Unit 9 Project

Unit 9 Project

I Introduction:

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because in order to help others one most first help themselves. That may sound selfish, but in order to affect change in others it is necessary to make those same changes in your own person, once that is done the client will be more apt to listen and follow instructions and the health and wellness professional will have the experience needed to give sound advice and help the client on their way to developing themselves psychologically, spiritually, and physically. I need to develop myself in the spiritual and physical areas mainly. Spiritually, I have nothing to help me carry out my beliefs and I am still searching for a good fit religion wise. Physically, I need to decrease my body fat, increase muscle mass, and work to achieve a more balanced lifestyle through physical activity and nutritional changes. There is always room to improve psychologically, in that arena I need to get better at recognizing and following my own desires, rather than those of my loved ones.

II Assessment:

How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

I have assess my health in each domain by using a self-grading method on a scale from one to ten, one being the worst and ten being the best. For my physical well being I score myself as a 6, this is because I am healthy but have lots of room for improvement. For my spiritual well being I score myself as a 7, this is because I know what I believe but I am unsure of how to improve my spiritual well being. For my psychological well being I score myself as a 6, this is because I recognize my emotions and deal with most of them but still need to address some.

III Goal development:

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

For my physical well being my main goal is to increase my cardiovascular exercise regime to help shed pounds, then once down in weight begin strength training to increase endurance and confidence. Also, I plan to change my nutritional habits to aid in the process of permanent weight loss. For my spiritual well being my main goals are to reaffirm my beliefs and search for ways to improve my spiritual well being, whether through practices, prayer, or organized services. For my psychological well being my main goal is to change the fact that the emotions that I do deal with are dealt with through release of anger in exercise and cleaning, which is somewhat healthy. I need to start addressing the source of the emotions more so that I can prevent that overwhelmed feeling.

IV Practices for personal health:

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

For my physical well being the strategies I will be implementing include increased physical activity and better nutrition. To accomplish this I will do the following exercises: walking, swimming, the use of light free weights, eating a more varied diet of low fat foods, and keeping a food journal. I will implement these exercises by creating a schedule that includes all of these items throughout each day, if, at the end of the day, I have kept to the schedule and to my diet I will reward myself with a low calorie chocolate snack and an hour of television before bed. If not them I will read from my school books for an hour before going to bed without a late night chocolate fix.

For my spiritual well being the strategies I will be implementing are the exploration of personal beliefs and various religions and practices. To accomplish this I will do the following exercises: writing down my beliefs, keeping a beliefs journal to keep track of questions and thoughts on religion and spirituality, and explore religions so that I can find a good fit while continuing my search for ways to improve my spiritual well being. I will implement these exercises by making the exercises part of my schedule, they will be included throughout the week and I will bend my schedule around times when I need to journal, pray, or do other spiritually related activities.

For my psychological well being the strategies I will be implementing are looking inside my mind and more adequate coping of stress and like emotions. To accomplish this I will do the following exercises: the subtle mind exercise to confront my emotions, additional subtle mind exercise to find the causes of my emotions, and different coping mechanisms to confront my emotions head on in a healthy manner, and if my emotions cannot be confronted in this way then I will release my emotions through other means such as exercising or cleaning (non-destructive ways). I will implement these exercises by including the subtle mind exercise in my schedule and allowing myself to go off schedule to better deal with stress and cope with emotions in healthy ways. I will also keep a stress journal so that I can track my stress and stress emotions and find which ways work best for coping with and/or dealing with those emotions.

V Commitment:

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

I will assess my progress or my lack of progress in the next six months by undergoing additional self grading every two week. I have always been a fair self grader and I don’t anticipate any problems in that area. To assist myself in self grading and to help me to maintain this practices in the long term strife for health and wellness I will continue to keep journals on my physical, spiritual, and psychological well being until such a time that I feel it is no longer necessary to write everything down, due to better self recognition in my inner life.