Unit 10

I truly wish that I could report that I got more from this class, but unfortunately I feel that I didn't gained much personal growth.     I just didn't have the time to really put my heart into it.  Getting involved in practices such as meditation has to come from within, not for the benefit of a grade.  This was just a really bad time for me.  I'm not new to meditation, I been doing it (inconsistently) for a few years know, I've also tried yoga, and rekei so I'm no stranger to CAM modalities and what greatness they have to offer.  I plan to try to lighten my load a bit and in doing so, I really hope to find time to set new obtainable goals, and  take much better care of myself so that I may see a measurable amount of growth in all areas of my life.

unit 9:

Health and Wellness professionals are charged with the very important task of helping others to improve and maintain balance within their lives.  Psychological development, spiritual development and physical development are all area in which people will seek the professional advice and guidance of a Health and Wellness professional.  It can be difficult to lead others through and beyond the challenges of adversity if one has never been faced with the challenges of adversity within one’s life.  I can honestly say that I could use some improvement in all three areas before I’m ready to commit to guiding another.  I’ve faced and continue to face many hurdles in my life that have made my journeys of physical, spiritual, and psychological development much more challenging than I care to admit, however I do know that my experiences will help me to help others.  I’m sure that being able to understand the plights of those that I seek to help will allow me to serve them better. 

In turning the scope to myself and assessing my own status to see how I measure up spiritually, physically and psychologically I see it as I stated earlier, I have much work to be done.  Of course, I see where I have grown in my life.  I can say that I like the path that I’m on in all areas, however I have to find a way to make more time otherwise I’ll end up stagnant in my current position, which wouldn’t be beneficial to me or my future as a Health and Wellness Professional. 

Assessing my current status and knowing that I have improvements to make helped me to develop a few development goals for myself.  Physically, my overall health is very good.  No health issues, my blood pressure, cholesterol levels are great and my weight are all where they should be according to my physician.  A few years back I made healthy lifestyle changes to my eating habits and a few months ago, I began juicing fresh fruits and vegetables.  So the only goal that I have in regards to my physical self to find time to work-out on a consistent basis to increase my muscle tone. 

            My psychological goal is to live within a more positive mind set.  I’ve experienced more than my share of bad and unfortunate events in my like.  And. Hoping, praying, waiting for and expecting better to come on left my with deeper voids and feelings of hopelessness.  Because of this my though process became adoptive to expecting the worse because the letdown of expecting better and not getting it hurt too much, it became almost unbearable.  Having a mindset of hoping for the best but understanding that I’ll more than likely end up with the worst happening keeps me from being too depressed and always disappointed.  This way, if the best does happen, it’s an unexpected and wonderful surprise.  I know that this may not be the healthiest way of dealing with my life but it has worked for me.  As a Health and Wellness professional (to be) I know that I really need to change this, or else how will I be able to truly encourage others to be positive. 

            My spiritual goal is to raise my spiritual vibrations to a point the I am more in tune with spiritual things.  I believe that we are all spiritual beings and have the ability to communicate with other spiritual beings , angles, guides and even the Supreme being.  I believe that we are all born with the ability to do so, but over time we lose our spiritual connection because our focus gets lost in worldly things. 

            To reach my goals in each area the first step it to apply the one thing that I have very little of, Time.  As a divorced mother of three, working a full time job, being a full time student and without a single family member  less than thirteen hours away to offer any form of support, Time is one thing that I have very little of.  I’m up at 5:30 AM and in bed normally around 11:00 PM, not to mention the two hours that I spend in traffic daily to and from work, I have to plan everything and anyone with children knows that plans change by the hour.  So, I have to be a bit creative.  For physical exercise, I park far from the entrance when I’m out shopping so that I can get some walking done.  I do squats and leg extensions while I wash dishes and laundry.  I get down on my hands and knees to map my floor instead of using a mop, and I take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever possible.  This may not offer a lot in terms of physical fitness, but I try to fit it in wherever I can.  Improving the psychological aspect of my life means constantly reminding myself to think positive.  This is a very repetitive act, but through practice and encouragement, I believe that I can succeed at this.  I also remind myself daily to thank God for the little things that most of us take for granted.  This simple act can be very uplifting.  For spiritual growth, again, this definitely requires time, time to relax, reflex, and reach out.  I really enjoy Reiki attunement to balance out my chakras, yoga is also something that I found to help relax me and help clear the worldly clutter out so that I can be more open spiritually. 

The changes that I plan to implement and the methods I’d like to use, will all serve as stepping stones to build upon.  My life won’t always be so short of time, there will come a time when I’ll have time to relax and enjoy my life, I’ll have time to be at peace with myself and see the progression even if this isn’t the case presently.  I just have to keep the train moving.  

Unit 7

In this week’s meditation session, I found myself facing the same issues as the past sessions, fighting to stay awake.  It’s not that I’m uninterested in meditation; I just think that maybe with my hectic schedule, my mind and body see it as an opportunity to rest and sleep.  Having the type of schedule that I have is even more reason that I need to meditate.  I think that perhaps if my motives were different, than maybe I’d be able to get more out of this.  Meaning that if I were meditating in a way I find more suitable for me as opposed to doing it because it’s assigned, maybe my experience would be a bit different.  Unfortunately, I can’t report that I’m any better off at this point do to the meditation practices.  I do believe in the benefits of meditation and I would love to be a benefactor of those benefits, I just think my timing is off.  My goal is to make time to incorporate meditative practices at least once a week and increase that as time permits.  I’d like to make it a regular part of my lifestyle, I just believe that timing will play a big part in successful meditation. 

The saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means without actual first-hand knowledge, one can only offer hearsay information as "fact".  One may be able to point a person in the right direction but without being able to offer real insight of what to expect do to lack of experience.  

Unit 5 Blog: Subtle Mind Practice

Not sure where to begin.  I had a hard time with this assignment as well as the Loving Kindness assignment in unit 4.  With this one I found it very difficult to get my mind to that calm, subtle place.  My mind just wondered too much, the more I tried to focus the more out of control I felt.  Even from the start, trying to focus on my breath my mind kept going to things such as, "do I have everything ready for work tomorrow, do I have everything ready for the kids, did I get all the cloths ironed for the week" and so on.  I just couldn't seem to focus on the anchor.  After a while the sound of the ocean wave and the soft music almost put me to sleep, so my focus became staying awake.  The concept of these mental exercises are great, I'll just need a lot more practice to see the benefits.

Welcome (assignment)

For this weeks assignment I'm to post a welcome statement.  So... Welcome.  These blogging assignments are painfully difficult for me, because I'm a very private person and don't enjoy putting my business and or thoughts out for all to know about.  In light of that, please forgive me if my post seem to be a bit dry.  I'll do the best I can for these assignments.

Hello, 

     I'm not sure what I should be writing about at this point in time, I'm not into blogging at all, I don't even like to read them.  I'm a college student and creating this blog is a class assignment.