I.
The
Importance of Psychological, Spiritual, and Physical Development
An effective professional in any field is one who maintains
a sound mind and a sound body, simultaneously.
When you integrate the notion of also maintaining a sound spirit in
addition to these other two domains, you attain an untouchability that makes
you impervious to failure, and where your successes will only continue to
uplift you. In some cases, the foregoing
spirit will uplift those around you and your empowerment will manifest self-empowerment
in others. Also, we must understand the
processes that we must take to make ourselves well in the physical,
psychological and spiritual aspects of living in order to be able to analyze
and credibly advise others on how to achieve the same kinds of wellness. As professionals, we must also gain an
advanced knowledge of how these three domains interact to influence one
another. Personally, I have several
areas that I need to work on in order to achieve wellness in the three
domains. First and foremost, I need to
work on strengthening my mental discipline.
Although I consider myself to be a very mentally disciplined person, I
have not realized the necessity for its consistence in my daily life. I can bring myself to be disciplined but only
about select things, and with other things I simply lack self-control or
commitment. I hope that in time, as I
continue practicing consciousness and witnessing my thought processes as they
come and go, I will be able to honestly re-evaluate my values and principles
and then acquire values and principles that make me try harder to be a complete
person whose every action is enacted on the basis of general oneness and union. As of now, finding this stable ground upon
which I can re-evaluate these things is a struggle, and I often think that
maybe I would benefit most if I had some sort of life-coach to help me develop
these personalized convictions that will eventually lead me to a healthier and
more positive way of life.
II.
Assessing
the Domains of Health
Every day of living is an assessment of my psychological,
physical, and spiritual health. I’m oftentimes
self-conscious, and more often than not it is a self-deprecating consciousness
that makes me tip-toe around becoming too comfortable, and so I live in my head
but I do not feel as though I live in the world. When it comes to assessing psychological health,
I find it difficult to measure because it is all subjective and dependent upon
what one person considers to constitute their own wellness. There are certain questions that I can ask
myself to assess – in my current mental state – how well I am living up to my
own social and emotional needs, how positively or negatively I perceive myself,
and how well I am living up to my perception of happiness. If I had to consider what would constitute
positive psychological health for me, I would relate that state of being to a
feeling of contentment with the conditions of my life and with the people in it. To measure my psychological health, I would
ask myself things like:
a)
Who is causing me to feel this way?
b)
What would best describe my emotional state in
this moment?
c)
Where did this feeling come from? Was it a product of your external environment
or manifested from within?
d)
Why do I feel this way?
e)
Is this feeling something I chose and can change?
f)
How can I change this feeling into something
positive?
There are many other questions that one could ask themselves
to address psychological health, and another big factor to consider in
assessing psychological health is what’s going into the body that could also be
negatively affecting the mind. If I had
to score my psychological health on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it a 6.
When assessing physical health, one thing to be consulted is
the national averages for various weight and height comparisons, as well as
one’s own nutritional practices. If I
had to score my own physical health on a scale of 1 through 10, I would give
myself a 4.
Finally, to score my spiritual health, I would likely give
myself a 7 or 8. To measure it, I guess
I would have to ask myself just how connected I am to the deeper part of my own
consciousness, one that is able to slightly grasp onto the unconscious state of
mind where I am able to make sense of my higher purpose and of the course my
life has taken up until this moment. I
read tarot cards and they reflect and articulate the phases I go through and
offer me some clarity on how my state of mind influences me one way or
another. Without telling me exactly what
I need to do, tarot cards advise me on how situations come to pass and I can
either go with the flow or fight against it, and in doing so encourages me to
confront the realities of life that are not so easy to see or face. I also study astrology on occasion and create
charts for other people, and analyze my own chart to gain an articulate sense
of identity so that I don’t simply feel as though I am the way I am for no
reason, because I have come to believe that all people have come to be who they
are for a predestined reason beyond average human comprehension, that there is
a greater pattern for all things to exist as they are because destiny has
deemed it to be so. Sometimes I feel as
though I am a waste of space, that I was put here without purpose, that I will
be forever isolated behind this mental wall I’ve built so that no one can come
in and see me at my most vulnerable.
Time, nature, and astrology have combined to help me realize that so
long as I always do my best, I will achieve my true purpose, and that the
person I am today is this person in this moment for a reason.
III.
Developing
Goals in the 3 Domains of Health
When I consider how I would develop goals in the area of
spiritual health, I would first have to address that my spiritual connection is
lacking and determine how to reestablish it.
I have been praying more, not a lot but praying at all is more than I
have been doing for a long time. I need
to figure out what it is I believe in, what makes sense to me and ignites my
spirit. I used to have a strong grasp on
these things, but life changes and gradually this took a toll on my perception
of my purpose, and what higher power is calling out to me. Sometimes when I read tarot I feel that faint
connection with the Higher power that wants to guide me, wants to see me make
the most of my life and my time. So my
goal in this area of living is to become more wholly involved in my own life,
to make things happen when change is needed, and to understand myself as well
as the nature of the world to know where I fit best. I want to feel connected with my true essence
and my purpose, and live a comfortable and confident and fulfilling life I also want to be inspired everyday, inspired
to do something or create something beautiful, inspired to concretize my dreams
without losing momentum, which is where physical and psychological health work
in conjunction with my spiritual awareness.
Considering my physical health, I have been making a point
to exercise a little each day, and to stop being so sluggish and unmotivated no
matter how I may be feeling. So long as
I get some activity in, at least I know that I am not regressing, even if my
progress stagnates – at least it tells me that I need to do a little more,
which is better than being comfortable doing nothing and getting physically
more out of shape. So as of now, my
goals are to reach my target weight and eventually be fit and flexible enough
to do those bendy yoga exercises that people have been taking pictures of
themselves doing a lot lately.
Ah, and for the most fragile state of being, the
psychological aspect of existence… I
have a few goals for this department, one of them to be mindful of when and how
often I let negativity in, as well as being mindful of pushing those thoughts
aside as they arrive and moving on to the next thing – I want to no longer be a
slave to negative mental grip. I also
want to be more confident in myself, and be less flighty and stick to plans and
be a more respectable person, instead of being viewed as a naïve young dumb
girl with her head in the clouds. I want
to feel positive about myself no matter what I am doing, and I don’t want to
subject myself to the negativity brought on by the world outside. I would also
like to work harder to. Those are my
main goals for now.
IV.
Strategies
for Fostering Psychological, Spiritual, and Physical Health
Some of the meditative practices we learned throughout this
class are being slowly but surely integrated into my daily/weekly routine. For instance, on days of high stress or when
I feel anxious, I utilize the subtle-mind practice when I need to refocus and
stay on task. I also use the
loving-kindness practice which allows for me feel a renewed sense of patience
and compassion for people who are not as patient or kind to me, and I consider
for a moment that in their own lives, perhaps they are suffering and that is
why they are so high-strung and potentially rude. I just remember that quote by Plato: “Be
kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” I have also integrated the use of mantras to
help keep anxiety at bay and reaffirm my state of comfort by reminding myself
that I have as much right to be where I am as anybody else, and by also
reciting the mantra “Not everybody is going to like you” so that I need not be
a slave to other’s expectations and possible slander. As I slowly build upon a daily fitness
routine, I feel more somewhat more confident and satisfied with my appearance,
though there is still a lot that I am working towards. I have established better nutrition, although
it is still difficult to completely give up some vices. At least not I am keeping track of my caloric
intake and being mindful of just how much I take in on a daily basis.
V.
Assessing
One’s Commitment to the Cause
I am beginning to realize my commitment to the cause, and
know that these practices will make me a stronger and more positive person who
can really be attuned to my environment without my perceptions being muddled by
unnecessary variables that encourage me to suffer and remain unclear. Right now I am halfway to where I want to be,
and I have not given up. I will continue
to do what I am doing, and slowly do more.
In order to change certain things in my life, I cannot always be so
calculating and assess the risk of doing things because ultimately I wind up
talking/thinking myself out of doing them.
This can be said of my inability to drive. It’s embarrassing, but I cannot accomplish
many of the things I want to in life without first honing this skill, and I
will also never be able to accomplish the independence that I dream of having
because I will have to rely on the service of someone else. I’m building my way up to a more confident me
who knows I am capable of doing things, who will no longer expect perfection
but will be realistic about achieving goals without being my biggest critic and
trying to impress people who don’t really know me nor have bothered to
try. I am committing to being the best
‘me’ I can be, and integral health will be a huge part in realizing this goal –
so long as I keep going forward and never backward, I’m achieving my current
goal of becoming better.
