Freedom

Both these exercises are about freedom for me!

The first one is/was a little harder for me to do, BUT my plan is to achieve it.  My older boys (24, 22) have a step-mother that made my life a living hell (excuse my language) when they were in their teens.  After all these years there are times that I let thoughts come into my head about things that happened and of how I should have responded differently.  Little by little these thoughts are becoming less and less as I take control of my wellness.  But as I stated from time to time it is a struggle for me.  So instead of saying "all individuals" during this exercise I stated:

May Rebecca gain freedom from suffering

May Rebecca find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness

May I assist Rebecca in gaining freedom from suffering

May I assist Rebecca in finding health, happiness, and wholeness

My plan is to make this part of my daily "alone time" ritual in the hopes that I will at least learn to forgive her and in the process of my praying and repeating I will be able to heal her.

The second exercise (assessment) is something I have been needing to do for a very long time!  An urgent area of distress for me is our finances.  We have plenty of money to pay our bills on time each month and to put food on the table (thank God) but we have an excessive amount of credit card debt!   Yes, this is the same area that I need growth and development in personally.  The reason I want this to be a focus of growth and development for me is because, one when my hubby retires from the military in 5-years I want him to be able to decide on his own if he truly wants to work another full time job or not.  Two I don't ever want to worry that we can't provide for our family or ourselves.  I want us to be able to live a simple life without all the major worries especially once the all the kids have grown and gone and we are living the retirement life!

What can I do to ensure that?  Well, keep paying all of our bills on time, get a part time job (which I have recently) and put all my part time income towards the credit cards and finally (the BIGGEST one for me) is to ask myself "do I NEED that (whatever that is)" before I make the purchase!  Some of these are easier said than done for me, BUT I'm so willing to try.  I want to be able to live my best life ever and show my children that simple living and finding wholeness via your mind, body and soul is a wonderful thing!!!

Until next time my friends, eat healthy, exercise and be happy:-)

Cindy

Yes, Yes, Yes....Finally!!!

Finally I was able to relax and accomplish an exercise and get something out of it...almost too much!  This exercise was more about focusing on our own mind, body and thoughts instead of focusing on someone else as in the last exercise.

As I started this exercise I had a ton of wondering thoughts that seem to race in and out of my head.  As time went on and I focused on my breathing and letting the thoughts come in then push them away the more I only heard the waves.  The longer I breathed in and out and listen to the waves the more I felt like I was actually at the beach with no one else around me.  I truly felt a warmth come over my body like I was actually laying in the sun.  I say almost too much because I actually felt my entire body relaxing and felt like I was falling a sleep.  Then again maybe this wasn't the concept of the exercise but I was just happy to be able to relax and quiet my mind for once!

Until next time, eat healthy, exercise and be happy!

Cindy

Loving Kindness-Mental Workout

I have to be completely honest with everyone September is an extremely busy month for me and these exercises stress me out because it is just one more thing that I have to stop and complete.  Don't get me wrong I don't have anything against these exercises this is just a bad time for me.  With that said I don't think they have been as effective for me as they should be or could have been.  It has been very hard for me to quiet my mind and complete them.  The only time that I really felt calm in this particular exercise is when the waves were going.  Every time the individual spoke it broke my concentration and agitated.  As I've stated in my earlier blogs talking drives me crazy when I'm trying to relax and enjoy quiet time.  Because of this I truly didn't get the full effect of this exercise. I wish I had because I want to see how my thoughts and feelings changes as we go through each portion of the exercise.  The other thing is the mp3 downloaded into my itunes so when the mp3 finished itunes immediately went into another song.  So what do you think happens when you go from calming ocean waves to "Rock You Like A Hurricane"?  Wow what a brain shock!    So I will definitely be trying this one again in October:-)

I believe Dacher's concept of "mental workout" means basically taking time each day to quiet our mind and complete exercises like this one or like the others we have completed.  By taking the time and practicing these type of exercises we will be able to understand our clients and to "serve" or clients when it comes to their spiritual wellness.

Even though this particular exercise didn't do much for me I will say at least by trying these exercises it helps me understand how I can help myself and my clients.  This class is a great learning experience for me and I love it!

Until next time, eat healthy, exercise and be happy!

Cindy

Ahhh the Seven Chakra's!

I loved this relaxation exercise the minute he mentioned colors because I knew what he was talking about as I've done some research on the Chakra's.  We had also discussed them in one of my other classes but with what foods we ate and how they affected our Chakra's.  This time around I have it a much better effort to relax and listen to his voice as a calming affect rather than an annoyance.  I did this one last night after everyone went to bed and I was really able to relax.  At the end he talks about not feeling tired but more rejuvenated per say.  I did feel rejuvenated but the exercise also relaxed me enough to go to sleep and I actually had a pretty good night sleep!

As for my rating my well-being, that might be another story:-)

Physical well-being would be about an 8, while my spiritual well-being would be a 5 and my psychological well-being a 5 or 6. 

I have been on a overall wellness journey since 2011 and my physical well-being is changing everyday.  I eat right and exercise almost daily by walking and lifting weights.  I've lost 26.5lbs and still losing.  I actually feel really good about my body right now and enjoy fitting into smaller clothes.  My spiritual well-being is a different story, before we moved to Texas I would have rated my spiritual well-being about an 8 or 9.  The reason my spiritual well-being is low right now is due to the fact that we truly haven't found a church where we feel connected.  I do have a Bible app on my phone where I do a bible study each day and I do spend time with God each day, but for me that isn't enough.  My psychological well-being could also use a boost in the aspect that I don't always have positive feelings on a daily basis.  I let little things get to me or I will let something throw me off course and it ends up driving me crazy.  BUT the fact is I'm working on each and everyone of these every day and I know by always moving forward and not looking back is what will make me successful on this wellness journey and it is a journey, something that will never stop evolving.

My goals would be as follows:

physical well-being:  To feel 100% good with myself inside and out!

spiritual well-being:  finding a church where I feel connected

psychological well-being:  to always be able to see the positive in everything

Exercises/activity to reach my goals:

physical well-being:  to get up each day and look in the mirror and tell myself "I AM beautiful and I AM healthy"!  To continue to eat right and exercise every day.

spiritual well-being:  To try a different church each Sunday until we find one that we feel connected with and to ask around to friends about their churches.

psychological well-being:  This one might be a little tougher for me!  I believe starting each day with a positive thought/affirmation such as "Today will be a good day".  I already know and believe that "what you think about, you bring about".  Also by listing all the positive things in my life will help me realize that the little things just don't matter.

Right now one of my best motivators is I don't look at how far I have to go.  I look at how far I've come in the last two years and I'm grateful for every event and situation that I've gone through.  Because each one has brought me to where I am today and that is a healthier and happier person than I was 2 years ago!

Until next time, think happy thoughts, eat healthy and exercise!!

Cindy

Unit 2-Relaxation Technique

Oh my, that relaxation technique did not work at all for me!!!!

I will say the initial start of the music had a calming effect on me and I thought "this is going to be awesome"!!!  Well heck, not so much:-(  I was already dressed very comfortably, can't get much more comfortable than being in your PJ's.  Even though I wasn't around anyone or couldn't hear any other noises, I wasn't able to lie down during this session, so that could be problem number one!!!

Problem number two is the talking!  My biggest issue is when I'm trying to relax, talking drives me nuts.  So I just wanted to keep telling the guy, "quiet, can't you see I'm trying to relax"!    I think the issue is because I was trying to concentrate on what he was saying so I could do it right that it threw me off in trying to relax.  For me to relax I usually take a long walk and listen to music or I lay quietly on my bed and listen to nature type music that is very slow and soothing.

Even though it didn't work the first time, I'm not a quitter, so I will definitely give this a try again!

Until next time, be healthy, happy and RELAX!

Cindy