"One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself"

This quote means to me that you have to experience it for yourself.  You can’t honestly know what it is like unless you have been there.  The same goes with helping or teaching you patients.  Patients like to relate to someone, it helps them believe that it really can happen if they know it happened to you or someone you knew also. No one is going to follow a weight loss plan coming from someone who is obese.  You also can’t teach about stress reduction when you are overwhelmed and anxious all the time. I think it is an obligation to our clients to be healthy ourselves, psychologically, physically, and spiritually.  I am working on being healthier and implementing spiritual and psychological growth in my life by exercising more, eating healthier, and using more relaxation exercises.

Meeting Aesclepius Exercise

I will have to try this meditation practice again another day, my mind kept wondering.  I also kept wanting to change “the wise person” I was thinking about. Even after I restarted the exercise my mind kept wondering. I also felt like the pauses were too long. I do, however enjoy most of these meditation exercises and I feel that I do have an increase in spiritual and psychological wellness since I started this class. I have learned to use relaxation exercises to help me when I feel stressed or anxious.

Integral Assessment

I feel that I am underdeveloped in fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation of my mind body and spirit. So I am going to focus on the Biological quadrant of integral development at this time since it involves fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation.  This assessment process is making me realize that I still need a long way to go to become integral and balanced. I want to attain greater health, happiness, and wholeness.  I enjoy cooking and eating healthy things, and I don’t know why I make bad decisions food often.  The Mexican food is so good where I live, it is my weakness.  I also want to get into the habit of going to the gym or working out at least three or four times a week; even if it means just going to a walk for an hour around my neighborhood.  I shouldn’t have excuses I live in Southern California where the weather is beautiful almost every day.  I signed up to do yoga last week, but I haven’t gone yet.  I have been very busy the last couple of weeks, but I need to figure out how to fit more exercise into my busy life because there is always going to be something comes up.  I can’t have anymore excuses.  I know that I want to get pregnant within the next couple of years and I want to be more healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually for that and for years to come, not only for myself but for my family.  It is time to get moving toward my goals.

Universal Loving Kindness

May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

 
I said these phrases 10 times each.  This exercise did help shift my focus from personal love to universal loving-kindness. Usually when I think of loving and kindness I am thinking about my family and friends.  This exercise is to think of everyone including enemies. I don’t like to see anyone suffer, it doesn’t matter who they are. This exercise is good for people who come home and are angry at something that happened or with someone they encountered that day. It isn’t good for you to hold grudges and negativity towards someone.  It keeps you from being positive and relaxed. “The development of universal loving-kindness is the final leap in our interpersonal development” (Dacher 2006, p. 93). 

Reference

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

Spiritual Wellness

Spiritual wellness is the final stage in biological flourishing. “As we reach toward the higher levels of consciousness and progressively experience the more subtle aspects of the mind/body, we finally get a glimpse of the spiritual body” (Dacher 2006, p 84).  I’m not sure that I have manifested this in my life, but I want to get there.  I do believe in a higher power and I look to him for answers, guidance, and positivity.  I am also going to start doing yoga, maybe that will help me clear my head, be more positive, and find my spiritual self. 

Reference 

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