Reflecting a Life Worth While

A.     Physical Wellbeing-I rate my physical wellbeing a 6-7/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. When I think physical I am thinking about my body and whether or not it is physically fit. I have been working on improving my physical health over a long period of time and have made great strides to a healthier lifestyle. Ten years ago I weighed 408 lbs. on the day that I gave birth to my first child (son). Today, I weight 260 lbs. after shedding 50-60 lbs. on my own and undergoing a weight loss surgical procedure in September 2013. I am continuing to lose weight but have endured various changes throughout (physically, mentally, and emotionally). I can jog a short distance in between my long walks now and it makes me feel great because that is something that I was not able to do before. I now have two children that I am trying to teach about physical wellbeing so that they do not have to spend half of their life reversing what they originally became like I did. Overall, despite having been morbid obese I was of great health without co-morbidities like most people (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea).

UPDATE: Today I weigh 255 lbs. This means that I have only lost 5 lbs in the past few weeks, but I also have to give myself credit because I had surgery 6 weeks ago and was unable to physically be active the way I typically would like to be. I returned back to work yesterday and have already implemented positive enforcement regarding my physical wellbeing. On the scale of optimal wellbeing I originally rated myself as teetering from a 6-7/10 and now have rated myself a solid 7/10.  

B.     Spiritual Wellbeing-I rate my spiritual wellbeing an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I am very in touch with my surroundings and ways that I can center myself when I feel off track. At times it is difficult to task when various distractions are occurring at the same time. There is always room to improve. I am trying to alter my connections in relationships to a positive level and fade out the negative links that are not of any beneficial gains. My personal values are in place and my purpose in life is strong-willed. Furthering my education, working on my personal health, ensuring that my children and mother are safe and well-supported and maintaining a shelter (my home) are important pieces of my life.

UPDATE:  My spiritual wellbeing has remained unchanged as an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I have undergone two life altering surgical procedures within the past 11 months and have to provide myself with an optimistic reflection on how far I have come through all of the walks of life I have endured thus far.  

C.     Psychological Wellbeing-I rate my psychological wellbeing a 6/10. I have struggled with an anxiety disorder and depression and have been trying to gain control over the symptoms during all of my mental, emotional, and physical changes since my weight loss. This was a huge life change not just for me but for my children and mother (they are my only family). Each day I coach myself to think in a positive manner and cut out anything (including things like social drinking) that may be the slightest of negativity in my physical and mental wellbeing.

UPDATE: Psychologically, I am moving myself from a 6/10 to an 8/10. I have to recognize and be aware that if I was not on the level at which I place myself now, then my achievements would never be reached. I have down days, just like anyone else who does have or doesn’t have anxiety/depression. I take that back, of course naturally, everyone has anxiety, but where it controls you is when it becomes a problem. I stepped up to the stage and will continue to behave in the most happiness manner.

STATUS OF MY LIFE:

I am not entirely contented with my life at present. From a well-being point of view, I feel that I am less able to realize my potential than most people, all other things being equal. I am not feeling much in the way of optimism at present, but this could be related to multiple stressful events within a short period of time and an upcoming surgery and recovery to overcome. I find it hard to trust others fully and feel that I have few people you can turn to for help. However, there are a couple of people that I feel can provide guidance and support, one being my mother. I may benefit from self-help materials through personal support from a professional perspective.

UPDATE: I returned back to work full duty as of yesterday after six long weeks of recovery after a major gynecological surgery performed in July. My mother has been quite the irritating person over the weeks despite me hardly being around her. I thought I was going to enjoy the time off, but it was the opposite. I found myself procrastinating and feeling irresponsible and not being that strong and achieving individual that I have on occasion viewed myself as being. I try daily to remind myself of the changes in my health and wellness over the past year and that I am still healing from all and learning to adapt. Yesterday, my life felt like it returned to normalcy as I returned to work and began working with patients who have their own set of health and wellness concerns. I was able to concentrate on them and not worry about me. I picked myself back up again after being down and can only go up from here.

GOALS:

There are various ways in which I can handle stress through coping mechanisms. My goals are to remind myself daily of the various changes that have occurred over the years and how I was able to overcome all of those obstacles and see that what is happening now may be different, but not at all different with regard to it being a challenge that I will still defeat successfully. I will identify each personal meaning of each change and recognize the feelings I am experiencing and question myself how I can adjust to each change. I need to be more mindful and take my time at making decisions, especially those that I am anticipating in the future (i.e., major surgery, transition in college degree to nursing and clinical). With a slow and steady pace I will win the race and it will get done. My accomplishments are viewed as a continuation of my daily life and not a road block or a destination to be reached. Self-compassion and patience will be learned more in depth and understanding that it is not abnormal for people (such as myself) to become overwhelmed by life’s stressors. I will learn to recognize those things that I can control and those that I cannot control, and, when possible, will decide on which modifications I want to take on.

UPDATE: There is not a day that goes by without me self-encouraging even when ¾ of my day may consist of a depression episode. Even when I find others around me speaking positive words, I sometimes feel like they are lying because they don’t know what it feels like to be me and have more than a boat load of responsibilities without help. When I read my previous goals I can tell that I was more upbeat and optimistic. I may not quite feel that strong today but will work up to it with more rest and after surviving my six day work week and starting my nursing classes as of next week.  

IMPROVING WELLBEING:

The following are ways in which I will improve to improve my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing:

1. Create contentment in my life’s situation

2. Make time to be alone and locate my inner peace

3. Sit back and reflect on life’s situations to resolve worries

4. Experience satisfaction for a job that I have done well

5. Become more involved in a physically active lifestyle (i.e., hiking a mountain, site seeing), so that I be sure I am not viewing life as a passenger but rather from the driver seat with my seatbelt fastened securely that the life that I hold

6. Balance and life control needs to be managed and sustained

7. Establish and create relationships worthwhile

8. Each day I wake up I need to rehearse that I have a meaning and life and a purpose

9. I will accept growth and the dares of life

UPDATE & WHAT I AM TAKING FROM THIS CLASS:

1.      Working on contentment because I have been very confused in my personal life. I am dating a new and extremely respectful and caring individual that I never expected to meet or even feel as good as I do when I am with him.

2.      In all of my six weeks of spare time I did not give myself a lot of alone time, but when my anxiety was increased and I could sense it, I forced myself to be alone so that I could think clearly and work towards the inner self that is peeling through the layers to be exposed.

3.      I am constantly reflecting on life encounters and solutions are all I want so that stress can be avoided.

4.      I still feel satisfaction to an extent but because of my leave of absence from work I feel that it was weakened. I don’t know if this is normal, but I have hope that it will be back to the level it needs to be at in no time!

5.      I am restarting the implementation of healthier eating habits, watching proportion sizes, and finding time to get any exercise no matter the amount of time or distance. Anything is better than nothing. I get off my bottom every day and move about life as I am supposed to and more activities will follow as the seasons change to fall and winter.

6.       Still balancing and managing by way of my individual capacities.

7.      I have bonded with an individual that I never expected to get close to because she is of a different class than I am. I found a new friend that needs my help!

8.      Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. A meaning, a life, a purpose.

9.      Growth transpires every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, and every year. Life is life and the gambles and challenges that provoke courage!

 

Achieving Goals of Health and Wellness

Creating Health and Wellness

It is vital that any and all health and wellness professionals develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. We have a promise to uphold and a humanity to respect as well as superior quality of care to provide to our patients. Medical providers have to not think just outside the box, but place themselves inside it and break it down so it can be used over and over again. Mind-body techniques and their theories are vital to all professionals in the health and wellness field because if they do not have a sound body and mind, they will not be able to educate, counsel, or support patients in behavioral and mental development by way of positive thoughts and feelings. Physical fitness and proper nutrition are the blocks to building a firm and sensible mind-body relationship. Healthcare professionals live in a world covered with stress when handling patients with various illness and diseases and to keep composure and never let them become altered by the environment surrounding them, maintenance of optimal health and wellness is crucial.  

As Dacher stated, Integral Health is created and nurtured from within one’s own self. It guides to an all-embracing, universal, in-depth therapy of the physical body, mentality, and a soul that is resistant to life’s misfortunes, incorporating illness, phases of age, and demise. Authentic Happiness surfaces from the inside and is costly, strong, loving, and impervious by the occurrences of day-to-day living. Genuine wholeness entwines encounters of all components of life, a unified presence and an unremitting solidarity that is collectively joined by comfort, contentment, compassion, kindheartedness, and a weightlessness of coexisting. To reach health, happiness, and wholeness, health and wellness needs to be established. Believing, comprehending, and managing life to its fullest capability by encompassing respect for one another, creating memories, being attentive to individual sentiments, and sharing optimism in a copious fashion throughout the lifetime evolving at hand are ways in which medical professionals, or any person for that matter, can develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically.

I have indeed assessed my health in each domain of psychological, spiritual, and physical health and have determined which areas need further developing in order to achieve my goals.  Primarily, my physical and spiritual states of health are lacking the mind-body connection when I am having physical ailments such as Fibromyalgia flare ups and because of the pain I recognize my anxiety and depression is on the rise. When I take care of my physical well-being I am aware that my psychological and spiritual health are in a phase of restoration and desire even more of the drug-like addiction feeling.

 I have rated my physical wellbeing a 6-7/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. When I think physical I am thinking about my body and whether or not it is physically fit. I have been working on improving my physical health over a long period of time and have made great strides to a healthier lifestyle. Ten years ago I weighed 408 lbs. on the day that I gave birth to my first child (son). Today, I weight 260 lbs. after shedding 50-60 lbs. on my own and undergoing a weight loss surgical procedure in September 2013. I am continuing to lose weight but have endured various changes throughout (physically, mentally, and emotionally). I can jog a short distance in between my long walks now and it makes me feel great because that is something that I was not able to do before. I now have two children that I am trying to teach about physical wellbeing so that they do not have to spend half of their life reversing what they originally became like I did. Overall, despite having been morbid obese I was of great health without co-morbidities like most people (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea).

I rated my spiritual wellbeing an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I am very in touch with my surroundings and ways that I can center myself when I feel off track. At times it is difficult to task when various distractions are occurring at the same time. There is always room to improve. I am trying to alter my connections in relationships to a positive level and fade out the negative links that are not of any beneficial gains. My personal values are in place and my purpose in life is strong-willed. Furthering my education, working on my personal health, ensuring that my children and mother are safe and well-supported and maintaining a shelter (my home) are important pieces of my life.

I rated my psychological wellbeing a 6/10. I have struggled with an anxiety disorder and depression and have been trying to gain control over the symptoms during all of my mental, emotional, and physical changes since my weight loss. This was a huge life change not just for me but for my children and mother (they are my only family). Each day I coach myself to think in a positive manner and cut out anything (including things like social drinking) that may be the slightest of negativity in my physical and mental wellbeing.

Utilization of your psyche can modify a physical workout to a mind-body workout in which the mind allows for enhancement in the results of the work out. The physical exercise of the physical well-being is manipulated for psychological training. During workouts, we have the ability to envision the escalation in power, adaptability, and perseverance (Dacher, 2006).

We have to shift gears and sanction the mind to support us in accomplishing our goals. We can be tentative to the way we breathe and how breathing engages actions and if our concentration wanders, we can reverse its direction and guide into focus. When disturbances evolve, we need to permit the disorder to evaporate intuitively. As we become motionlessness and begin to relax, we need to let cognizance and consciousness to encounter all things but connect to nothing. Moving forward, we must maintain the accessible, compulsory perception (Dacher, 2006).

The mind-body functioning as a complete unit will help to merge physical activities and meditative training as a connection for the mind-body communication and exchange. Examples of activities that are energy orientated and join the mind-body connection are yoga, palates, healing meditation, tai chi, and martial arts.

Paying attention to your atmosphere, the surroundings, and the people in it are important, but at the same time, we have to learn to channel the white noise out of the picture and locate our flow of air, blood, and senses. Using the imagination by recalling mental imagery will wipe the slate clean and initiate a fresh foundation with each breath, step, and momentum. Energy amongst all can foster a mental-spiritual work out in which the mind-body are united.

Monitoring my physical exercise, journaling my psychological encounters, and watching for a spiritual connection are basic ways in which I can assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months of fostering a great health and wellness. Life responsibilities will continue to collect as I head life head first into my nursing education, cutting down on work hours, and maintaining shelter, food, and clothing for myself and my children. I work in family practice and it is essential that I create coping mechanisms to assist in maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness.

Reference

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

 

 

 

 

Benefits of loving-kindess and meditation

The loving-kindness and meditation practices have been the most beneficial is guiding me through this course. I am struggling with creating mental fitness because I have undergone two major surgeries within ten months and have endured many hardships in the process. The loving-kindness brings me back to a warm and comfortable frame of mind that enables me to manifest optimism when I think back to myself “what is loving and what kindness is?” My answer to this question is focused and only on imaging what I view as love and what I view as kindness. I have observed that my children have these attributes, they are just not aware of it yet. This leads me to self-awareness and where I turn to next in the journey of life, meditation. Meditation is difficult to implement in my daily life, therefore I have to work at it in my evening life when homework is said and done, kids settled down, and my own body enters a relaxation mode. I am a coach to myself, but hearing the noises when the sounds of moving water, no voices, no interruptions, only me and the water in our natural states and in the same time, mixing in visuals that bring me into a deeper meditation. I plan to try yoga and use this as another form of meditation in which I can become more in tune with my inner self, mentally, physically, and spiritually. My self-esteem and confidence has improved to a level that I never thought I would feel again. The practices have created another support outlet that won’t drive me in the wrong direction because the only place they will bring me is up!