To the future!

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.