Final thoughts, week 9

Unit 9 Final 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?

As a health and wellness professional it is important to the profession that as an individual you try to constantly better yourself physically, spiritually, and psychologically. No individual will ever be perfect and become a perfect model of fitness and wellness, however what is important is that we constantly increase our level of self awareness and try different approaches to forwarding our well being. By having a high level of awareness and taking the effort to do different activities to further your health, you are not only doing good for yourself but setting the example for others and gaining valuable experience that enables you to help others as well. A health and wellness professional is on a life time journey toward wellness, and it is not something that can be mastered in a day or ever completed. The more experience you share with others and the more you inspire those you are trying to help, the more effective you will be as a professional that is trying to help other people.

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

Throughout the duration of this course I have assessed my own physical, mental, and spiritual health. Physically, I am strong and constantly seek to better myself in this area. I exercise regularly throughout the week, make more of an effort to watch what I eat, and make better lifestyle choices. Although I am not exactly where I would like to be as far as physical fitness, I constantly maintain a high level of awareness and seek constant improvement. Overall I would rate my physical health at an 8 on a scale of one to ten.

Spiritual health is where I have improved the most during the course of this class. My spiritual awareness was quite low until taking this class and participating in the different activities during the course. However I did achieve a higher level of awareness about my spiritual health and was at least able to recognize different changes that I needed to make and things that I need to do in order to bring my spiritual level back up to speed. I would say that my spiritual health is about at a 5 or 6.

Psychological health has also been a strong point for me during this course. I have always held a high level of self awareness in this area and do my best to maintain a positive attitude and outlook on life. I also seem to handle stress and adversity rather well, but I am also just human so I do have my thresholds. This class has been helpful in providing additional techniques and methods to deal with stress and help keep a positive mental outlook. I would currently rate my mental health at about an 8.

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

Physically my goal is to be able to complete a half marathon within six months. I have been running several times a week recently after not running for quite a long time. Mentally, my goal is to increase my stress threshold by using various stress reducing techniques such as breathing exercises. Spiritually, I have grown fond of the idea of meditation, and would like to incorporate that into my daily routine, even if I can only do it for 15 minutes a day.

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.

To foster growth in the physical domain, I plan on incorporating various aerobic and anaerobic exercises into my workout routine. I like a variety of exercises to do so I do not get bored. For aerobic exercises I will do swimming, boxing, and jogging. For anaerobic exercise, I plan on lifting weights, doing sprints, and doing different movement exercises such as rope climbing. I will implement these exercises into my fitness routine according to weather, activity availability, and any physical limitations I might have at the moment.

To foster spiritual growth I intend to incorporate meditation into my daily routine. I will strive to do this everyday in the evening time, when the daily activities start to die down a little bit. My goal is to do a minimum of fifteen minutes each session. I will also try to re-establish my faith and start praying again on a regular basis. This one will be hard to schedule in, because some level of inspiration is required to pray. But I will try to do it at least once a day.

To foster mental growth I will incorporate different stress reduction exercises into my day when I am feeling stress to help bring me down a little bit. I can deal with stress, but being a high level of stress isn’t good for the body, so I will try to work at a lower level. I can do this by using various breathing techniques and thinking of different things to maintain a positive attitude. By trying to find the good in any situation, you can avoid a lot of stress.

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?

To assess my progress in regard to physical fitness, I set small goals to constantly work toward my big goals. I will periodically take fitness screenings to see if I have improved in different areas and by how much, this way I know where I need to concentrate the majority of my effort. I will also keep a record of the types of exercises I have been doing so I can look back and see which ones have been the most effective.

To assess my spiritual development, I will see how my progression goes with meditation and prayer. I will keep a written journal of my experiences and feelings with each activity, and document the amount of time I have spent each day doing so. Periodically I can read this journal and see where I was a month or two ago and see how I am improving my level of spiritual fitness.

In order to assess my mental fitness and development, I will also keep a written journal rating how I felt in different situations, and rate them on a scale of one to ten. As I continue to incorporate stress reduction exercises into my daily routine, I will also be able to measure my progression over time by looking through my journal and seeing how I react to a similar situation later on after doing this. I should see some line of progression where the mental and physical symptoms of stress are not as intense or frequent.

Week 8... at last

Its been quite an interesting eight weeks of class so far, and I have for the most part struggled with the different relaxation exercises because of different things going on in my personal life. While reflecting on the past several weeks, there have been some exercises that I have found more helpful and inspiring than others.

I thought that the loving-kindness exercise was a little "hippie" in nature at first, but the more I read over it the more I realized it is about putting the needs and welfare of others first above your own, and not just through wishing but through helping. If everyone did this type of exercise and believed in it, the world might just be a better place. Having an open heart and mind is essential to living a whole and fulfilling life, and truly helping others.

The week long meditation challenge was the other exercise I enjoyed the most. I didn't have to listen to a monotone audio clip for that one, but seemed to get a lot out of it. I was able to find some time each day to meditate, and even found myself making some progress by weeks end. I think this is something I should incorporate into my daily life so that way I can have a better level of mental and spiritual fitness.

Week Seven... phew...

Meditating for the week was quite a challenge. I didn't dedicate as much time each day as I would have liked to, but I did still manage to do it everyday. I did my best to find a quiet spot in the house after the children went to bed. I mainly just focused on finding a relaxed position and focused on my breathing. I then tried to let my thoughts go and relax my mind, letting go of the day's stress and focusing on finding my center and easing my mind, body, and soul. The first couple of times was difficult, but as I practiced more throughout the week I found it easier to get to the point where I was the day before. I can see how incorporating meditation into your daily life can lead to some very positive changes and experiences.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself"

This type of saying leads me to think of my military experiences when I was a Sergeant. One of your jobs as a Sergeant was never to ask your men to do something you couldn't or haven't before, and if its a first time experience, you simply lead from the front. The same goes in a health and wellness profession. I could not recommend some type of dieting, exercise, meditation, etc., if I have never tried it myself before. Anyone can work in a position where they tell people what they should do without having the correct knowledge of what they are actually telling them to do. As a health and wellness professional it is your job to experience new things and evaluate them for others to try. Take a yoga class, try martial arts, meditation, diets, whatever, then you can give people proper feedback on how it may help them.

A Calmer Week Six Journey

I thought that the loving-kindness exercise was a little "hippie" in nature at first, but the more I read over it the more I realized it is about putting the needs and welfare of others first above your own, and not just through wishing but through helping. If everyone did this type of exercise and believed in it, the world might just be a better place. Having an open heart and mind is essential to living a whole and fulfilling life, and truly helping others.

Self Assessment, after reading the text I was easily able to identify my level of development within the four elements of life. Physcially, I continue to develop through exercise, lifting, behavior modifications, and lifestyle changes. Mentally, I continue to develop through attending school, learning new things from others, and listening to advice from my elders. Socially, I continue to develop as a friend, father, husband, son, brother, firefighter, etc., all of these roles provide new challenges that I continuously accept and develop from. But spiritually, I have reached a stalemate within myself. This is the element of my life that is the least developed, as I have lost my connection with the greater being and search for my purpose in this life. It causes frustration, anger, and instability in my life. Perhaps I will take up meditation, as I have learned a lot about it, in order to calm my mind and body, and reconnect my spiritual side to the world and start to develop that element of my life like I have the others.

An Insane Week Five Journey

Once again its been a stressful week, packing boxes to move, arranging transportation and trucking services, preparing the children for school in another place, and the list continues to go on and on. I honestly didn't start any of my homework until last night, which is usually when I am finishing up the week's projects and assignments.

I had a long day, and thought it would be nice to sit down and do the relaxation exercises. I spent all afternoon running errands with my wife and tying up loose ends before we take off for Pittsburgh this weekend. Then 15 minutes after I got home I went to my last Fire Department meeting. They were all sad to see me go, and wished me the best of luck for the move and the job I landed overseas.

I sat down, took a few sips of water, and started the exercise. At first it helped me relax, but again I had a hard time concentrating. I guess I dozed off to sleep, because just as the exercise was finishing my wife came downstairs and woke me up, asking if I was alright. I was officially worn out for the day, stick a fork in me because I was done.

I tried again today, but must have the most concentration problems ever. The phone rang, my children called for me to come help them, dinner was ready, it just wasn't happening. I either need a sound proof room, or some medication to control my thoughts and ability to focus!

I tried it a third time once I was done with other assignments, the kids were in bed, and my wife was visiting the neighbors. All I could focus on was things I needed to do in the next four days before I left for Pittsburgh. I can't concentrate! I actually got frustrated after the third attempt and gave up.

Then a thought came through my head and I laughed, with the way this semester is going I'll get a chance to do it all over again because I just might have to repeat this class.

Week four exercises

Alright I'm going to be totally honest hear, I couldn't concentrate on the exercises again let alone come up with some really positive feedback about them. Its been a heck of a week and I'm not in the best state of mind. I'll continue to try these again but won't have enough time to do it again and come up with a really informative blog post. Sorry to be a dissappointment, but maybe next week will hold better things.

The relaxation exercise, week three

I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time focusing right now. I just finished seminar for my other class, and I have an hour and a half to finish the rest of my coursework for the week. I have had a few beers tonight, trying to relax and let the days worries go away. My wife is stressed out, so its hard to rely on her tonight to help me talk and relieve my stress because I need to be strong for her and the kids. I try to focus on the relaxation exercise, and find myself drifting off to the days events in a sort of a day dream. I went to work for a few hours putting in windows for somebody to make a few bucks, I had to go to the ATM just to buy groceries for supper, and picked up the children for dance. The real estate agent came over and explained the whole selling aspect of my house, and I was dissappointed. Three years plus I spend in this part of the country, working to make a living and a life for myself and my family. The countless nights and days I spent away from home filter through my head, convinced that I was doing what a husband and father should. Now I have no job, frustration overcomes me, and I feel angry inside because I have gave so much but have nothing to show for it. I come out of my daydream and hear a segment on love, and think of my wife and children, they are what is most important. I think of the smiles and laughs during the day, they are few but yet so refreshing. My children don't see me as a person that is struggling to figure life out, only one that cares and makes them laugh even when times are the worst. I have a moment of bliss, realizing that all isn't bad in the world, and finally notice the segment has ended. Another relaxation exercise that I couldn't concentrate on, but yet provided me with a few minutes of relaxation and calmness none the less.