Unit 10

)	10/4/2013 10:33 PM (Barb Engel)
	Comparing my assessment of where I am at for each aspect of my life, I feel that I have made a slight improvement from the unit 3 comparisons since I’ve furthered my education with all that we have learned in this class. The goals I had set back in Unit 3 are ones that I am still trying to achieve. The open communication with staff has always been an important aspect of my job and maintaining a positive climate at the clinic. I have made progress in my spiritual goal by locating a church nearby and attending a church service, although I have not attended the activity I mentioned of a Christian bible study. This goal is one that is going to be a bit more challenging. I have implemented exercising with a friend doing the relaxation exercises at night, which has been a huge benefit to my health. I feel that this course has given me the opportunity look inside myself and figure out who I am as a person and what benefits I can be to our patients. I feel the role model material we have talked about will be the greatest benefit to my personal and professional development. I feel in a sense I have developed an improved well-being and more understanding of the holistic approach to medicine. The biggest reward is finding my true identity in the journey. I feel the most difficult has been the realization of my actions and how they affect others. This class has encouraged me to look at my patients in a whole different and unique perspective and how to develop a greater sense of well-being for them. Barb Engel

Unit 9

1. 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?

Our journey through the stages of life is our individualized plan for human flourishing. Human flourishing is a profound, sustained, and self-cultivated health, happiness, and wholeness. It is an innate and natural human potential that each and every one of us can actualize (Dacher, 2006). Achieving health and happiness can give us a sense of wholeness. Health is our physical component, happiness is our spiritual component, and wholeness is when we are at the best of both or physical and emotional/spiritual health. I feel that health and wellness professionals need to develop all aspects of their life on all levels of consciousness in order to promote and be a role model to their patients. By being a role model, we should set a positive example to our patients and live the life of health and wellness to further engage us with our patients.

In life we all strive to accomplish something that is meaningful to us. In that journey, some may experience more obstacles or challenges along the way than others. Obstacles along the journey can either have a positive or negative outcome, depending on my outlook and attitude towards the situation. Once the goal you have set out to achieve there is a sense of fulfillment. Integral health is our emotional or spiritual component of our health and wellness. The philosophy of the journey of self-transformation is redirecting our efforts from looking outward toward worldly experiences to looking inward towards our essence (Dacher, 2006). The discovery of our inner strengths and weakness can give us an understanding of how to go about accomplishing the goals we've set for ourselves. I feel the area I need to concentrate on is my spirituality and participating in an organized religion. Practicing a set of beliefs tends to bring you closer to understanding who you are as an individual. When given the opportunity and ability to look closer into who we are as individuals we develop more of our inner abilities and reach a level of understanding with ourselves that anything is possible to achieve if we set our minds to it.

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

It is always beneficial to look at a current state and make activity observations about performance in your own work. By assessing our own health, it’s a realization on what is working or what is not working in our own life. In the realization process we find ways to improve upon and help guide us to reach more quality and optimal health and wellness. Recently we have learned a tool at work in identifying processes that are broke, or processes that provide ideal patient care. The philosophy of my organization is best outcome for every patient every time. I feel this mission statement is also one that I value and feel is important in providing quality patient care.

My assessments in each domain are continuous, because I’m always looking at ways of improving myself not only personally but professionally also. Spirituality, I feel that I’ve look at my beliefs and morals and question if that is the right or wrong way to handle a situation. I want to do what is right, and feel it’s important to fully consider my thoughts and words to make sure it’s not offensive in any way. I would score my wellness in spirituality as fair because I do need to further discover my beliefs in a higher power and participate in religious practices more often. This assessment is based on my lack of participation at church services.

Physically, I feel that I recognize the need to health and fitness and continuously strive to lead a healthy lifestyle and not fall into a sedentary lifestyle. I encourage my children to remain active and not become couch potatoes, which helps me get up and moving to engage in activities with them. Multiple times my family and I have taken bike rides together on the nature trails. They love the outdoors and is a great way to bond and explore different areas of our community. I would score my physical wellness as good, because I’m living an active and healthy lifestyle and concentrate on diet and nutrition. Psychologically, I feel that I would rate that aspect of my wellness as good. In healthcare, being compassionate towards patients is important. By being compassionate and caring, we will gain the trust of our patients and establish a lifelong relationship with them. Mental training is important because compassion has positive effects on our mental state. Positive thinking improves mood and has positive effects on relationships with others. I feel I can apply this to my life by maintaining positive with my coworkers and always keeping an optimistic outlook in difficult situations.

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

Our internal drives are much more powerful and effective than the external. When our mind is set to a goal, the sky is the limit. Positive thoughts and lifestyles have such a huge impact on our health and wellness. As health care professionals we have to be the role models of remaining positive for our patients. A lot of the times we are faced with negative situations, but it is up to us to make that negative situation into a positive experience for our patients. It’s definitely a personal lifestyle commitment to providing the best patient care to every patient every time.

Goal setting is important in developing our personalities and expanding our mind, body and soul. A goal I want to reach for in my physical health is to participate in a 5K. My goal would be to run the whole race, and not walk. Participating in a fitness competition is a great way to improve health, socialize, and challenge yourself beyond your own expectations! A goal I want to reach for in my psychological or mental health wellness is to take more time for myself, love and accept myself for who I am as an individual. I feel the days that I don’t take time out for myself I have a much harder time maintaining a positive attitude. Acceptance of myself is a daily struggle. I stress the importance to others to be who you are and love the skin that God has given you, although I even struggle with this myself. Achieving this goal will allow me the ability to confidently grow and flourish to a whole different level.

A goal I want to reach for in my spiritual wellness is to participate in religious and self-developing practices. Growing up my family was involved in Catholic religion practices. We attended regular church services and participated in after-school, Sunday school programs. For me, church became a routine practice and I feel I lost the connection because of that. During my adolescent years I feel I lost the connection to Christ. I had so many questions as to beliefs and why we were told to worship things in that religion. I don’t feel I ever received the answers I was looking for; however, during my years of adolescence my focus wasn’t on finding myself, it was more about doing what every teen was set out to do, fit in and get through high school. For me, it wasn’t until I had my children that I started to find my way back to looking/searching for purposeful meaning and allowing God into my life. Children seem to change your perspective on life and mature aspects of your life. In raising my children to be compassionate and respectful individuals I’ve found Christ in their life and want to bring him back into mine.

4. 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.

Our strategies and implementation are just as unique and individualized as we are as individuals. Meditation and visualization practices are crucial components of psychological and spiritual wellness. These two practices foster growth because of the calming relationship with our inner well-being and provide great comfort and escape from stressors in our life. The state in which we are able to escape to momentarily is very therapeutic to our health and wellness, and is essential to maintaining a balance in our lives. These practices can be implemented by setting these into my daily routine and participating in them during difficult and challenging times to maintain a positive outlook.

An example of a strategy that fosters psychological growth is taking responsibility for our own wellness and development. In being responsible and accountable, knowledge and understanding of a situation will further develop because of the realization of the connection. I feel that if I’m held accountable to something (ex: task at work), I will be more engaged than if there was no accountability. Interpersonal growth is an important part of connecting with yourself, then in return building a bond and connection with other individuals. I can develop interpersonal strength by forgiving myself for things I’ve done wrong, shush my inner critic, and being kind to myself (Tartakovsky, 2012).

Two examples of strategies to foster growth in our spiritual wellness include centering prayer and devotional chanting through music. These two practices concentrate on soothing the soul and opening our hearts and experiencing a connection with others that creates a bond between individuals. These practices can be implemented into my life by starting my day off with a prayer and also saying a prayer before bed time. My passion for music and listening to Christian music with further develop as I surround myself more with the upbeat and inspirational music. Two examples of strategies to foster growth in physical wellness would be to develop a work-out routine with another individual to help stay motivated and to also take a proactive stance on diet and nutrition. Physical fitness has multiple benefits for improving body shape and composition, by bringing in a friend helps keep the motivation alive and would help keep me accountable to the established routine. Eating healthy can be implemented in my life by the choices I make in meal planning and not caving into temptation of the unhealthy food.

5. 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?

Health, happiness, and wholeness are the unseen sweet essence of human life (Dacher, 2006). The time, dedication, and commitment to reaching all three of these components are one of the reasons I feel not everyone reaches their optimal health and wellness. To reach this level of consciousness it takes all three I mentioned, and is a challenge mentally to accomplish, but with time, dedication and commitment there can be awareness in your life you've never come to before. Mind, body, and spirit have a strong connection to either promoting or demoting health and wellness. This information is critical because health and wellness professionals have to take this into consideration when developing a treatment plan.

Addressing all aspects of our health and wellness will further promote the best outcome for every patient every time or best outcome for our own wellness. I plan to use this drive and motivation that I have for patients, and use that to help me reach my optimal health and wellness. I will assess my progress or lack of progress by keeping a journal daily of accomplishments, roadblocks, thoughts/feelings. I feel by keeping a journal I can put down on paper my thoughts for the day and be able to reflect back to them, to hopefully see the progress of my journey. This opportunity to reflect back to a timeline of events is a realization on the progress I’ve made with my life-long commitment. The strategy of being accountable for behavior and actions will be a way to maintain long-term practices for health and wellness.

References--

Dacher, Elliott S. (2006). Integral Health; The path to human flourishing. Basic Health Publications, Inc. Laguna Beach, CA

Tartakovsky, M. (2012). Therapists Spill: 12 Ways to Accept Yourself. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 2, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/therapists-spill-12-ways-to-accept-yourself/00013976

Barb Engel

Unit 8; Loving Kindness and Meditation practices

Loving kindness and meditation I feel are most beneficial in life. Both of these practices can be implemented into our lives by participating in them daily. I've used the practice of meditation before a big meeting, to help calm the nerves and help me relax. Since starting this course I've used the loving kindness audio after a long and stressful day at work. Momentarily it gives me the inner peace I need and the ability to go back and tackle the challenging tasks I have yet to accomplish. These practices bring us back to a state in which our lives are simple and bring us back to a peaceful state in life. Working in healthcare is a true test to how strong you are mentally and what a positive role model you are for your patients. I feel these practices help us help ourselves so we can go out and help others.

Barb Engel 

Hi, I am Barb Engel. Wife and mother of two children. I am currently in my 4th term at Kaplan University. I am currently in the Bachelors-Health and Wellness program. I decided to go back to school to further my education in the healthcare field. The journey through the relaxation exercise was a great technique to slow the blood flow and settle into a relaxing state of mind. After a full day work, this is a great activity to unwind from the stressful day. I imagined myself on a beach soaking up the suns rays, running sand through my toes, someday that will be reality :0)