Personal Applications

I.                    Introduction

a.       Health and wellness professionals should develop on many levels of life.  Health and wellness professionals should develop in the following areas psychologically, spiritually, and physically.  If a professional is trying to treat a patient and is not developed psychologically how are they going to effectively treat that patient?  Their minds must be cleared and focused on the individual.  The health care professional cannot clearly focus on the patient if their mind is somewhere else.  Also, health care professionals should be well aware of their spirituality. The spirit should go hand in hand with the other two areas of development.  If a health care professional is not physically developed in the sense of not over weight it is hard for patients to trust what they say.  Health care professionals cannot preach about healthy lifestyles if they themselves are not living a completely healthy lifestyle.  It is important to be developed in all areas to be a truly healthy and happy person.

II.                 Assessment

a.       Scoring myself in the areas of psychological, spiritual, and physical health is not an easy chore.  For this I will use a scale of 1-10 with 1 being not very developed of “healthy” and 10 being the best developed and no room for progress.  Psychologically I would score myself at a 3.  I have been able to meditate and clear my mind on occasion; however this is still very difficult for me.  This area has a ways to go before I would consider it healthy.  Spiritually I would score myself at an 8.  I know my God and I pray to Him almost nightly.  I know where I belong in life and know that God has a plan for me and my family.  I do have some growing to do in this area as well though.  Physically I would score myself a 5. I have currently lost 20 pounds and am trying to lose the remaining 30 I have to lose.  I need to fit more workouts into my week, however.  Since exercise is known to reduce stress this can help me in more than one area of development.

III.               Goal Development

a.       Goals are so important to have, they help have a purpose.  One goal I have to better develop my physical well-being is to lose another 30 pounds. I am currently working on this goal; however am having a difficult time reaching it.  To better my spiritual well-being my goal is to attend our church a minimum of twice per month and to pray more often. Developing psychologically is a little more difficult for me. My goal in this area is practice the loving kindness exercise and meditate at least twice a week.  I have a hard time clearing my mind and letting go of my stressors which causes so many other issues.

IV.              Practices for personal health

a.       To foster better growth in the physical aspect of my health there are a few things that I can do.  Working out 5 days a week can help me lose the remainder of the weight that I need to lose and also help my cardiovascular functions.  Also, being more cautious about what foods and the amounts of foods I put into my body would help me to be healthier in the physical aspect of development. To help foster better spiritual health I can practice meditation more often.  Meditation can help open my heart and my mind spiritually.  Also, attending church can bring me closer to God and foster greater spirituality growth.  To foster greater psychological health I can practice visualization techniques.  This will help me clear my mind and focus on just the task at hand.  Also, practicing the loving kindness exercise can help develop my psychological health.  This will also help me clear my mind and focus solely on the task at hand.

V.                 Commitment

a.       Assessing the progress in the three areas of development is crucial.  It is so important because if no progress is being made in a certain area then changes can be to help foster greater growth in that specific area.  Over the next six months, once a month, I will assess my growth in each area; psychological, physical, and spiritual. Using the same 1-10 scale as before each area will be given a number and if no change in the number, new techniques will be put in place of the old ones, or the ones that are not working.  Meditation can help in all three aspects of development and I plan on continuing to implement it into my daily life.  Exercise can also help in two aspects of my development and even after my weight loss goals are met I will continue to exercise to help reduce stress, help psychological growth, and help my physical growth.