Final Blog

Hello Everyone,

I think I still will rate myself as a 6 or 7 in the physical well-being aspect, because I am still making positive effort towards eating right and exercising on a regular basis. I am still on my shake diet plan and I am eating more vegetables and fruits, and making healthier choices when I do eat a meal. As in unit 3, I rated myself as 5 or 6, so I am making some progress.

As for my psychological well-being, I am planning on going back to my therapist and continue to take my behavioral medications, to take the edge off of the stress and anxiety, plus I plan on taking walks and looking into the Shambhala Centers, and seeing if there are classes I can take, and perhaps learn the art of meditation, I think now I would rate myself as a 6 or 7, because like the physical aspect, I am making progress and am in really in the middle range, I ultimately would like to be an 8 or 9 in the next 6 months to a year, in unit 3, I believe I rated myself around a 4 or 5.

Finally, the spiritual aspect is the area I feel I lack the most. This is because, I do believe in God, but I do not necessarily have or follow any form of religion, and it is mainly because, I find a lot of religions a little hypocritical and hard to follow something, that I don't really have the passion for. It is hard, because I believe in pray (occasionally), but I just cannot find a religion. In unit 3, I rated myself as 3 or 4, and I think, I am still right around the 4 range. Because, along with visiting the Shambhala centers, and wanting to meditate, I think I want to learn more about Buddhism and perhaps that is my calling, spiritually.

I think this class has taught me a lot about how every aspect of our lives is connect in some way, and that we are the problem and the solution to our problems, and all we need is the want and drive to want to make the change to make yourself a healthier, happier individual. But since everything is connected, we need to be conscious of each aspect, and understand that with harmony in each aspect it can throw off the balance in your life. So, I am hoping that I keep this desire and interest to become more spiritually connected, and physically fit. I once wanted to be a Buddhist, but tried a more formalized form of religion, and as you can see, I still am on spiritual journey, and I hope to find that within the next 6 months to a year.

I wish everyone, in this class luck in their spiritual, physical, and psychological journey's, and I hope everyone meets their goals and finds what they are looking for. I also wish you luck in your future classes and in your careers and it was a pleasure working with everyone in this class.

Final Project

There are so many attributes and elements of healing, not only can we heal physically, but we can heal and find inner-peace from different avenues such as spiritually, mentally/psychologically and how by healing these elements you can fix and heal the physical and vice versa. However, even though by simply correct thoughts and ridding our bodies of stress showing great improvements on the psyche and even show benefits and improvements in our health, and even with tons of evidence from eastern medicine, the west has yet to adopt these methods of treatment, it is has for western doctors to really see the benefits meditation or prayer can do for someone, because you cannot prescribe it. I think that if westerners really start adopting some of the eastern medicine methods, I think that we will be on a great start to maintaining a long and healthy, stress free life and lifestyle.

                           On a scale 1 to 10, 1 being low and 10 being high, I would rate myself on a 6 Physical Health, I am not as active as I want to be, but I currently do not have any diseases such as heart disease, or diabetes, hypertension, or even high cholesterol (which I just recently got under control). However I do not eat as well as I should, even though I am trying to eat more fruits and vegetables everyday, which I have been. I also started on a new weight loss, shake meal re-placement program, and all I really need to do is incorporate more exercise in my daily routine, which I am trying to do as well. While I watch television, I would do simple exercises such as sit-ups, push-ups, lunges, and jumping jacks. I think I will try and take a walk everyday to also help get me in shape. I think that with, it will help me psychologically.

                     Which leads me to the next point, psychological aspect of healing and where I rate myself, I would say about a 6 as well. I am always under a lot of stress with school and having to work 60 hours a week, straight! Along with bills, raising a child, and a boyfriend in Afghanistan, needless to say I am always stressed out. However, I think with diet and exercise, it will help release and burn off “steam” and excess energy, negative energy. I think that I will go back to my therapist an discuss certain things that persist and cause me to be depressed, and perhaps I will re-start my psychological medications to help keep the ill thoughts at bay, and keep more grounded and level. I will do this until I can find other holistic ways to treat and help with stress, anxiety and depression. But I think, I definitely need help to get started and I think that is the best way I can get started on the right path.

                   As for spiritually, this is area where I am lacking the most and will score is as a 4 at best. I pray sometimes, however, I do believe in God, and when times get rough I pray for guidance and help to get through something especially trying. But I cannot seem to find a religion that is best for me, I honestly think that I will constantly be on a spiritual journey. There was one point where I was considering, becoming a Buddhist, that religion, or way of life seemed to aligned with what I believe in and felt comfortable with it. I think that I will find different methods such as Buddhism, maybe through, yoga or meditation, and perhaps through that and praying more, like every night, perhaps then I will be more on track to being healthier and happier.

                  Some of the practices that I will continue to use would be the visualization practice, I think that if I can continue to visualize a wise person, such as Buddha, God or even my boyfriend, I think that this will project positive energy to me and help get through some trying times and keep my mind set on what needs to be done and will keep moving in the right path, and keep my mind on what it needs to be concentrating on. I think this will be a challenge, because it is really easy to get distracted on off track with negative thought patterns. A clear mind is a happy mind, and a mind that can accomplish many things, when concentration is directed where it needs to go. This is what I will do for my Psychological aspect.

                   The Physical aspect, I will continue to eat right and make better food choices and definitely get more exercise, once I get my mind right, I think it will give me a boost in energy and confidence and make me want to stick with and accomplish my goals. As for spiritually, I think I will adopt something new such as meditation or yoga to really help me center myself and get right with myself, and once I am right psychologically and spiritually, I think it will help physically, I will be a much happier, healthier person.

                Some ways that I will track my progress or lack thereof, I will perhaps create a chart or diary, I think by keeping a journal it will help me show my thought process from beginning to end, and help me log my weight loss or weight gain. I think that by keep a journal is the best way to really log, document and keep track of my process, physically, spiritually and psychologically. Plus, by writing in journal in the first place, is known to be very therapeutic and helpful in the process of healing. I really hope that I can keep on track, and really find a path to a happier, healthier lifestyle.

Loving-Kindness and Visualization...

Hello Everyone!!

There have been several exercises that we have done that were fun and interesting and there were some that I could not wrap my brain around and it made it difficult to really evaluate my response and what the benefits were. Well,  I found loving-kindess pretty interesting, I found it somewhat easy (at first) to picture and put myself into a position where I am projecting love and kindness to others, to strangers, giving the same amount of love and kindness as I would my family and friends, however, after a while my mind started wondering and I lost sight of what my train of thought was. The Subtle mind was a little different an I too found this one difficult to wrap my brain around and was not very successful at, it was hard controlling all the mindless chatter that goes on in my brain. With meditation, I think that this is a learned art, because just by doing it once or twice in this class was very hard, and I have done it in the past and I too found it hard then as well, it is really hard to concentrate on nothing and to clear your mind and think of nothing. So what ends up happening I start saying "think of nothing, think of nothing..." over and over in mind to help me think of "nothing" but it still is extremely hard. I think the most fun and the best exercise I got out of all them was the visualization exercise. I enjoyed this one because it helped me think of the love of my life, my boyfriend. Because he is the wisest person I know, a man who exudes loving-kindness and compassion, and has the drive to make himself and others better, he was the only person that came to mind when I was told to think of someone wise. So the two exercises that I found the most beneficials and most fun for me were the Loving-Kindness and Visualization, because it helped me visualize the love of my life and to bring to light all his greatest attributes, and the other exercise helped me find the love, compassion and kindness that is deep within me.

Meeting Aesclepius

Hello Everyone,

As always I found it hard to really concentrate on what I needed to for this exercise. I used my boyfriend as my Aesclepius for this exercise, because he is brilliant, amazingly caring and compassionate. So I figured he be the best person I could use to picture being more like. I mean, I could picture him there in front of me, taking in his feelings of compassion and wisdom that he exudes. I could see and almost feel the light radiating from him to me, and then of course, like I always do, I lost it. Then all I could concentrate on was the 10 second loop of ocean that kept playing over and over again, saying to myself that it was more distracting for me than anything. However, I think that if I can acquire some of my boyfriends attributes, and to not let the small things bug me (because he never seems to get upset over stupid things and when something bad happens he still is level headed) and to remain calm and cool when the poo hits the fan, so to speak. Because, I always get upset and let small stuff ruin my day, and I think if I can rid myself of that harmful habit, I think I will find myself not as stressed and upset as I always seem to be.

To define the saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" I would say that, to me, means that you cannot tell anyone or teach anyone something, such as "treat others how you want to be treated", when I, myself, am not leading by example, and treating people badly or disrespecting people. That is just an example, but to me it just means, you cannot and should not give advice on something you know nothing about, something that you have not experienced, or something you have not done yourself. I think that healthcare professionals, even this form of healthcare has a responsibility to help and guide your clients/patients down the right path. You should give them ideas and suggestions, even collaborate with them about ideas they can be more spiritually, mentally and physically sound and healthy. 

I already am a psych major, so, I think that I constantly am aware of mental status and health, and I think that I am somewhat in tune with my mental health and who I am. However, I am lacking the spiritual aspect, and I think that if I can find my spiritual calling and link that with the psychological aspect, I think I will find a better more harmoniously happy life, and will find the calm and peace that I am always desperately looking for.

Meditation & The Integral Assessment...

Hello Everyone!

Both the meditation exercise and The Integral Assessment are pretty much one in the same, well at least to me I can see the similarities. For example, it seems as if they focus on the individual's ability to show and have compassion for others, to alleviate the stressors in our lives and finding healthy ways to accomplish optimal mental and physical health.

However, the Integral Assessment, is a little more detailed. It also helps the individual find the difference between short-term and long-term happiness, and finding which is the better, naturally finding long-term happiness is ideal, but a lot of times people are not willing to stick it through. With this it will help the individual keep focused on the end product and keep them motivated to strive to that goal. It also, helps the individual listen, and I do not mean just with our ears, but with our minds. Meaning, that we should always keep a clear mind, and once we have a clear and peaceful mind it allows us to open it to all the possibilities of the individuals greatness, and also helps the other steps I had mentioned above, it just allows to be more open to the possibility that we can be at peace and happy, calm, compassionate and just happy.

Dacher, M.D., E. S. (2006). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing. Published by Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Comparing Love and Kindness Exercises...

Hello Everyone,

I think Love and Kindness exercise that we participated in are similar to those mentioned in the book by Dacher. In the book it mentions similar things that were instructed for us to do in the exercise, such directing our thoughts, and love to others and other things, making it better for us to calm and soothe our minds. A lot of times, it is hard to concentrate on nothing, so this gives your brain an activity to think about while calming it and keeping it from becoming bogged down an stressed. (Dacher, 2006).

The exercise that are also mention in Dacher's book, is what athletes do to keep their minds and bodies connected, exercises such as, concentrating on the end goal. For example, say that I want to lose 15lbs in 2 months while I am working out I am concentrating on meeting that goal, not to the point that it is stressful, but more so in a therapeutic way to calm myself. Also by working out also rids some of the stress and anger, and in turn gives you a more overall healthier physique, and in turn makes you a more happier person. I found that working out is the best way to rid stress, even taking a walk helps blow of steam, and while you are walking you can enjoy the nature and being outside allowing you to think and contemplate on the things that are more important.

Dacher, E. S., M. D. (2006). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing. Published by Basic Health  Publications, Inc.

Practicing Love and Kindness

Hello All!!

I tried out the Loving Kindness exercise and I found weird and hard to find "love and kindness" within myself. I always have a problem with finding forgiveness and love within myself. I think that is where my flaw really lies, I need to be at peace and calm with who I am. I think this exercise was beneficial and not beneficial. I say both because, it helped me realize that I need to be at peace with who I am, and love who I am. In the sense that it was not beneficial was because I could not put my mind at ease when it came to loving myself, however, loving others and sending and opening to my heart with love for loved ones or others was easier than finding love for myself.

I think this was a mental workout because, it made you concentrate on not the physical, which people tend to do, but the psychological and spiritual aspects of being human and accepting and loving who you are. I think that for someone like myself, I think I had to mentally work harder to find that peace and ease within myself. I think that this exercise, and exercises such as this one can be beneficial to psychologist and therapists because this can and will work for some, and others may have a harder time with and not really embrace what the exercise has to teach. I honestly think that therapists should do exercises such as this to at lease relax the client/patient.