What another interesting exercise to stir up the mind, body and spirit. I am going to answer the questions in the order presented to us:
Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), where do you rate your A-physical well-being, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?
For my physical well-being I rate myself an "8". For my age, I am pretty active and love taking care of myself. In 1999, I decided on a lifestyle change by changing my eating habits and becoming a vegetarian. I took meats/fish, sugars, starches, sodas, (and all of the non-nutritious foods and ingredients) out of my diet, Within the last year, I've decided to take the vegan journey and I feel wonderful! For my psychological well-being, I rate myself a "7" and the reason (I believe) is because I lost both of my parents before the age of 18 and I had to become independent very young and take care of myself. I did not really enjoy my teenage or young adult years. I got married young because I wanted to create a sense of family connection I had two children, divorced after 15 years and then became a single (working) parent. There was NO family to lean on. I tend to attach myself to others just to have a sense of a family connection--which is not healthy but I am working on it. I rate my spiritual well-being a 10+. I have always believed in a higher power. I practice the Christian faith and personally, I could not have gotten through all of my obstacles and adversities in my life without God. I do not see God as a being who sits high and looks low. The God that I serve is all around and is constantly with me, loving me and always taking care of me and my children.
Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).
Although I rated myself an "8" physically, the goal that I am going to set for myself is to do more meditation and learn more yoga techniques. I tend to stress a lot and I multi-task all of the time. I work a full-time job, a part-time work-at-home job AND take two classes at Kaplan. I know that this sounds like a lot, but I have a son in college as well and I need the extra money. My spiritual goal does not need developing. I am good in that area because I pray daily and I give thanks for all of my blessings. As far as psychological, my goal is to work on who I want in my inner circle. It has taken me a long time to really understand that everyone is not your friend and everyone does not have your best interest at heart. Therefore, I am weeding out those who do not mean me any good.
What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?
The activity and/or exercise that I can implement in my life to assist in moving toward each goal is to "prepare the ground" and exhibit silence and stillness. In our Unit 3 readings, Dache, talked about this. There are three aspects of silence and stillness: the outer, the inner and the innermost. The latter of the two are attained through mind training. Our final preparation begins when we carefully examine our day-to-day activities and physical with the aim of identifying and eliminating excess sources of noise and busyness (Dacher, p. 54). Returning to school after a long time has been my goal for years! That door finally opened and I am so happy! Therefore, my goal is to release the distractions around me and focus so that I can continue being the best me that I can be (smile).
Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)
Ok. I am 50/50 on this relaxation exercise. Again, I become so relaxed that I fell asleep (LOL). I had to restart the tape and begin again. I enjoyed the concentration and focus; however, I could not get into the "rainbow" colors. That was distracting to me. My mind wanted to just focus on the parts of the body and relax. I became distracted when I had to focus on the various colors associated with the different focal points on the body. I recited the mantras of "I feel grounded", "I feel centered", "I feel loved" and "My life has a meaningful purpose." This experience was beneficial to me. Saying those words really gave me a sense of joy, peace and well-being and it confirmed that I am loved (I am learning to love myself more) and I do have purpose no matter what.
Hi Patricia, I have a daughter in college and a 16 year old , so I know what you mean about stressing a lot ! :) I am also very happy that I am returning to school, I have always wanted to and it never seemed like it was the right time, but now my employer offers a decent tuition reimbursement program and it's working out great! The relaxation exercises are new for me but I enjoyed both so far and am looking forward to trying it again. Good luck with your studies !
ReplyDeleteSue
Hey Patricia. I appreciated your comment on my post and decided to return the favor. My favorite part of your post was the part about weeding out the people in your life who do you no good. It's funny, because I have dealt first hand with this in the recent months. Since I moved to Canada, it has been difficult for me to make new friends. When I was in NC, all of my friends were Marines that I had been around for 8 years, and we were tight. My life changed when I moved up here, found my spirituality, found myself, changed my diet and started getting everything right. My friend from NC came up to visit, and in one weekend, everything went wrong that could go wrong...literally. I won't go into details, but it was just a reminder to me that some people get "taken" out of your life for a reason, and I feel that when certain people add NOTHING to the development of your spirit and life journey, that they need to go. This will at times mean that you will be lonely, but then, magically, the right people will pop into your life when you need them most. This I have noticed to be a huge fact in my book. Keep working at it, you'll find the True friends in no time!
ReplyDeleteHi Patricia~
ReplyDeleteI think you are wonderful for sticking to your diet, I know it is hard to stick to no sugars or processed foods. I tried, succeeded, then ultimately failed lol. I agree with your faith in God, as I have never been through anything horrific in my life without help from the man above. I have come to think of prayer in my life as meditation of sorts, throughout the day, and it keeps me sane. I didn't get married young, but I was homeless and pregnant at 18, and then my daughter developed epilepsy and she is autistic. My parents both moved away, and I was left to figure things out for myself; thats when I realized that true friends take the place of family in hard times in life. Everyone needs friends like that; hard journeys are part of life, I have figured out, and it creates who we are. :)You seem to be going in the right direction as well!
Hi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteThe exercise was okay in my opinion, except that I can't seem to relax with imagery. I found myself focusing on my breath which is what relaxed me. I breathed my stress out during this exercise and I can say that I only made it to the third color before I became oblivious to anything around me. It was about an hour later when my children made some noises that brought me back to reality and I realized I had fallen asleep. I believe that each of us will at one time find which exercise works best for us. In my case, breathing techniques work the best.
Hi Patricia,
ReplyDeleteThat is great that you were able to change your eating habbits. My cousin is also a vegan and she loves it as well and is very healthy. I personally do not think that it is a lifestyle for everyone but for those who can do it, it is great! I also said that I would like to do more meditation however this is hard for me. While do the relaxation exercise this week and last I was unable to stop thinking about everything that I needed to get done and everything else. This is what I feel like I need to focus on and improve on. Good luck:)
-Ashley