Unit 9 Final Project: My Plan

INTRO It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically. A professional who has developed in these areas are better able to understand and treat their patients. They are able to then treat their patients or clients as a whole (Dacher, 2006). They will know to look past just the symptoms. Knowing that there is a mind-body connection helps them to fully understand what is going with their patient and what is the best course of treatment (Dacher, 2006). Assessment In the beginning of this term, I never thought I would have the desire of growing in these areas. I have been able to embrace what I have learned in this course and have grown a lot psychologically, physically, and spiritually. I still have a lot of growing left to do. I really am in a good place psychologically now. Physically I am still a work in progress but I think I always will be. Spiritually has been the one I have struggled with most. I now realize that being spiritual does not have to mean being religious. I have now opened my heart to it. Now I can develop more as a whole. I can now go for my goals knowing all of me is present. There are many ways you can assess your health in each domain. These domains are spiritually, physically, and psychologically. The physical domain is probably the easiest to assess. This is because it is has to do with the physical body. This is something that can be see or examined to learn more about. So you can weigh and measure a person. You can also get blood work, take blood pressures, and learn about their diet. This is only one side of health though. The psychological domain can be a little bit more difficult to assess. This has to do with the mind. A good way of doing this is assessing your stress levels. Stress can have adverse effects on yourself as a whole (Dacher, 2006) (Reber, 2011). Once assessing you can decide what you can do to change these behaviors and help yourself become healthier psychologically. The spiritual domain would be the hardest to assess. This is because it is really looking inside of you. Some people may see spirituality as having to be religious. So they may shut down the idea of spirituality. This is something that I personally had problems with. You can assess your spirituality by doing some of the meditations we did this term. This actually will help you mentally as well. You will know right away if you need help in this area. Are you able to concentrate while doing the meditation or visualization? Does your mind wander? Then assess what you were able to get out of the exercise. You will then know if this is something you need to work on. In the beginning of the term we were asked to rate on a scale of 1-10 our wellness: spiritually, physically, and psychologically. According to my Unit 3 blog I rated my physical wellbeing as an 8 (Reber, 2011). I rated my psychological wellbeing as a 7 and I rated my spiritual wellbeing as a 5 (Reber, 2011). I do feel that these numbers have changed since the beginning of this course. I have really opened myself to all of the assignments. I would say physically I have pretty much stayed the same in my rating of an 8. This is just because I feel that physically there is always room for improvement. Psychologically I have slightly improved to an 8 because of the meditation exercises we used this term. I have found another release for stress other than exercise. Meditation has really helped me through some stressful days. It has kept my mind clearer. Finally my rating for my spiritual wellness has improved to a 7. I have really grown spiritually through this term. I have discovered that I do need to be involved in organized religion to be spiritual. I really have found an amazing place inside myself. I still am working on it though so that is why my rating is not higher than 7. Goal Development I have so many goals for myself. I look at my goals slightly differently now. I have noticed that my goals have gotten bigger. I guess maybe I feel like I am in a place physically, mentally, and spiritually that I feel I can achieve bigger goals. One of the goals I have for my physical health is to lose two inches off my waist. I want to ward off my chances of certain diseases that run in my family. I know having a smaller waist line will help me lower my chances of getting those diseases. Psychologically I want to keep my stress in check. I know I can do this now from the things I have learned in this term. Spiritually, I want to find an even deeper consciousness. Practices for personal health: There are many strategies I can use to implement in order to foster growth in each domain. Physically, I will maintain my exercise and nutrition plan. Some exercises I can do to ensure this happens are: keeping a food journal and tracking my exercise on a calendar. This will keep me accountable this way there are no excuses. Psychologically, there are a few things I can do to ensure growth. Some great activities for me to do are keeping a journal to help me through stressful times and to start working on my mental fitness. I can work on my mental fitness by training my mind to start thinking more positively and keeping away negative thoughts. Spiritually, there are also many things I can do to help in this area. My two favorite things I can do are visualizations and meditations. I really enjoy the guided visualizations. I was able to concentrate and keep away all outside thoughts. Meditations are slightly harder but I am beginning to enjoy them as well. I have even started to work on this while practicing yoga. Yoga is truly something that can help all three domains. Commitment I have now found such a good balance in my life and I am committed to keeping it and improving it over the next few months. I will do my best to ensure that I keep progressing and do not go backwards in anyway. I am very strong minded person and when I commit to something I stick with it. Over the next few months I will constantly reevaluate myself to make sure I am making progress. In my physical domain I will review my exercise and nutrition program and keep taking weights and measurements to ensure I am progressing. If I do find that I am not progressing I may have to adjust what I am doing. In order to keep these going long term it is going to take some discipline. I will keep practicing this discipline and focus towards my goals. Psychologically, the best way to assess my progress is to review my journals and see where I have struggled and where I succeeded. There will be some good days, and some bad days. In order to maintain this long term I will stay focused on it. I will open my mind to more compassion and less negative. I will surround myself with like-minded, positive people. Spiritually, I think will be the hardest to assess progress. It is looking inside of yourself. I am opening myself up to a much deeper state. I think the best way to keep assessing this is to keep doing the meditations and visualizations. I will know if it is working if I am able to let myself go more each time. To ensure I am maintaining this long term I will actually schedule meditations into my day and week. This way I make sure I keep it up after this term is over. This has been an amazing class. I feel slightly differently coming out of it than I did going into it. I have definitely learned some skills I will keep with me for life. References Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health. Reber, K. (2011, February 20). Paying it Forward:Unit 3 Blog. Retrieved April 3, 2011, from Blogspot: http://kristinpayingitforward.blogspot.com/2011/02/unit-3-blog.html