Useful tools for my continued journey (Unit 8)

Over the course of the last eight weeks, I have learned some great techniques, practices, and tools to help promote integral health.  My journey is far from over and I am certain all of the tools will come in handy at one point or another in the future.  However, two have really made an impact on my journey.  The first is the Subtle Mind practice.  This is a practice I have incorporated into my life on a planned basis, but I have also used it spur of the moment as well.  I utilize this tool in three different ways.  First, I use the subtle mind practice to continue to train my mind.  It has helped me to have clarity and focus and though I still have work to do, I can fell a difference in the way I handle situations.  The second way I use the subtle mind practice is to calm down.  If I am in a stressful situation or find myself overwhelmed, I stop and take a few minutes to utilize this practice and it helps me restore the productive mind.  Finally, I use the subtle mind practice for relaxation or when I am having trouble sleeping.  I will continue to use this practice throughout my journey as I have mentioned above.  The other tool I have not had as much experience with, but it was impactful and something I know I will utilize in the future.  It is the human flourishing visualization.  Visualization is a powerful tool because it helps you to see the result.  It forces you to put yourself in the situation and feel like you are experiencing the result.  This tool will help me because it is a motivator.  I now have something to turn to when I feel like I am falling off track or when I am struggling with what to do next.  The visualization exercise walks me through remembering experiences in health, happiness, and wholeness so that I can take those reminders and continue to work toward achieving them once again.

The mindfulness way to spiritual wellness (Unit 7)

For this week, I used a variety of meditative practices.  Each one served its own purpose in my focus on increases psychological and spiritual wellness.  Some were planned, and some were called upon spur of the moment at a time of need.  First, I took some time to complete the meeting Aesclepius exercise.  This exercise was an interesting experience for me.  It is an exercise I would like to try a few times, but with different focal individuals in order to see if I have a different experience.  I did enjoy spending time focusing on my father, who I chose as the focal point, but I found it difficult to keep my mind focused because I wasn’t sure what I should be focusing in regards to him.  I also used the subtle mind exercise several times though out the week.  I tend to have an active mind and I enjoy the calmness and the focus I can achieve from the subtle mind exercise.  In fact, the other night I was lying in bed, trying to get tired and my mind was racing.  I stopped myself, started the subtle mind practice, and was able to clear my head and sleep peacefully within 10 minutes.  Another mindfulness exercise I utilized this week was reframing.  I like to use this practice in order to gain control of emotional situations and focus on the positive.  All of these things help me to be in a better place psychologically and spiritually, which in turn fosters greater health and wellness.

One of my goals for this journey is to feel my way through the many aspects of wellness and find a future career for myself.  The saying “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” has significant meaning for me personally because that is how I feel about finding a new career.  I want to help people improve their health and wellness but I feel like I need to take the journey myself in order to set an example, speak from experience, and be a better supporter of others.  I believe that the best person to teach or lead another is someone who has been there.  That does not mean that everyone has to follow the same path, but someone with experience and an open mind can provide guidance and support.  Another example of this is with teaching.  I have found professors who have served their entire lives in academia as knowledgeable, intelligent individuals.  However, the professors who have real life experience from a non-academic environment have given me additional insight, support, and perspective that the others cannot.  I believe there is a continued obligation to clients, regardless of industry or subject, for the ‘teacher’ to continue developing.  Life is a process and a journey, reaching the end is the end of life.  As long as we continue the journey, we continue living.

The personal, integral assessment (Unit 6)

I am always looking for ways to increase my awareness about my reactions and be more open and selfless.  The universal loving-kindness exercise was a quick, easy way to take a few minutes and think about others.  I found the exercise calming and helpful.  This was a little easier for me than the previous exercise where we had to think about the suffering or pain of a loved one.  I found this exercise to be a good reminder that we are all human and on this earth together and it is important to be conscious of our self as well as others around us.  I have discovered that I have a longing to help others, I just have not figured out the best way for me to do that. 

The integral assessment process is a bit more involved.  While I enjoyed the activity, I found it difficult at times because the true honesty required is tough.  I liked that the assessment walked us through various questions, but they were challenging questions to answer.  Because of the exercises over the last few weeks, I do not feel like I learned anything new about myself this time.  I feel like I have solid perspective about where I am and where I need to develop and grow, for now.  I anticipate completing this assessment again in the future and learning more about myself and my growth during that time.  I have chosen to focus on the biological and interpersonal aspects of my growth and development at this time.  My reasoning is twofold.  First, I need to focus on my nutrition, fitness, and overall health in order to ensure I am not hurting myself for the future.  Second, is that I am going to be finishing my degree in approximately 7 months.  I need to focus my efforts on my community relationships and work toward figuring out what my next career will be and how I will use that to help people.  Now that I have these focus areas in place, I can include various activities in my daily routine in order to help me grow in these areas.  First, is to continue to practice the mindful meditation exercises from this course in order to help me gain clarity about everything.  Another exercise I will use is a food journal to track my meals and the physical reaction I get from them.  This will help me focus on my health and address issues that are currently challenging.

The not so subtle mind

Those who know me well would say I have anything but a subtle mind.  I have had many people make a comment about the way my mind works, the amount of stuff that is in my head, and my inability to ‘turn my mind off’.  I am ready to prove these people wrong, and ready to learn how to train my mind!  I found the subtle mind exercise to be relaxing and empowering.  It was much easier than the loving kindness exercise.  I did have many random thoughts that pulled my focus away from my breathing but once I acknowledged them and returned my focus to my breathing, they went away.  This was a great feeling for me.  I know I still have a lot of work to do, but I feel like I am making progress.  I have also found that I am more focused throughout the day because function with more intent than reaction.

As I continue on my journey, I continue to be amazed by the connection between the mind, body, and spirit.  True wellness addresses all three aspects because they are all related to each other.  Spiritual wellness and development is probably the most difficult for me.  Because of this, it is the aspect I spend the least amount of time developing.  I have recently learned that this is also the area where I gain the most.  The spiritual wellness focus has provided me with a renewed feeling of success and motivation about my physical and mental wellness.  I will continue my journey focusing on each of the three aspects and knowing that improvement in any area will help all three because of their connection.