Sunday, December 26, 2010

Level of Wellness and Crime of the Century Relaxation Exercise

Based on my reflections, I would say on a scale of 1 to 10 that I rate my physical being as an 8, my spiritual being as a 7, and my psychological well-being is a 5.

My physical being is very important to me, and I make it a daily habit to eat healthy meals and engage in physical activity six days a week with one day to rest. I enjoy running, cycling, swimming, playing basketball and tennis with my kids, kickboxing, yoga, Pilates, strength training, and weight lifting.

While many people claim to be spiritual, I wonder what they mean when they toss this word around. For me, being spiritual is spending time alone to find inner peace, time to reflect and resolve difficult life issues, and focusing on building relationships. I enjoy my time spent engaging in guided imagery, yoga, meditation, and monthly massages from my personal masseuse. I also love to spend time outdoors in nature to reflect on personal issues, or to be awed at the beauty of God’s gift to man. In addition, I enjoy volunteering in my community to feel a sense of self-worth and connected to other people…and for the days I am my wit’s end, I call out to God and pray for strength, guidance, and patience.

I admit that my psychological well-being requires lots of work. I have a tendency to keep my emotions to myself and not share my feelings with others. In addition, my husband has been working out of state for the past 8 months, and it has been a very difficult time for me emotionally and spiritually; but I have been learning to manage on my own through running, prayer, and yoga. I have been trying to journal, but that takes work which frustrates me as I enjoy writing, but do not enjoy writing about my feelings as I prefer to think and reflect about my feelings and thoughts. As such, l also lack social support other than my long distance husband and my teen kids.

My goal for my physical health is to maintain the current activities I participate in to keep a balanced exercise program of cardio, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility exercises. I find that this keeps my workouts refreshing without becoming stale and stagnant. For example, lately I have been working more on developing my upper body strength with target exercise to build my arms for preparation of my first pull-up. Likewise, being physical keeps my mind alert, focused, and relaxed when I feel stressed.

For my spiritual wellbeing, my goal is to keep prayer a daily routine and include a scheduled time to meditate daily so I can learn to tap into my inner wisdom to keep me centered and balanced in times of stress, in addition to feeling relaxed and at peace. I would love to get back to my daily devotions where I can spend more spiritual time being connected to God and get back into the routine of going to church on Sundays instead of spending my time doing school work.

In terms of my psychological wellbeing, I plan to work on focusing on my awareness through my deep breathing exercises, practice being grateful; loving-kindness; and forgiving myself and others, not being too hard on myself or taking things personally. I also plan to practice on working on my self esteem through positive affirmations and positive thinking. I believe for the most part, I am slowly getting a better grip on handling my stress through my physical activity, deep breathing exercises, and yoga. I find that I am able to move on with my life instead of feeling sorry for myself and angry at life’s outcomes. I have learned that I am able to make the best of my situation by being positive and looking within for contentment and peace. Everyday has its ups and downs; I am learning not to stress out over the little things and to let go of the things that are not important. In addition, I have found that the Serenity Prayer has helped me through many tough struggles. I am becoming a stronger person from all the lessons I am learning from life and its many challenges.

The Crime of the Century relaxation exercise was a wonderful and beneficial experience. I thoroughly enjoy guided relaxation exercises as they help me to achieve a sense of peace and calmness without having to be physically active. As a matter of fact, the rainbow meditation is one of my favorite relaxation exercises as it allows me to use color imagery of the seven chakras to feel grounded, centered, loved, meaningful purpose, balanced, and connected. Throughout the exercise, I was able to visualize the seven colors and related parts of the body to foster a sense of relaxation and calmness in my body…not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. I experienced such a deep state of relaxation that my arms and legs felt heavy and numb, and I could not feel the chair that I was sitting on during the exercise. Afterward, I felt at peace, energized, and ready to face my day. I highly recommend this relaxation exercise to anyone who wants to experience a sense of peace and relaxation; not to mention the health benefits they will achieve as their body shifts into homeostasis.

3 comments:

CharlesBell22 said...

Hello,

This is a great blog and the information that you provided about yourself should your true self. I really admire that and it’s so hard to find in a lot of individuals in today's society. It is great to here that your physical exercise is up to par and I definitely agree with you that spiritual wellness maybe one of the most difficult things to describe. I also believe that finding inner piece is important when it comes to spiritual well being and when we find that it we are one step closer to obtaining overall help. I just want to wish you the best of luck with your goals and I know with your determination and mindset, you will be able to accomplish anything. Keep up the great work.

Charles Bell

Diana Davis said...

Indeed this is a wonderful blog. You really down rated yourself than you really are. After reading your post, I really think you are a ten in your physical and spiritual well-being. But then again, many of us do not like to rate ourselves high. Also we are not perfect and always need room for improvement. But I really believe you are almost there. I really believe you are an amazing person because you incorporate healthy eathing habits and behaviors and have spirituality in all aspects such as prayer and meditation. Psychologically, you are strong and smart because you acknowledge areas that need correction and I commend you on that. Your goals are realistic and I can already forsee you accomplishing it. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to reading more of your inspirational work.

Min said...

Hi, Great job here. I think that it is amazing all the things you are able to accomplish. I am not there yet but I hope to be. It sounds to me that you already use integral medicine in your personal life.

I think that the exercises you gave for your physical are great. However they would not work for me right now. I simply don't have the time or a way to do it. I need to find simple things that I can do at home. But I will post that on my blog soon. What you said for your mental I could see me doing, as a matter a fact I do some of it. I wish I could get a monthly massage, which is one thing I hope to be able to do when I graduate school. And as far as your spiritual sounds great. I just couldn't do it myself given the circumstances I am in which I will also explain on blog. Lets just say I cannot wait to relocate so I can get back to the old me.

I found it difficult to do the exercise. I actually couldn't finish it because of a disruption but I plan on trying today. I found it difficult to wind my mind down in the beginning so I replayed the beginning part. Then I got it. But then the color thing was difficult for me and then my son ran in the room like a bat out of hell running for the bathroom because he was sick. So I wasn't able to finish the exercise.

It sounds to me that you are in good health in all areas because of the goals you set and the things you already do to achieve those goals. I look forward to reading more. Thank you