Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Unit 10 Final Blog

My personal assessment at the beginning of the term was a very straight forward out come.  Looking at my life in the spiritual, physical, and psychological domains, I can rate myself in each category on a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best.  Earlier in the term I gave myself a rating of 6 physically, but I also gave myself an 8 if the rating was based on appearance solely.  Spiritually I gave myself a rating of 4 and psychologically I gave myself a rating of 8.  Looking at my life now I would still give myself the same ratings as before.   I feel that these ratings have not improved over this short period of time.  I know that with some time and effort these ratings will increase dramatically. 

My goal for my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellness is to maintain where I am at and gradually get better in all areas.  I can’t really set a goal for these areas because I feel a limit cannot be put on these types of things.  I really want to focus on getting my spiritual well being at a better level so that I can be closer to God and be able to live a very good life.  During this term I feel that I have not made great progress in reaching this goal but I have put forth effort to do so.  As I stated before this will take time and a time limit cannot be placed on these types of things. 

The goals that I set to improve my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellness have been a challenge for me.  I have gradually tried to implement these goals into my life but as I previously stated my busy schedule has stopped me from doing so.  Once my load is lightened up I do plan to implement these things and reach my goal. 

Throughout this course I have learned so many things.  I have learned how to open my mind to new things and how to accept different types of people.  The exercises practiced in this course helped me to relax and become stress free.  My favorite exercise was the subtle mind exercise.  I helped me to know that I can be great and do great things.  The subtle mind exercise has helped me to step out and do the things that I think are not a fit for me but I want to do.  This experience will allow me to show others how to open up and teach them the different meditation techniques that will help them to be stress free and to have an open mind. 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Unit 8>>>>Mental Workouts

The exercises that I find most beneficial are Meeting Asciepius Exercise and Subtle Mind.  These exercises helped me to bring my mind to a place I never really felt it could go.  With the subtle mind exercise I was able to be more focused.  This exercise has helped me with my study habits and being more productive on my job.  The Subtle Mind exercise helped me to block out the noise in my mind and focus on the important things.  The Meeting Asciepius exercise helped me to open up and feel the greatness of others.  These exercises can be implemented in my life during work and school.  The subtle mind exercise helps me to block out all other distractions and just be focused on what I know is important.  The Meeting Asciepius exercise helps me to focus on great influential people in my life and lets me know that I can be as great as them.  While doing my job it is important to stay focused on what is in front of you to make sure no claims are processed incorrectly and these exercises help me to do that.  With my school work it is also important to focus.  These exercises have helped me in so many ways and I do plan to continue them even after this class is over. 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Unit 7>>>>>Meeting Asciepius Exercise

This exercise focused on visualization. I was kind of difficult to focus on one wise person so I focused on more than one.  This experience helped me to open up and feel know that I can be as great as them.  I was able to relax and think back on all the great experiences of my life in their presence.  Mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in my psychological or spiritual wellness by making me more aware of those "focal points" in my life and how to deal with them.  I can apply these to my life by simply thinking positive and happy thoughts and knowing that I can be great. 

The saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” is simple to understand.  How can a person that has never experienced something direct a person to where they want to go?  For example, if I haven’t experienced driving a car, there is no way possible for me to tell a person how to drive.  This state applies to health and wellness professionals because they are teaching the patients how to be healthy and how to maintain a healthy life.  If they are not healthy themselves and are not practicing being healthy how can they possibly teach patients to be this way.  Would anyone want to get advice from an unhealthy medical professional?  Once I step out into my desired field of work, I feel I have an obligation to display good health in all areas, psychologically, physically, and spiritually.  I want my clients to see that it is possible to have good health and wellness and that I am not just doing my job but that I care for what I am teaching. 

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Mind-Body-Spirit Wellness and Healing>>>>Unit 6

The Universal Loving-Kindness exercise is geared toward caring for others.  It can serve as an antidote to anger and hatred.  This exercise opens your heart and mind to the sufferings of others and gives you a need to help others.  During this exercise I learned that I can open up more to the feelings of others.  I also learned that I can help others and feel good about the good deeds that I do for other people.  The Integral Assessment focuses on what a person can improve within themselves.  During the assessment process you ask yourself what aspect of your life is the source of difficulty and suffering?  Once you identify the area then focus on it and then set a goal to aim for improved development.  I chose to focus on the biological area.  My lines of development are just as those stated in the book, fitness, nutrition, and self-regulation.  I chose this area because I really want to improve my physical body and inner body.  I know that I can achieve this with a better fitness and nutrition plan.  I can also do this if I adopt a good meditation technique that will help me to stay focused on my goal to get in better shape.  The activities/exercises I could implement in my everyday life to help me improve in this area can be yoga, a great exercise plan and nutrition plan.  Improving this area is important to me because being unhealthy leads to many medical problems.  I want to get in a healthier state for the betterment of my life and my family. 
Opulence

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Subtle Mind

The subtle mind exercise was a little bit better for me than the loving-kindness exercise.  I was able to block out the distractions around me unlike the loving-kindness exercise.  With the loving-kindness exercise I was not able to get with the part the pertained to getting in touch with a strangers pain and suffering.  The subtle mind exercise helped me to block out the noise in my mind and focus on the important things. 

Spiritual, Mental, and Physical wellness all go hand in hand.  Being in a good mental state helps to keep your physical under control and it also helps me to find the spiritual fulfillment I need to get through tough times.  These things have been manifested in my life with my health.  At one point in my life I was on the verge of becoming a diabetic but I prayed and began to diet and exercise and now my health is gradually getting better.  This is helping me to leave a happy and healthy life.
Carletta "Opulence"

Importance of Mental Fitness Presentation

Importance of Mental Fitness Presentation

Monday, July 4, 2011

Loving-Kindness/Mental Workout

My experience with the Loving-Kindness exercise was a little bit weird.  The first part made me feel really good inside and it allowed me to be in a very calm place.  I had a difficult time taking in the suffering of strangers.  I think this part was difficult because I am not really aware of any suffering going on with the strangers my loved ones are surrounded by.  I know this part was basically to assume any suffering they could be dealing with but it was hard for me to do this.  I wouldn’t necessary say I can recommend this entire exercise to others because I wasn’t comfortable with the entire exercise.  I would recommend certain parts of the exercise. 
The concept of “Mental Workout” is to open your mind.  Mental workouts help to open our minds to things deeper than what we see in front of us.  By doing mental workouts a person will be able to have a calm state of mind free of worry and stress.  It is important for everyone to practice mental workouts because this will help them to live a healthy a life.  Research studies and personal reports show that mental training can transform the mind by reducing disturbing emotions that cause anger, hatred, fear, worry, confusion, and doubt while enhancing positive emotions such as patience, loving-kindness, openness, acceptance, and happiness (Dacher, 2006).

Carletta MzOpulent

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

My Wellness: Physically, Spiritually, Psychologically

Physically, spiritually, and psychologically everyone is not rated on the same level.  My personal physical rating is at a 6 in my own opinion.  I chose this rating because I am medically overweight.  I do not feel as if I am at a drastic weight but medically I am.  This contributes to a lot of health issues I have and that will arise in the future if I do not get it under control.  If I look at my physical appearance only I would give myself a 8 because I think I am very attractive but I do have flaws that could be corrected.  My personal spiritual rating is at a 4 in my own opinion.  At one point in my life I would have given myself a rating of 6 because I was very into the spiritual side of things.  Now I have slacked a bit on getting to know myself spiritually and getting myself closer to God.  I do plan to change this but it has to be done in time.  My personal Psychological rating is at a 8 in my own opinion.  I feel as if I am very sane and nothing will change that.  Everyone has a little bit of craziness inside of them but some do not have it under control.  The key to staying at this level is less stress and meditation. 

My goal for my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellness is to maintain where I am at and gradually get better in all areas.  I can't really set a goal for these areas because I don't feel a limit can be put on these types of things.  I really want to focus on getting my spiritual well being at a better level so that I can be closer to God and be able to live a very good life. 

To move towards a better lifestyle that will improve my physical wellness, I am going to get more physically active so that I can lose weight and feel great.  Being more physically active will eliminate some of my health issues and make my life change for the better.  Spiritually I want to get into more meditation so that I can really get to know myself and my creator.  Psychologically I really do not feel there is anything I could do differently to improve this area of my life. 

The relaxation exercise associated with this unit for some reason didn't help me at all.  I am not sure if I was not focused enough but I didn't really understand it at all.  It had no affect on me. 

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Reflective: Journey on Relaxation

I'm sitting here on my sofa with a stress headache and so many other things going on around me.  After listening to the journey on relaxation technique I notice my headache is gone.  This technique was so helpful and it gave me more energy to complete all the task I still have to finish tonight.  I never really paid attention to how just a little meditation can move the blood in your body.  In the beginning I really thought this was just something to that was not really going to work but I was so shocked when I could actually feel the warm blood in my hand and the heaviness of it.  This is a routine that I shall incorporate into my everyday life.  By doing this technique once a day it will give me more energy and make me feel less stressed. 

MzOpulent

Welcome to the World of Opulence

Hello and welcome to my world of opulence. 

 I hope you enjoy reading my blogs and will give me feedback to enhance this experience.  I am open to all types of criticism because I think this will help me to improve in all areas of my life.  I hope by reading my blogs you will get a better understanding of me and my world of opulence as I would like to get a better understanding of my readers. 

Welcome and enjoy,

MzOpulent