Progress and Reflections

I feel I have progressed in so many ways threw out this course. In unit 3 I rated my spiritual well-being at a 7, my psychological well-being at a 9, and my physical well being at a 6. Spiritually i would say that I am at an 8 now. I am very in touch with my spirituality but I know I can still progress. Physically i would still say I am at a 6. I have a long way to go as far as health wise. I need to learn how to eat healthy and although I do yoga, I need to push myself further and exercise more. Psychologically I am still at a 9 as well. I know that I will never reach a 10 because the mind has no limit. I will always continue to expand my mind and grow mentally. There is no stopping my mind from growing and learning. I honestly do not feel I will ever reach a 10 in any of these aspects because there is no limit on how far I can push my self to reach optimal well-being. I have made tons of progress on my goals I set for myself in unit 3. I feel that every time i do a meditation or preform yoga, I am making progress. My experience in this class has been phenomenal. I feel like I have been given extra tools to grow as an individual on my journey to ultimate consciousnesses and well being. Loving-kindness was the most  yet most rewarding aspect I have learned. Loving and forgiving everyone is very hard, but once you are able to do so, it is the most amazing feeling I have ever had. My heart is open to everything and my ability to spread love is fantastic. I have earned so many different things in this class that will be beneficial to others in my personal and professional life. I cant wait to share my experience with others and send them on their own journey to optimal well-being.

Health and Wellness Development and Goals

Health and wellness professionals must have a great psychological, spiritual, and healthy being to be able to teach others how to reach optimal well-being. It is important that a health and wellness professional have optimal well-being in order to teach others a healthy way of living. I need work in all three aspects in order to become a good psychologist.  I still have anxiety issues that I plan on completely getting rid of via meditation. That will help me psychologically. I am very much in touch with my spirituality. I am very strong in my beliefs and do not feel I have much to work on in that aspect. As far as health goes, I need tons of work. I plan on doing more yoga and eating healthier to reach my goal. I know these things will be challenging but it is a must if I want to teach others good mental, physical, and spiritual health.

            Overall I would assess my spiritual, mental, and physical health as being good but needs work. My spiritual health is great, on a scale of 1-10(10 being optimal well-being) I would say I am about an 8. I am very in touch with my spirituality, I do not feel like I have much to work on but there is always new things to learn so I would not rate myself at a 10. Psychologically I would rate myself at a 7. My goal in spirituality is to just keep practicing my beliefs and spread the love and joy I gain from them. It really is a great way to happiness and I like to share it with others. The only thing I feel I need work on is my anxiety. It was gone for a while because of meditation but it has returned. My goal is to learn new meditations and ways to clear my head to fix the problem. I am a true believer that meditation cures anxiety, and will keep trying different methods until I reach my goal. Other than anxiety, I have a really well trained mind and feel like I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. When it comes to health I must say I am not very healthy at all. I would say I’m about a 4. I eat nasty food and do not work out as often as I should. I plan on finding a good diet and work out plan to reach my goal in health.

            There are several strategies I use and plan on continuing to use regarding my spiritual, mental, and physical health. I use meditation and yoga when it comes to both my spiritual and mental health. Meditation and yoga both provide me with a calming state to work on these areas. I use these exercises to go deep within my being and focus on what needs to be fixed. Meditation and yoga really help you gain mental strength while reaching a high sense of spirituality at the same time. It helps you find the inner you, as well as finding beauty in life. I will continue these exercises for as long as I am living, it is the most beneficial thing I have ever done. As far as health goes I plan on going further with my yoga and practicing healthy eating. Although I already use yoga, I do not feel I do enough to benefit my health. I plan on finding more difficult poses that will burn more calories and build muscle. I know this is going to be difficult but I am strong and I will reach my goal. Practicing healthy eating is so difficult for me. Healthy eating is very inconvenient when you are constantly on the go. I need to do tons of research on the matter in order to find the right diet for myself. I also need to teach myself healthy eating on the go. I eat a lot of fast food (which I hate) but feel I have no choice. I know this is just an excuse and there are tons of ways to eat healthy, for instance, packing a healthy lunch. It really is that simple, I have the mind power to do it, and I have no idea why I haven’t started yet.

             I am very committed to living a life of optimal well-being. I plan on keeping a journal on my progress over the next 6 months. I feel if you write things down, you actually see progress and failure. A journal will help me stay on track and better myself in the needed areas. My main strategy for maintaining long term health and wellness is meditation. I am a firm believer that meditation is the ultimate key to optimal well-being. I could and will not live a life without my meditation. It has been such a huge help in my life and I know I can continue to better myself in the years to come by meditating. I have learned so much and hope to continue to learn many beneficial things on my journey to optimal well-being. 

Two Meditations I Love

Loving-kindness and visualization meditations are the two that have benefited me the most. Loving-kindness has helped me become a better person and treat people better. I have learned to replace negative thoughts with positive ones and that reflects my attitude towards people. I never realized how my thoughts of others effected my life. Knowing how to stay positive and send out good vibes really does make life easier. Everyone around me seems to be effected by my positive actions. The visualization exercise is my favorite. I have actually used this for a very long time. When I meditate, I like to have a visual in my head on what I need my meditation to help with. To me, seeing is believing, and to be able to see my inner self, lets me know that my goal of optimal well being is possible. I plan to use these meditations for a life time because the benefits are amazing.

Meeting Aesclepius

This exercise was amazing. I really feel like a wiser being after completing this. When you have someone who has has taken the path to greater well-being and are able to focus on their knowledge it really becomes a part of you. I have never done this in any previous exercises. This one really changed me. I feel like a new being, ready to take on the knowledge of my teachers. I have a new goal, that of which I must become one with my teacher. I want to be on that level and know what it is truly like to live in that sense of oneness with the universe. "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself." This quote is some of the most true words I have heard in a long time. Why would anyone want to do something their teacher tells them to do, if they haven't lived it them self? In the health and wellness profession, the professional must live the life in order to teach the life. It is as simple as that. I have a lot to learn before I can use my practices in my profession. I want to know every thing their is to know and truly be one with my self before I pass it on to my clients. This is my goal and I hope to reach it before I graduate. I want to be the best psychologist I can be, promoting self wellness without the use of medications.

Practice and Assessment

The loving kindness exercise has opened me up in so many different levels.  Everyday I find myself becoming a more loving caring being.  After going through the assessment process, I realized I that loving kindness was exactly what I needed to work on. I am coming to peace with the difficulty of forgiveness.  I am learning to let go of negative thoughts and feelings and just love. I am now closer to unity consciousness than ever before. I will continue with my meditations and continue practicing loving kindness.  I am genuinely grateful for the opportunity to open my self up to this and will use it everyday for the rest of my life, finding beauty in even the most difficult people, because beauty is inside of everyone,  and everyone deserves to be loved.

The connection between spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness

Once you are mentally and psychically well, it becomes easier to reach spiritual wellness.  When you are healthy and you have good control of the mind, you gain a sense of clarity you did not have before. Spirituality comes more naturally after that. Is is easy to focus on your spiritual life when all of the negative aspects of life are gone. All three go together so it is very important to have optimal well being in each aspect.

Subtle Mind

The subtle mind exercise was a bit easier for me than the loving-kindness exercise.  I practice exercises similar to the subtle mind everyday. Loving-kindness is a bit more difficult in the aspect that it is harder to forgive people. It is easier for me to clear my head because I practice it daily. I like these guided exercises for days when I do not have a lot of time. I can use them on the go because I have them on my phone.

Mental workout

A mental workout is training your mind to control your thoughts and reach a higher awareness. This is very difficult at first but the more you work out your brain the easier it is to push unwanted thoughts aside. Meditation is my mental workout.  I practice every day and have accomplished great things. Anxiety used to control me but I now control anxiety. Did you know anxiety can be triggered by subconscious thoughts? Well it is true, your body can be controlled by a thought you do not know you are thinking.  Mental workouts can help you find these thoughts and diminish them. I am thankful I found meditation and have more control over my mind and body than ever.

Loving-kindness

This is an amazing exercise and I really needed this in my life. Learning to forgive others and have love in my heart towards people I feel have wronged me is a huge deal. I am going to do this exercise often. I feel as humans we do not love enough. We should radiate love to everyone! The people you are closest to should be able to feel love from you. What greater way to achieve this than practicing the loving-kindness exercise.  I believe optimal well being cannot be reached until you have a great love for everyone and everything thing around you. Everything has something beautiful about it, find it and love it!!!

The Crime of the Century

This was a very helpful relaxation exercise. I actually do my own similar to this often. The colors represent the chakras and I enjoyed that very much. I will continue to use this mp3 when I am pressed for time and need a quick meditation.