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.