Unit 9 Project

Introduction

The importance of psychological, spiritual, and physical development for health and wellness professionals is paramount in their being able to convenience other that this is important to their lives. Being able to get a person to understand this importance has to begin with them seeing the results of that action. If the professional is not adhering to their own advice the results can be a loss of interest by the patient due to their belief that “if it was so beneficial, why are you doing it?” People generally don’t accept change and can be severely biased against making major changes without seeing firsthand the results. By providing an example of what you can be inspiration and realism can project the patient to following this advice. I myself need to gain a better working knowledge of meditation. As a Soldier and growing up in the church the spiritual and physical parts are ingrained in my way of life. Mediation on the other hand is challenging to me. Learning to effectively calm my mind can have tremendous results on the psychological aspects of my being.

Assessment

For me, the assessment of my health in psychological, spiritual, and physical development starts with a baseline of where I am now. The Spiritual aspect in my being is feed by regularly attending church and praying with my wife and family. In this area I would have to say I score pretty high. For the physical development, the Army provides me with excellent tools to maintain a certain level of health and strength. This translates to a clear understanding with what is effective in maintaining and improving me in this area. Yet there is always room for improvement. My psychological fitness is the most complex for me because I have developed coping mechanism that masks my true psychological status. Therefore, I would have to score this area in the low to moderate. Due to this I believe constant reassessment over time is needed. In all areas improvement would have to be gauged by the effect that the area has on your life.

Goal Development

The main goal that I have for myself is to improve my psychological development through the use of many of the techniques I learned during this course. Mediation is the most effective tool that I have found in this evolution. Having done many of the exercises I have noticed an almost immediate change in the way I react and do things in my life. The most profound of this is the love and kindness exercise. Naturally I am an extremely abrasive person that looks a result first and feeling last. Being that way has created a kind of barrier between me and the people that associate with me. I now show more love (I’m not completely there yet) than I did previously and hope that I will increase in this way of thinking.

Practices for Personal Health

I have two primary strategies to assist in my development in what I believe are my weakest areas.

1.      Psychological growth: Because my duty description places me in some significantly stressful situations almost daily I have to prepare for each day prior to and during peak stress situations. Exercising mediation 10-15 minutes prior to the start of each day a minimum of 6 days a week will provide an excellent way to pre-stage my mentality before I am engaged in the various situations I come across. In addition the use of the love and patients exercise during lunch at least 3-4 times a week should remind me of the importance of showing constraint.

2.      Physical growth: Although I exercise regularly my diet clearly can be improved. It is my intent to actually stop working to make sure I eat 3 well balanced meals each day. This along with increased cardio exercise should reduce my body fat composition. This can be easily monitored weekly for progression and updates.

Commitment

I will be able to assess my progress or lack thereof by using bench markers to reassess my progress. I like seasonal reviews such as the first day of summer, spring, autumn, and fall. This way I will have a record over an extended time of how I am doing. With that in place I will be able to see my long term effects in real time. Fortunately for me those benchmarks are also associated with major events in my life so I will be able to maintain this for as long as I am alive.

Unit 8

 Hello All,

The two exercises I found most beneficial are the Subtle Mind Practice and the Loving Kindness practice.

The Subtle Mind Practice was the easiest to do even during times that most people never even knew what I was doing. It was the use of breathing techniques that allowed me to rest even in stressful times. This is particularly effective because when I am all over the place I am able to tame my mind and refocus. The level of stress that I deal with during my daily regiment had a need to be relieved. This exercise was great a accomplishing this. My attempt to reach all the way to Unity consciousness takes me away from all of this stress.

The Loving Kindness Practice allowed me to view things from a different point of view. This is particularly important when someone does something that is uncomfortable to me. I have found myself allowing things to really fall away when I look for love as my purpose not revenge or anger. I have to practice this first thing in the morning so that I am ready to tackle each day with a different principle than the one I use to use. I have found myself enjoying life a lot more than I did before this exercise.

Jay

Unit 7...PEACE

Hello All, 

     I completed the Meeting Aesclepius exercise I think that it was a great experience. Initially it was hard to really focus on the face of the person I wanted to use because he has passed a while ago but after sometime he can into focus. I felt relaxed and extremely focus, I really could see how the mind transitions from so much information flowing and began to transform to a much quieter state. As we moved to the light exercise I really began to become focused and could “feel” the difference. Not sure if it was peace or wisdom I was feeling but as I completed the exercise I found myself not really being as reactive to everything as I was before. I think that this would greatly increase a person’s psychological and/or spiritual wellness if it is continued by allowing you to focus on the loving aspect not reactive things around you. In my life I have a lot of moments where I react to things quickly and have to think about the responses I had later. This could help me to use temperance much more often.

      It is not possible to give advice or guidance in an area you are not or have not experienced yourself. Reading about something gives you an outside view of what “right looks like” but through experience you can give the details from a personal experience. This applies for the health and wellness professional more than in most other area as it would be hard to describe the different experiences you have through what you have read. This is not something a book can truly describe and would make guidance all but impossible. Yes, you absolutely have an obligation to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. In this area it would not be possible for you to really commune with them properly if not. In my personal life I see as a way to gain a better use of my surroundings by being more in tune with the better parts of situations.

Unit 6

Hi Everyone,
This weeks exercise was a serious help for me as I am far away from home and the stresses of visiting family so far away had gotten to me. I think it was most beneficial because I see myself feeling worried about so many different things that it dampened my happiness. Doing the assessment made me look at things in a way I hadn't really thought of before. I realize that the greatest distresses I have are fear of failure to my family which creates so really negative emotions. The greastest possibility for me for growth is to encourage my family to see the better side of things and show gratification to my children as I am a really hard dad. Mediatation is only a first step for me but a big one. calming my emotions and reactions will pay dividends for me as long as I stay the course.
Jay

Unit 5 Exercise

Classmates
Wow! This is the exercise i think I have done before but not in a stress free enviroment. I found it very helpful in identifying the difference in clinging and witnessing. I actually plan to try to use this one more often as I can see the effects it could have on the stress I go through in meetings. Hey no one can tell me to stop breathing!!!

Jay

Unit 4 exercise

This was an amazing experience! I found it very easy to concentrate on my wife and how much love I have for her. At the conclusion of this exercise I needed to go find her and just hug her. I can see how this can truly be beneficial in improving not just my personal inner feelings of peace but also improve a relationship.  I would definitely recommend this to others, if not for a relationship at least for you.

A mental workout is using mental exercise items to improve your mental capacity. Research has shown that like any muscle, working out increases the productivity of the mind. Yes, I have started using Luminosity and can already see the benefits in my daily activities as well as job performance.

UNIT 2 Blog

Hello all,
This exercise was really hard to complete because its instruction required me to do functions I have never really atempted. The relaxation and resting state exercise was complex because I felt as if it was too deep. Decreasing muscle tention in this manner to decrease stress is really hard for me as even when I tried my mind continued to wonder to the issues of the day. I am going to continue to repeaat it however. I hope to be able to accomplish this one day.
Jay