Unit 7 Exercise

I was very relaxed during the Aesculapius mp3. Although I have had some
difficulties with previous exercises in this class, due to the fact that
the meditations are guided, I feel that I have had the most success with
THIS exercise. I could actually see the Dalai Lama and the white light
penetrating his head, throat, and heart. I could FEEL his presence. It
was an indescribable feeling! I felt love, peace, and joy from him. I
plan to revisit this exercise many times in the future. However, when
it got to the part of taking him into myself and "becoming" him, I decided
not to go along with that part of the exercise. The reason being that
we ALL are unique in our own way. I am ALREADY a great and wise healer
and don't need to turn myself into someone else to be so. Therefore, I
chose to hold onto my own uniqueness.

The saying "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is
self-explanatory. Obviously, you can not take somewhere where you haven't
been because you don't know how to get there. The book uses the example of
having a map of Hawaii doesn't mean that you know the territory. The map will
point out where certain destinations are, but if you are at all familiar with
map reading, you will know that not ALL destinations are on the map. There are
a lot of things that you can only find be being there and experiencing it
first-hand. For instance, everyone reveres Duke University and it's medical
center as top notch and this is reflected by their stats and surveys. However,
I have had two surgeries there, and one of them was to cut away necrotic tissue
due to a staph infection that I got while in the care of DUMC. It turns out that
someone did not sterilize the instruments properly before using them and, as a
result, several people (including me) got staph infections. You can only TEACH someone
or "lead" them to something if you have had the experience of it yourself,or at least
first hand knowledge of it.

How does this apply to the health and
wellness profession? Well, I think it applies to everyone, in every situation.
That includes all aspects of your life.

I feel like you have an obligation to
YOURSELF to be developing your health psychologically, spiritually, and physically.
It IS possible to teach someone and help them through something without actually
having experienced it, IF you are well versed (have witnessed it) in what to do.
Therefore, I would say, NO. You DON'T have to have it all together and be working
on yourself in order to be able to help others with something. It definitely HELPS
to have the experience and know what it is to have gone through what you are helping
others through, but it is not necessary to have gone through it to be able to help
them. As I said before, if you have witnessed a situation and saw what was done about
it and witnessed the outcome of those decisions, then you know what should and should
not be done in that situation in the future. For instance, if you know that, in a certain
part of your town, there are gang members and they wear certain colors and you know what
those colors are and you find yourself HAVING to go into that part of town for some reason,
you will probably be conscious of what colors you wear, not wanting to set off one or the
other gangs. That is a rough example, I know, but you get the jist of it. Anyone with half
a brain or any sense at all will know that, if it is common knowledge that a certain herb
cures 8 different types of cancer and your cancer is not on the list but you have no other
alternatives, it may be a good idea to give it a shot anyway. I mean, what do you have to
lose? Let's look at the choices.....take this herb that MIGHT save you, is safe and effective
on similar illnesses, and has no side effects; OR do nothing and die. I think I will take
the herb EVERY TIME.

I implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life by being CONSCIOUS of my
emotions, mood, and attitude. I am CONSCIOUS of how I respond to others and how they react
to my response. You must be conscious and aware of what you are doing to/for/with people and
how they are being affected, as well as how your decisions are affecting yourself, and how
THEIR decision affect YOU. Also, the same applies with nature. If I am going for a walk and
see trash on the ground (that is not too unsanitary to pick up with my hands and there is
a trash can nearby) I pick it up. I teach my kids that every day is Earth day and that
we MUST keep the Earth clean. We mustn't waste water and I try to get them to get out and play
and walk whenever possible to get our natural source of Vitamin D and fresh air. As I have
said before, this is the only Earth we have....she sustains US, not the other way around.
The LEAST we can do is to maintain and care for her in return.