Unit 10 Blog Entry

Tidings,

   In review of the way I rated myself and how those ratings have changed, here's how I previously rated myself:

In Unit 3 I rated myself thusly:

Physical: 7
Mental: 8
Spiritual: 2.

With the Unit 9 post I rated myself in this manner:

Physical: 8
Mental: 9
Spiritual: 5

   The score has indeed changed througout the course of this course and I completely agree with the ratings based on the things I've learned and learned about myself over these past 9 weeks.

   In review of the goals I've set for myself here's how I've started progressing towards them:

Physical: My goal here was to compete in a triathlon. Since that blog post I've added two miles to my long runs and have purchased a new seat for my bike that doesn't make my legs go numb. It happens and it really saps my energy trying to get the blood back into them after I get off of the bike. This will help immensely in my triathlon efort.

Mental: I stated that I would work on my stress response. I haven't exactly done too well already on that. I had a bad day today and while I didn't let it ruin anyone else's day, I didn't do too much to make anyone feel welcome around me. So that's not a good thing. It eventually rolled off of me. But while I was overcoming my disdain for the unfolding of the day I was a bit of a twit. Terrible. Clearly I still need to work on this.

Spiritual: I stated that I would continue efforts to help people around this area. I have continued on this endeavor already and started a fund to take local underprivileged kids to the Guadalupe to go tubing in three weeks time. I already have enough to take 15 kids and have coordinated transportation for up to 30. I'm actually quite happy about that! Not resting on my laurels, though. I have lots more to do.

This course has helped me connect with other people on a more substantial level. I've always been a good listener but nowadays I'm able to be a better listener by paying attention to nonverbal cues and navigating the dead spaces of conversation more fluidly. Taking the time to appreciate time with meditation efforts and the like has changed the way I prepare for things that I generally dislike doing. Meetings for example. Instead of going in dreading the time that I'm going to waste, I think about how I can use the meeting to benefit the work that I do as a result of the meeting.

   Overall, I've become a little more light of heart and less full of some kind of "get things done" angst. I still want to get things done. Don't get me wrong. I just feel more comfortable knowing that I'm going to get it done and I don't have to let my body wear the need to do so carry around the weight of my responsibilities.
   The biggest difficulty I had in this course was overcoming my initial displeasure with the meditation exercises. I sniped and snarked and poked holes through the message instead of just allowing myself to meld into it. I'm over that now. Mostly. And I'm happy that I am. The exercises, I feel, have certainly been for the better.
  
Good things.

Thank you, everyone!

James Banks

Unit 9 Blog Entry and Final.

Unit 9 Blog Entry:

Tidings,

   Welcome again, everyone. This entry doubles as both this unit's blog entry and the introspective final project. Let's dive in!

                  I.            Introduction:
Why is it important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically? What areas do you need to develop to achieve the goals you have for yourself?

It’s very important for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically for the same reason that it’s important for them to know when their clients are developing in those very same aspects. As well, it’s important for them to be well versed in ways to help their clients improve in every one of those aspects. The knowledge that you have been at a place where your clients are and that you are now at a place where your clients want to go can be a powerful ally in being a professional in that arena.

Personally, I need to work more on the psychological and spiritual aspects. I’ll never stop working on the physical aspects, but that comes naturally to me. Psychologically I’m strong and efficient. I always feel as if there’s always room for improvement there, though. Spiritual I’m at a pretty severe deficiency. I’m big on face value and tangibility. I’m slowly wrapping my mind around compassion and kindness in a very general sense.

                II.            Assessment:
How have you assessed your health in each domain? How do you score your wellness spiritually, physically, and psychologically?

Physically: I give myself a 9. While I would never consider myself a physical specimen of any kind, I dedicated myself to living fit so long ago that it is now just a part of my life. Living a healthy life physically comes very naturally to me now. It’s about as common to me as blinking. I was easily able to assess myself as I used to be a personal trainer. It is not often I come across someone who is more physically fit than I am.

Psychologically: I give myself a high 8. I’m a very low stress individual and I don’t let anything linger unnecessarily. I’m a veteran of combat and I’m almost completely unaffected by the stresses that the environment had placed on me and my fellow soldiers. I’ve trained myself to get out of my mind as much as possible when the only thing that it would do is bring detriment to my mentality.

Spiritually: I give myself a solid 5. I’m a very compassionate person when it comes to my children and some friends. I don’t suffer the need to empathize with many people and I find myself less often spending time worrying about the plight of others. Because of this class, I understand how developing in this area can help with others parts of my life. Perhaps most specifically psychologically.

               III.            Goal development:
List at least one goal you have for yourself in each area, Physical, Psychological (mental health) and Spiritual.

Physical: Earlier in this class I mentioned the half marathon that I was going to run. Complete. My next endeavor is a full triathlon. I’ve already started training for it and to be honest it’s somewhat of a grind. Long hours of cardio and endurance development uninterrupted by weightlifting. I miss the weights.

Psychological: While I don’t have much stress and I respond to stress well, I’ve noticed that when I do respond to stress initially it is sometimes a sharp immediate response. Perhaps it should be but I don’t like the way it makes my body feel during or afterwards. It’s a painful reminder of how I need to develop to blunt the effects of stress on my mentality and physically.

Spiritual: I need to get better all around here. I’ve started volunteering more and have gotten my children involved in that effort as well. So far we’ve helped out at a soup kitchen, spent a weekend day helping to build a house for a disadvantaged family and helped host a food drive for a battered women’s shelter. My goal is to continue these efforts and connect more with the people that these efforts impact.

              IV.            Practices for personal health:
What strategies can you implement to foster growth in each of the following domains; Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual. Provide at least two examples of exercises or practices in each domain. Explain how you will implement each example.

Physical: To foster growth in my physical development I know what I need to do. 1) I need to be equally as dedicated to proper rest and stretching principles. I’m a very “go, go, go” individual and I rarely slow down. Even when my body is exhausted I go to the gym and tell myself that it’s going to be a “light workout”. That has to stop. 2) I need to also be equally dedicated to proper nutrition not just during the week but also through the weekend. I commonly tell myself that I did well enough during the week and that I can forego proper nutrition during the weekend. Training for a triathlon means that I have to take that a bit more seriously.

Psychological: To foster psychological growth I need to do two things: 1) I need to continue calm-abiding practices. This will allow me to blunt my response to stress. 2) I need to continue meditation practice. These will continue to assist me in developing a powerful mindfulness that will allow me to better in every other way.

Spiritual: To foster growth in spiritual development I need to do two things: 1) I need to do a better job of seeing myself in others. I have to understand that we’re all just a few bad decisions away from having a completely different life. Sure, some things have swung my way and some things haven’t, but for the most part I’ve had a good run. I have to consider myself fortunate and attempt to use that to ground me. 2) I need to continue my efforts in volunteering and assisting those less fortunate for me. It’s a way of me being able to give back to the community and support those that are less fortunate and provide for them.

               V.            Commitment:
How will you assess your progress or lack of progress in the next six months? What strategies can you use to assist in maintaining your long-term practices for health and wellness?

I’ll assess my progress or the lack thereof by being committed to keeping this blog open and writing weekly updates on my journey towards integral health. The strategy I will use to assist me in this endeavor will be the same that I use in my pursuit of physicality. I will consistently make these efforts a part of my life with passion, dedication and vigor.

Thank you,

James Banks



Unit 8 Blog Post

Salutations,

   Welcome again and thanks for stopping by! I now present to you this weekly blog! Let's get into it!

Reflections:

   Reading back through my initial assessments of the practices we've all taken a part of was actually pretty interesting. I think of the ones that I've done multiple times and reading through my initial impression is almost shocking. I feel so much different about the practices now. Either way, the ones that I've deigned to be the most beneficial are the Subtle Mind practice and the meditation practices.

   While the Loving Kindess practice has its benefits, compassion isn't for me. Not to that degree anyhow. I simply don't want to pour my heart out every moment of the day for people who are not willing to do the same for me. Of course, I do realize that doing so will not make me "better" than them. I just don't want to do it.

   I think that the Subtle Mind practices mixed with meditation have started to impact my life by allowing for more fluidity when it comes to both day-to-day and stressful situations. I've typically been very good at deciphering situations and planning the next step and then executing. Nowadays I've noticed that my initial reaction to the situation has been blunted pretty thoroughly. Before when something bad or unexpected may have happened, I would have immediately said, "Poop!" Or something like that. Today, I hear the news and get in gear without anything more than an acknowledgement of the problem and a general idea of how to fix it. That alone has benefitted my mental fitness because It's allowed me to take the edge off of any stress that I would have typically accrued in those situations. Feels good!

Thanks,

James Banks

Unit 7 Blog Post

Tidings,

   Welcome to yet another blog entry and thanks for following along. Let's get to it!

Meeting Aesclepius:

    Mindfulness and meditation have brought about some small but very interesting changes in my daily life. Here's how I'll describe it to you: Have you ever read a book and paid attention to how the author describes a conversatiohn between two separate people? A very short convo between two people can take up to a few pages because the author, painstakingly, includes the minutia. He includes the facial cues, the body cues, the thoughts that pass between the two as the conversation unfolds. Have you ever noticed that? Yes? Well...that's how I'm able to look at conversations with other people now. Mind you, I travel for a licing and talk to tons of people I've never met every single month. This skill has truly helped me figure out exactly what the other person is trying to communicate regardless of their ability to communicate with words alone. I would assume that continuing these practices would only make my interactions with people that much better! Honestly, because I've only been doing these types of practices for these 7 weeks...who really knows what else I might notice. Interesting!

   The saying,  "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself.", is one that we commonly practice in the military. We tell our soldiers that we would never ask them to do something that we would not ourselves do or be allowed to be asked by others to do. In that regard, the same applies to this profession because it would seem to be difficult to gauge a persons development if you had not traversed the same roads that your client has. How could you reasonably tell them that they're doing the right thing and improving appropriately? I would hope that a professional in this field would have an obligation to the development of his clients, however, I don't think it has to be in all three areas. I feel that people develop until they are comfortable with their development and comfortable in their lives. Could they be better? Perhaps. But that would be like giving the Pope tips on religion. Once you get to where you want to be, you should be allowed to foster the appreciation for it.

   In my life, that implementation is coming by way of meditative practice. The longer I do it the better I get at it. I dig it!

Thanks,

James Banks

  

Unit 6 Discussion

Tidings,

   Welcome, again, to my blog. In this week I'll be posting my thoughts on the Exercise and the Integral Assessment from Ch. 11.

 Assessment:

   The exercise is, by the time I listened to it for this unit, one that I have listened to quite a few times. I enjoy the practice of it and actually get into it pretty quickly and deeply because of how familiar I am with it. I know what's coming next. There's no new wrinkles or turns and twists in the process. Really makes the exercise that much easier.

   The Assessment was pretty interesting. I decided to focus on the psychospiritual. While the assessment asks to focus on the one that was a source of difficulty or suffering, and I don't have any areas like that, I instead focused on the area that escapes me the most. I'm a firm believer in the biological (body) and the mind but the spiritual aspect of it all gets me sometimes. It's almost too conceptual and not as tangible as my ordered mind would like.

   During the course of this class, to date, I've discovered that I actually like meditation. Meditation, then, has become my key to unlock the doorway to better psychospiritual development and eventually wellness. Sounds like I've got a lot of meditation to do, yes? Ha! Yes, indeed!

Thanks,

James

Unit 5 Blog Post

Tidings,

   I noticed that the differences between both of the practices weren't entirely surface level differences. They were subtle focusing changes that made you move from an outward perspective to more of an inward perspective. Again, I noticed that I was able to achieve greater focus on the task at hand much quicker than before. I'm attributing this almost solely to dedicated practice with calming and focus. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. To be completely honest, I told myself to relax, do the exercise and then when I was finished I would allow myself a beer for the night. By the time I was done I didn't even want the beer. I was relaxed and ready to just enjoy a night of reading and exploring the world through an author's observations. Very cool.

   I'm constantly learning that spriritual wellness is not the same as being religious in a definitive term. There's a lot of appreciating the self in a higher light than just saying, "James you're the bomb, man." When you have a higher sense of self, it makes a lot of things better in a way that's not easy put a tangible claim to. When I'm going for a run I don't question the distance or pace. I just know that I'm strong and that I can do it and I don't have to think about it. When I have to get in the right mind for hard work I know that it's nothing I can't handle - much like everything else. It's just a way of making things easier for you in a way that you might not appreciate if you're not being mindful of things.

   Thanks for stopping by.

James

Unit 4 Blog Post

Tidings,

  My Experience with the Loving Kindness Practice:

   This exercise was perhaps the most calming exercise yet. I think that I'm starting to get the hang of truly letting myself just become enveloped by the idea of letting myself go to the suggestive ways of relaxation and inner focus. I honestly believe that a lot of the comfort and ease felt had a lot to do with the sounds of the ocean and the waves gently crashing upon the shore. I found it beneficial because I felt refreshed by the time it was done. I've been working all day and my face is greasy, however, even that felt clean (No worries...I'm still going to clean my face...). It was not difficult for me, but that may just be because of the research into this kind of focus I've been delving into for the last four weeks. I'm mentally opening up to this practice. I would recommend this to others, but I would not recommend this one to others first. I think tha there would have to be more beginner or baseline practices first. I think the time allowed to let your mind roam free could potentially be overwhelming for someone with no experience in trying to just let the calm envelope them.

The Mental Workout:

   The concept of the Mental Workout is just that - working out with your brain to strengthen it and your psychospiritual life. Much like a physical workout, the more time you spend effectively (with intent) training your mind the stronger and more powerful it will become! Research has shown that working out mentally will increase your memory, allow your brain to process information faster and can even slow the onset of Alzheimers. I actually do mental exercises every single day. I have a program on my computer called "Dr. Kawashima" and it allows my brain to focus on individual and uniquely challenging tasks that help to jump start my brain for the day. I've noticed that on days I skip it that it takes me a little longer to work up to the normally very expressive version of me.

   Thanks for reading, everyone!

James Banks