Farewell....

Fortunately a few years ago I made a change to better my life. I got really into fitness and nutrition and living a positive lifestyle. I separated myself from negative influences in my life and it felt amazing! Going into this class I thought that I knew everything about health but what I didn’t realize is the full aspect of that word “health”. There is a lot more to health than just a muscular body and low cholesterol. I have strong psychological health but I realized I was lacking the spiritual side of health. That last link for me is starting to come together and I feel that I am on my way to Integral Health. My scores are now all pushing perfect 10’s and I am so excited!!

My physical goal was to not allow my physical health to take over every aspect of my life. I needed to chill out on working out and focus on other aspects of health. Right now I am doing great with that! I have incorporated some new workouts into my routine that allow me to get more done in 1 day so that I can focus the next day on something else.

I have implemented meditation and spiritual practices into my life and it feels really good.

I have learned a lot more about myself and I have learned health is not just on the surface it is a lot deeper and there is a mind body connection you need to have in order to reach Integral health. This class taught me a lot and will allow me to teach others the great things I have learned.

Final Project

I.                    Introduction

As a Health and Wellness professional I feel that it is my goal to impact the lives of everyone I meet. By making the choice to get into the health industry it mean that you care about your own well being and want to help others with their wellbeing. If you are in the health industry but did not care about your own psychological, spiritual and physical health you won’t be able to impact other people’s lives. By continuing to develop it will ensure that you are knowledgeable about what you are preaching. I need to develop more spiritually in order to help others that way I want to. Getting weight loss advice from someone who is overweight just doesn’t make sense. Being able to say you walked in the shoes of the person you are trying to help will give you credibility and help you build trust, and that is why it is important to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically as a health and wellness professional.

II.                 Assessment

“My body is my temple”. When it comes to assessing my own health I am critical of myself because I feel that in life you can constantly make changes and better yourself. When I look at myself and compare myself to the rest of the world I would say that I rate very well in all aspects of health. My physical well being is excellent. I workout 5-6 days per week and I do various exercises including running, biking, weight lifting and yoga. I eat a well balanced nutritious diet and I make my health a priority. I also feel that I have a strong healthy mind and that my psychological health is great. I am confident, strong, and independent. I handle stress well and I turn every situation good or bad into the most positive thing I can. If I had to work on one area of my wellness it would be my spiritual health. I have good intentions but life is busy and I have more things to do than hours in the day. When I graduate from school I plan to become a mentor for a child. This will help me with my spiritual health. I realize the importance of meditation but need to take the time to actually do it. I do believe in God and although going to mass once per week is hard for me because of my schedule I need to make time to pray everyday before bed. I recently lost a close relative to Leukemia and it opened my eyes to how important spirituality is. If I was more in touch with my spiritual health it would be easier to cope with death instead of allowing it to be my biggest fear.

III.               Goal Development

Thomas Jefferson said “nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude

from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”. I love this quote because it is so true. Learning about the mind body connection makes me realize the importance of mental health. Ever wonder why some people are unhappy and say things never go there way? That is because they have a negative attitude. While we all have bad days and sometimes our mental state of stress can get the best of us, it is important to stay positive everyday no matter what you encounter. I am grateful for everything I have in life and my attitude shows it. A goal I have for my Psychological health is to control my life so that it is calmer. I can handle stress well but I take on more than I can handle and it often leads me to chaos going on in my mind. I will try to not take on more tasks than I can handle.

            My physical health is excellent, almost too good. Being that I make my physical health such a priority I tend to push off other really important things in my life like family and friends. I want to continue to have great physical health but I want to make time for other activities in my life. If I skip the gym one day I feel extremely guilty and I don’t think that is normal.

            Spiritual health is something that I need to work on. I have more than one goal for spiritual health. I want to be a mentor when I graduate from Kaplan and I also want to meditate and pray more often. Dying is one of my biggest fears. Death is inevitable so why fear it? Getting in touch with my spiritual side by praying and meditating will help me get over my fear of dying.

IV.              Practices for personal health

As we all know, practice makes perfect. In order to maintain a fit body and

And healthy mind you have to be willing to work at it. By creating a life style to incorporate healthy choices you will be practicing without even realizing it. To foster growth with my physical health while reaching my goal of not isolating myself from my friends and family I will ask my family and friends to join me for a kick boxing class, running club or other group activity. This will ensure I get my daily exercise without feeling guilty and I will be able to spend quality time with my loved ones. Another thing I can do to foster growth with my physical health is teach a fitness class or be a running coach. This will allow me to meet new people which will create change, as well as strengthen my social skills.

            To foster growth with my spiritual health I will say a prayer every morning and every evening. There are some prayers that my grandpa gave me. He was very religious and saying the prayers not only connects me with my spiritual health but connects me with my dead grandpa who I adored. I find comfort when I think of my grandparents and that is the only thing that takes away my fear of death. This will help me grow and accomplish my spiritual goal. Another thing I will do to create growth with my spiritual health is to practice forgiveness. I say I forgive people but deep down I am still angry and I hold grudges a lot. I find myself sometimes getting very angry about a past situation and it affects the future of my relationships. I need to learn to forgive and let the situation go. I will create a mantra and whenever I am thinking of that past situation I will say that mantra until the anger goes away and I truly forgive the person. I love hanging quotes around my house and I also like to write a quote on the top of my planner everyday. Buddha said “Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.” I will continue to remind myself of this and allow it to help me find true forgiveness and move on!

            Psychological health is important to me because I feel that if you have a strong mind you can accomplish anything! When you believe in yourself anything is possible and you do not let others affect you. To help with my mental health I will continue to take part in hobbies that I love to do. Running for me is an outlet. No matter what mood I am in, after I run I feel on top of this world. I can head out for a run and take any emotion I have out on the pavement while meditating at the same time. I make progress on myself while running because it is my meditation time. By living a good healthy life I create good mental health. I exercise and eat healthy which helps me feel good about myself. Having high self esteem gives me a strong mind. Friends and family are the best support anyone can have. It is important to be a good friend and keep good friends. I will rid myself of the negative people in my life and give unconditional love to the good people in my life. Having close friends are great when you are feeling down and need a boost of confidence or someone to listen to you.

V.                 Commitment

I am going to start keeping a diary. Writing is also good for mental health and

This is where I can look back and see how far I have come. If I start doing something and it is not benefiting me I will stop doing it. I will continue to do the things that are working and are allowing me to flourish. I will ask for support from my family and friends and ask them to tell me if I am being too extreme with working. I love to read and by continuing to educate myself this will provide long term success and motivation to keep living a healthy lifestyle in all aspects.

Mental Fitness Tips

·                          Daydream – Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a dream location. Breathe slowly and deeply. Whether it’s a beach, a mountaintop, a hushed forest or a favourite room from your past, let the comforting environment wrap you in a sensation of peace and tranquility.

·                          “Collect” positive emotional moments – Make it a point to recall times when you have experienced pleasure, comfort, tenderness, confidence, or other positive emotions.

·                          Learn ways to cope with negative thoughts – Negative thoughts can be insistent and loud. Learn to interrupt them. Don’t try to block them (that never works), but don’t let them take over. Try distracting yourself or comforting yourself, if you can’t solve the problem right away.

·                          Do one thing at a time – For example, when you are out for a walk or spending time with friends, turn off your cell phone and stop making that mental “to do” list. Take in all the sights, sounds and smells you encounter.

·                          Exercise – Regular physical activity improves psychological well-being and can reduce depression and anxiety. Joining an exercise group or a gym can also reduce loneliness, since it connects you with a new set of people sharing a common goal.

·                          Enjoy hobbies – Taking up a hobby brings balance to your life by allowing you to do something you enjoy because you want to do it, free of the pressure of everyday tasks. It also keeps your brain active.

·                          Set personal goals – Goals don’t have to be ambitious. You might decide to finish that book you started three years ago; to take a walk around the block every day; to learn to knit or play bridge; to call your friends instead of waiting for the phone to ring. Whatever goal you set, reaching it will build confidence and a sense of satisfaction.

·                          Keep a journal (or even talk to the wall!) – Expressing yourself after a stressful day can help you gain perspective, release tension and even boost your body’s resistance to illness.

·                          Share humour – Life often gets too serious, so when you hear or see something that makes you smile or laugh, share it with someone you know. A little humour can go a long way to keeping us mentally fit!

·                          Volunteer – Volunteering is called the “win-win” activity because helping others makes us feel good about ourselves. At the same time, it widens our social network, provides us with new learning experiences and can bring balance to our lives.

·                          Treat yourself well – Cook yourself a good meal. Have a bubble bath. See a movie. Call a friend or relative you haven’t talked to in ages. Sit on a park bench and breathe in the fragrance of flowers and grass. Whatever it is, do it just for you.

Canadian Mental Health Association. http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/mental-fitness-tips/

Unit 8

Loving-kindness and the visualization exercise from this week (unit 8) have been the most beneficial to me. I love life and I have a huge heart. The loving-kindness exercise fits me well and so I think it is beneficial. I bend over backwards for people and tend to get taken advantage of but for some odd reason I continue to do things for others. The loving-kindness exercise helps me feel rewarded for the good things I do and also reminds me that there are other good people in the world. The visualization exercise mellows me out big time! I will continue to do the visualization exercise whenever I am having a bad day. This will be a reminder that there are good days but they get forgotten because of the hustle and bustle of life.

"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself"

“One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself”. I believe this statement speaks for its self. Could you tell a person how good chocolate cake was if you had never had it yourself? Could you give directions to a difficult place if you had never been there yourself? The simple answer is no. A good leader is a person who has experienced the situation them self. If you were trying to lose 50 pounds, would you take advice from someone whom is 50 pounds overweight them self? It is my biggest pet peeve when people preach something that they don’t practice. My friend always preaches about making smart decisions but yet he is the king of poor decisions.

When it comes to health & wellness this statement really applies. You cannot teach someone to flourish or find Integral Health if you have not done so. If you cannot show your clients that you are proof that you can live a certain way they won’t take your serious. I will continually educate myself and practice what I preach to my clients in order to keep myself flourishing and carry out my obligation to my clients.  

Aesclepius Meditation

The Meeting Aesclepius meditation exercise was not relaxing for me at all. I could not connect with it and it did not make me feel relaxed. I was bummed out so I decided to listen to one of the previous relaxation exercises because my mind was in need of some major meditation. Doing all these exercises has really made me connect with myself more and realize how important it is to have “me” time. Your spirituality is who you are and it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be religious like I thought a long time ago. By continuing these meditation/relaxation exercises I will be continuously reminded of the greatness that comes from meditation.

Meditation or Assessment? My thoughts...

After completing both the loving-kindness exercise and the assessment I must say I enjoyed the loving kindness exercise more. The loving kindness exercise felt almost like praying and I like the fact that it incorporated other people. It makes me feel so good when I can help other people and when doing the exercise I felt connected to everyone and I felt like I loved everyone in the world.

I don’t know why but the assessment almost made me feel selfish after doing the loving-kindness exercise. I feel like this exercise made me calmly think about what I need to change in my life. It was just a more calming approach to my mental to do list verses things going through my head constantly throughout my hectic day.

The area I chose for growth and development is Worldly flourishing. I work 6 days per week at least 9 hours per day and I typically don’t take a lunch break, I eat at my desk while working. I love to work hard, love my job and am dedicated to my job but I feel like I need to take some of that focus and put it towards other types of rewarding social activities like volunteering or running a marathon for a charity and fundraising money. I want my focus more spread out instead of just being focused on my current career. I have always wanted to be a mentor for a child and I think that would be a great thing to do for me to foster wellness in this area.

Spiritual wellness - mental- physical wellness

As we all know from taking this class, there is a mind body connection. I can really feel this connection in my life. Whether I am going for a run in the morning or starting my Sunday going to church doing positive things make me have a great day. Research has showed those who believe in a higher power live longer and than those who don’t. My spiritual side definitely gets me through hard times and makes me have a great outlook on life. When I go to church and feel good everything else follows like have a positive mind which makes me happy and overall affects my health.

Loving-Kindness VS. Subtle-Mind

When listening to the subtle mind relaxation exercise I did not get as relaxed as I did in the loving-kindness exercise.  The subtle mind exercise was more focuses on breathing and it was harder for me to get into it. When I listened to the loving-kindness exercise I immediately got into a nice mood because it had me think of someone I loved and then relaxed me. I thought of my and my mother on vacation because of the water and birds in the background. This set the stage for the entire exercise. The subtle mind exercise was nice but I felt more like it was just a relaxation cd you purchased at target and put in while you were going to bed at night. It just didn’t get me into a deep relaxation. I don't know if I was necessarily frustrated but I was bummed out because I wanted a good relaxation exercise and it just didn't do it for me. After a hard day at work and my stress level high I think this would be a good exercise for a person to Just Breathe! I guess I just love, LOVE!

Mental Workout

Just like I did not get my abs without working out, a person cannot have a strong healthy mind without giving it a workout. You can train your mind with exercises just like you can your body. Neurobics is a unique system of brain exercises using your five physical senses and your emotional sense in unexpected ways that encourage you to shake up your everyday routines. They are designed to help your brain manufacture its own nutrients that strengthen, preserve, and grow brain cells. Created by Lawrence C. Katz, Ph.D., a professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center, neurobics can be done anywhere, anytime, in offbeat, fun and easy ways. Nevertheless, these exercises can activate underused nerve pathways and connections, helping you achieve a fit and flexible mind (Franklin Institute, 2004). By practicing the Loving-Kindness exercise and taking time out of each day you can strengthen your mind.

The Franklin Institute Online (2004). The Human Brain. Retrieved online February 26, 2013 from http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html

Loving Kindness Practice

I couldn't help but get a little emotional when I was told to think of a person whom I love. I thought of my mother and how amazing she is. As I listened to the water from the ocean I thought of how great it would be to be hanging out with my mom by the ocean. I love my mom dearly and as I was directed to turn those feeling on myself I had a great feeling come over my entire body. I love myself and my life and I felt great! The voice was calming and the background sounds (water) was better than any of the other exercises so far.

The Crime of the Century

Things started going really well. My body and mind were relaxed and I was feeling great. I just experienced a stressful situation so this exercise was very well needed. As I continued to get deeper and deeper into relaxation I head the words "Imagine your body is a prison”. Those words totally ruined this exercise for me. I have never been in prison and there is nothing relaxing about that word. To me that sounds like a very stressful situation. After I he started talking about prison I completely lost it and could not get back into the relaxation mode that I was in.

A little bragging about my physical well being

Goals

Physical goal: To “cheat” more often so that my diet does not become an obsession.

Psychological goal: To set aside 20 minutes per day to just sit and mentally clear my brain to recharge myself from a hectic day.

Spiritual goal: I would like to give more time to my spirituality wether it be going to church more often or participating in a program helping others.

When going out to dinner on Friday or Saturday night I will not longer order a chicken breast and broccoli and instead order something a little naughty. After my workout in the evening I will find a quiet place in my house or at the gym in the sauna to clear my mind and do some meditation. I will start looking up some programs I can get involved in to help with my spirituality.

Grading myself

Wellness is something that is very important to me. About 4 years ago I changed my life from a junk food junkie who had a chaotic life to a health nut whose main priority is to live a healthy life in all aspects of the word. If I had to grade myself I would say:

Physically I am a 10: I work out everyday, I have ran 4 full marathons and countless half marathons, 5k’s and other races. I life weights, run, bike, swim and do yoga. I am well rounded when it comes to physical activity and I like to stay low in body fat : ) See picture of my abs. Sorry I just had to post it! It is part of blogging right?

Psychologically I would say a 9: Mentally I am very strong, I love life and I love people! I have a good balance of work, family, friends and health. I cope with stress well and meditate to help me relax and keep sane.

Spiritually: I would grade myself an 8. This is where I lack a little bit. I have faith and love life. I meditate and pray but I stubborn when it comes to forgiveness and holding grudges which causes me pain sometimes .I am very giving and selfless.

Ahhhhhh....

From the moment the music started I felt more relaxed. I am a go go go type of person and have a hard time relaxing, or should I say just sitting doing nothing. I constantly have to be doing something with my hands or mind or I don't feel right. I guess you could call it A.D.D! The relaxation exercise was very nice and much needed! When I try and relax my mind is going 100mph and I end up feeling worse than I did before I tried to relax. I have a busy lifestyle and so much going on that it is hard to rest my mind. This exercise was awesome because I had a calming voice telling me what to do. It gave me something to listen to instead of my mind wondering all over the place thinking about the next thing I had to get done. After the exercise I felt a lot better. I am going to take some time everyday to listen to a short relaxation exercise. I am so refreshed!

Big Step...

Wow! I never realized setting up a blog would be such a task. I have heard a lot about blogs and thought that it would give you better step by step directions on what to do. Being one of the only people on the planet without facebook page I am not very rehearsed at this online stuff. BIG STEP for me! I am moving forward in this cyber based world, wish me luck!