Personal Applications of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing
Monica Benway
Kaplan University
HW 420 – 30
Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing
Susan Johnson Stewart, Ph. D.
September 28, 2010.
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?
I think the main idea for a health and wellness professional to be developed physically, psychological and spiritually is so he/she can have a high level of knowledge to be a true guide to his clients. A true guide must be prepared to face all the questions and/or situations that could be present when treating the clients: "As the saying goes, one cannot lead another where one has not gone him or herself" (Amorok, et all., 2005, p. 477).
I order to achieve all the goals I have been putting off for a long time; I need to work in all areas: physical, psychological and spiritual. I have learnt that every area is directly connected with each other.
II. Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
I have never assessed my health in each domain, until this class, I never even thought about assessing each area of my life before. My first assessment for my spirituality is 6, for my psychological score is 7 and physical is the lowest score of 4.
III Goal Development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
My most important physical goal is to lose weight and keep a healthy body shape. Psychologically, I long for less stress and a more relaxed life. And spiritually, I want to be able to practice meditation more often and get to know myself in a deeper level.
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.
On the physical domain, I definitely have to exercise more often and since I am recuperating from surgery; for now, I can only do my physical therapy and walk
as much as time allows me. I usually eat healthy, but I think I can do better than that by being a little
stricter
on my daily diet. I will have to cut down on food containing flour and the sweets, these two little steps can help me to at least keep a healthy weight besides improving my level of energy.
Psychologically and spiritually, I want to increase my level of positivism, it has been helping me to keep stress from escalating. So, mental visualization will be a great exercise to achieve it. Self-improvement books can also be an important tool to improve myself; I will have to find books for stress management. By the way, that will be one of my future classes at Kaplan; it will remain me of my personal goals now, hopefully I will have reached them by then.
The few meditation exercises that I have done during class (even though they have been sometimes a little difficult to follow), definitely taught me how in a few minutes I can enjoy a stress free time to myself. I felt internal peace and harmony that goes beyond my mental domain. So, I have to make the time for meditation, I will be practicing the Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises have been very productive to deal with my daily routine. I will try to find other exercises but I will keep those two meditations as my pillars.
Praying also has been some kind of special refuge for me. In the most difficult moments: a prayer has guided me to find the best solutions for my troubles, also has helped me feel some peace during stressful times. To improve my praying power, I am going to learn and practice more prayers and apply them to my daily life.
My intentions are great and the little steps to reach them are achievable, I am not aiming for out of reach goals. I just have to manage my time the best possible way; by delegating chores at home, multitasking more effectively and keeping a stricter schedule, where I can leave a few free minutes here and there for me only to use studying, reading and/or meditating.
Once I can take more time to dedicate it to myself, only then I am going to be able to enjoy integral health.
V Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to maintain your long-term practices for health and wellness?
Hopefully, my future assessment in the next six months will be about progress; trying to achieve the highest point in the scale of 1 to 10. Most likely, I will assess the three domains once a month: losing weight, maintaining a relaxed daily routine and enriching my spiritual life. One strategy for my physical domain that will be very helpful is to check my weight often to keep track of my progress, besides that my clothes will allow me to notice if they are getting lose.
Psychologically, my family will also keep me in track, because whenever stress is "getting in my last nerve", my children and/or my husband immediately ask me what is going on, or why I am mad. That is my wake-up call for me to realize I am letting stress reign my day; and I take a little time-out and that helps me get back in track emotionally.
Spiritually, meditation will turn into an often exercise whenever I can. I will continue to be consistent on praying; and if is time possible to attend Church activities to maintain me closer to spiritual harmony in order to achieve integral wellness.
References
Amorok, T., Micozzi, M. & Schlitz, M. (2005). Consciousness and Healing. St. Louis, MO; Elsevier Churchill Livingston.
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health. The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA; Basic Health Publications, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment