Final Project - Assessment

                      I.                      Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It is important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically to create trust and credibility between themselves and their patients.  Those that know how to do something best have usually done it themselves, and having the experience and the know-how to accomplish a task is critical to being successful in your goals.  Also knowing what the patient is going through when a difficulty comes up can make all the difference when diagnosing a health issue.

Some areas that I need to develop in order to achieve the goals I have myself is to work on being more active, loving, compassionate, and focused.  My two main goals in life for the last two years have been to support myself and maintain my standard of living and to finish my Bachelor’s degree.  Because work and school have become such an overwhelming part of my life, my activity levels have suffered.  I need to work on an exercise regimen to get back to the level of physical activity I was at before I went back to school.  I sometimes have a hard time putting myself into another persons shoes and trying to understand what they might be going through.  By meditating and practicing the loving kindness exercise I hope to better develop the skill of being more compassionate and loving.  Another area that I need to work on is becoming more focused on my goals.  I tend to be easily distracted, especially when I feel board or complacent.  Working on my subtle mind and how to focus my energies toward the goals I want to achieve will help me to be successful in what I want to do.

                   II.                      Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

I have assessed my health in the domains of mind, body, and spirit by the way I feel each day.  On days where I feel sluggish and low on energy I will eat very healthy and go for a walk in order to boost my physical energy.  On days when I feel down or in a bad mood I will do something good for another person or work in my garden to help to turn my attitude around.  Doing good things for myself, like eating well and getting exercise, and doing good things for others, like helping them with a problem or taking care of them, can turn my negative attitude into a positive one.

Using a low, medium, high scale, I would score my spiritual wellness as a medium.  The reason for the medium score is because I am a spiritual person and I meditate, pray, and believe in a higher being, however I do not have a spiritual regimen.  I do not attend church or pray with others.  I would score my physical wellness as a medium as well.  The reason being, I am in pretty good shape, and exercise and do physical activity sporadically, however I do not feel as strong as I could be and often make excuses why not to exercise.  I would score my psychological wellness as high.  The reason for the high score is that I feel I have an open mind, and can accept the good and bad in all people and situations.  I will admit that there is always work to do psychologically, as we can never learn enough and be all knowing and all accepting, however I feel I have a good grasp on the possibilities of what I think it means to be psychologically healthy.

                III.                      Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

My physical goal is to create an exercise regimen for myself.  I plan to workout at least four times a week, Monday through Thursday, doing various activities such as walking, jogging, cycling and swimming.  I have already started recruiting several friends to join me in these activities to keep me motivated and on track.  My psychological goal is to become more compassionate toward others.  I plan to practice the loving kindness meditation exercise for thirty minutes every day when I wake up each morning.  My spiritual goal is to become more educated about the Buddhist religion.  I plan to read more literature about the Buddhist religion, talk more about what I learn and think with my Buddhist friend, and become more aware of what other religions are about and how they can be applied to my life.  I hope to be a more religiously well rounded by this time next year.

                IV.                      Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Strategies I can implement to foster physical growth are to workout with friends and to create a weight loss tracker.  By setting up a schedule with another person to workout with I will be more likely to fulfill my commitment to meet that person and workout with them as we have planned, making my goal for more physical activity successful.  By creating a weight loss tracker I will be able to view my progress on a weekly or monthly basis, and this will help to foster motivation to continue and do more.  Strategies I can implement to foster psychological growth are to develop a subtle mind and to set up weekly meetings with friends to talk about life events and issues.  By developing a subtle mind through meditation I will learn to calm my inner thoughts, be able to better listen to myself and understand my needs, and be able to think more clearly to make better decisions.  By setting up weekly meetings with friends to discuss life events and issues I will be forming a social support system to be able to vent frustrations, talk about the decisions I am making, and hopefully by voicing my problems be better able to handle these situations and cope with hard issues.  Strategies I can implement to foster spiritual growth are to become involved in a religious organization and to pray more for others.  By attending some sort of religious organization, regardless or denomination, I will be able to learn more about that religion and be more involved with their volunteer services.  Having fellowship with others and lending a helping hand to those in need will strengthen my abilities for compassion and love.  Taking more time each day to pray for others will also strengthen my compassion and love for others.  Making a prayer list and praying for my loved ones and those in need each night will foster positive thoughts for myself, and send positive thoughts and energies out into the world.

                   V.                      Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

In order to remain committed and to assess my progress, or lack there of, in the next six months I will be keeping a journal of my activities on a daily basis.  By logging my exercise regimen, prayer lists, and meditation practices each day I will be able to see what activities are working for me and which ones are not.  This will help me to hone in on what I like, what I need to work on, and which activities are most beneficial to me.  Strategies I can use to assist in maintaining my long-term goals for health and wellness are developing a social support system through friends with whom I can talk to and workout with, keeping a daily journal of my activities and reading them back to myself regularly, and keeping a calendar posting in my kitchen where I will see my progress and notes of motivation everyday.