- 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.