Unit 3 Psychological, Spiritual, and Physical Well-Being

I think I would give myself a 9 for well being, physically, psychologically, and spiritually.  I believe that I am at a 9 because I have always been pretty in tune with all aspects of my well being, I am aware of my strengths and weaknesses and I strive to evolve, I am deeply connected with my personal spirituality, I have always lead a healthy life and continue to further that, but I give myself a 9 because there is always room for improvement.  No one is perfect and nothing is completely perfect.  I am always learning more information, seeking more knowledge, absorbing more insight, my perceptions are always adapting each day as I experience more.  I know that I constantly am working at bringing things into balance in my life and paying attention to when things are out of balance, which is a constant daily task.  It is not something you can just do once and be fine, you have to work at it everyday.   I eat healthy, I exercise and am active, I stay away from chemicals such as MSG, high fructose corn syrup, and non nutritive sweeteners, I actively meditate while exercising, I enjoy sitting in silence and having alone time, I only partake in a select few "junk" foods a couple of times a year (literally), I make and take time for myself, I got rid of smoking cigarettes, I partake in aromatherapy daily, I use crystal therapy, I do things to feel in harmony with the universe, and many other positive well being activities.  Hmmm.... Some goals for each area...  I would say one of my goals physically is to do Pilates for lower back function, much of my stress is carried in my back and I have also had a lot of back injuries for being young and Pilates is one of the best exercises for back function.  My mom has a whole DVD set of Pilates, she just can't remember where she put them, and I am pretty sure she forgot about looking for them for me and I have not reminded her because I have been so busy with work and I just recently got a gym membership since I was not having enough daylight to go hiking outdoors with my schedule.  I'd also like to get into yoga and belly dancing is for sure on my bucket list.  Another goal is to exclusively meditate by silencing everything out and quieting myself.  I am fantastic at actively meditating while exercising, but I do not take much time to actually sit down and exclusively meditate.  I do enjoy the silence frequently but I do not think it is the same as exclusively meditating.  Psychologically, I am still working on my stress levels, I have come a long ways in just the last 4 months of taking back charge of my life, but I am far from my goal because many things have continued for many years and it takes a while to change things that have been around for years and years and years.  One of the major things that I have been working on is my tendency to be a codependent stress prone personality type, although I am also the survivor stress resistant personality type sometimes the scale is not balanced.  Therefore, I have to consciously make an effort to not let things in life overwhelm me, consume me, or bring me down, and stress me out.  For instance, I ended up getting scheduled to work for a week straight, which left me no time for school work.  I was so stressed out I started to cry, instead I stopped myself and decided I need to do some serious time management, so I wrote out a schedule from Saturday to Saturday hour by hour each day and highlighted in work hours, getting ready and drive times, sleep hours based on sleep cycles (90 mins), what time I had to do school work each day, and lastly a little tiny bit of me time.   I also make a list of school work for each week and I marked on my list days for each assignment and task.  So far everything has gone according to planned, this blog ended up being spread out over a few days because every time I would work on it I would only get a little bit done at a time due to being so exhausted from work.  Tonight I will be up till 6 am writing 3 papers because I have to work all day tomorrow through till the time everything is due.  My ex husband asked why I am staying up till 6 am?  I know myself, I have already been jacked up on caffeine, I am a night owl, and I know that I will sleep instead of getting up early to work on school work so it is better to just stay up till I get it all done.  I guess the answer for psychological stress would be to be proactive, constructive, positive, and turn debilitating stress into facilitating stress.  As for the relaxation exercise, I will admit that I was multitasking while listening to it.  I have already heard this one in my previous class, Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention.  Right now though it is extremely difficult to get in tune with the exercise mainly because  I do not want to be relaxed right now, I just want to get my papers written so I can go to sleep so I can go to work for 9 hours...  After I get off work tomorrow is when I can relax, but right now there is no time to relax...  When I listened to this video the first time I did feel very relaxed, I altered a few things such as the grounding root chakra is brown not red.  I do like this guided relaxation because I do believe in chakras, chakras being focal points of energy for specific things, chakras being out of alignment or blocked, and chakra healing.  I have done chakra healing with crystals placed on each chakra as well as listening to meditative music with different frequencies each specific to each chakra.  

Unit 2 Guided Meditation

My first attempt to listen to the guided meditation failed horribly because there was a loud movie playing in the background, I was exhausted after only getting 3 hours of sleep and being up for 17 hours, and I could not focus at all.  I decided I would give the guided meditation a try while I was exercising the next day so I emailed the link to myself so I could listen to it on my phone at the gym since I use it to listen to music while I work out.  Kind of try combining exclusive meditation with active meditation since I am great at active meditation but terrible at exclusive meditation.  Unfortunately that project failed as well, the email did not go through, so I logged onto class from my phone, which was successful except for some reason I couldn't scroll so I could reach the link.  Attempt #2 failed.  Attempt #3 I am a wee bit under the weather from celebrating my ex husband's birthday last night but I just woke up a half hour ago and it is said that it is easier to meditate upon waking up because your mind is more receptive.  I've done guided meditations such as this one before, a therapist I used to see always guided me through a meditation that started with relaxing the entire body from top to bottom, very relaxing.  My hands and fingers did feel warmer during the meditation and my arms felt heavier and relaxed.  Letting the blood flow back to my stomach didn't make me feel very well due to celebrating last night.  One thing that always happens to me is I feel so relaxed I am tired, then they say you don't feel tired you feel energized.  I feel like I am lying to myself, "no, I am tired but okay I will tell myself I am not!"  ha ha!

My How Time Can Get Away From You

Wow!  It has been so long since I have logged onto my blog and even looked at it.  I feel like I stepped back into a moment in time of my past.  So much has changed since I created this blog for a previous class here at Kaplan.  A quick run down of all the events:  My husband and I moved back to Washington from California once his 4 year term was finished in the Marine Corps, unfortunately everything started to unravel once we got home...  The year and a half was a struggle of PTSD, separation, many moves, trying to work on things and buying a house, the divorce becoming finalized, and reworking on things at the present moment.  During all of the chaos, there was much depression, apathy, meltdowns, breakdowns, letting an abusive ex boyfriend control and mentally, emotional, and verbally abuse me, losing my job, not being able to find a job, not being able to receive assistance, etc...  All while, school and my determination for 4.0 terms and my animals were the only things that kept me hanging on.  Finally, I was able to get into the class Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention and a week straight of a major breaking point of stress in my life, I realized that I gave away all of the control in my life, and decided that I had had enough.  I took back control of my life, I quit smoking cigarettes, I got back into hiking, which is one of my healthy addictions, I reclaimed my confidence and got a job, I got back into taking my supplements everyday, I made a rule that I was only allowed to post something positive on Facebook, and so forth.  For the last month and a half my ex husband and I have been working on things, though there was much stress due to a female roommate that caused many problems, who is thankfully gone.  Lately my gut instincts have been super sensitive and I have much success actually listening to them!  However, much of the stress was caused by no one listening to me about my gut instincts going off like crazy that this female roommate was bad news until she bailed out with out paying the other half of the rent due.  As of recent stress levels have started to increase especially working a retail job at one of the top busiest stores at the mall, which has been setting off my panic and anxiety attacks with the increase in volume of people and a month long bout of bad luck.  One of the things that I learned from last term is that I may have the codependency personality type that is stress prone but I am also the survivor personality type that is stress resistant, so everyday that things go wrong or things become stressful I remind myself  that I am a survivor and that I have grand big places to go and be in life.  Here's to the start of another term that offers great information and resources that will benefit my life and those that are a part of my life.

Unit 10 All Done!

I am definitely doing my last few assignments late but things at the home haven't been so great with family members and alcoholism problems.  But things have finally settled down enough to get my last few assignments done and check my grade on how I did.  I am so relieved that I got a good grade on my paper and able to keep my A!  Now to pass my exam for my nutrition class and I can keep that A as well!  I think the best advice I cold give based on my experiences is time management and organization will be a big help in writing a quality paper.  Setting up a designated days for researching, note taking, and writing is extremely productive especially when it comes close to finalizing a paper.  I did research up until making my paper completely final and found myself crunched for time because I didn't realize how much work was going to be needed to make my paper final.  I still feel that if I would have managed my time better and spent more time working on my paper I could have had included another point on the dangers of non nutritive sweeteners making my paper a whole 6 pages instead of making each of my paragraphs so long.  I feel that there could have been more Paramedic revision done to my paper than what I did do If I had given myself more time.  As for organization, I had a mass amount of tabs open each with a different article and I forgot 2 references when I turned my paper in because I didn't keep all of my sources organized.  Luckily I woke up 2 hours after turning my paper in and realized I missed those 2 references, I would have been so upset if I would have gotten in trouble for unintentional plagiarism.  I think no matter how well I write a paper, exam, assignment, or project, I think I will always feel that I could do better and try harder the next time because I really want this degree and I want to do it as best I can.  I don't want to just barely pass my classes, or just barely pass an assignment, I want to get good grades, keep my honor roll and high G.P.A. and really be proud when I get my degree. All of my terms have had things happen and obstacle pop up and I don't expect any of my other terms to come to be smooth sailings.  So with each passing term I make a mental note of what did and didn't work such as insomnia and morning classes do not mix well and figure out the things that will work for future classes to come.  Swimming upstream is very tiresome and something I would prefer to avoid during the course of next few years of college if possible. 

Unit 9 Almost Final

For once I am trying to knock out some assignments early especially since my husband I are finally getting to go camping this weekend. At the moment I still have a some to do before my paper is final and can be turned in.  I still need to write my abstract, add a little to my 2nd and 3rd paragraph, and go over my paper a few more times to make some last revisions.  Aside from those last things to do I feel pretty good about my paper.  I think the difference between how I felt about the paper I wrote last term for Writing Composition 1 is that I got a really good grade on my first draft for this paper, whereas I didn't get a very good grade for my formal outline last term and a lack of help from the professor.  So the confidence of a good grade and really putting forth an effort to use the information I learned last class really helped for me to write this paper.  I do however think that my writers block and the different obstacles that occur make a big impact of how well my writing flows out and onto the paper/screen.  I feel a little nervous when I think about what I have to do and if I'm giving myself enough time to do it, and all the errands I have to do and things that pop up and make making time for school work difficult or my brain not working and wondering when it will work when I need it to!  But I remind myself that I do always get it done so I try not to over worry myself.  When I turn it in I will probably celebrate with a drink and feel good that I am done and spend the next day relaxing.  At this point my idea of writing hasn't changed much from how I've always felt about writing.  Sometimes I am really good at it without trying and other times I stare at my screen confused and dumbfounded, sometimes my writing flows and other times I can't get anything to come out.  I have definitely learned a lot from Writing Composition 1 and 2 and I don't think my papers would be good enough without these classes.  When I write papers in the future I will remember the things that I was taught in these classes and know where to look for help and what areas I need to pay attention to so that I continue to get good grades and be able to evolve as the classes get harder and more professional.  There are a ton of topics that I would love to research and write about such as herbalism, natural products, aromatherapy, acupuncture, chiropractic, ways to be healthy, what works, what doesn't work, etc...  I want to build a collection of all of the papers that I write throughout college so maybe I can share them with others in the future.  I would very much like to be an influential voice in helping people take an in depth look at health and be more aware of what is going on in the health world.      

Unit 8 Comments Or Lack There Of

 Oh man, finally getting to go on a 2 hour hike since being home made all the difference for me!  However drinking for my brothers 21st birthday did not help with trying not to procrastinate with my school work.  At least I am in better spirits!  Sitting in the half finished computer room at my half finished computer desk with my classical music has really helped to keep me focused and away from distracting people like my husband and mother!  So I guess my biggest issue throughout this writing class has been self discipline, distractions, and not having a set schedule for this whole term.  My sleep schedule has been extraordinarily messed up making it really difficult to get up for morning class, and hard to get up and get going for the day.  

When it comes to socializing I'm half and half.  Half of me is extremely shy and quiet and not many people see this side of me.  I'm mostly shy when it comes to meeting people for the first time, or being at a new job, place, environment.  The other half of me is loud, talkative, and rambunctious, the side most people see because I know them, they know me and I am comfortable enough in my settings to let loose.  When I chose online school it was because I wanted the detachment from people so that I could focus on school.  I have never wanted to go to an on campus college or university and be around tons of people.   I guess since I have been so focused with school that I haven't built any connections with other students.  For this class I tried to add all of the classmates for the blog assignment but I only had one person add my blog.  At times it can be frustrating to not have any comments but at the same time it is just a blog, not everyone is used to them and at least I get comments on the discussion board.  Besides it is only my 3rd term, as time goes by and the more there is to learn the more opportunities for educational and intellectual connections will be available. 

I definitely wouldn't want to get rid of my blog page because it is a part of my journey in my education and where I want to go with it.  Who knows maybe it will come in handy for the other classes I'll be taking and if not I can use it for a place for me to write since I don't use my other blog anymore.  My other blog is on Myspace and I haven't touched it in a year!  Before I used to blog all the time about anything that I found interesting, a big reason was because I was getting so tired of peoples' bulletins talking about how bored they were and the endless surveys of nonsense.  So I decided to start blogging about topics such as politics, oil companies, clean coal technology, even Captain Planet :).  I'm not sure yet what direction I'll be going with this blog but I am going to keep it. 

Unit 7 Peer Review

I think peer reviews are an essential part of the learning process because constructive criticism and feedback helps see things that may have been missed the first time around and also to see what areas are going well.  I know there are times in my writing where I am unsure of myself due to trying to be a perfectionist and when I receive reviews from my peers  they help to let me know that I am on track.  My experiences with peer review have been pretty good.  They seem to get better as the terms roll by and the classmates get to know one another better.  In the beginning it was a bit more difficult being new and not knowing anyone, I didn't receive a lot of feedback when school first started.  This could have been because I was usually later posting than everyone else, however this made me look for the people at the end of the week that didn't have any comments so that I could give them some positive feedback.  Sometimes I find it a bit more difficult to find people that don't have any comments already.  When someone has a ton of comments it makes it harder to write a review that isn't saying what everyone else has already said.

So far I don't think I have had any Ah Ha! moments during my 3 terms.  Mostly because these 3 terms have been extremely stressful with moving last term and then moving again this term.  I usually end up having to cram assignments and work and there are many days where my brain decides to just not function at all.  Good thing I am good at turning my stress into facilitating stress when I have to get things done last minute.  Somehow I always manage to get things done and do a decent job at it, every now and then I have to turn something in that I know I am going to lose a few points on but have ran down to the last minute.  Granted I wish that my life could go a bit more smoothly so I didn't have to stress and cram at the last minute.  I may be able to get the work done but while doing so I'm not the most pleasant to be around while trying to get it done.  I'm pretty lucky too when it comes to research and being able to find what I need to write my paper on.  Same with writing, I guess it's more of an all or nothing kind of thing.  I either have terrible writing block and can't get anything accomplished or I am down to little time and it all comes pouring out.  I wish my writing would come pouring out when I want it to not when I am freaking out because I have only a handful of hours to produce something.

I don't think there has been anything too shocking or intriguing during the writing process or during my research.  I've always known that artificial sweeteners are terrible and why, but it is nice to have a lot of data to back up why it is and to actually have a paper on it.  Makes me feel like people will be more willing to listen to what I have to say instead of just brushing me off like I'm some idiot or something.  It's also nice to be able to use what I learned from last writing class and apply it to this writing class and also learn more to perfect the skills of writing.  I'm still a bit nervous for future classes when they get harder and the grading gets harder too, but my husband has faith that I'll just get smarter as the classes get harder.