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