Last Unit:(

 

When I first assessed myself, my ratings were very low. I think that my Spiritual well-being is now about a 5. I am still not doing as well as I would like to, but I am getting better. Psychologically, I have improved greatly. I am now about a 7. I do need to improve more and I am on the road to it.

I have improved with my eating habits. I have not improved with my physical activity. I went backward with that, but I am just starting to do better. I did do a breast cancer awareness walk with my job and with my family. I have significantly improved my sleeping!!!! I go to bed at a regular time and get up on time now!

I have loved how practicing the meditation exercises because they have helped me so much with controlling my feelings and reactions. I have begun to be more of an intentional person than a reactionary person!!! All of my improvements and plans to improve where I need to will help me to help clients because I will know that a person has the power within themselves to be the best they can be no matter who that is. If I haven’t done it, then how can I help someone convince themselves of that?

I have loved being in this class, and I wish it would never end!!!!! I hope all of you continue to grow and I thank Dr D for being her wonderful inspiring self!!!

 

-Melisa ArebaloJ

Unit 8-Exercises

Unit 8

Throughout this course I have experienced many new things. The exercises that I have done: Meeting Aesclepius, Subtle Mind, and Loving Kindness have all been very helpful in my life. It is hard to pick a specific one but I can say that they have each helped me in a large way. Meeting Aesclepius helped me to see that it is possible for me to feel positive feelings for persons who I never thought I could. The Loving Kindness exercise made me feel similarly. The Subtle Mind exercise was a favorite because I was able to completely calm my mind like never before. I am an insomniac and I choose not to take medication for it. I realize that my mind is very active and I just have to train my mind to remain calm. I absolutely LOVE all of these exercise and I will use them for the rest of my life.

I hope to hear from all of you in future classes. All of you who are graduating, congrats!!!!

-Melisa Arebalo

Meeting Aesclepius & Spiritual Growth            

 

 

      The Meeting Aesclepius  meditative practice was very helpful. All of the meditative execises that I have done seem to lend themselves to one another. When asked to picture a person that I have deep love for, I always picture my Dad. I found it hard to take on his qualities because I don't think that I could be as great or as kindhearted as my Dad. I think this taught me that I am worried that I can't be as good as I think I should. I think mindfulness and meditation has helped me  to learn much more about my Psychological and Spiritual self.

 

     The saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself'", means that it is quite difficult for an individual to take someone on a journey that they have never been on themselves. This applies to a journey that is figurative or literal. As a health and wellness professional I would need to make sure that I have experienced the exercises that I recommend to my clients. I cannot know how they work or  how they feel if I have never done them myself. I alsi have an obligation to make sure that I am psychologically, spiritually, and physically healtlhy because I need to make sure that I can set a good example and that I am sound in judgement. I can implement this growth in my personal life by doing the exercises that I have been introduced to in this class and allowing them to change me for the better.                             

 

-Melisa A.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

(6) Universal Loving Kindness & Integral Assessment

Universal Loving Kindness Exercise

It included sitting quietly and repeating the sentences:

"May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.

May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.

May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.

May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness."

 The exercise was interesting and it definitely forced me into letting go-which is a thing that I find very difficult to do. I did appreciate the exercise and I will practice it regularly!

 During the assessment, I learned that I have trouble letting go of negative feelings and that is the aspect of my life that I chosen to be a focus of growth for myself. I feel that I need to allow my mental and emotional health to grow, and I cannot do that if I am not continually progressing.
I think that by continuing to practice the Loving Kindness Exercise at least a few times weekly, and following it up with the assessment weekly, I would be a more loving person, which would help my mental and emotional health.

Reference

 

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publications, Inc.



-Melisa A.

(5)Subtle Mind vs. Loving Kindness

 

     I especially enjoyed the Subtle Mind exercise. In contrast to the Loving Kindness exercise, the Subtle Mind exercise was easier to execute. It may have had something to so with the fact that I had just previously completed the Loving Kindness exercise, and was already in the right frame of mind to it. At any rate, the Subtle Mind exercise allowed me to train my mind to allow outside noises to continue but not distract me from my focus. I absolutely loved this exercise. I never really thought that I could successfully do such a thing. I like the fact that I could practice this exercise everyday and pretty much anywhere. The Loving Kindness exercise will not be easy for me to do anywhere other than at home. I need much longer time to do it and I need much more concentration.

     All in all, I like both exercises; I just think the Subtle Mind exercise did a much better job at clearing my mind and bringing me to relaxation and focus.

 

Melisa  Arebalo

Loving Kindness

Loving Kindness-Melisa A

I found the Loving Kindness Exercise to beneficial. I had to do it several times, as I was interrupted by my family members. I added each one that interrupted me into the sea of people who I needed to breathe in the negative feelings from, and breathe out wishes of peace and love and loving kindness toward. Although that may seem funny, it really helped, because I find interruptions of my homework for trivial matters to be disrespectful-I may be anal retentive. I found this technique to help me to remember that the people whom I feel negative feelings for, are people too. They have feelings and they have hardships, and it is not fair to only extend loving kindness toward those whom I am very close to. I had some resistance to letting go of some of my negative feelings, so I know that I will have to practice this exercise two times daily as prescribed by the narrator.

Mental workouts are exercises that an individual can do to deepen or expand the abilities of the mind. Based on the reading, mental workouts are shown to expand individuals’ mental capacities beyond what they believed to be possible. (Dacher, 2006) Mental workouts are definitely becoming a stable part of my daily regimen. They have already begun to cause me to be more open-minded and to see people that I have dehumanized, as human again. I have also utilized certain positive self talk to help me through situations that I would normally react improperly to.

 Reference

Dacher,E. 2006. Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publications, Inc.

-Melisa

Rating

Hello everyone:) Based on my reflections, Here are my ratings:

Physical well being-7 I normally do pretty well with eating fairly healthily and I try to be active-in fact, I started running 3 weeks before surgery. Goal: feel better physically. become more toned and build endurance. Be able to conceive & carry a childTo reach these goals, I want to eat at least one serving of raw fruit and vegetable daily and as soon as I am released by the surgeon, I will start running again. I also want to start lifting weights twice weekly. I will also make sure that I stay up to date with my visits to my doctor to make sure that my reproductive health is okay.
Spiritual well being-5 I feel horrible that I haven't been doing what I should, which is putting spiritual things first. It affects me a great deal that I haven't been door to door to teach anyone about the Bible in three weeks. Even though, I talk to people about the Bible alot, my main responsibility is to go from door to door to teach. I feel as if my relationship with God is sort of waning. Goal: Reach a place where I feel that my thinking is in line with God and his principles. To reach my goal, I will make sure that I do some personal spiritual research at least three times weekly. Probably in the evenings. I will need to make sure that I am studying so that I can be ready to answer questions that people may have. I will make sure that I go out door to door every Saturday morning, until I can add more time here and there.
Psychological well being-7 Due to my physical and spiritual situation, it is sometimes hard for me to see myslef as a good person. I feel as if I kind of let myslef go spiritually, which makes it hard for me to do all that I know I could do physically. It's a bad cycle. Goal: increase my self worth, and esteem. I will try to continue to do the things I stated in my previous ratings, and if I do those things, I will feel better about myself as a person.
I hope this helps someone:)

-Melisa A.