Hello all,
Welcome once again as I share whats on my mind...
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 any health and wellness
professional to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically for many
reasons. Initially I would say that if one wants to teach others how to
develop, they should do it themselves. A health and wellness professional
should have a strong and stable mindset. They should be in control of their
emotions and have a level of calmness and happiness that radiates from within.
Spiritually a professional should know how it feels to be a complete person.
Everything in existence is connected, and as a professor in the field of health
and wellness, the professor should have a good grasp and understanding of the world
around him. There is no better way to advertise the fact that physical health
is necessary then by being in good physical health yourself. Not to say that
all health and wellness professionals should be a size 6, but they should
display some level of physical health. They should understand what it means to
have a healthy diet and know the value of exercise.
In order for me to achieve my personal goals, I
need to develop a schedule. Since my children are starting school this week I
need to put myself on a schedule that starts as soon as they walk out the door.
I believe that I fool myself by thinking that because I work from home that I
have a lot of free time. That is false in that I stay very busy during the day
and my days don’t usually end until around midnight every night. I need to
incorporate time during the day for meditation, exercise and personal time
alone. I also need to give myself ample time to spend with my children and my
husband. I believe that once I have a good schedule in order I can begin to
really work on my development.
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score
your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
Spiritually, I think that I have come a long
way. I often have to remind myself that spiritual and religious are two different
concepts. While I believe that I do have some work to become more religious as
far as my practices, I think I am ok spiritually. I believe that I have a close
connection to life around me. I feel very connected to all things in existence around
me and I submit to the idea that there is indeed a higher power that allows us
to all exist in peace and harmony. I think my spirituality is around an 8.
Physically I know that I am not performing up to
my full potential. I am currently above my comfortable weight zone and my diet
is not as good as it used to be. What is really frustrating to me is that I know
I can achieve my goal of getting in better physical health. I think I rate
around a 5. The reason I gave myself a 5 is because while I don’t exercise as
much as I should, I do make a conscious effort to eat healthy. Once I couple
healthy eating with exercise, I will be where I need to be. And psychologically
I know that I have gotten better. I used to fall pretty low on the scale as far
as psychologically. Many things have happened in my life that has discouraged
me, but I have taught myself that nothing good comes from worrying and
complaining. I read something a long time ago that said “Don’t worry about
worry, because worry ain’t worrying about you”. I put the statement in quotes
because they are not my words, but I don’t know who said them. I just know that
truer words were never spoken. Worrying doesn’t make the situation any better
so why waste time doing it. For that reason, I think my psychological level is
around a 7. It’s not perfect, but it has been much worse. Because I need to
learn to be comfortable in my skin and have confidence in myself, I gave myself
a 7.
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area,
Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
Physically, psychologically and spiritually, my
first goal is to make myself a schedule to work on myself. I need to allow
myself enough time to do my personal workout, do my meditation and make sure I get
enough sleep at night. There’s nothing worse than giving myself a long list of
things to do and when I wake up, don’t have the energy to do the first few
things on my list. So, physically my goal is to workout starting at 30 minutes
a day then work my way up. I also need to give myself a bedtime of no later than
midnight every night. Getting enough sleep is very important for many health
reasons so I definitely need to stick to a sleep schedule.
Psychologically I need to make a personal goal
to love myself no matter how bad I think I’ve done or how I look. Sometimes I
get down on myself when I don’t exercise or when I lose focus of my goals, but
I need to remind myself that I’m not perfect, I am doing the best I can with
the resources that I have and that as long as I am aware of that I need to
change, it’s never too late to start. Spiritually I will allow myself to be
more open to all those around me. I will embrace those that are different from
me and those that I don’t fully understand. I will be open and honest to myself
and others and accept everything that makes me who I am.
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.
Physically I will implement yoga and other forms
of exercise. Because yoga incorporates meditation, I can use that for my psychological
health as well. Yoga allows me to stretch my muscles and elongate my spine. It
also incorporates a lot of deep breathing that improves circulation and the
lymphatic system, which is responsible for a healthy immune system. A healthy
immune system leads to a healthy physical body.
Psychologically I will implement the visualization
and the loving-kindness. In my previous discussions I commented on how much I
loved doing those two exercises. The loving-kindness exercise allowed me to
open myself up to love and compassion and allowed me to share that love and
compassion with others. It also allowed me to embrace those around me in a more
kind and caring way. Loving—kindness was more for those around me while
visualization was for my personal happiness. I will implement both of those
exercises in the daily schedule that is part of my aforementioned goals.
Spiritually I will use the intimacy and
spiritual union exercise as well as the silence and stillness exercise. The
intimacy and spiritual union exercise will be good for me and my spouse while
silence and stillness will be good for me on individual level. Because the
intimacy and spiritual union exercise doesn’t have to be done on a daily basis
I can allow myself some leeway with that one. The silence and stillness I can
incorporate into my daily activities. I will ask myself such questions as “How
does this affect my mind” and “is it an essential activity, a needless
distraction, or merely an amusing distraction?” Asking myself those questions
will eliminate a lot of pointless thoughts and actions.
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?
Since I already keep a writing journal, I will
keep record of my progress in there. I do my writing on the computer and I note
the date and time that I am writing. After I accomplish one of my goals or do
one of my mindfulness exercises, I will document it. The only strategy I can
offer myself is to be my own motivation. Because the exercises are mostly for
personal accomplishment, it is not something I will have to include anyone else
in. Another great strategy to keep up
with my progress is for me to just assess how I feel. I know from experience that
when I am emotionally troubled I become fatigued, agitated and short tempered.
When I find myself becoming hard to be around I will stop and evaluate what is
going on in my day and remind myself to do some breathing.
Taking this class has proved to be a great asset
to my daily life. The exercises have been very positive and uplifting and it is
my intention to continue incorporating them into my everyday routine.
Thank you
Hanan Muhammad
