Self-Awareness

I think that one of the keys to health is to have self-awareness--to pay attention to how you feel, how you think, as well as to your spritual health. I like to think that I am self-aware....

How do I rate?
Physical Wellbeing--If I were to rate my physical wellbeing on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being optimal wellbeing), I would give myself a 7.3. I still have about 50lbs to lose but thanks to my personal trainer, Trainer Pete, my strength and stamina have improved a lot. I also have fibroid tumors and they have been causing me some minor discomfort over the past few months. When I was first diagnosed, I opted not to have surgery when my doctor told me that he didn’t know what caused them and that they might come back. I found this awesome book, Healing Fibroids Naturally by Dr. Allan Warshowsky. I followed the recommendations mentioned in the book (all related to nutrition and exercise) and my symptoms went away completely. I’ve gotten away from those recommendations over this past year (why is it when we think a problem is fixed, we go back to doing the very things that caused the problem in the first place?) which explains why my symptoms have returned.
Spiritual Wellbeing—I have to give myself a 7.0. Although I’ve gotten away from going to church regularly, I have been working on my faith and maintaining my relationship with God. I think having my father’s funeral at church was a mistake, lol. I can’t seem to go there without crying. Another thing is we have a new pastor. He’s good but not as good as our former preacher and I find myself not completely satisfied after hearing his sermons. But I don’t want to lose my connection to God and my beliefs so I try read my bible and pray regularly. I know that it doesn’t completely take the place of going to church….I’m a work in progress, aren’t we all?
Psychological Wellbeing—I’m going to give myself an 8. I like to think and reflect and figure out why I do the things I do, say the things I say, and feel the way I feel. I also seem to be breaking down some mental barriers and I feel more confident. I feel great, psychologically speaking!

What can I do?
Physically—Eat better, move more. I think that’s going to be my mantra going forward. I’m going to start teaching a group fitness class at the local YMCA starting in November, so I’ll definitely be moving more. I had a bad run-in with a salad a few weeks ago. The high sodium content in a pre-packaged salad caused my feet to swell up. And I should know better but I was taken in by the huge “only 230 calories” label. After about 2 ½ weeks, I read the ingredient list and found that salt/sodium was listed 14 times!!! Adding to that, I finally realized how much my personal trainer is costing me a year--$3240. So from now I “eat better and move more”.
Spiritually—I already mentioned that I’m not going to church very often. I sing in a choir and I only go to church when we have to sing. Let me just say that used to go every Sunday, sometimes I would attend two services, and also go to bible study and special events. I know that I was mad at God for a while after my father passed and it just seemed rude to go to church. It’s like going over a friend’s house while you’re still pissed as hell. I’m not mad anymore, but I broke myself of what I thought was a good habit and I’ve been having trouble getting it back. In the meantime, spending time in daily meditation and prayer will help. I try to do it in the mornings but I’m always oversleeping. I need to find a time that works (or maybe just commit…)
Psychologically-For me, growing spiritually helps me psychologically—does that make sense? As for an actual activity to do to improve psychologically…I don’t know. I got it, feel more. I don’t like to feel stressed or upset but I realized that suppressing those emotions can cause damage. So I’m going to cry when I feel like crying, scream when I feel like screaming, smile when I don’t have a reason to but I want to anyway. It might hurt at first, but practice makes perfectJ.

Relaxation Exercise
After doing The Crime of the Century relaxation exercise, I felt sleepy. Relaxation exercises tend to put me to sleep. I guess it’s because they relax me, sometimes a bit too much. At the same time, I felt extremely positive, hopeful, peaceful and strong.