My educational goal is to eventually receive a master’s degree and become a social worker in the Employee Assistance Program (EPA) of the hospital that I now am employed with. This program is developed to help employees who are dealing with some type of life stressor which began to affect the employee’s quality of life and job performance. These issues could include substance abuse, anger management, grief, divorce or death of a spouse etc.
To be able to help the individuals that I will serve, it is critical for me to incorporate and develop myself psychologically, spiritually and physically so that I am not just telling others about the benefits of integral health practices, but have actually partaken and received the benefits myself. I realize that I need more growth in some areas than others, but I realize that there a level of development needed in all areas of my life.
Spirituality is a concept of consciousness and intention and I have assessed myself spiritually simply by the fact that prior to this class, I had not spent time in prayer and Bible reading as I had in the past. It seemed that I had allowed the busyness in life to take me off the path that I used to walk which was daily Bible reading, meditating over what I had read, and time spent in prayer to ask how to apply what I had read to my daily walk. Through this class, it has become crystal clear that I have allowed some hurts and disappointments to come into my life that has hindered my desire to spend time to strengthen my spiritual life also. Through the activities of practicing loving-kindness, I realized how I needed to let go, forgive and desire only good to those who I felt had betrayed me. Things and people that I thought I could not forgive, I learned that forgiveness begins with choosing to forgive. On a scale of 1 – 5, with 5 being excellent, I scored myself in this area of my life with a 2.5.
In assessing myself physically, I realize that some health challenges from not eating healthy and exercising is causing my body to experience some of the health issues that I am experiencing. On a scale of 1 – 5, with 5 being excellent, I scored myself in this area of my life with a 2.
Psychologically, there is a need to learn how to
process information in a better way is needed, because I sometimes stress over
things that I really do not have control over which then leaves me feeling
anxious and frustrated. On a scale of 1
– 5, with 5 being excellent, I scored myself in this area of my life with a 3.
My goal development involving the above areas of my life are as
following:Spiritually – I need to go to bed earlier than I have, so that I can get up and have scheduled time (45 minutes) in the morning to have quiet time before starting my day while the house is quiet and spend that time to pray, read the Bible and meditate on the word that I read.
Physically – I will re-join the YWCA and participate in the water exercise program twice a week. One day on the weekends and one day during the week on evenings that is not school nights. I will need to schedule actual days to complete homework and studying task instead of trying to crowd them in on the weekends.
Psychologically – I tend to over-extend myself and at times I become frustrated and overwhelmed. Dacher stated that “we cannot give to others what does not yet exist within ourselves - we must turn this loving-kindness inward, then outward”
One goal that I have identified is to strengthen my abilities in how I process information, feel about myself and my environment and act in response to my thoughts and feelings. I will need to strengthen my psychological fitness by taking time for myself, learning to quiet my racing thoughts through the practice of meditating to give myself the ability to cope with stress, improve my decision-making skills and social engagement and interaction with others.
When you think, feel and act positively, you
help protect your psychological health and build overall strength and stamina.
My commitment to assessing my progress or lack of progress will be monitored by keeping a daily journal of my progress and reordering my life to incorporate these changes that I desire. I will spend time at the close of my day to journal and record my day. Journaling my feelings after practicing silence and stillness, meditating, teaching myself how to examine the various activities that I participate in to see if this is what I need to be doing at this time in my life; is it fostering inner peace or agitation within my mind and emotions. I have had much success in the past with journaling and watching my life progress in areas and revisiting processes in other parts of my life that have not changed and developing new strategies.
Keeping a food journal is another way that I can monitor my eating habits. I have already begun doing this and I was shocked to learn how much snacking I was doing between meals.
I have also asked my fiancée to help me be accountable to going to the gym. He has decided that he will join so that I will have an exercise buddy.
I recognize that this is just the beginning and as I grow and self-develop, new things will come to the surface for me to work on and to lead me to living a self-generated and self-cultivated life of integral health, authentic happiness from within and a genuine wholeness that interconnects my life to universal loving-kindness and a light that will automatically attract others to have the desire to have in their own lives.
Bibliography
Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Huma Flourishing.
Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.
Hi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and quite detailed. First I would like to say you are on the road to success. The goals you have set and experience of course content will help you to become the best Social Worker in the EPA program at your place of employment. Recognizing areas needing fine tuning or adjusting is a step in the right direction.
Your methods for tracking progress are similar to what I decided how to record and track. Silence and stillness along with meditation will allow you to channel in the areas needing attention and then develop a way to improve the progress. The practices you have selected are ones I choose because they seem doable and would allow me to be consistent. The fact of the is, we have made similar choices for a lifestyle change and ways to accomplish, health, happiness and wholeness.
Best wishes for your success and achieving your endeavors.
Dru
Hey Barbara- sounds like you have learned a lot and more importantly have a plan in place. I wish you the best of luck! I think one thing that I have learned and seen with others is sometimes we forget about ourselves and we must take that time and get back to the things that bring us enjoyment. I would also recommend a meditation yoga session so that you can practice meditation with others and get the true effect. The other tip I have if you have a smart phone myfitnesspal will track your calories, exercise etc and it is free.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!
Lil Garcia
Thank you for sharing what you have learned over the last few weeks! I think it is great that you have helped out so many people and you have found your calling from God. I think too often we try to spend so much time figuring out why we are here instead of just jumping towards something that feels right and seeing if that is what our calling is. It sounds like you know exactly what you need to work on in each area of your life and you know how you are going to get there. I think too often we all have the same reasonings of not having enough time in our day to think about ourselves. But in order to better ourselves in everything we do, we will have to find the time! I wish you the best of luck in reaching your final destination in all three categories and again thank you so much for your work with people!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless,
Taya Hurtado
Hi Barbara,
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on your posting! I think that it is awesome what you have accomplished in your life thus far. I truly wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours. After reading your Unit 9 blog, I know in my heart that you will be a huge success. It takes a loving, kind, soft hearted and strong individual to do what you have accomplished already. Stay strong and you will do awesome. Thank you for sharing your life thus far. It is very interesting. Thank you!
Sonia
Hello Barbara,
DeleteGreat post. I absolutely have been in the same place you are with reading and meditating on the bible and what I read. I go through phases and I think most people do. I think that we have to be kind to ourselves when things don't go as planned and don't be ourselves up about it. You don't sound like you do! YOu sound as if you have a clear idea in your head of what you want to do to fix it. I want to encourage you to not let your health go to the wayside. It should be number 1 priority. If you aren't well, you can't and won't be able to help yourself. You are blessed to know your purpose and God let you get it for a reason. So make sure you are here to fully use it! Take care and the best of luck to you in your future endeavors.