Unit 9 Creating Wellness

Introduction:

It is important for the health and wellness professional to become psychologically, spiritually, and physically developed.  When you, as a health professional, participate in integral health practices, your mind can be freed from clutter.  This freedom then brings healing to all aspects of your life.  With mental freedom comes spiritual growth and release from stress, which then brings physical healing. The health care professional can then have the mental clarity, spiritual strength, and physical capabilities to best assist clients (Dacher 2006).  I definitely know there are areas that I need to work on to reach my goals.  I want to spend more time using meditation (prayer) to get more spiritually connected with God.  I also need to strengthen myself physically.  I want to work on freeing my mind from clutter so that I may be less stressed and more likely to show loving-kindness towards others.

Assessment:

After taking a long hard look at myself, I can see the work I need to do to reach a flourishing health.  I have paid attention to the things that affect me to see how I respond and although I try to be optimistic, I find the things that overwhelm me come to the forefront.  I allow those overwhelming moments to take control of me way too often instead of me taking control of them.  I find in my observations that I don’t make time for me to release my mind from all the daily clutter, or the time to grow spiritually.  My physical well-being then suffers as the stress builds up, my body aches, and then my health depletes. 

My spirituality probably rates the highest at an eight, because I do focus and depend on God for my strength.  As in all areas of my life, my busy life can draw me away from spending time with God.  My vision can become blurry and my time spent in the bible can become minimal until He reminds me that time with Him can make life smoother.  Though I pray every day, it is usually at meal times and before bed.  I know without a doubt of my mind that I should be praying more often and praising God at every opportunity that He lays at my door. 

My psychological well-being is probably a seven.  I wouldn’t consider myself unstable, but the stress of everyday builds up within me.  I’m not the kind of person who allows tension to take control of me in a way where I would hurt others.  The truth is, I’m a people pleaser and often times take on more than I can handle, because I want to help others.  I become overwhelmed where I can be a bit testy, but usually I can see what’s happening and as soon as I can find an opportunity, I find a way to release.  Once I have been able to release, I can refocus and go back to the task at hand with a clearer mind and calmer demeanor.

My physical wellness, however, rates about a five.  I know a lot of my physical is because of my psychological well-being.  I have MS and when my stress level becomes high, my body aches and I deal with muscle spasms.  My mental thoughts have to remind me that what I eat effects the way my body feels.  I also have to mentally remind myself that physical activity keeps my muscles from tightening up on me.

Goal Development:

My physical goal is to develop strength in my shoulders so that they don’t dislocate every time I try to use them.  I would also like to lessen the muscle spasms that attack my body each day.  My goal psychologically is to lessen that clutter that builds up in my mind causing stress.  I would like to learn to focus more on positive thinking (Dacher 2006).  My spiritual goal is to grow a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father.

 

Practices for personal health:

Since physical is my weakest area, I feel it very crucial to concentrate on its development.  I want to develop a daily yoga routine, which will not only help me physically, but also mentally.  Yoga can release my tensions that have built up throughout the day and build up within my muscles.  Focusing on my breath throughout my practice can help me release my tensions with each exhale.  Yoga also strengthens and stretches the muscles.  We recently got a membership at our local YMCA.  There I will do aquatic exercises, because they are low impact and gives comfort to the muscles being used.  Psychologically I will practice subtle mind and focus on my breath so that I can release the clutter that tries to overtake me when I want to sleep.  This will help me to relax and fall asleep easier.  I would also like to practice thought control where I look at the good in a situation to be able to get through without feeling stressed or overwhelmed ( Dacher 2006).  Spiritually I want to spend time daily meditating or praying.  Prayer can release and bring healing to the mind, body and soul.  I also want to spend more time in the bible.  Reading the scriptures can bring strength and understanding.  There is clarity of the soul and freedom from many things such as fear when one reads the scriptures.  Reading the scriptures actually give the blueprints on how to live life to the fullest through love, grace and forgiveness.

Commitment:

To be able to assess my progress in six months, I could make a questionnaire that I answer before I start and again six months later.  This will enable me to see whether I have made any progress with my health and well-being over six months or if I need to find other approaches.  To help me maintain my long-term practice, I could start a journal.  This will help to hold myself accountable.  I will also allow me to see what I have done to improve my well-being, what changes I may need to make, and the progress as well.