Final Post Evaluation of Goals

Now that  the end of the course is here, in this post I will be evaluating my progress, reviewing my goals and summarizing my personal experiences throughout this course.

I will start by looking back to Unit 3 where I evaluated my current physical, spiritual and psychological state.  Originally, for physical I was an 8, spiritual a 7, and psychological a 7 also. 

My goal for the physcial was to continue to practice healthy habits and I have stayed the same in that aspect.  I will continue to implement healthy diet and exercise habits.  I have room for improvement and would like to strive for a healthier diet and to increase the intensity of my workouts. 

Spiritually, I was searching for purpose in my life.  I am still searching and this will be a lifelong journey.  I will focus more on the journey than the destination.  To achieve this goal I wanted to participate in meditation and prayer.  The meditation part has been somewhat easy to practice as I am using the subtle mind meditation from the Integral Health text.  I will continue to dedicate the time to meditate.  I am still trying to pray more and I think with the meditation practice it will become easier to pray. 

Psychologically, I have stayed the same.  My goal was to build confidence by practicing affirmations for 10 minutes daily. I have been travelling and I didn't bring my book with the affirmations.  I hope to implement this practice by using the book when I return home at the end of the month.  I have stayed the same and hoped to improve, but the spiritual practices have kept me sane so to speak because the meditation helps to calm me and relieve stress which helps psychologically also.

My personal experience throughout this course has been rewarding and illuminating because I was able to reflect, observe and participate in the mindfulness practices that I have learned.  I hope to practice them throughout the rest of my life and teach others in the future.

Ref: Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health:  The Path to Human Flourishing Laguna Beach, CA

Final Project

INTRODUCTION

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because as we transform our lives at all of these levels we are able to help others develop and progress to higher levels of development by guiding them on their journey toward integral health.  Without a strong foundation of development of these principles it will be difficult to help others.  We must experience this journey ourselves first.  Each client will be at a different level of development in their lives so we must be aware of their issues so we can help them.

Some of the areas I need to develop psychologically are emotional health.  My goal is to replace destructive emotions and fear with a still mind, inner peace and the ultimate goal of calm-abiding and silence.  These are psychological challenges for me personally.  Spiritually I would like to become more connected and grateful which will help me to act with compassion and an open heart with the ultimate goal of unity consciousness.  The psychological and spiritual goals will benefit my physical health and development because body, mind and spirit are all connected.

ASSESSMENT

My assessment in the psychospiritual domain: I am at the cognitive level because I have a vision but haven’t reached my goal of wisdom, wholeness or oneness and haven’t “tasted” the spiritual fruits of universal loving-kindness and compassion.  In the biological domain I have reached the level of fitness training but not to the highly developed sense of body awareness.  Nutrition – I try to choose a healthy diet and my choices are mainly vegetarian which helps reduce animal suffering but beyond that level I would like to reach a level of concern for environmental sustainability and help to decrease world poverty.  For Interpersonal Flourishing I have reached the level of the family and I am lacking in community development.  For Worldly Flourishing my work life has evolved from survival to meaning.  I would like to expand and reach the community level and perhaps globally with health promotion issues.  Worldly Flourishing is my least developed aspect of integral health.

My wellness scores for spiritual, physical and psychological: spiritual=7 physical=8 psychological=7

GOAL DEVELOPMENT

My goals in the physical area: control sugar intake, focus on proteins and veggies, increase exercise intensity and avoid injury, psychological area:  develop self confidence, use affirmations, cultivate loving-kindness to myself and others because as Dacher says: “We cannot love others until we love and care for ourselves” and spiritual area: find God’s purpose for my life through prayer and meditation.

PRACTICES FOR PERSONAL HEALTH

Strategies I plan to implement to foster growth in the physical domain include learning and practicing tai chi which helps with balance and strength and involves all three domains.  The slow meditative movements help me slow down because it seems I am always busy and in a hurry with endless mental chatter.  The subtle mind practice helps ease mental and physical distress, transform my mind, and attain a new higher level of consciousness.  I would like to further explore the mind-body connection and practice breathing and awareness during workout sessions.  I am interested in attending a retreat at a meditation center in the future.

COMMITMENT

In the next six months I will assess my progress (hopefully) by journaling and reassessing to see where I am in my goal accomplishment.  After this assessment I should be able to determine my strengths and weaknesses and go from there.  Strategies I plan on using to maintain my long-term practices include revisiting the basics of integral health and increasing my knowledge and wisdom through education and practice.  It will always be a life long journey.

INTRODUCTION

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because as we transform our lives at all of these levels we are able to help others develop and progress to higher levels of development by guiding them on their journey toward integral health.  Without a strong foundation of development of these principles it will be difficult to help others.  We must experience this journey ourselves first.  Each client will be at a different level of development in their lives so we must be aware of their issues so we can help them.

Some of the areas I need to develop psychologically are emotional health.  My goal is to replace destructive emotions and fear with a still mind, inner peace and the ultimate goal of calm-abiding and silence.  These are psychological challenges for me personally.  Spiritually I would like to become more connected and grateful which will help me to act with compassion and an open heart with the ultimate goal of unity consciousness.  The psychological and spiritual goals will benefit my physical health and development because body, mind and spirit are all connected.

ASSESSMENT

My assessment in the psychospiritual domain: I am at the cognitive level because I have a vision but haven’t reached my goal of wisdom, wholeness or oneness and haven’t “tasted” the spiritual fruits of universal loving-kindness and compassion.  In the biological domain I have reached the level of fitness training but not to the highly developed sense of body awareness.  Nutrition – I try to choose a healthy diet and my choices are mainly vegetarian which helps reduce animal suffering but beyond that level I would like to reach a level of concern for environmental sustainability and help to decrease world poverty.  For Interpersonal Flourishing I have reached the level of the family and I am lacking in community development.  For Worldly Flourishing my work life has evolved from survival to meaning.  I would like to expand and reach the community level and perhaps globally with health promotion issues.  Worldly Flourishing is my least developed aspect of integral health.

My wellness scores for spiritual, physical and psychological: spiritual=7 physical=8 psychological=7

GOAL DEVELOPMENT

My goals in the physical area: control sugar intake, focus on proteins and veggies, increase exercise intensity and avoid injury, psychological area:  develop self confidence, use affirmations, cultivate loving-kindness to myself and others because as Dacher says: “We cannot love others until we love and care for ourselves” and spiritual area: find God’s purpose for my life through prayer and meditation.

PRACTICES FOR PERSONAL HEALTH

Strategies I plan to implement to foster growth in the physical domain include learning and practicing tai chi which helps with balance and strength and involves all three domains.  The slow meditative movements help me slow down because it seems I am always busy and in a hurry with endless mental chatter.  The subtle mind practice helps ease mental and physical distress, transform my mind, and attain a new higher level of consciousness.  I would like to further explore the mind-body connection and practice breathing and awareness during workout sessions.  I am interested in attending a retreat at a meditation center in the future.

COMMITMENT

In the next six months I will assess my progress (hopefully) by journaling and reassessing to see where I am in my goal accomplishment.  After this assessment I should be able to determine my strengths and weaknesses and go from there.  Strategies I plan on using to maintain my long-term practices include revisiting the basics of integral health and increasing my knowledge and wisdom through education and practice.  It will always be a life long journey.

Dacher, E. (2006).  Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications

Reference

Most Beneficial Practices

The Subtle Mind and breathing meditation exercises were favorites of mine because these exercises allowed me to take time from the stress of the day and witness and feel calm and centered.  With so many stressful events happening in our lives this is vitally important to spiritual, mental and physical health.

It was a challenge to take the time to actually practice these in my life but once I stopped and got into them it was so beneficial that I came to the realization that I must commit the subtle mind and breathing meditations to daily practice.

I hope to use these in my daily life and expand to help others discover these simple, yet effective practices.

Meeting Asclepius

The contemplative practice of "Meeting Asclepius" brought me to a calm abiding state where my mind was quiet.  I really needed this calmness during this last week as the holidays and traveling were very stressful.  The skilled teacher was difficult to visualize but I was able to experience the peace, wisdom, pure love and joy from my mentor but it was more of a heart and mind felt presence than a visual presence.  I would like to take on and develop the qualities and speech of this wise one in my daily life.  I felt relaxed, calm and loved after meeting Asclepius, a very healing experience indeed.

It is true we "cannot lead another where we have not gone ourselves" (Wilber, 2005).  That is why this journey is so important and personal.  We must do the "work" to benefit from this process.  It is easy to talk about but we can't experience it by just talking we must be active in our practice of integral health.

Reference Schlitz, M. (2005) Consciousness and Healing Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine
St. Louis, MO Elsevier Inc.