To me it is very
important as a health and wellness professional to be fully developed psychologically,
spiritually, and physically because in order to achieve optimum wellness you
have to be well in all of these aspects. As a health and wellness professional
it is our job to train people in how to reach this optimum health, and without firsthand
experience how can you teach someone else about it. You have to practice what
you preach. In order for people to take you seriously they have to see that
what you’re telling them to do actually works. The areas I need to develop more
are my spiritual and psychological health. Both of these are difficult for me
because I cannot physically see the changes, and I find it hard to make time to
reflect. These are both important when trying to reach optimum health.
As to assessing my health physically I think I do quite
well. I’m very active, and conscious of what I eat. I take pride in caring for
my outer appearance very well. But as I mentioned above I lack in my spiritual
and psychological wellness. This has a lot to do with how I handle stress and
emotions in my life, I don’t. I push it way in the back of my mind and don’t
think about it, but as I’ve recently learned while taking this class that is
not a healthy way to deal with things. As Dacher says; all four aspects of life
are interconnected. They are always impacting one another. An undeveloped
psychospiritual life results in both a disturbed physiology and unfulfilled
relationships. Disturbed relationships lead to a disturbed mental life and a
disturbed physiology, and so on (Dacher, 2006). In order to attain radiant
health and life we must be developed in all these areas of ourselves.
It is important to set personal goals of development in
each aspect of our health. It helps us grow and continue to better ourselves on
our path to flourishment. As for my psychological health my goal is to continue
practicing the exercises learned in this class. The loving-kindness; to help me
rid of bitterness and anger I have in my heart, and to open up and show love to
others. Skillful-action; to help me bring out the positive and rid of all the
negative in my life. Silence and Stillness to help me train my mind to be calm
and allow myself to examine things each day to identify what is necessary and
what just causes stress in my life. And last but not least the Visualization exercises;
to allow my mind and train it to focus on certain images and experience the
necessary feelings with each image. I think by continuing these exercises I
will be able to be psychologically well. As for my physical health my goal is
to maintain my body where it is at now. Keep up with the exercising on a
regular base and stay motivated, and also be cautious of what I eat. For my
spiritual health my goal is to practice meditation. I think in doing this it
will allow me to be in touch with my inner self and by doing this I will find
peace.
Some exercises you could do to implement spiritual health
are prayer, meditation, or even spending time in nature and enjoying the beauty
that it holds. All of these things can help heal us spiritually, and give us a
feeling of calmness. For physical health some exercises you could implement
could be make sure your active at least four days out of the week, wither it be
walking, running, bicycling, swimming, or dancing, whatever it takes to keep
you moving. Also make a nutrition goal for yourself like not to eat over 2,000
calories a day and drink the recommended 8 glasses of water a day. All of these
things will help your physical being. And as for your psychological health
exercises such as yoga, tai chi, or something even as simple as listening to
the sounds of nature are all mindful exercises that will allow you mental peace
and harmony.
As to assess my progress or lack of progress in the next
six months I will keep a daily diary or journal. I think this is a great way to
track how I am developing and can be used to maintain my long-term practice for
health and wellness by giving me something to reflect on to see how much I have
grown in all aspects on my journey to human flourishing.
References:
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral
health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health
Publications, Inc.
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