Unit 10

Hello Everyone,

I can’t believe this is the last week.  I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of you.

For my physical wellbeing, in unit 3, I scored myself a 5.  Right now, I would stay I’m a 6.  I’m definitely not where I want to be right now, but I’m working consistently towards my goal, in which I haven’t gave up yet.  My score changed because even though I haven’t reached my goal, I’m probably more fit than I was in unit 3.

For my spiritual wellbeing, in unit 3 I rated myself an 8.  I would probably give myself the same score now.  I only thing I need to change is going to church more, which I haven’t done yet, so there hasn’t been much change.

For my psychological wellbeing, in unit 3, I rated myself an 8 as well.  Being what I know now in the course, I probably wouldn’t have rated myself that high because there things that I realized I need to work on more, like my stress and anger.  I would rate myself now at a 7.  Even though I manage my stress pretty well, I still let little things get to me and I also need to learn how to manage my anger a little better.

Upon reviewing my goals, I’ve achieved a couple of them already.  I’m still consistent with my work outs, so that was something I knew I wanted to maintain.  Also, I manage my stress and anger better.  I’m trying not to yell when I’m mad, but just talk it out.  Really the only exercise I have implemented so far is deep breathing.  When I’m mad or stressed, I use this exercise to help me from speaking out of anger.  I use it at home and at work, so have helped me a lot.

I loved this course.  I thought it was very beneficial to learn about, not only for me, but I can help my friends and family members in this as well.  I think the most difficult part is recognizing that you have things to work on, but after you get over that point, it’s easy from there.  It rewarding because I get to change these little things in life to make me be a better person, not only for me, but for my family.

Take care everyone and good luck in the future.

Jamie Prince

Unit 9 Final Project

Jamie Lee Prince

HW420-02, Final Project

3.5.11

Kaplan University

Introduction

            It’s important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically for many reasons.  Not only is it good for them, but this is what they will be teaching their clients to practice too.  I always say practice what you preach, so I believe that all health care professionals should really practice integral health.  Integral health has been around for many years.  Dacher states that our contemporary approach to integral healing draws upon the modern-day wisdom and science of the East and West and relies on integral theory as developed by the modern philosopher Ken Wilber, (2006).  What do you think about when you hear integral health?  The few people that I have asked all had the right idea in mind.  They said acupuncture and meditation.  Yes, these are right but there is so much more to integral health that a lot of people don’t know about.  Some people are even skeptical of these practices and assume they don’t work, so they turn to conventional medicine.  Conventional medicine has been around for ages and has been used to treat patients and their problem area.  This type only focuses on healing the outside and whatever is wrong with the patient.  It doesn’t ever focus on the whole body and healing from the inside out, which is why a lot of the times, there are diseases people have and don’t know about.  Physicians that practice conventional medicine treat patients and try to get them out the door to they can attend to the next person.  They don’t know anything about you and probably don’t care to know.  Their focus is on treating what’s wrong and going on to the next patient.  The more patients they see, the more money they make.  To me, it’s very impersonal.  Every time I go to the doctor, I always feel rushed and I’m never in there with them for more than 10 minutes.  That is the difference between conventional and integral medicine.  Integral medicine focuses on treating the whole body, from the inside out.  The doctors that practice this are trained to get to know the patient on a personal level so they can understand them better.  They treat everything that’s wrong with the person and not just one thing.  They offer different kinds of treatments to best suit that person and their needs.  Yeah, some methods may not work for someone and some may.  Everyone is different and different things will work for different people.  People just have to keep trying what’s out there to find what will work for them the best.  Dacher stated that in order to love, you must love yourself (2006).  This quote has always stuck in my mind because I truly believe that, but I also believe in order to help a person, you must help yourself first which is why it’s so important health care professionals to develop these different aspects first so they can understand their patients, what they are going through and how they are feeling.  The areas I need to develop to achieve the goals I have for myself would be all of them: physically, mentally and spiritually.  I chose all three of these because I know I can make some improvements in my life to each one of those.  I will be listing my specific goals later on in this paper.

Assessment

            I have taken many assessments on myself while going to school at Kaplan.  Some of these assessments made me realize the things that I really need to work on, which is good in a way.  It’s also very stressful because you have to face the fact that you really do need to work on things to make your life better.  It’s been hard to realize that, but the first step to changing is recognizing it.  To assess myself psychologically, spiritually, and physically I’m going to do it on my own using a 1-10 point scale (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) without using any already written up assessments because this will allow me to expand my mind more.

            Psychologically, I would consider myself to be at a 6.  I’m pretty stable but I know I can do better when it comes to stress and how I handle situations.  I feel like I let things bother me too easily; which I know needs to stop.  By doing that, it leads to un-necessary stress.  I also feel like I could manage my stress a little better.  Most of the time, I’m good about it and can manage it just fine, but there are days that I don’t do anything and just let it build up.  Another thing I know I can work on is my anger.  I tend to let little things get me angry for some reason.  If I’m already frustrated and my son does something or something bad happens, then that gets me angry.  If I manage my anger better, I think I’ll be okay.  I also need to learn to stop yelling and raising my voice because it doesn’t help the situation.

            Spiritually, I would rate myself a 5.  I come from a very religious family and even though I pray, I admit I haven’t been to church in a while.  I feel bad for it because I remember the feeling I would feel after coming out of church; it was unbelievable.  I miss that feeling and need to get it back in my life.  Even though I still have a connection with God, I really need church back in my life to feel complete.  I need to stop making excuses and just go.  I always use my son as an excuse not to go anywhere because he is at his terrible 2 stage and it’s hard to take him anywhere.  If I really had to, I could try finding someone to watch him for an hour while I go or just suck it up and try taking him anyways.  Either way, I really need to change my lifestyle in this area.

            Physically, I would rate myself a 5.  Even if lately I’ve been really active, physically I’m still not where I want to be.  Every time I start working out, I end up stopping after a few weeks.  The motivation and the time commitment has always been a challenge for me.  I found myself making excuses for why I would stop, which I think of it now, and they aren’t really great excuses.  Everyone has at least 30 minutes to an hour to work out or do some physical activity in the day.  I remember I gave the excuse of not having enough time in the day to my friend one time, and he told me it wouldn’t hurt me to wake up one hour earlier to work out.  After that day, I never gave having no time an excuse anymore, because he was right.  Even though I’m not a morning person, and it’s hard enough to wake up for work, but I knew it was possible if I really wanted to.  I have just now started on a steady workout schedule and haven’t let anything get in my way so far.  I try to work on school work every chance I get, so that when I get home from work, I have time for house duties and time to work out.  So far, for the past month, it has been working.  I admit I have put things on the back burner, just so that I can get my workout in.  I feel that until I get myself to where I want and need to be, it’s what I have to do.  I try to work out 5-6 times a week, 2 hours a night.  I do about 40-45 minutes of cardio (Zumba) and then the rest of the time I use weights and then abs.  Even though it seems like a long time, when you add everything up, it takes a while because you’re not only doing weighs, but you need to add abs in there as well as stretching and little breaks in between sets.  I think if I continue on this path, I will be at my weight loss goal in no time.

Goal Development

Psychologically, my goal is to manage my stress and anger better than I have been.  I need to not let things get to me to easily and just live life.  I always tell myself life is too short to be stressed about little things like a spill on the floor or toys scattered around the house.  I think if I just live life and not stress the little things, I will be a much happier person.  I think that my life is really stressful right now because I have a two year old son that is all over the place, work full time and then go to school.  I know how to manage my time wisely, but with everything going on, it gets to be very stressful at times.  During work or right after work, I need to do something to clear my mind so I’m not taking my stress out on my family when I get home.

Spiritually, my goal is to go to church.  I need to stop making excuses and just get up and go.  Even though I still have prayer in my life, sometimes I feel like it’s not enough.  Nothing can make me feel the way I feel after I leave a mass at church.

Physically, my goal is to lose about 50 lbs and to be physically fit.  After I had my son, I never lost the baby weight.  Well, I probably lost some for like a couple months and then gained it back.  I’ve always had a job that required me to sit down all day so I wouldn’t be very active during the day, and after work I just went home to spend time with my newborn.  Working out was the last thing on my mind, because I was still trying to get the hang of taking care of a baby by myself.  Plus, I was really attached, so outside of work, I wanted to be with him every chance I could get.

Practices for Personal Health

            There are many strategies that I can use to foster the growth in my psychological, spiritual and physical health.

            For my psychological goals, there are many different exercises that I can practice to help me achieve my goals of managing my stress and anger better.  What I have tried in the past is meditation and exercise.  I would say yoga, but I never really tried yoga before.  Before this class, I never tried meditation but doing the meditation exercises throughout this term, made me love it.  It clears your mind of absolutely everything and makes you feel great afterwards.  Exercise has always been a great stress reliever and an anger reliever as well.  I think if I keep these two things in my life and actually do them when I feel stressed or angry, it will benefit me a great deal.  I noticed when I work out when I’m angry, I take my anger out in my workouts and I actually work out a lot harder than I would do normally.  It gives me that drive.

            Spiritually, I just need to add time during my Sundays and go.  Also, if I add more prayer to my life as well as going to church, I think my spiritual health will develop more.  This is what I need in my life to help me make it through tough situations and it’s what I have grown up believing.  The power of prayer and healing is amazing and it has amazed me reading the research and studies that have been conducted on prayer and healing.

            Physically, I just need to keep cardiovascular activities like Zumba or running and weight training in my exercise routine.  It keeps your heart healthy as well as your muscles and bones.  Maintaining my 2 hour workout schedule is what I’m going to need to do and mixing up my exercises so that my body doesn’t get use to doing the same thing.  Time management has also been hard for me.  I just need to keep in my mind that my workout should come first before anything, as it’s for my health and to keep me healthy.  Motivation is all I need to maintain.

Commitment

            Staying motivated has always been the key to my success, always keeping in my mind that these changes I’m making may be hard, but is going to benefit me and my health in the long run.  I’m planning on keeping a journal or log of my progress over the next 6 months, weather if I fall off my workout schedule or not.  By doing this, will not only keep me motivated, but I can look back to see the progress I have made.  When I do get to my goal, I will have records of my accomplishments and how I was feeling at the time that I can always to back and read.  I believe to keep and stay healthy; you need to change your lifestyle for good and not just for the time being.  What I have done is incorporated this into my families lives, so they are healthy as well.  I admit, there are still things that I need to give up or lower my intake of, like sweets and bread, but it’s in the works.  I know I will get there over time by eliminating one bad thing off my diet every month.  So instead of it all hitting me at once, I can gradually change it. I think this will help me stay motivated to change because it won’t be so hard.

References:

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

Unit 8 Post

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all are having a good week so far.  This term has flew by.  To two exercises I thought have been more beneficial to me are visualization and meditation.  Although, all of them I really liked, I can always see myself doing the visualization or meditation at times when I need it.  I think as long as I practice these exercises in times of need, or just incorporate them into my daily routine, I will have my mental fitness. One thing I did try was visualization at work during my break.  It was really nice taking my mind to a happy place and for about 5 minutes, I thought I was somewhere else.  After that, I felt refreshed and it really made it easier to get through my day. Another example I think would be beneficial for me is doing meditation before work.  I know people that do this, and it makes them more alive.  You can really tell the difference between the people that do these exercises before they come to work or even get a work out in, than the people that don't.  The people that don't look very tired and they just look like they are dragging through half of the day.

Jamie Prince

Unit 7 Blog

Hello All,

I hope everyone is doing well this week.  I completed the meditation exercise on track 4.  I felt this to be very beneficial and of course very relaxing.  For the exercise, we had to visualize someone, dead or alive, male or female that we love, honor and share a special connection with and observe them in our mind.  I chose to visualize about my mother.  It then asked us to reflect on this person, their love, joy and compassion towards things.  Doing this exercise, I felt myself becoming more positive.  I did this at work during break, because I wanted to see if it would help be relieve some of my work stress and negativity and it did.  I think that mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in my psychological or spiritual wellness because every time I’m stressed, I tend to listen to these tracks and it always seems to get me past the issue.  I can continue to apply these practices in my daily life for greater health and wellness by observing myself more and when I’m having an issue, correct it before it gets too far.

The saying “one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself,” means a lot to me.  For someone working in the field, especially one in the health and wellness field, I don’t think its right for someone to talk and counsel people on eating right and exercise when they don’t eat right or exercise themselves.  I know it happens out there, but I just don’t believe its right.  That’s one of the many reasons I had to change my lifestyle.  I can’t see myself speaking about nutrition and I don’t watch what I eat.  It’s like the saying, practice what you preach.  I would feel very obligated to my clients to be developing my health physically, mentally and spiritually.  I would want them to see me as fit, healthy and stable so they can look up to me or use me as their motivation.  I can implement psychological and spiritual grown in my personal life by using meditation and prayer.  These are the two things that have really worked for me.

Jamie Prince

Loving Kindness Meditation and Integral Assessement

Hello All,

Hope you are having a good week so far.

I completed the loving kindness meditation exercise and found it to be beneficial in a way.  Repeating those phrases for 10 minutes, made it easier to remember loving kindness, even in stressful situations.  I think if someone is in a situation either a stress situation or an angry one, they can benefit from this exercise.  I think it can help someone forgive in a way, because the words are referring to everyone and not just a specific person.  The thing I didn't like about the exercise is that it was repetitive.  Like I said, it probably would be beneficial for someone in a certain situation, but for someone that isn't going through anything, it can be kind of boring for them.

I really liked the Integral Assessment.  This assessment makes you think about all the aspects in my life that needs attention.  I liked this idea because sometimes I only focus on one or two things and not all of them.  It also gives motivation to focus on these things and to change to improve my health, happiness and wholeness.  This exercise allows you to think deep down in your mind and pick all the things that needs to be addressed.  We don't always think about this, so its good to sit down and list all of these things so it can be addressed rather than have them not even being worked on at all.

I didn't really discover anything new about myself.  I usually always think about what I need to work on.  That doesn't mean they always get worked on, but I am aware.  The areas I chose focus on growth and development is communication in my relationship and managing my time better so I can work out everyday.  I chose these because they are weak and needs major improvement.  There are many things I can do to help in these areas.  I know I need to talk an argument out instead of yelling at the time.  I also need to write out a schedule to plan my day out so I can fit my work out time in my daily activities.

Jamie

Unit 5 Powerpoint

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0ByYsNlcHHbSdNmU0YWRhYzEtNDJjOS00ZDUyLTk3OTItOWRhMDc4M2YwY2I1&hl=en


This link takes you to my power point presentation for Unit 5 on Mental Fitness. Enjoy.
The slides aren't in complete sentences because I put everything in the notes part in powerpoint, which arent showing up in this link.  Just an FYI.
Jamie Prince

Week 5 Blog post

Hello Everyone,

I liked both of the exercises, the loving-kindness and the subtle mind practice.  I think they both can be beneficial  to a person, but I think that depends on the person.  I think the difference between the two exercises is that loving-kindness helps a person focus on the people in their life, the negative and positive events that they are going through.  With the subtle mind practice, it has people focus more on the mind, and training the mind while going through the 3 levels of the subtle mind.  I thought the exercise went really well for me. I didn't experience any frustrations except that my disk only work for the first 5 minutes and then it was all static so I had to open the track from doc sharing. Other than than, it was very relaxing to me.

There is a big connection between spiritual wellness, mental wellness and physical wellness.  All of these things are tied together, so its important to keep all of these healthy.  In order to keep the "whole" person healthy, a persons spiritual wellness, mental wellness and physical wellness needs to be healthy as well.  This connection has manifested in my life because when i'm stressed, its hard for me to concentrate and I have no energy to do anything, so it affects my physical wellness as well.

Jamie