Good evening!
The "Meeting Aseclepius" exercise was quite profound. As usual, I had a hard time focusing at first, but when I visualized my grandfather and the white beam from the top of his head to me, I truly could feel the warmth and energy from this experience.
Mindfulness has fostered an increase in my psychological wellness as I am more aware of the experiences I am having and find myself striving to have more meaningful interactions with the patients in my pharmacy. Although this is not my "dream" job, I am making the best of the situation and learning from every experience, good and bad. I can continually apply this practice in my life to enhance my experiences, give me wisdom, and lead me to my ultimate level of health.
The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself," means that you cannot be a leader in an area that you are not experienced in and knowledgeable about. You cannot tell someone how great it is to be a vegetarian if you have never experienced this lifestyle. This applies to the health and wellness profession by our obligation to be role models in the field we choose to work in. We can lead by example and share our knowledge with others so they too, can achieve their optimum health and wellness. I think we have an obligation to our clients as health care professionals to develop all aspects of our health to lead by example.
I can implement psycological and spiritual growth in my life by continual practices in mindfulness to manage my stress and by keeping an open mind and open heart to all the possibilities that are available to me. I can keep striving for my optimum health and wellness one day at a time, doing better as I know better.
Alicia Maguire
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Unit 6 Exercises for Mind-Body-Spirit
I practiced the Universal Kindness Meditation and found it to be a pleasant experience once I quieted my mind and committed to it. At first I found it hard to remember the phrases, then I relaxed once I found a rhythm. After getting the phrases down, I really relaxed and had images of various individuals popping into my head-family, customers at work, neighbors, people at the bus stop, and so on. I do believe this mini-practice is quite powerful in that it forces you to focus and eliminate the unnecessary chatter-if you let it! This is a practice that is very mobile and can be used whenever a "refueling" of positivity is needed.
From the Integral Assessment I discovered that my area of focus is psycho spiritual. I chose this area because I believe that I am motivated by psychological needs often driven from fear as discussed on page 107. I would like to be motivated instead by wisdom and wholeness that come compassion and loving kindness. I also need to work on my emotional development as my emotional life is often dominated by anxiety and fear. I believe that with continued practice in meditation and mindfulness that I can calm my anxiety and fears.
Regards,
Alicia
I practiced the Universal Kindness Meditation and found it to be a pleasant experience once I quieted my mind and committed to it. At first I found it hard to remember the phrases, then I relaxed once I found a rhythm. After getting the phrases down, I really relaxed and had images of various individuals popping into my head-family, customers at work, neighbors, people at the bus stop, and so on. I do believe this mini-practice is quite powerful in that it forces you to focus and eliminate the unnecessary chatter-if you let it! This is a practice that is very mobile and can be used whenever a "refueling" of positivity is needed.
From the Integral Assessment I discovered that my area of focus is psycho spiritual. I chose this area because I believe that I am motivated by psychological needs often driven from fear as discussed on page 107. I would like to be motivated instead by wisdom and wholeness that come compassion and loving kindness. I also need to work on my emotional development as my emotional life is often dominated by anxiety and fear. I believe that with continued practice in meditation and mindfulness that I can calm my anxiety and fears.
Regards,
Alicia
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Unit 5 Blog
Good evening!
I enjoyed the Subtle Mind practice and found it easier than the Loving Kindness practice. I am not sure if it was my frame of mind or possibly the many steps involved in the Loving Kindness practice that made it more of a challenge. I found them to be similar in the waves in the background, the soothing voices, and the mindfulness that was required to practice both exercises. The Subtle Mind practice was more personal, and easy to follow.
Spiritual wellness is the belief system that we follow using the core values that have been instilled in us and serve as our "GPS" system, navigating us through life, giving us purpose and meaning. Mental wellness is having clarity and control of our thoughts. Our physical wellness is the condition our body is in. The mind/body/spirit connection manifests itself in my life as I gain clarity of how my mental state affects my physical state and my core values push me to do the right things to take care of myself. I am now aware that if I do not take care of myself, I cannot effectively take care of others.
Regards,
Alicia
I enjoyed the Subtle Mind practice and found it easier than the Loving Kindness practice. I am not sure if it was my frame of mind or possibly the many steps involved in the Loving Kindness practice that made it more of a challenge. I found them to be similar in the waves in the background, the soothing voices, and the mindfulness that was required to practice both exercises. The Subtle Mind practice was more personal, and easy to follow.
Spiritual wellness is the belief system that we follow using the core values that have been instilled in us and serve as our "GPS" system, navigating us through life, giving us purpose and meaning. Mental wellness is having clarity and control of our thoughts. Our physical wellness is the condition our body is in. The mind/body/spirit connection manifests itself in my life as I gain clarity of how my mental state affects my physical state and my core values push me to do the right things to take care of myself. I am now aware that if I do not take care of myself, I cannot effectively take care of others.
Regards,
Alicia
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Unit 4 Blog
The loving practice exercise was interesting. I found it easy to relax with the ocean sounds in the background and the soothing, monotone voices. I found it very easy to think about my loved one and experienced "waves" of those emotions profoundly. Those feelings about myself were harder to experience and found myself resisting those feelings at first. Thinking about someone suffering was easy and very moving. It was easy to empathasize with those feelings and emit positive feelings and thoughts in place of the ones of suffering and pain. It was harder thinking about people I did not know, as I found myself wanting to place the feelings in a particular location that needed it. Visualizing everyone needing their suffering and pain replaced with loving kindness was easier as I wasn't focused on a particular group. I would recommend this exercise to others as I found it helpful to be mindful of loving kindness for others including ourselves.
The concept of "mental workout" is preparing our minds through contemplative practice. This is done by pracitcing loving kindness and opening our minds to the wisdom that can lead to human flourishing. Research suggests that mental workouts are similar to working muscles and can lead to structural changes in the brain. These mental workouts can be implemented by practicing the exercises that are mentioned in our book. These exercises are easy to do and with continued practice can become a positive habit like brushing our teeth!
The loving practice exercise was interesting. I found it easy to relax with the ocean sounds in the background and the soothing, monotone voices. I found it very easy to think about my loved one and experienced "waves" of those emotions profoundly. Those feelings about myself were harder to experience and found myself resisting those feelings at first. Thinking about someone suffering was easy and very moving. It was easy to empathasize with those feelings and emit positive feelings and thoughts in place of the ones of suffering and pain. It was harder thinking about people I did not know, as I found myself wanting to place the feelings in a particular location that needed it. Visualizing everyone needing their suffering and pain replaced with loving kindness was easier as I wasn't focused on a particular group. I would recommend this exercise to others as I found it helpful to be mindful of loving kindness for others including ourselves.
The concept of "mental workout" is preparing our minds through contemplative practice. This is done by pracitcing loving kindness and opening our minds to the wisdom that can lead to human flourishing. Research suggests that mental workouts are similar to working muscles and can lead to structural changes in the brain. These mental workouts can be implemented by practicing the exercises that are mentioned in our book. These exercises are easy to do and with continued practice can become a positive habit like brushing our teeth!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Unit 3 Happy New Year!
Based on my reflections and on a scale of 1-10, I would rate my physical well-being as a 7 due to some medical issues I need to address. I would rate my spiritual well being as an 8 as I feel pretty grounded in this area, however, there is always room for improvement. The rating I would give my psychological well-being would be a 7 also because I experienced a lot of stress and anxiety over the holidays, like many people, and I have not totally recovered.
A goal I would set for myself, physically, would be to get in better physical shape and lose those stubborn ten pounds (not very original, but necessary). A spiritual goal I would set would be to set aside some time each day for solitude. The goal I would set for my psychological well-being would be to practice to better manage my stress and anxiety throught meditation and mindfulness exercises.
An activity I could implement to assist me in my physical well-being goal would be to make a contract for myself to achieve my goal of exercising daily and following a healthy diet to lose weight. To work toward my spiritual goal I would schedule some quiet time each day so it becomes part of my regular routine. For my psychological goal, I could practice relaxation and/or mindfulness exercises I have learned in previous classes. If I practiced these daily, they would also be part of my daily routine.
The relaxation exercise was frustrating at first, as I found it hard to focus, but once I did, it was relaxing and beneficial.
Best wishes for 2013!!
A goal I would set for myself, physically, would be to get in better physical shape and lose those stubborn ten pounds (not very original, but necessary). A spiritual goal I would set would be to set aside some time each day for solitude. The goal I would set for my psychological well-being would be to practice to better manage my stress and anxiety throught meditation and mindfulness exercises.
An activity I could implement to assist me in my physical well-being goal would be to make a contract for myself to achieve my goal of exercising daily and following a healthy diet to lose weight. To work toward my spiritual goal I would schedule some quiet time each day so it becomes part of my regular routine. For my psychological goal, I could practice relaxation and/or mindfulness exercises I have learned in previous classes. If I practiced these daily, they would also be part of my daily routine.
The relaxation exercise was frustrating at first, as I found it hard to focus, but once I did, it was relaxing and beneficial.
Best wishes for 2013!!
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