Whats in your FOOD! Dirty Secrets

Follow the link below :)

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/121-a126/

Whats in your FOOD! Dirty Secrets

Unit 10 Blog Completion

Unit 3 – Scores

-          Physical – 7

-          Spiritual – 7

-          Psychological – 7

Unit 9 – Scores

-         Physical– 8

-         Spiritual – 7

-         Psychological – 7.5

As you can see I have changed some, mostly physically and psychological. This and another class left little time for me outside of my main responsibilities to my family and work. I can say without a doubt that the concepts and methods in this course helped me grow and achieve some of my personal goals. I am still smoke free and am working out as I had stated in Unit 3 and I have also lost fourteen pounds of the twenty five pounds I gained while kicking the habit.  My spiritual and psychological health was relatively good when I first started and I have not made much of a change to those aspects in my life. I still intend to go to Worship Service and Sabbath School more often. Let’s hope that I can make more time after this term ends!

I met over half of my Unit 3 Goals as I lost more than half  of the weight I gained from quitting smoking and I am journalizing my stress, physical and nutrition habits daily. I feel quite confident in my integral health journey and I am sure that my “Happy Trails” are just beginning!

Final Project (In the famous lyrics of Barry Manilow) "Looks Like We Made It"

Part I

I.                    Introduction: 

Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

     
As health and wellness professionals it will be important for us to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically in order for us to fully develop profound aspect of health and happiness (Dacher, 2006). As we develop our inner lives we have an opportunity to alleviate the suffering of others and heal their wounds (Dacher, 2006). We must fully examine each aspect of health or otherwise we neglect to fully treat each patient as a uniquely complex individual (Dacher, 2006). To do this, we must focus on each person’s distinct individualization and focus on their unique physiological, spiritual and mental needs (Dacher, 2006).  “Health and healing must address the needs of the individual rather than the approaches and perspectives of the practitioner” (Dacher, 2006). Patient’s lives and health are invariably diverse and cannot be made to be a one size fits all method; as such our integral healing needs will need to be individualized without any bias or prejudice (Dacher, 2006).

I must continue to develop all of the aspects of my wellness to achieve the goals I have put in place for myself. The main aspects I need to focus on are my physical and spiritual wellness goals as these are the areas I have found to be lacking in my life. I have recently found that journalizing is helping me make better dietary and physical fitness decisions. I started Weight Watchers as a way to keep track of what I am doing physically and nutritionally. In doing this it has shown me that I need to be held accountable for my actions and need to be more mindful of how I make choices when under stressful circumstances. This has helped me in tracking what I am doing throughout the day and how often I am exercising throughout the week. I have increased my cardio exercises to bring about better health since I started this class. I have lowered my blood pressure tremendously and have greater strength and leanness within my body also. This has been important to me as I have been working with my physician to bring about healing to my body naturally without the use of prescription drugs. I also need to focus more on my own spiritual healing so that I can make a stronger connection between my physical body and mind. I need to learn to slow down and breathe, meditate and pray. This is hard for me as my schedule seems to be harried and chaotic, which in turn becomes a cycle for more stress and disorder in my mind and body. Achieving calm through the subtle mind exercises has taught me the valuable lesson slowing down and enjoying life.

I am usually a very positive person and psychologically I am well adjusted. My home and family life can be a bit much as all of my children and grandchildren live with me. My daughter moved in three and a half years ago bringing with her a husband and two children. They will be moving out of my home in a month and I may need to readjust my goals at that time. I am hopeful that the change will bring a greater peace of mind and tranquility in my home, so that I can concentrate more in meditating as it will be a much calmer place to do so.

II.                Practices for personal health: 

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

To promote my psychological growth and mental fitness, I plan to utilize the subtle mind exercises. Mental Fitness is crucial to whole health (Dacher, 2006). The benefits of developing our higher consciousness are pain control, reduction of blood pressure, lowered pulse rate and muscular tension reduction, all of which I believe to be important to my flourishing health (Dacher, 2006). I plan on utilizing Dachers book and the audio to assist me. When under stress or deadlines that are pressing on me psychologically and physically, I will use the exercise to help calm my inner and outer self, notice the thoughts and then set myself free towards greater health and mental wellness.

To promote my spiritual growth, I plan on utilizing the Loving-Kindness exercise and make it a part of my weekly, if not daily routine. I spend four to five days on the treadmill at the gym and I will use at least one day to incorporate a walking meditation technique. “The practice of walking meditation can also be fitted in to the gaps in our lives quite easily” (http://www.wildmind.org/, 2013).  This practice will enhance both my spiritual and physical health at the same time.

III.             Goal development: 

List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My physical goals are to continue to improve my strength training, cardiovascular exercises and increase my endurance. In the past sixteen days I have decreased my time to miles ratio, meaning I can now walk three miles in forty eight minutes. At one time I was barely able to walk at a pace of 3.0 miles per hour and was only able to complete one and a half miles due to fall I took last year which greatly injured my right hip and hamstring. It is important for me to remain agile and limber as I age gracefully into my golden years. I go to the gym between four and five times a week and workout for about an hour and fifteen minutes at each session. I want to continue this and also continue to be mindful of my diet. I am also grateful for the time spent in this class helping me to gain insight on the more important things in life.

My spiritual goals are to pray and seek peace of mind. I plan on going back to Sabbath classes and worship service. I want to change the fact that I have not been attending church as often as I would like and I would like to make that more of a priority.

My psychological goals are to increase the time I spend being mindful and be in the present moment.  I will need to meditate more often as I find that meditation calms my body, mind, and soul, thus helping ensure that I can be present at all times.

Final Project....(In the famous lyrics of Barry Manilow) "It looks like we made it"

Part II Continued

IV.                    Practices for personal health: 

What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

My strategies to foster physical growth will be to dedicate at least five mornings to my physical fitness.   I have increased my strength and endurance in the past seven months and I plan to continue to increase my physical health by pushing myself to beat each of my personal benchmarks. I have been recording each one of my successes and this enables me to see how much I stronger I am every week and this give me great encouragement. I have also dedicated myself to eating at least fifty-one percent of my diet to raw foods such as fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Also I am also juicing and increasing my use of green leafy vegetables which also enhances my level of energy.

My strategy for spiritual health is to also take a portion of my morning to commune with God and nature.  In the quiet time before my children or the phone starts ringing is the best time to do my devotionals. I plan on using a women’s daily devotional that has a year’s supply of miraculous moments with God. This will help guide me on my spirit filled journey.

Lastly for my psychological journey I plan to use daily affirmations and positive quotes on my day board to help keep me focused on the beauty in my life. I will also practice relaxation and breathing exercises as I know this helps keep me relaxed and in balance.

V.Commitment: 

How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

“When we start a fitness program or change our diet, we identify the changes we wish to make, set goals, affirm our intention and commit ourselves to this change” (Dacher, 2006). To assess my progress or lack of growth, I will look inward in regular contemplative practice to recognize if I am holding myself accountable. I will use my journaling and keep detailed progress notes on myself to see how well I have been developing.  I will commit myself to being conscious of my goals so that I will not forget the importance of reaching my full and flourishing potential.

I will begin by writing out a list of goals I want to accomplish. With each success in accomplishing my goals I will check mark it and also date it. Every three to four months I need to go back and verify that I have been maintaining my goals as we all know we can fall short and some objectives may have fallen to the wayside. It will be important for me to periodically go back to keep myself accountable with my progress and changes. I may decide that my goals have been met and have therefore have changed and need to be upgraded or adjusted. As we are all unique and ever changing, our lives will be in need of constant personalized self development goals and modifications throughout our integral health journey. We just need to be aware of this for our continued success.

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health-The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

http://www.wildmind.org/. (2013, March 28). Retrieved from http://www.wildmind.org/: http://www.wildmind.org/walking/overview

Last Years Pallet Garden in Standing Position

Last years Pallet Garden...

Attached by an L clamp  and zip ties (unseen and almost invisible) 

on my wrought iron pool fence. 

This is a side view of the pallet garden against the fence...

I love gardening and am so happy it is spring 

and the sun is shining once again :)

Watch My Garden Grow

Just completed this springs newest herbal (3 kinds of basil and chives)

 pallet garden....I love re-purposing :) I have to be patient 

and wait 3 weeks before I can stand it up

....it is so hard for me as I am not known for patience...

I should meditate on this :)

 

Ariana (my one and half year old granddaughter) helping me garden

A Natural Peace of Mind and Body

I believe that there will always be solutions to the problems we face; the key is in finding ways to solve our issues with a flourishing peace of mind along with a healthy body, naturally.  After much thought and consideration I believe that the Subtle Mind and Loving Kindness Exercises were most beneficial for my mental mindset and I feel that I can utilize these best in my personal life.

I have utilized a similar meditation to the Subtle Mind and its breathing exercise for many years and know that it works to calm me in times of negative stress and when I am emotionally off kilter. The Subtle Mind exercise helps me as I focus on breathing, I used this when my mom was dying and I would have extreme panic attacks while driving. I had to pull over to the side of the road and focus just on breathing which gave me peace as I cleared my mind from all negativity and irrational thoughts.

The Loving Kindness Exercise is simple for me as I am at my core a very intuitive person and have always felt great empathy for others, whether they be strangers, friends or family. I can easily place myself in others shoes and feel their load of sadness or deep grief. This has given me a sense of oneness with mankind. When I taught I had the ease and capability of connecting with my students very easily and it helped me greatly in my professional life when I also worked with high risk patients that we case managed. The ability to practice compassion and love just comes naturally to me and I believe this is a God given talent.

My plan is to continue using these particular practices and apply them as needed. The subtle mind is especially helpful when I have had an aggravating day and need to take a break from my mental brain chatter or negative thoughts. “We will be able to choose and apply the most appropriate integral practice toward our goal of needless suffering, enhancing recovery from disease, and promoting authentic well-being”(Dacher, 2006).  The ability to hone in on when I am having issues and when to apply the practices will definitely need to worked on as my brain has all sorts of extracurricular activities happening within as I am pretty hyperactive.  Right now I am working on this and feel that I have made great strides since the beginning of this course.  Being in the moment and paying attention will most definitely be my course of action and I believe I can make some great positive changes with these exercises.

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health-The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications, Inc.