Unit 9 Project/Blog

Edward Jay Capshaw

Unit 9 Project

Professor Dorette Nysewander

HW420-01: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

May 15, 2012

Unit 9 Project

               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? Combining the development of psychological, spiritual and physical health involves many aspects of life that help to keep an individual in the best all around condition of wellness. As a health and wellness professional this is important to understanding, because this can be the foundation of understanding an individual and gaining insight.  Building and developing from the inside at the inner core of a person will shine through to the outside.  For an individual to portray strong and healthy outside behavior, working from the inside first is necessary (Dacher, 2006). There really are numerous benefits a person can receive thought treatment from professionals who do develop healing techniques that combine psychological, spiritual and physical aspects of healing. “As medicine grows in understanding and capacity, practitioners must similarly evolve. In many instances, practitioners themselves will be the leading edge of change; in other instances, it is important for us to keep apace with change that is already in progress” (Dacher, 2006). A very important reason for health care professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically is that it can provide a strong foundation of understanding and knowledge for patient’s who are developing themselves in all areas of health and wellness. One area that I need to continue to improve and develop in my quest for optimal health is stress management. Living in today’s world is almost imposable to without encountering stress. Fortunately, there is good news that stress can be self controlled. Sadly, I think I have accepted stress as a part of my everyday life and have become accustom to facing and dealing with it. At times I don’t know how to cope with certain stresses effectively. I don’t think that stress should be avoided entirely, because a certain amount can be necessary or even helpful for motivation, performance, and maybe even optimal health and well being. The problem for me is when I allow stress to push beyond healthy limits, I allow stress to transform into distress and I begin to function less effectively or at the very least beneath my abilities. Thanks to this class and the wisdom of both the professor and my fellow students I have learned an important aspect of stress management. In short, stress management is more easily preserved by keeping a sense of control when high stress generating demands fall upon an individual. As I have made significant progress in this area it remains a work in progress for me and has need of further improvement.

               How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically? I find it a little difficult to evaluate myself, but in the realm of physicality despite being slightly over weight I am in good physical shape. I jog four or five times a week and strength train at least twice per week and to tell the truth if I was not over weight I would look unhealthily thin. In fact yesterday at work I ran some blood tests on myself just to pass the time. My liver enzymes were right in the middle of the reference ranges, my glucose (non-fasting) was 107, HDL of 48, Triglycerides of 145, LDL of 105 (near optimal), and a complete blood count (CBC) was all within normal limits. These are all medical characteristics of someone in very good physical health so I am confident in my assessment of good health, at least physically.

               Of the three aspects of healing we are being asked to evaluate ourselves in I think the psychological facet is where I score the poorest. I translate psychological health as the study of the spirit, cognitions, and perceptions, or knowledge of the soul. I think it to be the study of my personality which I do know well. To develop a healthy psyche with an intellect that can expand wholesomely and fully into something requires a great understanding of ones own mind and desires. For me it is difficult at times to properly act on and recognize what strengthens the psyche and what weakens it. I have not yet found a discipline and systematic understanding of my own psyche, the fears, angers, and even joys that influence my personality and behavior are often a mystery to me. Although this may sound dire I don’t grade myself as poor in the category of psychology, more accurately I would say average. I do as much as possible work towards the evolution of my psyche and contribute as much as I can for its improvement.

               I do think that in optimal spiritual wellness I am doing well in the development of my spiritual health to its fullest potential. As in any other aspect of health, the best spirituality requires developing it to its fullest potential. As a base for my continual improvement efforts for my spiritual health, I am a very positive person and able to find the proverbial silver lining to almost any situation. I think the biggest contribution to my strong spiritual wellbeing is a healthy expression and acceptance of emotions, whether they are negative or positive in origin. I think that acceptance in a key element to almost every form of emotional happiness. Like I stated in our week three blog “I’ve adopted an optimistic attitude towards life and actively seek out new ways to improve myself”. I believe these to be pretty justifiable reasons for my positive impression of my spiritual well being.

               List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual. A goal in physical health I have wanted to improve and increase in is the intensity level of my workouts, to better develop my cardiorespiratory system and work towards improved flexibility. I have often overlooked the importance of these two aspects and that for the best muscle development they must be over loaded to a given point. The biggest goal I have in spiritual health is the continued improvement in my meditation abilities. Although some techniques can be learned relatively quickly, I can be easily frustrated and must continue practicing in order to reap all the benefits meditation has to offer. As far as psychological health needs are concerned I would like to better deal with stress. It has a continuous theme throughout these assignments and remains the biggest element of my psyche that I feel requires the most attention.         

               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.  Flexibility is the best possible range of motion at a joint or joints without causing injury from the action. Some muscular and skeletal problems and injury can be related to lack of flexibility and the decline in these flexibilities could result in injury or chronic pain. While my desires to better myself in this physical activity is not due to any pain or injury, my recent attempts in yoga and tai chi have made me realize the need for improved flexibility. Luckily, flexibility can be improved by simple exercises like stretching, and continuing improvement in current exercises like the before mentioned yoga, and tai chi. Improved flexibility and stamina will also help with meditation, my most resent goal in the achievement of spiritual and psychological health. “Through the practice of calm abiding, or tranquility meditation, our restless, thinking mind subsides into a state of deep inner peace. The warring, fragmented aspects of our lives seem to settle and become friends; negativity and aggression are disarmed; frustration, tension, and turbulent emotions are defused; and the unkindness and harm within us is removed, revealing our inherent good heart” (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005). For me this is all the reasons I need to vigilantly practice a variety of meditation techniques but especially the tranquility and calm abiding methods. The most important tool to foster growth in meditation is dedication and practice through times of difficulty. Better coping with stress to improve my psyche is something I have been working towards for some tome now. I have incorporated a variety of practices to help me properly deal with stresses and one of the biggest is balance. The proper balancing of my family, work, and personal needs and responsibilities goes a long way in stress reduction. Getting the proper amount of sleep/rest is a valuable tool in stress reduction as well as daily physical activity. I’m focusing on trying not to worry about things that are beyond my control like the actions of others and if some lesser team defeats the New England Patriots. All kidding aside, I also prepare for foreseen stressful activity as best possible and actively strive to resole issues that cause stress. A phrase from “Consciousness & Healing” that I found insightful “Stress is not just what you do; it’s how you react to what you do” (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005). It is a phrase that occasionally helps me when stress begins to accumulate; it reminds me that I can maintain control of the situation.  

               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? I really haven’t put a lot of thought into tracking or even assessing my progress in any capacity, but I do agree that it’s a really good suggestion. I think that keeping a journal that starts with my current state of psychological, spiritual, and physical health and continues to track my efforts and activates over the next six months. If I kept detailed information on all of the activities I use to increase all three of these aspects of health, and the results from the various activates, it could become a valuable tool for examining the successes and failures of the activities. This journal could be used to determine what has been successful and therefore the activities I should focus on for optimal progress. Seeking out the assistance of trained professionals in some of the practices that show promising results to increase the effectiveness even more could be a helpful long term practice. I think the biggest help in long and short term success in health practices are good old fashioned hard work and dedication.

References:

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

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M. S. (2005). Consciousness and healing. St Louis, MO: Churchill Livingstone.