I personally believe that it is of the utmost importance for a health and wellness professional to develop psychologically, physically and spiritually in order to be of better service to their clients. A health and wellness professional would not be fully capable nor would they truly be able to assist others in flourishing, or in achieving wellness, if they themselves are not fully practicing what they are teaching. In many instances, it is really difficult to persuade someone to follow you, do what you do, or try something if you have not tried it yourself. Health and wellness professionals must have wisdom as well as compassion, the desire to assist in ending the needless suffering in people’s lives, and the determination to promote a life of sustained health, happiness and wholeness. In order to be healers and helpers of others, one must first be a healer and helper of themselves. We cannot give to others what we are unable to give ourselves. People in today’s society look for proof or a possibility that something is going to work for them before they are willing to invest, time, energy, effort or even money into whatever it may be that someone is trying to get them to do, try or purchase. They look for results, feedback and or references based on others experience before they’re somewhat convinced to go “all in” on something. If they see that the very person ‘preaching’ to them about a certain way of life, medical practice, specific treatment, etc., is not practicing it themselves they are less likely to really fully ‘go all in.’
If we truly want to be able to assist others in ending their needless suffering in order to find genuine health, happiness and wholeness, we must begin with ourselves. We must intentionally choose to end the suffering and chaos in our own lives. We must be willing to practice what we preach, and help others as they help themselves. As Gandhi once said, we must “Become the change we want to see in the world.”
I feel like I still need to work on just about every area of my life in order to achieve my goals. If I had to choose the area that needed the most work first, it would be the area of psycho-spiritual flourishing. Development in this area would later be followed by development of the physical area. By participating in this course and learning all I have from the texts, I have come to realize just how big a role an unhealthy or negative psycho-spiritual mindset has on one’s life. A poor, negative, unhealthy mind and spirit can truly wreak havoc on my body. My thoughts would turn into feelings, my feelings would turn into actions; and my actions would in turn begin to manifest themselves in my physical body. Stress has seemed to be the biggest culprit in my struggle to develop both psychologically and spiritually. I have never seemed to be able to fully master the art of genuine relaxation and successfully apply the principles of stress management to my everyday life. Because of my inability to thrive in this area, my physical health has also begun to suffer.
One day while completing the homework exercises for this course, I began to think about just how much of my life had been negatively affected by stress and unhappiness. I started thinking about which aspects of my life were causing me the most pain and distress. As I categorized them, I rated them in order from 1-5, in relation to which areas needed the most work first, with 5 being the highest and 1 being the least. I rated my psychological well-being at a 5, simply because this area is the one that definitely needed the most work. In times past, I would become so stressed, overwhelmed and run down that I would literally shut down emotionally and mentally. This would always cause me to fall into a deep dark period of depression. I could usually stay depressed for weeks and even months at a time, feeling like I could never get ahead and that all hope was lost. I would look for ways to feel ‘happy’ again, and would initially begin to emerge from my depression; however my periods of ‘happiness’ were always very short lived. Sooner or later I always found myself depressed again. I finally grew tired of this never ending cycle and began to search for sources of genuine happiness, something that would be long lasting and more fulfilling. I finally realized that the mind is the part of the body that I must seek to develop first as it holds the key and essentially affects every other aspect of my life. If I am able to accomplish the taming of my mind, I can be free. This realization led me seek out spiritual sources that promised to give me great joy and genuine happiness. I began to remember the teachings I had received as a child, the lesson that God was the true and ultimate source of happiness and wholeness in this life, and apart from Him I was bound to be unhappy. I began to assess my spiritual well-being and had to rate it at a 5 as well. I started to understand just how interconnected my psychological and spiritual well-being truly was. It is difficult to feel ‘whole’ if your mind and spirit aren’t whole. Next was the area of my physical well-being, which I ended up rating at a 3. I didn’t have a difficult time rating this area of my life simply because this area always seemed to be the easiest area to ‘clean-up’ and strengthen whenever necessary. I have always been a pretty active person, someone who enjoyed playing sports and working out. However due to my inability to properly handle my stressors, depression symptoms, and properly attend to my needs, I always ended up feeling fatigued and run down. I could never seem to find the energy I needed to exercise or be active anymore. I am now feeling the physical effects of my poorly developed psycho-spiritual well-being. These areas have always seemed to be the most difficult for me to nail down. It seems as though there is never quite enough time to get everything done that needs to be done. Throughout my everyday activities, I end up becoming so busy, rushed, overwhelmed and wrapped up in my responsibilities, that I very rarely make time for myself anymore. In times past this used to always be both a priority and necessity. Now days if I find the time then I am able to concentrate on and successfully accomplish my needed exercise, healthy diet and relaxation.
I have come to realize and truly understand the changes that I must make in order to achieve the goals that I have set. I plan to utilize the steps outlined in this course to help me reach my goals. The first step requires me to become aware of and remove the things in my life that cause needless suffering. In other words I have to put all of my effort and energy into the things and areas that are going to benefit me and leave everything else alone. The next step requires me to train my mind to release all the negative and disturbing thoughts while replacing them with thoughts of loving kindness, selflessness and compassion. Lastly I will need to develop my consciousness and other capacities through contemplative and integral health practices. All of these steps are important and require daily, intentional and repetitive effort.
By implementing the guidelines, utilizing the principles, and intentionally practicing them daily, I can successfully make the changes necessary to foster growth and development of my personal health and well-being. I plan to schedule a mandatory minimum of 30-45 minutes into my day for exercise, start planning out my meals in advance, especially my evening meals so that I am less likely to give into eating junk food, fast food or no food due to the fact that I have no energy and I am usually stressed and exhausted by the end of my day. Finally I plan to continue using the newly discovered techniques of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation, visualization and the practice of loving kindness, the many benefits of massage therapy, such as shiatsu, Rolfing, reflexology and hot stone massage, along the never failing daily practice of prayer as ways to help me manage my stress.
Applying these concepts and practices to my personal life will have to be done on a daily basis. I must choose daily, moment by moment how to react to stressors, the stress that they cause and the affects I allow them to have on my well- being. These choices must be intentional and focused in order for them to be effective. If I don’t practice these daily, moment by moment, I can end up over-reacting, exploding, and saying things that I don’t mean; which could end up hurting people, especially those closest to me. I can incorporate daily practice and conditioning of my mind through meditation, relaxation, visualization and any other ways I can find to help my mind relax. Relaxation of my mind could assist me in learning how to better handle and manage my stress, it could also help me react to stress more positively. Daily practice of choosing better foods and finding time to effectively incorporate exercise into my day could help me effectively reach my desired goals of a healthy weight and eating habits. Finally, daily practice of learning to guiltlessly care for myself and no longer caretaking, or feeling as if I am obligated to fully take on other people’s problems or financial distresses all of the time, I can better achieve my goal of being free from codependency. If I rely on my faith, I wouldn’t be stressed out if things don’t turn out the way I would like for them to. I can learn to fully rely on God for direction and guidance in my everyday life instead of feeling like I always have to be in control or do everything on my own all the time. Lastly, I plan to use a journal and an accountability partner to help me in assessing my success or lack thereof in reaching my goals. Over the next 6 months, I will check in with my accountability partner (someone I fully trust) on a weekly basis and journal daily so that together we can help me achieve my goals. I also plan to use the witnessing mind practice on a daily basis as a way to help me to “take a step back”, see, understand, think about and make intentional choices regarding my thoughts, feelings and overall behaviors. Even though I plan to use an accountability partner, I do realize that I must personally recognize and essentially accept the role I play in my own suffering and unhappiness, as well as begin to look within myself for remedies/cures rather than to medical professionals and or medications. This will in turn provide me with a greater sense of self-reliance, happiness, personal competence, and less unnecessary suffering all while allowing me a broader sense of health.
Long term changes are the result of daily practice and conditioning. Everything meaningful in life is achieved through effort, discipline and perseverance. Following the path to integral health not only helps me deal with life’s problems but also helps me reach my goal of a life filled with authentic happiness, sustained health and genuine wholeness. I am ready to travel that path.
