My
Path Toward Metamorphosis
By:
Rhonda Schrock
Kaplan
University
HW420-01
Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing
Unit
9 Final Project
I. Introduction
Integral health is being able to attain a balance between
the spiritual, psychological, and physical aspects of oneself. It’s about a
holistic approach to prevent disease, not just treat it, which is caused by an
imbalance in one of these aspects. As a healer, I can attest to how important
it is to maintain my own integral health and I’m sure other health and wellness
professionals would agree. It is important because if the healer is out of
balance they can’t give 100% of their attention and energy to their patients.
Imbalance can cause anything from mental distractions to disease which can
leave little energy to help other people. Healers are important because they
are the gateways and guides to integral health. I know my own journey has been
halted at times because I wasn’t caring for myself the way I know I should be.
My goals are to increase my health in all three areas by various means which I
will discuss in detail in a later section. I believe there is always room for
growth and I am dedicated to keep working forward along my journey.
II. Assessment
Self assessment is an important tool for self discovery.
I try to look at myself rationally, but I know I’m hard on myself because I
have very high standards. My generally use my overall health, sense of
wellbeing, and reaction to life events as a tool for measuring how well I am
working towards my goals. I know that if I feel good, my mind is focused on the
positive, my emotions are not overflowing, and my life is running pretty
smoothly, then I know I’m doing a good job at staying balanced and centered. It’s
when I start to ignore the warning signs and keep pushing that I run into
trouble. I score myself physically by my strength, flexibility, pain level, and
overall feel. If I’m waking up every day exhausted and drained, then I know I
need to change something. I score myself spiritually by my sense of peace and
level of intuition. My belief is that my intuition works best when I am connected
to the universal whole, so it is a good marker on my spirituality. I score
myself psychologically by paying attention to my emotional states. Being a
fluid and emotion-based person, I know that my emotions are an important guide
to my overall wellbeing. This is an area that I am doing some very detailed
work in and I have made some vast improvements. On a scale of 1-10, my physical
score would be a 4 because I don’t feel very strong, flexible or healthy most
days. My fatigue and pain levels have been elevated. My spiritual score would
be a 6 because my stress has been interfering and I am not progressing like I want
to at the moment. My psychological score is a 4 because of elevated stress
levels. Moving to a new area and finding a stable job has been taxing and my
whole self is feeling the strain after the couple months.
III. Goal Development
Spiritually, I want to find a group practice possibly in
yoga or meditation where I can expand my knowledge and share in group energy;
however, I also want to be more dedicated to self practice as well. I generally
practice some form of meditation on my own 2-3 times a week, but I would like
to increase that to every day. Psychologically my goal is to immerse myself in
group activities at least a couple times a week. I have a tendency to seclude
myself in my apartment where I feel safe, but I recognize that this won’t help
me heal. Lastly is the physical aspect which I feel is intertwined with the
other two goals. Many of my group activities involve hobbies like dancing,
hiking, and walking and I have already started looking at local groups to join.
I also want to include passive activity like yoga and stretching into my weekly
routine because I greatly enjoy these activities and they are very healthy for
me. Overall, I want to decrease my stress and increase my social interactions
and physical activity.
IV. Practices for
Personal Health
My biggest strategies to foster growth and achieve
integral health are knowledge and variety. Knowledge is important because there
are so many different paths to integral health and I want to find what really
resonates with me and my journey. Variety is important because I tend to get
bored when things get stagnant for too long. I can achieve growth physically by
taking time to stretch, do strength building activities like Pilates, and increasing
my endurance by doing cardiovascular activities like walking and dancing. My
spiritual growth activities are exploring meditation and following creative
pursuits like coloring mandalas and needle felting. For psychological growth
activities I plan on getting out and meeting people through various activities
and groups so that I can find new friends and open myself up to new experiences
and to get out in the wilderness so I can connect with myself and my
environment.
V. Commitment
My progress will be tracked by how my life is doing overall
in 6 months. I will use the assessments described above to track my progress as
well as look over my journal entries for improvements and downfalls. In 6
months, I plan on being in a stable yet happy environment with a balance of
work and personal time and a growing circle of friends and activities. The most
powerful strategy I know for keeping me on track to integral health is to
surround myself with the people and environments that promote it. I have tried
too many times to do everything alone and I know that is not the right strategy
for me. This move to Portland is part of my strategy to surround myself with
like-minded individuals and place myself in a beautiful, clean environment. For
years I have had goals that involved moving to this area and now I am working
on achieving them, however, I won’t forget what I have learned about keeping
myself balanced and healthy while I work on these goals. I will keep learning,
keep practicing, and remain open to new experiences and lessons.
