As a massage therapist
I consider myself a health and wellness professional. It is important for me to develop myself
psychologically, spiritually, and physically.
More than anything I am a mentor to my clients. They look to me to address their physical
problems but also to have a wealth of information pertaining to wellness. During appointments I am often asked about my
opinion on a wide array of wellness issues.
I can read all of the text I want but how can I truly answer these
questions if I don’t take the time to experience these things myself. This reminds me of the question posed in our reading, "One cannot lead another where one has
not gone himself" (p.470). I feel
it is irresponsible of me to parrot back studies I have read without taking the
time to experience this wellness exercises myself. Also, I would be a hypocrite if I preached
the importance of health and wellness in life but didn’t take the time for
myself. That is where I falter a little bit in the wellness department I have a
very intense schedule and I need to make time for myself a priority in my life.
I find
that self-assessment is a hard thing for me to do. I would like to rate myself 10 out of 10 when
it comes to spirituality, physically, and psychologically, but that’s just not
reality. The reality is that I sacrifice
my “me time” to be able to accomplish everything in my busy life. Spirituality I would rank myself perhaps 6
out of 10. I feel a spiritual connection
within myself and I do notice certain shifts in my life but I rarely take the
time to sit, contemplate and expand it.
Physically I would rank myself a 6 out of 10 as well. I eat healthy, am a healthy weight, and am
able bodied. With that being said I have
not taken the time to exercise in a long time.
I enjoy running but the last time I took the time to go for a run in the
morning was around July. I always have a
bit of guilt for not taking the time to exercise more. We are only given one body and we should
treat it well. Lastly I would rate
myself an 8 out of 10 psychologically. I
am able to avoid drama, think clearly, and surround myself by amazing
people. I feel like I am a very grounded
person but I find myself being too empathetic.
I tend to try to make everyone happy and in the meantime sacrifice my
own happiness. I have been working on
being true to myself to help this flaw.
My goal
to enhance my spirituality is a bit out there.
I will increase the amount of time I spend in nature. When I am in nature I feel a connection to
something bigger than myself. I start to
contemplate life, meaning, relationships and the importance of every
moment. I think the best thing I could
do for my spirituality is to spend at least two hours every week, broken up in
any increment, outside. To increase my
physical wellbeing I will go for a run at least 2-3 times a week. Running is my favorite exercise and it gets
me outside. Although, living in New
Hampshire makes running a little complicated this time of year so I will
probably need to buy a gym membership to accomplish this goal. Lastly, my goal for my psychological
well-being is to meditate at least every other day. This is a manageable goal for me and one I
can accomplish. If I start off will a
goal of everyday I know I will not complete it.
With these goals I should be well on my way to health and wellness.
To
foster growth in these domains I will need to have a variety of exercises to
pull from. This will help me be more
well-rounded and will increase my chances to meet my goals. For the spiritual aspect I will continue to
take long breaks for my hectic life in nature and I will start reading some
literature on becoming more spiritually aware.
Psychologically I will practice two different meditation
techniques. I will practice the
witnessing mind meditation exercise because I really enjoyed this
approach. I liked how this practice was
okay and encouraged your mind to wander.
I feel like this approach allowed me to relax more and not scrutinize my
wandering mind. The other meditation
exercise I would like to practice is the technique where you focus on breathing
through your nose. In this exercise you
focus on your breath and the feeling of your breath in your body like your
abdomen, chest and nostrils. I find when
I am stressed out or my mind is racing too fast that this exercise helps to
center me. For my physical well-being
not only will I plan to have a running regiment I also want to find a personal
trainer to help with my exercise routine.
To
ensure that I committed to my health spiritually, physically and psychologically
I will plan to revisit these goals every three months. By revisiting and revising my goal
periodically I will be able to see where my strengths and weaknesses are. This will give me an opportunity to see where
my goals were laid to high and where my goals left room for me to achieve more. It also creates an environment where I see my
health as something that requires though and attention to transform it to my
present needs.
