Unit 7

This exercise was not very helpful and did not assist me in connecting with my mind, thoughts, and inner peace. I don't find meditation to be helpful in my life at this time because I am a person who is very active and doesn't have time to sit. I also find that by thinking of someone who was from my past or present isn't something that can help me to find a peace that is going to assist in inner strength or reflection. The mp3 for this week was not something that I could even imagine myself doing ("imagine a light from a person's heart going into mine") that just sounds ridiculous.

I did like the sound of the water it's a little relaxing. I have discussed that I do not have time to meditate or time for myself with my work schedule. It's just not possible for me to find this time and fit it in. I also have no personal interest in meditation being that I have already found my place in my life where I find comfort. \

Spiritual wellness for me comes from my belief in God and my understanding of his word. My personal form of meditation would include praying. I have found that pray has given me a sense of calmness and peace in my life. When I have troubles or concerns that don't have a cure on the outside I find that peace within myself through prayer to get through the tough times.

The way that I can include these experiences and exercises into my life is to continue to pray and have faith in God that his plans and will be done within my life. I truly find that it's the only way for me and my family.

The saying "one cannot lead another where he has not gone himself" is about having someone in your life that knows what you are going through and how to overcome it. This personal experience and reflection can assist a person in obtaining human flourishing (according to this weeks reading).  If a person has no idea what you are trying to achieve or what you are going through than there isn't a way they can be a role model for you to follow.  This doesn't apply to a health and wellness professional because we are only taught what is in our books, a professional doesn't have to experience cancer or mental illness in order to help someone overcome it. I beleive that my only obligation to my clients is to have pure intentions, and a duty to assist them, meaning I do everything within my knowledge, and power to assist them in achieving health (of course without breaking laws, or cod of ethics). It's up to a person to want to help themselves, I can not do everything for them.

The ways I can include psychological and spiritual health in my life is to have a balance of what occurs and  how I handle what is happening in my life. I beleive that God doesn't give someone more than what they can handle.

Unit 6 Blog

Universal Loving-Kindness Exercise
With this exercise I have found that I felt empowered and motivated to assist others in achieving personal growth, happiness, and forgiveness. I beleive that we all have the ability to assist one another in accomplishing many things, gaining happiness and leading others to feel the same way. When I read this over and over I felt a sense of belief. I started to get motivated and beleive what I was saying to be true.

The Assessment Process
Through this exercise I found that I really want to work on my love and compassion for my children. I feel that life sometimes takes over and fills my day with things that take me away from my family. When I am home with my children sometimes I just feel so tired or have so many tasks to accomplish that I don't take the time to experience and take in what they have to offer and what I have to offer them. I beleive that making more time and maybe calming of my spirit and mind are going to assist me in becoming a better mother and a listener.
The area of development that I would like to work on is listening and patience for my children. I do believe that I have all of that now but, I don't use it as much as I possibly could.

Some activities that I can use to exercise this area of development would be to take some time for myself to decompress and clear my mind of the days work before interacting with my children and using meditation or exercise to get through this might help give me the energy and feel better about myself.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)

Unit 5

The exercise for this week was a little different for me. I beleive that I was able to calm and relax a little bit more than last time. With relaxation and focus on my body and my inner conscious I was able to come to a baseline where I was able to focus on my mind and it's ability to just sit still. In the previous mp3 I was not able to settle down my mind. I felt as if I was going to explode. I beleive that the thought of thinking about someone who is close to you is a little harder than I thought because I was not able to focus on the good things. I was more worried about the bad things that were happening at the time.
With this exercise this week, I found that the waves, the flute playing and just the over all sound of a woman's voice was more calming to me than a mans voice. I was able to connect with my mind and realize that I have all the control to change things in my life and with my body. It was kind of interesting. With the loving kindness mp3 I was able to connect with my mind and body a little more extensively due to the relaxation and that idea that it was possible. I too beleive that through this course I have found more of an understanding of my body and how my mind,body connection is worth.
With the subtle mp3 I started to fall asleep and was not able to concentrate, I feel that I did a much better job this time around and I didn't fall asleep. 

Unit 4 blog

While I completed Unit 4 exercise I did not find this activity beneficial because I am not able to fully rest because of the voice of the person speaking and the sleepiness that I have. I have a full schedule and it’s hard for me to sit still without falling asleep or getting bored. I lack patience and it’s difficult for me to be in a resting relaxed state without finding something else to think about. Even though the focus should be on the positive and love and kindness I find other things to fill the brain with. 

When I conducted this exercise I was focusing on my children and all of the issues we are having with physical health. I understand that the purpose of this exercise was to gain and understanding and concentrate on certain aspects of our experiences but, I just can't keep my mind of one area and not have the other areas present. I am bring up other thoughts and tasks that need to be completed and things that need to be accomplished while trying to focus on what is important. I was not able to successfully conduct this exercise. 

I would however recommend these exercises to someone else because what doesn’t work for me might work for someone else. Everyone is different and this might be the best things for them.

Mental workouts are the way a person is able to use parts of the brain that is not typically used and exercised. A workout might strengthen a piece of the brain that is going to benefit that person in some way (positive).  The proven benefits of mental workouts are the strengthening of the brain in the area that is being worked out. There is also a memory sense that is used to access that part of the brain for future use. I believe that mental workouts will create a path for thoughts and feelings to follow when it’s necessary to maintain psychological health.

Week 3

A. 5-I would like to think that I am not in the worst shape of my life but that I could ultimately do better with my physical well being by exercising and eating a well balanced diet. 

B. 6- My spiritual well being is somewhat routine and I have not focused on my spiritual well being because I have been so busy with everything else in my life.

C. 9- My psychological well being is great, I maybe could improve on time management and stress but other than that I'm fine. 

My goal physically is to lose some weight and find a balance between work, school, family and my eating habits. 

Spiritually I need exercise, I need to strength build and get my own spiritual ideas under control and consistent. 

 Psychologically, I don't think that I need to improve on this area at all. 

Physically I can not purchase items that are unhealthy and make a plan to not eat fast food. Once I get those fast food items out of my system it makes it hard to return because your body get's accustomed to eating better. 

With spirituality I plan on attending church more often and attend some study groups. 

Lastly, I would like to get my mind off of stress as much as possible through some kind of exercises that will assist me physically and emotionally relieve some stress. 

I like to relax and find my center, I don't like breathing techniques because I can not ever do it correctly to where I don't get dizzy. It's really hard for me to focus on my deep breathing and relaxation because I get quite dizzy from it. 

I like how the person's voice in the audio is very calm and relaxed, because I am typically a much faster paced person I find it hard to slow down.