Unit 9 Project

I. Introduction

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop various skills in order to enhance their treatment. When wellness professionals develop psychologically, they deepen their mental connection with their clients. The road to health and healing has many twists and turns and it is the responsibility of the professional to reach their clients. When health and wellness professionals develop spiritually, they not only strengthen their chances of relating to their clients, they also provide a feeling of comfort and trust. Once those feelings are established, they can reach their clients on a higher level. When a health and wellness professional is physically healthy, they are able to have the energy to treat their patients. They also re-enforce their advice through personal achievement and wellness.

In order to achieve the goals that I have chosen for myself, I need to develop in all three areas. At the beginning of the class, I thought that I only needed to enhance my psychological and spiritual aspects of health and wellness because I already had a solid workout routine. After all that I have learned in this class, I know now that I always have room to improve.

II. Assessment

Physical Well-Being: Rated 9
I would consider myself to be a pretty active person. I work out six days a week, with one rest day. My workouts consist of weight lifting and cardiovascular exercise. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate my level of physical well-being a nine. I gave myself a nine because I feel like I will always have room to improve. My physical well-being is by no means perfect. There is always an aspect of my body that I could improve upon. I try to eat healthy and drink plenty of water, but I do splurge on occasion - especially on Sunday (Football food is a must!).

Spiritual Well-Being: Rated 7
I am a Christian man. I grew up in a strong Christian household. My family went to church every Sunday and I participated in the local youth groups. My faith kept me safe through five deployments overseas. It was with me as I watched my love ones die, and as my baby boy was born. My God gave me my beautiful wife and the great challenge of raising our son. I do not think that my spiritual walk is perfect because I am not a perfect person. I do try to live by example and to learn from my mistakes. I rated myself a seven because I feel like I have more room to grow on my spiritual journey.

Psychological Well-Being: Rated 9
I am a stable person. I have a very positive and stable home life. I rated myself nine out of ten because I tend to worry about finances and about my family’s future. I feel like this class has given me more tools to strengthen my psychological well-being. I enjoyed the meditation practices and I feel like they will continue to help me become stronger in this area.

III. Goal Development

At the beginning of this class, my physical well-being goal was to lose five pounds in one month. I am proud to say that I have achieved this goal. My new goal is to enhance my muscle mass while maintaining my new weight. My spiritual well-being goal was to read the Bible on a consistent basis. I am sad to say, but this is still my goal. I need to make the time to read, plain and simple. Finally, at the beginning of this class, my psychological well-being goal was to stop worrying about money. I believe that this goal will always be at the back of my mind. My new psychological goal is to work on telling people “no”. I have a very hard time telling people that I cannot do something, even to the point that I add extra stress in my own life in order to accommodate them.

IV. Practices for Personal Health

It is important to have a strategy in order to foster a better physical, psychological, and spiritual domain. In order to enhance my physical domain I plan to perform more circuit training style workouts. I will also be stricter with my diet. In order to enhance my psychological domain I would like to continue to learn about integral health and wellness. I would also like to go to a seminar or a retreat for wellness. In order to enhance my spiritual domain, I plan to read the Bible on a more frequent basis and practice some of the meditation practices that we learned in this class such as the Subtle Mind.

V. Commitment

I will track my progress over the next six months by using a scale to monitor my weight and visiting my doctor for a routine check-up to assess my blood pressure. I would also like to strengthen my relationships with my family and close friends by using the tools that we have learned in this class. I will know if I am growing as a person if I am able to strengthen those relationships. In order to assess my long-term progress, I can write down my thoughts and goals in a journal. I can use that journal to remember my thoughts and to keep me accountable to my goals. I can also recruit the help of my wife. Since she wants me to succeed, she will definitely help me stay on track with my goals.

Reference:

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health - The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc