Final Post

Hello Everyone,

I have to say that this has been a really great course.  Most of my open electives I have chosen complimentary or alternative medicine for my own personal growth.  I would love to say that my three areas; mind, body, and spirit have improved over this course but unfortunately it has not.  On top of this course I was doing my Bachelors Capstone as well as working 50 hour weeks and being a mom of a very busy and active teenager.  However, now that I am done with school, I do plan on obtaining my goal of being in a good place with all three areas with my main focus being on my physical health. 

Now that I am going to have all this time on my hands, I am going to certainly use the knowledge as well as applying the exercises and activities to my daily life, so although I have not moved up with my assessment, it is never too late to start and I am starting today.

Jacqui

Final Paper

Introduction 

If one does not practice the integral approach then they experience only a piece of health instead of wholeness.  The integral approach provides healthcare professionals with a compass that helps guide them toward an innovative healing process (Dacher, 2006).  If a health and wellness professional chose the integral approach, they must first understand it and utilize it in their own personal life in order to understand the concept and grasp the possibilities outside of what we know as “normal”.  If one chooses not to develop in all three areas:  psychological, spiritual, and physical health and well being according to the integral approach, then their own compass would be off which would only misguide their patients and clients preventing them from the opportunity of ultimate happiness, wholeness, and health. 

I personally need to work on all areas in order to achieve ultimate happiness, wholeness, and health.  Some areas are better than others such as my spiritual and psychological health.  But the area that needs the most attention and development would be my physical health.  Although I will continue to grow in the other two areas, for now, my physical wellbeing is hurting and will be my focus without neglecting my mind and spirit. 

Assessment 

I have worked with Western medicine since I was a teenager.  I am now 43 years old and I have witnessed the mind and the spirit being neglected with almost every patient that walks in the door to be treated, ultimately asking to be healthy.  Because of the opportunities I have had to witness this, I have been very mindful of my own health, mind, body, and spirit but not until my early 30’s.  In my early 30’s I started focusing on building my health with my mind and spirit after I had a spout with depression and anxiety.  At age 26, I was on antidepressants and benzodiazepines, living life day to day without purpose.  Thinking that one day, the medicine would help.  Finally one day, after about three years of waiting, I had enough and started seeing a therapist, participating in group therapy as well as joining a church.  It took about a year of really focusing on my way of thinking, changing my lifestyle, eliminating negative people in my life, and changing the way I react to problems, but it was the best thing that I had ever done.  For the first time, I was psychologically and spiritually happy and fulfilled.  The answer was not in a bottle but in my own self.  I have continued down the path of psychological and spiritual health and wholeness.  I am not the same person I was in my 20’s and early 30’s and for the past 10 years; I have maintained balance, stability, and happiness through God and my church.  For that reason, I rate myself a seven out of ten for my psychological and spiritual health.

As I have shared in the past, my physical health is certainly lacking.  I am 30 pounds overweight and eat very poorly and never exercise.  I certainly do plan on changing this as soon as school is over, which is the end of this term.  Unfortunately, I rate myself a three out of ten but my intentions are to raise that number slowly but surely every day.  I know when I do become more physically healthy; it will only improve my overall health and well being in all areas. 

                                                    Goal Development

There are many goals that I have set for myself and I know I have some much needed maintenance to do on my physical health which is long overdue.  The main goal is to eat healthier.  With just that one goal, many other goals will be achieved including losing weight.  With my psychological health, a goal that I set for myself would be more mindful and kind to others.  I tend to get frustrated and I need to have a little more patience and understanding of others a times.  And my goal for my spiritual health would be to dig deeper into the Bible as well as join a small group within my church.  Since starting school, I have slacked in getting more involve with my church.  All of these goals will only help me work toward happiness, wholeness, and health.  Profound and enduring health, happiness, and wholeness will always be a goal of mine and this class has given me many tools to achieve just that (Dacher, 2006).

Practices for Personal Health 

With my physical health, the two obvious things that I plan on doing are to change the way I eat as well as implementing an exercise regimen.  I plan to start simple progressively moving toward being physically fit and healthy.  I am really excited about the change.  It has been a long time coming.  Exercises that I plan on implementing into my psychological health would be to meditating and journaling on a daily basis.  These exercises will certainly help me focus on the positives in life as well as help me gain and maintain focus and control of my mind, thoughts, and reactions.  And lastly, I will dig deeper into my Bible studies and do more volunteering within my community.  This provides me with self purpose and awareness which ultimately brings me peace and serenity.

                                                               Commitment

When you see yourself progressing with your health, it is encouraging which only gives you the drive to keep going.  Over the next six months, I plan to lose the weight that I have gained over the past three years.  I plan on keeping track of my progress by using My Fitness Pal, a free online program that helps you keep track of what you eat, your goal with your weight as well as exercise advice. 

With my spiritual health and mental health, I will assess by revisiting where I was today and compare it to where I will be in six months.  As I stated earlier, I feel that I am a seven out of ten so I will compare and hopefully feel as if I am a little higher on the assessment scale.   I do not feel that I will every reach a ten in any of these areas but I feel that is a good thing.  You never want to stop at reaching your fullest potential with your overall health and happiness.

References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral heatlh the path to human flourishing. Laguna beach: Basic health publications inc.

Loving Kindness and Human Flourishing Exercise

Hello Everyone,

It was hard for me to narrow down to just two exercises because I feel that all of them are beneficial.  For me, I tend to focus on where I may be lacking or need help with for that particular day and that is the exercise that I focus on.  It is sort of like me reading my Bible and reading certain scriptures or books.  

However, I did narrow it down to Loving Kindness and Human Flourishing.  I feel that these two really helped me refocus on loving everyone, no matter who they are and focusing on the positive in life.  Being angry with others and negative can weigh very heavy on one's heart, mind, and soul so it is something that I personally would like to implement with my daily routine.  I am not a hateful or negative person but at times I feel myself going there and it is the last place I would like to be in life.

Jacqui

Meditation

Hello Everyone,

I have this one particular person in my life that just simply amazes me with her positive outlook on everything in life, no matter what challenges she may be faced with and she has had some really tough times, including becoming a widow at the age of 35 with four children, much tougher than anything I have ever experienced.  I always look to her for guidance and support and she always seems to have the answers although most of the time she says to me after I poured my heart out about my worries, "It's okay".  Seems silly but most of the time, it is okay.  She is someone that I certainly look at as a "Wise Person" and I do desire to be able to achieve the level of health that she has with her mind and spirit.  She was my focus for this meditation exercise and I enjoyed reflecting on her and trying to absorb some of her light.  I plan to continue to meditate by using multiple options because they all seem to focus on a certain areas of life so that one area is as strong as the next in order to achieve overall health and wholeness. 

The phrase "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" makes sense and is very much true no matter what the subject is.  If one is going to lead a team, they must be a good example of whatever the subjective and objective is in order to achieve optimal results.  

Jacqui

Loving Kindness and Integral Assessment

Hello Everyone,

With the universal Loving Kindness exercise, I had no problems with the first two questions, may all individuals gain freedom from suffering and may all individuals find sustained health happiness, and wholeness.  But, when it came to the two questions that started with “may I assist all”, that is where I struggle.  Do not get me wrong, it is not that I do not desire to help everyone nor do I wish to see anyone hurt in anyway; I just struggle with some particular people.  For that reason alone, that is why I am going to choose to focus on the area of work with my integral assessment. 

With the integral assessment, when I reflect on where I am at with my interpersonal relationships with a particular person at work, I definitely need to go to the next level of development which would be a more positive and connected relationship with my new boss.  She has come in very strong, bossy, insulting, and opinionated without respecting how procedures have been done over the past five years.  It is very hard for me to witness my peers as well as myself go from loving what we do to dreading coming in everyday.  I need to be more understanding of her position.  I know that it has to be hard to be the new person and maybe with a little more understanding, I can build a better working relationship with her.  I will certainly pray about it as well as continue to do the loving kindness exercises to continue to grow and develop in this area.  Ultimately I will gain wellness from being kind and respectful instead of avoiding her like the plaque.

Jacqui

Mind, Body, and Spirit

Hello Everyone,

To me, the loving kindness activity focuses on one’s spiritual wellness by working toward having positive feelings toward others, no matter who they are, what they do, and how difficult it may be.  In order to do this, you must love yourself first.  Negative emotions will affect your overall well being, mind, body, and spirit.  I know that for me, I have held on to hate and dislike for others for what they have done to me directly or indirectly although I am a Christian.  However, I am human and it is something that I work on every day, praying for others as well as myself.  Today, I do love myself more and am very thankful for everything that life has given me, no matter how difficult times have gotten.  I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason but I am continuously trying to refocus my spiritual wellness.  It is an ongoing process in my daily life

The subtle mind activity focuses on mental wellness.  It allows you to calm your thoughts and control your mind activity.  For me, this was much easier for me because it just involved focus on me, not others.  With the loving kindness, I constantly need to recheck myself because the outside world distracts me from ultimately obtaining and sustaining spiritual wellness. 

Spiritual, mental, and physical wellness all link together.  You cannot be whole unless you focus all aspects. Spiritual wellness refers to your feelings and emotions.  Mental wellness refers to healthy thoughts and intentions while physical wellness refers to an individual’s biological health.  Just because someone is physically fit does not mean that they are healthy.  Just because someone is a Christian, does not mean they are spiritually well, and just because someone is smart does not give them mental stability.  All three of these areas need constant attention and focus.  They all connect and if one area is being neglected, it will affect other areas of wellness preventing one from being whole and complete. 

Jacqui

Loving Kindness

Hello Everyone,

I really needed these exercises this week.  It was a rough week for me at work.  I tend to do pretty well with stress and other peoples lack of kindness but it was a bit overwhelming this week.  The exercise was a bit difficult considering my state of mind but I listened to it several times and finally, I was able to release some of my bitterness that I have been holding all week.  It helped me to put things back into perspective, let go of the negative and focus on the positive.  I do think that I get myself in that negative mental state because I care too much and don't understand others actions and behaviors but we have to care in a healthy manner and accept others.  We all have flaws and we need to focus our energy on the good and not the bad.  

All of us need to practice on "mental workouts".  We do not hesitate to workout our physical body yet we tend to forget about our mind.  It consists of two parts; loving-kindness and the subtle mind, wisdom.  These are essential elements that have the ability to heal therefore driving us to flourish.  Everyday is a "mental workout" for me I just don't necessarily do it in the most effective approach.  I will take time out everyday to bring myself to a calm state and reflect on the positive in others as well as myself instead of focusing on the bad.  I am sure it will be an ongoing workout that will never end but will always be necessary.  

Jacqui