was pretty neat. The one thing that I could not do, however, was bring her spirit and light into myself as was suggested in this exercise; at least I don't think I did.

I enjoyed the background music and listening to the ocean.  I was definitely able to find my sense of calm and relaxation.  In a way I felt I was floating.  Towards the end I felt like I was floating out into the sea and for a couple minutes think I fell asleep.  When it was complete, I had a hard time coming out of that place I was in.  I felt weak, disoriented, and I felt like I needed to take a nap!  In fact, as I write this I still fell like my head is in the clouds.  Maybe because I was feeling so relaxed?

Overall, it appears that I have a hard time with some of the imagery that is included with some of the meditation exercises; but I do feel calm and relaxed when it is complete.  In that respect, using the meditation exercises is beneficial for me when I need to relax or to clear my mind, and this will be the reason why I will use these practices from now on.  Additionally, I believe that by my taking the few minutes everyday to do this, can really help my physical and my mental well-being. I haven't tested it yet but I feel like my blood pressure is lower after these meditations.  Which I hope is true because I just learned that my blood pressure is pretty high right now and I need to start watching it. I will be monitoring my blood pressure more frequently from now on before and after meditation to see if there are any significant changes.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone him or herself"- Ken Wilbur

I believe this means that without myself first experiencing something, how can I teach or help someone else? In other words, I need to walk the walk in order to talk the talk!  This can be applied with anything but for the purpose of a health and wellness professional, a person who has not suffered from a disability will not have a complete or full understanding how the person who is suffering from that disability may feel.   The other side of that would be me, an overweight person, being a nutritionist or a personal trainer.  However, after a lifestyle change where I have lost all my weight, have become nutritionally healthy, and include exercise and gym time into my daily life; I might be the best person for a job like that because I have first been where the people I would be helping don't want to go and because I can truly understand what they are going through to make that lifestyle change themselves.

With all this being said, I would have to say that I do have an obligation to my clients to become whole and well psychologically, physically and spiritually.  How can a broken person help someone else?  I don't think that it is really possible.  That is why it is important for me to continue on the path of integral health and human flourishing.  I have a a lot of work ahead of me to get to where I feel I need to be, but have faith in myself that each step, even baby steps, will get me there as long as I am progressing and not receding.  I have a vision of my future self.  This class has given me knowledge to the changes I need to make as well as the activities I need to incorporate into my life in order for myself to become the me I envision.

Reflections

This post is about my self-reflection of my personal level of wellness; physically, spiritually and psychologically.

Physically I would rate myself as a 4 on a scale of 1-10.  I am overweight and out of shape.  While I don't have any known illnesses or diseases such as diabetes (yet), I know that I am taking a risk with myself in this area. The weight loss battle I have fought on and off since I was in my twenties.  I have gained and I  have lost and gained it all back again.  I know what I need to do.  I know how I need to do it and why.  I just need to get back on the wagon and do it.  I know how wonderful I feel when I am eating right, exercising regularly and losing weight.  I want to get that feeling back.  I need to for my own health's sake.  Heart disease and diabetes runs in my family.  My father is very ill right now because of both of these diseases.  I admit I have been very lazy and have not really cared that much about myself in the recent past.  I am changing that though.  I recently joined a gym and bought a treadmill for my home.  I am working on eating more healthy.  I just need to make it a habit.  A lifestyle change.  I know this.  I begin right now!  My goal is to go to the gym 3 days a week for 30 min. for strength-resistance exercises, as well as 3 days per week walking on the treadmill for 30 min., and following the Weight Watchers diet.  Go me!

Spiritually I will give myself a 7.  I am a very spiritual person.  I pray daily.  I listen to christian music daily.  I read uplifting and inspirational books including the scriptures frequently.  I try to watch only good, wholesome television programs and movies. I gladly enjoy helping others and look for ways to serve as often as I can.  I give myself a 7, though, because I  have not been attending church regularly for about two years since I moved to where I live now.  Attending church regularly is important to me and is how I view myself in being a spiritual person.  My husband and I had a discussion about this very subject earlier this week and we have already made this a goal for ourselves beginning next Sunday.  

Psychologically I give myself a 5.  Six years ago I went through a very difficult and nasty divorce after 22 years of marriage to the father of my kids.  During that 22 years he was abusive to me not physically, but verbally and emotionally.  Coming out of that I have dealt with severe self-image issues.  It has been a very rocky road for me to climb out of that hole I felt I was in.  I am, however, glad to say that I am on the mend. I now have a wonderful husband who treats me like a queen and has helped me overcome some very serious issues.  Without him I probably would not be here today.  With a little more refining in this area I will be able to give myself a 9 or 10 in the near future.  Since each one of these areas are interconnected the exercise and weight-loss goal that I have set for myself will also help me in becoming psychologically well as it will help give me more of a positive image of myself.  I will also continue to include positive self-talk each day and surround myself by positive and encouraging people.

Regarding the relaxation exercise... First, I just have to throw this out there....I still can't figure out why it is called The Crime of the Century!  While I listened I was able to lay down on a bed and went through the deep breathing techniques that helped me relax.  I got very relaxed that I actually drifted off to sleep and startled myself awake a few minutes later and had to start the audio all over again.  I got through it all this time, again very relaxed but I never could picture the colors of the rainbow in relation to the areas of my body except when I got to the spot between my nose and forehead. I felt like I could see the indigo blue sphere; but that was the only place.  I'm not sure what that means!  All in all I was definitely relaxed and felt that it was nice to take a break from my homework to do that exercise; I just don't know if I got the whole idea of it or not.  Maybe in my subconsciousness?

What about you?  You can listen to it HERE. Let me know!