Unit 10 Blog

Initially, I rated myself as a 7 physically, a 5 psychologically, and a 9 spiritually. After taking this course, I would say that these numbers have definitely changed. I have not made very many improvement physically, and since being pregnant, I think that my physical well-being as actually gone down somewhat. I often feel sluggish and nauseated and do not exercise nearly as much as I used to. As such, I would rate myself as a 6 now. Spiritually, I feel like I still would rank highly as a 9. Psychologically, however, I definitely feel like my ranking has increased. After taking some real time to practice meditation and other relaxation techniques, I finally feel like I have the potential to allow my mind to calm down when needed. As such, I would rate myself as a 7 now psychologically.

After reviewing my goals, I also feel like I am making improvements. While I unfortunately am exercising less now than I previously was, I have gotten better psychologically and spiritually. I am slowly but surely meeting my goals of incorporating more meditation and mindfulness exercises in my life. From a spiritual perspective, I have also begun to keep a journal, which has helped me to reflect on the blessings of my life.

I do think that it takes a lot to really adapt change into a person’s life, but I am doing better as each day goes by. I am learning to adapt specific activities into my life to help me further progress in my goals. I am trying to incorporate both the relaxation techniques that were suggested to us in this class as well as yoga a few times a week. I have noticed that allowing my mind to unwind has enabled me to feel more calm and less stressed out. As such, I find that I am able to sleep better at night and in turn, have more energy throughout the day. As I am beginning to feel better and better with the pregnancy, I am also starting to bring in more exercise throughout my week. I try to walk a few times a week, which helps keep me motivated.

I think this class has been very rewarding. I think that the exercises that we did and the readings we were assigned really helped us students realize that meditation and relaxation techniques can in fact be implemented into a person’s life. I feel that as a result of exploring both my psychological and spiritual sides, I have a deeper understanding of myself and a more well rounded sense of well being. From my experiences, I feel that I will be able to show others how simple changes into a person’s life can make a really big difference in the end. Hopefully my experiences will be able to inspire others to get healthy as well.

Aimee Fairbanks

Unit 9 Blog: Final Project

Running Head: FINAL PROJECT

Unit Nine Final Project

Aimee Fairbanks

Kaplan University

HW420-03AU

Unit Nine Final Project

It is now becoming common knowledge that in order to be truly healthy, it involves more than just maintaining one’s body in a physical sense. Rather, comprehensive healthcare involves improving all aspects of a person’s sense of being, including psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Numerous studies in Dacher’s text (2006) point to evidence suggesting that the various parts of a person’s being are interconnected with each other. To disregard any one part is to throw off a person’s overall sense of health and well-being. For health and wellness professionals, maintaining an example of health is imperative in order for clients to better understand the importance of health. From a personal perspective, I have several goals in order to provide myself with a more optimal sense of well-being, including becoming more spiritually enhanced, physically strong, and mentally calm.

When assessing my own health, I have noticed that I would rate myself differently when assessing my spiritual, psychological, and physical self. While analyzing myself from a physical perspective, I would rate myself as a six. I do not have any real systemic illness, and I do try to incorporate regular exercise and a healthy diet into my life plan as often as I can. From a psychological perspective, however, I do not feel as healthy. I often find myself worried about the future or stressed out about futile things. As a result, I find myself getting sick rather frequently, and I consistently feel tired. I would rate myself as a mere five in the psychological category. I do think that I have the strongest rating in my spiritual sense. With this category, I would rate myself as a nine. I feel a very deep connection to a higher sense of power, and I feel I have a solid understanding of my purpose here in life.

Because I obviously did not rate myself perfectly in any one category, I have set some goals for myself to attain personal wellness. Physically, I would love to be able to have an activity that I enjoy doing, that will help me reduce inner tensions, and will ultimately provide me with more energy. From a psychological perspective, I would love be able to be more relaxed and stress free, so I do not feel so run down. Since I have noticed that my stress affects me physically, I want to work on reducing that stress so I can function on a higher level for the sake of myself and my family. Finally, I would love to find time to reflect on the blessings of my life in order to expand my spiritual sense of being. Because I am so busy during the day, I want to find time to see the positive aspects of my life rather than focus on the negative.

In order to accomplish my goals, I should learn to incorporate specific activities into my life that will make it easier to get started and to foster growth within the different areas of my being. From a physical perspective, I could try to exercise more or to plan adequate rest into my daily schedule. Rather than napping throughout the day, I should try to get to bed at a decent hour and get restful sleeps at night. Without naps, I will then have more time during the day that can be used for activities such as exercise. By allowing my body to be active, it can allow my stress and tension to be released in a healthy fashion. Psychologically, I would love to incorporate meditation exercises and other relaxation exercises such as visualization techniques into my daily schedule. By scheduling time during the day to take my mind off my stress, I can re-center my mind and teach myself to stay calm. Learning to keep my thoughts positive will also improve my psychological sense of being. From a spiritual aspect, I could try to keep a journal so that I can have a written account of reflection of the many blessings of my life. While expressing my innermost feelings may be therapeutic, I would like to focus my feelings on the positive ones so that I can see firsthand the good parts of my day. Finally, incorporating more prayer into my day can help before I write in my journal. By connecting with a higher sense of being, I will be able to keep my thoughts more positive as I write my journal entries.

Since I have listed specific goals and specific patterns for meeting my goals, I will be able to track my progress within the next few months. Again, health and wellness professionals such as me need to provide an example to our clients to prove that small healthy additions can be made in life. I tend to be a very visual person, and I think that physically seeing my progress in written form will keep me motivated. I should develop a goals calendar with both short and long term goals throughout the various months. By doing so, I will be able to readily track what I have already accomplished and what more I need to work on. I also should be realistic with my goals, and understand that allowing small changes throughout my schedule will enable me to be more successful. Hopefully, over time, I will be able to make these positive changes to provide myself with a balanced sense of health from multiple perspectives that will last a lifetime.

References

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

Unit 8 Blog Post

I really did enjoy all of these relaxation exercises, and I think that they can all be used effectively by different people in different circumstances. If I had to choose only two, however, I would choose "From the Journey On" (the first exercise we did) and the last exercise we did on "Meeting Asciepius" (the visualization exercise). Both of these exercises focused on breathing, which I always find to be relaxing and helpful. Whenever I truly tune into my inhalations and exhalations, I can physically feel my muscles relax and calm down. I think that "From the Journey On" is a great way for those interested in meditation to begin, as it is simple and not too challenging to think about. The more and more I have been practicing meditation, however, I think that visualization exercises are great. I loved "Meeting Asciepus" because it enabled me to picture a person who I had positive feelings about. Whenever I can envision positive experiences (whether it be a person, a place, or an event as was in this exercise), I instantly am able to take negative behaviors and turn them into positive behaviors. Having the ability to re-experience happier times can help to create moments of happiness within my life presently.

I can use these activities to foster mental fitness because they essentially are "workouts" for my brain. Just as exercise is a workout for the body to foster physical fitness, consisent meditation and mindfulness exercises can help me to continue to expand my consciousness. Since these exercises are different, it will help to keep my mental workout vast and challenging. Over time, I will get "stronger" and closer to a sense of integral health. For example, practicing breathing such as "From the Journey On" will enable me to learn how to initally calm my body to prepare it for more challenging exercises later on. After time, visualization exercises such as "Meeting Asciepus" will enable me to reach into a deeper sense of consciousness and to continue to expand my mind. Again, I have really enjoyed these exercises, and I hope to continue using them in my own life!

Aimee Fairbanks

Unit 7 Blog Post

I actually really enjoyed the "Meeting Asciepus" exercise this week. I did not think it was going to work, but I have always liked the visualization exercises in helping me with meditation. This week, all I have really done for meditation was practicing deep breathing and learning to relax. I have not yet had the opportunity to focus on an image. In doing any sort of meditation, however, I am able to foster a greater sense of wellness because I suddenly feel a connection to the rest of my environment and surroundings. For a few brief moments, I am able to experience peace and calm. This helps me to refocus on what is important, thus enhancing my overall mental and spiritual health.

I think that the phrase "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is absolutely true. To me, it means that you cannot really attain a sense of sympathy for someone until you have experienced that same thing. To tell someone how to do something is one thing, but to actually live it is another. I think that this applies to health and wellness professionals because in order to be a caring person, it is always best to understand firsthand what someone is going through. I definitely think that health and wellness professionals have an obligation to their clients to help them "see the bigger picture" and to advise them to enhance all aspects of their healing, not just the physical ones. Even in my profession of dental hygiene, stress can certainly manifest itself through physical symptoms in the teeth, so I often find myself talking to patients about stress relieving techniques that can be used in their lives. I think that to ignore other aspects of a person just because you may not be that experienced in them is silly. They should at least be informed of other possibilities for care.

I think that you can implement psychological and spiritual growth in your own life simply by doing the things we have done all semester. By continuing to keep a journal or blog, by continuing to do the relaxation exercises, by continuing to read the textbooks, etc., we too can better find a way to draw closer to the other aspects of ourselves as well.

Aimee Fairbanks

Unit 5 Project

My Unit 5 Project ... ENJOY!

Unit 6 Blog

I must say that I actually did not mind performing the meditation techniques of the universal loving-kindness activity. While I had difficulty remembering all those lines at once, I eventually got the hang of it and felt truly relaxed at the end of the session. I can easily see how a person who is angry or upset could use this exercise to change his or her negative thoughts into loving and positive ones. From this exercise, I learned that I do have the ability to feel peace when I am overwhelmed or stressed out. Rather than dwell on my negative emotions when I am angry at someone, perhaps next time I will try this philosophy instead! I still think it would have helped to have a voice constantly whisper that to me during my relaxation session, however, as we have done in the past with the voice recordings.

I found the integral assessment to be a much harder exercise. Again, I do not know if it was because I had to stop my sessions to read about what I was supposed to be doing, or if I just had a difficult time with the concepts of the lesson as a whole. From this exercise, I discovered that there are several apsects of myself that can be the center for growth and development. For example, I choose my biological aspect as currently being the source of difficulty and suffering in my life. My husband and I just found a little while ago that I am seven weeks pregnant, and very much so in the middle of morning sickness! I have had about two full weeks of feeling really sick with nausea and migraines, and it is really starting to wear on me a little bit! As such, it is definitely starting to affect my psychospiritual development as well!

What I did find useful about this exercise was having the opportunity to truly focus on what my problems were right now and how I could go about fixing them. Rather than dwelling on the negative physical symptoms that I am going through right now, I instead tried to see the positive side of the situation by recognizing that my body is going through a lot of changes right now, and that in nine months, I will be given a beautiful gift that I could get no where else. I found that changing my attitude about the situation did help somewhat. Also, I have been practicing some deep breathing exercises lately when my symptoms are high, and I have noticed that focusing on the in and out's of breathing rather than my nausea does help me, both biologically and spiritually. I am able to better calm down and it keeps my body from tensing up. While I did have difficulty with this exercise intially, I do suppose that it has helped to push me in the right direction of growth and development within myself!

Aimee Fairbanks

Unit 5 Project

I have tried a million times to upload my powerpoint to blogger, and it is not working. Therefore, I am posting the link to my powerpoint that I was able to upload on slideshare.net

http://www.slideshare.net/AimeeFairbanks/unit-5-project

I hope this works for you guys to see!

Aimee Fairbanks