Sunday, March 31, 2013

Unit 9 Project: Self-evaluation


Running Head: SELF-EVALUATION PLAN


Final project: Self-evaluation Plan

Margaret Horne

Kaplan University



HW420: Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

Kim Montgomery

April 2, 2013

          When one thinks about health, the thing that they are mainly thinking of is just the physical aspect of health. There is more than just the physical part when it comes to health there is also the spiritual aspect and physiological aspect. All health and wellness professionals need to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. Honestly who would want a doctor that is obese, smokes, and is just not in any good health at all telling them what to do? No one wants a doctor liked this it basically goes back to practice what you preach. Dacher has stated many times why one has to develop in these areas to be in their practice, it is stated that “to become the agents of a more expansive health, we must begin with our own life….We must start with preparations and practice. Nothing less will do” (Dacher, 2006). He then goes on to basically say that by incorporating integral health into your life you will discover new possibilities of integral health and healing and you will start to know firsthand what happens when you evolve. If the professional is doing the things that they are trying to convince their clients to do, they can tell them how it has personally helped them and how it can do the same for them. When it comes to me personally I need to develop in all three areas, especially if I would like to achieve the goals that I have set for myself.

          When it comes to my health psychologically, spiritually and physically I have assessed each domain by taking time looking within myself and seeing where I am at and if I am where I want to be at. I have rated myself in each domain on a scale of 0 to 10. When it comes to my psychological well being would be rated a 5. I have come to find myself being stressed out a lot with so many things on my mind. There has just been so much bothering me all the time and it is just hard for me to keep a clear mind. Spiritually I would to rate my well being at an 8. I do believe in a higher power. I love going to church, I look forward to going to church because when I’m there I am able to clear my mind some because I am praising God and giving my problems to him. When I started working though I stopped going to church because I don’t get Sundays off, I may get a Sunday off every few months but I still can’t go to church like I want to because the person I stay with doesn’t go to church and I don’t my own car. When it comes to my physical well-being I would rate that at 6.5. I honestly do not have a good diet and I do not exercise at all. I’m always out so I just grab some fast food, but I don’t eat much candy and chips, I will eat it though when I’m at work and I feel like I don’t have any energy. When it comes to exercise or any physical activity I can’t fit it into my schedule any more. Before I started working I was always outside walking around all the time and that how I stayed active and was able to keep some weight off.

          I have set goals for myself when it comes to my psychological, spiritual and physical well being. My goal for my psychological well-being is to stay stress free as much as I can and to and being able to let go of things like holding grudges towards people for things that they have done to me. My goal for my spiritual well-being is to start going back to church every Sunday and even on other days when they have services. I just want to get back involved into church the way I was before I started working. When it comes to my physical well being my goal is to lose weight, starting off at just 50 pounds for now and moving forward from that. When it comes to meeting my psychological goals I will do this by writing in my notebook more when something is bothering me and finding me a quiet place to just go and meditate even if that means to go sit in the car. Also doing a loving kindness exercise will help me to reach my goal of not holding a grudge towards others because I will be forgiving them during the exercise and showing nothing but love for them.

To reach my spiritual goals I am going to start requesting some Sundays off so that I will be able to attend church services. I will also be waking my boyfriend up so he can take me even if that means he will just drop me off and come back later and get me or maybe even catching a cab if I have to. If I can’t make it to church I will just continue to listen to my gospel music and pray in order for me to set the atmosphere as if I were in church. To reach my physical goal I will do this by starting to eat healthier, even if this means to spend extra money on groceries that are better for me. I will also start to take time out of my day to exercise. I will go to the gym when possible and when not I will do my Zumba workout at home on my game system. In order for me to do any of these things I will be clearing time out of my days just for myself, so that I can better myself. I need to start thinking about myself more to make that I am healthy and doing what it is that needs to be done to live a healthy life.

In the next six months how will I assess my progress or lack of progress? For starters I am going to get me planner and start planning things out. I will make a “me time schedule” that is just all about me. This schedule will include times where I am going to church, praying, going to the gym, going grocery shopping, meditating, and doing exercises like the loving kindness exercise. When I do go by schedule and follow it I will highlight it in green showing that I did what I need to do. Then for the days when I put in some effort but not the way I wanted to I will mark that in yellow, to show that I need to put a little more effort into it. Then on the days that I didn’t stick to my schedule at all I will mark that in red. Then by seeing how my schedule works out at first I can try to alter it to get it to fit around my work schedule more if that is necessary. Also when it comes to me eating healthier I will start to plan out my meals ahead of time. I will probably plan my meals out for the whole month, so that I will know what it is that I am going to eat and to be able to make sure that the meal is healthy. When it comes to a long term strategy I will have to take it day by day and base it off of how I see myself doing with my six months. I say this only because I am not the type of person who is good with long-term planning, but hopefully my short-term planning will lead to long term. Overall if I want to start living a healthier life I will have to go by the plans that I have made and try to stick to them as much as possible.

 


References

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

 

 

 

 

3 comments:

  1. Margaret, I enjoyed reading your post. You're right, as health professionals we need to be healthy in all areas of our lives. I sounds like going back to work affected some areas of your life negatively even though I'm sure you did it because it was necessary. I think that your goals sounds like a great start and I hope that you are able to achieve everything that you want to. Sometimes 24 hours just doesn't seem like enough time in the day to accomplish everything that we want to, but scheduling or having a to-do list definitely helps me! Good luck with the rest of your studies and God bless!

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  2. Margaret,

    I understand what it is like to have a lot on your plate and having to miss out on the things that bring you great joy and happiness. I love your idea of finding ways to incorporate your church experience even if you cannot make it to church. Although you miss out on the community, you still get the spiritual benefit through thoughtful, personal prayer session and uplifting spiritual music. I am going to keep this in mind as I work on my goals. Good luck on your goals, I wish you the best.

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  3. Hello Margaret! I'm going to really miss reading your posts, they are always the truth and you put it in such simple wording. I'm glad that you are making time for yourself and trying to incorporate the things that bring peace and happiness to you. Sometimes as women, we tend to give and give and forget to give ourselves some time. Continue to care for yourself and better yourself!

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