Running header: ACHIEVING HUMAN FLOURISHING

Antony Polynice
Course: HW420
Unit 9 Final Project
December 11, 2013
Professor Nysewander

Over the course of the last few months, I have learned some of the vital
techniques required to achieve the ultimate goal of life, human flourishing. In order to
reach the level of human flourishing, first a step by step plan must be implemented in
each area of my being. Some of the areas that will be explored are my psychospiritual
development, mental development, and physical development. Each area requires

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

training; an almost
Olympian style of training and discipline that is designed to eliminate
P
stress, depression, worrying, lack of sleep, sickness, disease, and premature death.
a

Practicing exercises in areas such as loving kindness is designed to open up the heart
g

to all possibilities. Also, practicing an integrative holistic approach through exercises,

e
research, and application
will aid in promoting a healthier lifestyle. Unit 9 project focuses

on my mind body
spirit health assessment, developing wellness goals, practices and
|
exercises designed to achieve wellness goals, and committing to my mind body spirit
2

goals.

First, as a health and wellness student and soon to be practitioner, it is important

to create and plan a personal wellness development plan before attempting to help
others. One reason is that planning allows the practitioner to stay focused on preparing
for necessary life changes within himself and his patient. Planning is accomplished by
reminding ourselves over and over about the unique and precious opportunities of
human life (Dacher, E., 2006). One of the greatest opportunities given to human beings
is the ability to express loving kindness towards others. Loving Kindness can be
expressed through our thoughts, prayers, and advice to others. This then opens the
heart to characteristics of respect, honesty, patience, and acceptance (Dacher, E.,
2006). This in return, teaches practitioners to love, care for, and understand their
patient, which promotes a stronger ability of healing.
Psychological development is the ability to strengthen and expand the mind into
different levels of consciousness. Psycho-spirituality occurs when the mind and spirit
fuses into one. The mind and spirit are closely related in a sense that both develop
within the brain. Psychology revolves around the study of the mind and the anatomical
brain and its functions. This includes thought process, imbalances, as well as diseases
of the mind. Spirituality usually refers to the beliefs in the mind and sometimes the
heart. One of the reasons why the mind and spirit are so closely related is because
beliefs begin in the mind. Once a belief is practiced consistently for a long period of
time, it then occupies the heart, and later occupies the whole being. For example,
religion is first taught, then practiced, and then lived. In order to develop psychospiritually, one must learn and understand the four levels of psychospiritual
development.

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

The firstP level of psychospiritual development refers to primal unity. Primal unity
is similar to a newborn babys natural instinct to react based on survival. This first level
a

of psychospiritual flourishing, primal unity is deeply rooted mentally with no spiritual

g

development. In western civilization, we lose this level early on which is necessary for
e
further development.
This takes away most of our ability to develop further. Dr. Dacher

states, Western
| culture does not, as a matter of routine, prioritize inner development at
a young age, we are mistakenly forced to look outward to worldly experience as a way
3

to calm our unconscious fears, insecurities, and losses that result from this broken
oneness (pp. 61). The second level of psychospiritual flourishing refers to the
witnessing conscious mind. A witness conscious mind provides a person the ability to
see with an inner eye what occurs within a persons thought process. This gives more
room for effective decision making through eliminating clutter and distractions within the
mind. This is the beginning phase to controlling the mind. The third level of
psychospiritual

flourishing

refers

to

the

calm-abiding

mind.

calm-abiding

consciousness is where the mind and spirit begin to fuse. Intentions begin to mature
and the mind becomes clear, focused, unbiased, and confident (pp. 61). The last level
of psychospiritual flourishing, unity consciousness comes with the development of
wisdom and consciousness within the mind. The mind and spirit becomes one and a
person becomes fully aware of their true nature.
In Western culture, physical development tends to be the most focused area of
healing. Western medicine has mastered the biological components of health through
exercise, nutrition, medication, and medical procedures. As we know, the human body
has the ability to accomplish amazing things, including the ability to strengthen, heal,
and lose weight. However, the human body has its limitations unlike the mind and spirit.
This is why the body needs the mind and spirit to heal. Many research studies such as
the famous prayer study, proves that spirituality can help heal even the most chronic
illnesses. Even though the body can achieve great heights alone, the body also has
great limitations while attempting to achieve these goals. This is where an integrated
approach to healing becomes necessary. All three areas, mind body and spirit need to
work together to eliminate the body of unwanted toxins and diseases. One system
without the other, fixes only a part of the problem and not the whole problem. This is

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

why western Pmedicine is starting to integrate with eastern medicine. Integrative
approaches to medicine heal the body as a whole.
a

Over the last few months my evolution from, a basic understanding of health and
g

wellness to a strong application of mind body spirit integration has occurred. Much of
e spent learning ways to develop the mind body and spirit. There is still
my time has been

a long way to go
| in my personal development, however the fundaments of practicing is
imbedded in me. My discovery is that through practicing mind body spirit exercises,
4

modalities, and approaches, I will someday achieve the ultimate goal of human
flourishing and teach others how to do the same.
Initially in the beginning of this journey, I have assessed my psychological,
spiritual, and physical scores at lower levels. Today with pride, I can say that my scores
in each area have improved. Much of my psychological development has come from
gaining knowledge. Reading and understanding the many health concepts from this
term has given me a strong sense of mental development. However, just like anything
else the key to maintaining a strong mind is to train. For me, training comes in the sense
of learning. Learning has taught me different options that are necessary to my own
flourishing. Learning has given me a strong sense of confidence in my abilities, has
taught me patience, and has taught me how to teach others. This reminds me of the
saying, Every great teacher was once a great student. As a practitioner, in order to
teach others how to achieve ultimate wellness, first the desire and ability to learn must
be within me. Once applied, I will then possess the skill to heal within and to teach
others how to heal.
.My physical development has never really been an issue for me. Much of my
physical wellness began when I was in the military approximately ten years ago. During
my four year tour, physical fitness and nutrition were strongly imbedded in my being.
However, although I am knowledgeable on nutrition, at times I have lacked in this area.
In the past, as a young single man I found that I was more disciplined in fitness and
nutrition than I am as a father and a husband. Being a family man makes me
comfortable with indulging in bad nutritional behaviors even though many times we tend
to eat healthy as a family. This is where discipline comes into place. My disciplinary
skills must become sharpened to focus on the goal of maintaining my physical fitness.

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

This course has
P taught me to practice discipline through following up with my exercise
goals. Through contemplative exercises of repetitive mind body meditation, I have
a

taught my mind to stay on track with my physical goals. For example, I tend to meditate
g

now before I exercise. In my meditative practices I encourage my sub-conscious mind

e exercise more often. I now find that even in the worst weather and on
to eat better and

the busiest day,

| I find at least 15 -30 minutes a day for my own physical development.
Another exercise I used is mental imagery. While running I imagine myself winning a
5

large sum of money or a different prize once I complete the set out distance. This has
taught me to accomplish my workout goals. I now know that physical wellness goals
assist in preserving, improving, and maintaining biological life.
Spirituality is the one area that I initially struggled with. Now I can say that
spirituality is the area I find most pleasure and success in. At first, understanding
spirituality was challenging to me. I used to believe that spirituality and religion was the
same thing. But now I realize that spirituality is a persons belief system of a higher
energy or being. This energy can be seen in a form of a religious figure (spirit), an
energy form (qi), or even as just a figment of the imagination. Most people believe in
something higher. Many times, a higher belief is needed to channel the energy to the
mind and body. This is how our beliefs, such as prayer, can help heal even some of the
worst sicknesses. Just being able to describe this spirituality topic proves to me that my
spiritual journey has improved. In order to further improve spirituality the best exercise
that work for me are the application of spiritual modalities into my life. My new
obsession with learning about Tai Chi has improved my sense of learning, meditating,
and physical balance. This gives me the opportunity to control my breathing while
channeling negative energy out of my body. Yoga is another modality that has assisted
me in the flexibility of my mind body and spirit. I now find myself chanting while
performing these meditative physical exercises, such as Tai Chi and Yoga. Chanting
positive words such as love, or forgiveness, sub-consciously opens the heart and mind
to healing our daily worldly wounds. These wounds come in the form of stress, anger,
anxiety, and pain and can easily turn into sickness and disease. Therefore, it is
important to practice some form of spirituality daily in order to eliminate negative energy
within our being.

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

In my opinion,
commitment is probably the most difficult area for people to
P
develop in. This is primarily because of the large amounts of distractions we face on a
a

daily basis. These distractions tend to force me to believe that worldly flourishing is the
g

key to survival. This means that my mind is in a constant state of panic of eating,
e
sleeping, and breathing
work in order to pay upcoming bills. However, although many of

us are raised to
| believe so, this perception of survival equals panic, is not the healthiest
approach to finding peace during a stressful situation. For most of my life I have had
6

commitment issues with work mainly because I found no value in giving away my time
and free will to somebody else. Second, I found no passion in what I did for a living.
Third, the pay hasnt always been the best in most cases barely making enough to
survive. However, as Dr. Dacher mentions (pp. 101) in his teachings, we need to turn
our jobs into spiritual work. This means that we need to change our intentions into
loving the opportunity to help and serve others. Dacher teaches that this is the only way
to gain true fulfillment at work. After reading that passage, my perception at work has
changed and so have my relationship with others. This was probably one of the most
helpful passages I have read in my lifetime. So why am I speaking about work when it
comes to committing to my goals? I find that if I can learn to commit to something I used
to hate doing (my job), and changing work from a negative to a positive, I can most
certainly learn to commit to many more areas in my personal development. Overall, I
find that the best way to assess my progress in committing to personal development is
to organize my goals. As a visual learner, it is best for me to organize my goals on paper
or electronically, and follow through with my goals as I read them. This also allows me
the opportunity to become flexible, changing and rearranging my goals as they develop.
This is especially important because I have terrible memory. I am also discovering that
much of my memory loss may be contributed to mental chatter and stress, which over
the last few weeks I have learned, can be detrimental to maintaining a clear and
focused mind. So far, this unit 9 project is just a fraction of the many amazing, lifechanging mind body spirit wellness concepts I have learned. Continuing to pursue a
life-long education in these aspects will give me the right to teach and heal others the
way I have been.
References

Mind Body Spirit Goal Setting

Dacher, E. (2006)
Integral Health The Path to Human Flourishing, Basic Health Pub
P
Inc., NY
a

g
e
|
7