Rating my Well-Being

This week is has been much more chaotic than my usual life. I am working more hours, trying to complete homework early so that I do not get behind, finishing last minute Christmas shopping, and more than routine housework in case anyone stops by unannounced. It seems that there are not enough hours in the day to find a chance to get everything accomplished. Usually, I have the amazing ability to clear my head, but this week has been especially difficult. Taking a moment to rate my well-being, separated into physical, spiritual, and psychological, required me to think about things I often overlook these days. I’ll rate 1-10, ten being optimal, to evaluate some changes that could improve each of these.

A.   Physical- My physical well-being is very lacking lately. While I have no serious physical ailments, there is tremendous room for improvement. I give my physical well-being a 3. My goal in the next week is to have this increase to an 8.
B.   Spiritual- Though this changes occasionally, like most other people’s, right now I would rate my spiritual well-being at a 6. My goal this week is to increase this rating to a 9.
C.   Psychological- Life is stressful for almost everyone, but I would rate my psychological well-being an 6. My goal for psychological well-being to a 8.

I have not made many goals regarding my well-being in these areas, until lately, but there are improvements that I can make that would easily improve my overall well-being.

A.   Physical- This is the area that I can work on improvement the most. First of all, I need to get consistent amounts of rest. I get four to five hours most days until I am exhausted and try to catch up all at once. I can also improve my physical well-being by making time for moderate physical activity several times per week. This could be simply going for a walk, or doing yoga first thing in the morning. The important part is to insure that I make the time to do something, no matter what it is.
B.   Spiritual- While I feel like this is an area that is pretty good now; I can take the time to enjoy my solitude, maybe in combination with doing yoga first thing in the morning. Meditation is helpful to enhance spiritual well-being and I have always found that it was easy for me to make a daily goal.
C.   Psychological- I feel that the previous goals will also help with this one as well. I also think that I can improve this by keeping a journal of all of the things that I find stressful with ideas on how to deal with each of them.

Regarding this week’s relaxation exercise, which can be found here . Unlike last week’s exercise, I was not successful while listening to this one. It was extremely difficult to find time to be alone and relax. I tried several times to listen to the exercise, and every time I did, something would happen that disrupted my meditation. From children to house guests, I could not find an appropriate time to listen uninterrupted. I suppose it has something to do with the holiday season and how busy my schedule has become, but I hope to try this again when no one is here. When I first began the exercise, I thought it would be successful. I listened to each instruction carefully and tried to clear my mind of everything, while focusing on every word being spoken. The breathing exercises did allow me to relax to a point and I began to let go of everything. This was always interrupted by arguing children, someone asking for something, a phone call, or a knock on the door. I think the inability to focus is pretty telling of the amount of stress we all endure during the holidays, which only further proves that we each must MAKE time to relax and let go.

Relax

This week's assignments included a sound file for me to review here in my blog. I will admit that the first few moments of listening to this, I thought it was going to be silly. I rarely take the time to be open minded about such things as listening to someone for instructions on how to properly relax. Maybe this is mostly because I feel that there is no time to do the things mentioned in the clip. There is always something else to be done; but I did give it a shot.

I was surprised to find myself doing as the gentleman suggested. I literally felt my arms grow warmer and heavier. I was alone and no one was here to see me melt for a moment, so I just did. The more he spoke, the more tuned out of the world I became. I have never allowed to be taken by someone's words before. I usually just shake my head and continue finding something to do instead. I am really glad I took the ten minutes out of my day to actually listen to the audio here.

By the time it was all over, I felt as though I had taken a nap, drank a cup of coffee, and had a hot bath all at once. This is something I will keep in the arsenal for those days when nothing seems to work out the way I need. I encourage everyone to just take a few minutes when you're alone to see how much better you'll feel after listening to him. I am really glad I opened my mind to the idea.

Welcome to the new blog

When I was asked to create a blog for my Wellness class, I decided to make it under my existing blogger account. This is an extension of my old blog, but for the next ten weeks will be used for class assignments. I am actually really excited to get back to the regular posts from before, but first I think I should explain what this specific blog will be. 

The focus of this blog differs greatly from the previous one. While I do still love the same movies and music that I posted so much before, this one will discuss wellness as a whole. I look forward to sharing ideas with classmates through this, as well as some of my old followers who would like to find a more peaceful outlook on life. So no matter if you have been following me for years or you just clicked the link today, feel free to share your ideas and comment on the topics that we will discuss here.