Unit 3

Well, I must say, since I am blogging, that figuring out how to post another post took about 15 minutes and was very frustrating.  But finally I figured it out, I think.  That being said.. on to unit 3 questions.

What do I rate my physical, spiritual and psychological wellness on a scale from 0-10?  Well after giving it some thought, I'd rate my physical wellness a 6 on 0-10.  I chose a 6, because although I am overweight and getting old, I am still healthy, and can walk, talk and eat.  Therefore, I think I'm doing pretty well.  My goal to increase my physical wellness would to be to start dieting again, and exercising so that I can lose weight and feel even better about my appearance.

I rate my spiritual wellness an 11 on a 0-10 scale, because I am a very spiritual person, and through my faith I am well with God.  Well, I take that back.  I don't listen to him in a lot of areas, and do things that I know I shouldn't.  I know that he still loves me and that him and I are ok, but I do have some fear of the natural consequences that may result from me not listening.  He tells us to do and don't do things for a reason, not because he wants to make our lives hard, but because he loves us.  For this reason I rely and seek his grace to overcome the stubborn parts within me.  But all in all I think that those parts are affected more by the psychological category than the spiritual category.  So I might be willing to go down to an 8 on 0-10 scale spiritually because of the fear that I suffer.

Psychologically I would rate my wellness maybe a 4 on 0-10 scale, because I am very stressed, anxious and don't feel good about myself.  It seems that the more I tell myself "you should... " or "you shouldn't..."... the more I do what I shouldn't do.  I realize even more so after doing the reading and assignments in this class, that I live in a constant state of stress, which effects my happiness.  One thing that comes to mind about this is I sometimes tell myself that I need to just be happy and enjoy the moment, because what does worrying do for me?  Does it change a single thing in my life?  Nope.  It is natural to fear, but to live in a constant state of fear and doubt is not healthy.

So this brings me to another category of thinking... self acceptance, loving ourselves.  As this assignment is themed, it is about being familiar with our strengths and weaknesses.  I have a history of OCD so I think I am always going to live with a little self-doubt and fear.  But why allow it to rule my life?  I have so much more growing and learning and calming down to do, and this won't happen in a day.  So I plan to continue to pray, meditate, seek God's word and and truth, read my bible, start going to church again, dieting, eventually exercise and work on changing my thinking and accepting and loving others around me.  There are people and things I cannot change, so I must do or go where my heart leads in how to cope or not to cope with that.  All in all, I think I am doing a fine job.

The relaxation exercise was relaxing.  I was mentally stressed and annoyed again when I saw the time was 20 minutes, and did some of it.. thinking to myself "there are so many things I can be doing in 20 minutes besides sitting and listening to a relaxation exercise".  What bit of it I heard, was impressively relaxing even though I wasn't trying too hard.  It helps to distract ourselves from our daily lives and go to a mentally safe place.