Unit 10-Professional Application of the Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

At the beginning of our course within Unit 3, I performed a personal assessment and gave myself the following evaluation on the scale of 1-10 (1 being the worst and 10 being the most optimal):

Psychological---9
Physical---6
Spiritual well-being---9

Now some 6 weeks later at the end of our course I have the opportunity to evaluate myself once more and to note my progress.  I give myself the following evaluation:

Psychological--9.5
Physical--6.5
Spiritual well-being---9

I have only increased slightly in the physical score because I have a long road ahead of me to rebuild the strength in my lower extremities due to cartilage degradation in both of my knees.  I began a physical therapy program to strengthen my legs to relieve the stress on my knees, however after starting the program I got laid off of my job/demoted to PRN work which relieved me of my health insurance (wonderful world of hotel work).  I had to go out on my own with my therapy.  I plan to concentrate during my break to regain the lost ground by implementing my own physical therapy program to regain the strength in my lower extremities.

I have improved my psychological scores slightly by implementing my own regiment of meditation and relaxation techniques.  I plan to utilize  the break between terms to get in touch with my FSM with the volunteer minister's program where I work as a volunteer to implement more auditing and assists to increase my scores in this area.

My spiritual well-being has always remained strong due to my faith in God, our creator and the concept of there being a higher-being in life.  I will continue my studies into this part of my well-being and continue to offer as much assistance in improving my surrounding environment to create my own personal Haven to which to retreat in my own personal periods of need.

I have not progressed as effectively as I had anticipated because I experienced a major set back in my finances due to being put on lay off from my job.  That caused an upset of which I intend to recover from during our break.  I intend to do this my securing more stable employment within the health care field and leaving the field of hospitality (hotel industry).

I have implemented the Loving-Kindness Practice and the practise of meditation on a regular basis.  I intend to utilize our break as a time to progressively develop a personalized physical fitness program concentrating on low impact exercises to strengthen my lower extremities.  I also will empower some assistance from some of my friends who also are in need of this same encouragement.  We will incorporate the "Buddy" system to encourage and maintain our commitment to ourselves and each other with these shared needs.

I have really enjoyed this course as it has really impacted some of the aspects of what I wish to accomplish with my clients when I become a health care professional.  It has given me to basis needed to embark upon my own personal quest for a better, healthier well-being.  The difficult part was maintaining consistency with classwork, work from my job and my commitments to improving my own diet and physical fitness activities.  By facing my own challenges that I have encountered, it has enabled me to see how my clients may also embark similar challenges and I can therefore empathize and sympathize with their positions because I have been down a similar path this term myself.  I can now offer foreseen, first-hand found and tried solutions to their possible challenges because of the challenges I have faced this past term with my job, classes and my personal life.

Unit 9--Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

                                                                                             Unit 9 project 1

Running Head:  UNIT9PROJECT










                                      Creating Wellness:  Psychological
                                      and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

                                                     Lisa Sisk

                                         HW 420-03-Unit 9-Project









                                                                                             Unit 9 project 2

  I.  Introduction
            It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically because in order for us to lead our patients and clients down the pathway to reach optimum health and wellness, we must use pathways and roads we have also well travelled.  In order for us to have empathy and understanding, we must also know and understand the current struggles of our clients so we can offer to them the best advice, care, service and support and have them feel that we are with them on their sometimes long, forbidding journey to health and wellness.
          I need to overcome my present set of barriers, severely arthritic knees and develop my own exercise program, adopt better eating habits and better sleep patterns so I can be at my optimum best physical, mental and spiritual awareness to lead my clients down the pathway to health and wellness.  I need to be aware of all their challenges, temptations, barriers and obscurities that they may encounter so I can give them the assurance that I have the knowledge of the journey they are about to embark.  My clients will be able to surely say that I am on their side and am in complete understanding of their position and will be able to support them in all ways necessary to ensure their ultimate success to better enriched lifestyles and better health.





                                                                                             Unit 9 Project 3

  II.  Assessment         (Scale of 1-bad-----10-best)
       Biological

•    Fitness (I have a lot of work to do in this area)----6
•    Nutrition (Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables)----6
•    Self-regulation (I am stable but need to work on the process to become Clear and to finally reach OT 8 Level)----6

        Psychospiritual

•    Conative (Driven to help others)----9
•    Cognitive (Above average)----9
•    Emotional (Stable)----9

         Interpersonal

•    Personal (Personal development--want to increase)----7
•    Family (Increase family--getting married and have children/adopt)----5
•    Community (Increase Volunteer Ministry work)----6

          Worldly

•    Generality (Become an educator to teach what I have learned to others--I LOVE TO TEACH)----6
•    Social Activism (Continue being involved with VM tutoring)----6
•    Work (Change career fields to healthcare from hospitality and become an Educator to teach others)----6

                                                                                             Unit 9 Project 4

III. Goal Development

        Physical

•     Increase wellness by eating more balanced/scheduled diet.
•     Completing the "Purification Rundown" to purge toxins from my body.
•     Developing more stable daily (weekly) exercise program.

        Psychospiritual

•     Reduce reactive mind with more Dianetics Book 1 Auditing

        Spiritual 

•     Increase to Conscious Unity

 IV.    Practices for Personal Health

         Physical

•     Begin Physical Therapy to strengthen my right ankle, calves, thighs, knees and hips to relieve stress on arthritic knees to reduce pain to enable participation to physical fitness for myself.
•     Develop my own low impact workout routine-eat more balanced diet, improve sleep patterns, improve physical activity to improve overall health.
•     Complete "Purification Rundown" program

                                                                                             Unit 9 Project 5

         Psychospiritual

•     Complete Personal Efficiency Program
•     Complete Auditing to Clear and to OT 8
•     Reduce reactive mind with more Dianetics Book 1 Auditing

         Spiritual

•     Increase Meditation
•     Increase Loving-Kindness Practices
•     Take up a Tai Chi Class

   V.  Commitment

•     I will do a basic assessment at the end of every 6 month period and adjust my physical exercise program to increase the challenge to increase my physical abilities.
•     I have to get a program set up with goals and challenges and stick with the program--maintain my work schedule to allow for my adherence to my physical fitness program.

                                                                                             Unit 9 Project 6

                                                 References

Dacher, Elliott S., (2006), Integral Health:  The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Publications, Laguna Beach, CA.

Unit 8--Optimal Well-being: Psychological, Spiritual and Physical Keys to Health and Thriving

     Within the practices we studied:  Loving-Kindness, Subtle Mind, Visualization, Meditation, etc., I found the Loving-Kindness and Meditation Practice sessions, the most beneficial at the time I practiced them.
     I found them to be the easiest to get into without a lot of practice.  The Subtle Mind and the Visualization Practices I feel will be beneficial also, however I think that I will have to work at them by getting a lot of practice before I actually get beneficial effects from them.
     With the Loving-Kindness practice all I had to do was smile at people as I passed on the street and in the hallways I travelled and I immediately got a smile back and a comment to have a nice day on occasion.  Just this small gesture made me feel better and by the looks on the faces of the passersby, their moods improved also.  I could turn and watch after they passed and a few could be observed with an improvement in their gait or the pace in their steps.
     While in direct contact with people, I would actually engage in conversations, the attitude and facial expressions would lighten up whenever I would speak cheerfully and friendly to them.  Showing Loving-Kindness with kind words, smiles and a friendly voice made my attitude improve and it was like pouring sunshine on the person I was engaging in conversation with.  It is amazing when you see someone and evaluate how they are on the "Tone Scale of attitude" and step up your expression of attitude, you can actually pull this person's attitude up with yours.  You can also have the inverse affect on someone if you have a horrible attitude by pulling this person's attitude down to your level; with this you do not generally get positive results having negative encounters.  By showing Loving-Kindness you can improve your day and everyone you come in contact with and assist with the improvement of the environment for the time being.
     I have found that by implementing the Loving-Kindness and Meditation practices within my day on a regular basis, I find my attitude for each day to have me looking forward to the day's challenges and I actually look forward to having the challenges of difficult people and making it into a game.  I get up each day and say "I wonder how many grumpy people I can make smile today?"