Health and wellness professionals are serving as role models to the people that they treat.  Patients and clients come to health and wellness professional for advice and support on how to foster better health, psychologically, spiritually, and physically. I need to develop the drive toward meditation I have a difficult time taking time to do the exercises that are not incorporated into everyday life.  The activities that are incorporated into life throughout the day rather than being set aside as separate activities are easier for me to actually do on a regular basis

Physically, I feel as better about my body than I did at the beginning of the term.  I had a baby the first week of classes and she was a C-section so it took me sometime to hela from that on top of that I had problems with my blood pressure the week she was born .  the factos combined I definitely felt sub-par having had just over 8 weeks sinc then I am definitely starting to feel better about my body physically even though I have some weight to loose.  I would score myself on a scale of 1-10 a 7 because although I am health I am in no way fit but that is something that will take some time to regain.  Spiritually I don’t think much has changed.  I am not a very spiritual person I have a very science based mind and that keeps me a bit lower on the spectrum of spirituality.  In this area I rank myself a 6 because I am grounded in the idea that I believe in something however I haven’t quite figured out what that is yet.  Psychologically I will rate myself an 8 I feel as though I am in a good place emotionally, I am happy with where I am at and who I have become in my life so far so there for I think that I have a pretty good outlook on life psychologically          

Physically I would like to lose some weight and get back in shape.  Spiritually I think that I need to incorporate some more intense meditation.  For this though I will need to be ablt to take time away from my children and boyfriend to be able to get the quiet alone time that it would take for me to really meditate.  I think that meditation and spirituality and psychological health go hand in hand so meditation would make a big impact on both.  My goal for these areas are to make time for myself and meditate. 

In order to foster growth in the physical domain I will have to implement some exercise routines and some health eating choices.  My physical goal would be to be more physically fit and to lose weight by implementing healthy eating strategies and not a “diet” It is more positive and less stressful and has been proven more effective in losing weight and keeping weight off.  Also I would like to add more physical activity to my routine My life has been a bit hectic lately and when I exercise I am able to find a quiet place in my mind and just relax a bit and also become more physically healthy at the same time. For Psychological health I need to take that time out for myself.  I have always been able to relax while drawing and painting, I have not had the time to do this recently however I intend to begin drawing again soon especially with break next week and the lighter class load that I have next term.  Also for my psychological health I need to get out of the house I have been staying home with my children and it is about time for me to go back to work which will help my emotional needs of having adult contact during the day.  The spirituality domain is where I have trouble as I have stated before I am not the most spiritual person, being a science major effectively removes the “awe” from many things that others hold spiritually sacred.  I do find some things in nature awe inspiring simply because of the magnitude of time that it has taken for them to be exist in the form that they do.  There for I believe that a good way for me to connect with spirituality is for me to experience nature. I am going to take more time with nature to foster spiritual growth.     

A good way to monitor my growth in six months would be for me to write a set of goals for where I want to be six months from now. I would seal the list in an envelope for six month, at the end of six months see how close I have come or if I have exceeded my expectations.  I could implement this strategy into my long-term progress assessment as well by making yearly goals or a goal for five years to see if I am where I want to be five years from now and also see how my ideals and goals have grown and changed in that time.  I think another thing that I would like to implement back into my life is keeping a journal, I used to write in a journal all of the time and it has been quite a while since I have done that.  I this will allow for me to document the things that I want to remember in my life and I also want to take the time to read some things I wrote a long time ago to remember the things that I wanted to remember then.  By implementing both of these strategies I should be able to foster growth in each of the categories and maintain long-term success. 

the most beneficial

The two exercises that i find most beneficial are the mindfulness practice and the love and kindness practices.  the mindfulness practice allows us to be more aware of the effects of our actions and the events that they will lead us into in the future.  I have found that it is helpful to think about the direct and indirect consequences of the choices that i make and how they will affect me in the future.  some choices that i made in the past i would have not given a second though to how they will affect me in the future but even the smallest seemingly harmless choices can have consequences that are unforeseen in the future, weather it be the near future or the distant future every action that we take has an effect on the outcome some future event.  the Love and kindness practice has shown me to be more open and giving and to have empathy for others.  when i was a teen my best friend and i used to joke that i had empathy problems, i had a hard time projecting others feelings onto myself this practice has allowed me to take a step back and look at how others feel.  I have always been able to judge how my actions make others feel however connecting with those feelings that others possess was difficult for me now after doing this exercise i am able to look at things with a diferent perspective an see the effects that love and kindness can have on people even if it is just a small gesture such as helping someone you don't know you can effect someones day or even their life and the best way to affect them is with love and kindness because this world is full of  people who care only for themselves it is nice to see that some people still genuinely care for others. 

thanks everyone have an awesome week Jess

The mindfulness exercise has made an impact on the way I view the things I do.  To be mindful of everything in life helps to promote a positive future.  When you pay attention to the effects that your actions have on the outcome of a situation that specific action can cause future events to transpire, weather positive or negative these events are a direct result of the action taken earlier.  By using this practice I will be able to positively affect the later outcomes in my life. 

            The saying one cannot lead where one has not gone is pretty self-explanatory, like one cannot teach what one does not know.  This applies to the health and wellness profession in the manner that you need to be well educated in the things that you are promoting to your patients or clients so that you are able to appear confident in what you are sharing and knowledgeable in the subject so that you are not providing misinformation.  By taking a personal approach to health and wellness practices we are able to share our experiences with others and are more capable of empathizing with them and are more educated on the effects of practices. 

The Loving kindness exercise is about doing things that benefit others and putting forth a positive mental attitude concerning relationships with other people.  I have chosen on focusing on putting others needs ahead of mu wants and needs, as parent of 2 little girls i am constantly doing for others but i don't often make it a positive experience for myself when in all reasoning i am very lucky to have these beautiful girls to be taking care of.  Some activities the i could implement in this area would be to volunteer some time to doing something rewarding for other people.  I think this would help me feel more connected to the rest of the world. 

week 5 the subtle mind

with the loving kindness exercise the focus is on the feelings of others and putting others needs ahead of our own.  The subtle mind exercise focuses on contentment of the mind, it focuses on the breath and the workings of ones own mind.  this exercise promotes quiet, peacefullness and how things in the world affect the mind.  the act of breathing and concentrating on the breath gives the mind something to focus on and reduces the ability of worldly distractions to interfere with the mind.  The act of concentrating on the mind and the movement of the breath allows you to investigate the feeling of the still mind.  The subtle mind exercise is definately more inwardly focused than the loving kindness exercise and is meant to open awaeness to the needs and wants of others. spiritual wellness is connected to physical wellness through the mind body connection.  A healthy mind helps lead to a healthy body by allowing the mind to focus on the physical attributes and physical healing aspects of life rather than healing and refocusing the mind.   I have found that I feel the best physically on days when my mental attitude is good and i am having positive thoughts go through my body.  On days when i have a poor attitude it seems that my physical feeling is less than ideal, or i am having pain that i don't otherwise have.  it is really interesting i have not thought about this concept as a cause or contributor to these feelings but i definitely see how they are interconnected 

The thought of taking our concern and turning it outwards, as opposed to having all of our concern be self-centered allows us to be more giving and envelops a warm feeling inside of ourselves.  The thought of putting others before myself is not difficult for me at this time in my life, I have two children girls one is four and the other three weeks, and being a parent, especially a mother to a newborn, you must put their own needs and wants before your own.  Taking the time to actually think about this process opens you up to understanding how much we can actually give to others when we allow ourselves to be completely given to others. 

            I believe that the experience of making the act of being kind and giving to others and putting their needs above your own is an eye opening experience, it teaches you what love is all about I think that this is something that every person should try.  If everyone on this planet thought of others happiness before their own there would be less hatred, crime, and the idea of war may not even exist.  I would recommend this idea to everyone.  Each person should try implementing this experience into their lives and look at the things that they do as “How do my actions make others feel?”.  If just for a day everyone could see how they affect others and actually care about those effects many things would be different in the world. 

The mental workouts that we are undergoing are like exercises for the mind they allow us to take the time to practice and understand different ways of thinking.  The time spent trying to understand the purpose of these activities allows our minds to grow into the ideas that the exercises are trying to project.  Mental workouts foster psychological health because they allow the mind to be opened up to new ideas and practices which can have profound effects on the way we see the world.   

On  scale of 1-10 I rate my well being a 5 for physical, a 7 for spiritual and a 7 for psychological.  I rated myself a 5 for physical because i just had a baby two weeks ago and I am still in the healing process.  as for spiritual, i do not consider my self very spiritual, however i am okay with that and part of spirituality to me is being content with what you have in life including beliefs. Lastly I rated myself a 7 in the psychological category because I am dealing with the changes of having a new baby and it is emotionally taxing along with physically taxing,
My physical goal is to loose the baby weight, my spiritual goal is to be content with what i have, and my psychological goal is to not stress over the small stuff in life.
I plan on walking with Sofia to help to regain my physical health along with yoga to rubuild my core strength.  For the spiritual and psychological well being i am going to make a point of making time for myself and letting daddy watch the girls. 

As I began the relaxation exercise I had a hard time concentrating on the exercise.  Sitting and listening to exercises like these are not beneficial to me because I do get frustrated.  I find that the time I spend doing these sorts of exercises is wasted and find myself counting the minuets and watching the clock for when the exercise will be finished.  Because of this I have a hard time concentrating on activates like this