Unit 10

Hello Professor and Classmates,

Review of my Unit 3 Personal Assessments to now:

In week 3 I rated my physical well being a 6 and now I rate it a proud 9-1/2. My upper respiratory and strep throat were minor setbacks. With the exercise of subtle mind and meditation, I believe that my body is controlled by my mind. I am now happy to say that the pain I felt from the arthritis in my left knee is no longer felt. I stopped taking the medication that I was prescribed, tossed the thought out of my mind and I am fine. I have also stopped feeling the pain in my hand and I feel great.

 In week 3 I rated my spiritual well being as a 9 and that has also bumped up to a 9-1/2. I have a place to worship and do not worry about the how many times the plate is passed around. If I have it, I give and if I do not have it, I do not give anything. I no longer worry about what others think. God knows my heart and in the end, that is all I have to worry about.

In week 3 I rated my psychological well being as an 8 and I would say that I have improved a bit but I would not change the number at this time. There is a lot that I still struggle with as far as my self esteem and morale but the reasons change from week to week. I am however, working on those parts of my life with counseling. With time and practice of the exercises that I learned my psychological well being will improve.

I have implemented and made progress with all of my goals. I have put into practice by exercising weekly, when I eat I stop when I feel full and I have added vegetable into my daily routine. I am also meditating daily and working on improving my self esteem

My personal experience throughout this course has been rewarding. I am a better person mentally and physically and with the knowledge that I have learned in this course over the past 9 weeks, I am able to take the necessary steps toward maintaining and living a healthy life and continue to balance my life and help others by sharing what I have learned. From the beginning of reading the first few chapters, I started talking and sharing the great information of the mind and how to control it. I also share the meditation techniques and people enjoy it. I have always been a person that loved to help others and I now have another way of helping thanks to Health and Wellness. It has been a pleasure learning this course and I take the knowledge with me and continue to heal my well being.

Dianthe Clements

Unit 9 Final Project

                                                                                                          Unit 9 Final Project           1

Running Head: Unit 9 Final Project

  

                                                             Unit 9 Final Project

              Personal Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

                                                            Dianthe Clements

                                                            Kaplan University

                                                              HW420 – 02

                                                     Professor Susan Johnson

                                                            May 24, 2011

                                                                                                        Unit 9 Final Project   2

    There is great importance for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically,

spiritually and physically due to the vital information that they gain from individuals. The

information that is gained can be a foundation (Dacher, E, 2006).

     If I am going to be true and honest with myself and others, I can say that I have struggled the

most with spirituality and physicality. Spiritually in brief, over the past few years, I have

questioned the many churches that constantly tell you what to do, what to wear, what you can be

a part of and when you go somewhere and every time, the plate as they call it passed around.

Being in and among poverty, I struggled most with giving my money to churches and at the same

time, feeling as if I had been duped. There were no blessings that I felt immediately and over

time I had come to realize that blessings should not be expected immediately after giving. It just

seemed to wear on me because the church I was attending told me that the more I give, the more

I will receive. It turned out to not be true and eventually, I started worshiping in my own

dwelling and in my heart and it has worked for me for the last year. I also struggle with my

physicality. In the last four to six years, I have not added exercise as a regular routine as I should

have and as a result, I have gained 100 pounds over my regular 175 lb weight. My goal is to not

starve myself but to eat healthy and exercise daily. I am sure that if I can strive to do those two

things on a regular basis, I will become physically stable.

    In the past 8 weeks, I have become more aware of what is healthy for me in mind, body and

spirit and I have taken control of what is unhealthy for me. My awareness is heightened and I am

able to catch and control the clutter of my mind when concentrating on tasks and control my

feelings when being tested by other humans with conflict. I know that I have a choice in how I

react and I share my knowledge with whoever listens. My score spiritually is 91/2,

                                                                                                              Unit 9 Final Project     3

psychologically is 9-1/2 and physically a 7 because my knowledge is only the beginning when

dealing with my physicality. I have the knowledge and I have just begun to put into practice my

goals for my health physically.  

     My goals – Physical- To exercise on a regular basis, Psychological- To maintain practice of

meditation and loving kindness exercises and Spiritual- To honor God, pray and live my life to

the fullest believing in him and his son Jesus Christ.

    

     Strategy that I will put into place to foster growth Physical- To complete a daily routine of

eating healthy. Include a salad daily with two servings of fruit and vegetables as a must to start

my journey to becoming physically healthy and include an hour of walk either on the Bowflex

Treadmill 7000 series (mother bought it as a gift) that has been sitting in my living room for two

years or the Air Force Base Park which sits right across from Reagan National Airport.

     My strategy for Psychological is to maintain my daily exercise of meditation for 15 minutes

daily and the practice of Loving-kindness exercise. These two exercises has helped me a great

deal and I would not be able to say that I am a better person because of this class.

     My strategy for Spiritual is to maintain the path that I am on now. Prayer plays a major role in

staying spiritually connected with God and Jesus Christ and helps maintain a great sense of

peace throughout the day.

     Upon completion of this course, I will stay committed to maintaining my health and wellness

by practicing each day the components of what I have learned in this course. It has been a

pleasure in meeting and getting to know all of you and learning from you Professor Johnson.  

                                                        References

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing.

             Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health Publications

Unit 8

Hello All,

Unit 8 Exercise

Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.

Loving Kindness has been beneficial to me in the last few weeks because I have been practicing and using it since I first read about it. It seems like I have been tested more since putting ito play but I know it is about recognizing it and being determined to keep it in play. The other day I left work and was supposed to pick my sister up from the mechanic's shop because she wanted to drop it off. When I got there, she was not there. I waited for 5 minutes and then I proceeded to go home. Two minutes from home, my sister rings my phone and tells me that she got lost on her way to the mechanic’s shop. I told her that since I was so close to home, it would take me 20 minutes to go back and I would see her then. After I hung up with her, I breathed heavily and started rambling on and on about gas prices and the waste and how I can not afford to waste gas. I am always willing to do for others and I somehow get screwed in the end. Then I started thinking about the loving kindness thoughts and started thinking positively. Immediately, I was able to un-upset myself and started having great thoughts. I also had time to pull over and meditate for 5 minutes before I picked her up and I was wonderful and loving. In the past, I would still be ranting and raving allowing myself to get a migraine or headaches. Now, I have an out from stress and I may allow it to affect me for a couple of minutes, but with everything that I have learned in the last few weeks, I am able to grasp and collect my disturbing thoughts and turn them into peace and love. I could not have learned it without being in this class for the last 8 weeks. Thank you Professor Johnson for the lessons in Health & Wellness!

Dianthe

Unit 7

Hello all,

For some reason this week, trying to think about a live wise or loving person, all I could think about was my grandmother who is deceased. She was beautiful, caring and loving all of the time. When I say loving and caring, she was stearn with her discipline and immediately upon being disciplined, I knew that it was from her love. I miss her so much! Four minutes of into the exercise, I wept and imagining the white beam above her head was like seeing an angel from heaven and that is how I see her. I have thought of a great Father’s Day present to my father, which will be from my grandmother. The next beam of light under her throat makes me want to say kind things and I want to speak elegantly all of the time. The light from her heart, I have felt all of the time. All of my life, I have treated people the way that I want to be treated but somehow, they do not feel the same way. People treat me bad all of the time, they use me and I allow it. I need to guard myself but I have been steady in making sure that people know that I care. That is how I have always been. Loving kindness and being wholesome is supposed to bring me peace and the majority of the time, I feel good when I do for others. I have to be me and that is who I am.

My grandmother becoming a bright white light is an image that I possess. Imagining and feeling my grandmother’s kindness is an addition for me. It feels wonderful and experiencing it, I can and will possess the skills that my grandmother so wonderfully portrayed. I want to be wise! I believe that I can become wise. My choices and actions will now be mine and I will choose the non stressful road. I know that it will take time, but I am willing to practice daily in order to have a healthy wholesome life.   

Unit 6

Hello everyone,

The Loving Kindness meditation was a breeze for me and ten minutes was not a long time. I have been practicing it every chance that I get but I have a few obstacles. I live in the ghetto- SE Washington, DC and speaking to someone is difficult. Just saying hello is dangerous at times because one, people never speak back and two- they see it as a weakness. In the ghetto, you are not supposed to speak unless you have to communicate with that person. For any other reason, your life could end because of the way you look at a person and if you try to demand a response, you could start a fight. However, I have been able to practice the loving kindness acts on the military base where I work. People on the base are so receptive, kind and loving. It is there nature to speak and greet each other with care. I try to expose my kids to it every chance that I get so they can see the difference. They are 17 and 12 now and it has made a huge difference and they are aware. Awareness is what I was seeking and we got it.

Starting the Integral Assessment and releasing my mental activity, the aspect of my life that is the source of difficulty and suffering was more psychospiritual than the other three. I first struggle with my self esteem with me personally and professionally. Having started learning and receiving my Associate's Degree from Kaplan in November 2009, I have struggled trying to transition in to Business and it can be a downer at times. During the last three terms, I took on an additional course with my employer that was pretty much promising that I would be able to transition into Management (entry level) and once I completed it, the transition did not happen for me. I did all that I needed as far as networking within my company as well as home (as far as I could) and followed all of the steps that was supposed to get me somewhere and nothing has happened. I am sure that everyone can understand where I am coming from. I also struggle with how much I help my family members. It seems that for all of my adult life, I have always put others before me and it is second nature for some family members to take advantage of me and I have made it very easy. I have had family members stay with me and not charge them anything. Presently, I have two, my cousin and nephew. My younger sister was a part of the  group but she recently moved out for peace of mind. She returns on the weekends and I can say that in since she or the others had moved in, they have given me no more than a $1 among them all. After 7 months, I decided to  internet and telephone off. I made sure that the cable was turned off last year so now, all there is, is food and sleep. I can not afford to take care of anyone other than my two children. I have reached my breaking point and something has got to give. I am working on changing the way things are and I know that I have to do it and no one else can for me. It is an adjustment that I have to make and I will get there. I just love my family members and I do not want to harm them in any way. Being me is difficult at times and sometimes, I wish to be someone else.

I know that in my heart that I am a kind and loving person and I show it on a daily basis. I just feel that it is a weakness of mine and has been all of my life. I just think that with all that I have done for my family and friends, when can someone do something for me for a chance. When I do for others, I do not expect anything in return but Jesus, a little gratitude would be just enough for me.

I dedicated my Thursdays to a co-worker of mine by picking her two and three year old boys up from daycare by 6:00pm (12 miles to get there), take them to McDonald's ($10 from Mom), take them to the playground and then to her job (12 miles from daycare) until she gets off at 7:30 pm. I then drop her and her boys off at the Metrorail station (3miles) and then I usually make it home by 8:15pm. I did it every week since June of 2010 until now. I never asked her for money or compensation for the gas that I used but she never, ever offered either. I feel that I had enough and have stopped all communication with her 3 weeks ago. I feel that I owe her no explanations and I am amazed how people can go on allowing someone to do something for them with out having the consideration to think about thanking them in words or anything. My mother always told me that you can not get anything for free but obviously, there are people out there that do not believe it, especially if I am involved in their life.
I believe that as long as I practice the Loving kindness exercises and meditation, and also pray on a daily basis for strength and hopefully, the healing will begin.
See you all in unit 7!

Dianthe Clements

Describe the exercise and assessment process. What did you discover about yourself? What area have you chosen to be a focus of growth and development? Why? What are some specific exercises or activities that you can implement to foster greater wellness in this area?

unit 5

Exercising with Loving kindness was alright at first but somehow, it gets difficult at times. For instance, yesterday a co-worker had left her cart with items in my aisle alone. Trying to be kind and nice, I started stocking her items and 15 minutes later, she yelled "hey!, that's my cart!" I told her that she left it in my aisle and I started stocking the items. She yelled, "I was coming back!". She then snatched the cart away from me and huffed and puffed walking away. I immediately felt unappreciated and I said  to myself that I had a lot to say but I was going to allow her to have her moment because I did not know what she was going through in her life to be so upset. Clearly, me helping her to do her job was not giving her a bad feeling. I immediately thought of the loving kindness exercise and I have released the emotions of that incident. That is my frustration with the on going practice of loving kindness because I can tell you all about all of the evil thoughts that I had that I could have said but I did not.

Listening to the third track on the CD was confusing. When Dacher spoke, it was easy to listen but when that scratching sound started, I tried, tried and tried to listen and it seemed as if the 22 minutes would not end. It was painfully irritating and it was before the incident at my job yesterday so I had no hidden emotions. My mind was clear but that sound was disturbing for some reason. I know that I lasted for 6 or 7 minutes and then I fast forwarded it. I thought that there was something wrong with the CD so I took it out and checked to see if it was scratched. It was not harmed in any way, I then putit back in and started it again and the same thing happened. I can remember the first time putting the CD in a few weeks ago and I feel asleep. My sister and cousin told me that it was loud and questioned whether it was supposed to sound like that . They were clearly disturbed by it but had no choice because they live with me. I pay my bills by myself without help and it was my homework. Listening to it the other night, I displayed a little friction with listening to it and my sister brought it up that her and my cousin was thinking the same thing but they could not say anything. I wonder if I am the only one that feels the same with listening to that scratching sound? Anyone?????

Unit 4

Loving Kindness practice- Practicing this all week was normal for me. I have always been the type of person that shows kindness to all and care for others before myself. In the past, I look to it as a good deed for me. It makes me feel good about myself.
Listening to track #2 of the Integral Health CD was mesmerizing. The ocean sounds were peaceful and it reminds me of when I go to the Base at the park. It is bordered on the Anacostia River and across from it is Reagan National Airport. I go to sit and watch the planes take off and land. Hearing the waves of the waters bring me peace of mind.
These 18 minutes were not hard at all. Practicing it three times a week was a breeze and I have always tried to get my friends to go with me on the base to the park. It can be quite romantic!

The concept to Mental Workout is to practice as much as you can and in doing so, what you are practicing will become second nature and that is the mental workout.

I am sorry for the late submission every one!

Dianthe