- 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?
When a person goes into the health and wellness profession, they are devoting their career to help others live the best life possible. If you do not develop your own spirituality, you cannot know how this would feel and how it actually is beneficial in a person’s health. We all know that keeping physically active is essential to health; it keeps your muscles, bones and organs in good condition to carry you through life. Professionals must also develop their minds; they need to have a calm abiding mind in order to find and share loving and kindness to others.
I have a ways to go to achieve my goals, but the areas that I need to develop the most are physical body. I am getting older and have added some extra weight. I am really feeling the effects that a less than toned body can experience. Fatigue, aches and pains are something that can be eliminated so this is why this is my most important development.
- Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
When it comes to my spirituality I am very comfortable with where I am at. I have a strong bond with my religious beliefs and this guides me on the path of knowing why I am here and what is guiding me on the way. Psychologically I am in a mid point, I am aware of what is needed to be developed and have been introduced to some practices that will get me in the right mindful thinking. The practices are sporadic and are not second nature, setting a particular amount of time each day to do the mind exercises is the challenge at this time. I have a very low score when it comes to my body or physical aspect of wellness. I feel that although I am very happy with the other two aspects of health and wellness, the physical part is keeping me from reaching my goal of integral health. I realize that we will eventually achieve our goals, but we will then have the opportunity to create new goals and paths.
- Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
In the area of physical health my goal is to start a regular daily work-out. I already have the gym membership, so setting a routine is my priority. A goal of my mental health is to practice both the subtle mind and loving kindness exercises on a daily basis. My spiritual goal is to meditate and concentrate on my faith in God. I gain all my guidance from my faith and a goal to spend more time with my religion is going to help promote a healthier person.
- 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.
The strategies that I plan to use for growth in the physical domain will be to set up my DVD player in the family room so that I can play one of my exercise DVD’s for a cardiovascular workout, this is for the days that I find it difficult to get to the gym. I am also going to implement a requirement that I eat at least five vegetables and three fruit during the day. The strategies that I am going to use for this is to either juice or puree the vegetables, because I will be more inclined to drink them rather than eat them. For the psychological domain I am going to ensure that I set a specific amount of time each day to practice the subtle mind and/or loving kindness exercises (Dacher, 2006). The best time for these are on my lunch break or an hour before I go to bed, these are times that I am not going to find something else to do instead. For the spiritual domain I am going to do two practices, one is to go out to the country or lake and spend some quality time with nature. I can do this on one of my days off and the drive to either place will take less than 25 minutes so there is not a time issue. The other thing that I can do to further growth in my spirituality is to spend more time reading the bible and praying. Unfortunately I work on Sundays but I think that if I can put aside at least 30 minutes when I get home from work, I can implement the habit into instinct.
- 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?
In order to assess my progress in the next six months I will have to sit down with this paper and make sure that I am following through with what I have planned. I can also seek out a mediation center and start going there to help me stay focused and to remind me to do my practices. I can take the hint from a well known weight program and journal every day to ensure that I am getting the correct amounts of fruits and vegetables. For my spiritual progress I can get study guides for reading the bible and this will help me to stay on course to read. Each week I will take this paper out and make sure I am doing what I wanted to do and if I am not then I will reread and possible re-evaluate another solution to maintaining my long term health and wellness.
Reference
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic
Health Publications.
It looks like you know what you need to work on. Taking time each day to meditate, exercise and practice your spiritual guidance is very important. I really like how you intend on using study guides to help with reading the bible. I would suggest trying to get your exercise done as early as possible so it will not interfere with you sleeping habits. I know personally, exercising seems to perk me up and give me more energy, so I do it the mornings before work to help me keep my positive attitude through out the day. Again great post.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are looking to increase your vegetable and fruit intake. As a nutrition major I would say to increase your intake to 8 vegetable servings a day and 5 fruit servings a day once you achieve your initial goal. I know it sounds like a lot, but making a large veggie salad before lunch and dinner w/2cups of greens each takes care of 4 serving in the greens alone. With additional toppings;such as peppers, carrots, olives, onions, and other favorites you can easily reach six servings alone in two salads. You can fit in more veggies as side dishes for dinner and snacks. Like steamed green beans and carrot sticks with cottage cheese (personal go to snack)
ReplyDeleteI love your plan for achieving ingegral health. I think you have focused on each area enough, but also with great thought to balance. You are being sure to work equally in all areas. I am glad that you shared your project with me and the class and wish you nothing but success.
Be Well,
Kayla
Great goals for the future and an awesome application of the lessons we learned in class this term! You have a lot of goals ahead of you but the plan you have created sounds like it will help keep you on track. Exercising can also be a way to calm your mind and find your inner-healer!
ReplyDeleteGreat plan and awesome ways of implementing them. I really like how you've decided to review the goals you've set for yourself by looking at them often. I find that writing down my goals and putting them up somewhere I can see them regularly really helps me stay focused. I also like how you have decided to spend more time reading the Bible and praying. This goal was a difficult one for me as well. I don't work on Sundays, but I work just about every other day of the week and I usually end up using Sundays as a day to just lie around the house, be lazy, catch up on sleep or get housework done. I should be giving God His time and focusing on spending quality time with Him, my family and then worrying about the household stuff. I find that if I spend my Sunday doing things in this order, I tend to have a better work week. I also think I might try the whole getting out in nature thing as a way to reconnect and ground myself while meditating.
ReplyDeleteYou've have set some very wonderful goals for yourself. I wish you the absolute best in your journey to reaching these goals. I have enjoyed interacting with you in this course. Maybe I'll have you in a few other classes as well. Take Care.