In chapter three, I rated myself an 8-9 in psychological, a 4-5 in physical and a 5-6 in spiritual. When we did the last assignment, I had rated myself an 8 in psychological, a 5 in physical and a 5 in spiritual. So you see, these really have not changed much, I was just more certain when I rated myself this last time than I was in the Reflections post for Unit 3. I think this is because I know I have a long way to go still to see any major changes or improvements, but at least now I know where the improvements are needed and how to get them accomplished.
I have at least made progress in each area in the goals I have set for myself. I have started going back to church, started practicing the meditation exercises more frequently, and started physical therapy on my back in order to be able to increase my physical well being. I have also implemented the activities in each area that I chose for my well being as I just described above. The only goal I have not started as of yet is the exercise for my physical, as I am just not physically able to accomplish that yet, but I get closer every day.
I believe I have developed an improved well being, physical as well as psychological. The meditation exercises have been rewarding, as well as hearing other students ideas and suggestions of different approaches and other things to try when something is not working for me. Everyone is very encouraging and supportive and that has made the course very enjoyable. The difficult part for me was the beginning as we all know how I felt when we started out. I was kind of narrow minded when it came to all of the mental aspects of this course. I no longer feel that way, as I have truly been converted. This experience will help me assist others as I have seen the light on the other side of the spectrum, and can now tell others that I work with and treat an honest opinion and give them honest guidance about other ways of treating them, and different not so traditional approaches they can also try. It is easier to show someone when you have been there yourself, especially when you were a skeptic and are now a believer.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Integral Health Plan
It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically so that they can effectively help their patients. In order to benefit your patients, you must be an example of physical health, be spiritually healthy enough to welcome alternative methods and guidance to your patients, and psychologically healthy enough to deal with your own troubles and effectively guide your patients through dealing with theirs.
In order to achieve the goals I have set for myself, I have to work on all three areas. I have begun working on the psychological aspect of my life by taking this course. This course has opened my eyes to a lot of ways to improve my psychological health, and the tools to do it. Spiritually, I fell off the wagon about ten years ago, but have recently attempted to get back on track by restarting to attend church and studying spiritual manuals to gain a new insight into this world. Physically, I am attending physical therapy post spine surgery to try and ensure I heal back to at least 98% of the fitness level I was at prior to my injury. I am getting better every week, and see great differences this month vs last month.
I have assessed my health in each area by evaluating where my spiritual, physical and psychological health is in relation to where I want it to be. I took a look at my weight, my blood pressure, my eating habits and my physical activity in order to evaluate my physical health. My psychological health was a bit harder to assess. Most of us do not like to point to magnifying glass inward when it comes to finding fault with our personality or way of seeing the world. I evaluated the way I deal with people, the way I react to stress and situations that anger me as well as the lack of trust I put in other people. Spiritually, I simply realized when I thought about it, I was only doing myself harm by turning my back on the church and attempting to pretend having no spiritual influence in my life did not affect me. When it comes to scoring myself on all three of these areas, I would rate my physical health at about a 5, my spiritual health at about a 5 as well, and my psychological health at about an 8.
Physically, my goal is to get back to my normal shape, lose the weight I have gained since my injury, and get back to exercising regularly. Spiritually, my goal is to continue attending church and continue researching new ways on how to get better in touch with my spiritual side.
There are a number of practices one could implement to improve on each aspect of their health. In order to foster my physical health, I will continue with my physical therapy and restart ZUMBA with my daughters. Prior to my surgery, we would do ZUMBA at least three times a week, sometimes four. I felt better, had more energy, and was able to maintain my weight without following a strict diet. I am also going to quit smoking again. I successfully stopped for over a month following my surgery in November, then after a family crisis, started smoking again in December. I have once again started taking Chantix which worked for me the first time, and am determined for it to work again so I can quit smoking once an for all. Psychologically, I am going to start going to counseling. As I said, there was a family crisis, and I believe I could benefit from having someone other than a family member to talk things through with. I have already started keeping a journal again, and this does help immensely with alleviating stress and getting things down on paper and out of my head. I am also attempting to
continue with practicing various relaxation and meditation exercises that were introduced in this class. I am on the hunt for additional tools and exercises that are a fit for me and this will be beneficial for my psychological health in the long run. Spiritually, I have already started attending church again when I can. My goal is to make this a more regular routine such as it was hen I was a child. I just feel better about myself and life in general when I attend regularly. I am also looking into things such as bible readings and spiritual classes that can be taken to help me get more in touch with my spiritual side. These things will get me on the right path and bring spiritual practices to the forefront of my life. This can only help my state of mind and the way I deal with things as they come at me.
Over the next six months I will continue to asses my progress on a monthly basis. I will use my ratings of 5,5 & 8 that are my current levels of wellness in each area to start as a base score. At the end of each month, I will asses where my level is, and compare those numbers to my starting numbers; this will allow me to see improvements or declines. By going back to my initial assessment in so far as how I feel about each area and where I think I am lacking, I will be able to determine which practices are helping and which ones need to be exchanged for another. As long as I continue to reflect on where I am now that I am starting improvements, where I am going and the noticeable changes for the better that are happening daily, I believe I will be able to stay on track and keep myself properly motivated to continue with the effort. I can always go back and read my journals from time to time throughout the process as well in order to be able to see the differences in my way of thinking from beginning to end. I have faith that I am determined enough and already see enough of a positive change in myself by utilizing these practices, that I will have no trouble continuing down the correct path. My health and wellness will thank me for it, and after all, not only will I benefit, but my family, friends and patients will also benefit from the new improved me.
Integral Health Plan
References
Schlitz, M ,Amorok, T, Micozzi, M (2005) Consciousness & Healing Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine, Elsevier, Churchill Livingston, St. Louis, MO: (pp.455-570)
Dacher,E M.D. (2006) Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Publications Laguna Beach , CA
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