Unit 10!!!

1. Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not? 

Psychological - I originally scored myself a 5, but now I would score myself an 8.  Since we first started I have been about to spend more time with my family. I just got back from the beach with my wife and daughter and it was amazing. I have also started a new job and I am going through the process for the Police Department.  I am less stress than I was before. Yes , I still worry about money and things like that but I have been about to relax more and enjoy much needed time with my family. 

Physical - I originally scored myself a 5 and now I would only score myself a 6. Not much has changed with me physically but I am starting to exercise and eat healthier. 

Spiritual - Back in until 3 I scored myself an 8 and I would still score the same. I know my purpose in life and I know what is important. 

1. Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.

Psychological-my goal was to " keep fighting and never give up, even when things don't go my way" I think that I have made progress towards my goals. I think that it has started to pay off. 

Spiritual- my goal was to " remember why I am working for, and to never forget the importance of family. I don't think that I will ever forget the importance of family. I think that my goal should have been a little different and I should have worked on trying to help people. 

Physical- my physical goal was not accomplished. I wanted to get into the condition that I was in when I was on active duty. I have been very busy trying to make progress towards my other goals that I did not focus of my physical goals. 

1. Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.

Psychological- I think that working a different job has allowed me to spend more time at home and with my family which than makes me happier. 

Spiritual- I have been doing exercises such as loving kindness that have helped me with my spiritual wellness. Besides the exercises that we have done in class I have not worked on my spiritual wellness, but I think that my psychological wellness has improved and in return my spiritual wellness has benefited.

Physical-I have started to work out and eat healthy. 

1. Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?

My experience in this class has been successful. I think that a class like this would benefit more if it was not online.  I think that a group discussion in a class would help with the exercises such as love kindness. 

Rewarding- seeing the difference between unit 3 and unit 10 and my wellness. 

Difficult- these exercises were difficult throughout the class.

This experience will allow me to relate to people more and I can assist people with trying to improve their wellness.

Unit 9 project

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

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because we should be a product of our own success. I don’t think that it would make sense for someone to not “ practice what they preach” Not only should we practice what we preach but we can help our clients with the obstacles that they meet since we may have faced them ourselves. I think that I would benefit from all forms of wellness. If you believe that you don’t need to improve than you are lying to yourself.

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

If I had to score my spiritual wellness, I would give myself a “D”. Spiritual wellness is the part of wellness that I need the most assistance. During this class I have struggled with the exercise that we had to complete. The University of California Riverside states that “Spiritual Wellness is a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives. While different individuals may have different views of what spiritualism is, it is generally considered to be the search for meaning and purpose in human existence, leading one to strive for a state of harmony with oneself and others while working to balance inner needs with the rest of the world”. I know my reason for my existence however I don’t participate in exercise such as yoga or meditation. I know that I is would benefit from them exercises but I find it hard to meditate.

My psychological health is better than my spiritual health. I would score myself as a “ B” I have recently changed my job so that I would not work at night. Working at night took a toll on my physical and mental well being. I am happier since then, but I still have stressors. I am always worried about money.  I am happy being home with my wife and I would say that I am usually happy but sometimes I am overwhelmed when it involves finances.

Just like many other people I would always like to loose and couple of pounds, however I think that my physical health is the part of wellness that I have the most success.  I started to exercise again and I am trying to eat healthier. Although I am not losing weight I feel good in my clothes.

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

A goal that I would set in my spiritual wellness would be to start yoga. I don’t think that I am ready to start meditating but I think some form of spiritual wellness would be beneficial. I used to do the P90X program and in the program they had yoga. It would be a good way for me to start since I would still consider it exercise.

Psychological wellness would not only benefit me but the people around me. If I am a happy than the people around me are more likely to be happy. I think I would benefit from being more organized with the things that are going on. I think a schedule would help me with my busy life. My psychological wellness would benefit if I made more money but  at this time that is not possible, although continuing to go to school will allow me to get a better job faster than not going to school.

Physically there are many things that I can do. I can continue to exercise and eat healthy. I think that eating would be more beneficial than exercise. I want to learn how to eat “clean”. If I learn how to eat healthy I can always benefit from exercise whereas if I exercise and don’t understand how nutrition than I would be as successful.

            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.

Although I don’t think that I will be that successful I can use meditation to help me with spiritual wellness. I do think that I will be successful with yoga exercises. I can continue to practice exercises such as love kindness. There are many forms of yoga, but I think that I would benefit from P90X. I have done some of the exercises with P90X so I will be inclined to do something that I have done before.

As discussed above I think that continuing to going to school will be the bench mark for me to be successful. If I continue to go to school than I can get a job that would allow me to be less stressed and enjoy “life” more.

I can exercise and get healthy to improve my physical wellness. Healthy eating is the first step in improving your physical health. Nutrition will allow  me to be strict with my calorie intake and will allow me to lose weight.

              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?

Each element of wellness deserves a different way to assess wellness. Spiritual wellness can be assessed my how you feel. Questions that you may ask yourself are how am I feeling, do I what is my purpose of life.

Psychological assessments would start by me continuing to go to school as well as my mood. Am I happy? Do I feel less stressed?

Many people think that physical wellness assessments have to be used as weighing yourself on the scale. I like to use the mirror to see my results. I also like to use my jeans see if the feel different.

Unit 7

I think that meditation has allowed me to become more aware of myself. When I am practicing these exercise I feel less stressed. However I have not had the best of times with the exercises but it is slowly coming along. I think that if I continue to practice such exercises that my spiritual wellness will improve. 

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" can apply to the health and wellness industry. When I first read this I think about a personal trainer, it would benefit both the trainer and the client if the individual had some first hand experience. There is nothing more that bothers me than an overweight personal trainer who is trying to help someone with weight loss tips. Don't get me wrong being educated is the most important thing, but how to you expect someone to have faith in you when you dont practice what you preach. 
As health and wellness professionals when are absolutely obligated to be developing our health psychologically,physically and spiritually. First, if we expect to be compensated for our time we better put out a good product. Second if we are not getting better than we are getting worse. We are a walking billboard for ourselves. We need to show our clients that are not perfect and that progression is key to integral wellness. 
Physically I understand what I have to do to become better, but it is harder for me psychological and spiritually. I think that the best way for me to go psychologically and spiritually is to continue to learn, read and ask questions. With anything that we want to accomplish we don't have to do it ourselves. If we have someone else to help/educate us, we can start to understand different perspectives.

Unit 6

Well... I started with the exercise being a little angry, and this did not help. Honestly, I don’t feel like assisting all individuals with what they need. I feel like I have enough to worry about than to worry about someone else’s problem. I am not in the giving mood. I have discovered that I am not good at these exercises and that I don’t have much patience.

I feel that I have a weakness in the Worldly flourishing. Dacher states that Social activism can be further divided into such specific concerns as environmental issues, educational initiatives social justice and so on. I am not involved nor worry about any of these topics. Like other members of class I could also see my need to grow in Biological Flourishing but I am lacking much more in worldly.

I could involve myself in extracurricular activities that involve these topics but I would be more likely to work on my biological flourishing (i.e. exercising)

Unit 5

1.              Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

I have had nothing but problems with these exercises but this week was better. I started listening to the audio with notice cancelling headphone (which I feel helped.) Also I was able to focus more/longer. I thought that the breaks between the women speaking were a little longer than I would have liked. I started to lose concentration waiting for her to talk.  

2.              Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

Spiritual health can be helpful with mental health. It allows us to “connect” with something bigger than ourselves. It gives us a sense of peace of mind when we have spiritual wellness. Mental health is related to physical health, when we exercise we have to concentrate on the exercise. “Physical activity may play an important role in the management of mild-to-moderate mental health diseases, especially depression and anxiety. Although people with depression tend to be less physically active than non-depressed individuals, increased aerobic exercise or strength training has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms significantly”( Paluska)

Paluska,, Dr Scott A.. "Physical Activity and Mental Health - Springer." Physical Activity and Mental Health - Springer. N.p., 1 Mar. 2000. Web. 1 Apr. 2014. <http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200029030-00003#>.

Unit 4

1. Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?
1. Once again I can not focus(mentally) with this person talking to me. This week it is a different person and they are not creepy but it still feels awkward. For about 3 seconds this person had my attention when she said think about someone suffering. I thought about my wife but then she said to take there pain away and blow in and blow out and release all the pain.  
2. I do not find this beneficial. I am not even sure what I am supposed to get out of this. I hope someone does and maybe they can reach out to me. Maybe I have shield up to this stuff. 
3. I would not recommend this to anyone else. I feel like they would come back to me and think that there is something wrong with me, but at the same time I do not take away from someone who is benefiting from these audio tape. 
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?
1. A mental workout is anything that stimulates the mind. Trying to come up with a definition of a mental workout is a mental workout. Memory games, reading and even physical exercise can be considered a mental workout. I think that anything that makes you focus, can be considered a mental workout. 
2. Research indicates that mental workouts improve prevention of dementia and  Alzheimer's disease. 
3. Mental workouts can foster our psychological health with exercises such a the "Living Kindness" exercise. It was supposed to relieve us of stress and make us thing and use our mind to get outside of our body.  I think that most mental workouts are beneficial to our psychological health. However there are sometimes where mental workouts can can negative effects such as when you do so many math problems that you feel like your head is going to explode. 

Unit 3

Take a moment to reflect on your own level of wellness; physically, psychologically, and spiritually, and then answer the following questions in your blog (journal).

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?

Physical-5- I have put on weight since I have came back from active duty and I am currently working 2 jobs and do not have much time for exercise, but I do have some time to do things such as push ups or dips. Just not much. 

Spiritual-8,Spiritual Wellness is a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives. While different individuals may have different views of what spiritualism is, it is generally considered to be the search for meaning and purpose in human existence, leading one to strive for a state of harmony with oneself and others while working to balance inner needs with the rest of the world. 

I know my purpose of life, to provide for my wife and daughter and to be the best possible.

  Psychological-5. Since coming off active duty my life has change very much. I thought that I was going to get my dream job but I did not. I thought that I would be in a better situation than I am currently but things are starting to turn around. I just got a new job and doing well in school. So I am hoping things will work out. 

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

Physical - To get back to the condition that I was in when I was AD. 

Spiritual - To remember why I am working for. To never forget how important family is. 

Psychological- To keep fighting and to never give up even when things don't go your way.

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

Physical - to get back into the gym and start eating healthier. 

Spiritual - spend time with my family and enjoy the moments that I have with them. 

Psychological- I think that I am currently working towards my goal. I think that exercise will also help with me and not being so stressed. 

Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

Once again I have difficulty listening to these exercises. I feel like I am going to a shrink with this. I have my own method to my madness and I can't listen to this person if I don't believe in them. 

Unit 2

AHHH.  WELCOME!  I just listened to the relaxation exercise and it was not very relaxing. It is hard enough for me to get onto the computer to complete classwork rather than to quietly listen to this guy speak. I think that I could be helpful, it seems like a part of yoga( even though I am not very familiar with it.  

I am trying to complete the exercise while my daughter is watching Super Why and getting into everything.