Unit 9 Final Project

Holistic Wellness Plan

Final Project HW 420

Amanda McCord

Introduction:    

In his book “Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing,” E. S. Dacher talks about how while in his medical practice he discovered that he was unable to help his patients on all levels. (Dacher, 2006)  He decided to go on a journey and learn how to reach people on all levels, he discovered the only way to be able to do this was to learn the ways of integral health himself. (Dacher, 2006)  I agree with what Dacher discovered, if you haven’t journeyed through something yourself how are you going to teach others about it.  I was talking to a friend about this very thing today.  I am currently studying to be a dietitian but am overweight myself, it is something that I am working but am struggling with.  We talked about how I feel that I need to lose the weight before I can teach others how to lose weight.  I don’t feel that a person would be very interested in listening to someone who hasn’t been able to accomplish the goal that they are trying to reach.  When it comes to holistic or integral health we need to be able to grow spiritually and mentally along with physically. 

Assessment:

            I feel that I am still at the beginning of my journey.  As I mentioned I need to lose weight to be physically healthy but would also like to grow in my spirituality and become more faithful.  I am also working on my mental health.  I assessed my health but determining if I was happy and then determining what are my strengths and weaknesses.  Dacher’s book gave information on how to accomplish this assessment such as a spectrum, where we can put our abilities in and discover our strengths and weaknesses. (Dacher, 2006)

 I discovered that when it comes to my physical health it has to do with my activity, nutrition, and strength.  Out of these aspects which lead the others?  I feel that my nutrition leads the way, when I am eating healthy I want to do other healthy things in my life.  For my spiritual health it is about my faith, my devotion, and personal life.  My faith comes first and the others follow.  The more faithful I am the better I feel about my life and the more devotional I am.  My mental health is a little trickier.  I believe that it has to do with my emotional health and my cognitive health.  I tend to lead with my emotions, which isn’t always healthy.

 As I mentioned earlier I feel that I am still at the beginning of my integral health journey.  While I am working on these aspects of my life, and doing better, I am still not where I would like to be.  At the beginning of this class I believe that I was a 2 in all aspects, not very healthy at all.  I feel that I am about a 3 in my physical health, a 6 in my mental health, and a 6 in my spiritual health.  While I still have more work to do I am happy to be seeing progress.

Goal Development:

            When learning something new it is important to have a goal in mind.  When you go back to school the goal is graduation and a career in your field.  When it comes to integral health it is important to have goals in the different aspects of your life.  Since I think my physical health is the most important let’s start there. I would like to change my diet and exercise habits so that I can lose weight.  This takes a lot of mental health to be able to fight the temptations.  Mentally I would like to not stress and worry about everything.  Finally let’s talk about the goal I have for my spiritual health.  I would like to be more faithful and not doubt my beliefs.

Practices for Personal Health:

            When it comes to my personal health the first thing I think about is my physical health.  I think about nutrition and physical activity.  These are the two things that I would like to improve on.  I would like to start by cleaning out my pantry so that it isn’t full of processed foods.  By doing this I would be able to start eating clean and clear by body of all the toxins.  Recently I watched a documentary on the benefits of juicing.  I would like to implement juicing into my daily diet; this would help me to increase my micronutrient intake.  Exercise is also important to my physical health and this is something that I increasing in my life.  Dacher mentioned meditation while exercising to increase stamina, endurance, and strength. (Dacher, 2006)

            When it comes to my spiritual health I would increase my faith.  A great way to do that is to read daily devotionals and pray about what I have read.  I would also like to better develop the relationships that I have in my life.  I feel that I can do that by focusing more on my family and friends.  You may wonder how this can help me spiritually, I believe it would help by increasing my awareness of what is going on around me and growing stronger in all relationships in my life.  I have learned through my faith how important family is so to me a great way to increase my faith is to build on these relationships.

            Mental health is also very important to me.  I have lived my life constantly being anxious and worried.  I am currently talking to someone to better understand why I get so anxious.  I am also mediating to try to redirect my thoughts.  Dacher calls it a witnessing mind that leads to a subtle mind. (Dacher, 2006)  When I do this I am able to become more aware of my thoughts and redirect what I am thinking about.  If I think about something negative, I am able to change my thoughts to something more positive.

Commitment:

            Sometimes it is hard to see the changes we make in our lives.  When a person is losing weight other people will notice the changes before they will.  So how do you track these changes and if they are working?  When it comes to losing weight watching the numbers drop on the scale is an easy way to see the difference, but sometimes that takes more time then we think it will.  So, until those numbers drop how can you tell if there is a change?  I have learned that when you are healthy you feel better, so there is your start.  Not where or not the numbers on the scale are going down or if you are wearing smaller clothes but how do you feel.  Of course during the time that I am focusing on becoming physically healthy dropping weight is a big factor as to my progress.  I have heard that if you are able to do something for 6 weeks it becomes a habit, if you can do it for 6 months it becomes a permanent habit.  One way I have found that I am better able to accomplish goals is to write them out and make them visible. 

How do I know if I am growing mentally?  Am I happy?  Do I feel like I am making progress in my life?  These are just a few of the questions I can ask to determine if I am progressing in my mental health.  I would love to be able to go a day without worrying about the foods I eat, or what my children are doing when I don’t see them.  I plan to continue to meditate and focus more on integral health.  I would also like to re read Dacher’s book and really focus on the exercises that he provides.  I will also continue to practice yoga and Pilates.

When it comes to my spiritual health I think it ties in with my mental health.  If I am faithful I do not worry as much because I put my cares and worries on God.  My spiritual health always has to do with my faith in God.  Do I feel stronger in my faith?  Do I feel closer to God?  My faith has a calming effect on me and I can’t wait to see how I grow.  I plan to continue my devotional and focus on praying more throughout my day.  I also plan to become more involved in my church.  As I talked about earlier my relationships with my family are important in my spiritual health so I want to focus on spending more time with my family and increasing their awareness of integral health.

References:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications Inc.