Self-reflection

After doing a self-reflection on my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing I have concluded that I have room for personal improvements in my life.  My current physical state I rated at an 8 because I my lifestyle is very healthy. I eat only a plant based diet and exercise daily. I only gave myself an 8 because I feel like I do not drink enough water and I should partake in more outdoor activities.  My spiritual wellbeing I rated at a 6 because I have yet to discover what I truly believe about human existence. I am not religious but do enjoy the harmony of nature and life on earth. I feel like I could be more accepting about what is spiritual or not. I need to judge less and accept more in life. Psychological wellbeing I rated myself at a 6 because I have a lot of inner demons that I haven’t been able to accept. I feel like I have come a long way in psychological journey throughout my life but still have many obstacles to overcome. 

To improve myself in each of the giving areas I will strive to implement beneficial activities and or exercises to improve my overall wellbeing. 

Physical wellbeing improvements: Exercise outdoors at least three days a week, i.e. hiking, walking, running, biking, and yoga. Drink a glass of water at the beginning of everyday and before each meal.

Spiritual wellbeing improvements: Meditate every day for at least twenty minutes. Research more human history of spiritual practices and beliefs. 

Psychological wellbeing improvements: Utilize meditation to accept what I have been through in my life and how each experience has made me stronger. Journal on a weekly bases about my psychological progress, hopes, dreams, and fears.  

The Crime of the Century exercise reflection: This week’s meditation session I thought was very relaxing. At first I was confused by the title and others experience with the session. Others had claimed it was annoying but I did not agree with that at all. I felt calm and relaxed while I was meditating and energized and aware when I was done. I love prisms so it was calming for me to envision prisms being projected through my body. While I was meditating I kept seeing my nose as if it were the only part of me above water. I could see my nose very clearly breathing in and out. It was like a dream and I thought it was a very cool experience, indeed.

 

The Crime of the Century

Steps to preparing one's self for integral health through mind-body-spirit

Integral health through mind-body-spirit is the simplest and most complex transformation one can go through.  There are steps to help individuals get in the right frame of mind to be successful when learning focusing/meditative practices. These steps are presented in this week’s reading as; loving kindness, skillful action, and silence and stillness.

Loving kindness is the first step to begin preparing yourself for integral health. Loving kindness is the one’s ability to draw on positive life experiences to center themselves amongst the chaos of daily life (Elliott S, 2006). One must choose positive experiences to reflect on to calm their emotions. I chose the heartwarming love I have for my children to calm myself or the butterflies I get in my stomach from the love of my husband. Everyone’s positive experience they chose to harness will vary on their own personal experience. The calming joy and loving kindness of this thought will be used to replace negative emotions or feeling whenever they may arrive. Once loving kindness is mastered than an individual will not only be able to control their own emotions and decisions but they will be able to project loving kindness to the world around them. 

Skillful action is the next stage of development to obtaining integral health by using our loving kindness to change how we react to the world around us. Each day we make choices we are not aware of, like, we chose to get annoyed or upset without even realizing we have let anger in. Skillful action is the ability to see every action as a choice and not a nuisance. Instead of letting things that we cannot control annoy us we need to replace our negative emotions with positive loving kindness instead. When I homeschool my boys, sometimes they frustrate me by not focusing so instead of allowing the frustration to control my actions I take a deep breath and choose patience over annoyance. If I get angry then I project my frustration on to my children and then the whole days learning is spoiled by negative emotions. 

Silence and stillness is the final stage of preparing one’s mind to practice integral health on a daily bases.  By using the previous steps we are now able to practice silence and stillness which will vary from outer, inner, to innermost stillness and silence. By calming our body we will allow calming our mind to follow. Once we have mastered silence and stillness for our body and mind we will be able to gain innermost silence and stillness. When we calm our mind than the chaos in life becomes more aware of what is needed in one’s life and what is simply noise that is not needed to exist peacefully. It is a freeing sense to allow ourselves to choose a more blissful and meaningful life through integral healing.

References

Elliott S, D. (2006). Integral Health. Laguna Beach: Basic Health.

Journey On

Thoughts are things and every thing we think influences our mental state as well as our physical state. In the meditation exercise Journey On we are taught how to control our blood flow.

Blood flow meditation exercise: Journey On

Being able to control blood flow within our body helps us to target sore or tight muscles and engorge them with blood flow to aid in relaxation and healing. I love meditation and this unit's exercise was no different. I felt relaxed and in control of my blood flow which was a new meditation practice for myself. I felt my blood move to exactly where I requested it to go and return once I willed it to. My hands became warm and heavy when I thought of my blood flows path to my hands. Once I thought of the blood flow returning to my core my hands became light and cool again like they were when I began. After the meditation session was over my core was sore like I had worked out because of the muscles working to move my blood flow away from my core and then return it. I will absolutely be utilizing this meditation practice whenever I am tense from life's chaos or to simply unwind and relax.

                                                       

Welcome

Welcome to my blog where I will share my journey to integral heath. I am currently attending Kaplan University and am truly in love with the course I am taking. HW420: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing is an elective I chose to help foster my healing journey through life. I hope that everyone will enjoy reading my blog as much as I will enjoy creating it.

Thoughts are things.

Each day we go through life unaware of the many choices we make. We choose to get upset without even realizing we chose to let anger in. When we quite our mind of the constant noise of daily life only then will we be able to make conscience decisions. In today's busy existence, humans choose convenience over health because they make decisions based on influences that are not their own. We unknowingly let society influence our decisions and are usually unhappy with the results. To gain true happiness and health in our life we must first slow down our reactions to life's chaos. Instead of letting our daily experiences anger us we must make the conscience decision to accept life's chaos, breath, and chose inner peace instead. When we consciously make decisions we are in control of our emotions. When we let society influence our decisions we are giving up control by not caring.

 Next time you are feeling angry, anxious, or sad, simply slow down and realize the negative feeling and replace it with a positive one instead. There are many peaceful moments in life that we can call on to replace our negative emotions. Breathe in acceptance of a negative emotion and breathe out peaceful memories and positive emotions. I chose the love of my family to center me when I am anxious. I focus on the feelings of pure joy I have within me that have been given to me during my lifetime. Like, how proud I am of my children, this is a heart warming feeling that I can easily replace anger with. Love is always a great positive emotion to conquer negative emotions. Butterflies are a feeling that I will harness for all of my life, the pure love I feel for my husband that can instantly put a smile on my face. So next time you are feeling stressed, helpless, powerless, or overwhelmed; SLOW DOWN AND BREATHE.

To gain inner peace you must constantly practice. So everyday, every experience, every decision; make a conscience effort to choose your own emotions. After all it is your life, it belongs to you and no one else.