Week 9 Final project Hardest so far

Melanietaylor14 HW420-03 final project
1. Introduction:
Integral medicine not only touches on the actual illness but what part of the mind-body, spirit cycle is out of balance. That is the only true way for a cure to be found. Otherwise, we spend our time and energy patching the several problems. Areas that I need work in are my physical status. It remains weakened due to the GBS. Along with this I need to be mindful of my eating habits to continue to make healthy choices-even when I want to snack. The concept of health is not one free of disease. Rather it is all aspect of what makes us human-at peace with itself-mind, body, spirit. As a nurse this means I need to look to all three components for a need for growth in order to not just treat the symptoms but in an effort to cure/prevent the related disease. In order for health/wellness professionals to be adequately prepared to face their day in their field, they first must have a place of wellness within them. That does not mean they will not have bad days or will not react to stressful situations in a bad way. It just means that we will have a method to help us deal with both the stress and face the stresses that our jobs may throw at us. One of the places I still need work has to do with self-esteem issues. I have to keep in mind that I am worthy of being loved by myself. Otherwise, as it says in our text, you cannot love another until you learn to love yourself first (Dacher, 2008).
2. Assessment:
‡ Physically
First on a scale from 1 to 10 (one being crummy and 10 being great), I find I stay around 4-5. Part of this is due to limitations that continue to persist. Part of this is also because I battle long established bad eating habits. When we first started the exercises, I already knew that I was working at a deficit secondary to my physical limitations of the GBS (Guillian Barre Syndrome).
‡ Psychologically
I continue to battle self-esteem/self-worth issues. I feel like a millstone hung around my husband’s neck. I have been fighting this battle for longer than our two classes and will most likely continue fight it. Right now I think I fluctuate between 4-5. Sometimes I’m even as high as a 6 but not often. What I did not realize was just how ‘crippled’ my psychological/spiritual aspect of my life had become. It has not been an easy journey these weeks of class. I have been forced to look at things from my past and deal with the effect they continue to have on my life. Most of them I cannot go into detail with but they centered on the relationship I had with my mother. Before this class, I would have scored my wellness much higher than I do now. Especially since I have been doing the exercises and realize just how much work needs to be done to attain the next level.
‡ Spiritually
Lately I have been felling a bit abandoned by my God. Again I have been denied social security disability. I am left with no medicine for myself or my daughter and sometimes no food for days at a time. If my brother up north didn’t send us money now and then we would have starved a long time ago. Usually I am a 7 or so but lately it has become less. I sometimes feel like I am being punished for some wrong I have committed. I do understand that we all better for the trials we face and overcome-but lately I have nearly reached my breaking point with no hope in sight. With that in mind, I find I still struggle sometimes with the ‘why’ things happen the way they do.

3. Goal development:
‡ Physically
I have a goal of if not losing weight-of not gaining any more. I also have a goal along these lines of maintaining proper diet-eating more veggies and salads. Physically I am working on keeping myself as physically active as my limitations allow. I will continue with my nightly walks with the dog and my daughter. I will continue to go to the local mall to walk there on both floors so that even if the weather is a problem I will be able to get my exercise in. I also (with the doctor’s permission of course) hope to be able to return to our church’s weight room so that I can start some muscle group training. That is something that I really miss and I need the doctor’s okay on it before I can undertake it. I also would like to get back to walking for 20 min on our elevated track at the church. Unfortunately, right now I am unable to climb the steps to get up there but I continue to work toward that goal.
‡ Psychologically
I have the goal of beginning to stop looking at everything as a punishment for some unknown or unremembered wrong. I also have a goal to find one good thing to be thankful for each day. I am continuing to work on the loving-kindness exercise. It seems there are issues that this covers in my past that need to be addressed before I can progress further. I will continue to work at it until it no longer elicits the pain response that it does now.
‡ Spiritually
I have the goal of becoming closer to my God. I have already started to devote time to read the Bible and speck to God each day so that I can return to my former closeness. I also hope to be able to let go of my worries an let Him work His will in my life. I have placed the goal that I should strive to be closer to my Creator and trust that He has my best interest at heart. That He does not allow things to happen to us without a plan in mind so that I should daily search for the meaning or message the He is trying to teach me when setbacks happen.
IV Practices for personal health:
‡ Physical-two exercises
1. Walking-every night that it isn’t raining I plan on walking the dog with my daughter. Right now we are only able to walk once around a short block near our house. I have been trying to walk around the larger block but still find it too fatiguing to do it more than once a week or once every two weeks.
2. Physical Therapy-I will continue to work with my therapist and do the prescribed exercises that they give to me. I will also continue to do my muscle training exercises so that I can retain my function so that whenever the feeling comes back I will be able to make use of my leg muscles.
‡ Psychological-two exercises
1. Reframing-whenever I am greeted with something negative, I will search and ponder until I can find something positive about it. Also I will stop ruminating over those things that I have no control over. I will also make use of HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, and tired) exercise when I am beginning to feel frustrated and anxious. That way should I be able to attribute my frustrations with falling under one of those headings I will first take steps to alleviate them before allowing myself to react to the frustrations.
2. Serenity Prayer-I will ever remember this and how far I have come since I was first awarded my AA coin. I will keep it close and ever remember what it says-finding things to be grateful for even when it seems my life is falling apart. I will also remember to practice my deep breathing exercises so that I can release stress and not allow it to build up to a point that it can become dangerous.
‡ Spiritual-two exercises
1. Meditation-To help me stay centered and grounded I will employ both guided imagery and the Rainbow Meditation to make this possible. To help me be still so that I can more easily hear the words from God. I can also make use of the guided imagery exercise so that I can help keep my mind from staying stuck on past events. It is okay to remember them but we are not supposed to ruminate on them or get stuck in a loop by our past. This guided imagery will help to keep everything in perspective and help me maintain an inner calm-something very needed in today’s stressful world.
2. Prayer-to commune with God and in that exercise help me to give over to Him those things I have no control over. Along with prayer I would also practice gratefulness. With this exercise I would attempt to be grateful for everything that positive that I have instead of focusing on only those things that I may need but do not have. I would also make use of my “worry box” placing a small piece of paper with those things that are out of my control written on it into the box with the admonition I will not ‘take them back’ from the box or attempt to retrieve them into my care because I have given them over to Gods care.
V Commitment:
The way to implement these is to simply do them. To make sure I stay on task, I will in my computer, set reminders that I can check off as I complete. I will need to do this until I have established them as a daily ritual if you will. It is the only way for me to change my old habits into something new and better for my well being. I will also strive to stay in contact with those people who will help me stay on track-those who know I am struggling with these issues and am trying so hard to find some kind of inner peace. After 6 months or so I should become less self critical and looking at everything as a glass 1/2empty. I should feel better physically even though I may not be any stronger. I should not feel so drained or empty. I should be able when I practice the meditation, to let the small things of the day slide off of me like Teflon. I should be aware of them but not be concerned or ruminate about them. The most important thing will be to stay diligent in exercising-at least one strategy in each day. As our text says (Dacher, 2006) we need to “find a quiet time of day and allot 30 min. for this practice [creative visualization]” (p. 144). Each day that we engage in activities that nourish the body, mind, spirit; if we remain diligent we will eventually arrive at a place of peace.


References
Dacher, E. S. (2006) Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publishers
Schlitz, M; Amorok, T; Micozzi, M. S. (2005) Consciousness & healing: integral approaches to mind-body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier/Churchill Livingstone