Unit 9 Final Project

Introduction It is important for health and wellness professionals to have a good sense of self in order to be able to reach out to others. I have been in a real dark phase in my life for a few years now and I have do realize now that I need to reach deep down inside of myself in order to improve psychologically, spiritually and physically. We are our own worse enemy. We have the power to control how we react to things and can choose the outcome. I not only owe this to myself but to my children. They are the light of my life and my greatest achievements. I am so proud and lucky to have them in my life and they make me want to do better. I thank God for them each and everyday and they give me the strength and courage to perceiver. I remember when I got pregnant for the first time I was 28 and single and scarred to death. I thought how am I going to be responsible for a precious little life all on my own. Even though her father and I had been dating for a few years I had no intention of getting married. Not really knowing what to do I decided to stay single. I used to say, " thank you Lord for getting us through another day". I remember thinking how are we going to make it each year. I can proudly say, " we did it!". My Savanna is 17 this year now and she really is a gift from God. She is beautiful, smart and funny. She cares about everyone and everything. I am elated of what a amazing young lady she has become. Five years after my daughter was born I was blessed with a beautiful baby boy. My Cameron is equally as special to me and because of my past choices I decided to stay with his father and live a wonderful life. The kind that I always dreamed of. These special years validated all the past decisions that I had made. I had a beautiful family and had the liberty of being a stay at home mom for the first few years. This is where things started to change for the worse. Over the course of time my life continued to unravel and all that I knew to be true as a lie. The life that I was building was built on lies and bedrail. Who would have thought raising two children on my own would have been a better alternative than living a lie. Well my son is now 11 and these past years have been very challenging. My son has a nine year old half brother. I chose this course to help me mend my broken heart and move forward in life and stop letting the past hold me back. We can not change what has happened to us but we can overcome it and learn to move forward. I am 45 years old and have been putting my life back together piece by piece. This course has shown me that the mind is a powerful thing it can lift you up or tear you down. Unfortunately over the past I have let it tear me down. I intend to use the exercises from this course to improve myself psychologically, spiritually and physically. I work many jobs in order to provide for my family and the only regret that I have in my life was not finishing my education. Which brings me to the chapter in my life. Finishing my bachelor degree is very important to me so that can build a career and get a one job that will sustain us making more time for my family and peace of mind. along with peace of mind I will be able to focus on my integral health by improving my overall lifestyle. I want to be able to look into the mirror and love all of me inside and out. I intend to learn how to give myself credit where credit is due. If children are a true reflection of the parents and upbringing then I have achieved wealth in ways better than money. I will witness these two wonderful people changing the world for the better and that started with me. This course has made me see the positive things that I have accomplished through adversity and came out on the other side wounded but in tacked in so many ways. The people in my life that have taken me under their wing have been total strangers. People that I am proud now to call family even without the biological ties. God continues to put these wonderful strangers into my life making a profound impact and everlasting bond. Assessment On a scale of 1-10 1 being the worst and 10 being the best Psychologically: I give myself 7 because I have great relationships with others and especially with my children but have to improve my relationship with myself. I have to learn through therapy to forgive myself for the mistakes that I have made in my life and learn to give myself credit for the things that I have achieved on my own. Through meditation, yoga, and relaxation exercises I will be able to teach myself through contemplative practice how to relax and clear my mind with the three levels of the subtle mind: witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness (Dacher,2006). I will be able to get rid of all of my negative thoughts, feelings and images and replace them with positive thoughts, feelings, and images. Spiritually: I give myself 5 because I believe in the power of God and I am thankful for the blessings in my life but spirituality is much more than that it is being at peace with one's self and a reformation of how we look at things and how we handle life's challenges. I believe that meditation will also help me in this aspect because when I reach a calm-abiding mind I will be able to put my mind at ease and feel peaceful. Once I have peace in my mind and heart then and only then will I begin to heal and be able to move forward in a more positive and loving way. Physically: I give myself 5 because even though I do look good for my age and I don't feel good. I don't feel comfortable in my own skin. I was only 98 pounds for most of my adult life even after the birth of my first child. I always felt that I was underweight but ate everything and never gained any weight. This was a blessing and a curse all at the same time. I never learned how to follow a health lifestyle with diet and exercise. I am not obese by any means but I would love to lose about 25 pounds in order to feel comfortable. I need to walk my dog to improve my circulation and heart health and lift weights to tone gain muscle mass. Goal Development Psychologically: Go to a therapist at least once a week for one hour for six months in order to get professional advice without medications to talk out my past and sort through my thoughts. To learn how to leave the past in the past and forgive not only the people but forgive myself for some of the decisions that I felt that I had to make. To continue to see a therapist once a month for a year to touch base and keep on a positive path. Spiritually: Continue to take the children to church once a week. Use mental exercises to relax and clear my mind once a day for 30 minutes. Meditate in a quite plateful place with scented candles once a week for one hour. Listen to soft music when I get ready for work everyday. Believe in myself and give myself credit for the things I do by making a list everyday. Use deep breathing exercises to reduce my stress and avoid unnecessary confrontations daily. Physically: Join my daughter in her workouts for one a day. Walk our Bailey boy once a day to improve cardio and get my blood flowing. Lift weights once a week with my son. Continue to ride my bike with the children as often as possible weather permitting. Make healthier food choices at the grocery store and shop weekly to reduce over buying and overeating. Eat on smaller plates every meal. Stop eating after nine pm. Practices Psychologically 1. Start a journal of my thoughts and feelings in accordance with my therapist to stay focused on the positive aspects of life and release the negative ones. This will allow me to measure my progress and to help me see how far I grow through time or what areas that I need to improve on. 2.Take long walks on the Montour Trail observing nature and use deep breathing exercise to lower my heart rate and blood pressure. Experiencing nature and all the wonders that it has to offer has a very calming effect. Spiritually 1. Continue to take the children to church so that we can be sounded by positive, loving, spiritual people. Changing your surroundings can have a profound effect our you feelings and thoughts. 2. Take hot relaxing baths with scented candles, dimmed lights, and soft music. Having quiet time to yourself can help clear your mind and reflect on all the blessings in your life. 3. Leaving positive notes for myself and children around the house to remind us of all our wonderful qualities. Physically 1. Start an exercise chart with times and weight to measure any weight loss towards my goal of 25 pounds in a year. Take before and after pictures to visualize my improvement. This will keep me on track and keep me motivated to lose the weight and also spending more quality time with my daughter. 2. Make a schedule with my son for our workout times and a list of measurements so we can keep track of our improvement and also spending quality time with my son. Start a calorie chart to help me keep track of my food intake. Commitment As you can see from my self assessment that I have a lot of work to do over the next six months. I hope to improve my psychological, spiritual and physical ratings on my assessment scale by at least two points for each category. I will monitor my psychological improvements by reading my past entries in my journal and comparing the entries to the more recent ones. I will monitor my spiritual improvements by how I feel each day keeping track of the good and bad days on my planner. I will monitor my physical improvements by the charts and measurements that I took in the beginning of the six months and compare them to the new measurements. Through the entire journey I will continue to use a journal as my guide to make improvements and stay on the path to integral health. With the love of my family and friends I believe that I will be able to achieve my goals. Once I have reached the six months mark I will reassess myself and set more long term goals, which includes finishing my bachelor degree and adjusting my journal accordingly. (Dacher, 2006) Dacher states the final goal of integral healing is human flourishing - a profound, hardy, and sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.