7 weeks ago, I rated my health in 3 areas. I gave myself a 6 in physical health, a 5 in mental health and an 8 in spiritual health. Having completed this course in holistic health, I continue to rate myself a 6 in physical health, as I haven't changed myself or my habits much. (The vegetable smoothies are still a limited success, although adding cranberries and pomegranate juice has helped quite a bit). 
As far as mental health, I would say I am a 6 now. Through meditation I'm learning how to keep my stress under control and not worry quite so much. I still have a long way to go, but I think I've made progress.
The spiritual health assessment is where it gets interesting. I woul rate myself a 6 in this category as well. It's not because I feel I've gotten worse, but rather I realize now that I was not an 8 to begin. Rather more like a 4. I've had my eyes opened to what can really be acheived in spiritual health; it's more than I'd ever really considered, and I'm nowhere close to acheiving optimal spiritual health yet. I truly believe that "well begun is half done" and now that I'm aware of what can be acheived in spiritual health and I have the tools to go about achieving, I'm well on way to higher levels of spiritual wellbeing.

Final Project

Health care professionals play a very important role in our society – they are responsible for helping to keep the population in the best of health possible. On a superficial level, this includes things like administering flu shots, prescribing antibiotics and performing orthopedic surgeries. All of these are important and necessary steps to good health, but optimal wellness is not just superficial – it has many components, some of which are subtle and intricate. Our life is the most precious gift we are given, and many people are unaware of all that they may experience in life through optimal health (Dacher, 2006). In order to treat, bolster and maintain the health of these subtle and intricate components of mental and spiritual health, health care professionals must first understand them, and have experienced the process of developing good mental and spiritual health firsthand. After all, experience is the best teacher.

Having spent nine weeks considering my own health, and assessing it against measures I had never before used, I have come to conclusion that my physical health is quite sufficient, my mental health is lacking a bit, and my spiritual health needs some significant improvement. My goal in life is to live in some degree of serenity, regardless of the circumstances, and to have the stamina to overcome all challenges without feeling exhausted, be they physical or psychological challenges. In order to achieve this, my mental health needs some bolstering and my spiritual health needs quite a bit of developing.

Since my goal is to be able to proceed through life with serenity, I think an accurate measurement of my health (at least, in regards to this goal) is how often I get derailed by obstacles, and for how long. I have the physical stamina to run for the bus, climb several flights of stairs and soldier on through a short night’s sleep or a missed meal, so in that respect, I’m fairly satisfied with my physical health. If I am distracted, I find it hard to concentrate, and if someone upsets me, it takes me a long time to get over it. For these reasons, among others, I rate my mental and spiritual health as needing improvement, because little speed bumps have the power to destroy my serenity.

One physical goal I have for myself is to have a stronger immune system. Sometimes I feel like I constantly have the sniffles or a cough or sore throat or some other nagging little annoyance. I know that getting more vitamins would help me conquer these little bouts of sickness, but I think a bigger problem for me is that I allow them to continue and build. When I feel the first twinge of a sore throat or the first sneeze, I think “this isn’t anything, just keep on going” and after several days of that, it’s turned in something and I don’t feel well. If I had taken something at the beginning, it probably would have dissipated – but I never seem to learn that.

A goal I have for my mental health is work on curbing racing thoughts when I’m flustered, frustrated or reaching a deadline. My mind, it seems, in counterproductive in that when I most need to focus is when I have the hardest time keep my mind on one train of thought. I am learning to quiet my mind through the practice of meditation. For many years, I assumed that meditation was the practice of emptying the mind of all thought, but this is not so. Rather, it is the practice of allowing thoughts to occur and then dissipate, without chasing them down. In this way, meditation can be applicable in almost any situation, by allowing unnecessary thoughts to simply float away while retaining the pertinent thoughts, allowing for the ultimate focus. I still need to work on that.

My spiritual goal for myself is similar; when I’m most angry or upset, I get stuck in a rut of angry or malicious thoughts that continue my mindset for far longer than necessary. There is a very simple solution to this issue that can be very difficult to implement – just let it go.

One of my goals for physical health is to be more consistent in maintaining it. I go through spurts of healthy activities – eating lots of fruits and vegetables, running, sleeping 8 hours a night – and then period of “couch potato.” I think this also spills over into mental health, because it requires dedication and consistency over a long period of time, which requires mental discipline. I work on this two-fold goal by remembering that healthy habits do not have to be an all-or-nothing thing. On days where I don’t feel like being particularly healthy, I can still do little things – like eating almonds instead of chips or 10 minutes of yoga when I don’t feel like 45 minutes of elliptical – to help keep a consistent healthy lifestyle and build my dedication. I also want to learn more challenging yoga positions and routines, which is both a physical and a mental challenge. I have been working on the same yoga program for a few years, and with no new challenges, neither my mind nor body will have to grow to adapt. There is a Pilates and Yoga program for the Wii that I want to purchase and use to stimulate my growth.

The biggest spiritual goal I have for myself is to learn to let go of things that bother me. When I get upset over something, even something trivial, I worry over it and chew on it until it festers in my mind like an infected splinter. My mother’s friend used to have an exceptionally ugly cookie jar, in the shape of hag’s face or a witch’s face with the name Worry Wart on it. She filled it with scraps of paper with clever or funny tidbits on them or pretty pictures, and when one of her children would complain or whine about something trivial, she would say “quit being a worry wart” and they had to go and take a piece of paper out of the jar to cheer up. It usually worked. I will try to implement something like that; if I can’t straight up stop myself from thinking about something, I can distract myself. My other goal is to cultivate an attitude of joy that will permeate through my entire life and all my actions and relationships.  I have a Bible devotional app on my phone that contains devotionals about joy and bringing joy into your life that I can read on a daily basis.

Since my overall goal in life is not to be handicapped or hindered by life’s obstacles, the best way to track how well I am doing in that regard is take note of many times a day I get derailed now (it’s about 5 or 6 times) and then take another assessment in six months. Ideally, I wouldn’t feel dragged down by life at all by that point, but even if it happens 2 or 3 times a day, that’s still progress from where I’m standing right now.

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Recap of meditations

Of all the meditation techniques and methods I've tried over the last 9 weeks - both for class and others I looked for out of curiosity - I think my favorites are the Subtle Mind Practice and the Loving Kindness Practice. The Subtle Mind helps me focus and zero in on calmness in a way that I can't really describe, and I don't honestly know why. Many times I feel like I've actually failed, that I haven't really completed the exercise in the way that it's intended because my thoughts keep coming, and coming, and coming, and coming... but after the 20 minutes, I can say with some surety that I focus better on tasks and complete them more efficiently. I don't know why, but I don't need to know in order for it to be true. I also like the Loving Kindness exercise because it gives me a feeling of having contributed something positive to the world, even if I've done nothing else that day. I don't think there's anyway to prove that my meditation actually relieves anyone's physical suffering, but I'm quite confident that the serenity I feel after meditation is evident to people around me, in a subtle way, and rubs off, and in that way I'm able to spread good feelings to my tiny little corner of the world, at least.

A Revelation

I completed the Loving Kindness exercise, which is becoming regular and familiar to me, and then completed the integral assessment of myself. When, in a state of quiet and meditation, I asked myself – which component of my health is currently suffering – the answer was glaringly obvious: my biological health. And I had a revelation that had never occurred to me before.

I am currently going through an elimination diet, or detox diet – there are multiple names for it, but basically, I’ve taken all gluten, wheat, dairy, eggs, refined sugar, red meat, caffeine and alcohol out of my diet for 6 weeks, at which point I’ll reintroduce them to my diet one at a time to check for reactions. I’ve had very bad ezcema my entire life, and I’m attempting this as a last ditch resort to find some way to control it. I’m a week in, and I am MISERABLE. I’ve always had a fairly well rounded diet, but to take out all bread, cheese and soda, among other things, has been more challenging than I ever considered, and my stomach tells me so constantly. My head is also letting me know that it’s not getting its regular doses of caffeine and sugar, and not in a pleasant way.

But here’s the revelation – my body is unhappy with the diet change. It’s affecting my mental and spiritual health; I’m grumpy and dejected. Through this class I’ve mostly been considering how mental and spiritual health can affect biological health; but it can go the other way too. I’m not sure that this was the point of the exercise, but it was still an important revelation to me.

The Subtle Mind (or on the first try: the mind that won't shut up)

This week’s Subtle Mind exercise was quite a new experience for me. To be honest, this is what I expected meditation to be about, before I started listening to guided meditation podcasts. I thought it was about sitting there, and forcing your mind to go completely blank for an extended period of time – which is quite impossible for me, hence my refusal to attempt meditating for so much of my life. I’ve found, through this class and elsewhere, that many meditation techniques do not do this at all. The Subtle Mind exercise was the first I’ve ever encountered that focused on loosening all attachment to thought and observing thoughts from an outside point of view. It was easier than I expected, although still somewhat difficult.

I found myself thinking on Isaiah 30:15 - In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

I found that biggest difference between the Subtle Mind exercise and the Loving Kindness exercise was the length of time in which no words were spoken. There is a period in the mind of the Subtle Mind exercise in which the narrator is silent for several minutes, and during the quiet time I became completely engrossed in the meditation and utterly oblivious outside sensations. When she spoke again, it startled me very badly, and quite frankly, I couldn’t get back into it after that.

Physical wellness relies on mental and spiritual wellness, and mental wellness relies on spiritual wellness. Our ultimate overall health and wellness is totally contingent upon our spiritual life, which is the component of our health that gets most overlooked. It’s not hard to notice this in my personal life, if I take the time to look – when I am joyful, I feel better. When I’m in despair, I feel lousy. It doesn’t take a PhD in medicine to notice the connection there. 

Mental Fitness

A mental workout is the idea of utilizing your mind, stretching it and letting it grow, in conjunction with both physical and spiritual health. Research has shown that keeping the mind fit and alert helps people recover from diseases, illnesses and injuries faster, and helps deter mental illnesses and spiritual despondency. Yoga is a really fantastic mental workout because it is calming, requires focus and is also good for physical health.

Lumosity.com is an interesting website that offers a lot of information about mental fitness and provides daily mental activities to help keep your mind active.

Loving kindness

I enjoyed this week’s meditation exercise. To begin, the guide gives instructions to reflect on a loved one, someone who you hold very dear. I can’t think of a better way to begin a meditation which focuses on loving kindness. When thinking about the most precious and important people in your life, it’s nearly impossible not to feel some measure of love, joy or general happiness. I would like to try this exercise again and again in the future, focusing on a different loved one each time to see if that changes the experience.

Week 3 - Goals and another attempt at guided meditation

Rate my own health…I’ve always been terrible at assessing myself. My assessments seem to fluctuate so much. If you ask me to rate my health just after 45 minutes on the elliptical and a fruit-and-soy-milk smoothie, I probably smile, “an 8 or 9, I’m great!” But if you ask me on a day like today, where I’ve been sitting at the computer all day eating microwaved freezer meals, I wouldn’t give myself much higher than a 3. Upon careful reflection, taking all of my traits, habits and various health-related measurements into account, I’d say I’m probably a 6. I try to eat well, and I try to exercise, and I try to take good preventative measure like getting a flu shot and wearing a seat belt. My doctor says that my blood pressure, blood sugar and various electrolyte levels are all in very healthy ranges, and I know my immune system is functioning well because I bounce back from colds quickly. You’ll notice however, that I say try when it comes to healthy behaviors. I don’t always succeed. Therefore, I would say a 6. A goal I have for myself in this area is to add more vegetables and whole grains into my diet. I’ve been trying to incorporate more vegetables into smoothies, in the attempt to make them more palatable. My success has been limited.

I would say my psychological health is probably about a 5. I’m a worrier and a stressor. I like to say it’s my mother’s fault, because she’s the same way. But it really is just me, and it’s something that I need to work on. I’ve started meditating recently, to guided podcasts for about 10 minutes a day. I think it’s helped my stress level, and I would like to start meditating more and incorporating mindfulness breaks into my day, to see if I can further beat down my stress level and bring that number up a little.

My spiritual health is higher than the other two, I can say that for sure. I would say it’s probably about an 8. My life is full of people, things and activities I love and that bring me joy. When you are surrounded by joy all of the time (or at least, a good portion of the time), your spirit soaks it in and eventually becomes saturated in it. I can improve my spiritual health in very much the same way I can improve my psychological health – by practicing mindfulness. I say that I’m an 8 in this area, and not a 10, because it’s easy for me to become angry, upset, hurt or exceedingly disappointed when my plans are derailed. This does not add to my overall inner peace. By mindfully stopping negative thoughts when they begin, maybe I can learn to overcome derailed plans with a minimum of negative emotions.

This week's relaxation exercise was...quite strange for me. The idea of different colored lights springing from my body was just a little too abstract for me to swallow the first time around, and I spend a good portion of the 20 minutes thinking "this is really weird," which of course, didn't help me achieve the state of total relaxation that was the point of the whole thing.

Biofeedback exercise

As a class exercise, I listened to this relaxation/biofeedback sound clip. I’ve tried things like this before, with varying levels of success. Here is an abbreviated version of my thought process.

“Wait, pause this, I should probably wear headphones for this.”

“Wait, move to a more comfortable chair.”

“Did I take the chicken out of the freezer for dinner? No, focus.”

“Deep breath in…relax…”

“What is the music? Are those crystal bowls? No, focus.”

“What is this guy’s accent? Sound like East Coast…wait, focus. What’s he talking about?”

“Muscles are like sponges…no wonder I’m so wobbly when I lift things! Ha! No, focus now.”

Ok, I think you probably get the idea – I’m easily distractible; this is why meditation, guided imagery and similar exercises are usually very difficult and not effective for me. However, at this point in the sound clip, I was able to pay more attention to the instructions and less to my own haphazard and flyaway thoughts.

The purpose of this particular guided meditation is for the listener to mentally increase the flow of blood to the arms and hands. My success the first time around was…limited. This is a very new concept for me, and I think a very small part of the logical part of my brain was vaguely skeptical about the whole idea, which is obviously somewhat inhibitory. But, I did feel something, which was more than I was expecting. During the exercise I become very aware of my heartbeat and the flow of blood in my chest and abdomen. My hands and arms didn't feel warm or heavy, at least not this time. I think I will try again tomorrow and the next day and see if it will come with practice.

(I wonder what it would be like to meditate here?!)

Welcome!

Ok, here’s my welcome statement…welcome!
More than that? Yes? Ok. My name is Mary, as it quite clearly states in the about me over there to the right. I am a student at Kaplan and this blog will be documenting my journey through HW420: Creating Wellness. I don’t know what all I’ll be learning and accomplishing over the next 10 weeks, but I’m hoping that it will be both insightful and inspiring.

I’m a quiet little person, occupying my quiet little corner of the world and filling it with things that make me happy, such as friends and family, good food and a bright kitchen, orchestral music, sci-fi TV shows, thick paperbacks with that “old book” smell, knitting needles and bright yarn, Disney movies and lots and lots of Mt. Dew.

I’m a nurse, a daughter, a camp counselor, a Trekkie, a sister, a Camp Fire leader, a night owl, and a very good listener. I’m not exactly sure where this blog will be going or what its exact purpose is, but you’re welcome to join me as I find out! It’ll be an adventure! 

First post!

Hello world, welcome to my blog! It's a work in progress, so don't judge too harshly, I'm still learning! Here, have a pretty picture to brighten your day.

Peace!
Mary