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?

           I feel, in order to better help a person become psychologically, spiritually, and physically healthy, health and wellness professionals need to work on their own integral health and these three concepts first.  Psychologically wise, the professional should be able to personally know how to promote a well-rounded mental health through different practices and exercises that they have gone through themselves, such as meditation, yoga, and visualizations.  Based on their own experience, they could help develop a unique practice for their patients.  When it comes to spiritual health, a health and wellness professional that has developed their own personal spiritual self will be able to testify about it and therefore help their patient truly understand what it is like and how it is helpful to be spiritually healthy.  Finally, a health and wellness professional should be physically healthy so that their patient can see that their personal doctor is being sincere when it comes to being physically healthy; a healthy body can help create a strong and healthy inner being. With all that being said, I do not think it is necessary that the professional should have had to recover from a particular path a patient is going down in order to help them, but the professional should be able to know what it is like to have integral health so that they can help them get on the right path; they are the proof to the patient that this type of healing can really work.      

           In all honesty, I feel I need to develop each of these areas more in order to achieve the goals I have set for me; getting down to my goal weight, knowing how to reduce my stress, and develop a becoming more spiritual than I am now.  My physical health is the most developed out of all, but developing it more could help me reach my goal of losing ten pounds.  I eat decently and work out regularly; however, I know I could do more.  As of now, I try to eat a well balanced diet; however that does not always happen. I need to lessen the unhealthy fats and increase my fruit and vegetable intake.  In addition to my eating habits, my fitness routine could be revamped in a way that I make sure I can get to the gym at least five days a week; being able to do all this will help my physical development and reach my weight loss goal.   

           My psychological health needs more development in order to reach my goal of knowing how to reduce the amount of stress I have.  Currently, between college, chores, and my husband and daughter, my stress is pretty high.  Going through the Integral Health text by Dacher (2006) and the Consciousness and Healing text by Schlitz, Amorok, and Micozzi (2005), I have gained more knowledge than I thought possible to help me learn how to cope with and lower my stress.  Practicing exercises such as the Loving-Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises are great ways to help me quite my mind and become more aware of myself and those around me and reach the goal of reducing my stress I am aiming for. 

           Although I attend Bible Study and Church regularly, I feel I need to develop my spiritual health more in order to reach my goal of knowing more about God; I have so many questions and besides reading the Bible, I do not know where to find them all.  Developing my spiritual well-being could possibly help me answer the questions I am looking for and may even help my husband and me in raising our daughter.  I believe that the practices I mentioned earlier, Loving-Kindness and Subtle Mind, are not only good practices for reducing my stress, but can possibly open my heart, mind, and soul to God and His teachings.     

II. Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

           Personally, I have never assessed my health in the spiritual, physically, and psychological domains until this class.  Reading through the texts has allowed me to view these in ways I never thought possible.  For example, I thought I would have a higher score in the spiritual domain, but after reading the texts, I truly now know I am not nearly advanced and do not deserve a higher score.  I also feel that each exercise I accomplished in class helped me better assess each domain; even the ones that were extremely tough for me taught me that I need to seriously work on those aspects of my life.

           With that being said, I would rate my spiritual wellbeing, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being optimal wellbeing), at around a 6.  I currently attend church and Bible Study once a week and I participate in a daily devotional.  This is not only helping my spiritual wellbeing, I have also noticed how my patience is increasing ever-so-slightly.  I know if I continue to go to church, Bible Study, use a daily devotional and pray constantly, I will be able to gradually increase my score in this field.

           I would rate my physical wellbeing at around a 7.  There are some aspects I need to work on, such as my eating, but I do try to eat somewhat healthy and be as physically active as possible.  By revamping my eating habits and continuing to be physically active, I will eventually reach my goal weight.

           I would rate my psychological wellbeing at a 4.  This is definitely the biggest domain I need to work on.  Practicing the exercises I have been taught in this class will help me increase my psychological wellbeing and hopefully help me become more aware of myself, those and the issues around me, and possibly life's questions.      

III. Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

           A goal I have for myself physically is to run a half marathon while in Turkey; another goal is to lose at least 10 more pounds.  I feel my first goal will definitely help me with my second goal.

           One goal I have for my psychological self is to become better at meditating; at least being able to meditate for 30 minutes at least three times a week.  A second goal is to start journaling about my life; I feel journaling is a great way to relieve stress and I will try to do it at least every day if not every other day.

           My biggest goal for my spiritual self is to go through the year long Daily Devotional Bible I have.  This will help me get into God's word everyday and figure out what I need to change in myself in order to obey 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.

           To foster growth for my physical being, there are two exercises or practices I can implement.  First is working out on a regular basis, weight training, running, and flexibility.  Second, I can start a healthy eating practice; limiting the junk food in my house so that it is not tempting and consuming more fruits and vegetables, along with any other healthy snacks.  I will implement my first practice by scheduling a set time and day, depending on my husband's schedule, for my workouts and notify my husband about them so that he can make sure he is home to watch Dakota.  To execute my second practice, I will start buying only healthy snack options and maybe have one or two junk food items in the house; I will also try to meditate on how I do not need to have the junk food. 

           To grow my psychological being, two exercises I can put into practice are journaling and meditating; both of these will also help me reach my goals for my psychological self.  To implement journaling, I will buy a journal I really like; I will then set a time everyday to journal my thoughts, feelings, or the happenings of that day.  To apply my second practice, I will start meditating, such as doing a relaxation exercise or the Loving-Kindness exercise, on a more regular basis; at least four to five times a week.  I will have to start of slow and gradually build it up and I will have to make sure I do it at a time when Dakota is asleep.

           To grow my spiritual being, two practices I can put into action are continuing to go to the Women's Bible Study and church, even when I am in Turkey, and, secondly, to pray on and actually obey everything the Bible is teaching me; such as being more respectful to my husband.  For my first practice, I will have to actively search for the Bible Study I will attend so that I can receive God's Word around my fellow sisters in Christ.  For my second practice, I will have to pray every day, night, and whenever something happens and I need guidance.       

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?

           The first thing I need to do in order to assess my progress in any of these domains is to write down where I am right now; that way, when six months rolls around, I can see how far I have come.  I also feel assessing myself every so often after six months will allow me to maintain my practices and exercises. 

           A second strategy I feel can help me maintain my progress is to continually change it up so that I do not become bored with it and just quit; such as going back in forth between hard weight lifting and running, changing my meditation practices from mindful practices to maybe yoga, and to do different Bible studies throughout the year.  Change is not always good, but in this case, at least for me, it is. 

           A third strategy is to find someone who can hold me accountable and tell me when I am not doing something and to praise me when I am.  Having words of affirmation is definitely a way to make me want to continue what I am doing.