Wellness & Healing

Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

The Loving Kindness exercise teaches you to be less self-centered and more focused on teaching you to be compassionate to others and having empathy toward other people. Being less focused on you and more helpful toward others shows the ability to have an open heart and not being so selfish and willing to lend a helping held. I think it makes people feel better when they can help others. A subtle mind exercise teaches you to relax but I find it hard to focus at times. Having a focal point makes it easier to bring your focus back. I think a little more practice and it could be relaxing. The benefit of a Loving Kindness exercise opens your heart and by doing this I think brings happiness. And the more a person can smile and teach ourselves to be more compassionate the happy and light hearted you become. I also feel that the benefits of subtle mind meditation would be peace, calm, tranquility and a stress relief but the key is to get to that point. I think the obstacle is to train the mind to focus long enough for it to work. But with determination I think I can get there.

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

I think that spiritual wellness connects to mental and physical wellness because it all comes from beliefs. I feel that if you believe then anything is possible. Everyone has different beliefs and that is what is so beautiful about this world. With believing, determination and drive then you can conquer anything. I think that God gives me the strength to get up every day so therefore I should have the mindset that it is a beautiful day that I was given and I have the physical capability to function so gratitude and positivity should get me through the day with the right mind set. Now the only thing I have to do is get back on track and feel worthy of the beautiful gifts that I have been given.

Mind Body & Spirit Unit 4

    Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

I did not find it relaxing or soothing. It was not beneficial either. It was not difficult to do I really could not get into it so I found it hard to focus. I would not recommend it. I personally don’t think that someone would benefit from this exercise. I think that there may be other exercises out there to show loving kindness.

    What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

I think mental workout is keeping the mind going and training it. This method of training requires a tranquil area, calm and peaceful mind where you can meditate and have a peaceful heart. Some of the benefits are less health problems, kinder to people, less likely to have out bursts and more likely to think before reacting.  I think you can implement mental workouts by just taking time for yourself and having self-reflection. I think by meditating and taking a step back and realizing sometimes of things that happened during your week and how you could have changed things that make a difference for the next time. We are all human and what to be treated as such. Sometimes it may not happen all he can do is try.

WellnessBased on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why? Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological). What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal? Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.) Participate in the Blogs of at least two other students. Provide them with feedback on their goal strategies.

I would rate my physical well-being  probably about a 5, my spiritual about a 6 and my psychological well-being about a 6.5. I have a bad habit of letting things fester and I need to find a way a way of letting the negative out and being more positive. As far as physically I have to eat better and exercise and then I will be better.

A goal for my physical well-being will be to walk more and bring my lunch to work.
A goal for my spiritual well-being will be to learn to meditate and set time asdie each morning or evening to do do just that.
A goal for psychological well-being will be to take smaller things in stride and count to 5 and not to 10 just yet. Baby steps.

I will implement yoga, meditation, walking and healthier eating habits but will have to do this with in moderation and in baby steps.

Relaxation

I find one of the best forms of relaxation for me is to write poetry. I can always write down how I feel into words and just kind of float away.  When I use to live in Chicago I would go down to the lake front and sit and just sit and watch the water. That is always my getaway form of meditation but I don't have that here in Indiana any more. For some reason water to me is so peaceful.