Unit 10

1. I am still improving my wellbeing in all three areas; especially my psychological wellbeing. I do believe that I am doing a pretty good job at improving this area. My anxiety attacks have not been happening as often. My physical wellbeing is also improving. Since I have started my workout DVDs I feel more energetic, I have been able to sleep better, and I have lost three pounds. The sleeping better at night also has to do with my psychological wellbeing. I have been meditating before bed which helps me unwind after a long day.

          In unit three my physical wellbeing was rated at a five, my spiritual wellbeing was rated at a six, and my psychological wellbeing was rated at a three. Now I would score my physical wellbeing at an eight. I am rating it here because I have become more physically active. I feel a whole lot healthier and I am more energetic. I am going to keep my spiritual wellbeing at a six. I am doing this because I have not had to improve this area any more. I say this because I am satisfied, for now, with how I can calm myself in almost any situation and that I have been able to sleep better. I am going to bump my psychological wellbeing up to a five. I am doing this because I have been able to keep my anxiety attacks down. They are not where I would like them to be but they are getting better.

2. I am coming close to completing my goal for physical wellness. I have started a fitness program, I am starting to watch what I eat and how much I eat, and I am going to start taking walks around the block. Since I have started this program I have went from 150 pounds to 147 pounds. I am getting closer to my goal weight which is 130-135 pounds.

          I think that I have reached my spiritual wellness goal. I am able to clear my mind and focus on one thing or nothing at all and I am getting a better night’s sleep. The one thing that I am still having trouble with is I can still get distracted easily when trying to clear my mind.

          I am slowly getting to my psychological wellness goal. I still have quite a few anxiety attacks, but not as many as I used to. By meditating and getting more sleep at night has knocked down the anxiety attacks. I cannot even describe how scary and stressful those are to me, so I am glad that I have made this goal.

3. Yes I have implemented the activities that I chose for my wellbeing in two of the three areas. My physical activity was to become more physically active. I have started my workout DVDs and I am going to start walking in the evenings. My spiritual activity was to start doing yoga. I have not started doing yoga yet. I have to buy some yoga DVDs before I start doing yoga. My psychological activity was to meditate. I have been meditating since we learned how to in this course. I am going to continue to meditate for the simple fact that it helps me relax and sleep better at night. The best time for me to meditate is after work or before bed. I love the fact that we have learned this practice.

4. My experience in this class has been outstanding. I learned a lot of useful things in this course. I have learned how to meditate, use the loving-kindness practice, and how to work on achieving human flourishing. I believe that I have developed improved wellbeing. I believe this because I have learned how to relax; which is helping me get rid of my insomnia by getting better sleep at night. This experience improved my ability to help others because I can teach others how to relax just like I was taught in this class.

Sam

Unit 9

Introduction:

            It is important for professionals to develop psychologically because if they have an open mind and are aware of other cultures, beliefs, feelings, etc. then they can be a better professional just by knowing how everyone is unique. It is important for professional to develop spiritually because this will help them not only be connected with their inner self but they can share this experience with their patients. It is important for professionals to develop physically because they need to be just as healthy as their patients, or at least as healthy as they want their patients to be.

            I need to develop more in my spiritual aspect. The reason I need to do this is because I do not have an inner connection with myself. If I had an inner connection with myself then I might have a more pleasant attitude. I say this because if I think that if you are spiritually connected you see thing in a different point of view. You are more open to different things.

Assessment:

            Yes I have assessed my health in each domain. On a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being the unhealthy and 10 being healthiest, I would score my spiritual wellness at maybe a three. I say this because again I do not have that inner connection that I believe you should have with yourself. I would score my physical wellness at about an eight. I say this because I believe that I eat pretty healthy and I am physically active, so I believe that I am doing pretty well in this domain. I would score my psychological wellness at about a five. I say this because I know some of the different cultures and beliefs, I definitely have an open mind, and I am aware that others are unique.

Goal Development:

            My physical goal is to become more physically active than I already am. I am on an exercise program were I do the Jillian Michaels workouts, but I would like to start walking, riding bikes, and just playing outside with my children more often.

            My psychological goal is to be able to keep up with the meditation, loving-kindness, and witnessing mind. I really love the fact that we learned the practices in this class. I think that since I started this class I am less stressed and I love it!

            My spiritual goal is to become more connected with my inner self as well as with nature. I want to be able to look at things differently from the way I do now. I would like to become (partially) one with nature.

Practices for Personal Health:

            The strategies that I can implement to foster the growth in my physical domain are to just get outside and do something. Buy a bike and one of those little tag-alongs that you can hook on the back of a bike and take my kids for a bike ride, or strap them in a stroller and go for a walk.

            The strategies that I can implement to foster the growth in my psychological domain are to again just keep up with the meditation, the loving-kindness, and the witnessing mind practices.

            The strategy that I can implement to foster the growth of my spiritual domain bewilders me. I am not sure exactly how to become one with myself or with nature or even how to have the mind/body connection, really.

Commitment:

            I will keep a journal or some sort of log that will track my progression or lack of progression for the next six months. I could somehow come up with some sort of reward if I meet my goals. At the moment I am not sure what this award might be, but I definitely will think of something good.

Unit 8

The first exercise that I think to be most beneficial is meditation. I think that when you meditate you are in the most relaxed state that you can be in and that it relieves stress almost as soon as you start the meditation. I meditate at least once a day and it helps me even after the most ridiculous days. I have recently become a full time associate and I have started a new exercise program. My job is managing the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart. Now if any of you have been down a clearance aisle at Wal-Mart you know how bad it can get. The clearance aisle that I have to manage is horrible. Stuff is just thrown everywhere, there is nothing placed neatly on the shelves, and people have put stuff in the aisle that's not even on clearance. So needless to say I spend the whole day straitening up and putting stuff where it belongs; I do this everyday five days a week. Then I come home and do the Jillian Michaels exercises and believe me when I say this that woman really knows how to make you hurt. I also have two children, one is four and the other is two, so I have a lot of cleaning up after them, playing with them, and taking care of their every needs. So after one day I am so worn out and stressed that I just want to scream and rip all of my hair out. That is when I turn to meditation. By meditating I have learned to clear the mind of all that I did that day and just relax. This is when I am at peace and calm and I love it.


The next practice that I think that is the most beneficial is the loving-kindness practice. This exercise to me also helps me relax and be at peace and calm. I can do this exercise anytime that I want and anywhere that I want. I love the fact that I can take in all the bad and replace it with good. I especially love that I can do this with other people, I mean that I can take in all their bad and replace it with good. I wish I had learnt this practice/exercise about six months ago. My uncle had been in the hospital for probably three months before he had passed away from cancer. If I had known how to do this exercise back then, I could have been there for my aunt. I could have taken in all her pain and suffering and replaced it with good happy thoughts. I know that my uncle would have rather her remember the good times that they had together and not him laying up in a hospital bed fighting for his life. I can still use this exercise in my personal life by helping myself as well as others when needed. By this I mean whenever I am feeling down or going through a ruff time I can take all the bad and turn it into good same with others, when they are feeling down or going through a ruff time I can help them take in all the bad and turn it into good. I am truly glad that we have learnt how to do these exercises, they have helped with my stress levels tremendously.

Unit 7

1. My meditation experiences for this week have been wonderful. I have practiced the exclusive meditation, focusing mainly on mantra. I find using the mantra to be the best way to meditate. The reason I find that this one is the best one to use is because I repeat the word ‘love’ and it keeps me very focused. I can keep a clear mind better by repeating a word instead of just trying to clear my mind completely. If I try to clear my mind completely it tends to wander off and I cannot keep focused, but by using the word ‘love’ I can be completely focused and relaxed.

Meditation has fostered an increase in my psychological wellness by helping me relax. Now that I am more relaxed I am not as stressed and agitated all the time. I can now enjoy my days after work instead just wanting to go to bed so I do not have to deal with anything else. I also can sleep better at night and if I do get up I can just meditate to help me relax again and soon fall asleep. I used to get up in the middle of the night and my mind would be going a hundred miles an hour, but now when I wake up I can meditate to clear my mind and help me go back to sleep.

2. Describe the saying ‘one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself’: to me this saying means that if you haven’t been where you are saying you have don’t lead with false knowledge.  You shouldn’t lead someone to the path of human flourishing if you yourself have not gone down that path; one thing you could do is to go down the path together.

This applies to the health and wellness professional because they are leaders to a patient’s knowledge. I wouldn’t want to go to a physician that says they know what they are doing when they really have no clue. The physician needs to know what they are talking about, especially when it come to someone’s illness, so that they can properly inform the patient on what they are going through or what they will experience. Just like with medication a patient wants to know what the medication does or what the side effects are, the physician is the one they are going to ask, so the physician should know what they are doing.

I would say yes that I have an obligation to develop my health psychology, physically and spiritually. If I am going to teach my patients about their health and what they can do to make it better, then yes I am going to do the same for my health. I would lead by example not tell them what they can do and not do it myself.

I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my life by keeping up with meditation, loving-kindness, and witnessing mind practices. By doing this I can hopefully live a life that is less stressful (I am not going to push stress free), a more relaxed life, and being able to enjoy everything that I do. I will also teach others what I have learned here in this class.

Unit 6

1. I have completed the loving-kindness exercise and I am still loving the fact that we have learned this. I love being able to take in the bad and trade it with good, if we could just do that with everything that would be great. I have learned that you can help others teaching them this exercise as well. It is like a chain reaction, you learn it, you teach someone how to do it, they teach someone else, and so on. It is a really great exercise to experience.


2. describe the exercise and assessment process: first you need a still and silent mind. Then focus all attention on the four quadrants; biological flourishing, psychospiritual flourishing, interpersonal flourishing, and worldly flourishing. Next, determine which area in your life needs attention. Or you could simply determine if there is any area with urgent distress.


3.I discovered that I am pretty good on the psychospiritual flourishing, interpersonal flourishing, and the worldly flourishing, but my biological flourishing needs a little work. So with previously saying that I need to work on and grow my biological flourishing, this is the area that I have chosen to focus on. I have chosen this area because I believe that I am not that healthy. I do not exercise a whole lot, I know that 9 times out of 10 the foods that I choose to eat could be healthier for me, I think that I maintain homeostasis pretty well, I mean I don't get sick that often, but my mind/body practices could use work. Some exercises that I could foster would be; fitness: I could work out more often maybe buy a fitness DVD, nutrition: I can make healthier food choices. Instead of having chips for a snack I could have an apple or banana, and self-regulation: I could meditate more often to help my mind and my body connect to one another.


Sam

Unit 5

1. The loving-kindness exercises and the subtle mind exercises are alike because they help you relax and focus your mind. With the loving-kindness exercise you are taking in the bad and replacing it with the good for yourself and for others. With the subtle mind exercise you are calming your mind and focusing on one thing at a time instead of the mental chatter that goes on all day long.

2. The relationship between spiritual wellness and mental and physical wellness is very important. When you have a healthy spirit it expands on the metal and physical health. It helps you to reach human flourishing. If your spiritual, physical, and mental wellness are all interconnected then each should be healthy as a whole.

Unit 4

1. I found this practice to be beneficial. It allows me to relax and think about the pleasant and unpleasant moments in my life. Once I have taken hold of the unpleasant moment I can diminish them in my heart and turn them into love and kindness. It also taught me to be able to do this same thing to loved ones who are suffering or even to strangers. I would recommend this to others so they too can learn to change their unpleasant moments into love and kindness as well as share this with their loved ones and strangers.


2. The concept of "mental workout" is not to be able to relax and rest but to advance in the development of a larger consciousness and its healing capacities. You will learn loving-kindness and how to have a subtle mind. As a result to this you will achieve discipline and perseverance, peace and calm, ease and delight, and creativity and wisdom. The way that I can implement mental workouts to foster my psychological health would be to do the exercises as recommended. Take five to fifteen minutes a day and dedicate them to nothing but the exercises of loving kindness and the subtle mind. This will help me attain human flourishing.


Reference:
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing pgs. 65-66. Laguna Beach: Basic Health.

Unit 3

Question #1: I would rate my physical wellbeing at about a five. I am going to rate it here because I am just starting to be more physically active, and after having two children I would say that I am still in moderate shape. I would rate my spiritual wellbeing at about a six. I am rating it here because I can calm myself just enough to handle any, well almost any, anger or fears that I may encounter. I would rate my psychological wellbeing at about a three. I am going to rate it here because I have seizures. Now I am going to elaborate on this a little. I have, what I call anxiety attacks and my doctor calls them "mini" seizures, and this causes more stress on me than I would say anything else. I get so scared because it feels as though I am going to have one and, to me, they are one of the scariest things that I have experienced.


Question #2: My physical goal is to get my weight back down to about 130-135, I am now at 150. I would also like to be more physically healthy and active. My spiritual goal is to be able to completely shut everything out and be able to relax whenever I need. I would love to be able to do this at night when I lay down for bed, I believe that this would help me sleep better at night and get rid of my insomnia. My psychological goal is to control the "mini" seizures or anxiety attacks that I have. I have on average anywhere from 5-10 per day, I would like to get that down to at least 1-3 per day. I would love to have absolutely none but I doubt that that will happen.


Question #3: An activity that I can incorporate, which I have already started, for my physical goal would be to do workout videos and walk about a mile or two per day. An activity that I can incorporate for my spiritual goal, which this can also help with my physical goal, would be yoga. And finally for my psychological goal I can incorporate meditation. This will allow me to open my mind and relax, which I feel will help with my anxiety.


Question #4: This relaxation exercise, as well as the last one, has made me relaxed. I really enjoy these exercises they help me relax after a long hard day.

Reflection on Journey on Relaxation exercise

The video actually relaxed me. The nice music and the calm relaxed voice helped me relax. I felt like I was in a place of peace and comfort. If I could go to that place more often I think my life would not be as stressful. I might even take it as far as if I would listen to the video when I lay down to sleep it might actually help me sleep.  


Sam

Welcome to the Robinson Blog.

This is the Robinson Blog! I want to welcome everyone and invite you to view and comment on any blog. I hope we can enjoy this experience together and I wish everyone the best of luck in our Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing.


Sam