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