Putting It All Together

Putting it all Together  

1. After reviewing my unit 3 personal assessment and reflecting where I am today I have come up with the following:

Physical – in Unit 3 I was about a 4 or 5. I think today I am about a 7. Some of this has to do with I am no longer on the harsh chemo that was physically taking my body down but I am also more active. Still not completely up to par since I am still on restrictions of working out but I am getting more walking in at least 3 times a week.

Spiritual – in unit 3 I was at a 5 but thinking back that should have probably been about a 3. I feel I am now about a 5. This one is still tough for me since I am trying to find myself. Meditating and Praying is helping.

Psychological – in unit 3 I rated myself at a 6. Today I feel I am around an 8. Emotionally I am doing much better and I feel that the meditation exercises we have learned really helped me there.

2.    In a review of my goals I set which were lose weight and add more me time in each day, to find my way spiritually, and to regain clearer thinking. I have lost 5 pounds and each day I take about an hour in the morning and at the end of the day to just either read a book, journal, or write a letter to my son who is in the Navy on board ship. Spiritually I am still finding my way but do say prayers every night again. I am also thinking a little clearer and I think that really has to do with no longer being on that nasty chemo. To help my thinking processes I have started doing artsy type things like scrapbooking and puzzles.

3.   The wellness activities I wanted to implement were walking, relaxation exercises, spiritually I wanted to keep searching before I knew how I implement that, and psychologically was to do artsy type things. I have implemented more walking, giving myself an hour at the beginning and end of day for relaxation, and am doing art type things. Spiritually I have implemented praying more for guidance and meditating about it.

I took this course because after coming out of hearing the “Cancer” word, having a double mastectomy, needing chemo, I was looking for something to help me learn to relax and show me how to do what I have been trying to do for so long and that is to live Holistically. I wanted to be happy again without medication and stop crying all the time. This course has given me the road map back to happiness without the help of medication, it has helped to lower my blood pressure, and it has helped to get me thinking about not only myself but how I can show others what I have learned even though I am not going into the health and wellness industry. To me this whole class has been rewarding in helping me find myself. I think the most difficult is the spiritual part. I just need to open myself up more for that aspect. It will happen because I will keep at it until it does. The biggest thing I have learned is to not give up. I have shared all of our exercises with my Josh (my significant other) and he has found them very relaxing. It is nice to be able to share what I have learned and I do look forward to sharing it with others too

Final Thoughts

        I.            Introduction: Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop phsychologically, spiritually, and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

I think it is important for health and wellness professionals to be developed in all areas to be able to help their clients. This goes for psychologically, spiritually, and physically. I know for me being a client to take whatever is told to me to heart and actually put it to practice I would need to see that they have the expertise in those areas and have done them to give me the guidance I would need. I think the biggest area right now that I need to develop would be my spirituality. I am lacking in other areas but not being able to do certain things physically right now until after all my surgeries and releases by my physicians there is not much I can do there except watch my nutrition which I have been very good doing.

      II.            Assessment: How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

My assessment in each of the areas has not changed drastically since starting the course. I think physically I am up to a 6 or 7. Physically I am not able to workout because of not being released by the doctor to do so but I have made strides to walk more and to watch my nutrition better. Spiritually I am still about a 5. I am still trying to find where I fit in. Sounds strange but this one is a hard one for me. I feel there is so much more to learn and I have been meditating and praying about it to help me find my way. Psychologically I am about a 7 to an 8 now. I have better clarity on thinking and I am doing more things artistically to help.

    III.            Goal development: List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health), and Spiritual.

I think that a goal to help me physically will be to continue to work on nutrition and try to find a yoga class that would fit my impairments right now. I know locally they have a chair yoga group that is for senior citizens. I also found there is a place locally that the yoga instructor is a 2^nd time recurring breast cancer patient herself and I am interested in speaking to her. A goal for my spirituality would be to research what truly makes me happy in this area. Putting an actual goal besides research would be hard to do. Right now I feel I fall into several levels spiritually. A goal for my mental health would be to push myself to do more than one set of meditation a day and get involved with the local Shambhala center to learn more.

    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.

I think practices I could implement physically would be to keep a food/exercise diary to keep track of my nutrition goals and contact the local rec center and my doctor to see if I can join the chair yoga. Spiritually an exercise or practice would be to continue meditating and also continue to research different religions. Psychologically exercises that I can do would be to continue to do things artistically and also meditate to keep control of my mental clarity.

      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?

I think for me I would need to make a check sheet/journal to assess my progress or lack of progress over the next six months. I would keep a journal to where I can check off items that I did each day. This is a strategy I would need to use not just for the short term but for my long term practice also. I think after a time it would be second nature to do these items daily but to write it down or the lack of writing it down would be the accountability that I need.

Tina  

Visualization and Meditation

I honestly had a hard time coming up with only two that I think are beneficial. To me in addition to Visualization and Meditation I also feel that Subtle Mind is also beneficial. All of these help to reduce stress in different ways. Subtle Mind helps to clear the mind with breathing. Meditation helps to clear the chatter in your mind to help reduce stress and Visualization helps you to reduce stress by visualizing happy times.

I can use these in my life to help my mental fitness to reduce the stress from work, relationships, and life happenings in general. This week has been challenging me in the stress department due to having one son leave for deployment for the next 7 months. I was feeling his stress about leaving because of me still in treatments for cancer and his wife is due with their 2nd child while he will be gone. This is a stress for him since they lost their 1st baby 6 short hours after he was born. I also had more tests this week for my next step in my treatment and I am getting ready for another surgery. Needless to say the breathing exercises have been my lifesaver this week along with Visualization to take me to a happier place.

Meeting Aesclepius

This practice was very peaceful to me this week after I got the mind chatter to stop. I chose my mom to focus on. She was not only my mom but also my best friend. It really helped me deal a little bit better with things that I have not thought about or dealt with for a long time. I will continue to use this practice since I did find it very peaceful.

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that if you have not done something yourself how are you going to show someone else how to do do it. As a health and wellness professional if you have not meditated, how can you expect to show your patient how to meditate or expect them to take it seriously. I think as a health and wellness professional you do have an obligation to live what you teach. You need to know what the patients fears could be. For me I can implement relaxation and meditation into my day to grow me psychologically and spiritually. I am still a work in progress on this but I do know that if I implement these things that it will get easier.

Tina

Loving Kindness and Assessment

I think that everyone should do the universal Loving Kindness meditation. It would bring more peace and harmony to the world. It doesn't focus just on one person it focuses on everyone. I think the area that I need more growth and development in is spiritual. I need to really sit down and figure out what is right for me. What will take me to that next level. I think some exercises that I can do is to meditate more to get deeper in myself to find what it is I am looking for.

Tina

Subtle Mind

The Subtle mind exercise to me was much easier then the Loving Kindness. I was able to focus more on my breathing. I actually focused on the ocean, the blue of the water and the crashing waves around me. I did not stray but once when I heard a noise but was able to come right back to my breathing and focusing. The Loving Kindness was just too much focusing on many different things. I like the single focus and breathing because it help me to relax better.

The connection between spiritual, mental and physical health is very important. I know that if I am spiritually at ease my mental and physical health will also be at ease. This is important for healing. I had to go for a blood transfusion today and I worked hard at all of these. Spiritually and mentally to know I was going to be fine and physical I knew that this was something my body needed to heal. I was scared and just laid in the bed at the hospital doing breathing exercises. It helped to calm me.

Tina

Loving Kindness

I was so looking forward to this week's exercise since I had chemo last Thursday and it is so hard bouncing back from those days and the last two actually were wonderful. I'm not sure if I was not in the right mind when I did it or if I was still to foggy from the chemo but I could not get into this one. I would recommend the exercise to others and I will have to re-do this one just to see if it is my chemo-fog or exactly what went wrong for me.

I think that a "mental workout" is needed to just stay in tune with ourselves. I can implement doing mental workouts daily to help my psychological health. Research shows that if we do a mental workout it helps reduce stress we go through on a daily basis.

Personal Wellness

This week is pretty deep. It is really making me think. Reflecting on how I rate myself for:

A-physical well-being right now I would say only about a 4 or 5 at this time because of having to deal with my cancer and treatments.

B-spiritual well-being I would also rate pretty low at this time at about a 5.

C-psychological well-being I would rate around a 6.

The reason I feel this way is thinking back I was doing about an 8 in all areas before May. Being told you have the “C” word was not one I expected and really dropped me physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I am doing better psychologically because I have come to terms with it and now it is just finding my way back spiritually and getting through my treatments. I think one goal for my physical well-being will be to lose weight and add more time for me into my day. I can implement this by doing more walking exercises and also scheduling 20 minutes in the morning and evening for quiet time relaxation exercises. Spiritually a goal will be to find my way back to what makes me happy spiritually, sometimes I’m sad that at 42 I am still searching. I think I still need to keep searching before I can say how I can implement this. Psychologically a goal will be to regain clarity on my thinking processes. For this I have been doing artsy type things to keep my brain working but I know full clarity will not come until my chemo is done.

The relaxation exercise this week was great. I do not find these frustrating at all. In fact sometimes I wish they would last so much longer because of enjoying them. It gives me that time-out that I need.

Welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. This will be the place I am going to post my thoughts and feelings, among many other things.

I started this blog for my Health and Wellness class with Kaplan University. I only have 4 more classes before I graduate with my Bachelor degree in Accounting. I took this class as one of my electives and feel at this point in my life I needed it. I hope you enjoy my blog.

Tina

The Journey

Oh how I LOVE relaxation exercises!!!! I did the relaxation exercise and felt totally comfortable and relaxed after getting done. I have done the guided relaxation in the past and forgot how good you feel when getting done. I hope everyone enjoys the relaxation as much as I did. I really needed that today. This weekend has been non-stop, on the go and rough. I am in the process of making a gift for my son and daughter-in-law for Hayden's 1st birthday. I am putting together a remembrance book and a CD. This brings up a lot of stress for me since I really have not dealt with my grandson's death completely. I need to remember to take time for me and to relax and this class will give me the tools I need to do that.

Tina