Unit 7 Meeting Aesclepius

Hi all!

So I am sorry to say that when the mp3 started of Meeting Aesclepius and I heard a man talking with what sounded like a New York accent, I almost turned it off!  (Sorry if I offended anyone!).  But once he was done talking and the smooth and calm voice of the woman came on I settled back down.  I did not have a hard time thinking of "The Wise One" and used my Uncle Ron.  I hold very high respect for him.  I did have a hard time imagining beams of lights coming from his head, throat, and heart though.  I found it a bit disturbing.  Making the best of it, I did what the lady asked me to and found myself very calm and feeling like I was next to and becoming one with my uncle.  Fully becoming my "Wise One" did feel odd but having the guidence and healing of my uncle's mind, spirit, and heart made me feel very relaxed and safe. 

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself", to me means that I cannot take you to a place that I haven't been before.  If I am not familiar with it then how can I guide you there correctly?  As a health professional I cannot help a client with something unless I have thurough and accurate knowledge of it.  Also, I do have an obiligation to my clients to be developing my healthy physchologically, physically, and spiritutally so that I can, in turn, help them with the same.  I am sure I can impliment psychological and spiritual growth in my perosonal life by trying to bring medication or tai-chi into my routine. 

Unit 6 Mind - Body- Spirit Wellness

I practiced the Universal Loving-Kindness exercise and was not able to really get the full effect of it I think.  I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around repeating those phrases and allowing my heart and mind to expand because of them.  I feel that I do have some sort of universal loving-kindness instead of just personal love.  I will keep practicing this one and see if I can get my mind to focus better.
Next I tried the Integral Assessment.  I started with a still and silent mind and focused my attention on the four quadrants of the integral map. One area that I need to address for myself would be my nutrition.  I live off of junk food and hardly eat anything that is even remotely healthy for me. I will eat cereal or TV dinners for my dinners and cookies and/or candy for snacks throughout the day.  Thankfully my mom gave me good genes so that I can do this and not gain any weight but I know my eating habits are not good for me once I get older.  I can start to eat healthier slowly by incorporating fruit into my diet for breakfast and then day by day I can add in more fruits, vegetables, and grains into my daily meals. 

The Subtle Mind

I enjoyed the subtle mind exercise better than the loving kindness one.  The subtle mind exercise was more focusing on breathing and what was in your mind.  Watching the mental movements of my mind and learning how my mind works with the thoughts that occur. I like this one better than the Loving Kindness exercise because it did not have me think about colored lights going through my body at different points.  To me that was a little....odd.  The subtle mind was a simple exercise of breathing and focusing on my mind and my thoughts.  I felt a bit more at ease doing that since it was basic and did not require me to turn into a rainbow. 
Spiritual wellness and mental and physical wellness are all linked together.  When they are all harmonious that body and mind is a happy place.  When a person's spiritual wellness is not at its best, then health and the mind can suffer through stress and illness.  To be happy and healthy spiritually, mentally, and physically a person needs to focus on all parts to create a whole. 

Loving Kindness

While listening to the Loving Kindness mp3 I found myself really enjoying the sounds of the waves and the flute.  They were very soothing.  I felt like I was in a spa or something.  I would like to think that I do practice loving kindness to some degree every day of my life.  I do unto others as I would like done to me.  I try to smile at everyone I see either at work or around town.  I make sure that I hold doors open for people as I walk in and out of stores and while I am at work I make sure I always treat my customers as I would want to be treated, like a close friend.  I have always believed in karma and how it always comes back to a person whether it is good or bad. When I first moved into my new place, I decided to get a dog.  Everyone was telling me to go to the puppy store but I wanted to try out the Humane Society.  I went there once a week for almost 5 months until one afternoon I walked in, said Hi to all the employees and volunteers, and saw a dog that seemed to be circled in heavenly light!  Her name was Pumpkin and was 10 months old. She was an abused stray that was missing her front teeth and half of her beautiful tail.  She was huddled in the corner of the cage shaking and avoiding eye contact.  I felt like I could sympathize with this little girl so I adopted her.  She felt like my soul-dog.  Since I have brought her home she is growing out of her shell and has turned into a beautiful and sweet dog.  Pacha seems grateful every day for the love I give her and in return, karma has given me my most trusted friend and companian. 
 I am not sure if I would recommend listening to that mp3 to others only because to me while it was soothing, I found it annoying. I do not have the patience to sit and listen to 18 minutes of someone talking.  I get distracted too easily. 

Wellness Reflections

If I were to reflect on my physical well being I would rate where I am a 8.  Physically I am healthy and in shape.  While I do not eat very well, all my "numbers" when I get my yearly physical done are well within range and sometimes even below. In the future I do need to start working out a little bit more as I age.  This will keep me in good physical condition so my body ages well.  I should start by taking my dog Pacha for nightly brisk walks.  This will benefit the both of us.
Spiritually I would give myself a 4.  I do not at this time feel an inner peace and contentment with myself.  I have too much going on in my life to feel that peace and calm spiritually.  I need to work on eliminating the issues that keep me from feeling that peace and takes away my calmness.  I do not feel that I am spiritually connected to anyone or anything. 
Psychologically I would rate myself at an 8.  I am typically a very happy person.  I guess I am one of those people who you hate because they are always smiling.  I try to find laughter in most things and work to be happy no matter what.  Of course there are those things in life that drag you down but it is a matter of fighting those and trying to overcome them.  A goal I could set for myself would be to try even harder to not let things stress me out.  My life's situation now is stressing me out from so many different angels so I need to work on narrowing them down and working on each one at a time. I usually try to go canoeing and enjoy the peace and calm surroundings.

I did the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century a little bit ago.  Ok so I have decided it is probably not best to do this later in the day when my ADD medication has worn off!  I just could not focus on the man's voice.  I would try so hard but then I would see something out of the corner of my eye and I would focus on that, then move to something else, and come back to the man's voice missing most of what he had said.  Oh well, at least I learned my lesson! :)