Unit 7

Well I like the meeting Aesclepius meditation. whoa text change... Ah well I like this one better. Meditation has increased my psychological wellness by letting me experience what it is like to ignore thoughts until they go away. This has been very helpful to me because I used to get beat up by my thoughts until I discovered I could make/let them go away. I can continue to apply this in my life by making sure I continue meditating after my classes are over. 

The saying "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" means that if I have never experienced psychological, physical, and spiritual wellness I can't tell others how to get there. Yes I have an obligation to my clients to develop various aspects of health because if they come to me for the steps to wellness I should be able to tell them from experience. Experience is also helpful because it allows me to know exactly what challenges they will face in their journey to wellness. 

Melissa at the farm

So here's me standing among the lavender at the essential oil farm in Mona Utah. Next to me is another type of Melissa, it's in the mint family and I didn't even know it was a plant until I started doing essential oils. I was gone for the past week so I could experience convention and farm day. It was worth it :)

Unit 6....nuf said

June has been a crazy month for me, anyone else experiencing it too? I did not actually do the meditation or the integral assessment because I had just two days to get everything for this week done and I couldn't fit in those two tasks (especially the second one). If I had to guess I would guess my interpersonal relationships would be the first thing worked on. I guess that because I have spent at least a week almost perpetually mad or annoyed at my husband. Mind you I haven't told him that because it would do more harm than good. The stress of my upcoming trip to Utah has taken it's toll on me and today was the worst because of my pre-final preparations. (if pre-final is a new word I claim it)

Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to this trip but getting there and back and leaving my kids with J for half the week is nerve wracking. If any of you are the praying type please pray for their lives and sanity. He is super uptight and they are beautiful messes and it is a recipe for angst for me. Anyways specific exercises I can do to improve my interpersonal relationships would be to talk to the other person, no matter how difficult a task it is. Another thing to do would be to do a modified loving-kindness meditation just focusing on him. I don't know why it gets so hard to love your spouse but here we are. Anyways if you all respond to my discussion posts after tomorrow please don't feel slighted if I don't respond to a question. I will not take my laptop with me as the wi-fi there will be eaten up and I will be exhausted. Have a good week and I'll see you for the tail end of week 7.

Unit 5 Post

I have to say I liked the loving kindness exercise more. Mainly because I have an easier time with these when I have something to focus on. With this one I was doing pretty good for that long pause in the woman speaking but when she started talking again afterwards it scared me to death. After that my concentration was pretty shattered. I did notice that my thoughts are very much like the waves in that they crash in regularly then are gone if I am trying to ignore them. It is truly very difficult to ignore thoughts without something to focus on. I forgot she said to focus on the breath if you get distracted. I did find her interjections off putting because just when I got into the zone she would break the spell. It's hard to relax and let go when you're anticipating a voice to break through the relative stillness.

I feel like I keep having to answer this question of how spiritual wellness affects the others. Spiritual wellness, things like love, forgiveness, and gratitude are present in a healthy mind and absent in a sick one. I don't know anyone with a healthy mind who is bitter and resentful, those things don't go with wellness. In my own life I know on days when I am angry (usually at my husband) I don't feel as good as other, better days. Also days where my kids are driving me crazy I notice I am much snappier than days when they are more sane. It's true that in these examples outside forces have a lot of control over my wellness but that's were the benefit of mental fitness comes in. Calm that is constant no matter what is going on. Truly I wonder if those calm abiding people drive...

Unit Four

1. Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?
1. I did the exercise at the end of my day when it was pretty quiet in the house. I found the activity mostly pleasant but I wasn't quite sure how to be compassionate towards my thoughts. I think it was beneficial but I have nothing to measure it with. Meditation of any type is beneficial because it creates the relaxation effect. I did have a little difficulty breathing compassion out to the world, including my enemies. The people turned into flowers for some reason. Then I tried to focus on Jesus but there was some sort of barrier, well that's how it felt. I think this is a good exercise for others to do as long as they don't let the parts that are hard distress them.
2. 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?
1. A mental workout is an exercise of the mind to teach it how to calm down and observe thoughts instead of being swept away by them. Research indicates that those who exercise their minds have more metal focus than those who don't. Mental workouts done regularly helps the mind focus. Mental workouts can also protect against psychological trauma, like depression because it teaches the mind to be less reactionary. 

Unit Three

1. I would rate my physical well-being as a 7. I am about 20lbs away from being an 8 but am otherwise fine. I think I would rate my spiritual well-being as an 8. It will get higher when I get better at forgiving and spending time with God daily. I would rate my psychological well-being at a 6. It really can't get better until I get over my fear of deep friendships. The thing about people is they always leave so why get too close? That being said I know that deep friendships are a sign of health and wellness but I like being in the middle of the see-saw because I can control both sides.

2. Okay a good physical goal is to exercise a minimum of five days a week. A good spiritual goal is to read my Bible a minimum of five days a week. My psychological goal is to meditate at least once a week until it becomes easy then bump it up to two days a week.

3. An activity to assist me in reaching these goals would be to make a daily and weekly planner so I don't get busy and skip any of my goals.

4. Well the relaxation exercise link took me to the rainbow meditation which I have done in another class but I did it again. I actually found it really hard to block out the annoyances of today (like Kayla not eating her breakfast) and focus on relaxing. I was also interrupted by Amber but the exercise was almost over anyway. Don't get me wrong this is a good one I just found this time around was difficult.