Here's my project plan!
Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?
In order to serve clients best the health and wellness professional must be as healthy as possible in themselves. From a place of health, balance, and well-being the health and wellness professional is then able to talk about, teach, and most importantly model what it is to be a healthy individual.
As people we are not simply biological entities. We have many spheres that makeup the totality of our being. These include all of our bodies from our more gross physical body to the subtler emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies. All of these need to be balanced since stress occurs not only in our physical body but affects all of our bodies (Seaward, 2009). As these are balanced, stress is overcome more effectively expanding the capacity of the health and wellness professional to be with others.
The areas that the majority of my goals fall into are the interpersonal and worldly quadrants. The lines of development in the interpersonal include the community and personal line. The lines of development in the worldly quadrant include the work and generativity lines.
Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?
I have assessed my health in each domain by following the Integral Assessment guide by Dacher (Dacher, 2006). By being active in each area through practices such as physical routine exercise and contemplative practice I was able to gauge these areas fairly easily. Previous experience in community and group settings allowed me to measure my desires to what was actually occurring and moreover needed in the interpersonal area. Previous work experience compared to how I felt and what I wanted and also my lack of generative service allowed me to gauge myself in the worldly quadrant.
Due to my understanding and access to my true nature, my ability to tune into my essence, my current contemplative practice, and my relationship to basic fears suggests that my spiritual health is very good.
My enjoyment and consistency with physical exercise, general healthy eating, and healthy weight suggest great physical health.
My involvement with personal spiritual and psychological group work followed with contemplative practice and healing, and my relationship to my own fears and blocks suggest good psychological health.
Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.
Physical- Get adequate sleep to nourish my physical body- at least 7-9 hours.
Psychological- Understand my fear of rejection more fully
Spiritual- Live from my Essence more fully every day
Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.
Physical: Goal- Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
Strategies:
1. Set times to go to bed and get up each night and day and aim for consistency. Pay attention to time throughout day and manage my priorities well to do this.
2. Meditate for 10 or 15 minutes before I go to bed and then become grounded by allowing most of the energy to go to my feet.
Psychological (Mental): Goal- Understand my fear of rejection more fully
Strategies:
1. Sit with my “little boy”, “teenage boy” (inner aspects of self) every other day for 10 minutes
2. Practice getting present to fears and getting curious about the fears throughout the day. Allow myself to become aware of fear of rejection first and then stay open and curious to do this.
Spiritual: Goal – Live from my Essence more fully every day
Strategies:
- Participate in a spiritual community every week. Add events to calendar and into my weekly schedule to do this.
- Pray every day asking for what I want. Set aside 5-10 minutes at beginning of day and throughout day to do this.
Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?
Physical - Check how nourished I feel sleep wise each day and my energy level.
Psychological- Develop awareness and note my patterns.
Spiritual- Note if I am participating in communities or just showing up and note how alive I feel and whether I’m creating fulfillment in my life.
For all of these goals I plan to share with a friend who can hold me accountable.
References
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health. The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc. Seaward, B. (2009). Managing Stress. Principles and Strategies for Health and Well-Being. Sixth Edition. Boulder, CO: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
