Do We Really Get Over a Loss???

Hola Amigos,
Going through trying times, It really makes you wonder and you ask yourself, "Do we really get over a loss?"  I just loss my "Bestest Uncle" in the whole world and even though this expression sounds kiddish he was more than and uncle he was closer to me than my biological father.  I feel like this is killing slowly.  I have tried to meditate, pray, listen to nature sounds, soft music, and aromatherapy with relaxation techniques, with no avail.  My soul remains extremely sad.  I know life goes on and I need to resume my normal activities, but I feel this hurt lingering.  I have never dealt with death well anyway.  Hope this is temporary.  I still have not come to terms with the passing of my grandmother and that was 30 years ago...... SMH :-(

JaeC

Professional Application of Psychological & Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Hola Amigos,

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?

           On a scale of 1-10, I give myself a 7 for physical well- being (which is 2 levels more than what I gave myself in Unit 3) and a continued 8 for spiritual and mental health.  I have found that since I started this course I have been able to motivate myself more to indulge in physical activity.  I feel less self-conscious of my appearance and I am enjoying life more since I have been able to let go of my insecurities using meditation and mental imagery and prayer.  I am more in-tune with myself. 

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

              I feel that I have made extreme progress in the goals that I have set for myself.  I have started jogging again and have even increased my endurance by an additional ½ hour which I am proud of myself for.  I have even started some weight training as well as increased aerobic time.  I am happy with the changes my body is going through and last but not least, incorporating meditation, relaxation therapy, mental imagery, and prayer is keeping me focused in being able to meet these goals.  My journey has only just begun and I will continue until I feel whole-heartedly satisfied.

3.   Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain
.
          Yes, I have changed my eating habits as well as my exercise.  I have also implemented prayer and relaxation therapy consisting of aromatherapy and visual imagery which has helped me on my journey. 

4.   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?

          Throughout this course I have found that I have grown mentally and spiritually more that physically.  I have found that my mental state is more at a calm and my well-being is more accepting of diffusing situations that where I felt compromised before.  I can stand on my own two feet without feeling I needed to hide behind facades.  My difficult moments were trying to achieve loving-kindness, I still struggle with it a little but, I know I will achieve slowly but surely.  In conclusion, I will continue working on working on achieving total Integral Health and will continue to incorporate my friends and family into living a more wholesome life full of the achievement of finding themselves and the realization of finding their true self.

JaeC

Personal Application of the Psychological & Spiritual Aspects of Healing

 I.         Introduction:

   There is a great importance for health and wellness professionals to develop themselves psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  Building and strengthening the unity that lies within is paramount in gaining Integral Health by means of human flourishing.  Unless you have gained this innermost goal which encompasses; wholeness, happiness, and health, you will not be able to fully instruct others in the art.

II.      Assessment:

My health within the following domains range from: relaxation, meditation, visual imagery and audio.  I score myself as fair within my psyche, and good referencing my spirituality and physical aspect.  My psychological entity has grown and flourished since learning to incorporate meditation, relaxation, loving-kindness, and the subtle-mind practice leading into conscientious unity.   

III.       Goal development:

Since my participation in this course I have found that I am slowly but surely finding me again. The goal development that I am aspiring to gain physically is: regimented daily exercise seven days a week.  I want the encouragement to continue exercising and to increase the amount of endorphins in order to keep my psychological development engaged in the new found love of life, and happiness, with a longing of wanting to live my life to the fullest.  As to my spiritual development, I am happy with my outlook on life.  I have found that since my venture into my spirituality I am more open-minded and the calm needed in my life is increasing daily, I will continue to talk to God and continue trusting in Him to continue to keep me focused.

IV.     Practices for personal health:

The strategies that I can implement to foster growth within my personal health is:

Physical Health:

1.      Continuing to slowly but surely make changes in my diet, learning to eat those items that I have not been fond of in the past and incorporated them in my daily diet by changing its appearance or altering its taste. (Ex. Green vegetables, spinach, I will add to my smoothies daily altering the taste with bananas and strawberries.

2.      Allowing a support team to be a part of my exercise program.  I am not too accepting in allowing others to see my struggles or make comments about how much I try to accomplish.  I will invite my niece, sister-in-laws, and friend to join me on my daily walks and I will even be willing to be the one to start the cool down and smoothie time

 Psychological Health:

1.       Meditation is one of the strategies I will be using to foster growth.  Seeing how it has helped me with my stress level and how the integration of my children has helped their mental stress as well; I will continue to use the Visualization CD’s in group session with my family as well as in private. 

2.      Relaxation therapy is another strategy that I will be using to foster growth.  I use the practice of tub therapy, it is my favorite.   I fill the tub with hot water, and use seaweed powder along with lavender.  I turn off the lights in the bathroom and light candles or use the red or orange light in order to provide a more relaxing atmosphere. Last but not least I use trickling water sounds or soft inspirational music in order to lose myself for a moment.  This has helped me and my family relaxed and they have embraced this practice also.

Spiritual Health:

1.      Prayer is my major recourse to spiritual health.  I feel centralized in God’s grace and that is where I gain the peace I need to be able to gain certain “Christian like” solemnness.  I feel as if my soul has received total satisfaction when I achieve that one on one time with God; He is who keeps me going.

2.      I use meditation to amp my spiritual health also, whether using visual imagery, aromatherapy, or relaxation therapy, I continue to meditate, pray, and envision beauty and tranquility to soothe the soul.

V.     Commitment:

In the next six months I will be able to assess my progress by the goals that I have put in place.  My initial strategy was the sending of my resumes to various Holistic Practices in Philadelphia, I have requested to be able to come in initially as an Intern and to be able to observe and with time be able to acquire hands on experience. Through my primary care provider and other colleagues, I have also been networking.   When my life starts soaring from then, that will be my confirmation.  But in the meantime, I will continue seeking Integral Greatness throughout my life. 

JaeC

Health and Thriving

Hola Amigos,

I have discovered that the two most beneficial exercises that I’ve used within this course are: The Subtle Mind and Meditation.  These two exercises are the ones that I have already incorporated not only in my life, but I have instilled these practices in my children and additional family member’s lives also.  As Christians, my family and I were taught to meditate in the goodness of God, so to some of us, it came easy.  In my household I have started an hour of family meditation sessions once a week.  They thought it was to help me with school, and that I needed to do research for class without noticing it was to better their lifestyle.  This has brought us closer together and now even my sister and nieces come over to listen to the CD’s.  My 18 year old has incorporated meditation and mental imagery to manage issues that come up in his life he has expressed to me that whenever he is shooting hoops he meditates and has felt a sense of calm that allows him to think clearer.  My daughter uses my method of relaxation, (hot bath, aromatherapy, water sounds, dim lights or tea light candles) and has expressed it to her friends and she tells me that a few of her friends along with their mothers are now using this a few times a month.  I am happy that I have reached so many people with what I have learned within this course.

JaeC

Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness and Healing

Hola Amigos,

The practice of Universal Loving Kindness was enjoyable.  I love the way I was able to be at peace within myself and feel the tranquility I seek on a daily basis.  It keeps a smile on my face and keeps my mind thinking of all that has happened in my life through the years and how much I have progressed but as long as I am having happy thoughts I am fine as soon as I think about an event that was distasteful in my life my mind totally shuts down.  The exercise and assessment process provides many scenarios which presents itself in everyday life from being sick, to anger, to disgust to happiness, and sadness to name a few.  I have discovered that I need to try to progress more in the acceptance of loving people that have not been nice to me.  I feel I have not totally gotten over that hurdle yet.  Trying to resolve those feeling is going to take time and to me the only way this will work is asking God to help me forgive, I have struggle with this for a few years now and as hard as I try to forgive, I have not achieved it yet.  I long in the near future to prevail and go on living a much more productive life without having this type of issue hold me back.  Other than prayer, I do not know how else to come to terms with my hurt; even though thinking back I always thought if the person or persons would die, that would make things better for me, but I know that that would make other people hurt…… Maybe I am starting to heal slowly but surely, if I am thinking of those peoples loved ones. 

JaeC “PENSIVE”

Loving Kindness & Subtle-Mind Comparison

Hola Amigos,
In concentrating on achieving Loving Kindness, though it was beautiful to feel calm and the coolness of the air being inhaled and the coolness being felt on my skin, I could not grasp calm concentration on people that have hurt me nor something happening to one of my closest loved ones.   On the other hand, with the Subtle Mind, I felt the same coolness being inhaled and on my face and arms but, the focus and the calm was easier to achieve, I don’t know if it was because it was all about me, all I know that I was able to wholeheartedly engulf myself in this exercise.  I deeply enjoyed this one rather that the other one because I was able to feel the point when calm entered my being it is indescribable; my body and mind was relaxed at the same time.  All I know is that this is a calm I want to continue feeling.  I am hoping to incorporate this in my daily life; I think it would benefit not only me but my household also.

The Body-Mind-Spirit Paradigm

Hola Mis Amigos,
     My experience with this particular practice of Loving Kindness was; strange to me.  I started to feel chills going through my body just thinking about my children.  Focusing on myself I felt happy to think about the good but then to ponder on my past made me uncomfortable and I became antsy.  I then went into the thoughts of awareness which I was able to deal with better because it is the reality that I am presently living with but I have somewhat control in the situation.   In taking in feeling towards enemies I could not concentrate well because I have not been able to let go of some of the hurt that I have endured within the last few years but that will come once I have come to terms with it, and I know I still have work to do.   In all this exercise gave me a great deal of food for thought in the aspect of me still not being able to let go of things so that I may progress in mind and spirit.

     As to mental workout, you this exercise really teaches you that you need to keep focus and increase the length of the workout by increments of at least 5-10 minutes because if you do not stager your time it begins to get boring (per my children).  Implementing this workout helps you gain a calm and tranquil way about you which is kind of strange to me because it does not allow me to get frustrated or angry.
JaeC