Unit 9

  Marilyn Garvin HW 420-01 Creating Wellness Unit 9 Project

I.                 Introduction:  It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop with your clients to provide the services required for them to achieve health and wellness. For myself I would like to develop on a spiritual aspect of health and wellness.  I am not where I use to be but I am still not where I want  to be in this area.

II.               Assessment:   I have assessed myself in each domain and I found that since I started this class that I have progressed a lot in each area.  I have overcome some obstacles that were holding me back.  Psychologically, I feel that I have made the most progress in this area because I learned to accept the things that I can change and those that I can ‘t change and the wisdom to know the difference.  Physically, I have a little ways to go, I am not where I want to be but I am not where I was.  I have made many changes in my diet and exercise regimen, and I seem to be  moving at a good pace toward my goal.  Spiritually I am not quite where I want to be, but thanks to this class I have acquired new ways of getting there.   

III.             Goal Development:  When setting goals I start with something I know I can accomplish, for instance when I want to lose a few pounds I start with 5 pounds per month, this is a realistic approach and something I know I can accomplish.  I try to implement this practice with everything that I am working to improve upon.  At the beginning of this class I rated my physical wellbeing at an 8, but I still have room for improvement in this area and I have already implemented some changes to improve it.  I have problems with  portion control in my diet.  I am going to try eating smaller meals more frequently.  Psychologically  I am at an 8, I have learned to manage my stress enough that it doesn’t interfere with my ability to enjoy life and participate in society.  The goal that I set for myself to try to get all of the negative thoughts out of my head and replace them with positive thoughts.  I can accomplish this by meditating and getting into the word more often.  With God all things are possible.  At the beginning of this class I rated my spiritual wellbeing a 6.  I am not where I used to be, but I am not where I need to be.  I plan to spend more time in prayer and meditation to accomplish spiritual wellbeing fully.

IV.            Practices for personal health:   I try to implement at least one of the practices that were introduced to me in this course at least once a day.  Physically I exercise every day for no less than 30 minutes per day.  I stay away from processed fast foods, and stick to whole foods.  I try to eat only the foods that are nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, ect.  Psychologically, I pray every day for strength and guidance, and try to think positive thoughts.  Most of the time I am pretty stable emotionally and mentally, but sometimes I have some new stressor to deal with.  This is where the breathing techniques are most helpful.  I like the focus of breath, because there is a direct relationship between the breath and the mind.  Peaceful breathing leads to a peaceful mind.  Spiritually, I like meditating because it helps to clear everything from my mind so that I can concentrate and focus.  Prayer, of course changes things and makes me able to handle whatever life throws at me.  1^st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17 says to pray without ceasing.

V.              Commitment: I will assess my progress by the subtle mind practices.  It assists me in progressing toward Psychospiritual flourishing.  This will involve daily practice 15 to 30 minutes.  According to Dacher, using the breath we stabilize the mind by developing a witnessing consciousness, and we progressively experience calm-abiding, and calm abiding gradually evolves into unity consciousness (2006, P. 75)  Biological flourishing is part of the development process of the body to mind to the spirit, these apply to the four aspects of life.  If I can get portion control in my diet, then everything will fall into place for my physical wellbeing.  My spiritual body is not what I want to be, but it is not where it used to be.  I am not at a place yet, where all of the qualities of peace, alertness, wisdom, oneness, and grace is effortless.  To achieve the afore mentioned qualities I would have to put into practice daily all of the practices that our text book has outlined to enhance my ability to promote well-being.

References:

Dacher, E.S. (2006) Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing. 

      Laguna Beach, CA.  Basic Health Publications, Inc

Schlitz, M. Amorok, T. & Micozzi, S. (2005  Consciousness & Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine.   St. Louis Missouri. 

Elsevier Churchill/Livingstone.