Final Project

Introduction:

As a health and wellness professional it is my job to lead by example. In order for my patient’s or client’s to achieve optimal integral health psychologically, spiritually and physically they need to know that their health care professional is practicing what they preach. Fostering physical, psychological and spiritual wellness is beneficial because it deals with the whole being not just one aspect of it. Health professionals who are focused on achieving integral health will be better able to provide their patients with the best care because they themselves are in good psychological, spiritual and physical health. When health professionals practice and foster integral health on all three levels we are able to have a special understanding of what it takes to develop integral health and we can relate and empathize with our patient or client.

In order to foster integral health I need to grow and develop in every aspect of integral health. The first step is for me to become aware and remove the causes of any unnecessary suffering in my life. I have a really bad habit of saying yes to anything that anyone asks of me which ends up causing me stress. I need to learn how to say no and remove the unnecessary stressors in my life. Dacher states this as knowing what to cultivate in your life and what to abandon. The things to cultivate are actions that support integral health and the things to abandon are obstacles or hindrances. I need to begin removing and abandoning all the stressors in my life that are weighing me down and I need to begin by knowing when to say no. The second step for me is to train my mind and replace any bad thoughts with loving-kindness. When we have any negative or disturbing thoughts we need to have our minds trained to replace them with thoughts of loving-kindness. By practicing meditations like loving-kindness, calm–abiding, and the witnessing mind we can begin to remove our negative thoughts and behaviors with positive ones. The third step is to develop your consciousness to have an inner calm, a discerning wisdom and an open heart. I need to become aware and develop my consciousness so that I can create peace and tranquility. When I begin applying all of these steps I will begin training my mind to move from suffering to human flourishing. The more I practice the more I will grow and I will develop health, happiness and wholeness (Dacher, 2006).

Assessment:

            When I assess my overall wellness I can definitely say that I have room to learn and grow. I would rate my spiritual well-being at an 8. Spiritual well-being is one of the biggest things that sustain me, without it I would be nothing. I chose to rate myself at an 8 because I feel like there is more room for growth in this area. I believe in God and have accepted Jesus into my heart and have a personal relationship with Him.  I also know that my life is in His hands. However, I have a hard time fully relying on Him and placing my worries, cares, and fears at His feet. This is one thing that I would like to overcome and I know that through Him I can do all things.

I would rate my physical well-being at an 8. I fell that my physical well-bring is good but I want to continue to strive to do better. I exercise five days a week for an hour to an hour and a half. My daily exercise includes either walking briskly on the treadmill for an hour, walking four miles in my neighborhood with a friend, or going to a body-sculpting class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday I am obsessed with going to spin/cycle class. My BMI is good, but I would like to lose about ten pounds to feel completely satisfied with myself. I try to buy all organic foods, as well as grass fed lean meats, non-GMO, minimally processed and artificially free foods. I try to meal plan weekly for my family and try to incorporate as many fruits and vegetables into our meals as possible.

I would rate my psychological well-being at a 6.This is one area that I would say that I struggle with immensely. I am so grateful to be in this class to learn ways to cope and deal with my emotions. I had a very complicated childhood growing up and continue to deal with the repercussions of it. I have also experienced the loss of several loved ones including my dad who passed away three years ago. Because of experiencing so many losses throughout the years I constantly deal with the fear of death and dying on a daily basis. I am so grateful that I have my faith, and without it I would be nothing. I have to come to a place in my life where I need to stop focusing on the “what if’s” and start living without stress. I feel stress on a daily basis and school only escalates it. I feel very guilty that I am even going back to school because I feel that it is taking away from my husband and kids and that I can’t give them everything they need from me. Going back to school has always been something that I have always wanted to do but I personally wanted to wait until all of my kids where in school and then focus on me. However, due to much pressure from my older brother and knowing that my deceased father would be so proud, here I am. I have such a passion for health and wellness and know that there is a purpose and reason why I am where I am; I just have to continue to trust in the Lord’s provision for my life and know that he has a bigger plan than I do.

Goal development:

My physical goal is to lose ten pounds.  One thing that I would like to try is to go on a juice fast. I love the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” by Joe Cross and would like to get a juicer soon to get myself in to great physical health.

My psychological health will be able to grow if I practice training my mind. I have such a passion for health and wellness and know that there is a purpose and reason why I am here but I need to find better coping strategies to help maintain my stress level, fears, worries, doubts and guilt. I know that taking this class has helped me find what I need to cope and I can’t wait until the day that I can incorporate all of the exercises and techniques I have learned to cope with all of my anxieties. I know that there is an end in sight in pursuing my degree and cannot wait for August 2013 to get here so I can graduate and move on to the next chapter of my life.

Spiritually I have a hard timing fully relying on the Lord and placing my worries, cares, and fears at His feet. This is one thing that I would like to overcome and I know that through Him I can do all things. I would also like to be better about setting aside quiet time with Him. I need to be more intentional about waking up an hour or so before I wake up my kids to have my personal quiet time and pray and meditate on my day. I have a “Jesus Calling” devotional that I try to read every day as well as daily devotions that I receive via email like Proverbs 31 ministries and Girlfriends in God. I love that they take scripture and make it very applicable to my life.

Practices for personal health:

In order for me to implement and foster growth physically I need to continue to implement an exercise routine into my daily life. It is important for me to carve out time in my day so that exercising remains a priority. It is also important to continue my daily routine and also every now and then change things up a bit so my exercise routine doesn’t become monotonous. I would really like to begin training for a 5k and I would also like to begin working out with my husband. In order to do begin training for a 5k I need to find time everyday to incorporate running. In order to begin working out with my husband we have to take time to clean out our garage. De-cluttering and organizing our garage has been a big part of my anxiety since we moved into our house two years ago, getting this done would help me in more ways than one. Incorporating physical activity and exercise not only brings about physical wellness but it can also help with psychological and spiritual wellness.

There are two exercises that have been the most beneficial to me and will definitely help foster growth psychologically. The visualization exercises “The Subtle Mind” and “The Taste of Human Flourishing.” Both of these exercises allowed my mind to be calm, freed, relaxed, and come to a place of happiness, wholeness, and health. I am determined to implement these practices into my personal life and practice and foster my mental fitness. This class has opened my eyes to a whole new way of healing, health, and well-being. I am going to try to practice at least one of these visualization exercises each week by making time in my schedule to make sure that it happens. One thing that I would like to do is practice these exercise with my husband. I also would like to pass these helpful exercises onto my children. I believe that using these helpful exercises at an early age our children can really learn and grow and also develop integral health at a young age.

In order to foster my growth spiritually it is important for me to spend daily quiet time with the Lord every morning before my kids get up. Reading my bible daily and meditating on God’s word will help me to start my day off in a positive way.  Spending time with the Lord will also grow me closer to Him and will allow me to grow spiritually. Another way for me to grow spiritually is to incorporate a weekly bible study with other women. Learning God’s truths through studying the bible with other women will help me to apply God’s word to my life and grow.

Commitment:

In order for me to continue to grow, develop and flourish I need to hold myself accountable by creating a wellness journal that I can write in every time I practice integral health. It is also important for me to establish an accountability partner. My accountability partner will be my husband. I will ask him to help me maintain my integral health by making sure that I stay committed and on track with my physical, spiritual and psychological well being. There will be days that life won’t go as planned and I don’t feel like I am fostering my integral health but as long as I have my husband to encourage and motivate me on this journey, I know that when I look back years from now I will be able to see how I have grown and developed more into integral health.

References:

Dacher, Elliott. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publications Inc. Print.