My Personal Experience

I wish there were additional Units to this course because it has awaken so much positive thinking and attitudes for me, not to say that I was negative in the beginning.  This course has shown me the importance of having and maintain balance of my mind, body, and spirit. The Unit 3 journal writing and exercise assessments has shown tme he balance in my life and the things I need to work towards improving. 

Exercise 4.1 the Psychology of My Stress assisted me with taking a closer at my defense mechanisms along with my common behavior patterns during stressful and non stressful times, at the beginning of these exercises I rated myself 7 out of 10 needless to say looking back I do see an improvement with my thinking and interruption skills.  I can now say I'm at a 8 out 10, I rate myself a 8 because I'm not perfect I believe there is always room for improvement.  

The goals in which I set for myself in Unit 3 have been achieved, and this makes me feel a huge sense of accomplishment.  I have incorporated having a stronger meditative and prayer life.  I am consciously aware of the times that I need to step back and not allow the negative to penetrate my spiritual wellness.  My plan for the future is to continue utilizing the journal writing activities and acknowledging any areas of improvement.

Throughout this course I have improved my attitude and behavior patterns, prior to this course I wasn't a very good listener however; now I can say that I pause before speaking, I pray before beginning my day or before a meeting and in the evening I pray for understanding to the things that I had difficulty understanding.  My take away/reward would be having a deeper understanding of forgiveness, empathy, sympathy and compassion.  I now view others differently, it has made me want to do more and assist others as much as possible from a holistic perspective.  I will continue to help others in order to promote wellness and live a healthier lifestyle. 

As a leader it is important for me to lead by example and not my the way I speak.  I will share my learning experiences with someone but most importantly I will implement these units into my foundation as the step towards improving the services I offer and provide to those who are not able to afford it.  I've enjoyed my experience in this course, every unit has now become a part of my overall health and spiritual wellness.

Personal Learning Assessment for Holistic & Integral Health Concepts

I.                   Introduction

The 21^st century has brought about new and exciting technology along with the benefits of living longer by healthier choices. As a health care professional I believe it is important to lead an integral lifestyle, we are held to a higher standard than most, we are responsible for the lives of many and how we represent ourselves is paramount with how we direct and guide patients as well as the public.  We must deliver an effective message in order to change the lives of those who require our assistance with their health.  Holistic techniques are being utilized, implemented and managed in health care so that we may continue our efforts in the lives of individuals that have transformed the normal structure of living while approaching their health from a spiritual, physical, and psychological aspect in order to improve their health by great leaps and bounds.  

My prescription for improving my life would be to maintain a healthier way of living while continuing practicing meditative concentration along with ensuring that I continue to eat clean and balance as well as completing an exercise regiment at least 5 days a week in order to maintain optimum living. 

In order to prescribe a treatment for an illness it’s important that health care professionals practice what they preach in order to have a profound method of delivering living a holistic life.  Bridging the gap begins with building relationships, we mold their beliefs and at times we make the difference, if we don’t represent the meaning of integral health in our own lives then how can we provide the care that so many individuals look to us for.  Integral health is about the mind,

body and spirit and if we as health care professionals can’t represent or stand behind what we preach then the progress towards incorporating better lifestyles can and will be lost. 

     We must bridge the gaps in all aspects of health care; we must deliver care from love, knowledge from wisdom and empathy from experience.  There aren't tomorrow or yesterdays in health care there's only right now, it begins with us and it ends with us!

II.                Assessment

            Three years ago I began a journey towards living healthier, I had to take a close look at my lifestyle choices and begin the process of peeling back the layers of self discovery in order to progress towards the benefits of living a style of integral health.  Now I understand the importance of integrating my spirituality, physical and psychologically wellness into one goal in order to develop a higher level of obtaining an efficacy enrichment experience. 

I rate my spiritual wellness as an 8, I’m not perfect however; I strive to connect with God on a daily basis through my work, personal life and health.  I pray every morning before beginning my day, so that I may able to see and hear the things that are important towards resolving issues without hurting or belittling any individual, I ask for the gift of discernment so that I can help without bias.  I do this in order to be better equipped to face and deal with the stressor that accompanies my daily work routine.  I also pray in the afternoon to reward my spirit, I believe this is important in order to balance my day, stress doesn’t have a clock and it will come after you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so I insist on praying in the afternoon to ask for continued guidance and strength to make it through the day.   At the close of each day I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to in script and make a difference in someone’s life, I also thank Him for allowing me the opportunity to gain His knowledge while viewing life from a spiritual point of view. My physical wellness I rate a 9, my exercise regiment is pretty strict and I will not deviate from this schedule, I begin my workout at 5:30am until 7:45am.  My workout consists of completing cardio aerobics for one hour followed by thirty minute weight training and conditioning, I finish up with thirty minute floor exercise that works on my core.  Working out helps me to think clearer, breath and feel better, it prepares me for the challenges of the day.   My psychologically wellness is rated an 8; I have incorporated my spiritual and psychological wellness into one.  It’s so important for me to meditate it prepares me to go into my prayer, it filters my thoughts, clears my mind, I remove all negative thoughts and feelings this allows me to visualize my direction and it maintains my focus.  I like to think of mediation as my force field that I place around me in order to keep the evil and nay sayers from penetrating my mind, body and spirit. My wellness regiment assists with reducing stress, and fatigue.

III.             Goal Development

In order to foster improved living we must also be on the alert for ways of improving our overall health and wellness.  My strategies for improving my physical wellness will be to incorporate a difference routine into my daily workout once a month; I believe this will assist with maintaining a well rounded workout without getting burned out.  My psychological/mental wellness I will implement a new meditative technique (i.e. yoga,) every 6 months to maintain optimum focus and spiritual benefits. My spiritual wellness I will continue to attend church on Sunday’s morning however; I will commit to ministry or begin my own so that I may continue to develop a richer meaning and understanding of love, empathy, sympathy and most importantly forgiveness. 

IV.              Practices for Personal Health

Physical Strategy:  will be to continue my current workout regiment along with fostering different workout techniques every other month, a log sheet will be kept to review and monitor my progress.

Psychological & Spiritual Strategy:  the two will be combined into one, I will continue to practice enriching my prayer and meditative life by ensuring that I begin and end each day with mediation and prayer.  I will also seek a higher level of understanding so that I may experience continuant relationship with God in order to stay connected and follow His teachings.  

V.                 Commitment

I have learned that when you focus on making deposits into someone’s life instead of focusing on what’s wrong in your life you allow blessings to flow.  I always seek the good in people instead of the negative; I’ve learned that your thoughts don’t bless anyone.  Something drives me to get up in morning, and it moves me from the complex to the simple, the strategy isn’t hard, all that’s required is a plan.  Starting over can be easy, it’s the living that can be difficult, in order to commit you must be in a better place before you start.  In order for me to progress I must commit towards living, thinking, and speaking differently.  This would involve keeping a journal/log of each of my concepts towards improving my life.  This will assure that I can monitor my long-term practices for my overall health and wellness.

Whenever adversity makes an unexpected intrusion into my life I must take a look at all areas that may have caused the adversity to happen.  I have to ask myself did these things happened to me because of my choices or did God Himself placed me in an arena of adversity.  In order to mature in any aspect of my life I must become stronger in my faith and what I believe.  It takes courage to have character as well as wanting to change

Loving Kindness & Subtle Mind

Loving kindness and having a subtle mind are my primary focus, I once believed in holding a grudge against people who have wronged me and this was poisoining my life, health and happiness however; what I have learned is that forgiveness and having a quite mind speaks volumes versus thinking in a negative pattern.  I believe that all of the practices are important but these two are more important to me.  Practicing loving kindness wasn't hard it only took applying, thinking with a subtle mind wasn't difficult it only took determination and focus not to allow the negative stressors or people in my life to move or effect me.  I have so much inner peace and awareness that now I can hear what is being said to me internally as well as mentally, and this is important to my overall health and wellness.  I have found that these two practices can eliminate a lot of what I thought was important to be moved quickly into my elimination bucket.  Moving on and letting go is what living is all about but there has to be forgiveness in order to truly move on. 

Mindfulness & Meditation

As we progress in our awareness of mindfulness and meditation I have found that these two practices have become apart of my day to day process.  I had practice having a strong prayer life however; without meditation I have found it can be ineffective.  Meditation brings about peace within your thought process as well as outlook, meditating prior to praying allows me to focus directly on eliminating the negative things around me so that I can have a one on one with God.  Since beginning these two techniques I have experienced much inner peace and happiness, I have also notice that I am much more happier each day and this allows the negative influences and or people not to become a part of my pyschological or spiritual wellness.

 The statment "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" has so much truth, no one can lead without first experiencing life or a situation themselves.  No one can give advice or direction if they themselves haven't live it.  I believe it is so important to speak little and listen much because you can learn so much more about and from a person rather than interrupting someone while their speaking. 

The healthcare field can be a tricky environment and if you haven't walked in someone shoes then how can you give advise.  I don't believe it's about walking in their shoes but rather being a witness to countless incidents and diagnosis give health care professionals an eye witness a count of what will happen.  I do have an obligation to my patients and staff to living a healthy psychologically, physically and spiritually lifestyle, it would be difficult to lead without being an example. 

Integral Assessment

The questions in which the assessment asked allowed me to visualize different scenarios and apply them to my day to day experiences.  A few of the questions that were asked were: Leaping to the next level of development, what practices will be required? What problems will I resolve?  What new abilities will I develop? and finally how will this contribute to my integral health?  These are questions that I will now integrate into my daily prayer life and spirituality.

The areas I have chosen to focus on are my listening and reaction skills, I find that I jump to conclusions prematurely or I don't allow individuals to complete their thoughts while communicating with me, therefore I will ensure that I follow and practice better listening and reaction skills.

I have decided to incorporate more meditation and prayer exercises into my life, I sometimes allow the outer distractions to take over and I know this isn't beneficial towards my objective of bettering myself, my health and my overall wellness. 

A Subtle Mind Brings Loving-Kindness

This unit has assisted me with understanding how to reach within and see others from a loving-kindness perspective and not judge others.  Sometimes we can view individuals from a bias stance without placing their feelings in considerations.  You have to reach from the inside and pull back the layers of ourselves and acknowledge our demons before slaying others.  Things must be perceived from love always and not from hatred because this can bring about a life long cycle of unwanted feelings and emotions. 

Having a subtle mind allows us to remove the unnecessary chatter and noise from the outside so that we can move forward in tandem with what the universe has to say to us.  Sometimes we must be still and quite in order to hear and see our fate and or destiny.  Prayer and meditation is the foundation of our existence and it will continue to be, this is what guide and directs us in our life. 

Mental Fitness

Love & Kindness

My experience with the relaxation exercise can be describe as very uplifting, I have a very strong prayer life that I practice on a daily basis and when I integrate this exercise along with my current practices it allows me to take myself to a quite place and decompress and focus on the peace and tranquility that is required to recharge my batteries.  I didn't find this exercise difficult at all and I would recommend it to others. 

"Mental Workout" is a concept that requires allowing yourself to be relief from the day to day stress that occur in our lives.  Research suggest that we practice our own mental workout on a daily basis, to ensure integral health. 

I have incorporate a mental workout in my morning, noon, and evening routines.  This consist of my daily prayers, and finding my quite zone so that I won't allow the daily stressor to take over.  I encourage everyone to have this type of workout integrated into their lives because it does help to decompress. 

Mind & Body Connection ~ Wellness

Physical Well-Being

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate my physical well being an 8.  I workout 3 to 5 days a week but I believe we all have something that we need to work on towards our own physical well being the body ages and there are always things we can work towards improving.

Spiritual Well-Being

Spiritual well being I would rate a 6, I strive to work on this everyday, as a human there will never be perfection however, I will continue to pray and reach out to God for guidance and direction.

Psychological Well-Being

My mental well being has taken me years to improve, I would rate this a 7, I have learned that your outlook dicates your outcome.  I maintain a positive attitude everyday no matter what and at times it does become difficult but that's when I meditate and pray.  This helps me to seek a higher understanding before I choice the direction I should go.  I am always seeking a higher understanding and meaning to my life but I will never change how I pray and seek guidance before I make a decision on anything.

Goals for Integral Wellness

My goal for integral wellness will be to continue to surround myself around the positive people and forces.  This is important in order to maintain the proper balance in my life, I have tried to save negative minded individuals but this will leave you drained emotional and spiritually, you can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink so I will continue to seek positive surroundings and friends.  My prayer life is so important to me it helps to keep me ground and closer to God.

Relaxation Exercise

The relaxation exercise was very relaxing and I was able to focus on the direction of the audio/video.  I like to incorporate music and the sounds of the outdoors (i.e., running water, the sound of the wilderness) to help take me away from the chaos of the outside world.  Our world has become so technology driven that unplugging and recharging my batteries is a requirement in order for me to maintain a sound mind.

Medical Processes

Please join me in discussing the issues in health care that can effect us all however, here we will discuss the concerns that arise with different medical processes that can overwhelm and cause stress to anyone entering a health care institution.  Please feel free to share your experiences and thoughts with hospital, physician, and clinic visits.  All comments will receive feedback.