I actually really liked this exercise. I remember reading this before, but liked the mp3 version better. It is so much easier to follow. For this past week (actually the past month), I have been doing a lot of mindful practices. I have had a lot going on and have been very stressed. By practicing the mindfulness along with meditation, it has helped me to stay focused, remain calm, and deal with everything. I am not saying it has been easy, but I have been doing alright. It has helped me to not become too overwhelmed and work through things much easier. The way I can continue to apply these practices in my life is to continue to practice these exercises, possibly re-read the books from this class and try and apply these to my everyday life. I am going to try to continue working on meditation as much as possible. Personally I like the guided meditation and imagery as it seems easier for me. I feel that the more I practice these, the more natural they will become.
The saying "One cannot lead another where on has not gone himself," I completely agree with this. How can someone tell someone that this is a good thing for them and is affective if they do not regularly practice and live by it themselves. I do feel that we have the obligation to our clients to continually be developing our health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. It is the same way I feel with my kids; how can I tell them they need to do something to remain healthy or become healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually if I don't do it myself. That would be unreasonable and unrealistic to think they would actually do that. However, if they, or anyone else for that matter, sees you living by what you say and the health and calmness you would portray to them would be an incentive to follow what you tell them. And lastly, the way I feel I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life is to practice what we have learned until it becomes a natural part of my everyday life.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
This week we had to practice this exercise that I really struggled with. Trying to keep focus and relaxed while trying to remember the phrase just didnot work for me. I don't know if it was just me or not, but it just didn't work for me. I found my mind wondering more than usual. I think I prefer the guided imagery better. I had much better results from it. Maybe I will need to practice more??? Anyone have the same problem?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
This weeks assignment I found very enjoyable and relaxing. Focusing on my breathing and the air flowing into and out of my lungs helped me to concentrate enough to keep most of my other thoughts out. The few that crept in I was able to just let them pass without too much effort. Personally, I see how this exercise can be quite benefical for me with my breathing. At one point this week my chest was tight and I was having some trouble with my breathing. I began this exercise and was able to visualize the air coming into my lungs and my lungs relaxing enough to benefit from it. I was actually able to calm my breathing down enough that I didn't need my medicine. I am not saying that this would work all of the time, but for this situation, it did. I had rushed too much and was very tight and out of breath. This helped me relax, slow down my breathing and get control of the situation. I am planning on practicing this exercise more.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Unit 3 learning activity,
Well, here we are 2012, boy that came fast. Week 3 we are asked to reflect on our wellbeing. To take a look at our physical, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing and rate it. I feel that both of my spiritual and psychological wellbeing are good. Spiritually, I feel that I am probably an eight. I am very strong and secure in my beliefs. I am involved in my church, as is my family, we attend church every Sunday morning. I am a Eucharistic minister in our church and my daughter is an altar server. Our family is actively involved with mission trips within the U.S. and I am very thankful for everything that we have. I am confident that I will see my family again someday and look forward to our meeting (that is after I finish what I must here in this life first). I feel that my strong belief gives me a peace of mind and security knowing that I am being looked after and that this life is not the end for me, my family, friends, and/or anyone else who chooses. My goal would be to continue to learn and grow spiritually and try and be the best person I can be (wife, mother, friend, coworker, christian, person).
Psychological wellbeing would be probably an eight as well. I try and be a positive person for the most part. I admit, sometimes I do get down about things a bit, and I feel that's okay. But after a little I snap myself out of it and move on. Life is filled with challenges, and how we handle them defines our character. I am a strong believer of if you don't like something that is happening or a situation, then do something about it. If you are not willing to change your situation, then you really do not have the right to complain. We all have bad things that we have to deal with, somethings you just have to suck it up and move on. Don't let it bring you down. My goal would be to focus on the positives in my life and not let the negatives get me down. To try and make some time for myself for me time, meditation, self-reflection. Working two jobs, school, and four kids, it gets tough to find time sometimes. I guess also to enjoy the process, or should I say each day. Dacher mentioned about a saying said in the East that I really like and have to remember, ""A bucket is not filled with water by the first or last drop. It is filled by the collection of a very large number of drops (2006, p58)." I really like that and have to remember that.
Now we move on to our physical wellbeing. For me, this isn't a good one. I am 45 years old and have very severe out-of-control asthma. My general practitioner tells me she feels that I have COPD. This gets very frustrating as I have never smoked. I take a lot of different medications for this and they haven't gotten it under control. I was on high doses of prednisone for many years (which isn't good for you), but my doctor said it is better than not being able to breath. I would have to agree with him on that point. However, we changed my treatment and I discontinued taking it daily and now go for lung treatments every other week up at the hospital. I get two injections every time I go and only take the prednisone when I get sick and/or start having increased problems with my breathing. In addition, because of taking prednisone for so long, I have problems with my bones now breaking easily so I have to watch. My one ankle has broken three times now and will need surgery if I break it again. Because of this I wear a brace to support it. There are other problems I need to watch for now, but I have gotten use to them now. I attended pulmonary therapy for a couple years but have started a second job so have had to drop my therapy due to time restraints. I do have to admit, it gets frustrating at times because I am restricted on some things and need to make adjustments to others. However, I am very fortunate to have a wonderful husband. He and my four children are my support system and they me get through the rough times. Again, I am very fortunate to have them and I am thankful for them. I feel that things could always be worse, so I try not to complain. My goal for this would be to do the best I can and not to ever let it get me down. To never dwell on what I cannot do and remember what I can.
Activities and/or exercises I can implement in my life to assist me in moving toward each goal...
Spiritually would be to continue to pray, read the bible and learn. Continue to believe and to be there for others who need. As for psychologically and physically, I am thinking about starting tai chi and either yoga and/or meditation. I feel that will help me both psychologically and physically. It will help me manage my stress, work on my breathing, my flexibility and balance, strength, relaxation, etc.
When I completed the relaxation exercise for this week I found it interesting. It wasn't as relaxing as the past ones I have done, but I did enjoy it. I do feel that repeating some of those encouraging things to ourselves is beneficial. Sometimes we need to say things like that to ourselves to help us belief them, I feel. So I guess I would say it could be beneficial in that way, but I wasn't relaxed by it.
Well, here we are 2012, boy that came fast. Week 3 we are asked to reflect on our wellbeing. To take a look at our physical, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing and rate it. I feel that both of my spiritual and psychological wellbeing are good. Spiritually, I feel that I am probably an eight. I am very strong and secure in my beliefs. I am involved in my church, as is my family, we attend church every Sunday morning. I am a Eucharistic minister in our church and my daughter is an altar server. Our family is actively involved with mission trips within the U.S. and I am very thankful for everything that we have. I am confident that I will see my family again someday and look forward to our meeting (that is after I finish what I must here in this life first). I feel that my strong belief gives me a peace of mind and security knowing that I am being looked after and that this life is not the end for me, my family, friends, and/or anyone else who chooses. My goal would be to continue to learn and grow spiritually and try and be the best person I can be (wife, mother, friend, coworker, christian, person).
Psychological wellbeing would be probably an eight as well. I try and be a positive person for the most part. I admit, sometimes I do get down about things a bit, and I feel that's okay. But after a little I snap myself out of it and move on. Life is filled with challenges, and how we handle them defines our character. I am a strong believer of if you don't like something that is happening or a situation, then do something about it. If you are not willing to change your situation, then you really do not have the right to complain. We all have bad things that we have to deal with, somethings you just have to suck it up and move on. Don't let it bring you down. My goal would be to focus on the positives in my life and not let the negatives get me down. To try and make some time for myself for me time, meditation, self-reflection. Working two jobs, school, and four kids, it gets tough to find time sometimes. I guess also to enjoy the process, or should I say each day. Dacher mentioned about a saying said in the East that I really like and have to remember, ""A bucket is not filled with water by the first or last drop. It is filled by the collection of a very large number of drops (2006, p58)." I really like that and have to remember that.
Now we move on to our physical wellbeing. For me, this isn't a good one. I am 45 years old and have very severe out-of-control asthma. My general practitioner tells me she feels that I have COPD. This gets very frustrating as I have never smoked. I take a lot of different medications for this and they haven't gotten it under control. I was on high doses of prednisone for many years (which isn't good for you), but my doctor said it is better than not being able to breath. I would have to agree with him on that point. However, we changed my treatment and I discontinued taking it daily and now go for lung treatments every other week up at the hospital. I get two injections every time I go and only take the prednisone when I get sick and/or start having increased problems with my breathing. In addition, because of taking prednisone for so long, I have problems with my bones now breaking easily so I have to watch. My one ankle has broken three times now and will need surgery if I break it again. Because of this I wear a brace to support it. There are other problems I need to watch for now, but I have gotten use to them now. I attended pulmonary therapy for a couple years but have started a second job so have had to drop my therapy due to time restraints. I do have to admit, it gets frustrating at times because I am restricted on some things and need to make adjustments to others. However, I am very fortunate to have a wonderful husband. He and my four children are my support system and they me get through the rough times. Again, I am very fortunate to have them and I am thankful for them. I feel that things could always be worse, so I try not to complain. My goal for this would be to do the best I can and not to ever let it get me down. To never dwell on what I cannot do and remember what I can.
Activities and/or exercises I can implement in my life to assist me in moving toward each goal...
Spiritually would be to continue to pray, read the bible and learn. Continue to believe and to be there for others who need. As for psychologically and physically, I am thinking about starting tai chi and either yoga and/or meditation. I feel that will help me both psychologically and physically. It will help me manage my stress, work on my breathing, my flexibility and balance, strength, relaxation, etc.
When I completed the relaxation exercise for this week I found it interesting. It wasn't as relaxing as the past ones I have done, but I did enjoy it. I do feel that repeating some of those encouraging things to ourselves is beneficial. Sometimes we need to say things like that to ourselves to help us belief them, I feel. So I guess I would say it could be beneficial in that way, but I wasn't relaxed by it.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Relaxation Exercise
Professor and Classmates,
The relaxation exercise that we tried I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. As always, things happen right when you need them the most. To say the least, it has been a very stressful week for me. I do have to admit, I have been so exhausted lately that I almost fell asleep during the experience. What I found nice was that this exercise guided you through the relaxation experience which, for me, made it easier. I usually have so much going on through my mind that I find it hard to relax. I would definitely like to try more of these in the future.
The relaxation exercise that we tried I have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. As always, things happen right when you need them the most. To say the least, it has been a very stressful week for me. I do have to admit, I have been so exhausted lately that I almost fell asleep during the experience. What I found nice was that this exercise guided you through the relaxation experience which, for me, made it easier. I usually have so much going on through my mind that I find it hard to relax. I would definitely like to try more of these in the future.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Welcome
Professor and Classmates
I would like to welcome you all to my blog. I have used this blog previously, as you can see, in a past class. It has been awhile so I will still need to do some more updating. I really look forward to sharing this class with all of you as it looks to be quite informative and beneficial. Talk to you all soon.
I would like to welcome you all to my blog. I have used this blog previously, as you can see, in a past class. It has been awhile so I will still need to do some more updating. I really look forward to sharing this class with all of you as it looks to be quite informative and beneficial. Talk to you all soon.
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