Unit 10 I can't believe this is the last week of class

Back in Unit 3 of this course we did a reflection score based on a self-assessment of what we needed to work on for our blog and I gave myself these scores.   A-physical well being (my score was a 5), B-spiritual well-being (my score was an 8), C-psychological well-being (my score was a 5) and I still feel that these scores are an accurate assessment of my development thus far.

I feel as though I have started to make progress on the goals I have set for myself in unit 3 and these are some of the things I have set in motion to reach those goals.  Physical-have already started walking daily to help with this goal. I have also started taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator and parking my care in the furthest spot away from the entrance (it’s a least a 10 minute walk to the hospital from my parking space).  Spirit- like I said going to back to church regularly since my schedule changed this past month has really helped strengthen my faith and I am also using meditation and the loving kindness exercise daily to help my spiritual growth.  It is nice to start the day with a positive outlook and end the day with a relaxing attitude.  Psychological- I’m still going to re-evaluate my stance at the end of the year.

I would have to say that my experiences in this class have been for the most part a positive growth in my own personal development.  It gave me a new perceptive to view the world in and I have to say that I’m happier now with my new outlook.  The meditation that I use daily has really affected my stress levels to where I’m not as frustrated at work or with my family as I used to be.  It is helping me become a more positive person.  It has made me realize that life is way too short to be angry and upset all the time.  Look for joy and love a guess what you will find it.  I can't believe this is the last week of class, I had fun with this class and it taught me a lot about myself (not all of it pleasant but honest) and I wish everyone in class the best for their future endeavors. 

 

 

My Own Human Flourishing Unit 9 Project

 

My name is Donna Phelps and I am a nurse for a major hospital in South Carolina.  In my profession I do more than slap a dressing on a wound, I educate, medicate, give advice, offer comfort to patient and families, and give medical care to my patients.  One of the main components between a patient and a nurse is trust.   My patients need to trust that I am competent in what I am telling them and that the advice/teaching that I give them is something that I am willing to do myself.  Those are just a couple of reasons why it is important for me to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically.  Why should they do what I’m asking of them if I am not willing to practice what I am preaching?  As with anyone I am a work in progress and more development in each of these areas is needed.  This is a life-long journey that can’t be completed in 10 minutes, 10 weeks or even 10 years.  These are things that develop and grow as we do.

Back in Unit 3 of this course we did a reflection score based on a self-assessment of what we needed to work on for our blog and this is what I wrote then.  Based 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? Physically I would give myself a 5 because I am overweight and tend to ignore what that does to my health and I have high blood pressure because of being overweight. Spiritually I would give myself an 8 I have a lot of faith in the higher power and practice daily prayers and spiritual reading.  Psychological well I will give myself a 5 there as well, there are things in the past that I have buried deep but probably need lots of work to overcome.  I still feel that these scores are an accurate assessment of my development thus far.

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological). Physical goal would be to lose 50lbs and get off the blood pressure medicine by the end of the year.  Spiritually I am changing shifts at work in April (I have already made the job switch and I feel so much better and less stressful) and will no longer be working every weekend and It would be so nice to return to going to church on a weekly base instead of whenever I happen to get called off.  Psychologically I have no idea what to do about that because I am of the mind that the past is best left alone (at this point in my life but that is subject to change).

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal? Physical-have already started walking daily to help with this goal. I have also started taking the stairs at work instead of the elevator and parking my care in the furthest spot away from the entrance (it’s a least a 10 minute walk to the hospital from my parking space).  Spirit- like I said going to back to church regularly since my schedule changed this past month has really helped strengthen my faith and I am also using meditation and the loving kindness exercise daily to help my spiritual growth.  It is nice to start the day with a positive outlook and end the day with a relaxing attitude.  Psychological- I’m still going to re-evaluate my stance at the end of the year.

How can I keep these commitments I have made to myself and how will I assess that what I am doing is really helping me make the changes?  I can evaluate my progress in the physical sense by just weighing myself each month it can be evaluated in weight loss but also in a loss of inches.  It can also be measure in the increased energy that I have and hopefully through a reduction of the blood pressure medications that I have to take.  Spiritually and Psychologically is a little harder to measure but I should be able to tell if I have grown and that I am heading in the right direction by the reduction of stress and tension in my life as well as with the healthy relationships in my life.  To keep those new commitments to myself I just have to do them daily, take the walk, do the meditation exercises, practice my faith in my higher power, and over time it’s a good habit I have developed.  It will be integrated into my lifestyle.

Unit 8

In all the new mental and relaxation techniques we have practiced over the last 8 weeks I think my favorite two are loving kindness and meditation.  I really like these two because they are easy to integrate into my lifestyle.  Loving kindness I usually do in the morning, focusing on others instead of myself and starting the day without a lot of negative thoughts really helps me enjoy my day.  One way I was able to focus on this early in my day is because I have started making list of things to do for the day the night before so I can concentrate on my early morning mental exercise without all the what have I got to today chatter in my mind.  Meditation I love to do after work, I go to my room take a long hot shower, and sit in my room for 20 minutes just focusing on my breathing a releasing the stress of the long day that I just put in at the hospital.  This helps me to relax, not to bring the stress of the day home to my family, and just clear my mind.  I guess these two times of the day would be called me time, its the time I take for myself to connect with who I am and my higher power.

Unit 7

Hello All

This weeks meditation was easier for me as there wasn't to much background noise and when there was it was a soft gentle ocean wave.  The focusing on a person that gave me such an uplifting experience also helped me focus.  My person of choice was my mother, she has been gone for almost 11 years now, but I still find myself listening for her advice and I talk to her as if she where still here for me when I need guidance, so she was the perfect choice for me to follow.

As a health care professional it  is necessary to lead by example and to practice what you preach as patients are not willing to follow your advice if you are not willing to do it yourself.  So it is important to develop your physical, emotional, and spiritual into a healthy state of being.

Unit 6

Hello All

The more I do the loving kindness exercise, the easier it becomes to focus on only my breathing.  I feel that the loving kindness exercise is making me a better person because I am no longer just focus on myself but on the ones around me.

Doing the integral assessment made me realize that I need to work on my fitness level, even though I am walking at least 20 minutes on most days I am not using the time to make it a mind/body experience.  I need to learn to focus on my breathing and enjoy the beauty around me as I walk and not necessarily the crap that went on at work or at home with the family.  I need to learn to really enjoy the time I spend exercising instead of treating it like a chore that I have to get done.

Thanks for stopping by  Donna

Unit 5 The Subtle Mind Exercise

Hi Everyone

I feel that I am after 5 weeks getting the hang of this blogging stuff, the struggle was real when we started our Blogs. I hope everyone is getting more comfortable with it too.

I really like the Subtle Mind Exercise more than I liked the Loving Kindness (I like it too though), the subtle mind had less background and narration in it and made it easier for me to focus on stilling the mind.  I am enjoying these new meditation exercise that we are learning because it is really helping me to relax more and experience less stress in my life.  It is also helping to focus more at work and in my home life.  I'm really hoping that even when this class is over I will continue with these daily meditation exercises because they are really helping me.  When we first started I was really having a hard time focusing on stilling the mind but thanks to another students idea (Kelby) I started making a list of everything I had to accomplish the next day before I went to bed and I started getting up about 20 minutes earlier in the morning and without all the jumble of what need to be done today, I was able to enjoy the exercises more and focus on what they were teaching me. 

Spiritual wellness, is a direct link to physical wellness, if your soul and your mind are unhealthy your body lets you know it.  I mean when I am not practicing my faith (God, or your own higher power), I am stressed out, I'm tired all the time and have terrible mood swings.  When I am practicing my faith through prayers and attending church I feel better about myself and about others, I relaxed, and able to focus on what others need instead of myself.

Thanks for stopping by.
Donna

Unit 4 Loving Kindness Excercise

The loving kindness exercise was to help focus on the positive.  I have to admit that I had a hard time focusing on it as I kept thinking about what needed to get done that day or my daughter would interrupt and I would have to start all over and then it was just hard to get back into it.  Listening to it everyday this week didn't help the problem at all.  I read in another post to try listening to it at night before going to bed.  I am going to give that a try to see if it helps me to focus on that instead of what is going on around me or in my own life at the time.

Donna