Personal Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

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?

            I believe that one cannot truly teach or guide what one does not understand.  Even further, in order to guide, one must have an intimate knowledge of the experience they are guiding someone through, otherwise, the message and the teaching may not come across as sincere.

            I need to continue to develop all of these areas in order to achieve my goals.  We have been discussing in this class how this development should be evolutionary and dynamic.  Because of this, there should be constant learning and developing in the psychological, the spiritual and the physical realms of my life.

II.  Assessment: How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

            Spiritually- my spiritual life is something that I work on daily.  My prayer life is very important to me.  In assessing this aspect of my life, I can honestly say when things are going well, this aspect gets neglected, but when things are tough in my life, I really heavily on the spiritual aspect of my being.

            Physically- my health is very important to me due to various illnesses and premature deaths in my family.  I fight very hard to stay active and grounded in my knowledge of nutrition and exercise.  This is the area where I am most focused on at the current time

            Psychologically- my assessment of the psychological domain of my life really brings into focus my need to improve in this area.  Because I have a tendency toward anxiety and depression, this is the domain in which I need the most help.  Already, I can see that applying what I am learning in this class is offering me opportunities to develop this area.

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

            Spiritual- a goal I would like to work toward in this area is to determine the purpose for my life right at present.  Each season of my life brings with it new purposes and I seem to be stuck in a place at present where I cannot fully discern a clear purpose.  I can visualize my past purposes, but I am having trouble seeing that right now.

            Physical- my goal for this area of my life is to increase my exercise routine and to include more outdoor activities.

Psychological- my goal here is to develop a more disciplined contemplative practice routine.

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.

            Spiritual- I feel that I can become more connected to my church and the ministry opportunities there, as well as wake up one half hour earlier each morning to devote to prayer and devotion.

            Physical- I have made a connection with a women’s group that fosters outdoor activities.  As the weather becomes warmer, I will be able to engage with other like-minded women to enjoy the outdoors while being more active.  I will also make an effort to find hiking and walking trails in my new area.  I can then engage in a habit of walking my dogs a few times a week in areas other than my neighborhood.

            Psychological-  As this course is ending and I will have some down time between now and next term, I will be able to utilize this time to practice the subtle-mind and the loving-kindness exercises, as these were 2 of my favorites.  My choice to develop these areas is important, but actually acting on them is more important.  I am intending on getting involved with the Red Cross after the first of the year, in order to make use of the loving-kindness practice, but also to enhance the other aspects of my life.

 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?

            The integral assessment that Dacher (2006) teaches is a great tool for assessing progress and growth, or lack of growth in all areas of integral development.  The use of the diagrams is especially helpful to me because it gives a clear picture of comparison as to how far I have come in some areas, and which areas might need a little more attention, in order to achieve a balance.  Using this particular tool every 6 months or so should provide a clear understanding as to what is working in my practices and what is not.  It should be a good indication of where I am flourishing and where I am lacking.  I fully expect  that by using these goals and strategies that I have discussed here, that I will be able to see a different, dynamic picture every time I assess my integral health.

Reference:

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

Loving-Kindnenss and Subtle Mind Practices

The 2 practices I feel will be most beneficial to me, based on the information in this course, are the loving-kindness practice and the subtle mind practice.
To me, the loving kindness practice is something that can be done on a daily basis, without having to find large amounts of time to practice.  I have found that the more I can focus on others, the more calm I feel. I like that you can use this practice to start focusing on those closest to you and then widen your focus to the world in general.  I feel that it really opens my heart and I also feel that it gives me more of a sense of what is important in the world. I have found that since I have been working with this practice, I see the relationships in my family a bit differently.  In the past, I would be very put off and sometimes even offended by the actions or words of another family member, but I try now to see things through love and patience and an understanding that the particular person might be hurting in ways I don't even understand, and that is why they are acting the way they do.  What the loving-kindness practice can do for me is to hopefully help and guide family members to see their hurts and learn how to overcome them.

The subtle mind practice, while a little more intense, is a wonderful practice that I will continue to use and cultivate.  I have been trying this practice in a couple of different settings, and find that the best time for me to practice this is later in the day.  Although during that time of day, I tend to have a lot on my mind, and have found that my mind can wander, it does give me a good deal of practice to learn to acknowledge those thoughts, and see them as they are, but not chase them down a rabbit-hole.  Instead, I feel that I have been able to experience what it feels like to have a clear mind and to enjoy that feeling.  I will continue to practice this daily.

Meeting Aesclepius

I have just completed the "Meeting Aesclepius" practice (Dacher, 2006).  I have to admit, this one was a bit more difficult for me, and I think for only one reason.  It might sound silly, but it is the same reason I had trouble with the Rainbow Meditation that I spoke of earlier.  I have a hard time visualizing the "bright white light" emanating from myself or anyone else.  I knew when the reader starting asking for this visualization, I could very easily just tune out from this practice, like I tended to do during the Rainbow Meditation.  Instead, I acknowledged that I had a hard time with the "white light" and continued to focus on the meditation without that image.  My mind did tend to wander a bit during this exercise, but I kept returning to the subtle-mind practice of witnessing the thoughts, but not clinging to them.

I fully agree with the statement "One cannot lead another where one has not gone him or herself" (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005).  It is true that if you have a map and description of a place, you could give directions to someone on where to go on a journey, but you could not experience the actual place without being there.  Having the experience of having been somewhere, then giving directions as to how to get to a place will have much more impact, as the person you are giving directions to can fully rely on your directions.  You have experienced the subtleties of the journey and can give a more accurate picture of the destination or even the journey to the destination. 

In the same way, the health and wellness practitioner can guide and lead a patient to a higher level of consciousness, having experienced the journey themselves.  Everyone has a different experience, but by having gained the experience of working toward integral health, the practitioner lends credibility to helping others work toward achieving the same thing.

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

Schlitz, M, Amorok, T. and Micozzi, M.S. (2005).  Consciousness and healing.  St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.