To me the saying that "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means that if you have not first experienced something you will not be able to properly teach someone else to do it. Personally I feel that it is my obligation as a health and wellness professional to take the best care of myself as possible and to learn as much as I possibly can in order to help my patients. After graduation I plan on becoming a dietician and I can not see anyone taking advice about how to eat properly from someone that does not do so themselves. The thing that I have noticed about many of the dieticians in my area is that they are overweight. There is absolutely no way that I would listen to a dietician’s advice if they were overweight. The ways in which I can incorporate psychological and spiritual well being into my life is through meditation, yoga, and reconnecting with nature. These are in fact some of the things that I have let fall by the wayside since starting school however, if things go according to plan I will graduate in August and be able to get back to “normal”.
Personally I did not like the meeting Aesclpeius exercise. I found the sound of the waves in the background to be more distracting than relaxing. I do however, plan on trying this exercise again as I have had good experiences with all of the other exercises that I have done. Mindfulness and meditation have helped me to calm down. I have a great deal of changes taking place in my life right now and I am feeling quite well the majority of the time. I have even had people tell me that I seem calmer and like I am at peace with the decisions I have made in regards to my marriage ending. I am taking it day by day right now but, I definitely plan on continuing to use these exercises in the future along with yoga to continue fostering greater health and wellness. When I get into a routine I would like to take some time to “pay it forward” by teaching others how to use these techniques in their lives as well.
~Namaste~
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog. I am so totally with you on the dietician thing where some of them are overweight and look terrible. I bet if you ask one of them why they are over weight they will blame it on a medical condition that they supposedly have. That is a laugh. How can you be a dietician (teaching healthy eating etc.) and not practice what you preach (teach). It really makes you wonder how much they believe in their selves. I had to find a dieticiian before my gastric by pass surgery and I spoke with one on the phone an interview of sorts I really liked her over the phone but when I met her she was 5 foot tall and about 300lbs. Funny huh! I met with her one time she criticized what I ate as her way of teaching me I was so upset after the first appointment that I wrote her a letter giving her information that I obtained from my school books and the internet that she wrote me back and appoligiz ed. She did not charge me or my insurance for the appointment and to this day we still communicate via email. She has lost weight and is actually practicing a healty life style and has lost weight and now represents what I call a person in her profession. It is funny how someone with no formal education can help someone with a formal education.
Sherri Eldreth
Jen I love you blog too. I do think it is important to live what you preach but I can say from experience you can be a wealth of knowledge and may not look like it. I have known so much about nutritions for years. I was 600lbs struggling with my own weight but it did not stop me from learning as much as I could about food and nutrition. I believed in health and wellness but I had not physically gotten where I mentally was directed. I could easily sit and listen to a overweight dietician because I wanted his or her knowledge not their experience. I know that it is a hard pill to swallow, looking a overweight person, but until you walk in their shoes you just really don't know. I have helped hundreds of people lose hundreds of pounds and I did not encourage them one bit to have surgery like I did. I learned so much from lifestyle changes that I could share. Funny, I am still overweight, I still eat very small portions, I miss a lot of the foods that got me to 600lbs and it had been six years on this journey. I am happy people can listen to me, see my struggle and still decide that I know what I am talking about. We all have some type of issue. I am no where near my goal and I have so many skin issues that it would take a lot of money and a whole lot of reconstruction to make me look normal. I am just happy that I still have something to share and it does mean more to people now than it did when I was 600lbs. I used my plight then to convince people what would happen if they did not take control of their weight. So knowledge still is powerful...but seeing results is believing. I guess what I am saying is some of us have great intentions to do a job well done, we can be passionate about a subject but struggle trying to get to the place we want to be. I believe just as we are learning it takes the physical, spiritual and psychological parts of us to come together to gain optimal health. Sometimes the heart wants to move forward but the mind does not allow it. This is why I think the exercises we have participated in will help so many get to the place in their journey they strive for. I really enjoyed your post.
ReplyDeleteHi Jen, I am so happy that this class is helping you in your life so much. It has done a lot for me as well. I have a lot going on in my life too and it is helping me to stop and set my mind first before I make any decisions and to stop when I am hurting, sad, or get angry and replace those feelings with other ones. It is not always easy and I found that sometimes I really don't want to stop being angry with someone. I have noticed that in a few cases trying to turn my anger into loving kindness prompted a very sarcastic inner monologue. I was quite shock at the walls I found inside of myself and know that I must work on breaking them down.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all of your changes and I wish for you the best of health and happiness.
Cherie
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteI was reading your blog and felt like it was me talking. I like to motivate people in so many ways. I am unsure what route I will take with my degree at this point but your right in regards to the dietician comments you made I agree with you. Yes, they may have knowledge and information on the subject but how are you suppose to listen to them when they themselves cant take their own advice. My example would be a personal trainer. Would you want someone to train you who is overweight? I wouldn't but that is just my personal opinion. Anyway, good luck on everything. You are definitely close to graduation!