There are many important reasons for health and wellness professionals to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. One of the most important aspects of any profession is having profound substance behind your words through firsthand experience. If a health and wellness professional wishes to assist others to human flourishing they should have a desire to reach human flourishing themselves. What begins as professional training will become more personal when the health and wellness professional incorporates integral health practices into their own life. The professional will then have firsthand experience of the feeling of alleviating suffering as they come to know that human flourishing is more than just an idea (Dacher, 2006). As an individual becomes interested in the idea of human flourishing a health and wellness professional who knows the true meaning and feeling of sustained integral health will be more apt and enthusiastic in moving them through the stages of change into the action stage where they implement the behavior. For a health and wellness professional to assist others to develop psychologically, spiritually and physically they should be a living model of such development allowing one to see what they wish to become.

            I score my health spiritually a 7. I have assessed my health in this domain by identifying the level of cognition in which I understand the self and true meaning of the soul. I feel if one radiates kindness and compassion those actions can become infectious to others. I am a spiritual person who finds more happiness from things that money cannot buy. I have always attended church and feel a connection with this part of my spirituality as well. Overall I feel that I am rather healthy spiritually but there is always room for improvement.

            I score my health physically an 8. I am 32 years of age and feel the healthiest that I have in my adult life. I began exercising and eating healthy approximately 3 years ago. Since then I have reached my ideal weight and have been able to maintain that weight for over a year now. I feel energized and alive. I love to be physically active and keep my blood flowing so to speak. I have assessed this domain by comparing and contrasting the levels of physical health I have been through in my adult life. I am physically healthy as I rate myself and 8 but I could eat a bit more healthy and enable better sleep patterns therefore I can still improve.

            I score my health psychologically a 6. I have rated this domain by analyzing my stressors and the effect they have on my mental health. I allow stressful situations to control me at times therefore I do not feel as healthy in this domain as I am in the others. I have always analyzed everything. What most people will see as a picture I see as much more by noticing the looks of happiness, impending doom, lighting, background etc. Or what one may see as a door I see everything that made that door. The thoughts in my mind seem to be awhirl at times therefore I only rate myself a 6.

            I have 2 goals physically for I feel they are of equal importance. The first goal is to eat healthier. I eat mostly healthy foods but at times I am guilty of not meeting my daily nutritional values. I need to eat more calories and fat for I minimized it for 2 years or more in order to lose weight and now that I have reached my ideal weight I should allow myself to eat more. I eat well but eat grilled chicken or fish with lots of vegetables and foods that do not contain a high calorie count. Then I will take spells where I eat junk food or unhealthy food as a means to cope with a stressful situation. Therefore I need to make eating healthy a priority as well as a goal. Also I do not sleep well. As my second goal I need to enable better sleep patterns. I lay in bed for hours sometimes unable to fall asleep. It seems at these times my mind will not shut down or calm enough to enter sleep. I have been practicing the subtle mind meditation at night before bed and it has truly helped me to enter sleep easier. I would like to continue to grow as I practice the subtle mind exercise and reap the benefits from doing so.

            A goal that I have psychologically is to improve my self-esteem. I am always looking outward rather than inward and seeing the beauty in everything other than myself. I need to take the time to also notice and view the beautiful things about who I am. I know that I am a good person I just forget about myself at times. Psychologically it would be very healthy for me to improve my self-esteem.

            A goal that I have spiritually is to connect to and understand the nature of my soul a bit more. I want to continue to practice meditation and to grow spiritually. I have been implementing the loving kindness and subtle mind exercises into my daily life. Yet I feel I need to make them more of an absolute priority for I allow myself to not do them at times. Usually those are the times that they would best benefit me. Such as, if I am feeling overwhelmed I will allow myself to skip a meditation due to not feeling energized enough to complete it. I want to become one with the nature of my soul with wishes of continuing to grow physically, spiritually and psychologically.

            Strategies that I have to foster growth physically are to pay special attention to my body, eating healthy, ensuring that I get enough sleep, and doing things that have a positive impact on my physical health. I need to eat the proper amount of nutrition. I will implement this by keeping a daily food journal in which I write down the nutritional facts of each meal or snack that I eat. I will tally the total at the end of the day allowing me to see if I need to increase or decrease in any area. Another exercise or practice that I can do to foster growth physically is to continue to practice the subtle mind exercise before I try to fall asleep. I am improving in the manner that I am able to complete this exercise. I feel as though I am becoming more and more in tune with how to alleviate needless thoughts from my mind allowing me to reach a peaceful state in which I can truly rest.

            A way that I can assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months is to complete an assessment of my health spiritually, physically, and psychologically on a monthly basis. I can compare and contrast a written account of my findings each month in which I will be able to assess whether or not I am progressing. I will use a journal as the main strategy for assisting myself to maintain my long-term practices for health and wellness. I should continue to write in the journal and after one year assess my progress or lack of progress. This will allow me to ensure that I am still progressing and if I am regressing I will be aware of the fact allowing me to once again progress. Keeping up with the journal will be a wonderful and useful tool in assessing my progress or lack of progress. Also I can research and practice different meditation exercises allowing me to progress even more.