To flourish is to have “a profound, hardy, and
sustained health, happiness, and wholeness” (Dacher,
E. S. 2006. p35. pp 2).
We
are not taught to have that, we are taught to exist, come what may, and to
muddle through one day at a time. By those that have gone before, we see the
blueprint of the way things are suppose to be and we adapt to that way, yet we
try to do it just a little bit better, so we read a few books, learn a few new
tricks, and follow the latest and greatest passing fad to self improvement, yet
we still do not have this place called flourishing. We continue on our way, going to the doctors
when needed, eating a little better and getting a few minutes of exercise here
and there, believing all the while that this is as good as it gets, that you
play the hands that you are dealt and there is no other way. Until now….
Creating
Wellness, the Psychological and Spiritual aspects of healing opened a new
window of opportunity for me and others to find this place of whole person
health and wellness, this place of flourishing, and gave us a map to find
it. Yes, even this time, I read a few
books and am learning a few new tricks, however this time, this way doesn’t feel
like just a passing fad. This makes
sense and goes along with everything else I read about the mind, and spirit and
the way those two works together for the betterment of the vessel they are
housed within. I can feel the rightness
about this, even though I do not have the abilities to do all of what I need to
do, as far as this teaching goes at the moment, I know that with time and
practice, I too can enter this place of flourishing that up until now has
eluded so many. I can take the introduction
of this way of life, this blueprint and begin my personal journey of the
beginning of the rest of my life which will ultimately be better than the first
43 years, because I will begin to “flourish” for the first time in my life and
that thought alone is very exciting to me.
~This is my plan.
To
begin, it is important for me to develop personally in the areas of
psychological, spiritual, and physical because without personal growth, one
cannot hope to help, guide, or begin to foster growth or integral health in
others. Health care professionals (or
Human Services Professions, in my case) are the catalyst so to speak to the
change we want to see in transforming our medical minded world into a whole
person, human flourishing minded world and while I want to help myself to
develop and foster an integral health lifestyle, I thrive on helping others and
tend to help myself last. I see now that
I really have that backwards and I must develop myself, if I am ever to help
others in a complete or integral way.
I
personally need to develop in all areas of the human experience because I have
been living the life described in the paragraphs above. I live a good life, however one that is based
on the blueprints of those in my immediate family, my surrounding family and
friends, and community; living a life of a traditional Western world individual
and therefore must start from the ground up in all four aspects of the human
experience. I personally want to focus
much of my attention, at least at this point, on my psychological development
because there is where the spiritual and physical ultimately rise or fall,
however a good integral plan address every area simultaneously (Dacher, 2006). I want to spend time developing my mind to a
place of calm-abiding, (for now) where the mental movements no longer control
me, where I can purposefully choose what and when to focus my attention. To be able to help others effectively, I have
to develop personally. To have an
integral practice and relationship with those I wish to serve, I must be able
to listen to them completely and to do that I have to develop my mind because
“deep listening can only occur in the still mind” (Dacher, 2006. p. 169). I tend to constantly think, constantly formulate
the next sentence, constantly plan my next activity, and find it very difficult
to focus my attention on the task at hand or person in front of me. I do it, yet in a very forced, unnatural way
and I can feel my struggle and at times the struggle of the person I am talking
to as they can see or feel my un-attention to them. I want to get that part of me under control
first and foremost.
My overall
health, I believe to be well, at least from a purely physical Western world
perspective. I take one prescription
medication, I work out regularly, for the most part, yet am slightly overweight
from a 4 year bout of life’s bumps depression up until 2 years ago, I eat
healthy again now, yet probably drink more wine than I should, however I feel
strong, am without aches and pains, I get up for work every day, I volunteer my
time to a homeless shelter program, I attend school, take care of my aging
mother, and 18 year old son, and am in a very complicated, long distant
relationship with the man of my dreams yet I do not believe I do any of this at
a level that I should and only muddle through each and every day without great
vision or intention.
Spiritually,
I feel good about my growing relationship to my God. I pray throughout the day and feel his
presence with me. Where I used to feel
very alone in the world, now I do not, however I am not sure if that is
becoming content or that I have become a hermit and am merely getting used to
the solitude. I find peace in walking
through the park, watching nature and absorbing its tranquility. The sounds of rushing water, the birds, and leaves
as you walk on them…are all very spiritual to me and I find comfort there. Yet, again, at such a basic, un-matured level
which I know I have the potential to move beyond if I would only apply myself.
Psychological
(mental health) growth and development is where my biggest challenges and need
for work comes and according to this course, is the foundation the other
domains are built upon. As stated
previously, my mind tends to wander all over the board, and although I am not a
negative person, I get caught up in the negativity of others and react to that
instead of intentionally letting it go, therefore I need to spend the necessary
time to get that under control. It is
also the key to my interpersonal, biological and worldly struggles within my
life. Holding to the past (past hurts,
people, fears, etc), clinging to the present (out of fear of being hurt or
losing loved ones again), and fearful of the future (stepping out into the
unknown or living by faith), are all held within the lack of or weak
psychospiritual development.
To
move beyond the walls I have created, I have slowly been taking down each brick
over the last few years; praying more, exercising more, opening up and allowing
others into my life, returning to school and purposefully taking courses that
expand my mind and help me grow as an individual and believing myself to be
worthy of moving forward so I can better help others as well which has been a
slow process. I believe this course was
a great choice in that effort. Yet, once
again, I believe I am only doing that bare minimum effort because of my
circumstantially reactive personality and I really need to step up my personal
growth, because although it is never too late, I am running out of time to achieve
the levels I know I am capable of achieving and that frustrates me about
myself.
My
goals then are to improve upon my physical fitness by increasing the amount of
time I spend doing some sort of physical activity outside of work, and working
in my home even when my circumstances push me to a point of not wanting to. I walk/run each Saturday and Sunday for an
hour, weather permitting, and I do aerobic exercise for 40 minutes at least 3
days per week when life isn’t getting in the way. I want to do these things despite life’s
interruptions. I want to incorporate new
forms of physical activities into my normal routine. I tend to eat nutritiously in spurts. I love fresh vegetables and cook with them
often, then go to a strictly no carbohydrate diet for awhile, then strictly no
meat, then eat terribly for a time and back again. I want to stabilize my eating habits again to
overall healthy eating.
My
goals to improve spiritually are harder to define. I believe I want to become more spiritual and
become more intentional in participating in those things of the spirit. Adding forms of spiritual meditation to my
day, and to study about different cultures and aspects of spirituality or even
to understand what is meant by spirituality as it relates to my personal
beliefs and the beliefs of others which could help me define who I am
spiritually. I also want to read my
Bible more regularly and I believe finding a place of calm and peace within all
situations or to be less reactive to be very spiritual in nature so my goal is
to work on that as well.
My
psychological goals I believe to be more complicated, yet for the purpose of a
basic beginning, I want to incorporate the techniques learned in this course to
develop a healthier mental state first and then move deeper into psychological
areas of personal growth. Presently, I
focus so much energy on helping others that I do not help myself or…so I do not
have to help myself that I tend to do a whole lot of things to grow minimally. I want to be intentional with my own growth and
development in this area, because I know this is the area that I have let get
away from me and hold me stagnant in my life for far too long. I want to harness my thoughts and calm my
mind so I can develop body, mind, and spirit.
I will look into different avenues for deeper psychological development
once I am comfortable within my own skin to be able to actively participate in
my thoughts instead of react to them.
So
as not to fall into a trap of using a whole bunch of external techniques and
calling them integral health, I want to look into the resources made available
within the course material to find like minded people to help foster and mentor
my integral learning and growth. I
realize that since I do not really know how all of this works yet, I have to
spend some time studying the concepts of integral health and wellness more so I
do not only expand a bag a tools but
transform my way of thinking and life in the process.
Through
my goals, I believe I can begin to grow in all four areas of human existence
which is the ultimate goal. To develop
in the psychospiritual area which I believe is where much of my suffering
generates from (within the emotional, cognitive, reactive areas), to the area
of interpersonal to communicate better and then foster better relationships
with current family and friends, repair relationships that have been damaged, and
to let others in, in general, to the biological area to make lasting habits
with fitness and nutritional goals and even though my worldly experiences are
where I tend to excel, I know there will be areas that I can work on there in
time as well being this journey is fluid and ever changing.
Some
of the strategies I plan to implement to foster growth in each of these areas
are a combination of physical exercises, medication and relaxation exercises,
and of different disciplines to include Yoga, and Tai Chi. I want to foster relationships with my
current doctors so they can see where I am and we can work together if they are
able, to move towards an integral plan of action together. I will also use the contemplative practices
of this course to begin my most active development in the area of psychological
/ psychospritual growth.
For
the area of physical development, I will look into adding more variety to my
exercises, which could motivate me to want to participate even when
circumstances arise to distract me. I
would like to take a Tai Chi class. With
Tai Chi health and wellness are improved and a sense of inner calm can be
achieved through gentle movements and deep breathing. Adding a Yoga class which is a discipline of
physical movements that foster balance physically as well as spiritually and
mentally will also be a strategy I list within the other two areas of
growth. I will implement both of these
by finding local classes and fitting them into my day. As I get older, I realize that what my idea
of perfection early in life was to the reality of who I am now is quite
different and like who I am regardless of the perfection I never acquired, and
I also realize that the fad diets and eating habits of my perfection seeking
days are not a healthy overall lifestyle so I am now just going to use the
knowledge I have (I teach nutrition and well-being for a living) J and apply it to myself,
intentionally. Exercise and nutrition
are only two areas of the physical or biological self yet I believe these to be
important areas which can help to improve other physical areas as well, so I
will start there and change the focus later as I develop.
In
the area of spiritual development, I believe the strategies I will use to
foster growth are the Tai Chi and Yoga classes as well and possibly look into
an academic course on the meaning of spirituality or how to find that place
within (if that makes sense), because I am confused about things of the
spirit. Not in a way that makes me
suffer or feel bad, just in a I’m not really sure I get it beyond religion
(that has been given to me by my family or minimal amount of learning I have
done on my own) or nature, or what Webster’s dictionary says it to be. I have many friends who mentor me, or try to
mentor me in the area of Christian spirituality and although we discuss God,
and Jesus and read my Bible and go to different churches to try and find my way,
I do not get into it in ways that others believe I should and I really cannot
say why I do not. I believe that since
integral health is transformative and progressive, once I develop in the area
of the mind, the area of the spirit with come naturally, yet I always want to
gain knowledge so that is what I will do for now to grow in this area.
In
the area I am most interested in developing, that of the mind. Psychological, psychospiritual development
will start with the basic techniques of this course and move from there. I want to be able to follow the contemplative
practices regularly, not just when all external forces are optimal but when
they are not as well, which I am almost certain, is the point of contemplative
practices and exercise to begin with.
Developing the mind so I can be in a place of calm and stillness despite
what is going on around me, is where I really want to be. I want to be less reactive, more proactive,
and participate mentally only in the areas of my choosing, so I will use the
Subtle-mind exercises and research other such exercises until I can. Although I believe to live a loving-kindness
life, thinking of others before self, wanting the best for all of humanity, I
suppose that because I still cannot give myself the same amount of love and
affection, I am not even being as fulfilling in this area that I could so I
will also add the Loving-kindness practice to my daily routine. I plan to implement the use of contemplative
practices on a regular basis by adding both practices to my daily routine, like
getting up in the morning and showering, I have to find the best time for
myself and just do it. Once a task is
done regularly for a time it becomes habit and therefore no longer a chore or
inconvenience and that is what I intend to make this. Another strategy that I have already put into
place to achieve this goal is to buy Dacher’s Integral Health book for my
boyfriend and my supervisor at work in hopes to gain a mutual excitement for
the subject and discuss it regularly; people that have an understanding of my
excitement and could help to hold my intentions accountable. Both seem to be interested, my supervisor has
been on a personal journey for awhile now and seemed to get really excited when
I would discuss the concepts of this course with her and is currently reading
the book, yet my boyfriend, although an avid reader, has not started it as of
yet. I will research as much material
that I can in the area of psychological growth as well as use the teachings of
Yoga and Tai Chi to develop in this area.
I
will have to assess my progress or lack of at this point on a weekly basis
until I actually implement my goals into action otherwise it will fall by the
way side. I have my boyfriend and other
family members talking to me about my plans which will help hold me accountable
merely because I do not like when others remind me of what I said I was wanting
to do, so that is build in incentive. In
six months, my boyfriend and I plan to be together more regularly and he too
wants to develop in these areas so we will have each other to motivate and hold
accountable. Having others to work with
or be a motivation is always easier than to do things alone, so I believe I
will be successful. This course was an
elective for me, so I believe myself to truly want what I have learned
here. I do not believe I will waste the
time, money, or energy and do nothing with it.
As far as maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness, I
have a long line of sickly ancestors that I do not want to end up like so….I
will continue to gain knowledge and understanding and then put it into action
of how to live by a holistic/integral health way of life to reach this place of
human flourishing to ensure that I do not.
Sandy
Reference
Dacher,
E. S. (2006). Integral health, the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA:
Basic
Health Publications, Inc.
