Final assessment

I must be honest I was having a bit of a problem dealing with some stresses during this course so I do not feel that I have reached my goals. In the first assessment that I completed on myself I gave myself a 7 for physical well-being, 4 in spiritual well-being, and a low 4 in psychological well-being.  I will say that I may not have reached my goal yet but I working towards them. I feel that my physical health is rated now at an 8, spiritual has increased slightly to a 5, and my psychological well-being has went to a 4 instead of a low 4. I have started eating healthier so that has helped my physical well-being improve. As far as my spiritual and psychological well-being I  have started a journal and I have also started going to church with my family.
As I mentioned before I am not where I want to be yet but I am definitely still working towards the same goals. This class has really opened my eyes to a different view and approach on my health. I learned a lot some of which has been very helpful along with some things that just didn't work for me personally. I plan on sticking with the techniques I have learned in this class and moving forward in my approach to my personal growth. 

My final thoughts

This class has helped me to learn a very important thing in integral health; it is that a health and wellness professional must first develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. The reason being is they must first experience this before they help guide anyone else on the path of integral health. I personally have to work in a few areas to achieve my goals in health and wellness. I need to work on the psychological and spiritual aspects. I feel that the physical aspect is actually my strongest at this point.

This semester has been amazing with helping me to assess myself in these aspects of health and wellness. I have been able to learn a lot about myself, now if I can just incorporate what I have learned into my everyday routine. I was able to assess myself with the different practices we have done in this class along with exercises and journals from another course.

I would say as far as a physical goal I just want to continue to strengthen my body and work towards a healthier me. My Psychological goal would be to learn how to better manage stress. I must admit I am lacking a spiritual connection so my goal is to work towards obtaining that connection. To foster my growth physically I will continue to exercise and do yoga. If I do this on a regular basis I will continue to work towards a better physical health. For my psychological growth I feel that is important to get my focus for meditation and also some visualization exercises. I plan on doing a few short sessions throughout the week to help me learn to my focus a little longer. To foster my growth spiritually I plan on going back to church. When I went to church on a regular basis I felt I had that spiritual connection I am now lacking. I also feel that meditation can help me get back on track spiritually.

In six months I plan on doing the loving kindness exercise as well as one of the other exercises from this class. I feel that this will help me assess my progress since I wasn’t very successful with the exercises the first time doing them. I will have a great sense of accomplishment if I can stay focused longer the second time around. I keep reminding myself that my goals will take time, focus, and commitment. I will need to practice my planned exercises in order to improve.

Class Exercises

Sorry in advance this week's blog is not going to be the most interesting or most insightful one that you have ever read. I had an extremely hard time with the exercises that we did with this course. I think the only one I had even the slightest success with was Loving Kindness and even that is hit or miss. I can do it one day with great focus and the next day get absolutely nothing from it. I think that I like many others are so use to a fast paced lifestyle I can't seem to take the time to relax and focus. I have learned a lot about mental exercise from this course; I may not have learned to be successful with the exercise given to me but I have learned to focus on my breathing and to acknowledge my thoughts during my regular exercise routines. I think I am finally on the right path for the mind /body connection I desire. I hope you guys have had a better success with the exercises. Maybe one day I will be able to obtain the focus I need.

Meeting Aesclepius exercise

Those of you who read my blog probably already know I have not had much success with the exercises that I have recently tried; but here goes nothing I am going to try another one. This exercise is called meeting Aesclepius. I tried to go into this exercise with an open mind but I once again had a hard time doing this exercise, I just couldn't stay focused. I could picture my individual but couldn't keep focus on her. I tried several time but got frustrated, I really don't think these exercises are for me I do so much better doing my own thing.
I think the reason I get so frustrated is because how can I help others if I can't seem to make it work. I totally agree "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself". This is why I refuse to give up! I may not succeed at these exercises but I feel that during this class I have come a long way, I have just done it a little differently. I have started doing yoga and also just placing a lot of focus on my breathing when I exercise.

Assessment

I am having a hard time with the exercise that we have practiced in this class for some reason they do not relax me they frustrate me. The only one I had success with is the first time I did the loving kindness exercise. I am starting to think that it works better for me to focus on my breathing and inner-self as I exercise because that seems to be the only time I focus on myself. I did the assessment that was discussed in chapter 11 of our text. I felt totally lost as I read through the chapter but once I closed my eyes it seemed a little clearer. My area of focus is interpersonal. I feel this way because I have a hard time of trusting others and allowing them in. This not only includes friends but family as well. I feel that it is hard for me to form close relationships with others due to this and the more I think about it the more I feel I lack a connection deep within myself. I feel if I continue to work on breathing exercise and taking the time to focus on my inner-self I will be able to find the connection I am searching for.

loving kindness VS Subtle Mind practice

Ok lets try this blog post again I posted it last night but it has disappeared! I think yesterday just wasn't my day. Oh well everything happens for a reason maybe this blog post will be better than yesterday post.

I did very well with the Loving Kindness exercise but not so well with the Subtle Mind. I was not it a good mood yesterday so it probably wasn't the best time for the exercise. I found it very hard to allow myself to relax and that alone frustrated me. It is crazy to me that some of these exercise work well but most of them tend to make me feel frustrated.

I never placed much thought into how much of a connection there was to spiritual, mental, and physical wellness. I use to only focus on physical wellness but now I am trying to take more time to focus on spiritual and mental wellness. I most times do not allow myself to relax enough to so I am working on changing that. I have tried yoga in the past but didn't care much for it I recently tried it again and have actually learned to enjoy it I think it is because I have a new perspective on things.

Loving Kindness

I must say I am skeptical about doing the loving kindness exercise; only because these types of exercise generally do not help relax me. I think I am so use to rushing around it is hard for me to allow myself to fully relax while doing the exercises so they only end us irritating me. So while I sit here and wait for my computer to load the audio I am trying to allow myself to slightly relax so I can try to be open minded and benefit from this exercise. I guess I am realizing that I am truly in need of a mental workout. I try to remind myself to think positive and I try to see the good in every situation but at the same time I know I need to get my mind and body in balance so hopefully this class will help me to do that. My audio is almost loaded so once I complete the exercise I will return to let you know what I think about it.

I did so much better with this exercise than I had anticipated. I felt so uplifted and refreshed once the exercise was complete. I am not sure how to even explain the feeling that came over me but for the first time in weeks I felt at peace. I will say I also agree that you must first love yourself before you can extend your love to anyone else and although I believe this I have a hard time following through with it.  I think I will try to do this exercise again soon.

Mental workouts refer to activities that will help with personal development and brain activity.  Some things that you can do to for a mental workout consist of yoga, meditation, and listen to classical music. Studies have shown mental workouts to help with memory, listening better, stimulation and many other benefits. The benefits are not only short-term some of the benefits are long-term as well.