Reflection

When I went back to unit 3 and reviewed my personal assessment my first thought was how much has happened since that unit.  It has been a roller coaster time in my life.  Seems I just get one thing settled and then another three things pop up.

I gave myself a 7 in physical, 4 in spiritual and psychological a 9.  My score has changed somewhat because I have slacked off on going to the gym and taking my walks lately because I’ve been dealing with my mother who is ill.  My spiritual well-being has increased a bit because I have been praying more and having more meditation time.  My psychological has dipped a bit because it is very difficult dealing with the possibility of placing my mother in a home because we can no longer care for her.  So my current scale is 5 physical, 5 spiritual and 7 psychological. 

I have not been able to keep all of my goals as much as I like due to caring for my mom and my school schedule.  But I do think that I am more aware of my goals because I printed out my final and keep it on my nightstand so that when I’m planning my week I try to integrate my goals into the week.

This has probably been the most rewarding class that I have taken.  Other classes have helped me further my education so that I can be a better employee or helped me understand my role in the infection prevention department.  But this class has been the most rewarding personally.  

I think this class has opened my heart to show loving-kindness in a more complete manner.  I see things through a different view point.  I know have a goal of reaching integral health to be the best that I can be. 

My Integral Healing Plan

My Integral Healing Plan

Unit 9 Project

Dana Simpson

Kaplan University

March 4, 2013

Professor Mark Maule

HW420: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

    Introduction

Health and wellness professionals are often called the most caring and selfless people.  In times of crisis nothing is more calming than to hear the words “It’s OK, I will take care of you” from a nurse or care giver.  However, if those same care givers do not take the time to develop themselves psychologically, spiritually and physically then they may crash and burn and can no longer be productive care givers.  I have learned in this class that I must take the time to create an integral healing path for myself so that I can become whole.  I have to be well myself so that the love and caring that I want to share with others will be of the highest quality.  I will start with more self-love and loving kindness towards myself.  I must give myself permission to take the time and not feel guilty about developing my mind, body and spirit. 

    Assessment

In my initial steps on the path to integral healing I began to question what a “Whole Dana” looked like.  In that I mean that I began to really burrow into the nooks and crannies of my inner self to see what was there and try to glimpse a vision of what I could become.  As I assessed each domain, I discovered that after leaving a 25 year marriage I had lost myself  and I had to start from square one to find out who I am.  I used a 1-5 grading scale with 1 being the bottom of the well in wellness to 5 being an overflowing fountain ready to share all the love that I can.  Here’s my assessment:

Spiritual: I give myself a 2.  I still read my devotionals but not with regularity.  I haven’t lost my faith; I just don’t take the time to grow in it.  I stopped going to church because of a move and I miss the fellowship of a Christian community. 

Physical:  I give myself a 3.  Since I left my old life more than a year ago I exercise more than I did before.  However, I am still very sporadic and not consistent with my exercise plan.  I don’t regularly walk my dog which brings pleasure to both of us. 

Psychological:  I give myself a 3.  During this past year I have done a lot of thinking about where I was emotionally and where I want to be.  I’ve had deep conversations with friends about what happened to my marriage and I feel that I’m definitely on the path better mental health but I still have some baggage that I drag along and I need to address those issues.

    Goal development:

In my quest for integral health I must make a commitment to myself.  The best way to get to my end result of wholeness is to have goals and milestones.  My goals in the three areas are as follows:

Physical:  I will take my dog for a walk at least two days a week and play tug with her every day after work.  I will take my 15 minute walk in the morning at work.  I will go to the gym two days a week and continue my four mile walks with my boyfriend on Saturday and Sunday.  I always feel better when I exercise and it is important to keep exercising especially since I have a family history of arthritis. 

Psychological:  I will continue to read at least one book every two months which contribute to my mental well-being.  For example, I am interested in the book by Sharon Salzberg Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness as it suggests tools to help me learn how to love myself.  I feel it is important to continue reading books that I can use to help me understand myself better or help me heal my psychological wounds. 

Spiritual:  I will go to the new church that I found at least two times a month.  I miss the peace and calm that I feel when I am at a church service.  I have been a Christian all my life and I miss being involved in a church.  I also will meditate before I go to bed three times a week.  I have found that meditation really relaxes me, helps me sleep better and be more focused at work.

Practices for personal health

It is important that I have a plan to keep me on the path to integral health.  The strategies I plan to implement to foster growth in the three areas are as follows:

Physical:  If I write things down then I do them.  On Sunday I will pull my calendar out and put in my dog walking time, gym time and walking time.  I will schedule appointments around those commitments instead of dropping them for the appointments.  My boyfriend and I will hold each other accountable for our weekend walks.  I will track my progress of exercise and eating habits in My Fitness Pal daily.

Psychological:  I always read before I go to bed so I will set aside time every other night to read a chapter in the non-fiction book of the month.  I will also call my friend Jacqulyn and arrange more dinner dates with her.  She is a very dear friend and we laugh so much when we are together that it helps me no matter what type of day I have had. 

Spiritual:  I will move my bible to my night stand where I will see it every day and read it more often.  I will get up 15 minutes earlier to read the small devotional that I have.  I will make sure that my family members know which nights that I am going to meditate so that they do not come into the room. 

Commitment

When I was in eighth grade our English teacher made us start a journal.  At the beginning we all hated it.  But by the end of the semester we were all asking her for more writing time.  I miss journaling.  I will buy a pretty journal and start writing how I feel and what went on during the day.  Since I can type very fast the act of slowing down and actually writing words with a pen will make me contemplate what is really going on in my life.  I will wear my Fit-bit and sync it with My Fitness Pal so that I can monitor my exercise goals.  I will take the time to weekly weigh myself and document my measurements so that I can see my results.  It is difficult to measure my spiritual growth or lack thereof except by how I handle stress.  When I am meditating, praying and studying the bible I have a much better outlook so I guess my measurement for this will be reflected in my journal writing. 

            I am excited to begin this journey to integral health.  I feel somewhat like a butterfly that has recently left her cocoon.  Leaving a bad marriage, completing school within the next few months and getting a promotion are all changes that have stretched me and made me feel more confident.  I’m looking forward to see what new adventures lay around the corner for me.  Here’s to stretching my wings!

Looking forward to integral health

Hello classmates~

I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone by for this class.  I’m nearing the end of my time at Kaplan and I’m so glad that this class was one of my last.  I feel I can take more away from this class than any other class.  

The two practices that I found most beneficial to me in this course were Loving Kindness and Subtle mind.  The Loving Kindness exercise gave me “permission” in a manner of speaking to love myself and then share that love with those around me.  Even share it with those who I may have a hard time loving.  I was able to give loving kindness, even mentally, to my ex-husband.  That is a huge step in my growth as a person and along my path to complete integral health.

The Subtle Mind session really helped me calm down and become centered.  When I did the subtle mind exercise for a few days during that week I really felt more able to focus and was able to handle more stressful situations at work.  We recently had an office move and it was pretty hectic and stressful.  By following the subtle mind sessions I felt that I was more calm when I walked in to the office filled with boxes to be unpacked and was able to make sound decisions on where to put things.  

I want to integrate both of these sessions into my life because of the help that they provided me.  I think that meditation has helped me become more focused and much calmer.  I’ve even had friends comment that I seem more relaxed and I’m smiling more.  I’m looking forward to getting done with school so that I can focus more time on me and healing myself so that I can move forward with the rest of my life.

Finding the Inner Healer

My meditative practice this week was very poor because it has been a very stressful week at work and I’m fighting a cold.  I did manage to listen to the Meeting Aesclepius two times.  The first time I fell asleep and the second time I was able to enjoy the visualization of the inner healer.  I do feel that meditation has helped my outlook on life and has made it easier to handle this stressful time in my life.  I plan on continuing this application to my life even after this class is over.  I will read more on meditation exercises and try to increase my meditation time. 

To me the saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means that you cannot teach or train someone in an area of life unless you have some reference point.  For instance I have a physician friend that deals with patients with addiction problems.  His son became addicted to drugs and is now recovering however he feels that his experience with his son has helped his practice immensely.  I feel that as a health care provider I have the responsibility to continue to grow as a person as gain more wisdom from life in order to help guide others along the path to integral healing.

My experience with Loving Kindness

Hello fellow bloggers~

This week has been so crazy so the Loving Kindness exercise came at just the right time.  I had to see my soon-to-be ex-husband last Friday and it was tough.  As I was going through the Loving Kindness exercise ironically I thought of him.  I thought about how forgiving him and sending him well wishes could be cathartic for me.  I can actually wish him the best of luck, maybe not to his face but in thoughts. 

I discovered through the Integral Assessment that I have many areas that I need to work on but not to get overwhelmed with the prospect.  If I can just focus on one area and work on that I will make progress.  I have chosen self-love to be the focus of my growth and development.  For so many years I put him first trying with no luck to make him happy that I lost myself.  I am working on meditating at least three times a week.  And I’m going to get my nails done.  This is something simple but I feel so good when I get pampered.  I am worth it and I will work on this area of my life. 

Subtle Mind exercise

First of all let me say thank you to all who comment on my blog.  I don’t always get a chance to reply to your comments but all of them have been encouraging and uplifting.  We all lead very busy lives and I know it takes time and effort to compose a response and I appreciate all of them.

Now…on to Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises.  I have been listening to the Loving Kindness exercise since last week and then this week added the Subtle Mind exercise.  I think both exercises are good and I felt better after taking the time to do them.  But personally I think I got more out of the Subtle Mind Exercise.  I think we should have done that first.  The speaker makes a statement about calming the busy mind.  I didn’t realize how busy my mind was.  It kept jumping around and being busy.  The more I listened to the exercise the more calm my mind became and I could focus on my thoughts and let them go.  I think we need to learn to be calm and then we can learn to share our loving kindness.  

If we don’t take care of our spiritual wellness our physical wellness will suffer.  There have been studies that show that people that are depressed or cynical are more likely to become ill.  Since I am older I have seen trends in my life.  When I am under extreme stress and I plow through it without regard to my spiritual health I usually get sick within two to three days of the stressful situation.  When I take the time to read my bible and meditate, even if stress comes I manage to keep it together and remain calm.