Holistic Approach to a Better Me

Introduction
Each health and wellness professional needs to develop the mind-body and spirit aspect to healing. These tools play an important role in how health professionals can broaden their healing abilities. It has been proven how prayer can heal the sole and how physical fitness can help make our bodies stronger by fighting off illnesses, and finally how meditation or mind exercises gives an individual clarity and peace of mind. Health and wellness professionals need to sample these models and experience them so they can suggest or prescribe a plan for their clients so they can achieve the same notions on how to heal their bodies holistically. For me personally I need to work on my spirituality and psychological aspect in order to achieve the ultimate human flourishing. As far as my spirituality I would involve myself through prayer by lifting my motives and worries unto GOD. And as for my psychological aspect I need to simply get more focused and train my mind to be more organized and to also to take my worries and stressors without overreacting and be more calm with each situation by thinking things through.

Assessment
Well to assess myself in each domain would be to consider how I rate myself with each area meaning where I stand mentally, physically, and spiritually. Spiritually I would rate myself a 5, because I have not been faithful to god, and I need to cleanse my soul through prayer.
Physically I would rate myself an 8, because I do try to work out five times a week to get physically stronger and fit. Included in this physical regimen I also eat healthier and by doing so it gives me a peace of mind knowing I am doing something great for my body. Mentally I would rate myself a 6 since I have notice that I am more comfortable with myself and to not get as upset or impatient if things don’t go as smoothly as I plan them too. What I do lack is organization and the will power to not procrastinate. I always finish my projects, but drag my feet when comes to starting a project.

Goal development
Physically my goal is to be in the best shape of my life through physical fitness and nutrition. Since I do have cancer, diabetes, and heart disease in my family history, I really do not want to develop those diseases, so by taking care of my body hopefully I won’t have to endure such circumstances.
Psychologically I need to prioritize my life and become more efficient so I can complete my goals
in life and conquer any obstacle that stand in my way. So the goal is to have a clear and focused
mind and to be more open to mental healing.
Spiritually my goal is to be more unified with god through prayer and meditation. By taking god as my savior I believe this will help me not to worry about things that I have no control over, take control of things that I know can make a difference, and to take comfort and happiness on the things that have graced my life and made it fulfilling. In the end to live my life to the fullest of my capability through happiness, no illness, and no stress.

Practices for personal health
Physically I would like to have a workout regimen of 30 minutes a day for five days out of the week. To become stronger, more flexible, and have the endurance to finish my daily tasks without being tired all the time.
Spiritually I would like to not let things bother me or linger on things or situations that can only harm me. So incorporating prayer or meditation in my life will help me to vent or release any unwanted thoughts or negativity that can hinder me from achieving an inner peace.
Psychologically I would like to integrate more exercises that can help me to be more positive, stay focused so I can complete tasks, and learn how to relax. A couple of exercises would be yoga and visualization. Yoga is a great mediation exercise that is beneficial for both the mind and body. Visualization can help by clearing your mind and focusing on things that do make you happy and serene. So taking 20 minutes out of my day to do these exercises will help give more of a positive outlook on life.
Commitment
This is the biggest and most challenging part of my plan to develop human
flourishing, because I have set goals before and never finished them. So over the next six months I plan to be in great shape through physical activity and better nutrition. To have more metal focus so I can prioritize my life by making out lists of tasks that need to be done and to complete
them. Finally spiritually to have god as my savior and cleanse my soul of any impurities and not to dwell over the past and push forward to a brighter future. So leaving behind the old me will help me to become a better person by taking charge of my life and knowing what can help fix me when I become broken.

Mental Fitness

The two practices that I have determined to be beneficial for me are the subtle mind exercise and visualization. I really need some peace of mind, because it is hard for me to prioritize and organize what needs to be done and how I plan on getting there. I have let life take a hold of me instead of me being in control of my life and there are so many things that I still plan on accomplishing that I really need a focused mind to influence me in the right direction. I really need some clarity and perspective on how to heal my body if I plan on helping others with their wellbeing. In order to keep up with my children I owe it to myself and family to be happy, healthy and strong so I can be there for them and encourage them to follow in the journey to health and wellness. So using these practices will help me clear my mind and get me focused on the path to a better life and more fulfilling one at that.
Cristine

the Meeting Aesclepius

The first that came to mind was my grandma, she was the smartest, nicest, caring individual that I have had the pleasure to be in my life. My grandma was an RN and she was also very spiritual meaning she believed in God and was very knowledgeable about everything. This was probably my favorite exercise, I really could feel her knowledge, voice, and heart enter my body to purify it with her wisdom. I was very surprised how relaxed I was for this meditation practice. This practice was well worth my time and I feel the more I use this practices the more I find how easy it is to focus or invision what is required.

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not
gone himself".
According to Dacher its like having a map to a destination that you have never been too. Professional of health and wellness need to have the ability to see the divine in everyone and to treat individual as though they where god and so forth, which in return can transform the suffering of illness into the grace of healing (Dacher, 2006). So I believe it is an important key to human flourishing, each professional needs to know their capabilities before they can apply them to others in their professions. By applying these practices in my life it will help me bust out of this bubble and explore what else there is available for me as an individual who is wanting the greater good of health and wellness.
Cristine

love and kindness

Both the universal loving and kindness and integral assessment were fairly simple and easy to follow, and where somewhat understandable to what I discovered about myself. The loving and kindness practice did make me more understanding to my feelings and others by being more empathic to their feelings. The other assessment did give me a sense of what I need to do to become more whole in my life and how I need to get there. It just a matter of organizing my life and getting more focused on what is the most important thing for me, which is finishing school, and having a successful career that I really enjoy. Also getting to find that person that enjoyed the little things in life.
Cristine

Mind Awareness

The Subtle Mind
When I first started out I could not concentrate to save my life, I have to give it a lot of effort,
but when I did I could see my mind as if it were a floating gray cloud with small flashes of light come from it on all different sides of this gray cloud. But as soon as the narrator would talk my mind would shift rapidly, and I suddenly would feel anger and irritated. As I would concentrate more on my breathing, I could imagine a small ship on the ocean, and I could see the waves gently moving it along. But there again when the narrator would talk, my mind would take me to things that have happen to me throughout the week, but when I would concentrate on my breathing, for the last time I could see waves crashing against a huge rock, and suddenly I could feel a calming effect take over my whole body, as if I had taking a drug to relax me. I suddenly felt my
irritation go away, and was able to keep my mind aware of what was going on.

I really enjoyed this practice; I really enjoyed how it made me relax so much better than the last
practice "loving Kindness". I really do need a tool that can help me to focus better, and keep my mind into perspective. Maybe this way I would not be such a procrastinator and would be able to finish my tasks faster and easier. Great exercise!!
Cristine

Love and Kindness

This exercise was a little hard for me to grasp, maybe it was because of the terms used or the fact I did not like all the emotions that I went through. I could not get the concept of why we had to feel this certain emotions to come to some sort of calmness or peace. Maybe that was the whole point, maybe we have to go through such emotions or sufferings in order to come to terms with or inner peace. But quite frankly I do not like to feel scared, sad or even upset, so I did not have a pleasant experience with this particular exercise what so ever!! I am not sure if I would recommend this experience to anyone, maybe if I could understand the whole concept of its purpose, but my answer remains no.

Mind-Body-Spirit

I would rate my physical well-being
about a 7 since I do have a hard time relaxing my body. My spiritual well-being
I would rate about a 6 and that is because I still have a lot of pessimistic
views on the subject. As for my psychological well-being I would rate it about
a 6, because I still have a few unresolved issues that I need to let go of.

My main goals is to have inner and
outer peace, to cleanse my mind of any unresolved issues that hold me back, and
to become more physically fit to prevent any unwanted diseases or illnesses. By
doing these things is to become more involved in the activities that I enjoy
for example: volleyball, softball, hiking, camping etc... I really enjoy being
outside, but since I have a work schedule that conflicts with that it makes it
impossible to enjoy those things when you are tired all the time both mentally
and physically. So I just need to ease myself into these activities again. Also
using a lot of meditation exercises will definitely help.