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Running head: UNIT 9 ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Staci Ross

Unit 9

HW420: Creating Wellness—Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

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UNIT 9 ASSIGNMENT
Introduction

In this assignment, I will create a plan to incorporate spiritual and psychological health

into personal and professional pursuits. This plan will include a list of questions that can be used

to help someone understand their spectrum of spirituality and psychological self and I will

discuss why these questions are valuable to my plan. I will discuss principles that guide health

and wellness professionals to become more effective and well-rounded for their respective

clientele. I will be using this plan to interview my husband, Michael, to see what his current state

of wellness is as well.

Psychological and Spiritual Inventory

1. Do you believe in a higher power? If so, what higher power do you believe in?

Answer: Yes, I do believe in a higher power. I believe in God, but I also recognize

other higher powers since I do believe that there is no one right religion. I also

believe in the power of the Universe as well.

When most people think about spirituality, they think about a higher power; whether this

is a God or the Universe. When looking at a psychological and spiritual inventory, it is

important to understand more about what your client believes in, if anything at all.

Believing in a higher power can make us live our lives in a certain way or follow certain

guiding principles.

2. Do you feel that your life has a divine purpose or meaning? Answer: I don’t know, I

have never really thought about if my life does have a divine purpose or meaning. I

would like to think it does, but I have not found it yet.

There are many cases where people on this earth do not live their lives according to if

they believe their life has a divine purpose or meaning. They are here to live the best life
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they can with what they have to work with. However, there are many who want to know

if their life does have a divine purpose or meaning. We ask questions such as, “why am I

here?” or “what should I be doing with my life?” Living your life according to what you

believe is your purpose creates a life of passion, excitement, and fulfillment that we do

not get if we do not believe in our purpose or life meaning.

3. Do you believe that you are an optimist or a pessimist? Answer: I would like to say

that I am an optimist, but I am probably more of a pessimist. This is something that

I am conscious of and am trying to change my mindset to more of an optimist

mindset. It is definitely difficult changing the way you have thought for a long

period of time.

Pessimism has been linked to many mental and physical health issues including heart

disease, sleep disorders, hostility, high blood pressure, depression and anxiety

(Psychology Today, n.d.). Living an optimistic life is a healthier way to live each day, but

it is important to also have realism as well. Too much optimism can lead to

disappointment and having lower levels of pessimism with optimism has been linked to

better health overall (Psychology Today, n.d.).

4. Do you believe in the importance of forgiveness? Answer: Yes, I definitely do believe

in the importance of forgiveness. I tend to find it easy to forgive people and I

definitely feel the negative side effects of not forgiving someone and holding a

grudge. Being able to forgive is something I find valuable.

Forgiveness is important when a client wants to have a balanced mind-body-spiritual

connection. Forgiveness can look different to everyone and can be difficult to do,

however, forgiving those who have wronged you can have positive consequences on your
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overall health. According to the Mayo Clinic, “The act that hurt or offended you might

always be with you, but forgiveness can lessen its grip on you and help free you from the

control of the person that harmed you. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of

understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you” (Mayo Clinic, 2017).

5. Do you consistently explore your mind-body-spiritual connection? Do you know

ways that you can have a stronger mind-body-spiritual connection? Answer: No,

usually I do not explore my mind-body-spiritual connection. I am interested in

learning more about meditation and what it can offer to me and my mind-body-

spiritual connection.

On our path to wellness, it is important to think about the mind-body-spiritual connection

and to also know ways you can promote it. To be well, we need to look after our mind by

taking time to calm ourselves and focus on our mental health. Our bodies need to thrive

by regular exercise and eating a diet full of nutritious and healthy foods. For our spiritual

connection, it is important to understand this life that we live and find comfort in your

own beliefs. Spirituality means different things to many but being a spiritual being will

help you make sense of your life, your purpose, and why you are here today.

6. What do you do when you feel stressed or overwhelmed? Do you have practices set

up that help you regulate your stress? Answer: I don’t really have any practices that

I use if I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed. If I am feeling stressed or

overwhelmed, I tend to try and let it go and take my mind to a different place and

not think about the stressors happening.

In our day and age, we live in a very stressful atmosphere. Traffic, pollution, job stress,

home stress, climate change, social justice, pressure to be perfect, etc. Stress wreaks
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havoc in our body and our mind and even leads to nervous and immune system related

disorders. Stress can lead to nervous system disorders such as bronchial asthma, tension

or migraine headaches, temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJD), irritable bowel

syndrome, and even coronary heart disease (Seaward, 2018). Stress can lead to immune

system disorders such as the common cold or influenza, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis,

lupus, ulcers, and even cancer (Seaward, 2018). It is important to have keyways you

choose to reduce the amount of stress in your life; such as exercise, reading, meditation,

yoga, being grounded outside, walking, or any activity that brings you joy and helps you

remain present.

7. Do you believe that your body is a temple and it should be treated that way?

Answer: Yes, I do. I believe in the importance of eating a healthy plant-based diet as

well as exercising to keep my body the healthiest it can be.

This is something that has been discussed for a long time. While we are here on this

planet, we only have one body to live in. If we want to be able to live a long, healthy and

active life, we need to treat our bodies like they are a sacred temple. This means finding

time to exercise your body, taking care of your mental health, and eating a nutritious and

healthy diet.

8. Do you live your life in gratefulness? What does gratefulness mean to you? Answer,

Yes, I try to. I am always grateful for having the basics in life such as a roof over my

head, food on my plate, a bed to sleep on, and air in my lungs. I am also grateful for

my family and having a good and stable job. Gratefulness to me means having

appreciation for the things you do have in your life and to not take them for

granted.
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Being grateful for what you have in life instead of what you do not have, will

tremendously change your outlook on life. Each day, if we take a few moments to feel

grateful for the things we have such as the ability to walk, the ability to breath, to have

food on our table, a bed to sleep in, a book to read, and people who love us, will make

you feel that you live a life full of positivity and abundance. When we forget to be

grateful for what we have and we only think about what we do not have, this keeps us in

a state of lack. This can also lead to us feeling down for not having what we want in life

and we forget to be grateful for all the good we do have.

9. Do you feel that you have healthy boundaries in your life (such as work, home life,

social life)? Answer: Yes, I do. Thankfully, I have a job that I can disconnect from

when I am home, so I do not take work home with me. My job is very stressful and

puts a lot of strain on me. I try to enjoy my time at home as much as possible. I

don’t have much of a social life, so I would say that is balanced too.

Now more than ever, we need to have healthy boundaries in our lives. Many of us live

hectic work, home, and social lives. If we don’t have boundaries set for work, we tend to

take our work home with us which leaves us no time away from the stress of work. Many

of us look at work emails at home or miss time with their family to work while at home.

This can lead to burn out very quickly. Even if we work a job with a lot of responsibility

and demands, it is important to be able to set boundaries for yourself for when you are

spending time doing the things you enjoy in life. It is also important to learn to say “no”

to social invites if you do not want to participate, or you just need a night to yourself.

10. Looking at your own life, how do you define success? Answer: Having a good stable

job, a good marriage, a home to live at, my dogs, and goals. I am working toward
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personal goals, but I definitely know I have been successful in my life by the things I

do have.

Success looks different to everyone. Success could mean an exciting career, marriage,

children, a house, running a 5K, being able to do a headstand, or traveling the world. We

forget to look at all the success we have in our lives if we only are focusing on the things

we are working toward or do not have yet. If you have goals and you have not

accomplished them yet, you can feel down about yourself and think you are not

successful. But life is a journey and everyone’s journey is on a different timeline.

11. Do you believe in the power of the universe, and karma, that if you live your life in a

positive way, you will always have positive outcomes? Or if you live your life in a

negative way, you will always have negative outcomes? Answer: Yes, I definitely

believe in karma and how it can affect you positively or negatively.

Having a positive mindset can be a game changer. If we believe that we are worth

everything we hope to have in life and we consistently have positive thoughts, positive

outcomes will happen. If we live our lives with negative thoughts consistently, we will

only have negative outcomes. Karma is also a very powerful thing to believe in because

good Karma will always be there for those doing good, and bad Karma will be there for

those causing harm to others.

Interview Conclusions

The findings of this interview can be incorporated for mind-body-spirit health because it

helped give me a sense of the questions I find important for mind-body-spirit health and they

gave me a sense of what this means to my husband. Mind-body-spirit health means different

things to every person but having a basis to work off of is helpful. These questions made my
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husband pause to think and some of the questions he has never asked himself before. I could tell

that my husband had never thought about answering questions like these, so it was nice to

challenge him to think about these questions on a deeper level. I had to do some digging to help

him along the way a little. I found that these questions were great prompts to open a conversation

about spirituality, health, success, and purpose. I feel that these questions challenged my husband

in a good way that helped peek his interest more.

Effectiveness of the Inventory Questions

Personally, I believe the questions in my inventory are a great starting point to talk with

clients about what they believe a mind-body-spirit connection is and to get a feel for where they

stand currently. I definitely can add more questions into the inventory to help my clients build on

their thoughts further and find ways they would enjoy building a more mind-body-spirit

connection. Some clients may not consider them spiritual at all, and I would need to change my

questions around to help support their mind-body-spiritual connection in their own way. If a

client is struggling with answering a certain question, I can add more inquisitive questions to the

list to try and get the client thinking on a deeper level. I do believe that these questions are a

great starting point when talking with clients about their mind-body-spiritual connection.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that having an inventory of questions used to help clients

understand what a mind-body-spiritual connection is, how to effectively support theirs or find

ways to grow the connection, is very important. In our current time, many of us are stuck in the

hustle and bustle of life and forget to do things we enjoy. We forget to move our bodies, eat

foods that nurture our health, find ways to destress, feel gratitude, and spend time connecting

with ourselves and others.

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References

Mayo Clinic. (2017). Forgiveness: Letting go of grudges and bitterness. Retrieved from

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

20047692

Psychology Today. (n.d.). Pessimism. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/pessimism

Seaward, B. (2018). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being.

Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.