Unit 9 Project- Ready, Set, then GO!

Introduction

            It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop their psychological, spiritual, and physical wellness because those who teach from experience have the greatest impact on their client or patients.

            Psychological wellness is the area of my life that needs the most work, I believe, because it affects the other two. My current mental discipline is tied to my schedule. When I don’t have a schedule, or something pressing to be accomplished, I am mentally lost. Disciplining my mind is also necessary for progressing in my spiritual and physical wellness, so improving it will also improve the level of success I achieve in those areas.

Assessment

            My spiritual wellness score is the highest of the three because I have been working on it the most for the past few years. Psychological is second and physical is last. While I mentioned my weak areas of my mental health above, it is still better than my physical health. Regular exercise has not been in my vocabulary since starting online classes almost two years ago.  I believe once I have improved my mental discipline and focus, it will spill over into the other areas, and eventually all three areas can be worked on with one set of goals.

Goal Development

            My physical goals are the easiest to set because I have a point of reference. A few years ago I was in great shape and very happy with my figure. I recall what it took to achieve that, which was exercising at least an hour, six days a week. Since I have not been active for an extended period of time, my intermediate goal is thirty minutes five days a week. Once I have done this for several weeks consistently, I will increase it to an hour.

            A spiritual goal I have is for my trust in God to grow stronger than my fears. I have been working on this for quite some time and have seen progress in some areas.  I am going to continue my daily practice of reading devotionals, meditating on His word, and listening to encouraging music. It has proven successful, so I see no need to change it at this time.

            Setting a mental health goal is a bit harder for me. I have an ingrained habit of running randomly after goals. In order to change this, I will need to create a goal I can work on daily. I believe the best approach would be to start a week-long log of my thought patterns. Once I review my log, I will set a goal in my weakest area and build from there.

Practices for Personal Health

            Exercising in my home is my first step toward improving my physical wellness.  I enjoy dancing, which can be a great workout. We own a kinect as well as dance games that have workout settings.  I will dance for 10 minute increments with no more than five minute breaks until my motivation (and energy) have increased enough to exercise in a gym.

            My spiritual health has been my focus recently, but I can improve it further by writing down specific goals, instead of just carrying them in my head.  I choose to memorize scriptures about His unconditional love, picking one a week to focus on, possibly two, depending on how well I understand it.

            I need to improve my motivation to increase my psychological health. I believe that can be done by taking the time to compare my current habits to what our text says is available to me through a disciplined mind. Then I must write down the benefits and post them in my room, where I will see it every day. Once I have changed my current perspective, I will be ready to create the thought log.

Commitment

The best way for me to assess my progress in these areas is to create reminder alarm on my phone in month increments. Fueling my desire will also help, which can be done through reading our integral health text again. I have wanted to do that since class started. I am glad to own it and eager to share it with others.

Maintaining the practices long-term will become easier as peace replaces the frequent inner turmoil I experience now. I have had some moments of being completely peaceful and crave more. That craving is providing the energy and motivation to practice. Plus, I believe the practices listed in our text will work for me, just as they have for countless others. With desire and believe already in place, developing the discipline to achieve success in these areas will be much easier.