I.                  Introduction:
There are many reasons why health and wellness professionals should develop psychological, spiritually, and physically however to begin Elliot Dacher said it best. In the text Integral Health he stated that he was given the opportunity to develop inner aspects of health and life (Dacher, 2006). He stated that without this education he would not have been able to go beyond his training (Dacher, 2006). To become the agents of a more expansive health we much begin with our own lives (Dacher, 2006). By doing this we must be willing to explore the inner aspects of our own life through psychological development (Dacher, 2006). Another reason why it is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically is because this is the most underdeveloped aspect of our life and of our current approaches to medicine (Dacher, 2006). We cannot teach others nor can we expect others to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically in their life.
     When looking at my own life I need to develop psychological, spiritually, and physically. Before taking this course I was unaware of just how much developing my life psychological, spiritually, and physically can help my entire body. For me I need to develop all three areas psychological, spiritually, and physically more into my life especially because I want to work in the health care field.  

                      II.                  Assessment:
When looking at my wellness broken down in the three domains rating them from one to ten (one being the lowest and ten being the highest) I would say that spiritually I am around a six or seven. For me my spiritualty is rooted in the church and my belief on god. I have never been one to meditate or something of that nature for spiritual health. Psychologically I definitely have some work to do I would rate myself at about a four or a five. I am a very nice person and always speak nicely to others however on the inside I think very negatively and this has a lot to do with my psychological wellness. Physically my rating is an eight. Physically I am fit and exercise on a regular basis which actually helps with my psychological wellness because it helps me have a more positive mind.    

                   III.                  Goal development:
Physical Wellness Goal:
I focus a lot on physical fitness such as working out and staying fit. However after reading the text and learning more about physical wellness I have learned that being physically fit is not the only part of physical wellness. The text states that if we were to focus half of the energy spent on physical fitness to mind/body activities we would see a considerable gain (Dacher, 2006). I focus a great deal on physical fitness and I need to as the book states spend less time climbing ropes and more time doing activities such as tai chi or yoga classes. My goal for physical wellness is to incorporate different activities like tai chi and yoga classes.
Psychological Wellness Goal:
The text states psychological Wellness as identifying destructive emotions and dysfunctional patterns and replacing them with a new set of healthy attitudes and behaviors. The goal for myself is to replace my negative thoughts and feelings with positive ones. A way in which I can do this is to continue to do the loving kindness exercise which will focus on good feelings towards others.
Spiritual Wellness Goal:
Spiritually I would rate myself fairly high because of my spirituality with god. However there are always ways to improve and I could improve my spiritual wellness by adding meditation into my life.

              IV.            Practices for personal health:
Implementing physical wellness goals:
To implement my physical wellness goals into my life I will find a tai chi and yoga class to take. I will take one yoga class and one tai chi class a week in the evenings. This will also help with my psychological wellness because it will relieve stress.
Implementing psychological wellness goals:
1. Listen to the Loving Kindness exercise once a week.
2. Read and participate in the Journey to the Center for Human Flourishing once a week.
The loving kindness exercise will help remove the negative feelings and thoughts I have towards others and will help send out wellness and good thoughts towards others. The Journey to the Center for Human Flourishing will teach me to turn my mind off from everything else when I am going through the exercise. This will help when I am having negative thoughts to be able to sit down and turn my mind off and calm my mind before I continue with my day.
Implementing spiritual wellness:
My spiritual goal was to implement meditation into my life. I plan to do this at least twice a week. There are a number of different types of meditation I can do and always keep it changing for my. Some of the different types of meditation are Vibrational Meditation, Movement Meditation, and Walking Meditation. The first type walking meditation is Walking Meditation which involves your focusing the mind while walking (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). It is not easy to practice this meditation type, but with practice it can prove to be really beneficial. As clear from the name itself, this type of meditation involves focusing on your own feet (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). When your mind wanders away from your steps, you need to refocus it again (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). The second type is movement meditation which is breathing and gentle flowing movements are combined to achieve the meditative state in this meditation type (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). Playing music or dancing is also allowed in this technique. The basic idea is to get focused in the movement (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). Finally the third type is vibrational meditation which involves repetition of a particular word or a sound that becomes the focal point of the meditation (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). The vibrations that are produced from the word or sound pass through your body (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2). You have to do concentrate on nothing else, but to chant that word or produce the sound again and again. It is one of the most different among various meditation types (Spiritual Now Editor, 10.2).    

                      V.                  Commitment:
For my I like to make lists for everything. I think that with this writing it down will be a good way to keep track of the progress I am making or to make sure I am making progress. For my job I do skill sheets to keep track of how my children are doing on their goals and that could be a great way for me to keep track of it also. I could write down all the goals I want to meet and the ways in which I am going to meet them. Then each week I can write down if I was successful completing it or not. In order to continue working towards my goals I will change this up maybe the order in which I do them or the type of meditation I do that week. Also I will look at my progress and see what areas are working and what areas are not. By looking at what areas are not working I can change them and try something new that might work better. Keeping track of my progress or lack of progress is what I believe will help me not get tired of working towards my goals and will help me change goals that are not working so that I do not get discouraged.  

 

Reference:

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

·         Spiritual Now Editor. (10/2). Spiritual now. Retrieved from http://www.spiritualnow.com/articles/20/1/The-Different-Types-of-Meditation/Page1.html