Psychological and Spiritual Wellness

     I have a hard time setting daily goals for myself. Perhaps it’s because I just have too much on my plate in a given day, but I don’t think I will ever master the art of meditation. I really like the voice of the speaker and the music from the ‘Meeting Aesclepius’ exercise. Part of me wants to relax and enjoy the quiet peacefulness, but part of me is afraid that I’ll fall asleep and waste valuable time that I could be cleaning or doing homework. Maybe someday I will get the hang of it, but for now all I can do is take it day by day.

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     “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself.” This is quote that speaks for itself and is also contradictory of itself. For one, there are many people who teach one thing and do another, such as medical personnel who drink or smoke even though they know it’s harmful to their health. When I first looked at this quote, I thought, this is really interesting. It made me think of some of the parenting groups I’m involved in, like mothers who cloth diaper, natural parenting, and baby wearing. Obviously these groups are formed by parents who had an idea and then perfected the idea, but all too often I see moms in the group who express their opinions without knowing the facts, and it urks me to no end! Don’t knock it til ya try it. Or- even worse, people who have been misinformed or ‘think they know’ giving others advice. I-yi-yi!

     This applies to the health and wellness professional in similar ways. If you are an overweight ogre, you should not be telling someone how to eat or exercise. Number one, it’s hypocritical. Number two, no one (I hope) will listen to you anyway. As a professional, health and wellness gurus have an obligation to be well informed themselves before giving any kind of advice!

     I would like to implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life simply by educating myself before I run off at the mouth! Lol No, in all honesty I think the most important aspect of wellness is just to take each situation with a grain of salt, learn from it, minimize distress, and move on.

Loving Kindness Exercise

1. Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

This is the first exercise that I identified with. I was able to relax myself, my pain eased, my negative emotions are now gone. I can’t even remember what I was thinking of that had me so anxious before. I know I was stressing out about getting my homework in on time, about my kids not getting to bed on time, and my back hurting, but it’s as if those things just disappeared- and I made it happen! It was incredibly difficult to become comfortable and relax in the beginning, but I convinced myself I could do it, and I began to relax little by little, taking in the words of the instructor, and turning my “black clouds” into “clear blue wind.” I would definitely recommend the Loving Kindness exercise to others. If it can help me, it can surely help anyone.

2. What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

A mental workout, to me, means exercise for your brain. This includes being alert or calm depending on the circumstance and focusing on the positive and what really matters. The best way I know to implement mental workouts is to stay in school, learn as much as I can, and attempt to stay calm and motivated every day. Another big goal for me is to reduce distress from every aspect of my life!

Reflections and Relaxation

Wellness, as a person centered orientation, relies heavily on the concept that the individual is aware of his/her strengths and needs. However there is often little encouragement or expectation for the individual to self-reflect or take a holistic personal inventory or to convey their awareness with their health practitioner.

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?

A, 8 (I thought of four positive, and two negative, so I took the difference from 10). B, 6 (I would like to know myself better and be more in control). C, 5 (Same as the spiritual, but I think if I knew my inner working better and how to enhance positive and not dwell on negative stressors, I could be happier and more fulfilled).

2. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

Goals: Physical: Have a healthy weight gain throughout my pregnancy and wear my glasses when I’m supposed to. Spiritual: Have more faith in myself and stop second-guessing my intuition! Psychological: Decrease one distress or do away with it completely.

3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Implements: Physical: Eat more vegetables, fruit, and watch portion sizes. Spiritual: Ask myself why more; do some research into my own thoughts. Ex. Why did I come to this place, thought process, decision? Psychological: Make more lists and give more time to complete them. Stop procrastinating so much!

4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

I liked the exercise at the beginning. I began to relax. The guy said to envision a window at the base of my spine and imagine the color red coming from it. I repeated that I was grounded. Then, he said make another window at the spine across from your belly button- THE SHAPE OF A CIRCLE! Who thinks of windows as circles?! Threw my whole thing off. It’s always something stupid that ruins it for me. But I listened to the whole thing, tried to reconnect and relax, then the guy said at the end, you’re not sleepy, you’re energized! WHAT?! Heck no guy, it’s 11:00pm and I want to go to bed. I was so ticked off. Talk about frustrating.

Journey on Relaxation Exercise

When I first started the track and began to relax, I tried to do what the speaker was telling me to do. After a minute, I became more aware of my body and alert to what the speaker was saying. As soon as my energy started to come back, I started to feel antsy. I don't think these kinds of exercises are for me. My arms never felt heavy or warm. I merely got the urge to move, like I had ants in my pants. Guess I just have a really hard time settling down.

For all intent and purposes

This blog was set up to use for my current Wellness class, but I hope to learn from it as everyone else who stops by surely will. Any questions, comments, and/or suggestions are welcome! Thanks- Staci (Lovey890@aol.com)