Unit 9 Final Project

 Greetings everyone!  I hope this finds you all well.

I believe that in order to really be able to help others develop the psychological, spiritual, and physical aspects of their lives you must also be working on your own development.  As a wellness professional a practitioner has a responsibility to embrace the healing practices they are teacher to others.  Developing and building upon one’s own self-awareness through an integral approach is really the only true way to achieve a full understanding of the path to flourishing.  Not only will the professional benefit from developing in these areas, but they will be a greater asset to those they work with as well.

     As for my personal goals I feel that I need to continue to work on each of the areas.  I see the path as a constant learning experience as well as a challenge to keep working towards becoming a physically healthy, mentally clear person who can see the world with more compassion.  I have recently been putting quite a bit of effort into my physical health by hiking, doing yoga, and taking Zumba classes weekly.  I also have put a strong focus on my diet and eating habits by not skipping any meals or eating any processed foods.  These changes have already impacted my life in a great way and I can feel the difference.  With the exercise, diet, and meditations I feel as if I am somewhat transformed and I really feel happy.

     With the knowledge I have gained from this course I am able to see the importance of really becoming a whole person and can assess where I am with each aspect.  At the start of this course I rated my physical health at a six.  Now after really having my eyes opened to the importance and benefits of physical health and working to exercise daily I would rate myself as an eight.  I’m still working to develop a spiritual aspect in my life and feel that my bond with nature is how I can build upon this.  When I’m in the mountains look out above everything I feel a sense of calm and stillness that is unexplainable and almost magical.  While I still need work in this area I feel that I have improved from the start of our course and would rate myself as a seven.  I feel that my biggest improvement is my psychological health.  I have been able to really look at things with a new perspective which can really be liberating.  I also finally got the message that my happiness is my responsibility and that has made a world of difference in my life.  At the start of our course I rated my psychological health kind of low, but now I am happy to report myself as an eight.

     My goal for my physical health is to stick with my routine that I have made for myself.  So far I have been very diligent, but in the past have been known to not always stick with my exercise plans.  At this point I have been consistently working out for over a month at least five days per week and would like to keep this up.  As good as I have felt I don’t think I will have to fight too hard to keep up the hard work.  Spiritually I still have much work to do to feel that bigger connection, but feel that I have at least been able to open up more to this aspect of my life.  My goal here is just to keep working and facing those around me with as much compassion as possible.  My psychological health goal is just to keep up the meditations and visualizations on a daily basis to keep myself centered.  Being able to really relax and quiet all the chatter that runs through my head has given me a sense of peace that I can find almost anytime.  I feel that my goals for all three aspects are just to stay active within the process and to embrace new ideas as they come to me with an open mind.  By being able to look at my life in a different way I have really seen how in control I really am.

     In order for me to grow psychologically, spiritually, and psychologically I will have to continue to do the work and see my responsibility to do so.  First to continue to foster my connection with my spiritual self I will continue to be open minded and live in the now and take responsibility for all of my actions.  I also feel that this spiritual feeling comes from really knowing and loving yourself and being comfortable with your place in the world.  To continue growth for my physical self I will continue with my exercise practices.  By keeping up with my exercise routine I keep myself healthy in so many different ways.  I also will continue to be diligent about the fuel I put into my body in order to keep feeling the best that I can.  My psychological health will also need to be tended to and I will do this by continuing to do my meditations.  I find this time of my day to be a gift and I’m pretty sure this gift is felt by everyone around me.  I will also continue my hikes in the mountains as they have a power to erase all of my worries so that I may just breathe.  All of these practices will help me continue to grow and will help me to learn even more about myself.

     I think the best way for me to assess my progress or lack of progress will be how I feel.  At the start of this course I was feeling kind of just blah in general about everything.  I had no real sense of myself or what I wanted and I sort of felt like I had disappeared.  Well, I’m back and I may even dare to say better than ever.  I feel amazing and it’s all because I worked on me, all of me.  By putting it all together and really taking a look at myself I saw for the first time that it was all up to me.  I took control and it has made such a giant change for me all around.  The motivation to stick with my practices is just to continue to feel this good and be this happy authentically.  I use to feel like everything in my life was something I had to survive and now I see that everything is just a challenge that I am capable of dealing with and that truly is a priceless gift.

Lauren