Introduction:
As a health and wellness professional it is extremely important to consider the
development of my own personal overall health which includes my development
psychologically, spiritually and physically. I feel that this is very important
because as a health care worker in health and wellness you as the provider have
to not only understand these concepts of integral health but you also have to
live them. There is a saying that I heard when I was a young man the statement
was “practice what you preach” I feel that as health and wellness professionals
in this career and any career for that matter must make an attempt to practice
in their own lives what they are preaching at work. That is like going to a
Dental hygiene appointment and when you sit down in the chair you realize that
the Hygienist teeth are all brown and stained before you can really take them
seriously you must see a true reflection of what is being asked of you.
According to (Dacher, 2006) to become professionals of better health, we must
first begin in our own lives. Integral health can be learned from reading books
that teach the correct practices of integral but it can truly be understood by
the practices we display. In my personal quest to become a overall healthier
person I feel that I need to work on all 3 aspects of integral health I am
strong physically but I still have a lot of work to do in all areas. I must
continue to strive for the goals that I set and that I try to preach to my
clientele. I will continue to attempt to better myself spiritually, physically,
and psychologically.
Assessment: I
feel that one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish as a health and
wellness professional is to assess your own health in each of the domains. I
have assessed my health in each domain by coming up with a plan to better
utilize my time so that I can pay closer attention to the life adjustments I
need to accomplish in order to achieve optimal human flourishing. I would like
to start off my assessment by stating I am very active in my exercise routines,
I go to the gym three days a week. In that short time frame I work on muscle
strengthening, Cardiovascular and aerobic exercises. I am not consistent with
my exercise because of time restraints but I make an attempt to go three times
a week. These activities make the physical aspect of my health quite strong but
there is always some room to grow and improve. If physical wellness was just
about exercise I would grade my physical wellness as very good, but since we
know that not only do you have to exercise to maintain good physical wellness
but you also have to eat right too. My
major issue with my physical wellness is the fact that I do not eat the right
food which can cause my body to become drained which can cause me to become
lazy. With all these factors taken into consideration I would have to rate my physical
wellness a rate of medium and I need to continue to make strides to improve it.
When I think of my psychological
wellness grade I would rate it at a medium because my mind tends to wonder off
into a world of imagination which some would consider a good thing but I often
feel that it happens to often. But other than that fact my psychological
wellness is good.
I am a very spiritual person I have
strong believes and I try to live my life through most of those specific
spiritual believes. I would grade my spiritual wellness high because I am very in
tune with this portion of my wellness but there is always some room to grow.
Goal development:
I feel one of the most important processes of creating a wellness plan is
creating goals, monitoring those goals and making a strong effort to accomplish
those specific goals. Goal development has played a huge role on my overall integral
health I have set many goals in my life and I was not lucky enough to
accomplish them all but I did make an planned effort to complete these tasks.
My goal for physical wellness would be to be more consistent with my exercise
regime but a much more important goal for my physical wellness would be for me
to eat a better diet and follow my own advice on nutritional consumption. My
goal for my psychological wellness is to start a program where I can begin to
learn different forms of alternative therapy such as meditation, guided imagery,
and yoga. These activities are not easy and could possibly take a considerable
amount of practice on a daily basis. Last, my goal for my spiritual health is
to continue going to church. I will also fast from foods and pray much more
often.
Practices for personal
health: Some of the strategies that I can use in my life
to help foster growth in all of the areas of Integral health include:
Physical
wellness- My main concern with my physical wellness in my diet. I would first
like to create a diet that is shaped around what I like to eat so I wont feel
bad when I cheat on a diet because it would already be in the diet plan. I
would have to make a calendar and write what I want and what I am willing to do
to burn off whatever fat I gain from it. I would also like to involve my family
in this strategy because it would help us all out. A consistent exercise plan
that revolves around my busy schedule would be very beneficial to me as well.
Psychological wellness- One of my main
issues is having a cluttered mind. I try to clear my head but nothing I have
tried has worked for me. My new strategies will include getting involved in a
yoga class and using the relaxation exercises that I learned in this course ie
Subtle
Mind exercise, Witnessing Mind, Calm Abiding Mind, and Unity Consciousness
exercises are all strategies that I plan to use to foster growth in my own
psychological wellness.
Spiritual wellness- This is one of
the easier strategies for me because I am somewhat consistent in this area but
there is always room for improvement. I went to church today and the pastor
said to fast and pray. These two strategies in combination will help me
tremendously. I plan to start by giving up something I like for a short period
of time and whenever I feel I really need whatever it is I will just pray for
strength and guidance.
Commitment:
Commitment is the biggest part of creating a wellness plan in the next six
months I will use different strategies to assist me in maintaining my wellness
plan and to assure that I continue with my plan at an consistent rate. For the
physical maintenance I will continue to assess my progress by keeping a log of
my exercise plan that will include the amount of times I go to the gym, the
duration of my stay, and how many different exercises I do to include there
repetition amounts. I will create a diet and a schedule around that specific
diet so I know what to eat and at what time to consume the food. I plan to
increase and rotate the amount and types of exercise I do in an effort to gain
muscle and shed fat. My psychological maintenance plan includes a chart that
shows my progress on such mental exercises like memorization, stress relive and
mental sharpness. I plan to assess these charts weekly to monitor my
progression and as for my spiritual maintenance I plan to continue to read
spiritual literature and I also plan to enroll in meditation courses to improve
my spiritual insight.
In conclusion this
project was a great an opportunity for me to get a chance and create a plan
that applies concepts to me and my personal goals.
References
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path
to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA; Basic Health Publications Inc.
