KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in

Management and Prevention

Stress
Management and
Prevention

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Program Resource
Guide

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 KA P L A N U N I V E R S I T Y

Stress Management and Prevention

Program Resource Guide

By

Kiley Acra

Kaplan University

HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention

10/24/2017
Table of Contents
UNIT 1 THE NATU RE OF STRESS

Information to Remember........................................................................4
Self-Assessment Exercises.......................................................................5
Journal Writing.........................................................................................7

UNIT 2 THE PHYSIO LOGY OF STRESS

Information to Remember........................................................................8
Self-Assessment Exercises.......................................................................8
Journal Writing.......................................................................................10

UNIT 3 PSYCHOLOGY OF STRESS

Information to Remember......................................................................13
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................13
Journal Writing.......................................................................................15

UNIT 4 PERSONAL ITY TRAITS AND THE HUM AN SPIRITUAL ITY

Information to Remember......................................................................17
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................17
Journal Writing.......................................................................................20

UNIT 5 DEAL ING WITH STRESS: COPING STRATE GIES

Information to Remember......................................................................24
Journal Writing.......................................................................................24

UNIT 6 REL AXATIO N TECHI QUES 1 : BREATHI NG , M EDITATI ON, AND M ENTAL

IM AGE RY

Information to Remember......................................................................27
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................27
Journal Writing.......................................................................................29

UNIT 7 NUTRITI ON AND STRESS

Information to Remember......................................................................32
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................32

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UNIT 8 PHYSIC AL EXERCISE AND ACTIV ITY

Information to Remember......................................................................35
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................35
Journal Writing.......................................................................................38

UNIT 9 APPLYING STRESS: CRITICAL ISSUES F OR M ANAGEM EN T AND

PREVEN TIO N TO YOUR PROF ESSI ONAL L IF E

Information to Remember......................................................................41

ADDITI ONAL INF ORM ATIO N ……………………………………………. 42

REF EREN CES ………………………………………………………………43

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Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

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Unit

Information to Remember:
The stress response: When the body response to stress with the fight-or-flight response. When faced with
stress there are two actions taken; the fight action causes short and intense anaerobic work or the
flight action giving the body endurance to run. The flight reaction is also associated with freeze
reaction: standing still with no reaction. (Seaward, 2015, p. 6).
The general adaptation syndrome: When faced with chronic stress, the body goes through a series of
phases; alarm phase, resistance phase, and exhaustion phase. Repeatedly being faced with stress
affects with body. Issues that may arise include increased size of the adrenal cortex, continuously
released stress hormones, atrophy, fewer white blood cell, bleeding ulcers, and death. (Seaward,
2015, p. 13).
Wellness paradigm: A wellness paradigm is the balance of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-
being of one’s health. Each person’s paradigm may balance differently. However, the four
components work closely with each other so the four determine the wellness. (Seaward, 2015, p. 20-
22).

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Self-Assessment Exercise:

Wellness is made up of many parts of life; spiritual well-being, emotional well-being, mental

(intellectual) well-being, and physical well-being. Each of these components are important when it

comes to balancing wellness.

Spiritual well-being is known as a system of personal values along with a purpose in life

(Seaward, 2015, p. 22). Spiritual well-being can be religious but it is almost more than that. It can be

anything where a person takes time to connect with the world around them; for examples prayer,

mediations, yoga, or just simply taking a moment to relax and claim the mind. Spiritual well-being is

important for a healthy life because it gives a person hope, positive outlook, forgiveness, self-

acceptance, sense of warmth, and peace (University of Northern Iowa, 2017). Examples include doing

something against your values and allowing yourself to forgive so you can move forward or finding

comfort after a time of loss and heartache.

Emotional well-being is appropriately communicating emotions as the arise (Seaward, 2015,

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p. 22). Positive ways to express emotions is to calmly talk them out, use enjoyable activities to

express the emotions, or the use of a breathing technique. Being able to control emotions leads to

wellness and lower stress levels by preventing the buildup of emotions and letting them take control

in a negative way leading to depression (Seaward, 2015, p. 22). Noticing that you do not have control

of emotions is the first step to getting proper help.

“Mental (intellectual) well-being is the ability to gather, process, recall, and communicate

information” (Seaward, 2015, p. 22). Stress can affect our abilities to recall information or to make

proper decisions. This can affect our wellness and cause higher stress levels. In stressful situations, it

is best to stay claim and take a minute to take deep breaths. This allows the nervous system to slow

down so proper decisions can be made or to recall information that was forgotten at the time.

Physical well-being is the body’s systems ability to function at its best (Seaward, 2015, p. 22).

A balance of proper physical activity and a healthy diet leads to a positive physical well-being. When

stress levels rise so does heart rate and blood pressure. When the body cannot return to a normal heart

rate or blood pressure there is an increase chance of diseases or even death (Seaward, 2015, p. 22).

However, a person who has a positive physical well-being can return to homeostasis.

The environment in which I live has an impact on my wellness paradigm. I live within a

military environment and physical well-being and emotional well-being is great concern of each

individual. Dealing with the stress of this environment has an impact on emotional well-being of all

family members involved. To improve the quality of the emotional well-being, we focus on physical

well-being. Having a positive physical well-being helps bounce back from the emotional part in a

healthy way where our emotions are controlled.

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 2
Unit

Journal Writing:

Situation Start Midway End

Husband’s Job distress 9
Amount of reading for school work distress 7
Driving on crowed or unfamiliar streets distress 9
Making healthy diet choices neustress 3
Paying off loans eustress 2
Getting a new job eustress 5
Preparing for in-laws to visit at Christmas distress 6
Making the decision to move distress 6
Social media neustress 2
News neustress 2
(Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 11-12).

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

Information to Remember:
Stress related disorders: When stress occurs, it can cause threats to the nervous and immune systems. The
disorders that affect the nervous system include bronchial asthma, tension headaches, migraine
headaches, temporomandibular joint dysfunction, irritable bowel syndrome, and coronary heart
disease. The disorders that affect the immune system include the common cold, influenza, allergies,
rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, ulcers, colitis, and cancer. (Seaward, 2015, p. 84-88)
Central nervous system: The central nervous system is made up of the brain and the spinal cord. The
brain is further divided up into three sections: vegetative, limbic, and neocortical levels. The
vegetative level contains the reticular formation and the brain stem. The limbic level is makeup of the

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 septal area, hypothalamus, thalamus, pituitary gland, amygdala, and hippocampus. The neocortical
level is made up of the cingulate gyrus, neocortex, and the frontal lobe. (Seaward, 2015, p. 47)
Autonomic nervous system: The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system functions as the fight-or-flight
response by releasing catecholamines, epinephrine, and norepinephrine. The parasympathetic nervous
system functions as energy conservation and relaxation, anabolic functioning. (Seaward, 2015, p. 49-
50)

Self-Assessment Exercise:
Stress is something that everyone has to deal with and everyone most likely experience at least one

type of stressor every day. After a while stress can start affecting our bodies. It causes issues with our

nervous system and our immune system. Once these systems are affected, other issues occur.

Preventing as much stress as possible or even learning to handle stress is good for our health.

The brain is the organ that programs our bodies. It is divided up into three parts; the vegetative

level, the limbic system, and the neocortical level (Seaward, 2015, p. 47). Each of these divisions are

important for the brain to function as a whole. The vegetative level contains that brain stem. The main

functions of the brain stem are controlling the involuntary functions like the heartbeat and respiration

(Seaward, 2015, p. 47). Without this part of the brain, we could not even do the main thing that keeps

us living; breathing. Next, the limbic system which contains that hypothalamus, thalamus, amygdala,

and the pituitary gland; together they work to control homeostasis (Seaward, 2015, p. 47). Without

this part of the brain, the body could not keep a normal body temperature or detect hunger. The final

part of the brain is the neocortical level, which works as an area to process sensory. This is where we

decide if there is a treat to us and how we should react (Seaward, 2015, p. 48). Together, these

functions work as one to control our bodies and who we are.

All of this information about the brain was discovered through neuroscience. According to

What is Neuroscience (2016), “the three main objectives of neuroscience are too: understand the

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human brain and how it functions, understand and describe how the central nervous system develops,

matures, and maintains itself, and analyze and understand neurological and psychiatric disorders, and

discover methods to prevent or cure them.” While studying these objectives, neuroscientists learned

one important concept that brought about more questions about this subject. They learned that the

brain had neuroplasticity. “The brain can generate new connections to various brain cells, recruit

various brain tissues for a host of functions, and generate new cell growth” (Seaward, 2015, p. 58).

With this new knowledge, there are new questions forming treatment diseases.

When the nervous system is affect by stress, there are a number of conditions that can occur.

Bronchial asthma occurs from the anxiety that is associated with stress. This condition produces a

secretion of the bronchial fluids and causes inflammation of the smooth-muscle making it hard to

breathe (Seaward, 2015, p. 84). Tension headaches are also brought on by stress. These headaches

occur from the flexing of the face and neck (Seaward, 2015, p. 84). Another way people may express

stress is through tightening of the jaw during sleep. Temporomandibular joint dysfunction consists of

clinching the jaw tight while grinding the teeth together during periods of sleep (Seaward, 2015, p.

84). Irritable bowel syndrome is a syndrome that a person may experience when they are dealing with

chronic stress. When suffering from this syndrome, a person may experience stomach pain, cramps,

diarrhea, nausea, constipation, and flatulence (Seawards, 2015, p. 84). Finally, coronary heart disease

can occur with prolonged stress. Over time stress can cause a number of issues like high blood

pressure, and weight gain. High blood pressure and weight gain are both also causes for coronary

heart disease putting a high stressed person at higher risk for the disease (Seaward, 2015, p. 85). The

immune system is also affected by stress. When the immune system is compromised by stress the

number of B-lymphocytes decrease which puts us at greater risk of becoming sick and getting a cold

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(Seaward, 2015, p. 87). The common is consist of coughing, sneezing, and fatigue. Not all of these

conditions are life threating, but if stress if not controlled a person’s life could be threated.

Journal Writing:
How is stress or anxiety about people affecting your life?

The stress caused by other people is a neustress in my life. I immediately think about friends

when I think about stress caused other people. It seems like friends think they have a place of say

about my life. For example, when I want to have a salad and water for lunch but they wanted to go out

for pizza and beer. They give me a hard time and try to get me to give into their ideas. This is not a

huge issue in my life, but can by aggravating in that moment.

How is stress or anxiety about work affecting your life?

When it comes to stress about work, it is a distress. I am currently unemployed because of

relocating across country due to my husband’s job. I was comfortable where I was working, the search

for a new job, and not knowing anyone is making me feel a lot of anxiety every day.

How is stress or anxiety about the world affecting your life?

The stress about the world is a neustress for me. Hearing about the country being attacked, the

hurricane, and all of the conflict among the people makes me feel sad. However, it is not directly

affecting me. I do not feel overwhelmed by it, but knowing all of these events are taking place cause

emotion in the moments when I hear about them.

How is stress or anxiety about food and eating habits affecting your life?

Eating habits are affecting my life in a positive way. I am motivated to eat nutrient dense foods

that fuel my body to give me energy. However, there are times where I do get distracted and consume

foods that are high in sugar or bad fats. When this occurs, I wake up the next day more motivated to

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improve my diet. This is a stressor that I feel every day, but it is a stress that pushed me to make

healthy choices.

How is stress or anxiety about sleep and sleeplessness affecting your life?

Stress about sleep and sleeplessness if another neustress. There are many days where I feel

fatigued and mornings where I feel like I did not sleep well. I acknowledge the issue of being tired

and try to make time to get to bed early that evening. I am not contently worried about my sleep or

sleeplessness throughout the day

How is stress or anxiety about exercise or lack of physical activity affecting your life?

The stress I feel about exercise is a eustress in my life. Exercise is something I look forward to

on a daily basis and gets me going in the mornings. I am motivated to get up 4 to 5 days of the week

and either do some cardio or weight resistance training. This is a great stressor in my life because it

protects my all over health.

Summary

Overall these stressors are not affecting me too much. Out of six stressors, I had one distress,

two eustresses, and three neustresses. However, that one distress may cause health issues if it becomes

prolonged. According to Seaward (2015), prolonged health may cause nervous system disorders like

asthma, tension headaches, and coronary heart disease. Prolonged stress can even affect the immune

system by causing disorders like the common cold, allergies, arthritis, and ulcers (p. 84-88). With the

use of mindfulness, stress can be controlled and decrease the chances of developing nervous system

and immune system disorders. There are a variety of mindfulness-based stress reduction programs

available and these approaches have shown the decrease of anxiety in people (Stahl & Goldstein,

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2010, p. 29). Anyone who suffers from prolonged distress would benefit from the use of mindfulness-

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Unit

based stress reduction programs. It may be a step toward improving your all over health.

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

Information to Remember:
Defense of stress-produced anxiety: There are six commonly used defenses of stress-produced anxiety.
Denial is when a person disbelieves what happened when threatened. Repression is removing
thoughts, memories, and feelings from the mind. Projection is assigning thoughts and feelings to
others so they are less threatening. Rationalization is rethinking what is happening to what is liked.
Displacement is transferring anger from the source to something liked. And humor, making the
situation a pleasure to replace the pain. (Seaward, 2015, p. 101)
Stages of grieving: The stages of grieving can happen in a different order for different people, but there
are five stages a person will feel. These five stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and
acceptance. (Seaward, 2015, p. 106).
Anger Strategies: When faced with anger, there are many ways to manage it before it gets out of hand.
These strategies include knowing your anger style, learn to monitor your anger, learn to deescalate
your anger, learn to out-think your anger, get comfortable with your feelings, plan ahead, develop a
support system, develop realistic expectations of yourself, learn problem solving techniques, stay in
shape, turn complaints into request, and forgive (Seaward, 2015, p. 134).

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Self-Assessment Exercise:
The Tibetan culture created their own beliefs about the mind and stress that gives new ideas about

how to manage stress. According to Seaward (2015), negative desires, like expectations, conditions,

and fears, with strong attachments are found to lead to the stress we feel (p. 120). For example, when

buying a new vehicle, you expect it to be in perfect condition and not have any mechanical issues. A

few days later, something mechanically goes wrong with the vehicle. Instantly you might feel anger

and stress because you expected it to run perfectly fine. If this expectation was not put into place, you

may have calmly called the dealer ship and get the issues taken care of without any stress. A calm

mind that is separated from desire leads to healing and inner peace (Seaward, 2015, p. 120).

Mindfulness can remind us to keep our mind clear of negative desires that causes stress, anger, and

anxiety. What I personally learned from the Tibetan culture is a life of less desires makes for a happier

life style.

There are many theories about how the body deals with stress. They are all different but at the

same time they all have a common ground. The main purpose of these theories is how we are

designed to protect our mind from threat of painful and dangerous situations in life (Seaward, 2015, p.

121). The theories are explained and structured differently compared to one another. However, each

thorniest had the right idea about how the mind reacts when it comes to being faced with these painful

and dangerous situations. They all came to the same conclusion. In the end, it is obvious that self-

awareness, is an important process to be able to overcome these defensive actions (Seaward, 2015, p.

121). While the theorist was studying what happens to the body during this time, they all found their

own evidence. People have experienced all these different actions explained by these theorists.

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However, even when people have different experiences when dealing with stress and pain in life,

there seems to be one outcome when it comes to moving past the situation.

Everyone faces fear at some point in their life. Fear can affect a person, but it depends how the

person copes with the fear on how server it may affect them. One example of how to cope with fear is

by using behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy uses relaxations techniques to makes the person less

sensitive to the stress the fear may cause (Seaward, 2015, p. 139). Mindful breathing from the

abdominal could be used as a behavioral therapy. Abdominal breathing is to be claiming enough to

release the anxiety and stress caused by the fear (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 42). When being faced

with fear, take a few minutes to breathe from the belly while focusing on each breath going in and out.

Once the few minutes are over, you can face the fear while being more relaxed.

When communicating with others, it is important to give them the up most respect during the

communication from start to finish. There are many ways to improve communication style and here

are five examples: maintain eye contact, use minimal encouragers, as questions carefully, good

paralanguage, and be courteous. Maintaining good eye contact tells the speaker you are giving them

your full attention, and when the eyes wonder around it may look like you are thinking about

something other than the conversation (Seaward, 2015, p. 323). Next, using minimal encouragers

makes for less distractions to the speaker. These encouragers include saying “oh” and “uh-huh,”

which is okay to do, but too many can interfere with the speaker (Seaward, 2015, p. 323). Like

minimal encouragers, the use of questions is similar. Asking questions can clear up what is being

communicated, but too many questions can become defensive to the speaker (Seaward, 2015, p. 323).

Also, paralanguage is an important communication style that everyone might struggle with at some

point. Paralanguage includes volume, tone, and pitch when talking (Seaward, 2015, p. 322). Talking

loud enough but not too loud, using a tone that does not put to people to sleep but also will not make

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people uncomfortable, and a pitch that everyone can handle are all important elements when you are

speaking. Finally, be courteous when someone is talking. These means no distractions like the cell

phone or just being honest during the communication (Seaward, 2015, p. 317). With the use of these

skills, a person will do great when it comes to communication.

Journal Writing:
Take some time to write about whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally, and physically when

doing this practice for the first time.

During the five-minute mindful breathing, I had mental, emotional, and physical emotions

come up. At the beginning, I felt relaxed and at peace while focusing on my breaths going in and out.

However, about two minutes into the breathing, my mind started to wonder. According to Stahl &

Goldstein (2010), it is normal for the mind to wonder but noticing it and bringing it back to focus if

the correct way to handle it (p. 43). During the time my mind was wondering, I felts stressed because

I started thinking about making a grocery list so I cane go to the store before dinner time. This then

reminded me that I needed to make some phone calls before the end of the day. At this point, I started

thinking I should not be thinking about these things right now. I was a little annoyed at myself for not

focusing but I stop thinking that as soon as I remembered the attitude of mindfulness: nonjudgement.

Nonjudgement during mindfulness includes “not labeling thoughts, feelings, or sensations as good or

bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair, but simply taking note of thoughts, feelings, or sensations in each

moment (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 42). Applying this quality of mindfulness, I regained me focus

and thought about my breathing. I become relaxed again by the end of the five minutes.

Summary

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 Overall, the five-minute mindful breathing was a success for me. I can see and feel why this is

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Unit

a good technique to use in our everyday lives. It gives a chance for the mind to rest, but it also teaches

the mind to focus on the basics and leave the stress that is occurring in life currently. When focusing

on the basics, I felt relaxed and more able to control the stress I was feeling. Controlling stress is a

key element to preventing stress induced diseases.

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human

Spirituality
Information to Remember:
Personality type: Stress is a shared key factor between type A and type D personality. Type A personality
characteristics include time urgency, polyphasia or multitasking, ultra-competitiveness, rapid speech
patterns, manipulative control, and hyperaggressiveness or free-floating hostility. While Type D
characteristics include feeling blue, over reacting, shy, overwhelmed with responsibilities, not
sociable, and worry. (Seaward, 2015, p. 149-152).
Stages of change: Prochaska put together a six-step program to help overcome a bed habit. Step one,
precontemplaction, unaware there is an issue. Step two, contemplative stage, considering a change in
the future. Step three, determination, putting a plan together to make the change soon. Step four,
action, putting the plan into place. Step five, maintenance, the change was successful and feels more
like second nature. Finally step six, relapse, this step may or may not be reached. However, it
includes falling into bad habits. (Seaward, 2015, p. 237).
Internal and external relationships: An internal relationship consist of nurturing yourself first and
foremost. A healthy internal relationship establishes a healthy external relationship. To maintain that

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 healthy external relationship, it is important to express acceptance, peace, compassion,
communication, and respect for everything around you (Seaward, 2015, p. 197-198).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
I would describe self-esteem as how well we view ourselves. Low self-esteem is related to

looking down on our self, but high self-esteem is related to confidence. Self-esteem also is related to

how well we cope with stress. Having low self-esteem may make it harder to cope with stress.

According to Seaward (2015), people with low self-esteem have personalities that are stress-prone

related (p. 162). However, high self-esteem may make coping with stress easier. “High self-esteem is

a prerequisite for creating stress-resistant personalities because it is directly linked to the accessibility

of one’s internal resources” (Seaward, 2015, p. 162). Having that confidence in one’s self gives us

power to fight through the stress without feeling the pain of it.

Relationships, values, and a meaningful purpose in life are affected by stress. There is an

internal and an external relationship. A healthy internal relationship consists of nurturing yourself

(Seaward, 2015, p. 197). When faced with stress, we may forget to nurture yourself which puts

pressure on your internal relationship. Internal and external relationships work hand in hand, so when

stress affects our internal relationship, it also affects our external relationships. We may become

distance from others or even irritable when we are struggling with our internal relationship. Being

able to focus on the root of the issue is when we can have our best relationships.

Value are also affected by stress. According to Seaward (2015), we hold values and when there

is conflict with a person’s value system stress occurs (p. 199). For example, a person’s values

education and getting a college degree. However, there is conflict with finances and time making

getting an education difficult. The conflict is affecting the person’s values causing stress.

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 Finally, our purpose in life is also affected by stress. Every person has some type of purpose in

life. This purpose is why we wake up in the mornings and leaving our family for the day. However,

there comes a time in life when that purpose comes to an end. According to Seaward (2015), having a

purpose in life keeps our spiritual health positive, but once we lose touch with that purpose our

spiritual health declines (p. 199). When a high school boy puts in hours of hard work to play college

football, but gets severely injured and can no longer play, he is going to feel the stress of this. Having

many purposes in life can keep us going even when one purpose does not work out.

Values, attitudes, and beliefs are easily confused with one another, but they have their own

meaning. When we value something, we find it important in our life. Values can include love, honesty,

self-esteem, independence, leisure, education, and forgiveness (Seaward, 2015, p. 199). While

attitudes are related to how we feel about something. I may have a good attitude about something or a

bad attitude. According to Sharma (2016), our attitudes about a person or something leads to how we

behavior toward a person or the situation. Finally, beliefs is defined as, “a state or habit of the mind in

which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Beliefs are

mostly connected to being religious, but a person does not have to be religious to have their own

beliefs.

When trying to make a change, like a bad spending habit, the Stages of Change Model can be

used to have a successful outcome. The first step is precontemplation stage. In this stage, the person

does not see there is a problem or is in denial (Seaward, 2015, p. 237). The person spending money,

does not keep track of a budget or does not see the importance of one. The second stage is

contemplative stage, where the person may start to think there needs to be a change (Seaward, 2015,

p. 237). In our example, the person spending money realizes there is an issue and thinks about

changing the bad habit in the future. The third step is the determination. According to Seaward (2015),

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this stage is “a period where willpower is called into plat to put the thought process of behavior

change into action” (p. 237). With the spending habit, the person may make a budget of his

spending’s. The fourth stage is the action stage, here the change is being made (Seaward, 2015, p.

237). The budget that was made is being used and tracking where his money is being spent is his

action. Stage five is the maintenance stage. In this stage, the person was successful at changing the

bad habit and they are sticking to the action plan like it is a natural habit (Seaward, 2015, p. 237). The

man is sticking to the budget and continues to track his money while being successful. The final stage

is not always a stage that everyone does, however it is very possible it could happen to anyone. This is

the relapse stage, where the bad behavior has come back into action (Seaward, 2015, p. 237). The

person spending the money has stop using the budget, is not tracking money, and is spending money

like he did when he was in denial.

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Journal Writing:
FEAR: anxiety, distress, jumpiness, nervousness, panic, tenseness, fright.

Fear is a terrifying feeling personally. I feel this emotion in my chest because my chest gets

tight and my heart rate increases. When I think about fear and the related words, I imagine myself

running or avoiding situations where fear may occur. “Fear stimulates a physical response to flee and

hide from threats that are intimidating, overwhelming, and somethings fatal” (Seaward, 2015, p. 135).

When it comes to me facing my fears, I need to work on the physical response that makes me want to

fun and hide just to avoid these feelings.

CONFUSION: uncertain, puzzled, foggy, or unaware.

Confusion, uncertain, puzzled, foggy, and unaware are all hard emotions to feel. I feel these

emotions in my head. I have constant thoughts and questions going through my head when I am

confused about something. Just thinking about the emotion confusion makes me think about things

like why is this happening, what is happening, was this my fault, could I have done something

differently. Different thoughts come with different situations. An example of a time in my life when I

was confused was during my grandmother’s death. I continually asked myself why this was

happening and what could have been done differently.

ANGER: aggravation, annoyance, frustration, irritation, rage.

Anger, aggravation, annoyance, frustration, irritation, and rage are strong emotions to feel.

When I feel these emotions, I feel it in my hands. Clinching my fist shows that I am feeling anger.

This motion makes the anger lessen for just a quick second. When reading through these words, I

have thoughts of making bad choices and saying things I do not really mean. According to Seaward

(2015), anger produces energy and physical strength that can cause unhealthy reactions. Being able to

acknowledge these feelings would improve the way we react to anger.

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SADNESS: despair, hopelessness, insecurity, misery, unhappiness.

Sadness is an emotion we should learn to handle before it controls us. I feel sadness in my

throat. When I feel sad, I feel a ball in my throat. I try to swallow the ball I feel, but other times it

comes out as tears if I were to cry. When I think about this emotion, I imagine my husband, my dog,

and blankets. These are things I want when I need comforted from the sadness. Constant sadness is

unhealthy and is a sign of depression, which should be acknowledge right away (Seaward, 2015, p.

140). However, it is normal to feel sad time to time but we should also know how to cope with the

feeling.

SHAME: guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, regret, remorse.

Feeling shame and guilt is a horrible gut feeling. Therefore, I feel shame in the pit of my

stomach. When I have done something that I regret, it eats at my stomach until I fix the issue or until I

forget about it. I have become nauseous and sick in the past from feeling shame. When I think about

shame and regret, I imagine hurting the feeling of another person or disappointing someone that

means a lot to me. It is hard for me to cope with the emotion of shame since it usually involved

another person. The best thing that I can do is either work it out with the other person or push the

feeling away until I forgot about it which is unhealthy.

LOVE: affection, arousal, attraction, caring, compassion, desire, fondness, infatuation, kindness,

liking, longing, warmth.

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 Love is an important emotion to feel in life. I feel the emotion of love in my arms. I hug those

who make me feel loved. It is a natural habit to hug my parents, sister, my husband, and even pets.

Hugging is a way for me to share the love I get from these people and give it back to them. When I

read the word love, I think about what I have, the things my family and friends do for me, and how

lucky I am to feel this emotion so often. Love is an emotion that everyone should feel multiple times a

day. I feel that is balances out all of the bad emotions we can feel on a regular basis.

JOY: amusement, contentment, enjoyment, enthusiasm, excitement, hope, pleasure, satisfaction.

It is always enjoyable to feel amused, content, enthusiasm, excited, and pleasure. When I feel

these emotion, I feel it around my mouth because when I am enjoying moments in life I am smiling

and laughing. When I think about these emotions, I think about family and friends and special

moments in my life. According to Seaward (2015), joy occurs when we are present in my moment and

living (p. 141). When I am with family, friends, and having special moments in life, I know I am

living in my moment and soaking it all in while having no other thoughts on my mind.

Summary

Everyday everyone feels multiple emotions. We may even feel the same emotion multiple

times in the same time. Some emotions may be stronger than others, but learning to cope with all

our emotions decreases the stress we feel on a regular basis. To cope with our emotions, we first

must recognize our emotions as they come. To do this we should be paying more attention to our

self and the situation when we feel an emotion. Noticing where in the body we feel the emotion,

how they manifest, and what comes to mind during this time is mindfully becoming aware of your

emotions (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 74). Once we are aware of the emotions as the come about

we are able to cope with what we are feeling. Common emotions we deal with include fear,

confusion, anger, sadness, shame, love and joy. I feel each off these emotions on different areas of

23
 my body. It took for me to actually feel the emotion to actually know where I was feeling the

5
Unit

emotion. I also have different thoughts and imagines with each emotion. Again, I did not know what

I imagined when I felt these emotions until I had the chance to feel the emotion and mindfully think

about where I was feeling the emotion. It really takes living in the moment to know what you are

feeling.

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:
Personality styles and behaviors: Our attitudes affect our behavior which reflect our personality. There are
seven different types of personalities that related to time wasters: type A personality, workaholism,
technophile, time juggler, procrastinator, perfectionist, and lifestyle behavior trap. (Seaward, 2015, p.
336-338).
Prioritization: If struggling with a time waster personality, good time management techniques are
important. One technique includes prioritization. This method means ranking things to do in order of
importance. This can be done in three ways: ABC rank-order methods, pareto principle, and
important-versus-urgent method. (Seaward, 2015, p. 339).
Rational emotive behavior therapy: Rational emotive behavior therapy was “developed by Albert Ellis as
a means to help people cope with anxiety by changing the perceptions associated with the stressor.”
This works because the stimuli that is sent to the brain goes through a process of interpretation.
Instead of letting it become a ball of negative thoughts that my affect a person day after day, the
stressor is related to a positive thought to prevent the anxiety before it comes (Seaward, 2015, p.
217).

24
Journal Writing:
Take some time to write about whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally and physically when

doing this practice for the first time.

The walking meditation was a good experience and made me think and feel a lot of things I

normally do not while walking. A walking meditation is a walk with purpose to relieve stress and

anxiety by paying attention to every movement and being aware of your own body (Stahl &

Goldstein, 2010, p. 58-59). I am the type of person that stresses over every little thing and have

frequent anxiety attacks. During the walking mediation, I had mental, emotional, and physical

feelings cross my mind and body that help relieve the feeling of stress and anxiety.

Mentally, I wanted to achieve this exercise. In past exercises, I have struggled focusing,

keeping my mind from wondering, and sticking to the exercise throughout the whole practice. I start

thinking about things I need to do, what I should make for dinner, and more. My mind wonders about

the stressors and my anxiety. I also always feel like I need to be doing something and I have a hard

time doing claiming things so walking slowly was not satisfying for me. However, I stuck with it,

kept taking deep breathings and focusing on the movement of my body.

Emotionally, I did feel claim after I get over the feeling of needing to do something faster

pace. The deep breathing and really pulling my focus to my feet as they step down onto the ground,

picking my food up, and moving it forward. Once I was claim from focusing on these things, I no

longer felt the daily stress or anxiety for a short period of time.

Physically, I felt strong. As I was walking and focusing on my feet touch the ground and come

off the ground, I also felt my muscles in my legs allowing me to make these motions. When you stop

and slow down and really think about the simple things, you realize how much your body allows you

25
to do. Not only were my feet allowing me to walk, but my legs and knees also had to put in the work

to allow me to achieve this exercise.

In the end, I came out of this with new mental, emotional, and physical thoughts. Adding a

daily or bidaily routine like this into my life would be beneficial. I would have a moment to release

the stress and anxiety and just enjoy the feeling of calmness for a period of time. This would also give

me time to reflect on myself and how to improve my wellness.

Summary:

Mindful walking has a positive affect one the body. It is a tool used to relieved stress and

anxiety (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 58). However, it allows you to really take in the small things

about life while clearing the mind. I become aware of many things mentally, emotionally, and

physically. Awareness is one of the four steps to initiate cognitive restructuring (Seaward, 2015, p.

228). Mindful walking would be a great starting point to improve behavior issues which will also

improve your overall health. I could tell a different in my behavior in the small amount of time this

mindful walking exercise took. Mentally, I was able to claim down and focus, even when I felt like I

needed to walk faster or do something more important. Emotionally, I was able to release the stress

and anxiety. Then physically, I really thought about the simple things, like my feet moving and how I

was using my legs. When taking time to relax, get clam, and focus on the small things in life seem

much easier and I feel like I could handle anything thrown at me in that moment. Now, that I am back

to feeling stress and feeling like I have one hundred things to do, I do not think I could handle

anything thrown at me. However, with more practice, I hope I can feel that way more and more

throughout the day.

26
Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing,

6
Unit

Meditation, and Mental Imagery

Information to Remember:
Diaphragmatic breathing: Diaphragmatic breathing is a type of controlled breathing that is deep and from
the stomach that allows for relaxation. The relaxation occurs because pressure is taken away from the
chest cavity and the parasympathetic takes over resulting in homeostasis. There are three steps to this
type of breathing: getting into a comfortable position, concentration, and visualization. (Seaward,
2015, p. 368-372).
Effects of meditation: Meditation has a physiological and psychological effect on the body. Meditation
influences mood, immune function, sleep, chronic pain, and mental and emotional well-being. These
effects take place because meditation relaxes the body bringing it to homeostasis and decreasing
oxygen consumption, decreasing blood lactate levels, increased skin resistance, decreased heart rate,
decreased blood pressure, decrease muscle tension, and increased alpha waves. (Seaward, 2015, p.
391).
Mental imagery as a relaxation technique: Mental imagery can be used as a relaxation technique by
replacing negative thoughts with happy pictures. There are three categories used in mental imagery:
tranquil natural scenes, this includes oceans, mountain, gardens, and more; behavioral changes, this
includes quitting smoking, losing weight, or getting off the couch more; and finally, internal body
images, this includes shrinking tumors, or healing a broken bone. (Seaward, 2015, p. 418-427).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
Part of a well-rounded healthy life style includes a low stress level. If struggling to lower your

stress level, meditation and relaxation are just two techniques that can be added into your daily

routine to help achieve a lower stress level. There are a variety of relaxation techniques and

mediations that can be used to claim the mind and body.

27
 Diaphragmatic breathing is different than the normal, involuntary breathing we do regularly.

According to Seaward (2015), diaphragmatic breathing is a controlled deep breathing that comes from

our diaphragm and is a simplest form of a relaxation technique (p. 368). During this breathing, you

focus on taking a deep breath into the diaphragm, hold that breath for one second, and then push that

breath out for a few seconds. Repeating this technique creates our body to go into a relaxed state of

mind. The body is able to go into a relaxed state of mind because the pressure from expanding the

chest wall and muscular contraction is no longer a stress on the body and the sympathetic drive

decreases while the parasympathetic takes over and allows the body to return to normal hemostasis

(Seaward, 2015, p. 369). Once thoracic breathing is started, the relaxed state is gone and they body

will return to normal.

When engaging in diaphragmatic breathing, there are three important steps that should be used

to be successful during the technique. The three insteps include a comfortable position, concentration,

and visualization. Step one, getting into a comfortable position includes laying down, sitting, or even

standing; once the corrected technique is learned, is can be done anywhere (Seaward, 2015, p. 370).

Step two, concentration, consist of directing your attention to breathing into the belly, holding the

breath, and releasing it without allowing the automatic motion of breathing into the thoracic cavity

from happening (Seaward, 2015, p. 371). Finally, step three, visualization consist of imaging the

breath of air going into the nose or mouth and then imaging the breath of air leaving the nose or

mouth (Seaward, 2015, p. 372). Repeat the visualization with each breath that is taken in and expelled

until you are done engage diaphragmatic breathing.

The use of meditation effects the mind and body in many positive ways. According to Seaward

(2015), meditation influenced a person’s mood, immune function, sleep, chronic pain, and different

parts of mental, emotion, and physical well-being (p. 391). A person may feel less stressed, become

28
sick often, sleep better at night which means being less tired during the day, lesson back or knee pain,

and just feel happier in all aspects of their life. These results happen from mediation because when the

body is at rest and the mind is connecting with the body oxygen consumption is lowered, blood lactate

levels are lowered, skin resistance is higher, the heart rate is decreased, the blood pressure is

decreased, muscle tension is decreased, and alpha waves are increased (Seaward, 2015, p. 377).

Mediation will have some type of effect on just about anyone who tries it.

Imagery and visualization are useful when it comes to relaxation. One type of way imagery is

useful in tranquil natural scenes. This consist of re-creating a favorite place that is relaxing and using

it to put thoughts in perspective allowing the body to feel relaxed and letting it return to hemostasis

(Seaward, 2015, p. 423). A second way imagery is useful for relaxation includes behavioral changes.

When trying to turn a bad health habit like smoking or working too much into good habits like

spending more time exercising or spending more time with family, mental imagery during relaxing

along with other strategies can make these changes less stressful (Seaward, 2015, p. 425). The final

way imagery is useful in relaxation includes internal body images. Internal body images consist of

using imagery during relaxation for the purpose of healing a disease or illness one is suffering from

(Seaward, 2015, p. 427). Imagery and visualization is a technique anyone can use for many purposes.

In conclusion, diaphragmatic breathing, meditation, visualization, and relaxation are different

ways to heal the body. Each of these methods calm the body and help the body return to homeostasis.

Being in a homeostasis state does different things to our body that is healthy and allows us to be

healthy physically, mentally, and emotionally.

29
Journal Writing:
Mindful of how you interact with yourself?

In the back on my mind, I know how important it is to have a positive relationship with

yourself. However, I struggle with the way interact with myself. I send unkind messages to myself on

a daily basis. The things I say to myself are things are things I would never say to a friend, a family

member, or even a stranger on the street. When I am giving myself these unkind messages, I cause

unnecessary stress and anxiety. With is extra stress and anxiety, I feel unhealthy emotions. These

emotions could be sad or angry depending on the situation. Not only do I feel these emotions, but my

self-esteem level is also lowered. When I feel bad about myself by body feels restless and unloved.

Even though I do struggle with the way I interact with myself, I have come to learn

things about myself during these times of struggle. In high school, I sent unkind messages to myself

about my body image. From this I learned how strong I was when it came to fitness and eating a

healthy diet. In my early college days, I sent unkind messages to myself about not being able to fit in

and being unsuccessful. Then I learned I was great at meeting new people and I was much smarter

then I was leading myself to believe. Now, I tell myself unkind messages about failing in the

workplace. I am working on getting comfortable with a new job and succeeding at it. When working

on bettering my self-messages, I become nervous and worried all at the same time. However, when I

see myself succeeding I develop a new love for myself.

Seeds of suffering?

30
 When I send unkind messages to myself, I am watering the seeds to my own suffering. For

example, I am currently sending myself unkind messages about how I am failure in the workplace like

mentioned before. With this thought crossing my mind every day, I am watering the seeds by lowering

my self-esteem and not doing my best in the workplace. If I stop watering the seeds, my life would be

different. I believe if this unkind message did not cross my mind, I would be confident at my new job

and not worry about how I am doing and what other workers and customers are thinking about me. I

would also have a better self-esteem is all areas of my life while also being happier more often since I

would not suffer from so much anxiety.

Day-to-day life feelings of resentment?

When it comes to day-today- feeling of resentment, I back down and shut down. I let people

walk all over me when I am in a disagreement or uncomfortable situation. I do not like having to

disagree with others or tell them something they do not want to hear. I would never be rude to

someone or want to upset them, however it would feel like a weight has been lifted off of my

shoulders if I were to stand up for myself in the proper way. Although, I feel when I am in these

situations with others, it is because the other person may be struggling from their own conflicts. I

always give others the benefit of the doubt and feel compassion for them even when I have to let them

walk all over me.

Reflection on writing?

Self-compassion is an import quality to have when it comes to being mentally well. Self-

compassion leads to a better relationship with yourself and with others. Loving-kindness meditation is

a way to improve your self-compassion and relationships with those you love and even those who you

struggle to have relationships with (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 145-146). As a person who has

struggled with self-love throughout my life and continues to water the seeds, I could benefit from

31
loving-kindness mediation. I struggle more with my internal relationships than relationships with

7
Unit

others. However, to extend compassion and love to others you have to be able to hold compassion for

yourself (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 145-146). Loving-kindness mediation will allow me to better

my internal relationship, but also become better even better when it comes to me relationships with

others and even my job.

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:
The four dominos: Domino one says that stress drains our bodies of nutrients. Domino two states that the
American way of living under stress do not promote healthy eating habits and we lean on foods that
are not nutrient dense. Domino three explains that the foods we tend to eat when stressed actually
activate the stress response increasing out stress level. Finally, domino four says there are many foods
that have been processed containing toxins effecting our immune system. These when these four
dominos fall on each other our health is at risk for life threating diseases (Seaward, 2015, p. 528-529).
Stress and cravings: Neuropeptide Y is a chemical in the brain that is responsible for craving foods like
carbohydrates and sugar. We start craving these foods when we become stress and the stress causes
our bodies to produce cortisol. Cortisol the in return increases the production of neuropeptide Y.
Decreasing the amount of stress in our life can help up lose unwanted weight. (Seaward, 2015, p.
531).
Stress and mental alertness: If a person is not able to concentrate or is overly tired, it could be from
chronic stress. Vitamins are used up when we are overly stressed. The stress response activates
hormones to metabolize fats and carbohydrates for energy. To keep energy levels high when stressed,
it’s important to consume a balanced diet with higher levels of vitamin C and vitamin B-complex.
(Seaward, 2015, p. 515).

32
Self-Assessment Exercise:
Making mindfulness apart of our busy lives crates a level of wellness. There are many ways

to bring mindfulness into one’s life. However, one way to preform mindfulness that includes low

impact physical activity is mindful lying yoga. Lying mindful yoga requires lying on a soft floor and

moving through motions that do not require standing or sitting while becoming aware of each

movement you make, your breaths, posture, thoughts, and emotions (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 91).

With other methods of mindful practices, they require the participant to sit, stand, or lay still for the

entire practice. However, for some people, like myself, I struggle with staying still and having to

focus when I know I cannot move. When I am thinking about sitting still, I also lose focus on bring

awareness to my thoughts and breathings. Knowing I could move around and feel like I am being

somewhat active, I was more able to focus one really get the most out of this practice.

When participating in mindful lying yoga, there are many poses to choose from. For example,

a few of the poses include supine pose, supine full body stretch supine twist, leg stretch, single knee

to chest, pelvic rock and tilt, bridge pose, rocking back and forth, leg side stretch, cobra, cow pose, cat

pose, and bird dog pose (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 92-104). When I tried out this mindful practice

myself, I picked out ten poses and took about twenty-five minutes to perform this practice. Then ten

poses that I chose are supine full body stretch, supine twist, leg stretch, single knee to chest, bridge

pose, leg side stretch, prone leg stretch, cow pose/ cat pose, bird dog pose, child’s pose. I help each of

these poses for about thirty seconds to one minute. During the time of each of the poses, I focused on

my breathing; I focused on my muscles from the toes to my head one at a time; and I thought about

how I was feeling during each of these poses. Once I completed one whole round of these poses, I did

them one more time through.

33
 Even though I was focused on my body and my breaths, I still felt mental, emotional, and

physical feelings. Mentally, I felt my stress level decrease. As I was telling myself to breath in, hold

the breath, and breath out a calming sensation went through my body. I instantly felted relaxed even

though I was moving my body around. Emotionally, I felt at peace and happy. Physical activity and

exercise has always been something that makes me feel good and ready to take on what the day has to

bring. However, I do a lot of running and heavy weight lifting. Even though, I am usually focused on

my breaths and my body machines, I am not fully aware of my mind and feelings. When slowing

things down, and really thinking about what I am doing and what I am thinking, I was able to let go of

harmful thoughts and think more positively. Physically, I felt strong, my muscles activating, and I felt

a slight increase in my heart rate. During some of these poses, the muscles have to be strong enough

to hold the pose. When holding the pose for a longer time, my I felt my muscles working but not too

much. However, the fact that I felt my muscles supporting me, I felt strong. Also, from my muscles

being activated, my heart rate increases just slightly. Overall, I felt positive feelings mentally,

emotionally and physically during and after participating in this practice.

In conclusion, mindful laying yoga is a great practice for the mind body, and soul. Not only do

you feel relaxed from the laying down and breathing, but you get to move the body into different

poses that stretched out the muscles. I felt like this practice was that most successful practice I have

done so far. I enjoy physical activity and being able to move through these motions while engaging

my muscles I was able to stay focused longer and be more aware of my whole body and mind.

Flexibility, or stretching, is a type of physical exercise which helped decrease muscle tension,

decrease blood pressure, decreases the heart rate, and more (Seaward, 2015, p. 518). Therefore,

mindful lying yoga is a practice that is good for both your wellness and your health.

34
Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

8
Unit

Information to Remember:
Types of physical activity: There are six parts that make up physical activity. Cardiovascular endurance is
the first one, which works the heart, lungs, and blood vessels. Muscular strength and endurance is the
second one. Muscular strength is how much weight can be exerted while endurance is how long a
muscle can stay working against a force. The third component is flexibility, which is moving a
muscle through its full range of motion. The fourth is agility, which is coordination of fine motor
skills. The fifth one is power, which is force and distance at the same time. The sixth and final
component is balance. Balance is maintaining equilibrium while moving. (Seaward, 2015, p. 516).
Aerobic vs. anaerobic exercise: Aerobic exercise includes things like running, summing, or biking. It
uses a steady supply of oxygen to muscles to keep them working over a prolong period of time,
nothing less than 20 minutes. Anaerobic exercise would include ten second sprints, running upstairs,
or weight lifting. This type of work is short and does not require oxygen to physically do the activity.
(Seaward, 2015, p. 517).
Physiological effects of physical exercise: After 6 to 8 weeks of being physically active, there will be
notable differences within your body. These changes are improving your health and making you less
likely to develop conditions or diseases. A few of these differences include decrease resting heart rate,
decrease resting blood pressure, decrease muscle tension, better-quality sleep, increased resistance to
colds, decreased cholesterol and triglycerides levels, increased heart efficiency, and decreased rate of
aging (Seaward, 2015, p. 519).

Self-Assessment Exercises:
Proposal for Health and Wellness Management
Month Year
This proposal is prepared for health and wellness management. The scope of the project outlined
includes vendors of national evidence-based products and services. To meet these needs, this proposal
offers consulting services to provide the following expertise: (a) rationale; (b) mind-body programs or
practices; (c) capital outlay; and (d) benefits.

RATIONALE

35
The purpose of this program is to reduce stress, promote wellness, and create healthier employees
physically, mentally, and emotionally.

MINDBODY PROGRAMS/PRACTICES
Programs that should be considered as part of this program include on one time with health and
wellness coaches, inside walking track, health screens, and meditation room.

CAPITAL OUTLAY
To fulfill this program, there will need to be minimal equipment and space. Equipment that is needed
consist yoga mats for meditation and speakers for a light background music in the meditation room.
Other equipment needed is medical equipment for medical screenings. Finding space within the
workplace would also be a huge benefit. This space would be used for a walking track, and private
meeting rooms for the one on one time with health and wellness coaches, and for the mediation room.
One more expensive includes salaries for the wellness coaches and the medical assistants.

BENEFITS
This program will benefit both the employer and the employee. The employees will be provided free
services to improve and manage their health. This program could leave the employee feeling happier,
more energetic, overall healthier. According to Seaward (2015), studies found that when people were
inactive for days they showed signs of depression. While those who were walking, jogging, or
running showed signs of higher self-esteem, more alert, processed information better, felt less
stressed, and less feelings of anxiety (p. 523). Not only will the employees be able to become more
active, but health screens will detect if they are safe to be active. If they are safe to be active, they will
see their health improve from the inside out, which can keep them motivated. The employers will
benefit from this by having employees more focused on work, healthier employees, lower health cost,
and less sick day call ins.

TIMELINE
Once it has been decided that this is a program you want a part of your company, we would put plans
into place right away. Turning the basement of your facility into a walking track with a mediation
room and private rooms inside of the walking track will take a few months to get up and running. It
would be predicated to take four months to be fully up and running. However, this gives the company
time to hire wellness coaches and medical assistants. We would order the equipment right away to
make sure it is ready when the program will be opened. After putting this work into this program, we
hope that this is something your company keeps up and running as long as your company is around.

PERSONNEL
To carry out this idea, there will need to be new positions available. Health and wellness coaches
should be hired to work with the employees. Health and wellness coaches provide a variety of
services. They are responsible encouraging participants to take advantage of the program to better
their health, being the clients support system, providing seminars to clients to help them understand
the program and how it relates to their health, and they can also work one on one to help the clients
come up with a plan to reach goals and create a plan of action (Wellness Coach Job Description,

36
2017). Medical assistants should also be hired to conduct health screens on the clients. According to
What is Medical Assisants? (2017), medical assistants can work in administrative positions as well as
clinical positions. Therefore, they would be able to chart medical history as well as draw blood, take
vital signs, preform basic lab test, and take electrocardiograms. With these two services, clients can
safely and effetely better there health.

TOTAL BUDGET
With the company’s large budget, we will be able to stay within the budget and provide these services.
The companies budget for the starting up of the program is $20,000. However, the startup cost will be
around $15,000. This includes buying the equipment, making rooms, and providing a simple walking
track. An average yearly budget for a wellness program that also allows for savings is $400 per
employee (How Much Does a Good Wellness Program Cost?, 2017). For our program, we are looking
at $300 dollars per employee per year.

PITCH
The purpose of this program is to reduce stress, promote wellness, and create healthier
employees physically, mentally, and emotionally. Programs that should be considered as part of this
program include on one time with health and wellness coaches, inside walking track, health screens,
and meditation room.
To fulfill this program, there will need to be minimal equipment and space. Equipment that is
needed consist yoga mats for meditation and speakers for a light background music in the meditation
room. Other equipment needed is medical equipment for medical screenings. Finding space within the
workplace would also be a huge benefit. This space would be used for a walking track, and private
meeting rooms for the one on one time with health and wellness coaches, and for the mediation room.
This program will benefit both the employer and the employee. The employees will be
provided free services to improve and manage their health. This program could leave the employee
feeling happier, more energetic, overall healthier. The employers will benefit from this by having
employees more focused on work, healthier employees, lower health cost, and less sick day call ins.

CLASSMATE FEEDBACK
Nice pitch Kiley. Some days I wish I had this option at my own workplace. It would be nice to
decompress after complicated moments with clients. My suggestions would be maybe as well as
offering the wellness programs, offering an incentive program that can lower medical insurance
premiums. If a walking track would be a bit too much for space a treadmill or even elliptical could be
other options to promote health and wellness and would not require as much space. Good work Kiley
and thank you for the feedback on my pitch!

SUMMARY
When a company provides a wellness program for their employees, there are many great outcomes.
The employee health becomes better, they are more likely to work more efficacy, and the employer
will spend less in health care cost each year. However, a program takes planning. Things to think
about includes the purpose of the program and how to get the most benefit from it, what types of
programs will work best with the facility you already have, what type of equipment will be needed,

37
will there need to be more positions to hire for, and most importantly a budget. In the end, starting up
a wellness program for your employees will do nothing but great things. Creating wellness helps
people handle stress, pain, and illness better than before (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 15). Everyone
comes across one of these at least once a day which can create many more issues. Teaching people to
deal with these things in a heathy way creates wellness and an allover more successful person.

Journal Writing:
OPENNESS:

After reading about the quality of openness, I immediately thought about a situation I went through

with my husband. Before we were married, we spend years getting to know each other. There was a

lot of situations where we had to be opened to each other’s perspectives. Between his very stick

religious family, my determination to go to college, and his career path life together seemed

impossible. However, we learned to accept each other’s perspectives and worked together to make it

work. We both have learned to be open to new ideas over the years.

EMPATHY:

I have been told a time or two that I am an empathic person. I have grown to be in touch with my

emotions since I was young. When reading the description of empathy, I thought about a situation

with a close friend. She was going through a rough path and I decided to be her shoulder to lean on.

This turned into crying together, being angering together, and laughing together. All of these emotions

where only based on her stories and her situation.

COMPASSION:

Compassion brought up a lot of different scenarios for me. There have been many times in my life,

just like a lot of people have experienced, where someone comes to me judging about another

person’s actions. Time and time again, I put myself in that person’s shoes and explain to the person

judging why that person might have made that choice.

LOVING-KINDNESS:

38
Loving-kindness is an easy quality to have in a connection with someone you love. However, we all

have people in our life we are not fond of. When reading about this quality, I reflect on bad

relationships. I can remember feeling hatred toward these people, but also feeling empathy and

compassion as to why they have to be so evil.

SYMPATHETIC JOY:

I have felt sympathetic joy many times in my life. One situation where I have felt it is when a friend

and I were going through the same situation. We both interviewing for a great job that was hiring give

people. I found out I was not getting the job, but my friend came to me in excitement saying she got

the job. Even though I was sad about what happened to me, I was excited for her and celebrated with

her.

EQUANIMITY:

When reading about equanimity, I thought about our country under its current situations. There is so

much hatred between people. Looking at it from a big picture we are all one even if we are so

different. Accepting everyone has who they are as a person is something we all should strive for.

Treating the stranger at the grocery store the same has your favorite neighbor will help bring thing

place to a better place.

Summary

Interpersonal mindfulness helps with making connections with the people around you. “Even

in the most difficult interactions, where you feel threatened, angry, and fearful, you can significantly

improve the relationship by bringing interpersonal mindfulness to the situation” (Stahl & Goldstein,

2010, p. 160). Studying the qualities of interpersonal mindfulness and using them during a

mindfulness can make you aware of connections you have with ones you love or those who you

struggle with. The six qualities of interpersonal mindfulness include openness, empathy, compassion,

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loving-kindness, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010, p. 160-161). Next time

9
Unit

when practicing mindfulness, think about these six qualities and people that you love or do not get

along with. Keep track of what thoughts come to mind and use them to better your connections with

others around you.

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for

Management and Prevention to your
Professional Life
Information to Remember:
Healthy diversions: A healthy diversion is an activity that a person does to use as an escape from stressful
situations. These healthy diversions can be any hobby that does not cause harm to the body. A hoppy
is something a person takes pleasure in that is done outside of their normal daily responsibilities.
“Diverting attention to an unrelated subject focuses the mind and enables it to deal better with these
issues upon return.” (Seaward, 2015, p. 353).
Forgiveness: When refusing to forgive a person for their actions, it affects the person holding the grudge.
The negative thoughts affect the person’s outlook on life, their personality, and makes them more
vulnerable to other stressors. When forgiving a person, there are stages a person may go through
before being able to forgive the person who hurt them: the refusal stage, self-blaming stage,
victimization stage, resentment stage, acceptance stage, and the forgiveness stage. (Seaward, 2015, p.
354).
Social support: Social support is used as a coping technique and involves groups of family, friends, or
others in the same situation. The social support gives people the feeling of connectedness,

40
 belongingness, and bonding which impacts a person’s health. The more a person feels these feelings,
the better their health and overall life will become. (Seaward, 2015, p. 352).

Additional Information
Book: Secondary Source
Stress Management: From Basic Science to Better Practice.

This book provides a variety of information about stress and stress management. This
resource could be used to look up information quickly, for research, or for career purposes.

Video: Secondary Source

Ted Talk Video
http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_says_your_genes_are_not_your_fate

This is an interesting video that makes you want to change an unhealthy lifestyle into a healthy
lifestyle. This is information that more people need to hear to encourage them to get active, take there
diet seriously, and learn to manage stress in heathy ways.

Website: Secondary Source

American Heart Association
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/StressManagement/Stress-
Management_UCM_001082_SubHomePage.jsp

The American Heart Association is a great internet resource that anyone to internet access can
use. There are helpful tools to help people understand if they are being physically affected by stress,
how to manage stress, and heathy ways to deal with stressful situation.

41
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Merriam-Webster. (2017). Belief. Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/belief

Seaward, B. (2015). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (8th ed.).

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Stahl, B. & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New

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http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/StressManagement/Stress-

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