Unit 10 Final blog :(

Review your unit 3 personal assessment of your psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. Reflect on these areas . How did you score yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 in unit 3? How do you score yourself now? Has the score changed? Why or why not?
Well in unit 3 I scored my self as 7 in physical health, a 7 in spiritual and an 8 in psychological. Currently I would say I am a 5 in physical, a 6 in spiritual and an 6 in spiritual. I have gone down in points because of my new physical ailment and because of this everything else followed suite. My spiritual score went down because I had a relapse in therapy, I was watching a movie; The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, and the rape scene triggered my own rape. Not good . But I’m working on getting back on my feet.

Review the goals and activities you set for yourself in each area. Have you made progress toward the goals? Explain.
I feel I have made a little progress but have fallen backwards a bit. I still try to push forward and keep working hard at it.

Have you implemented the activities you chose for your well-being in each of the three areas? Explain.
Yes but there has been some changes, I can no longer run and am only allowed to walk a total of 3-4 miles a day. The only physical exercise I am allowed to do at this point is swim. I am still focused on my spiritual and psychological well-being, I have bumped up my therapy to 2x a week now.

Summarize your personal experience throughout this course. Have you developed improved well-being? What has been rewarding? What has been difficult? How will this experience improve your ability to assist others?
This course has been very rewarding for me, I have treated the blog and discussion board more as a sounding board for opinions and help in situations we have discussed. I have continued to grow and progress to a better and healthier life even with the limitations I may have. Just got to keep truckin’ on and moving forward; I try to keep a forward motion so I don’t go stagnant.

Unit 9...Sorry its a bit long :)

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically for the need to be balanced in those three areas of their lives. Practitioners should to be able to guide others in the journey, showing them how they accomplished the goal. One way is to display wisdom and knowledge. Professional practitioners should acknowledge that a balanced life is a successful life, and it can work and is working for them very well in regards to health, emotions, and mental attitudes about life in balance, peace and harmony.
I wish to develop the psychological area in my life in more depth as my brain has a hard time getting rid of mental chatter. I will aspire to exercise my brain with mental training: Biofeedback, humor, brain apps, reading, music, creative visualizations, relaxation techniques, games, learning how to calm and still the mind, observe its activities, quiet them, focus on a focus point, and concentrate at will.
My desire and need is to increase the physical area of my life by exploring new areas of physical activities I can partake in. Different methods of exercise, strengthening and flexibility activities, and an array and variety of recreational pursuits, since currently I only bike ride and or walk.
In the spiritual area of my life I yearn to be connected with God as well as myself. I believe I have and okay connection mind, body and soul but would prefer a deeper one. In regards to this I hope to be able to control my emotions with ease and coach myself through difficult situations.
II Assessment:
I personally need to increase my development in all three areas: psychological, spiritual, and physical as I am in need of growth in each area.
My personal self-assessment scoring will be the normal form of educational grading; A,B,C,D,F. The values/meaning of the scores will be as follows:
A is:  close to humanly complete/ultimate success as much as humanly possible. Potential is reasonably high, vibrant and working well.
B means: moving closer to goal of strong, healthy, full of energy, forceful, working earnestly, vigorously, toward the ultimate goal.
C indicates mediocre progress of ordinary, moderate quality. The working/moving towards the goal, somewhat struggling.
D means, motivation is barely there and almost gone. Attitude not as positive as, behavior is in need of improvement, not given up, but potential to give up looming.
F is: motivation is almost not there, no flow of activity, defeated attitude, unsuccessful actions. A negative attitude is present in this area of your life.
Since I need more in the psychological/mental/emotional state of my life I give myself a score of C in this area. My assessed score for my physical domain is B. A score for the spiritual area of my life is C.
III. Goal development:
It is my goal and hope to daily and progressively, strive to improve my self-development. In the psychological area, my goals are to become familiar with many different meditation practices, make a list of them, review them, and make some new ones. Another psychological goal would be to investigate and visit a biofeedback clinic and see the machine first-hand with a demonstration; I have briefly experimented with this and it has great potential. An additional goal is to change my negative emotions to positive emotions. I will use music as a mind and emotion practice to calm my spirit.
In the physical area, I am going to start actively trying new exercise activities without pushing my body further than it can go. I might even find something I enjoy more than running. Getting started is the hardest thing and it is a goal to start within the next week. I would also like to continue with simple stretching exercises from my exercise book that my physical therapist has started to make for me. This will help keep all my muscles and joints working in the proper form.
In the Spiritual area, I am going to do yoga as a form of meditation. I also like to go out into my garden and think on things while I do an activity I really enjoy. I have found that this is quite relaxing and I can work on my intense/deathly fear of bees.
IV Practices for personal health:
In the Spiritual area, one strategy I will increase my mental focus on the spiritual foundations I believe, increase reflection time in the same way. I will use positive and creative visualization to focus, breathing to relax, and my own compassion and loving-kindness meditations to go inward for health and healing. I will use this time to set my mind in a mode of deep compassion and a giving attitude.
In the physical arena, I need to focus on variety of exercise activities, stretching, and core strength training will be the new focus. In addition, controlling my intake of food and working on not falling pray to my eating disorder.
In the Psychological area, some examples I will investigate, tweak, and integrate are: Silence and Stillness, Skillful Action, Loving-Kindness, Renunciation, Witnessing Consciousness, and Calm Abiding. I will look into and research and incorporate brain mental training methods and information form psycho numerology into my mental and emotional psychological learning and strategies.
V Commitment:
I will access my progress or lack of progress in the next six months by measuring the stress levels in my new job (or lack of a job). I will look at the date on the calendar marked “Life self-check” and access my progress. The strategies I plan to use in maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness are: develop a daily routine in the morning to build a foundation and keep building on it. I will strengthen the inner mind. I will stimulate brain functioning, exercise, Biofeedback, humor, brain books, music, creative visualizations, relaxation techniques, games, etc. Not only will I daily work out muscles, I will work out my brain muscle as well, reading, writing, and contemplating.

unit 8

A christian form of loving-kindness and compassion practice starts with the mind. The mind can observe and let the crazy stresses of life take over, at which point one needs to realize it is regroup time, slow down time, or stop time. 
Practice a fun visualization exercise to get the mind off problems and current stressful encounter. One can do many things to help destress like sing, or choose to laugh, listen to music, meditate on something good, etc. The mind becomes more in tune with what is going on in the outer world. 
Creative Visualization of a calm beautiful place or time, and meditation helps stop the craziness and helps one calm down. To practice this kind of self control one can help become in-tune with the signs of the body. The body could be showing signs of high-blood pressure, signs of diabetes, signs of stress, heart pain, or mental confusion; to realize and become aware of a better way to handle everyday struggles could save our lives. We cannot hear high-blood pressure, we cannot hear diabetes symptoms, but, we can hear our mouth getting louder or talking fast or talking angry, or crying or moaning and then we can stop and remember we have a choice. Knowing there is an alternative, like immediate deep-breathing to calm down our nerves can help us stay in control and focus on what is important again. Doing a 20-30 minute visualization exercise can remove the body for the moment and act as a good mind-body-emotion stabilizer.
Personally, I have found that visualization has a helped a lot in healing my body. I have noticed that it helps me stay calm and not stress or get frustrated. I actually just had an encounter that I used this exercise and breathing as well. I am currently on vacation and while walking my dog to have her pee, we ran into bees. I am deathly allergic to them. We stood there and slowed my breathing and visualized the bee landing on me and leaving. When I finally ended this session there were no bees around us and we continued along. 

Unit 7 Both topics

"Meeting Aesclepius"
Let the mind seem like a waterfall loud and raging, then with practice it seems like a running mountain stream, then like a lazy river or like calm abiding, then progresses to a slow flowing river, that reunites with the still deep stable ocean like unity consciousness. Aiming at inner freedom is one goal to seek.
In meeting Aesclepius or our subtle mind, we visualize a very wise and loving man. The ocean waves are a nice calm sound. A strong beam of white light from his head to my mind as purified my thoughts and images, transforming my thoughts to be like His, so I can understand how He wants me to think and understand life. To understand that love is the greatest of all.
Next, I can imagine and envision another beam of light coming from His throat to mine, and it makes my speech become wise like His speech. Finally, I see the final beam of light coming from the heart of this wise person, to mine, bathing and purifying my heart with kindness, love and compassion, transforming it into a heart of living-kindness and wisdom. Wow, this is just what I need, a new heart! I think I love this exercise.
The entire image of this wise on is like a big bright light and it comes into me and makes me wise like Him. It feels overwhelming. I love to feel the love of the inner healer, in mind, speech, and heart. The natural essence of my heart and mind knows Him.
I have customized this practice to make it my own.
This practice helps to heal my body, mind, and spirit, to a calm mental stress-free state, and gives the gift of wholeness with a trained inner mind. God is my guide, healer, inner essence, and gift giver.

Leading another...
"One cannot lead another where one has not gone" ...
Well, I suppose if you gave a map to your friend to the same place you were going, you could lead them to a place you have not gone, with a copy of that same map. The journey could be different for each of you, depending on where you stopped along the way. However, the destination would be much easier to describe in detail if you had been there in person yourself already. You could offer hints of where to stop along the way, things to do, and people to see to make the trip more interesting. But, each person is unique, and values different things, so we must all make the trip in our own way to the final destination.
To put this idea into professional practice, if I were going to help someone loose weight to improve their overall health and life, I would like them to know that I had been somewhere near where they were, so I could tell them about my journey and where I had been and how I had gotten to a better place. It would be more comforting and they could relate it to their coming desire to do the same and make it their own version. This would give them motivation and hope that if I accomplished this feat, so could they.
An example, I used to wear my mothers old clothes, after she lost weight, size 10. I decided one day, I did not want to look like a size 10 when I should be a size 4 or 6. I was dressing into the next generation up, and did not belong in that generation of dressers. To visualize a journey to another would help inspire and motivate and prove to them that I had been where they are and it is possible to leave that place and go to a better one, the way I did. A place where you will love and respect yourself, and feel oh so much better health wise in body and mind. Further, if I did go on that journey, they too could go there and be successful as well.

Unit 6

After silencing my mind and focusing my full attention on the four quadrants of the integral map, I began a personal mental inventory. I realized there was a lot of work to do. I think this assessment is a tool of motivation to realize our current level of development lapses. It really makes you think about what can be improved in your life when you 'see 'the big picture. 
My main area needing more attention is the biological aspect of nutrition. I know what I need to do, but doing it is the hard part. Eating raw more often than not is the key for me. I can start adding a spinach salad a couple days a week and add raw spinach to the home-made quiche I make. I can seek spinach recipes on the web as well to motivate myself. Adding raw broccoli and carrots on the days I don't spinach is another option I can start to practice. But in order to do this the right way I need to be honest with myself…I HATE spinach and vegetables, it has never been my strong suite.


The "UNIVERSAL LOVING-KINDNESS", in my opinion, does not apply to intimate romantic relationships other than the one I am in with my own husband. I do not agree with this author-of-the-book, Integral Health, or his ideas about sharing my physical intimacy and even my emotional intimacy with all my relationships, strangers, and even my enemy's. This to me is not normal, it is not moral and it has no integrity whatsoever associated or connected with this kind of behavior.
Saying a 4-sentence chant over and over for 10 minutes, wishing no more suffering, health, happiness and wholeness on all people is a nice thought, but, does not really expand my mind or heart. I already have a big heart and expanded mind. 

Unit 4

The subtle mind is all about breathing, if you still the breath you still the mind. A peaceful breath is a peaceful mind. The first concentration is to use your breath as your focal point. My mind runs a million miles a second! I tried to settle into the natural ease of my body, returning my mind back to the breath. We are supposed to witness things without reacting to them. In our witnessing consciousness or healthy psychology, we can stop, see, understand, make choices about our thoughts and feelings and have clearer intentions.
We can see it/things/thoughts/feelings/images, what’s in our head rolling around, our mental activity, but not grasp it, just see it. We can still our mind. Not hold on to the mental activity, just see it and let go of it and let it fade away and just witness it come and go. We can control the mental chatter, shut it down, turn it off and be in stillness again focusing on breath only.

If I were to compare the Loving-kindness practice, with the subtle mind exercise, I like the first one more. In the loving-kindness practice, it is enjoyable to think of a loved one, and open my heart to their thoughts. I do not like to think about the bad sensations, as it suggests, but, I try not to grasp at it.
Observing and not grasping. Loving myself, feeling a natural rest, ease, and openness is hard for me, but necessary according to the loving kindness practice. I have thought of others more in my life and turning it to myself is harder for me.

Both practices do not allow grasping the thoughts, feelings and/or images of the mind, but, just observation. The natural home is awareness of and not the grasping of what we observe with our mind.

I take the mind-body connection to mean that we need to keep our mind stable, not upset or stressed, but under complete control. Our body and the way we treat it, needs to be controlled. If we don't control what we eat, we will end up weighing 400 pounds. If we do not eat healthy, we could get cancer or die of a heart attack, or high blood pressure. Our exercise, diet, habits, all need to be balanced with our mind and emotions to have a flourishing life.

Loving Kindness

The Loving kindness CD was interesting and beneficial. The waves crashing on the beach shore were nice and soothing and brought me back to the many times at the beach specifically the virgin islands.
Trying to think of stillness, peace, and loving-kindness in my heart, was calming. I loved thinking about my partner in crime and soon to be legal dating partner!(in other words we're engaged).I love thinking about the life we currently have and our plans for the future, I always get happy and excited.
Some of the content seemed a little weird and slightly creepy, like taking in a breath of a loved ones suffering. All I had to do is breath it into my heart, then breath out and on the out breath giving health and joy to the suffering one, (this was the creepy part too, it was very hard for me to focus on this with out feeling stupid and annoyed by it). Taking in the suffering of strangers was kinda odd to. It was a new-worded experience I was not expecting.
Embracing enemies, taking in their suffering, and giving out health, happiness, and wholeness was a challenge for me as well. I do appreciate the practice though but I think I would go about it in a different way, maybe not meditating on it so much. But rather practice it as I go through out my day.
The constant lapping of the waves on shore, were calming, the solo flute was curious and compelling. I really do enjoy the sounds of the waves, they always put me asleep, in fact I usually listen to it before I go to bed to relax.  The peaceful sounds together and actually put me to sleep before the CD was over!