The Health Factor

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As I close my eyes and drift away to a land where there is love, health, peace, and blessings. I wanted to take the time to think and reflect. 

     The truth is I can finally say that I am both a graduate of the Faculty of Health, and the Faculty of Education. I really have not had time to digest this accomplishment with my latest intensive summer course. It feels like I'm flying with my thoughts, trying to catch them quickly, and make some sort of sense of these. However, finally settling into this fast mode, I think that it will be a good experience for me. As once again it will push, and challenge my limits.

     As I write these words I will take a deep breath of thanks and gratitude to all those who have helped me along my path, through my undergraduate journey. As many students will know that obtaining a degree is not an easy task, academic supports are vital and essential for success. Cohort support will vary, but speaking through the lens of a mature student, I have to say the challenges do vary. And I will take a moment to acknowledge the obstacles that I have faced along the way as well.

     I have faced troubling, testing, often times of emotional paralysis. These obstacles often left me lost, confused, often wondering why, however I realized that everyone will face barriers. And as I told my former students,  we will face barriers towards our short - term, and long - term goals, however we cannot and should not let these interfere with our goals. Truly, how we overcome these barriers, hurdles of testing times are also a part of the learning journey. They carve through us to add a deeper lens, to the building of character, this is essential for todays work force as well. It is not enough to have knowledge, or skills, our character, who we are will also impact or influence job, and career prospects.

​     So during my brief time away from the teaching and learning setting, I decided that I was going to read a book that was not related to my studies. I started reading The Buffer Zone by Fred Cuellar. As I was reading, there were some paragraphs to which I could not stop laughing, there were points of humour that designated this response. There were also areas which I became more interested and wanted to learn more. As I ended Chapter One, I really enjoyed the quote: Give Love; Get Love. I have read this before through Fred Cuellar's tweets and Twitter timeline. As simple as this quote is, it is actually quite complex within analysis.

Everyone's interpretation of these words will vary according to one's own experience, and overtime I have read these words, I actually think of something different. But on the day I was reading this quote, I began to think of the idea of balance. 

     Reading the chapter from a Health Psychology background, I realized that there is so much potential for this book, and even for the value added wisdom. Not only is being active good for the human body, but it is also good for our mental stability. Because what is happening is that when we are engaging in uniform of movement, we are also moving energies. For example: If we are in a state of anger, why not go for a run, or walk? Channel this energy into something positive? What this book (I am in the process of reading the book) is showing so far is that loosing weight is not only about physical appearance. It is also about how we come to feel about ourselves on the inside.

     As I mentioned in one of my Facebook posts earlier, that I was trying to become more active with my daughter. Whilst I don't believe in not eating foods that I don't like; which is good because The Buffer Zone is not about restricting or starving the self. We ate our meals, and we also exercised. After doing the exercises I noticed feeling out of breath, tired, and wanted to regain internal balance. This is where I connected the idea of Give Love; Get Love.

     So when we are eating our meals, engaging in activity, we are actually giving love to the self. Our Physical Self. In order to re-gain into a point of bodily equilibrium, I decided to use the Laban Movement Technique to regain a sense of balance. We are getting love for the spiritual self. I took the simple steps of this technique, and focused especially on the Fetal position. Not only was our body feeling energized because we ate foods we loved, we exercised, and we were also re-born. Leaving away the energies that were not serving, into a beautiful spiritual healing. Give Love; Get Love. :) We both found physical activity coupled with a meditative technique, to achieve a sense of physical and emotional balance. This is where I think that there is a potential for both industry of Physical Fitness, and Spiritual Wellness to merge or collaborate. Particularly to focus on health purposes for those currently serving in the military, veterans of war, those that have encountered Post - Traumatic Stress Disorders, or mental / mind health issues.  

Dedication: The words of this being are dedicated to all beings who have loved and supported me throughout my learning journey, the journey continues. All Glory is for and to God. Sending love & kindness! :) 

Notes: These thoughts were originally hand - written on January 6th, 2017

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Image 3 - Personal Creation
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