A GUIDE TO BECOMING BETTER

Forgive the retyping of this paper, for the last hour I have tried to send my original to this blog site with no luck. I will now retype the important stuff leaving out the reference page and title page. A GUIDE TO BECOMING BETTER 1)Introduction: The importance of practicing what you preach is vital; you cannot counsel others on the benefits of integral health without practicing it yourself. First of all without practicing the different aspects of it you cannot truly understand it which makes it impossible to teach it. I personally have found I am lacking in all areas though I thought I had it all figured out until taking this class. Spiritually and physically I have a pretty good game plan and following a path that I believe will take me where I need to go to get the next level. Psychologically I am still getting a grip on it. 2) Assessment: I like a simple scale of 1-10 to rate where I am versus where I want to be, simple yet effective. I rate my wellness spiritually as an 8. I am fairly solid here finding deep meaning in my faith and practicing as I velieve it should be done. I have the connection spiritually that satisfies my soul. I give my self an 8 vecause no matter how high I rate myself there is always room for improvement and thats agood because it truly is a journey not just a destination I seek. Physically I feel way ahead of the curse. At 46 I still run marathons, lift weights and keep up with younger guys in the Army, it just takes me longer to recover and sometimes get up the next day. There of course are a few things I need to work on such as cholesterol levels and hydration. Again I give myself an 8 on the scale with room for improvement but better than most of my peers. As far as physiologically I give myself a 7, I believe I am headed in the right direction but still have a way to go. 3) Goal Development: Physical goal is to run 2 miles in less than 12 minutes after doing push ups and sit ups for record like when I was 20 years old. Psychologically Ineed to work on my PTSD and quit jumping at loud noises and freaking everyone out. Apititually I need to do more in Gods will instead of doing it my own. 4) Practices for personal health: Two examples of strategies I will implement to foster my growth in each area are in the Physical domain to do more fartlicks to improve speed and to get more rest for my recovery phase of conditioning. Psychologically I will actually take my meds to get filled and to my counseling. For my spitual exercises I will practice humility a little more and learn to shut my mouth and listen more when it comes to Gods will and be a good soldier and do what is requested of me instead of reinventing a better way of doing things. 5) commitment: Simply put I will log everything from workouts to prayer time.

Here we are in week 8 and as I think back on all we have learned, practiced and achieved I am grateful I took this class. I have to say I thought a lot of it would be hippie stuff but now if it is sign me up. My favorites to date would have to be visualization and the suble mind. Visualization allows me the opportunity to put myself where ever I chose and thats cool by anyones standards. The suble mind is needed by everyone and should be taught in school, I wish I had heard of this 20 years ago I would be so much further then I am currently. Well I guess If I start doing more for my health mentaly and physicaly 20 years from now I wont be able to say that, education is a powerful thing.

Unit 7,

What a week, So I start out driving to work thinking its a two hour drive and I will get a little breathing escercises in listening to the sound of the ocean on the stereo and the next thing I know I am facing headlights on the interstate. A little common sense needs to go along with meditation and I am calling it personal growth. I believe meditating before bed, turning off all electronics and seeing what you want to accomplish the next day has really helped me make my goals at work.

Next I love the saying "One cannot lead another that one has not gone himself". Picture this you go to an AA meeting trying to get sober and the guy up front is staggering and slurring his words smelling like a bottle of scotch. You wouldnt have much faith in his ability to lead you to sobriety no matter how much he told you that not drinking would make your life better. I personally have ran weight loss clinics and I can show someone how to loose weight with every certification you could imagine but I have never been overweight and I am missing a big peice of the physicologiical and emotional part of the puzzle, I dont know how it makes them feel yet I get results I could be better if I would have lived it rather than studied it.

Unit 6
Hello everyone, This week we learned a lot but I want to focus on just one of the exercises. Universal loving kindness. Imagine a world or just a town, heck even your circle of friends if everyone involved practiced universal loving kindness. The phrase we were asked to repeat for 10 minutes started sinking in towards the end. I really like the way it starts with the first two lines saying let all individuals find the good stuff but in the last two lines it said "May I assit" with getting others all the good stuff in life. I guess thats what it all boils down to. We need to stop thinking of what I need and start thinking of what others need. This is a basic belief my parents tried to teach me. This is a basic belief my religion has tried to teach me. Its time to start walking the walk. sure I help when I can but only if its convenient. Well thanks for listening to my thoughts hope you found it worth your time.