Chapter Four Blog and Article

                                                              Chapter Four Blog and Article

   I really enjoyed reading chapter four, because it mentioned a lot about nutrition and physical exercise. These things are very much apart of my everyday life. Honestly they are so very important to me that sometimes I focus a little too much on them. There was a time period in my life where I took it too far. My family and friends told me that I should give myself some more rest, but no matter how hard I tried to do that, I just couldn’t seem to make it happen. As a matter of fact, if I would miss one single day of working out, I would be devastated. It would literally ruin my whole day! I had sacrificed time with loved ones to go to the gym, and I would squeeze gym time anywhere into my schedule. This occurred even if it was inconvenient for others. As I look back on it now, I realize how selfish I was being. It is very important to be healthy and work out, but there is a point when it becomes to be too much. Then it can negatively affect others and yourself. Learning all this, I try to now to come up with a more realistic schedule for working out. I try to change my ways of thinking and tell myself that if I miss a day, it’s not the end of the world. It is okay to take a break sometimes.

        This health obsession also included my diet. I would always be constantly worrying about what I would be eating throughout the day. It was very distracting to my normal every day life. I feel that this deals a lot with my perception of my body image. I know that as a child I was always very self conscious when I was in school. I was constantly made fun of for my clothes that I wore. My focus wasn’t really on my looks; it was more on my studies. Later on, in high school and I started to feel that I needed to work on my appearance. Another factor that may have contributed to this issue is that my father was always very into studying health. It proved vey beneficial in many ways, because he would always give good advice on what to do to stay healthy. The only problem is, it turned into a bit of an obsession for him. He was always worrying about what he would eat and was very strict in the household with what kind of food we would have. There were many restrictions for the rest of the family members. To this day, I wonder if that’s why I seem to mirror some of these habits.

          Looking at the article we read this week about the Buddha’s influence in the therapy room, I realized that it may be beneficial for me to use some of this practice of mindfulness in my own life. I believe that I should try to look at my thoughts and acknowledge they are there instead of ignoring them completely. I do partake in yoga on a daily basis, but I want to work on my meditation. I find it very hard to concentrate sometimes, because my mind is too busy with too many other thoughts. Overall, I would really to keep my drive and ambition to be healthy, but I would like to work on moderation and also some spiritual health as well.

Corey, G., Shneider Corey., M. (2010)/ I Never Knew I Had a Choice. , (p. 107-128).

Siew Luan Khang, B. (2001, August). The Buddha’s Influence in the Therapy Room