Crime of the Century

Once again I enjoyed this particular audio and the narrator's melodic voice, very soothing and peaceful. When I listened to this lesson I was extremely tired so it was almost mesmerizing and I honestly do not know if I fell asleep or drifted off intermittently when listening but I remember visualizing the color green, which happens to be my only son's favorite color and it was also my mother's, I could feel a sensation and I feel like it was both of them connecting with me at the same time, sounds wild but it was a warm flowing sensation. As I said I was almost in a dreamlike state because I was so tired and towards the end I know I drifted off to slumber land. I will revisit this lesson because I think there are some powerful visualizations to beget with this type of exercise.

Level of Well-Being - Unit 3

I will be rating my levels of physical, spiritual and psychological well-being on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the optimum.

Physical - 6

I have high expectations for my physical well-being and until lately I have fallen grossly short of those expectations. My recent primary care taking duties have left me both mentally and physically drained altough I know one of the key factors in taking care of someone else is to make sure you take care of yourself. I let that fly completely out the window and as a result became run down and out of shape, not egregiously out of shape but nothing that I am use to nor tolerate. I have started on a path of meditation as well as yoga along with power walking and some core muscle strengthening exercises. All of these movements will help me orchestrate the person I want within , a more healthful person.

Spiritual -6

I find that I am really developing my spiritual well-being, making a conceted effort to achieve that ultimate inner harmony and balance. Evolving my spiritualism is most important at this time particularly with the recent loss of my mother it is most important for acceptance of that loss and the loss of some of my inner light. I am using jouraling to help direct thoughts on paper for later reflection and meditation to quiet myself and gain more acceptance of her death each day.

Psychological - 5

I feel that everything is somewhat predicated on my psychological well-being meaning that both my physical and spiritual well-being are not at higher levels so this in turn diminishes my psychological capacity. I need to look forward more than 'wallowing' in the past and embrace what I am and who I am evolving into to, the person I am meant to be and not drain my energy on things I do not have control at in the moment. I need to engage more time in my favorite pastime - design as this helps re-direct and nourish my focus. As I navigate through class and start to de-clutter I anticipate raising my psychological level of well-being significantly.

All of these are a work in progress and evolve daily and my goal is to raise my physical, spiritual and psychological well-being to the optimal in order to live a healthful life in harmony and balance.

Journey on Relaxation

I am a little behind the eight ball, I apologize for that, but here in my perspective on the relaxation exercise for Unit 2. First I must say it was most relaxing almost to the point of mesmerizing and I felt the narrator had a pleasant-sounding voice and very smooth, like warm honey it was just an open invitation to relax! I pulled out my yoga mat and proceeded to lie down on the floor after chasing my dog from the mat and started to focus. i actually threw a light blanket over me because the room was cool. I focused on my arms, upper torso, neck and shoulders and could almost feel tension dissolving and a distribution of blood flow. I used breathing that I have recently learned with meditation, nose breathing and could feel each breath, the rise and fall of my abdomen with each breath and with this relaxation i actually felt it difficult to move my arms but it was cathartic and it was if the tension and stress were dissolving like warm honey in a cup of hot tea, amazing and exhilarating.

I did similar exercises such as this one years ago in an outward bound group that I attended with a work group for ten days and after doing this exercise I recalled how relaxing it was, we ended each day with this technique so it was great to have this opportunity again. Wonderful for stress reduction!

Reflection

When someone asks you" how are you?", the response is generally "I am fine", but is that a truly honest answer? We tend to equate true wellness as not being ill at the moment not a true feeling of wellness connecting mind, body and spirit. Mind, body and spirit are the focus of all well-being. Excuses not to take care of oneself are plentiful and grow more inventive therefore become more entrenched into daily life! The process of restoring balance and harmony into one's daily life in order to make it a practice that is not overt but rather a natural transition from within and is not easy...at first. Both balance and harmony can begin by de-cluttering one's life such as cleaning out and organizing your mental clutter by starting with some meditation.

This state of wellness does not occur overnight, it is a path, a journey, one which I have embarked on, a work in progress, to restore harmony and balance into my fragmented life and I encourage all to embrace a path to true wellness. I look forward to taking this journey on the path to harmony and balance.