Unit 3 Mind Body Connection

I know it is hard for me to be honest with myself as to my own state of health and well-being. I want to think that I am doing fine in physically, emotionally and spiritually, yet if I take the time to do a self-evaluation I listen to what my body, mind and soul is telling me I will hear that I need to work on improving these aspects.

Rating
My rating for each of the following aspects of my health and well-being is as follows:
A.) Physical well-being is 6. I need to include different physical activities other than walking the dogs to my daily routine.
B.) Spiritual well-being is 6. I have true faith that there are higher powers that help govern our lives, yet I do not always take time out of my day to recognize the beauty that is around me or the many blessings that I have in my life.
C.) Psychological well-being is 6. I handle my daily stressors on a pretty even keel, however I need to work on not allowing myself to become frustrated or stressed out when I feel overwhelmed.

Goals and Activities
Setting goals even small goals can help me with a sense of accomplishment and make me feel good that I am trying to do something to help myself.
A.) Physical well-being goals and activities are to try and incorporate different physical activities into my life. These activities can be as simple as doing gardening.
B.) Spiritual well-being goals and activities need to try and practice some form of mediatation. Make sure that I add a few minutes each day to thank the higher powers for the life I have and learn to appreciate the positive aspects in my life.
C.) Psychological well-being goals and activities need to learn to let go of the things that frustrate me and realize that some of these things are far beyond my control. Learning to recognize these things will help relieve some of the daily stressors. The activities for this can be using stress releases such as averting the frustration into positive aspects. I can start jewelry making again to help avert some of these frustrations.

The Crime of the Century
I found that this relaxation exercise did help to relax my muscles and relieve some of the tension. I wasn't expecting to see any of the colors even though I believe that every living thing has an aura. I was surprised to see the different colors of red, blue and green. One other experience I had was a line of warmth that seemed to connect each of the chakra points. This line just increased in length from point to point and faded toward the end of the exercise. I wonder if anyone else felt this line of warmth?

Stressed Out

It is has been a really stressful week. I have had my granddaughter, Kylianna, all week and she has been ill, so my main focus has been on her. Received bad news about my mom's health, the doctor's have told her there isn't anything else they can do except keep her comfortable, her heart is contracting but not expanding back out as it needs to. I noticed yesterday that her mind is starting to slip, she is repeating the same questions over and over again. I understand that we are only here on this earth for a short while, yet it still is upsetting, hurts, causes anger and a range of other emotions to have to watch someone suffer and know that there isn't anything you can do.

It is Sunday morning and all I want to do is hide away in my room, Kylianna is with her mom for the next two days and I have to go back to work this week after being off for a month for my own illness. Yet, hiding away is not an option. So today I am going to be working on playing catch up in my housework and school work. My clean laundry is piling up at the end of the bed. I am behind in class and I am starting to really stress out about it. I know that if I set my mind to just doing things they will get done, yet right now I feel overwhelmed. I need to try to relax and focus my mind. I will try our exercises and see if they will help center me. Wish me luck!

Life

As we go forth in this life trying to stay connected to God, Great Spirit, Buddha or if you just believe in a higher power can be really difficult. Yet, I believe that each of these dieties wants for each of us to not only turn to them but turn in to ourself. We have to also look within in ourself to find inner peace. We can do this by taking time to meditate, watch a bee in flight or sitting in an open field with the face turned toward the sun, taking a few moments out to pray or stand in a doorway watching a family member and giving thanks that they are still alive are all paths to inner peace. Each person will have their own way to find their own journey to finding inner peace and whatever way is chosen I wish everyone peace, love, and faith. Know that you do not journey alone for the angels and spirit guides will be with you.

Meditation Reflection

Well, I tried again this morning to do the relaxation and meditation exercise and was able to acheive once again to stop my neck and shoulder from hurting but could never fully get my arms and hands to feel heavy. I don't know what I may be doing wrong other than I am not use to relaxing or meditating in this way. This is a whole new concept for me. I have read several post on the class discussion boards and realize that meditation and relaxation has to be worked at so I will keep trying.

Reflection

Boy, do I have a lot of work to do on learning how to relax. When I started the relaxtion exercise I was laying on my bed with the door shut, lights out and the room was dark. Instead of just turning the computer on and letting the journey begin, I used my earplugs to help block out any noises (I have a baby monitor in my room so I can hear my mom if she needs me). I became comfortable and started the audio, I was able to visualize the blood moving from my stomach to my arms and hands, but I could not fully relax or stop the thoughts from flowing in my head. I was able to relax my neck and shoulder muscles but never completely relaxed my arms or hands. My worries of not hearing mom and the dog coming in my room interrupted the ability to truly relax. I will try again tomorrow even if I have to take my laptop into the woods and ask Dad to stay with Mom to give me enough time to devote to trying the Journey again.

I spent a portion of this Father's Day with my Dad in the emergency room waiting for the test results to come back on my mom who may have suffered a mild heart attack. When my brother and his family arrived Dad and I went out to my car so he could eat. When I handed him his hamburger I kissed his check and told him "Happy Father's Day", he laughed and said "it was better than a card as at least he could eat the burger" and I laughed and said "I got you one of those too". And then we both laughed together. I told him that this was not the dinner we were suppose to have and he, like always, said "it was just fine." We started reminiscing about the many holidays and special days that were spent in the hospital due to all of Mom's illnesses and the things we had done together to pass the time while we waited and all of the untraditional dinners that were ate. He made this day seem like any other day and both of us were able to place our worries and stress aside for a little while. I am truly blessed to have this man as my father for he has been the one to teach me that sometimes you can laugh in the the most trying of times.

How do you help someone who has been traumatized and become lost? Suffering from insomnia, obesity, other illnesses, and has lost all hope. She does not see that her life can become better or that she will ever heal. Where do you start? This is what has happened to my cousin.

As her cousin all I can do is offer my support, listen, love her and let her know that she is wanted, that her life does have meaning and purpose. As a health and wellness student the only thing I know to do is to try to talk to her, cry with her, lend a shoulder and try to share the information I have gained with her. Trying to motivate her doesn't seem to work as she is not ready in her heart or soul to move forward. I really believe that until a person is ready to move forward or change nothing that is said or done will help.

She has made me question whether I am truly able to connect or help others if I have not experienced the things they have. My answer is yes, I can. My life experiences may not be the same but there may be similarities for I have experienced being lost, sick in the the body, mind and spirit. It is one of life's paths that is hard to move out of but can be done.

I heard someone say something during an interview the other day on Sirius Doctor Radio that has stuck with me, the geist of the conversation was; When someone has been traumatized and has suffered they are changed. When they can accept those changes the progress to heal starts. The past can not be changed and you can't worry about the future, all we can do is live in the here and now. The here and now will help take care of the future. This came from a woman who had been raped and left to die. This to me made alot of sense.

Welcome

Welcome, I would like to thank everyone who has taken a few moments out of their hectic life to read and post a response to any of my blogs. I am Melody Carroll and my journey to learn what I could on my psychospritual journey began 10 years ago. I hope that you will read my blog postings and respond, for me the insights of others can be enlightening and helpful, providing insights to aspects that I might not see or perceive. We all have had experiences in life and have gained knowledge and wisdom from those experiences that can help others.

Future

Before becoming a student at Kaplan University, I felt that there was a need to assist individuals with health and wellness issues. This feeling was inspired by my Mom, Sue. Mom has chronic health problems and was always told to eat right, to exercise, to take this or that medication, yet was never really shown how to eat and prepare her foods correctly, was never shown what exercises would benefit her the most, was never given counseling to help her adjust to her illness. Many times she was prescribed medicines that she was allergic to or was already taken in other medicines and was over-medicated. I can't count the times that she has been overmedicated. From living through this with her made me realize that individuals need help. They can not always afford to go to a nutritionist, hire a personal trainer or have access to check their medications to ensure they are not over-medicated or consuming foods, or items that may interact with their medicines. I feel that by starting my business Your Home, Your Health will allow those individuals the opportunity to learn how to begin taking better care of themselves and become proactive in their health care by visiting them in their homes and allowing them access to a staff of knowledgable professionals that can assist with not only contemporary protocols of handling the symptoms, but also allow them the opportunity to heal their mind and spirit.