An Elderly Scholar
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Friday, November 8, 2013
Capstone website
For my capstone project I had to create a new website. It is located at: http://healthandnutritionawareness.wordpress.com/
Monday, March 4, 2013
HW 420 Final Blog
For
this blog we were asked to compare our Unit 3 assessment to how we would rate
ourselves now. In Unit 3, I rated myself
as a 7 for physical well-being but on further reflection, I changed this to a
5. This change was mainly made because
of the scores that I got on the assessment which was done for our
insurance. The fact that my triglycerides
and cholesterol are high, are serious health risks that need to be addressed. In Unit 3, I rated myself as a 7 for spiritual
well-being, but when I did the
assessment for my final project, this changed to a 6 because this class brought
a serious issue to my mind which is causing me distress. In Unit 3, I rated
myself a 7, but when I did the assessment of my final, this also changed to a
6. This was because of this same issue.
For Unit 3 the goals which I had set for myself
were:
Physical - take the results of the health screening that will be done on
January 31st to my doctor and get the test that I have not had
this year. In addition, I will walk at least a mile a day 5 or 6 days a week
and eat more fruit. I have not made an appointment with my doctor
yet. I have been walking at least 5 days
a week for at least 30 minutes. I have
not improved in the amount of fruit that I eat.
Spiritual - to begin is to commit to pray at
least once a day. Up until today, I had not accomplished this goal
yet. Today, however, I prayed and make a
promise to God that I would continue to do so at least once a day.
Psychological - to make sure
that I get at least 15 minutes of sunshine a day, in order to alleviate any
symptoms of SAD and to attend church activities more often, so that I don't
feel as lonely. I have been walking most days, so I have made progress toward
this goal. I am attending more church
activities and making the effort to go with other people when I do.
As can be seen from my final project these goals have
been expanded and changed. For the most part, I have implemented the activities
that I discussed in Unit 3 into my life.
This course has been a wonderful experience and opened my
mind to the fact that our well-being is not only a matter of the physical but
also the spiritual and psychological. It
has also given me tools to develop these areas.
I will continue to use them to further expand my mind and relieve stress.
This class has been difficult because it has brought to mind a very disturbing
area in my life which is now causing me much distress. This experience has
improved my ability to help other by making me aware that wellness is not just
a matter of the physical, but also the spiritual and psychological and it has
made me aware that the mind can do a lot to control the body. I will be a more effective health and
wellness professional because I will be more aware sensitive to these areas
when I deal with clients and because I have used the tools, I will be able to
recommend them to them.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
HW420 Integral Health Plan
INTRODUCTION
Our minds, bodies and
spirits are a divine gift which I feel we have an obligation to develop to the
fullest. I think that it is important for a Health and Wellness Professional to
be an example of someone who lives a healthy lifestyle because clients are more
likely to take what you say seriously if you do. It is a matter of practicing what you preach.
Practicing what you preach makes the health and wellness professional more
credible because the client can see that you are an example of what you are
telling them to do. What you are saying is not overshadowed by what you are doing.
A client will also be more willing to follow your example if they know that you
were once in the same place that they are and have used the tools that you are
telling them about to become what you now are. You will also be a more
effective health and wellness professional if your mind, body and spirit are at
their best. I need to develop in all of these areas in order to achieve these
goals for myself. I need to expand my mind, get in better shape and enhance my
spiritual development in order to be the best I can be. I also feel that now
that I have the tools that this class has given me, I have an obligation to use
and share them.
ASSESSMENT
I have assessed my
health in each domain by thinking mindfully about how I am doing in each area. I used a scale of one to ten with ten being
the best and scored myself accordingly. Physically, I scored myself as a 5 because
even though I exercise regularly and try and eat well, I do not track myself in
these areas. I also am not able to exercise at even a moderate pace because I
am limited as to what I can do, because I have limited range of motion from a knee
replacement. I also have not seen a doctor for a physical for 3 years. During
my health screening which was done for our insurance at my husbands’ work, I found
that I have high triglycerides and high blood glucose. To my credit these
scores through high, have improved over last year. I have, however, started
taking Krill Oil to lower my triglycerides and Chromium Picolinate to support
health blood sugar levels.
I have scored myself as
a 6 psychologically because I have something in my past which is causing me
great pain and I cannot let go of it. Every time I think about it I get very
depressed. It has made it difficult for
me to focus on doing some of the exercises in this class because they have made
it come to mind more frequently. I also suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder
which makes me depressed at times. Although, I pretty much have this under
control by taking daily walks to get my dose of Vitamin D and by having full
spectrum lights in my school room.
I scored myself 6 spiritually because I have been taught the thing that I mentioned in the
psychological area is a sin and I feel unworthy therefore I am unable to
develop the relationship with the divine that I would like to have.
GOAL
DEVELOPMENT
The goals that I have set for myself are:
The goals that I have set for myself are:
Physical - I will get a minimum of 30 minutes a day of exercise at
least 5 days a week and track my food intact using MyFitness Pal every day. I will
make an appointment with my doctor to discuss the results of my health
screening and follow his advice. I will
also get the tests done which I have not had in years i.e. mammogram, Pap smear
and colonoscopy.
Psychological – I would
like to try and resolve the one area that I have that I feel is causing me great
pain and holding me back spiritually and physically by asking for forgiveness
from the ones involved and forgiving myself. If this does not work, I will look
into finding a psychologist that I can talk to about it. I will continue to
practice meditation and stress management techniques.
Spiritual – I will pray
for forgiveness from God for the things that happened in my past which have
been causing me to feel that I am not worthy in order to be able to develop a
fuller relationship with my Savior. I will then begin to pray regularly at
least once a day and study the scriptures or read or listen to something
inspirational each day.
PRACTICES
FOR PERSONAL HEALTH
The strategies I will implement to foster growth each area are:
The strategies I will implement to foster growth each area are:
Physical – I will write
myself an exercise prescription and track my progress using MyFitness Pal and I
will decide on calorie limit and track my food using MyFitness Pal. The
exercise that I feel will be most effective for me is walking because I can do
this outdoors or indoors on the treadmill or using Leslie Sansone’s
Walk-at-home videos and walking is something that I can do with the limitations that I have from my knee surgery. Exercise is
important for my physical well-being because it will help me to lose weight
which is a factor in high triglycerides and high blood glucose. Having these indications also puts me at risk
for heart disease, so lowering them lowers that risk. I have also found that
tracking my food intact and keeping myself within a certain calorie limit helps
me to lose weight. This is a strategy that has worked for me in the past. Good
nutrition not only will help me to lose weight, but it will contribute greatly
to my over-all physical well-being because getting the right nutrients makes
your body stronger and less susceptible to disease.
Psychological - I will
use meditation every night before I go to bed for at least 15 minutes in order
to relax me and help me to sleep better. This will contribute to my
psychological well-being by helping me calm my mind so that I can sleep better and be more alert the
next day so that I can function at an optimal level. I will ask forgiveness
from the people that I feel that are involved in the act previously mentioned
in order to free myself from this burden and help me to feel happier.
Spiritual – I will use
prayer to rid myself of this burden and then pray regularly in order to more
fully develop my relationship with God.
I will use the scriptures and other inspirational readings in order to
help me understand the atonement and how it works in my life. This will
contribute to my spiritual well-being by helping be become more connected to
the Divine and relieving myself of the things that I feel are causing me to
not be able to fully develop in this area.
COMMITMENT
I will track my Nutrition and Exercise using MyFitness Pal daily and I will also use my Health and Wellness Blog to assess my progress in the next six months by looking back each week and writing a post about how I did. I would like ask that the class members who have been following me on the blog for this class to go over to that blog and follow me or subscribe by email, so that they can hold me accountable. The URL for the blog I will be using is: http://nutritionfitnesseducation.blogspot.com/
I will track my Nutrition and Exercise using MyFitness Pal daily and I will also use my Health and Wellness Blog to assess my progress in the next six months by looking back each week and writing a post about how I did. I would like ask that the class members who have been following me on the blog for this class to go over to that blog and follow me or subscribe by email, so that they can hold me accountable. The URL for the blog I will be using is: http://nutritionfitnesseducation.blogspot.com/
Friday, February 22, 2013
HW420 Unit 8 Optimal Well-being
I
like the Meeting Aescleplus and the Visualization exercises the best. I think that the Meeting Aescleplus
exercise is a great way for me to connect with Jesus as I would like him to
become my inner healer. I really need to
do this in order to enhance my spiritual development. I also like the
visualization exercise as a way to remember the good times in my life. This would help me to have a more positive
attitude and not focus on the bad things that may happen to me. I think that this would be a good thing to do
especially when I am going through something. It is sort of like counting your
blessings. I think that when you are doing that your mind is clearer and you
can then try and grow from the experience.
If you cannot do it at the time, it would be a good thing to look at the
experience and ask yourself “What did I learn from it?” It would also be a good thing to share your
experiences with your family, both the good and the bad times, so that they may
also learn from them. This way you are
not only helping to foster your wholeness, but theirs also.
Monday, February 18, 2013
HW420 Unit 7 The Mind-Body Paradigm
Last time when we read about Aesclepius, I pictured my grandmother and later thought of Jesus. So this time I wanted to try and picture him. At first I didn't have much luck, but on Sunday I heard a song that helped me to see him more personally and then I was able to complete the exercise with more success. The song is by Michael McLean. Here is a video of it from You Tube:
After that experience, I was able to picture him as my loving Savior who cares about me and doesn't think of me as just one of the crowd. My spiritual wellness was greatly increased by this experience. The practices that we have done are things that need to be continued in order to fully actualize them in our lives.
When I heard the saying "One can not lead where on has not gone himself", the first thing that came to my mind was "Practice what you preach". I think that it is important for a Health and Wellness professional to be an example of someone who lives a healthy lifestyle. Clients are not as likely to take what you say seriously if you don't. Also in order to be the best you can be, you must be developing yourself. You will be more effective if your heart, mind and body are at their best. I think the best way to implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life is to use the principle discussed in the book and make your life the practice. This means to use intention in all you do. Don't let things just happen to you. Intentionally, direct your thoughts, actions and life toward things that will make you the best person you can be.
When I heard the saying "One can not lead where on has not gone himself", the first thing that came to my mind was "Practice what you preach". I think that it is important for a Health and Wellness professional to be an example of someone who lives a healthy lifestyle. Clients are not as likely to take what you say seriously if you don't. Also in order to be the best you can be, you must be developing yourself. You will be more effective if your heart, mind and body are at their best. I think the best way to implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life is to use the principle discussed in the book and make your life the practice. This means to use intention in all you do. Don't let things just happen to you. Intentionally, direct your thoughts, actions and life toward things that will make you the best person you can be.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
HW420 Unit 6 Exercises for Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness and Healing
This week for class we were asked to do a mini loving-kindness exercise. I thought would be more effective for me if I prayed it. To me the concept of just sending these affirmations out to the universe is just too nebulous and I think that saying them as a prayer to God is a perfect way to expand your heart and mind. So my prayer went something like this:
Dear Heavenly Father:
Please help everyone who is suffering. Please help everyone to find sustained health, happiness and wholeness. Please help everyone to gain freedom from suffering. Please help everyone to find health, happiness and wholeness.
In the name of thy son, Jesus Christ whose love we wish to emulate
Amen
When I was praying this prayer, I was thinking of all the people who are in the grip of the terrible storms in the East and this helped me because I could imagine some of the things that they were suffering.
We were also asked to complete an integral assessment this week to identify what areas that we need to work on. I have several areas that need attention. The first and most obvious is my biological. I need to lose weight and exercise. This is an area that I identified early in the class and have been working on for the last six weeks with some success. I take a daily walk and eat healthy. The next area that I also identified earlier in this class was psychospiritual. I need to strengthen my relationship with God and pray more and study his words. This I have also been working on and that is one reason why I decided to turn the loving-kindness exercise into a prayer. Another area which is not in balance is my interpersonal sphere and it is also an area which was previously identified. My interpersonal sphere is small and is pretty much limited to my family and my church family. My son takes walks with me and we have developed a stronger bond by doing this. Something I would like to try with my husband is the intimacy and spiritual union practice (Dacher, 2006). I think this would be a great thing to do on Valentine's Day!
Reference:
Daucher, Elliott, S., (2006), Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing,
Basic Health Publications, Inc., Laguna Beach: CA, Chapter 9, pg. 92.
Dear Heavenly Father:
Please help everyone who is suffering. Please help everyone to find sustained health, happiness and wholeness. Please help everyone to gain freedom from suffering. Please help everyone to find health, happiness and wholeness.
In the name of thy son, Jesus Christ whose love we wish to emulate
Amen
When I was praying this prayer, I was thinking of all the people who are in the grip of the terrible storms in the East and this helped me because I could imagine some of the things that they were suffering.
We were also asked to complete an integral assessment this week to identify what areas that we need to work on. I have several areas that need attention. The first and most obvious is my biological. I need to lose weight and exercise. This is an area that I identified early in the class and have been working on for the last six weeks with some success. I take a daily walk and eat healthy. The next area that I also identified earlier in this class was psychospiritual. I need to strengthen my relationship with God and pray more and study his words. This I have also been working on and that is one reason why I decided to turn the loving-kindness exercise into a prayer. Another area which is not in balance is my interpersonal sphere and it is also an area which was previously identified. My interpersonal sphere is small and is pretty much limited to my family and my church family. My son takes walks with me and we have developed a stronger bond by doing this. Something I would like to try with my husband is the intimacy and spiritual union practice (Dacher, 2006). I think this would be a great thing to do on Valentine's Day!
Reference:
Daucher, Elliott, S., (2006), Integral Health, The Path to Human Flourishing,
Basic Health Publications, Inc., Laguna Beach: CA, Chapter 9, pg. 92.
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