Sprititual Wellness Connection

As human beings, we are composed of spirit, mind, and body, which are all interconnected.  Therefore, we must care for each aspect of our being in order to achieve or maintain complete wellness.  Unfortunately, contemporary medicine has moved away from both the spiritual and mental aspects of our health and has only focused on the physical, which is why physicians and surgeons focus so much on pushing pills and procedures as a cure to our ailments such as heart disease and diabetes. However, physicians are now realizing that the mental aspect of our being is also important and we are seeing a transition to including therapies such as counseling.  On the other hand, physicians have been slow in recognizing the importance of including the spiritual aspect in their treatments.

My spiritual connection is mostly manifested through prayer.  Most of the prayer that I have done over the last few years have been for my husband's health since has been on life-support three times during this time.  Each time, he was not given more than 48 hours to live; however, with my belief in prayer he proved the doctors wrong.

Having this belief in prayer has helped both my physical and mental wellness in that giving my worries to God has helped to relieve the stress that I would have felt.  In relieving my stress I was mentally at peace, which prevented my body from reacting to the stress that I would have experienced.  In other words, my body remained in the same state of wellness it was in prior to my husband's hospitalizations instead of breaking down due to stress since I was at peace with the outcome of my husband's situation.

Debra

Loving-Kindness vs. The Subtle Mind Exercises

The loving-kindness exercise was a difficult one for me since I have built a wall of protection regarding my feelings for my husband due to the resentments that I feel.  As I wrote in my reflection of the loving-kindness exercise, I was unable to focus on the love that I have for my husband because I currently feel more like his caregiver instead of his wife.  I feel more like his caregiver because I was thrown into the role of his full-time caregiver four and a half years ago.  As a result of this, this exercise was frustrating for me and when I was done with it I did not feel like it benefited me at all.

However, the subtle mind exercise was easier for me.  This exercise is what I need to concentrate on since my mind is full of unnecessary chatter.  Lately, I find that I have so much chatter going on in my mind that I have difficulty with focus.  During this exercise, I found that I had moments of quiet within my mind though my mind did wander at times.  However, as I focused on my breathing I was able to calm my mind.  After going through this exercise, I felt refreshed and energized; a sense of renewal.

Debra

Mental Workout

The concept of "Mental Workout" is the action we take in conscious effort and practice to expand our consciousness and healing of the mind (Dacher, 2006).  Research has shown that mental workouts are a necessary component to human flourishing since this practice leads to health, happiness, and a feeling of wholeness in our well-being.

I can implement mental workouts to foster my psychological health in two ways:

• Continue to practice "loving-kindness"
• Learn to free (calm) my mind of useless clutter (thoughts, feelings, and images)

Reference

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

 Debra

Loving-Kindness Exercise

I found this exercise to be difficult.  It wasn't difficult as the result of being an unloving individual, the difficulty is the result of being thrown into the role of being my husband's full-time caregiver more than that of his wife.  The more I think about it, the more I realize that I have a lot of resentment over the way our lives have changed over the last four and a half years.  This resentment has been bottled up until recently.  While bottling up my resentment, a  wall was unknowingly built, which is why this exercise was a difficult one for me.  This wall is a wall of protection; however, it has made it difficult for me to feel anything that I used to for my husband.  Because of this wall, I found it difficult to  picture a person in my life that I love.  Don't get me wrong, I love my husband; however, I am having a difficult time with feeling this love at this time in my life.  As I said before, I feel more like a caregiver than a wife.

Before becoming my husband's full-time caregiver, I had been a loving individual who showed loving-kindness to everyone.  If I were not already someone who opened my heart to others, my husband and I would not have started a homeless ministry a few years ago while still living in Columbus, Ohio.  Our ministry lasted only a short time before moving to Florida; however, I can say that this time in our lives was the happiest and most fulfilling, since we focused on others needs over our own.  

I am not going to give up on this exercise.  I am going to continue to practice the technique in hopes that someday I will be able to break through the barrier (wall) so that I can experience what this exercise has to offer.  I do see the potential to experiencing this exercise, which is why I would recommend it to others.

Debra

The Crime of the Century Relaxation Exercise

At the beginning of this relaxation exercise, I found it difficult to relax; however, I got so relaxed on the seventh color of the rainbow that I did not hear the speaker say the color was.  I actually dozed off.  The next thing I became aware of was the speaker instructing me to sit up or stand when I am ready.

One thing that I never did figure out was, why is this relaxation exercise titled "The Crime of the Century"?  Did I miss something when I dozed off?

Debra

Self-Reflection

Based on my reflections, I would rate my physical well-being at 4, my spiritual well-being at 6, and my psychological well-being at 6.  My ratings are based on the following factors:

Physical

• I am morbidly obese
• I am type 2 diabetic
• I have hypertension
• I do not eat a healthy diet
• I am not physically active

Goal:  Begin to take care of myself by eating healthier and becoming physically active.  Once I am able to do these two things, I will be able to lose weight and I will have control over my hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

Activities: 

• Take all of the nutrition knowledge that I have and put it into action by developing a healthy low carbohydrate, low fat, high protein diet
• Begin to move more by doing activities that I love such as dancing and join my local YMCA to learn how to workout and for support.

Spirtitual

I do not take time for myself for meditation and/or prayer.

Goal:  Take at least 10 minutes out of my busy day to pray or meditate and increase the time in five minute increments to 30 minutes over a period of  five weeks.

Activities: 

• Pray
• Meditate while listening to soothing music or subliminal CD's

Psychological

Though I have worked on many issues over the last 30 plus years, I still have issues that I am dealing with or have ignored, which is why my physical well-being is suffering.

Goals:  

• Learn to express my feelings more openly 

• Continue to work on past issues that remain unresolved

 Activities: 

• Daily journal writing
• Create a support system