Hello All! Here is my final project! Feel free to comment!
-Mallory
Living
in a western society we associate illness with one specific problem, typically
connected only to our biological. We are failing to see that there are other
aspects that we need to tend and nurture in order to accomplish overall health.
These include spiritual, physical and psychological as well as biological. If
we continue to concentrate on only one area of our health we will not be able
to obtain optimal health. For thousands of years many cultures have embraced
the body mind and spirit as one. They live with true wholeness, happiness and
health. As health and wellness professionals, we too should try to achieve
this. It is so vital that we mature and continue to practice integral health in
order to teach it. We must be the leaders, the pioneers, showing others along
their own journey to achieving integral health. We need to be able to look into
their eyes and understand what they need and how we can help them. This
requires us to have an open heart and an open mind. In order to do this we need
to have developed and practiced our own psychological, spiritual and physical
health, happiness and wholeness. We cannot point others down a path that we
have not walked down ourselves. It is also important that we maintain our
overall health. Life goes on and changes, we need to be able to change and grow
with our lives as health care professionals. In my own personal life I am going
through a lot of change, and with that a lot of chaos. I need to learn to take
a break to just breathe. My goal for myself would be when a challenge, be able
to take it in breathe and handle with grace. I tend to yes everybody that asks for
a favor, and then later realize that I am stretched too thin. I tend to feel
stressed and unable to manage it. I would really like to know where my limits
are and be able to handle the stress I do come across. I would also like to
know when to say I cannot handle any more on my plate right now, without
feeling guilty. I feel that taking just a few minutes every day to meditate and
to think positive thoughts I am on the right track to developing positive
stress management skills.
When
we first did an assessment of wellness I believe that I used a scale of 1-10.
Today I am going to use a scale of 1-5. Throughout the course of this I have
made some progress in my own personal journey and feel that the gap between the
scales can come a little closer. The number 1 will be the area where I need the
most improvements and the number 5 will mean that I feel as if I have reached
optimal health, happiness and wholeness. For spirituality I will have to give
myself a 3. I feel very strongly in my faith. However, I do not attend church
or have a large support system that believes the same things that I do. With
that being said I do feel that no matter what happens in my life or what other
think or feel, I know what I believe and believe it wholeheartedly. I find great
strength, love and comfort in my beliefs. There are even times where I do not
feel the need to go to church or connect with others that feel the same. But, I
do think that if I was to do so, my faith would grow and get stronger; making
my spiritual well being more whole. Physically I would have to rate myself an
overall 4. I am a runner, and love to do so. However I feel that I could be
challenging myself more. Almost as if I am in a rut. Doing the same thing every
day without switching is up. I think that I have a lot of room to grow and
flourish physically. I need to break out of my comfort zone and try something
new. My next move could be training for a race or some kind of tuff mutter. I
also could go the extreme opposite and try something like yoga. Since I am used
to moving at such a fast pace, yoga might help me slow down and get in tune
with my physical body. Psychologically, this is where I feel that I need to
most improvement. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have told you
that I give myself a 5 in mental well being. However, this past year has also
tested me and made me realize my mental health is not where I would like it to
be. Today, I would have to rate myself a 2. I have a lot of growing,
discovering and developing to do. I feel that if I continue to practice
meditation as well as other exercises such as loving kindness I will begin to
open my heart and mind and mend and calm my mind.
Developing
stepping stones is a vital part of the journey. How else can we expect
ourselves to grow if we do not challenge ourselves? January is also a time for
making yearly resolutions. Deciding what it is that you do not want to take
with you in the New Year. After taking this class my goals were much different
from years past. This year I want to focus on finding optimal health and
wellness. This means setting goal for each physical, psychological and
spiritual. My physical goal is to challenge myself. To try something that is
out of the box, that I am scared to try. Trust my body, and have some fun while
doing it. Psychologically I would really like to make mediation a part of my
life. Truly be able to utilize the benefits that it offers. Especially since
this is an area of my life that needs the most improvement. I also believe that
challenging myself physically and spiritually will help my mental wellness as
well. A goal I would like to set for myself spiritually is to decide what my
spirituality means for me, not my family or friends. This is important because
although I went to church as a child, I would like to find if that is something
that I want for if it something that I think my family wants. My beliefs have
never changed, and although I do not believe that just because you do not go to
church they change, I would like to shed the guilt that I feel for not
attending. This is going to be a challenging and an exciting time! So much
growing and change happening!
In
order to foster growth, I will need to implement a few different things into my
life. The key word in that sentence is “implement”. These are not quick fixes,
in order to achieve optimal wellness you need to foster growth throughout your
life. Physically I would like to implement yoga into my weekly routine. I feel
that it offers a great mind body connection. I would also like to join an
extremely physically challenging class. I feel that doing something that is not
only challenging for the body but for the mind as well is a great tool to allow
growth to occur. Mentally I would like to practice meditation on a normal
basis. I feel that meditation holds a magic key to our mind, body and spirit.
We should foster this, and allow it to open our hearts and mind. Another great
mental strategy that I have used recently and will use again is called square
breathing. This is something that help you focus on your breath and let
whatever you are feeling sit in the background for a moment. This is a simple
breathing technique that can be done anywhere. First breathe in for four
counts, then hold your breath in for another four counts, then allow your
breath out for four counts, hold it out for four counts. Repeat these steps
until you feel that you have calmed. Although I do pray on a daily basis, I
would like my prayer to come from a more meaningful place. I know that there
are prayer exercises out there that help you find a deeper connection. I am
assuming that these prayer exercises are similar to the meditation ones we have
been doing. That would be great! I would also like to find a bible study that
meets during the week; preferably, a group of young women, similar in age to
myself. I can imagine that I would be able to grow spiritually being able to
talk about God and our lives with others that have the same beliefs and faith
as I do.
Over
the past few weeks I have been thinking about the question, “How will you
assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months”? My first
thought was to go out and by a journal to keep track. Shortly after, reality
hit that I have about 20 empty journals upstairs that I have bought with the intentions
of filling them out with various different goals. So I have decided to take a
different approach, I am going to make a video journal. Once a week I will ask
myself these same questions. I will also voice my concerns and my
accomplishments, along with what I would like to work on the following week. At
the end of the six months I will go back and watch them all to see how my
progress (or lack thereof) is going. This is something just for me. This was I
can be honest. It is not something that I will put on the internet; it is for
my eyes only. I would also like to find someone that has been through the
beginning stages of optimal health, who would like to act as a guiding teacher
to me. I feel that this may be my best shot of accomplishing my goals long
term. I also feel that to maintain my long-term practices is to really want it
for myself; not only right now, but forever. Encompassing all of me; mind, body
and spirit. Continue to practice, learn and flourish within myself and my
field. I find myself looking forward to all of this as well as my journey to
integral health, the path to human flourishing.
