The Integral Assessment!

The universal Loving Kindness exercise was easier for me to do. I had a mantra to focus on and this made it easier I think. I felt like I was accomplishing something and helping others in my meditative process, this always makes me feel peaceful and in control.

The Integral Assessment process was very helpful. It gives you a way to assess your spriritual development and highlights areas that need improvement. It actually promotes your spiritual good health simply by making you aware. Knowledge is power and by knowing your weaknesses you can make changes that improve your spiritual well-being.

I learned that my spiritual health is good, though there are many areas for improvement. I found that I am in the mind realm on most areas, have reached the spiritual level on a few, and at the body level on only one area. I opened my mind to the possibilities of how much better I could be though, and inspired me to work on those area that need improvement (Dacher, 2006).

Reference:

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

My Mental Fitness PowerPoint Presentation

Here is a link to my PowerPoint Presentation

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Aa6XQb1IWyYMZDczdHJyN18xMHM5dHF6YmR0&hl=en_US

Unit 5 The Key Role of Thought in Wellness and Healing

The Loving Kindness, and Subtle Mind Exercise:

These two exercises are very similar in many ways though I found the subtle mind exercise easier because I concentrated on my breathing more and less on what I was thinking. I find it hard to grasp these esoteric concepts. I really don’t see how the mind works as much as I see my breathing. I am finding it hard to make these practices work, but I haven’t given up hope. I know that it takes practice and I am doing them everyday. 

Spitirual, Physical, and Mental Wellness: Spiritual wellness is linked to physical and mental wellness. Can you truly have any of them if you don’t have all three? Spiritual wellness is alive and well within me. I am always thinks about the ramifications of my actions and how it will affect those around me. I have always told myself that an apology is not for the other person as much as it is for me. I am truly sorry if I hurt you, that is never my intention. I often think is it better to say that or just keep it to myself an avoid hurting the other person. I bite my tongue a lot but I am so much more spiritually happy because of it.

Mental Workouts

Mental Workout Defined - It is the process of training the mind to take in process and let go of negative thoughts and emotions. By training the mind we reduce the amounts of negative emotions that cause problems such as anger, worry, fear, hatred, confusion and doubt. By reducing these we leave our thoughts and minds open things like love, kindness, happiness, comfort, and contentment. This is a process though and you must train your brain just like you train for a sport. But the benefits are amazing!

I have begun to incorporate this mental training in my life. I have learned not to dwell on negative emotions. One of my old habits was to go over and over something that has angered me in my mind. I would dwell on it and worry on it like a dog with a bone. Now I tell myself to let it go and I stop and fill my mind with the things that bring me joy in my life, my husband, my children, and my grandchildren. I just breath out the negative vibes and let it go.

Loving Kindness Practice!

Wow, my thoughts on the Loving Kindness Practice are eye opening. I have always had problems performing these types of exercises. I can't seem to shut my brain down long enough to get the job done. With this exercise though at each stage I was given something to focus on. Whether it be taking in the loving kindness around me or taking in the negativity and releasing it so the universe.

I found this exercise to be refreshing and it brought me peace and joy. I felt like I was not only helping myself, but those around me as well. It empowered me to control the outcomes that have felt out of control at times, and brought me a sense of peace and well being. 

The Crime of the Century!

This week is all about human flourishing, and just taking time to look at how I am doing on the road to happiness. I am taking a look at my physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being.

My well-being 

My overall wellbeing could be better. My physical wellbeing is rated at about a 4 and that is a problem. I am not happy with my physical self right now. I need to lose about 20 pounds and am just not getting enough exercise. To be honest I am scared of exercise, in my mind it is synonymous with pain, and I don’t like pain. So I tend to avoid it because I can find a lot of different things I would rather be doing. My spiritual well-being is rated at an 8, there is room for improvement, but I am doing rather well here. If I don’t think about my lack of exercise I am happy with my life, my family, and my moral wellbeing. My psychological wellbeing is doing very well. I rate it at about a 9. I think that my mental health is great, I am not stressed, and am in a good state of mind. I would rate my overall wellbeing at about a 7. If I can get my fear of exercise under control I will be doing pretty well.

Goals:

Physical – I am not going to allow my fears to control me. I will step out of my comfort zone and join a fitness class at my local YMCA. If I have a set time that I schedule I will find it harder to avoid it. I will work on my cardio fitness 3 times per week.

Spiritual – I will start using relaxing exercises every day. Personal time to relax is important to our spiritual wellbeing and I don’t take enough time to do it. By implementing these relaxing exercises I will lead by example, and can teach others to do the same. 

Psychological - I am going to work on controlling the stress that I feel and not let it control me. I sometimes let my temper get the better of me. I feel that this is detrimental to my mental wellbeing and will work on letting the anger go, and not dwelling on the stressor’s that cause it.  Every time that I feel anger, I will acknowledge it, understand it, and then let it go. I know that stress is harmful and will try to keep it to a minimal level. 

Relaxation:

I found the relaxation exercise “the crime of the century” to be very relaxing. I was better able to focus on the relaxation techniques in this exercise. I am making progress along the road to relaxation and hope that with each exercise I will get better at it. I found that this time I was able to concentrate on the rainbow colors, and my mind didn’t wander. Maybe because I had something to concentrate on I was more able to focus. I also found the tip that if I have a stray thought to acknowledge that thought then let it go very beneficial to me. This seems to be my main problem, getting my brain to relax. By doing this I was able to let the thought go and now dwell on it. It was almost as if I was given permission for the stray thoughts so I was able to not stress about them.