The following is an assignment that was conducted at the conclusion of my Spiritual wellness program, in pursuit of my Bachelors of Science in Health and Wellness. I put together an assortment of questions that I felt were relative to spiritual health and wellbeing. I then proceeded to ask these questions to someone that I personally knew. I believe these are relative to health and wellness, since wellness is a huge aspect of every persons life. With spirituality and psychological being one of the main focuses. Please enjoy!
Spiritual and Psychological Wellness is something that people must pay attention to throughout their entire life. It is a plan set forth by people that want to proceed in growth within their life. While on the other side, some people focus only on the worldly aspects in life, instead of grasping for self-enlightenment. According to Emily Smith (2016), Spiritual Wellness is being connected to something bigger than yourself and having a sense of morals, values, principals, and beliefs that establish a sense of purpose and meaning in life, and using those to guide your life. Some people think that it isn’t worth their time, or just don’t quite understand it quite yet. However, it is something that is obtainable, even if you take a few moments a day to work on it. I believe that if everybody strived for a better sense of purpose daily, then this society wouldn’t be as hateful and discontent as it is today. The following interview was conducted by me as a practitioner, attempting to remind the interviewee a sense of purpose in life again.
My interviewee is my spouse’s stepfather, who I have known for a few years through being with my spouse. He has had his own falters at this life, just like anyone else. But he seems to know a thing or two about spirituality and the mind-body-spirit connection. As stated in the interview, he has been to prison, but it doesn’t determine the type of person he is today. He also recently was diagnosed with diabetes due to being overweight, in which he is taking better care of himself because of this diagnosis. Through this interview, I feel as though we have made a stronger bond and got to know each other a little bit more. And maybe it has even given him some new ideas that he must work on for the future. I didn’t inform him about the questions at all before asking them, just that if he didn’t feel comfortable, then he didn’t need to answer them all.
Question 1: What do you think of when you hear the words Spiritual Wellness?
After a long pause and being deep in thought, he began listing a few key points that he believed spiritual wellness was all about. He feels as though being happy with one’s self is the root of it all. While also being satisfied with your life and content with where you are. He believes that spiritual wellness gives you a better outlook on life and brings happiness in all your circumstances.
Question 2: With that description, where do you think you are with your spiritual wellness?
Starting off in deep thought, he stated that he was satisfied with his spiritual wellness, however, it is a day to day battle. He feels as though some days are great with other being quite rough. He feels as though it is whatever this world throws at him on that specific day and just tries to take it day by day. If he focuses on the positives, he tends to find himself having a great day. At the conclusion of this question, he stated that his medication does help.
According to Keisha Blair (2017), we all go through peaks and valleys, sometimes the valleys seem impossible to get out of and the mountain tops seem too far away making it a far-off dream. This statement is true in so many ways, however, it is something that we all experience and just have to keep moving forward.
Question 3: What can you do to improve your spiritual/psychological wellness?
He spouted off quickly that he just needs time to reflect on situations that he is involved in. Assess why his anger is rising so quickly and try to mitigate it. He said that he has used meditation in the past, especially while in prison. There are times that he just gives up on a situation, and he feels as though he needs to quit doing that type of thing. He is one of the people that uses the term “It is what it is, why should I deal with it”. He finished it all off with sort of a smirky look on his face, and a shrug of the shoulders.
Question 4: Do you believe in a mind-body-spirit co-relation? Why or why not?
He does and began to go into a story from when he was younger. He had this friend, and his friends’ mother was sort of like the “hippy” type. He would get throbbing headaches all the time he said, and she showed him a way to mitigate them. She would have him lay down on his back, with his eyes closed. Relaxing, she would tell him to think about the pain, and begin to try and push it out the top of his head. After a few moments, he would feel it dissipating and within 20 minutes, it would be gone entirely. He believes that if you focus on whatever is bothering you physically, you mentally can alleviate the pain and illnesses just by focusing on them.
Question 5: Were you raised in a spiritual household? Please describe.
He stated that he was raised by his single mother, who was a big believer in Christ Jesus. Being a single mother, she was always working, so she would drop him off at church each Sunday. They were raised in Virginia, so it was sort of like a southern type experience for him. They would attend Presbyterian and Southern Baptist churches. She didn’t force it onto him, she just wanted him to find his own beliefs, and carry with him into adulthood.
Question 6: Sub-Question 1: If you were, have you ventured from it?
He states that he feels spiritual most days, but other days he feels as though the worldly aspects capture him and take him away from his spirituality. He said it is like having two wolfs inside of you, a good one and a bad one. The one that is going to be more powerful, is the one your feed the most.
Sub-Question 2: If you weren’t raised in a spiritual household, would you seek it?
He went into a story about how he was baptized at 27 years old finally after meeting one of his old bosses that was a new preacher. He feels as though he cannot make up for loss time, so sometimes he is discouraged about it. However, he wants to always seek it, but this life gets too busy sometimes.
Question 7: Have you ever Meditated? Why or why not?
As he stated earlier, he did practice meditation while in prison almost every day. Having all that time to assess his entire life up until that point. He re-ran his whole life so he could see where he went wrong with his life, kids, family, etc.… He mentioned forgiveness and how he worked so hard to forgive himself. According to Davis and others (2015), self-forgiveness can alleviate negative emotions such as guilt, shame, disappointment, anger, and regret that in turn leads to mental or physical health problems. He was in the farm program here in Wyoming, where they do a bunch of ranch work, and breaking horses so that they could be sold to other families as barrel racers, or any other purpose. He felt that he made more of a connection with the horses than anyone else there, since he would meditate with them. He felt as though it gave him the ability to be more in tune with nature and its beauty.
Question 8: Since mindful meditation has been proven to reduce stress levels, blood pressure, aches/pains, and improve focus. Would you perform it more? Why or why not?
He stated that if he could find the time to do it, and remember to perform mindful meditation, that he would do it more often due to the benefits. With him being overweight and having diabetes, he feels it could benefit him. He went into asking more questions about it, so I went into a description of how to perform it a little bit more. We also discussed yoga classes, and the benefits of yoga as well. I gave him a couple links to look at for future reference.
Question 9: Have you ever experienced a mystical event that you can’t logically explain?
He brought up this time where he was in a car accident back when he was younger. He believed that his grandmother was looking out for him during this accident since it was so extreme, but he only walked away with a concussion and 15 stitches. He stated his car was smashed so much that it basically looked like an accordion. His head went through the windshield during impact, in which he feels like he should have gone through the windshield entirely, but he felt someone pulling on him. He said he felt hands wrap around his waist and pull him back into his seat, preventing him from flying through the windshield, but there wasn’t anyone else in the car with him. He thinks it was his grandmother, his guardian angel doing it spiritually. Still to that day he drives around feeling safe, knowing she is watching over him.
Question 10: Is there truth is someone reaching full enlightenment in life? Where they have reached the precipice of life with no more worries. Why or why not?
He believes that people can get there, but they won’t be happy after a while. He thinks that once someone makes it there, they will self-sabotage to work towards something again. He believes humans will always put themselves down to get back up. It is just human nature, free will, and tribal instincts that keep us from being completely satisfied with life. He feels like everyone must keep moving forward so that they don’t become stagnant.
In conclusion, this interview lasted about 30 minutes after we all had enjoyed some nice weather, and great barbequed food. So, seeing him in a relaxed, and calm mind, I feel as though he was able to answer these questions more assertively. Though there are somethings that need to be worked on, and him and I may have a disagreement on certain things. However, as the practitioner, I needed to put my biases aside, so that I could evaluate my interviewee with a sound mind. We are now working toward bettering his spiritual/psychological wellness and building a wellness paradigm. All it takes sometimes, is someone to listen to you, and ask the right questions.
-Cyral I Callender III
References:
Blair, K. (2017). The 4 Spiritual Laws of Self-Renewal. Retrieved (Apr. 25, 2021) from: https://medium.com/thrive-global/the-4-spiritual-laws-of-self-renewal-182c6c1398f6.
Davis, D. E., Ho, M. Y., Griffin, B. J., Bell, C., Hook, J. N., Van Tongeren, D. R., & … Westbrook, C. J. (2015). Forgiving the self and physical and mental health correlates: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62(2), 329-335. doi:10.1037/cou0000063 Retrieved from: http://search.ebscohost.com.libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pdh&AN=2015-15500-005&site=eds-live
Smith, Emily. (Sep. 2016). Spiritual Wellness: What Is your Meaning and Purpose? Retrieved (Apr. 25,2021) from: https://www.lhsfna.org/index.cfm/lifelines/september-2016/spiritual-wellness-what-is-your-meaning-and-purpose/#:~:text=Spiritual%20wellness%20is%20being%20connected,principles%20to%20guide%20your%20actions.
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