unit 10- review of project 3

1.       Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?

I do not think my scores would change today, I am still doing what I can physically, running and exercising several times a week but I do not have the time to do more and I would like to, so 6 it still is. As for spiritually I am working on it, but again do to scheduling I am not able to make it to service as much as I would like to so a 4-5 it will stay. I do plan on going to church more and have spoken to my family about how important it is to me that we go together. I hope that we make it happen but only time will tell. As for psychological I have seen a change! I think this is because I have been able to do job shadowing for the masters program that I am applying to as well as speak with other PA’s about the profession. I have also been running and taking time for myself, this means I am more willing for others to have my son and that has been a major breakthrough for me. This transition has been hard but worth it because I feel I have more time to dedicate to school as well as to projects that are important to me and do not need the assistance of a wonderful 4 year old.  

1.   Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain. AND 3. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

I have made goals and I am still working on them, I want to go to church and that sounds like something so simple but it is not for me and my family. This is something that I am working on and will continue to work on until we are all able to make it to church and happy with the church that we are attending. I am running/exercising more and that is wonderful for me. I am still working on my home fitness area but it is coming along quite nice, I am hoping to have it done within a week or so and that is achievable. This place will make my overall goal of running a ½ marathon faster than last year closer as I will be able to have the space to do more at home. My goal of letting people know how much I love them has been super fun to follow through with, with my son’s help we have made cards and colored pictures for people just because. We mail them and have gotten a great response, it is nice to know that we have been able to brighten someone’s day but because.    

2.       Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

I will be the first to say that when I learned we had to blog, I was not happy. I had never done it before and did not know how honest I could know that so many people would have access to what I was writing, but in the end I think I might have been to honest. This honesty has helped me to be honest with myself which I think I have not been that honest about something. I am happy that I had to take this class as it has made me understand me better and that will make be better in my current position as well as a medical provider when I am done with my master.

unit 9- project

                  I.    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?

Overall health and wellness professional are under a lot of stress and thus need to know themselves in order to be able to deal with the stress. Having a developed psychologically, spiritually and physically wellbeing can lead to increased happiness and better productivity at work as well as at home. If a health and wellness provider is lacking on one or more of these areas, this can lead to confusing and lack of preparation for events of the day and leading to mistakes that could be avoided.

I feel that everyone including myself needs to continuously work on their psychologically, spiritually and physically wellbeing, there are new ways to deal with stress as well as new physical activates that could be tried. For me spiritual wellbeing is the focus and what I need to work on the most. I have felt disconnected from “church” for a while and I would love to find a church that feels like home, or at least somewhere I do not feel like an outsider. 

                II.    Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

I have accessed my health and overall wellness in spiritually, physically, and psychologically aspects and understand there is some room for improvement in all areas. Spiritually I feel I am very low, this is because of my lack of church where I feel at home and a part of. For me this is very important, my husband and I were part of a church and we really loved it but when we stated to receive bills from the church saying what we gave was not enough, we had to look at the situation and step back from that church. This was a damaging time for me because I was not sure if this meant we did not belong to a church at all or if we needed to look back at the Catholic Church for guides. We do not have a church yet to call home; it is still a stress for me. When it comes to the physical aspect of wellness I am doing well there, I am training for a ½ marathon, yet I know that I could eat better. I love desserts and other things that are not that great for me, I think this is balanced by eating fruit and vegetables as well as whole grains. I try to only have one dessert a day but some days that is not the case; it all depends on my mood and events of the day.  Psychologically I am doing okay, most days. I worry about getting in to a Master program yet understand it is very competitive and I need to do my best to have a chance. I know that I have a lot going on; being a wife, mother, aunt, student, personal trainer and t-ball coach to just name a few all take time but I have managed to do well and hold it all together somehow. My family gives me a lot of support and I know that is very important and helpful to me and my ability.

               III.    Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

One goal I have for myself physically is to a half marathon in less than 2 hours. I have come close to this in the past one time being 2 hours and 3 minutes and the other being 2 hours and 5 minutes. I am hoping this year due to the face I will not be in school full time as well as coaching t-ball like last year, I will be able to train more consistently thus reaching my goal.

Psychological a goal for me to keep an open mind about other forms of treatment when it comes not only to myself but for others as well. As I am very medical when it comes to thinking about ways to treat people. I understand people have different beliefs about treatment options and I need to be more open minded about them as well as the idea they could work. This is going to be difficult for me but I know if I am able to become a PA than I will be faced with several different situations that I need to be ready for, this is something I can practice now.

A spiritual goal that I have for myself is to find a church where I feel at home and want to be. I am Catholic yet I do not go to church each week, I try to go once a month but that does not happen all the time either. I seem able to find an excuse for not going to service each week, and I feel bad about it but I still do it over and over. I wish that I had more discipline with myself to make this a priority. I do think some of the issues is with my husband not being on board with going back to Catholic service, he would like to find a Christian church not necessarily one religion over another. Although my husband was raised Catholic he is not a practicing Catholic, never really wanted to be which makes it more difficult. Having a son is another issue, I do not necessarily want him to be raised a Catholic but I want him to have something, and that is where stress comes from. My goal is to find something the we can both live with and be happy about, I do not want my husband to be left in the dust when we go to a church service, I want it to be a family event. 

              IV.    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.

A tactic that I am going to use to promote growth in the physical domain is make a training schedule and stick to it! I have made several in the past and I have fallen short on them, for several reasons but none of the reasons were all that good. It is hard for me to make plans to far out but this is important and I really would like to reach my goal for the ½ marathon, I know that I can do it. Another method I am doing to use is music; I plan to have music that will go with the training session. I think this will help to keep me on track as well as not have the same music over and over when I am training. When thinking about what I am able to do psychological it is hard for me, I think I will make it a point to research one alternative treatment method each month, this way I will be up on the new research and what might be coming down the pipeline. I will also continue my subscription to JAAPA, this is a journal for PA’s yet I will not be skipping over the alternative treatment articles and information. I will read it objectively as I read everything and try not to judge people for their actions without having more information. Again spiritually is going to be the hard one, I am going to start with a long overdue conversation with my husband about church and what he would like out of a church, having this information will help me to narrow down churches we might want to go to.  I will also do web searches and talk to others about church, this is a topic that is not talked about a lot and I think I need to get some help, realizing that is the first step. I will also keep the lines of communication open between my husband and myself as well as our son, this is so we do not have these un-talked about items that are hindering our overall happiness.

               V.    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?

Do to my goals I would like to evaluate myself for psychologically, spiritually and physically using different strategies. For physical I would like to run the ½ marathon in less than two hours, this would be a PR for me as well as my mother who is running with me. For both of us this would be a wonderful goal to obtain. I know I disappointed my mother last year with my lack of preparation overall for the ½ marathon, I do not want to do that again this year. Are for psychological I would like to find a class or at least keep up on research dealing with different ways to treat illness, I find that knowing about different treatment options helps me to make better choices as well as offer incite to others about treatments. There are several web pages that have been talked about in this class and I would like to keep them in my bookmarks so I am able to reference them when needed. I also think these web sites are nice to give to others when they ask questions about alternative treatment options. Spiritually I will evaluate myself by looking at the excuses I have come up with to not go to a church or find a church that is fitting for my whole family.  This is something that is very important to me and I do not want to let my son get tangled up in religion that he knows nothing about because my husband and I did not want to make a choice or try anything different. I will be happy if within 6 months I have gone to at least two new churches and have been opened minded about them. Finding something we are both able to be happy with is what I want and this will help with my son finding a religion that we are all okay with.

Unit 8

1. 1.       Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.
   For me, I am not sure what exercise I would continue to do as I do not think that any have really been that wonderful for me. I do think that I will keep thinking about mediation in general as well as part of the loving kindness exercise, I think that I will keep parts of this one because it is important to think about others and they way you are handling situations that come up. I would like to work on my relationship with some people who are in my husband family as they have been strained in the last couple of years, and I know I have done some hurtful things that I could of handled differently. I do not think that the visualization things have helped me so I do not think I will be doing those but again I will try them if the situation comes up.
   I have found that if I turn down the music when I run or not run with it at all I am able to think about others and do a little bit of mediation, or at least my version of it. I have also done this with the radio when in my car. I did get that idea from others in this class so I thank you! By doing this I am able to more calm in situation, especially if I know we have something coming up like a family gathering, I am able to think about the situation and circumstances that might happen and how I will not react but respond to it. I think this has also helped my marriage because I am not as unwilling to do things with some of my husband’s family as well as having my son with them, which was a major issue for us and I am thankful for this.
   Best wishes for everyone!

Unit 7-Meeting Aesclepius

1. Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

When doing  the Meeting Aesclepius I did not feel anything new, or eye opening and I found it hard to find a mentor but after a bit I was able to pull a figure from a book I was reading who was like a mentor to some of the others in the book, this was nice because I felt I was really trying.

I will say that I did feel that I did some medition this week, yet it was while I was running on my treadmill. For me running on the treadmill is something that I do because it is easy to day at 10 pm when everyone else in my house is sleeping and I need a brake from homework. When I am on the treadmill I am able to just run, not watch out for anythign or anyone, just run. I was able to reflect on some issues that came up in the day as well as try to resolve some interconflict I was having about a sistuation my firend is in, and how I was going to handle the situstion when it comes up. This was wonderful for me, I had almost forgotten how much this is helpful. I also was able to read some non-school books this week, granted I lost a lot of sleep because if it but it was so nice to escape my life for a little bit and read about someone else's trials even if it wasn ot real. Overall I think I did well this week, and looking forward to the weeks ahead.

1. Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

I feel a huge obligation to my clients, not only because I am a proffessional but because I truly enjoy each and everyone of them. I think that if I do not develop than what good am I to my clients, if I am not willing to try new things and branch out than I am not willing to do them the best service that I am able. I think that spiritual growth is something that I struggle with and it is important to have spiritual growth beacuse I know my clients are going to die, and most of them sooler rather than later, they are all over 65 years old and have mulit medical issues, thus part of the reason they are living in a community like where I work. All of them have helped me to develop a little more of my spiritual growth and I am looking forward to the next steps in my journey.

Best Wishes~

Unit 6- Loving Kindness & Integral Assessment

1.        Practice the universal Loving Kindness (meditation) exercise on p. 93.

Again- I did try this but I found myself feeling thinking off topic again, yet this time it was of the upcoming Easter celebration. This made me think of my friend whom is coming to stay with us so she is not alone as her husband is away on business. I than found myself thinking about how sad she must be with no family in this state (she is not from MI but followed her husband for Medical practice) and no husband to share the “holiday” with. So I think maybe this time I kind of did it, at least I was not thinking of all the things I needed to get done and the time that was “wasted” by trying to do the exercise. I see this as a  positive!

2.        Complete the Integral Assessment discussed in chapter 11 (p.115).

Okay done~

3.        Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

For me I think the exercise was something that might have been netter is someone was talking, yeah I know it is hard for me to say this but I really am trying J I would of liked some examples of suffering, I do not like this term because I am very happy with my life, the people in it and so on. I do not need anything and want very little, I try to be humble and thankful for what I have, this lead me to have a very hard time to find something that was making me suffer. As for the growth and development I think that area is interpersonal because I am having a very hard time with some co-workers and that makes work harder than it needs to be. I think to help foster wellness in this area I could do what my Mother told me- kill them with kindness and stay positive! I know that at times this is hard and I will have to work extra hard to make sure I am on my best behavior but I am really going to try.

unit 5~ The Subtle Mind

1.        Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Again I found this to be a waste of my time but I did try, as I do each and every week. I really want one of these to click for me thus making me still hopeful. Again I was not impresses with the voice of this person, and was hopeful for the greater patience that was talked about in the start, and on to breathing I can do this one (maybe). I do not think I have time in my day to add this practice as well as the loving-kindness one, but I will keep going. There was a lot of waiting time that was very frustrating to me, I do not like to do the thinking/mediation/whatever and I just felt that again my time could have been better spend on the project that is due this week along with all of the reading for this section. Again I do respect mediation as a whole but it is just not for me. I am happy to read about others experience as well as how it is or is not working for them.

2.        Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

I think that each person connects their spiritual wellness and their physical wellness in different ways, although some people might like the same thing it is usually two different experiences. For my I like to run and lift weights, I also like to work in the yard as well as take walks with my family. All of these things for me are not only for my physical wellbeing but for my spiritual as well. I can remember when I was running my first half marathon and being so thankful that I was able and strong enough to do this when there are so many people who would like to do it yet are not able due to illness.  I do hope that everyone is able to find something that helps them to connect their spiritual and physical wellness.

Unit 4- Loving- Kindness

First let me say if I had 5-15 mins each day to do this stuff I should be doing laundry or something that would benefit my family as well, but I do read my homework so page 66 here we go!

1.            Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

Beneficial is something that is not the same for everyone, with that said no I do not think there was a benefit for me, unless anger and frustration is a benefit. I did not like the voice; the first two were much more calming. But overall 17 mins of my day I would be able to get laundry done or lift some weights. The pauses were too long and then there was background noise as well which was weird to me. I was not able to focus at all on this one and I would not recommend this to anyone, it was not worth the time to load it on the computer.

2.            What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

 Mental workout to me is making the mind work, in several different ways. With this being said there are several ways to do this and there are benefits like increase attention and decreased stress, as well as help the person gain understanding for a more integral health perspective.  

I know there are several things that can be done to help “workout” the mind but for me it is still about going for a run or lifting some weights, laughing with my son and husband and going for a walk with my dog in the am with a cup of coffee.  These activities remind me why I work so hard and what is really important, as well as what I want to teach my son about life.