Running Head: SPIRITUAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL INVENTORY 1

Spiritual and Psychological Inventory

Jeremy R. Hall

Purdue University Global

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Spiritual and Psychological Inventory

A healthy individual is usually described as someone who is physically fit and eats

healthy, but often the mental state is forgotten. The wellness paradigm consists of several

components that make up our overall wellness, physical only makes up one of them. Our

spiritual and psychological makes up large areas of the overall wellness paradigm. I have

created an inventory that discusses the spiritual and psychological well-being of an individual. I

have selected ten questions that I will be discussing with an individual from my work.

1. Do you believe that you life has purpose and meaning?

The daily routine of an adult can be predictable, eat, sleep, got work and rinse and repeat.

Having purpose in life gives us that motivation to wake up and roll out of bed. Once you

find your purpose in the grand scheme of things you work a little harder and prove that your

worth keeping around.

2. When you hit a rough spot in life what keeps you going, what motivates you?

Our motivation can differ depending on the individual sometimes that motivation can

change from one thing to another. We always need that something that is going to motivate

us to get up of the floor, pick ourselves and get back on that horse. Though life may knock

us down we get back up again and continue pushing through.

3. Do you believe yourself to be emotionally healthy?

Spiritual and emotional health are very often overlooked. Oftentimes people must think

about whether or not they are. The purpose of this question is to gauge whether the

individual has even thought about their emotional well being an whether or not they have

done anything about it.

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4. Are you the kind of person that will hold a grudge, or someone that has learned to forgive and

forget?

Embracing forgiveness, can allow us to embrace hope, peace, joy, and gratitude.

“Forgiveness can lead us down the path to physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being”

(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2017). Holding a grudge only complicates our lives, it separates us from

those around us, puts into our minds the inability to trust again therefore interfering with our

future with human interaction.

5. Would you change anything about your life?

Most people in life would love to go back in time and change something they did or take

back something they had said. The purpose of this question to fully understand the life that

individual is leading. Are they completely happy with their lives? I believe that someone

who is wanting to go back and change a whole direction of their lives then that person is not

happy with how their lives turned out.

6. Are you religious or spiritual?

When you ask someone whether or not they are spiritual you will typically get an answer

more closely related to God. Spirituality is the search for something bigger than themselves,

suck as a sense of purpose, some people may describe it as a sense of aliveness (Krentzman,

2016). I ask this question to understand if the individual knows the difference. I will explain

the difference and ss hoe they feel.

7. Do you see yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?

What you put into your life is what you will get out of it. The purpose of this question to

see where the individual stands on their path of life. I want to see whether this person
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believes that bad things happen and there is nothing they can do about it. It is important to

maintain a positive attitude about life and ensure that you keep your spirits high.

8. Are emotions contagious and if so, what emotion would you put off regularly?

An emotional contagion can be easily shared with one another. Regardless if your

pushing off a negative emotion or a positive one they are both easily contracted. A negative

emotion can cause depression, anxiety, fatigue, and sadness (Schulz, & Michigan State

University. 2018).

9. Do you believe that your life has had fulfillment?

A life well lived will have a better outcome in the long run. If someone feels that they

have not accomplished anything in life than it is certain that their emotional well-being could

be struggling to survive.

10. How do you deal with stress?

Stress is a healthy thing to have because it keeps you alert and alive. It is vital that

everyone has a healthy way of reacting to stress. The purpose of this question is to find out

how my interviewee manages their stress. An unhealthy method or no method at all will

require some coaching to help them along the way.

I have chosen to interview one of my colleagues, he is a 35-year-old male. Like me, he is

a Drill Sergeant and deals with stress daily. For a little history on him, he is currently residing

two hours away from his children, he does not get to see them often and often speaks of not

being able to see them due to the long hours and weird shifts. The following statements were the

responses given to me.

1. Do you believe that your life has purpose and meaning?

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I believe that my life has purpose, I do a lot for this organization and though there are

times where I stand back and look at all that I have done and see that there was no reason I

still feel valued. I work hard for my children and bringing home the money is what I need to

do to keep them provided for, then that is what I will continue to do.

2. When you hit a rough spot in life what keeps you going, what motivates you?

Like I said before, my family. They live far away, and I cannot see them as often as I

want to but looking forward to that next time is what keeps me going.

3. Do you believe yourself to be emotionally healthy?

I never thought about that, I go to the gym…a lot and I eat healthy. I think that I am, I

have tried yoga a few times but that is it.

4. Are you the kind of person that will hold a grudge, or someone that has learned to

forgive and forget?

Depending on the situation, If something happened between us where you costed

me a lot of money or broke something irreplaceable I would probably hold a grudge.

Something small I would let it go.

5. Would you change anything about your life?

I would change quite a few things, I have made some decisions that I am not proud of,

things have happened that I would like to have changed. I would be in a better situation than

I am now.

6. Are you religious or spiritual?

I went to church as a kid but have not gone in several years. (After I explained spiritual

to him) Spiritual, I believe that I am.

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7. Do you see yourself as an optimist or a pessimist?

A glass half full kind of guy. Though it depends on the situation. (I liked his example) in

the instance of the glasses. If I am drinking the cup, then it would be half empty I was

already in the process of emptying it things got worse its bound to get worse. If I am filling

the cup up, I am trying to improve the situation than the glass is half full. Either way the

water level is the same but the effort that I put into myself is the effort that I am going to see

being done.

8. Are emotions contagious and if so, what emotion would you put off regularly?

Emotions are contagious, if First Sergeant comes in to work in a bad mood than the

whole company is going to be in a bad mood. I try to be a motivated individual, some people

tick me off so I tend to put off an angry and irritated vibe, so I would go with anger.

9. Do you believe that your life has had fulfillment?

I have completed a lot in my life, been to many schools, deployed to Afghanistan and

Iraq, I have a family, so yes, I am pretty full. Though there is always room for more.

10. How do you deal with stress?

Compartmentalize. I do not usually have someone to vent to, so I tend to bottle it up and

then take it out at the gym.

Using my knowledge and expertise as a practitioner I would choose to ask these

questions again Though over time I may ask different ones I believe that these ten can be vital to

the base structure of my future interviews. This interview went quite well, I learned a lot from

my colleague and have a newfound respect in him. I believe though that what I have learned

over the past ten weeks I can offer a lot of my knowledge to assist him in reaching emotional

well-being.
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References:

Hollingsworth, M. A. (2015). Wellness: Paradigm for Training and Practice. Retrieved from

https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-

source/vistas/article_39835c21f16116603abcacff0000bee5e7.pdf?sfvrsn=1d4a412c_8

Krentzman, A. R. (2016). What Is Spirituality? Retrieved from

https://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/what-spirituality.

Mayo Clinic Staff. (2017, November 4). Why is it so easy to hold a grudge? Retrieved from

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/forgiveness/art-

20047692.

Schulz, J., & Michigan State University. (2018, November 19). Emotions are contagious: Learn

what science and research has to say about it. Retrieved from

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/emotions_are_contagious_learn_what_science_and_rese

arch_has_to_say_about_it.