In the beginning of the class my score was a 9 for physical health, 2 for psychological and 2 for spiritual well being. The score for physical health remains the same but for psychological and spiritual have definitely changed because I have started working on those aspect of my life. Although it may take a while before I make a big change, I can see a little bit of progress because I seem to understand that I need to take the negative things out of my life. In the physical aspect I will continue doing what I do; I have always been very active and energetic and is something I enjoy doing so it is easy for me. In the Psychological aspect of my life I have incorporated more meditation and relaxation in my life in order to get rid of the stress. I am not fully there yet but I am making some progress. In the spiritual aspect I have a better understanding of what it means and what I have to do to reach my goal. I am working on different things to find that one that would make me happy and complete. I started by singling out the things that I like to do the most and doing them more often. I realized that it lift my spirit to do good things for others and making people happy. Between other things that I like to do that lift my spirit are reading books. Being in a comfortable spot reading a good book is one of my favorite things to do. I can say that I have improved compare to where I was initially, I have more patience towards people and I am more understanding of their needs. It has been rewarding to be more at peace with myself because it brings tranquility to my life. I have learned not to get offended easily and see things from a different point of view. I think the most difficult part of this process has been finding the time for meditation and fallow through with it. When I am at peace with myself I am in better position to help others by devoting my full attention to them without distraction of my own problems. Many times when we live a life of distress it projects in everything we do and prevent us from developing our full potential. I want to help other reach their goal in life but first I have to learn how to reach mine and I am on my way!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Unit 9 Project
I. Introduction: Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself? It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because they are the providers of health and wellness to the community. In addition they are the leading source of medical news and health related information. The community relies on their knowledge in order to improve or modified their lifestyle. The area I need to develop to achieve my goals is the spiritually aspect of my life. It is important for me as a future nutritionist to feel at peace with myself and project this persona into my profession. Without spirituality I can’t help others when I can’t even help myself.
II. Assessment: How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically? I haven’t assessed my health in all these aspect completely. In the past I have concentrated more in the physical aspect of my life than any other. Phrases I have read from the textbook have been printed in my mind and have helped me do things differently, react to people differently and changed my behavior. From 1 to 9, 9 being the highest and 1 the lowest, I would give my physical health a 9, because I am in very good shape but I would give my psychological a 5 and spiritual health a 2. I was struggling with these two aspects of my life but now I feel that I have started to work on it and do something about it. In the past I wasn’t even thinking that it was a problem
III. Goal development: List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
In my physical health my goal is to reach maximum fitness and by that I mean to lose the extra few pounds that I don’t need. I am very active and I am very close to achieve my desired goal. Psychologically I hope to learn how to manage stressful situations. Many times when I interact with other people and they become aggressive, I tend to be defensive and I wish to change that approach. I work as a customer service representative and deal with a lot of people. Many times they are angry at something and they take it on me. I need to tell myself not to take it personal, that it has nothing to do with me and to assist them better and turn the situation around. I normally fallow throw with giving good customer service but there are a few times when I just want to explode. My goal is to reach that state of mind where nothing can change my mood, or my view of others, to be in control of my thoughts and recognize that things happen for a reason. Things that I can’t control and be happy with whatever the result may be. Spiritual health is the most important to me because without it is difficult to get the others. I believe once I reach spirituality I can then lose the few pounds I want to lose and find the job that would make me happy for ever. My goal is to engage into prayer more often and to seek for answer to my questions about my spirit. Who am I? What is my purpose in the world? What am I doing with my life? Am I happy?
IV. Practices for personal health: What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example. For the Physical aspect I will continue doing what I have been doing. Implementing new types of exercise to my daily work out prevent me from getting bored. I have joined a boxing class which is new in my gym and also joined the powder-puff league which is women football. Every time I do a new physical exercise, it is exciting to me and I look forward to do it. In the psychological aspect I will practice positivism and engage my thoughts into a state of happiness instead of waiting for the worst to happen. I think that part of my stress is that I do it to myself because of my negative thoughts. I will try to implement everyday into my life positive thinking as soon as I get up from bed and tell myself; “Today is going to be a good day”. I am going to embrace people differently. Because of my job in customer service, I get a lot of complaints or negativism from customers. I will learn how not to take things personally and not get contagious by the same negativism. My strategy is to put myself in the same position of the customer and understand their point of view without feeling attacked personally. I also want to avoid taking any frustration home because then I won’t be able to relax or be at peace with myself. The strategies for my spiritual health involve meditation and doing things that lift my spirit. Because of my busy schedule I have stopped taking yoga classes months ago and I need to go back and start over again. Doing yoga have definitely made me feel in touch with myself and have also made me feel relaxed, happy, and in control of my life. After doing yoga I feel like all the problems are gone. I will make an effort to incorporate yoga back into my life. In addition is very important for me to have my own time to just get myself together. I will learn how to meditate and spend at least ten minutes of my time to clear my thoughts.
V. Commitment: How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness? For the next six months I will asses my progress by writing my goals first and then posting them in a calendar. I will engage in activities everyday that would improve integral health. One day I can do yoga, other days I can meditate in a quiet room, others days I can learn how to do something completely new and different. Taking this class also gave me the idea of creating a room or space in my home where I can just seat or lay and just meditate, a quiet room, no noise from the outside world or from computers or cell phones. Just me, a candle, quietness and maybe just relaxing sounds like the water running from a fountain or river. The sounds from nature seem to be very relaxing. I want to do this for at least ten minutes of my life everyday and see how it improves my life. I make sure I will write down everyday every action and put it on my refrigerator so it won’t be difficult to miss. Once I continue to practice these steps, it would help me create the habit of having meditation, and spiritualism as part of my daily life.
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publications
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
loving kidness, meditation and visualization
The exercises that I enjoyed the most were loving-kindness, meditation and visualization. The loving kindness exercise helps me in so many ways. I realized that because of all the stress I have been under, I have become a very bitter person. I may not say this to people face to face but my mind is constantly saying sarcastic remarks to co-workers, family member and friends. At first I didn’t know why I was doing it but then I realized how unhappy I was becoming. I get mad at people for not reason at all. The loving kindness exercise helps me change that negative vibe into a more positive way of thinking. I guess I was blaming everybody for my stress when I am the one in charge of what I do. I am not fully there yet but I am working on it. The other exercise that I enjoyed was meditation and visualization. I knew already that I am a visual person and this seems easier for me to do. I remember many things by visualizing my actions. I am not very good a meditation because is very difficult for me to control the voice inside of me. It seems like it talks louder than any other voice, overpowering anything else. I have to learn how to control that but I love visualizing, it is a clearer picture in my mind when I visualize something positive so this exercise was more beneficial to me.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Level of Wellness
1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?
I would rate my physical an 8, I am very active and go to the gym regularly, and I am always full of energy and enjoy doing physical activity. I rate it 8 because I still have a few pounds I would like to get rid of, some people think I am crazy because they think I am skinny but I know that I could do better. I like to eat, I enjoy food from different cultures and that is one reason I am not a 10 but I am still happy with being an 8. I rather enjoy eating delicious food than being a “10”. I still can kick butt better than a lot of people in their 20s =).
I would rate my spiritual being a 2, I would like to be more in touch with my spiritual side but I am a little stubborn about it. I need to educate myself and learn how to be more in touch with myself and spiritual being. I hope I can learn how to do this in this class. I have to admit that it is a challenge for me. I know that spiritual doesn’t have to do only with going to church but being there is when I feel more in touch with it. I almost never go to church, my mom makes me go every time I visit her and although I feel obligated it feels so much better afterwards. There have been other times where I can’t wait for it to be over, but mostly it has been a very touching experience.
I would rate my psychological well-being a 7 because my mind is constantly stressing about things that I have no control over and it is a problem that causes me to lose sleep over it. I wish I can have better control and relax more often, to stop thinking too much and be able to clear my mind. When somebody says something hurtful or offensive to me I tend to think about it over and over wondering why it was said or what should I have said to this person. It just takes a lot of energy out of me and I know is not worthy and is not healthy. At the same time I don't normally take things peronally, I guess it depends on what it is. I am very calm, a peacemaker, and like to get along with everybody, even the most dificult person.
2. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).
Physically I just want to be able to control my portions better. As a nutritionist to be I know that we shouldn’t eat a meal bigger than our fist and I tend to do go a little bit over board when it comes to my favorite foods. I also have to lead by example if I want to be successful in my career therefore my goal is to be more conscious of my portion size.
Spirituality- I am not sure what to do, I don’t like going to church but one think I do miss is praying. I have lost that sense of holiness, I don’t pray anymore but when I was a child and all the way into my early 20s I used to pray before meals and before going to bed and I miss that. My goal is to pray more often.
Psychological-I would like to be able to learn how to relax, how to clear my mind of unnecessary negative thoughts. So my goal is to learn meditation and practice it often. I am hoping to learn that in this class also.
3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?
I can write at list of my goals and put it somewhere that is visible for me because I am very forgetful. I can also have friends join me in these activities to make it fun doing it together and compare out thoughts and experiences. I probably should set an alarm on my phone to meditate same time every day at least 5 or 10 minutes, that way I would get into the habit of doing it.
4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. Describe your experience. (What’s it beneficial? Frustrating? Etc.)
The exercise was relaxing but I didn’t feel connected to what he was saying. I guess I didn’t feel any different from imagining the windows of lights from my body, I wonder if I understood the concept. I know this is new to me and I have no experience in meditation but I am sure I will get there someday. I guess I didn’t feel connected or centered. I like the part where we have to repeat after him “I feel loved” because I am surrounded by very good friends and family and they adore me and I adore them. I enjoy every minute of time spend with friends, family and boyfriend.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wow!
Today I went to the bank and the clerk tells me that they have a wallet that belongs to me. I have lost this wallet a year ago so I was confuse when she asked me about it because by this time I completly forgot about it. When she gave it to me it had my ID, credit card and cash in it. I couldn't believe it. It was a pleasant surprise!
Did I mention how much I love Brazilian music?
It just makes me get up and dance and be out of breath
from: A thousand Paths to Wisdom
Why should it be so difficult for us to admit we are wrong when there is nothing more helpful to resolving a problem than doing so?
A wise man never needs a weapon. The mind is mightier than the fist.
Suspicions are nocturnal creatures that inhabit the night-time of your thoughts
A wise man never needs a weapon. The mind is mightier than the fist.
Suspicions are nocturnal creatures that inhabit the night-time of your thoughts
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Relaxation Exercise
The relaxation exercise was excellent, I was so relaxed that I fell sleep before it was over. I had to play it again. It was perfect because I am going through a lot of stress right now and it helped me relax. I will definitely use it in the future. The voice in the audio was very smooth and it helps to get into relaxation mood. I heard something similar before but this one is better. I need more of that! ;-)
Welcome Statement
I just read the instructions from unit 2 and I realize I was getting ahead of myself. Welcome to my blog, I am having fun learning about it as you see and I am looking forward to get to see all of your blogs. Feel free to leave a comment!
My girls on international women's day
Marzena is from poland, I am from Panama, Daniela and Juliana from Romania. Viva la woman!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
100th Anniversary of International Women's day
Happy Women's day to all the strong women out there including my precious mom, love you!!!!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)