Sunday, April 25, 2010

Unit 9 Final Project


I Introduction:

There are countless reasons why it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop their own psychological, spiritual, and physical well being before beginning to interact with clients. First off, I believe it is vital that health and wellness professionals must be prepared for the various situations they are about to encounter with their many patients. In addition, I strongly believe in the theory, “Practice what you preach”. You can’t practice these three well beings unless you develop them first.

If we as professionals are going to offer alternatives for our patients to heal their bodies psychologically, spiritually, and physically, then we must already know exactly what to concentrate on. Having development in all three of these categories prepares you to be ready to answer many questions from those who are you teaching the practices and healing approaches to. If we discover the profound possibilities of integral health, then we know firsthand the exact prospects that can come from these practices. Lastly, your clients will look up to you more and trust you because they will be able to see how advanced your well being is while building a rapport among them.

In order to achieve the goals I have for myself, I need to focus more on my spiritual well being. I have always kept up really good with my psychological and physical well being. Yet, even though I never lost my spirituality, I feel as though it could be stronger than what it is today. My parents baptized and raised me as Roman Catholic, and I grew up being an alter server who attended church and Sunday school every single week. Since I have moved away from my home state of Pennsylvania, all the way to Florida, I now don’t find myself going to church as much as I would like to. Even though I believe that you don’t have to go to church to believe in practice in God, I do feel closer to him if I do attend. One reason I have hesitated to go lately is because I don’t like to go by myself. A few of my friends keep saying that they will come with me, but they bail out at the last minute. Since that, I have attended church by myself a few times. I have learned that I don’t need someone by my side in order to go, and I still gain an increase in my spirituality. As long as I keep working hard on this, I will be well on my way to achieving a higher spirituality.


II Assessment:

I have worked hard in order to assess my health in each domain. In order to keep up with spiritual health, I pray a few times a day and attend church on occasions. For my physical domain, I keep track of my weight and try to eat right in order to not go above the Body Mass Index (BMI) range of “normal”, which is where I am now. In addition to eating right, I also work out, and have to lift heavy things while I am at work. For my psychological well being, I have assessed my health by seeing how easy it is for me to reach deep meditation and visualization practices. I have always been a strong person mentally, and like to look on the bright side of things no matter how bad a situation could truly be.

On a scale of one to ten, I score my spiritual well-being as a six. I have chosen this number because lately I have been lazy about getting to church every Sunday as I intend on. Even though I haven’t made it to mass each and every Sunday, I have however been there quite a few times, and this is why I think I deserve this rating. As well, I also take part in prayer at least once a day, which enhances my spiritual connection with God.

As for my physical wellness, I rate myself as a six also because lately I have not been visiting the gym as much as I used to. I believe that this has occurred because I lost my “motivator”, or should I say boyfriend? When my boyfriend used to be home with me every day, we have a regular routine of going to gym to work out at least three times a week. Since he is gone traveling for his job now, I don’t make it there as much as I would like to. However, I still do crunches, sit-ups, and six inches in my bedroom quite frequently. In addition to these things, my job is a catering driver and I have to lift bags and boxes that weigh up to fifty pounds everyday that I go to work. I also do a lot of walking in my life, and this is why I believe I deserve a six out of ten for my physical wellbeing status.

Last but not least, I rate my psychological well being as an eight. I say this because ever since I have learned more about meditation and visualization practices within this class, I have became more active in them than ever before in my life. Like I said previously though, I have always been a strong person mentally, and I wake up every morning as happy as could be. Another reason why I rate myself this high for my spiritual well being is because I often practice yoga, which opens and clears my mind at the same time in order for me to feel balanced in my mental state.


III Goal development:

While coming to the closure of this course, Creating Wellness, I have personally developed a lot. In addition to this, I have also come to a realization of many new goals for my own self so that I can reach the fulfillment of integral health one day soon. Realizing these goals is just the start to achieving them, and I know that I must make my goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) in order for them to be accomplished!

I have two new goals in order to increase my spiritual well being. My first goal is to try and make it to weekly mass more often than I am now, even if I have to go by myself. My second goal for my spiritual health is to not only pray more than I do now, but also try to start saying grace more before I eat all of my meals. In addition, I also have three goals for my physical well-being. My first goal is to go to the gym for cardiovascular fitness at least three days out of the week for at least thirty minutes at a time. My next goal is for my physical wellness is to go swimming (since it is nice out again) at least two days out of the week for thirty minutes at a time. Lastly, I would like to maintain my current weight of one hundred and twenty-five pounds for my final goal. As for my psychological well-being, I have one goal set for myself to achieve in the near future. This goal is to keep up with my meditation, visualization, and yoga practices by completing at least one of them each day.


IV Practices for personal health:

I have learned many motivational strategies for personal growth throughout the numerous classes that I have taken at Kaplan University. Exercises and practices that we have learned in this class have laid the foundation for my innovation, motivational strategies to use. Here is an explanation of which strategies I will use for each domain.

For my spiritual domain, I will use prayer as a motivational strategy to keep my feeling in check. I will make a certain schedule for me to implement this into my life. I will make sure to pray at least once when I wake up every morning and once before I lay my head down to sleep every night. Another strategy I will use for motivation to foster my spiritual growth is to keep a note on my fridge, which says “Be thankful for the food you eat”. I will implement this into my life by simply writing the note and putting it on my fridge. This will serve as a way for me to remember to give thanks for the food I eat, and bless it before I eat it.

Within my physical domain, I have different motivational strategies. The first motivational strategy I will use is to make a checklist on my calendar of which days I go to the gym. I will implement this strategy by putting the calendar out on my bedroom wall so that I see it each day, and I am reminded to go to the gym at least three days out of the week. The second motivational strategy I will use to foster my physical growth is to leave my bathing suit apparent in my closet. Implementing this into my life by putting in front of my eyes will bring it to my attention every morning that I go to get dressed. Seeing the bathing suit will not only motivate me to put it on and go swimming if it is nice outside, but it will also encourage me to work out so that I can look my best while I am wearing my swimming suit.

As I have already mentioned, two of my most favorite practices that I learned out of this class have been meditation and mental imagery exercises. I will use each of these more often in my life in order to foster my mental health. I will implement mediation in my life by reviewing over the Dacher exercises from the top of my head. I don’t want to go back and listen to the CD’s again because I feel more relaxed when I go through the steps on my own. I will implement mental imagery exercises in my life by trying to “take a different vacation” each night before I go to sleep. Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep at night, and I have found that it relaxes me into falling asleep when I take a mental journey to a far away land. Since I love to travel, and have been fortunate enough to visit a few places throughout the world, it is easy for me to imagine what other places are like.


V Commitment:

I will make a plan in order to assess my progress or lack of progress with the next six months. What I will do is remember that every day I have to go pay my rent, which is on the first of every month, I will take time for self reflection before I go to do it. During this self reflection, I will find a quiet place either inside or outside, depending on the weather, and actually go through this paper to see how far along I am coming on reaching my goals and maintain progress in my spiritual, physical, and psychological health.

There are many strategies for me to use in order to maintain long-term practices for health and wellness. First off, one of the easier strategies I will use is a mental reflection of how I have felt before, during, and after the closure of this class. It has been evident to me that this class has truly helped me to find various alternatives in my life to relieve me stress, and therefore help me lead a healthier life. Thinking of this transition in my life will allow me to strive in order to feel healthier in all levels of my well-being so that I can reach the happiest state possible. Another strategy I will use is to use my job as a reminder how important it is to use these practices and exercises that I have learned about in my life. During my profession, I will be helping my clients work out their problems. I will use my clients as re-enforcement for myself to continue doing what I have been doing. If they come to me with a physical problem for example, I will quickly think about whether or not I am maintaining my own optimal wellness for my physical well-being before I move onto teaching them the tricks of the trade.

5 comments:

  1. Hi Ashley,
    I have come along way with my itegral health as well as you. I found out that I need to work on improving myself more and I realized what make happy is making people happy, but (and this is a big but) without budging.
    I do ned to focus more on my spiritual aspect like everybody who live the modern life, but I believe that it does not matter where and how I pray for God as long as I do because I know if I set myself a goal like yours (to go to a mass) I will not be able to keep it, but again we do have our individualized goals and what work for one does not work for the other.
    I still need to learn more stress relief strategies and tricks, I guess I am not the only one. Again congradulation on finishing this integral milestone and good luck in the future.
    Fatima

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  2. Hi Ashley,

    First of all, I love the photo of you that you posted on your blog for this week. Great picture!

    I love your ideas on motivating yourself for work out by using writing on the calendar to go to the gym and placing this this information in your bedroom where you will be reminded and motivated to go. I also like the idea of keeping your bathing suit in the closet and in eye view so you will be motivated to lose weight with the summer fast approaching. Great ideas!

    I also like your ideas on praying and finding time to self-reflect. This is important because you need to feel closer to God and I am sure he will answer your prayers if you let him into your heart. I also like the meditation plans you have in mind and how you will continue to practice these exercises. You will surely experience integral health before you know it as long as you stick to your plans, which I know you will. Don't ever lose sight of what is important to your well-being. Give your boyfriend something to think about and he will be wondering what you have been up to while he's not around. Nothing wrong with keeping him wondering. :) Good luck!

    Jill

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  3. Hello Ashley I wanted to say your post is right on point. You appear happy in your picture. And always be thankful you are already there with your ideal weight, I am working on my physical and every day I thank God for giving me the strength because sometime it feels like what for but I have to make it this time. Even if I go alone it's all about me. I agree with you now that we have the instructions it feels better to do it to our own comfort zone.
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings.
    Brenda A

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  4. Hey Ash, it is nice to hear from others about their thoughts and just their life in general. We learn that everyone is different and work different through certain situations in life. Now that you have a better grasp at how your mind, body, and spirit works you can work at making yourself the best you can be! And when those hard times come you will be able to fight back with the knowledge we have learned!

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  5. Hi Ashley,

    I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, and it's good that your working hard on you assesments and life good luck.

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