Introduction
It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically in order help others to their full potential with confidence; in other words walk the walk, talk the talk. The professional who does not flourish in these aspects cannot tell others how to flourish nor can the individual take what the professional is saying seriously. In all honesty I have to develop all areas but I will say that my physical aspect is what is the most developed over the others. I still have to develop spiritually and psychologically.
Assessment
Using Dacher’s integral health assessment principles and lines of development I have assessed where I am in the three levels of health. I realized that I am lacking significantly in spiritual health however it does not cause me distress. The area that causes me the most distress is my psychological health. In this area I have the most potential for growth. In my assessment of spiritual health I assess low on all aspects of spiritual flourishing: conative, cognitive, and emotional. I rank especially low with cognitive level. I am definitely more reactive than I should I be but I am aware of this. My physical health assessment is significantly higher than my psychological health. I followed the three lines according to Dacher of fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation. The nutrition aspect is the highest ranking for me. I am a vegetarian who is very conscious of what I eat; however no one is perfect and there is always room for improvement. Self-regulation is something that I could develop further especially with my workout regimen.
Goal Development
A goal for physical development is to keep up with my exercise plan. I work out now but I often find myself creating lapses by making excuses like I am too tired or too busy and I often regret it after. Exercise actually helps with my goal of psychological development as well. I do not meditate and my mind is often racing with all the things I have to do. When I exercise, my mind is clear and calm; this is the time I can be clear and develop psychologically. My goal for psychological development is to relax my mind and find calm. Exercise for me is killing two birds with one stone. A goal that I have for my spiritual health is to connect with nature and understand that all the stress and the fast paced life are small compared to Mother Nature. Nature is what I feel the most spiritual connection with; I am not religious.
Practices for Personal Health
Practices that I can utilize to foster growth for my physical health is preventative measures and self-regulation. Prevention is important to ward of sickness. Prevention is something that Western medicine does not concentrate on; they treat after illness. Preventative measures will be eating well, exercising, and stress management. Self-regulation would be maintaining these preventative measures in order to be successful; self will and self control.
Practices that can be used to foster my spiritual growth are subtle mind practice and loving-kindness practice. Subtle mind practice I can do while exercising. All of these practices are going to be modified to fit my individual needs. I am not one that can sit for long periods or meditate. My mind is calm while I exercise and this is when I can utilize the subtle mind practice. I know this may seem counterintuitive but it works for me. A principal for integral health is person-centered in which this applies. Loving-kindness I will really have to work on. I already am open to new ideas, non-judgmental, and inclusive. I appreciate other cultures, beliefs, and attitudes though I may not agree. However, it will be my love for strangers and things I am not familiar with that I will have to practice. Connecting with nature will help me with the loving-kindness practice as well since we are just a small part of a large world it will help keep this in perspective.
Practices that can be used to grow my psychological growth are work as practice and animal bonding. Work as practice can have different forms for me. I am a hairdresser and my first and foremost reason for doing it is because I enjoy it. I enjoy making people beautiful and making them feel good. I keep the person in mind and individualize each and every style that I do. This not only makes them feel good but me as well. I also like helping people get healthy and giving them advice. Animal bonding is something that I utilize every day since I have two cats and two dogs; they keep me sane. They give unconditional love and this is easy for me to do. It also goes with the nature theme that works for me. It is just not just my pets that bring me joy; it is all animals (well except spiders, some wild rodents, and lizards).
Commitment
To assess my progress or lack thereof in the next six months I will use Dacher’s integral health assessment and lines of development just like I will do in the beginning. Just like a weight loss plan, you weight yourself in the beginning then in intervals to see your progress; the same is for integral health. I will be able to see where I have grown or what I need to work on further. There is no limit on integral health so growth will equal success. I think that taking these assessments will keep me motivated to maintain long-term practices for health and wellness. I do not like to fail. After I begin this program just feeling better (mind, body, and spirit) will motivate me to keep going as well.
Hi Sophia!
ReplyDeleteI am as well flourished in the physical aspect of our own wholeness, but I defiantly need to work on my mental/psychological aspect too. I would say that my spiritual aspect is great, but there is always room for improvement, as I am not perfect. In Dacher's book, it notes that once you get to Unity consciousness, you are pretty much perfect-I don't believe in this personally; No one is ever perfect, do you agree?
I hope in the next 6 months, your journey progresses beautifully and that you find the other two aspects in you life. You have them, you just got to search and find them-they are waiting for you to use them. Its nice to know that we own all these aspects, they are ours-mental, physical and spiritual. Take care and good luck to you Sophia!
Sophia,
ReplyDeleteSo much of what you wrote about sounds familiar to me, especially your connection with animals and nature, and love of exercise. Do you have any idea what kind of setting you want to work in when you're done at Kaplan? I think that your attitude toward your hair clients combined with your interests and the areas you want to work on in yourself would be assets in working with young women. As someone who has experience with and perspective on many of the things girls struggle with, you would be a great role model.
Your fellow herbivore,
Rheyn
Here we are at the end of this class. I know I have learned a lot and by the looks of it you have too. Thanks for sharing and growing in this experience with me. I wish you the best of luck in all that life offers you.
ReplyDeleteHello Sophia like you I have to work on improving my psychological wholeness also I have trouble with the negative thoughts .I t helps to have friends you can talk to ,to journal your thoughts on paper.You may want to also join an organization like prayer or meditation group,yoga group etc. .This is a great way to develop your psycholigical health aspects. Even if you are not religious is helpful to just have the group interaction many of these places may be non-denominational or non -faith based as well.
ReplyDeleteSophia,
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need to “walk the walk” to be able to “talk the talk”. Without this journey ourselves, who are we to give advice, or be a true leader in the field? I am trying to be more diligent about practicing the contemplative practices every day, at least one of them. At first the practices seemed to take up time in my day that I didn’t really have time for. My life can be quite stressful -depending on the day, but when I do buckle down and engage in the subtle mind practice, or the calm-abiding practice I notice a huge impact that it makes on my mood, and how refreshed I feel mentally. It can be difficult to silence the mental chatter to really allow myself to relax and come to the breath. Practice, practice, practice! This is what I keep telling myself. I figure the more I practice , the more it will become a part of my lifestyle that will no longer demand I take the extra time out of my day for. It will just happen.
Have you tried any visualization techniques while on the tread mill? I often picture a beach or mountainous ridge in the middle of summer to chime me into a realm of beauty and simplicity. I find that if I am on the elliptical or treadmill with my eyes open too long I start to drift my attention toward the televisions, or other people in the gym. It drives me crazy, and so I try to tune those things out and just focus on me, and my mind/body state of health and wellness.
You mentioned your bond with your animals at home. I too have a cat and I have noticed a stronger bond physically and spiritually since the reading on animal bonding for health and wellness. They really are good medicine. Their love is unconditional and unbiased. The energy they have for healing can turn a total bad day into a warm, fuzzy one! But, I like you -do not care for the snakes, spiders, and such….no thanks! Best of luck in your future endeavors and contemplative practices! Ciao.
Hi Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI also need to work on my psychological and spiritual growth too.
you have a good point about bonding with animal is a good way grow. I can see that exercise does help heal the body and mind. Animal bonding is also a great way to relieve stress and be calm. I agree with you that you don't have to be religious to still grow spiritually.Jaibee has a Good idea, by having group interaction is also a great idea to seek spiritual growth through social support. Like a group of friends with same values and similar goals can help create a path to spiritual growth.