~ My Plan for Holistic Integral Health (Creating Wellness Final)

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.