KAPLAN UNIVERSITY

HW410 Stress: Critical Issues in

Management and Prevention

Stress
Management and
Prevention
1

Program Resource
Guide

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

Stress Management and Prevention

Program Resource Guide

By
Ashley Peterson
Kaplan University
HW410: Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention
July 14th, 2015

Table of Contents
UNIT

THE

NATU RE

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember........................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.......................................................................
Journal Writing.........................................................................................
UNIT

THE

PHYSIO LOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember........................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.......................................................................
Journal Writing.........................................................................................
UNIT

PSYCHOLOGY

OF

STRESS

Information to Remember........................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.......................................................................
Journal Writing.........................................................................................
UNIT

PERSONAL ITY

TRAITS

AND

THE

HUM AN

SPIRITUAL ITY

Information to Remember......................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................
Journal Writing.......................................................................................
UNIT

DEAL ING

WITH

STRESS:

COPING

STRATE GIES

Information to Remember......................................................................
Journal Writing.......................................................................................
UNIT
AND

REL AXATIO N

M ENTAL

TECHI QUES

1 :

BREATHI NG ,

M EDITATI ON,

IM AGE RY

Information to Remember......................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................
Journal Writing.......................................................................................
UNIT

NUTRITI ON

AND

STRESS

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

UNIT

PHYSIC AL

EXERCISE

AND

ACTIV ITY

Information to Remember......................................................................
Self-Assessment Exercises.....................................................................
Journal Writing.......................................................................................
UNIT
AND

APPLYING

PREVE NTIO N

STRESS:

CRITICAL

TO

PROF ESSI ONAL

YOUR

ISSUES

F OR

M ANAGEM EN T

L IF E

Information to Remember......................................................................
ADDITI ONAL

INF ORM ATIO N

Additional Information...........................................................................
REF EREN CES

References..............................................................................................

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1
Unit

Unit 1: The Nature of Stress

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Stress is something that all people deal with in one way or another. Stress is defined
as The experience of a perceived threat (real or imagined) to ones mental, physical, or spiritual
well-being, resulting from a series of physiological responses and adaptations (Seaward, 2015, p 3).
Not all stress is considered bad stress, there is such a thing as good stress.
Key Learning Point: There are three kinds of stress: eustress, neustress, and distress (Seaward, 2015, p
9). Eustress is the good stress in our lives, like meeting a personal hero. Neustress is neutral stress,
when we learn about some big event that does not affect us. Distress is the negative stress we feel,
from a fight or from the heavy work load at work.
Key Learning Point: The wellness paradigm is introduced to science and it focuses on the integration,
balance, and harmony of mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being through taking
responsibility for ones own health; posits that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
(Seaward, 2015, p 20). This shift in the medical community has allowed for a more holistic approach
to heal and stress management.

Self-Assessment Exercise:
In our self-assessment for unit 1 we looked into how mental, physical, emotional,
and spiritual health are all linked together in our wellness paradigm. We also
looked into how stress is tied to each aspect of our wellness paradigm. Up to 80
percent of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints or
disorders (Seaward, 2015, p 3). This shows how tightly stress is bound to our

lives. Learning about how to improve our mental, physical, emotional, and
spiritual wellness will directly correlate with lowered stress, which in turn lowers
our stress and our risks for getting stress related diseases. Overall finding a
balance in our wellness is the best approach to our overall health and meeting the
needs to every aspect of our wellness paradigm is a big part of it.

Journal Writing:
Unit 1 Journal
Current Stressors in my life:
1.

Working on my Bachelors degree from Kaplan University

2.

Shopping (grocery, mall, etc) with my three young boys

Rating 7

3.

Undecided future. We are moving this summer and our move is torn
between two different jobs and locations. Choosing the best option is the
stress.
Rating 4

4.

Keeping up with house work and all my other responsibilities.

Rating 8

5.

Eczema. I struggle with eczema all over my body.

Rating 6

6.

Paying all the bills.

Rating 3

7.

Making enough time for regular exercise.

Rating 6

8.

Eating healthy foods and not stress eating.

Rating 6

9.

Raising healthy, happy, and well adjusted children.

10.

Social pressures. Managing social engagements.

Rating 4

(Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Rating 5

Rating 5

Unit 2: The Physiology of Stress

2
Unit

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: The limbic system is the midlevel of the brain, including the hypothalamus and
amygdala, which is thought to be responsible for emotional processing (Seaward, 2015, p 48). This
system is responsible for a big part of how stress is processed and perceived. The limbic system is
where the fight or flight response starts. From there the limbic system triggers needed bodily
responses to produce the flight or fight reaction.
Key Learning Point: Chronic stress can affect the nervous system and cause stress related diseases like
asthma, TMJD, migraines, irritable bowels, tension headaches, and coronary heart disease. all these
diseases can be partly mitigated by a reduction in our stress levels. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Our immune systems can be affected by stress as well as our nervous system. Some
common immune diseases affected by stress are ulcers, allergies, colitis, lupus, cancer, and the
common cold. When we deal with chronic stress it can lower our immune systems and leave us
vulnerable to the above diseases. (Seaward, 2015).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
In out unit 2 self-assessment we discussed the definition of neuroplasticity and
neuroscience along with discussing the different stress related diseases that
affect the body. Neuroscience is the study of the brain and all its functions. We
now know that the brain can generate new connections to various brain cells,
recruit various brain tissue for a host of functions, and generate new cell growth
(Seaward, 2015, p 59). From this discovery scientists coined the term
neuroplasticity. In this assessment we also learned that irritable bowel syndrome,
tension headaches, asthma, coronary heart disease, migraines, and TMJD are all
stress related nervous system diseases. Along with that we learned that cancer is
an immune disease that is caused by stress.

Journal Writing:
Unit Two Journal Writing Assignment
How is stress or anxiety about people affecting your life?
My stress and anxiety level due to people in my life can be quite high. It will
go in spurts. I tend to care too much what people say and think and I will spend
more time than is necessary worrying about peoples feelings and thoughts about
me. For example, I always get worked up about going home to visit family for
Christmas. Inevitably we upset someone by not spending enough time with them
so I will stress about our Christmas trip home for weeks. Usually the trip ends up
being good and I stressed for no reason. A good thing for me to work on is letting
things go that are out of my control. Like how people act and feel about me.
How is stress or anxiety about work affecting your life?
Currently I am a student and a stay home mom to three boys. These two
things are what I view as my work and both can cause me moderate amounts of
stress or anxiety. I take a lot of pride in keeping a clean and productive home and
in raising good children. Generally I do not have high amounts of stress about
these things however there are two major life events that can increase my stress
over my work, deployments and school. In the eight years that I have been a
stay home mom I have gone through three deployments. During those times I find
myself more stressed about keeping up with housework. Another added stressor
to my work is school. For the last year I have been enrolled in Kaplan working
towards my degree and the added responsibility makes it harder to keep up with
everything. Aside from those two things in my life I generally keep a good control
over my stress and anxiety levels in regards to work.
How is stress or anxiety about the world affecting your life?
World problems can cause a great deal of stress if you let them get to you.
The biggest thing I do to keep from stressing out over world events is to
compartmentalize world events. I find it very important to keep up to date on
what is happening in the world, like the events involving ISIS or local news but I
chose not to dwell on it. Keeping informed on current events is important to me
but if there is nothing I can do to fix or prevent these events I chose not to get
stressed out about them. This attitude helps keep down some areas of stress in
my life.
How is stress or anxiety about food and eating habits affecting your life?
As a health and wellness student I am very aware of how important food and
eating habits are to your health. With this knowledge I feel a level of
responsibility to eat well and to feed my family well. With this added
responsibility I do feel some stress and anxiety. When I am stressed out in other
areas in my life it is easy to turn to food as a comfort and the foods I desire when
I am stressed generally are not the best foods. This then is a direct conflict to me

wanting to eat healthy and I tend to have guilty feelings over eating the unhealthy
foods.
How is stress or anxiety about sleep and sleeplessness affecting your life?
Not getting enough sleep each night is one sure fire way to increase your
stress levels. Getting enough sleep is very important to me and I try and prioritize
sleep as much as possible for myself and for my children. This is why bedtimes
are strongly enforced in my home. However when I do have several days in a row
where I cannot get enough sleep I can tell it affects my stress level. I tend to be
short tempered and get irritated easily with less sleep. To avoid that I try and nap
or get an adequate amount of sleep each night.
How is stress or anxiety about exercise or lack of physical activity affecting your
life?
Getting enough exercise in can be a large source of stress and anxiety for
me. I have always made more than enough time to exercise and stay in shape in
my adult life. Fitness is something my husband and I both take seriously. Yet
when I started school to finish up my Bachelors degree I found exercise slipping
down on my list of important things to do. With the added time I needed for
school I had to cut back someplace and exercise seemed to be the place most
affected. I could not cut back on parenting, and housework was cut back on to a
degree, but exercise took the biggest hit. Trying to juggle everything and still
make time for myself has been the hardest adjustment for me with starting school
again. I get so frustrated when I cannot keep to an exercise schedule and my
stress level will rise.
Summary
Looking over the different areas of my life and gauging the level of stress I get in
each area was an eye opening experience. I realize how much I stress or worry
over the daily activities/ people in my life. While I find it very important to strive
for greatness I do not want the quality of my life degraded because I chose to
stress about everything. My big question at this point is how to I learn to not let
life stress me out so much? How do I learn to embrace all that is who I am and
not stress when I cannot get it all done or when I cannot do it right? I really want
to love myself for who I am and all that I can accomplish.
(Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Unit 3: Psychology of Stress

3
Unit

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Self love is a vitally important skill to learn. Self love is directly linked to higher
levels of self esteem and both self esteem and self love result in better skills at coping with stress.
Also those that love themselves and have higher self esteem are not as deeply affected by the stress in
their lives. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Fear and anger are at a basic level a perceived threat to our persons. Both anger and
fear are thought to be survival emotions, yet when conscious thoughts are combined with these innate
reflexes, feelings are magnified rather than resolved, leading to an unbroken cycle of stress
(Seaward, 2015, p 142). It is important to manage anger and fear as they can result in a lot of stress.
Key Learning Point: Technology has exploded in the last decade or so and our world now revolves
around this technology. From the internet, emails, social media, etc we have rapidly changed the face
of how people communicate. With this influx of technology we are seeing people struggle with
technology overload. People are getting too much information all the time and people do not know
how to disconnect from this technology. (Seaward, 2015).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
For our unit 3 assessment we talked about the Tibetan culture and how
meditation is the key to their long life span. Theorists on how the brain and stress
work discovered that the brain works in two ways to handle stress. First through
the fight or flight response (defensive) or through resolution. Resolution is the
best result for stress management. Fear is big source of stress in peoples lives.
Fear stimulates a physical response to flee and hide from threats that are
intimidating, overwhelming, and sometimes fatal (Seaward, 2015, p 135). One
beneficial way to cope with fear is through desensitization. Along with fear poor
communication can cause stress in our lives. Tips for improving communication

include being honest, making eye contact when talking, dealing with the issues
immediately instead of putting it off, listening, and keeping disputes private.

Journal Writing:
Unit Three Journal Writing Assignment
Taking the time to do the five minute mindfulness breathing exercise was a
very enjoyable and enlightening experience. One of the biggest things that I felt
helped with the mindfulness experience was trying to incorporate the eight
different attitudes of mindfulness into my experience. By pre-reading the
activities I was able to focus on staying in a non-judgmental frame of mind. I
strove to keep myself focused on my breathing and gently returned my thoughts
to my breathing anytime my mind wandered. When I found myself thinking
critically I tried to acknowledge those worries and let them go for the purpose of
the mindfulness exercise. Keeping a calm and relax mind made me relax overall.
Just focusing on being in the moment and viewing myself with compassion was
also very helpful in relaxing.
One of the biggest things I noticed was how much of a difference my mindset
could make in my wellbeing. Taking the time to get into a comfortable position
and preparing my mind with thoughts of acceptance and self compassion really
made all the difference in my ability to relax. Even though my thoughts wandered
at times I was able to shut out most of the excessive worries. All the little things
melted from my thoughts and I was left with my mind occasionally wandering to a
few of the bigger issues I am facing. Despite my mind wandering to the bigger
issues in my life I noticed my perception of those issues seemed to be less of
worry or concern and more acknowledgement of the problem, nothing more and
nothing less. It was very refreshing to be able to detach myself from my concerns.
As I finished up the mindfulness activity I took the time to evaluate how the
experience made me feel and how I could apply that to all of my daily problems.
To be able to take time to refresh my mind and rest my soul was a very
revitalizing experience. It allowed my body to relax in the process and I could
physically feel the difference. All the major issues I thought about last night seem
a little less worrisome than they did before my mindfulness activity. If I can
continue to use this meditation and regard all my problems this way I can for see
a big shift in my stress management. This type of meditation seems to be very
beneficial for me and I plan on continuing mindfulness meditation to see if I can
make more progress in reducing my stress. (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Unit 4: Personality Traits and the Human

4
Unit

Spirituality
Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Our personalities can affect how we handle the stress in our lives and some
personality types are more prone to stress than others. The resilient personality is the most stress
resistant and traits from this personality type can be learned. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Our level of spirituality is directly linked to our level or stress. Aspects of spirituality
include higher consciousness, transcendence, self-reliance, self-efficacy, self-actualization, love,
faith, enlightenment, mysticism, self-assertiveness, community, and bonding, as well as God, Allah,
Jesus, Buddha, and a multitude of other concepts (Seaward, 2015, p 173). No one definition of
spirituality is correct because no two people view spirituality the same.
Key Learning Point: Like our personalities our behaviors can affect our stress levels and like personalities
people can work to change behaviors from negative to positive. This is called behavior modification.
Positive behavior is linked to less stress while negative behavior is linked to higher stress. (Seaward,
2015).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
In unit 4s self assessment we learned how self esteem is directly linked to lower
levels of stress and better coping strategies for managing stress. Stress also
affects our relationships, values, and our meaning in life. Usually our meaning of
life is what helps us fight off the stress in our lives. It gives us hope and purpose. I
believe attitudes and values are very similar while beliefs are our assumed truths
about life. Lastly we discussed Prochaskas model of change works. In this model

10

of change there are 6 steps. Pre-contemplation, contemplation, determination,

action, maintenance, and relapse. (Seaward, 2015, p 237). This model of change
can be used for all behavioral changes from quitting smoking to implementing an
exercise program.

Journal Writing:
Unit Four Journal Writing Assignment
FEAR: apprehension, anxiety, distress, edginess, jumpiness, nervousness, panic,
tenseness, uneasiness, worry, fright, feeling overwhelmed.
When I concentrate and think about when I have been fearful there are a few
different places that I process it. When the fear is mild I tend to feel it in my
shoulders or my neck. It can manifest as tightness in both my shoulders and neck.
When I experience an intense fear like someone jumping out and scaring me I
feel it in a totally different way. Generally I will experience a flight response to
intense fear. I will have an adrenaline rush and feel the blood rush to my face.
Sometimes it feels tingly in my hands. My heart will pound and I instantly want to
protect myself.
CONFUSION: bewildered, uncertain, puzzled, mystified, perplexed, chaotic,
foggy, or unaware.
Confusion can manifest for me in to different ways. In both cases I usually
experience confusion in my head or face. When I am embarrassed by my
confusion I will feel a rush of heat to my face and my ears. My mind will generally
race to try and figure out the source of my confusion. When I am not embarrassed
by my confusion I will still rack my brain to try and figure out why I am confused
but I generally do not have the rush of heat to my face. Sometimes when the
confusion comes out of nowhere my mind will go blank instead of working
overtime.
ANGER: aggravation, agitation, annoyance, destructiveness, disgust, envy,
frustration, irritation, grouchiness, grumpiness, rage.
I feel anger most in my extremities, like my hand and arms, and in my face.
Anger can also manifest as tension in my neck and shoulders. The pain in my
neck and shoulders seems to be more from chronic frustrations rather than high
intensity anger. Dealing with constantly bickering children in more likely to give
me a headache than anything else. When I have an intense moment of anger I
have a similar response as I would with fear. My adrenaline increases and my
heart pounds. Only with intense anger I get the fight response as opposed to
the flight response. More often than naught I only get to this level of anger
when I am defending my children or husband.
SADNESS: alienation, anguish, despair, disappointment, gloom,
hopelessness, insecurity, loneliness, misery, unhappiness, rejection.

11

grief,

Sadness is one of the easier emotions for me to label to a specific body part.
Usually I feel feelings of sadness most strongly in my chest. It almost feels like a
tightening in my chest or a dull ache. When I am dealing with extreme sadness I
generally feel it from my chest down to my gut. When the sadness is intense like
that it can feel similar to having a physical pain in my stomach. I am very rarely
so saddened that I feel that level of emotional pain.
SHAME: guilt, embarrassment, humiliation, invalidation, regret, remorse,
mortification.
Shame is an emotion that can generate very strong feelings and emotions for
me. Usually shame and embarrassment go hand in hand for me. Shame makes my
face flush and I want to hide from whatever or whoever is behind the shame. My
heart will pound and I will feel a bit breathless. I can lose my appetite whenever I
feel very guilty. If the guilt or shame is intense enough it can make me feel ill. Not
quite nauseated but definitely an unsettled stomach. I try and avoid this feeling as
often as I can.
LOVE: affection, arousal, attraction, caring, compassion, desire, fondness,
infatuation, kindness, liking, longing, warmth, sympathy, sentimentality.
Love is a very tricky emotion for me to label. Love can manifest in so many
ways that it is hard for me to pinpoint an exact location in my body that I feel love
the most. If I break down the different descriptive words given for love I would
say most of these emotions I feel in my chest, aside from a few of them. My
physical response will vary with the type of love I am feeling. Most often I will feel
this emotion in my chest. With love it is more of a constant flow for me and less of
an intense physical feeling so it can be harder for me to feel love in my body.
JOY: amusement, bliss, contentment, eagerness, elation, enjoyment, enthusiasm,
excitement, exhilaration, hope, optimism, pleasure, satisfaction.
Joy is a very easy and rewarding emotion to feel and to describe. When I
think about times when I have been very joyful I feel like I can feel the emotion in
my face and my arms the most. However it is also a feeling of happiness all over.
When I am in a very joyful moment it feels like my arms are coiled tightly with
happiness and my face feels like it is going to burst with excitement. Most often
when I am in a moment of joy I will laugh and hug someone close to me like my
children or husband. This may sound silly but this is how I process high levels of
joy. This feeling in my face and arms is a very brief sensation but it feels very
good. I wish I had this feeling occur more often in my body.
Summary
Overall this assignment made me realize I need to be more in touch with where I
am feeling my emotions and how I respond to each emotion. Reading the
descriptions helped me narrow down more of my feelings in each of the
categories. Along with that, recalling memories where I had strong reactions in
each area helped tremendously in narrowing down how I feel when I experience
feeling like love, joy, shame, fear, anger, sadness, and confusion. This is the first

12

time I took the time to try and pinpoint in what areas of my body I feel each
emotion. I feel that I may have been a bit off in each area but with practice I may

5
Unit

get better at reading how emotions affect me physically. If I can learn how to
better read my feelings than I can become better at managing my stress because
I will be in better harmony with how things affect my body. (Stahl & Goldstein,
2010).

Unit 5: Dealing with Stress: Coping Strategies

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Negative or toxic thoughts strongly correlate to stress and higher levels of stress. It
has been suggested (Canfield, 1988; Ingerman, 2007) that toxic thoughts originate from repeated
exposure to feelings of shame and guilt in early childhood (Seaward, 2015, p 220). Learning to stop
toxic thoughts can give a person better self esteem and self love.
Key Learning Point: It is proven that laugher is the key to happiness; at least it is proven to reduce stress
which will result in happier people. People that laugh more tend to have lower levels of stress in their
lives. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Poor time management is linked to higher levels of stress; people that manage their
time better tend to have less stress. There are many different strategies for better time management.
One strategy that I liked that setting a time limit to activities and sticking to it. (Seaward, 2015).

Journal Writing:
Unit Five Journal Writing Assignment

13

Take some time to write about whatever came up for you mentally, emotionally
and physically when doing this practice for the first time.
Surprisingly the hardest part of this weeks journal writing was picking which
meditative assignment to try. Both choices had merit but in the end I decided to
go with the Mindful self-inquiry for stress as the activity for my journal writing.
When I first sat down and read through the guidelines for the Mindful self-inquiry
for stress I was worried about the duration of time for the meditation. I have
never mediated for 30 minutes before and I was not sure how I would handle the
activity. Part of this worry stemmed from my anxious mind set. Coming into this
activity I was very anxious and restless. I was not sure how I would be able to sit
still for even 5 minutes, let alone 30 minutes.
Going into the meditation in that frame of mind did result in me taking longer to
relax and develop my meditative mindset. However, by about half way through
the body scan I realized I was relaxing and becoming less anxious and restless. I
was not as fidgety as I was at the start of the meditation and I could physically
feel the tension leaving my muscles as I was working through the body scan.
When I think about the meditation experience I realize now I was noticing the
relaxation in my body before I was noticing it in my mind. While I could physically
feel the tension leaving my body it was a little bit later that I noticed that the
anxiousness had left my mind.
A big reason why it took me so long to notice my mind relaxing was because I was
still processing so many different thoughts. When I was able to turn off my critical
self apprising attitude I was then able to relax my mind and my anxiousness
melted away. This shift in mindset was the last step in my ability to relax during
my meditation. One big thing I notice this time in my meditation was my inability
to focus my thoughts.
Unlike the last few times I meditated this time I had trouble being able to focus
my thoughts. My mind seemed to drift to other thoughts and worries quite a bit
more this time than in previous meditation sessions. My big shift came when I
was able to disengage my critical attitude from my wandering mind. Being able to
view my wandering thoughts with more compassion allowed me to make that
final step into relaxation. I decided that if my mind was prone to wandering this
time then I was not going to focus on constantly trying to refocus myself but
simply accepting my thought process in a non-judgmental attitude. Once I made
that mental shift I started to feel myself relax. Once I was able to fully relax more
I noticed my mind slowed its wandering thoughts and was able to focus more on
the meditation at hand.
This process was a big revelation to me. Experiencing this shift in mindset made
me realize just how important it is to view myself with self love and self
acceptance. Self acceptance and self love are so important to our mental and
physical health. This is something that I have heard about and learned about but
until this exercise in meditation I did not fully realize how true it was. In life in
general I struggle with being very critical of myself and I always expect more out

14

of myself. In this vein I have a hard time accepting who I am and what I have
accomplished. I always feel like I have room for improvement. So taking the time
in meditation to accept my thoughts and not view them critically was a big step
for me, a step that was very eye opening for me. I realize that I need to love
myself more and try to reduce the amount of criticism I heap on myself. It was
such a wonderful feeling being able to relax because I was accepting and loving
towards myself. It is a feeling I want to continue feeling. This leads me to one big
questionhow do I teach myself to be more self accepting and self loving? I am
so excited to learn how to love myself better. If just being more accepting of my
thoughts can help me relax what will I be able to do when I can fully embrace
myself and love myself in all my flaws and imperfections? Once again taking the
time to meditate has shown me so much about myself. The value of meditation is
severely underrated and so many people are missing out on the wonderful
benefits that can be gained from refocusing and centering ourselves. (Stahl &
Goldstein, 2010).

Additional Unit Materials:

In unit 5 we had access to web resources and one in particular was an article
written by Brad Spangler about reframing. Reframing is the process of
changing the way a thought is presented so that it maintains its fundamental
meaning but is more likely to support resolution efforts (Spangler, 2003). Along
with the definition of reframing Brad goes on to talk about how reframing works
in conflicts and different techniques for reframing. One of his big points is that
reframing works when everyone involved is willing to accept the situation for
what it is and the definition of it. Reframing can be a beneficial part of meditation
and changing our mindsets.

15

Unit 6: Relaxation Techniques 1: Breathing,

6
Unit

Meditation, and Mental Imagery

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Diaphragmatic breathing or deep breathing has been shown to be the quickest and
easiest way to relax. Deep breathing is something that is taught all over the word including in
childbearing classes. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Meditation has many different benefits but one of these benefits is management of
chronic pain. There are studies that have found substantial evidence for nonmedical pain relief
through the Zen practice of mindfulness meditation (Seaward, 2015, p 393). This shows just how
powerful the mind is.
Key Learning Point: Mental imagery is when a person can visualize in their mind a relaxing and peaceful
vision to help them relax and lower stress. Mental imagery has been around for thousands of years
and has shown promising results in the management of chronic pain. (Seaward, 2015).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
For our unit 6 assessment we covered information on diaphragmatic breathing,
meditation, and visualization. There are three important techniques to learn for
diaphragmatic breathing. Concentration, a comfortable position, and lastly
visualization. Mastering these three steps will help you learn the art of breathing
deeply. There have been many documented studies on the benefit of meditation.
Meditation has been shown to improve various aspects of mental, emotional, and
physical well-being (Seaward, 2015, p 391). Lastly we talked about how

16

visualization helps with relaxation. Visualization has been shown to improve our
health and stress which in turn can help us to relax more.

Journal Writing:
Unit Six Journal Writing Assignment
Mindful of how you interact with yourself?
Being aware of how I treat myself is something that I am just beginning to
become aware of and I am surprised at how much negative thoughts can be
destructive of our health. A big part of why I am becoming more aware of this
was based off of last weeks journal writing. Just shutting off my internal critic
allowed me so much peace of mind and relaxation in last weeks meditation
exercise. That experience has really opened my eyes and now I am starting to ask
myself very hard questions. Some of the big questions I am asking myself are am
I too critical of myself? Is there a balance of pushing ones self and self love? Can
I expect a lot of myself without being critical of myself? How do I learn to love
myself? One question that was really shocking for me was naming five things I
love about myself. I found it very difficult to name five things that I loved about
myself. I could name a couple of my personality traits but when it came to my
physical appearance I was very critical. It was an eye opening experience for me.
How can I teach my three young children to love themselves when I cannot do the
same? It has been a very humbling experience for me.
Seeds of suffering?
When I think of how I interact with myself I can see a few common themes. One
of the biggest things I do is devalue what I have accomplished. Instead of being
happy or proud of my own accomplishments I always tell myself that I could have
done better. Or that next time I can do things differently and I will have a better
outcome. An example of this is my schooling. In the last year plus at Kaplan I have
not received a final class grade that is less than 95% and yet I feel like I am really
not that smart but I view my success with school as more luck than anything. I do
this in all aspects of my life. From how I am raising my children to how well I
keep my home clean to how good of a wife I am and much more. I struggle with
accepting my accomplishments. I feel that if I was better at receiving positive self
messages from myself I would be a much happier and less stressed person. And if
I was able to lower my stress I would probably see a huge improvement in my
overall health.
Day-to-day life feelings of resentment?
As a stay at home mother I do not have a ton of opportunities to interact with
people that make me resentful or angry. Looking at the few examples that I have I
realize I am not the best at dealing with difficult people or situations. Usually I am
just angry at first and I tend to over analyze any interactions I have with the
person. If I let myself be rational I realize some people are having hard times and
it is easy to take it out on others. I myself have been guilty of this action. Many

17

times a bad situation is just a result of poor communication. If I take the time to
try and stand in their shoes I find that it is harder to be angry and resentful of

7
Unit

them. People generally have their own problems that are influencing how they
interact with others. I need to work on extending compassion to people that
hurt me as much as I need to learn to extend compassion to myself.
Reflection on writing?
This has been one of the more difficult and humbling journals I have had to write.
I realize now that I am very self critical and I have so much room for growth when
it comes to learning self love and self compassion. It is going to be long process in
teaching myself how to stop being critical and learning how to love myself. I feel
that the best way I can teach my children to love themselves is by learning how to
love myself and leading them by example. Teaching them compassion will
hopefully be something they can learn to apply to themselves and to others that
they have confrontations with. This is also a skill I need to practice myself.
Learning how to be more compassionate to those that hurt me will help me
better deal with the hard situations. Changing my perspective on the problem will
help me handle the problem better and with less stress. Hopefully this is the start
to a journey to self growth, love, and compassion. (Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Unit 7: Nutrition and Stress

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Exercise is a form of stress; however it is a good form of stress. Exercise can lower
blood pressure, improve sleep, reduce muscle tension, lower cholesterol, and benefit the heart.
(Seaward, 2015).

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Key Learning Point: Good nutrition benefits the body in many ways from better immune functions and
good digestion to lowered stress levels. Specific foods like caffeine, processed flour and sugar, and
salt can trigger a stress response in the body. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: It is important to do your research when you decide to take supplements. Not all
supplements are created equal and over dosing on supplements can negatively affect your health. It is
important to check to see that the processing does not destroy what it is intended to promote
(Seaward, 2015, p 540).

Self-Assessment Exercise:
For our unit 7 assessment we did a mindfulness laying yoga or sitting meditation.
I chose to do the mindfulness laying yoga. In this self assessment activity we gave
wrote more about our experience with the exercise of our choice. For me
mindfulness yoga was a very eye opening experience. By the end of the exercise I
was able to see how beneficial yoga can be. I was relaxed and refreshed by the
end of my yoga session. It was clear for me to see how yoga promotes longevity
and facilitates homeostasis of mind, body, and spirit (Seaward, 2015, p 403).
Through this assessment I was able to experience this first hand. Mindfulness
laying yoga is a great relaxation technique that I would recommend to most
everyone.

Additional Unit Materials:

In unit 7 we had access to the National Jewish Health website. On the link for
this website is an article about visualization. Through visualization you can
achieve a focused awareness while minimizing thoughts, emotions and physical
pain (Jenkins & Randall, 2012). Visualization is a subcategory of meditation and
visualization has been shown to have health benefits for those that use it. In this
article they give multiple examples of how visualization works. Basically these
examples are visualization exercises that can be done. They are a great place to
start when looking into visualization.

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Unit 8: Physical Exercise and Activity

8
Unit

Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: Yoga has been around for thousands of years and has been practiced all over the
world. Yoga is when there is a connection of the body, mind, and spirit to create unity and bring
relaxation. Yoga has been shown to lower chronic pain. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Like yoga tai chi has been around for thousands of years. Tai chi has proven
relaxation benefits. There are four principles in Tai Chi: fasting the heart, returning to nature, Wuwei, and winning by losing (Seaward, 2015, p 483).
Key Learning Point: Exercise is broken down into two categories anaerobic and aerobic. Aerobic
exercise is moderate exercise that involves oxygen. Like jogging. Anaerobic is exercise without
oxygen, like weight lifting. (Seaward, 2015).

Self-Assessment Exercises:
In our unit 8 assessment we created a pitch for a wellness program. In my
program I was introducing the idea of a meditation and yoga program into the
company. For this assignment we had to discuss our rationale for the program,
that mind body practice we would implement, capital outlay, benefits of the
program, the timeline for starting the program, and personnel required for the
program. (Seaward, 2015). For my program it was going to have a quick start
time and take little materials and cost to start and maintain the program and the
program would result is healthier and happier employees. Healthier and happier
employees results in fewer sick days and more productive employees.

Journal Writing:
Unit Eight Journal Writing Assignment

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OPENNESS: Learning to have an open mind and heart is something I work on all
the time. Sometimes I do better and other times I struggle to be open, it really all
depends on how I am feeling. I pictured my husband in this quality. When we
have had disagreements when I was open in mind and heart the disagreements
have gone smoother and there was little to no tension. When my mind and heart
are not open and my husband and I disagree it can sometimes become tense and
I tend to be defensive. Being open has always yielded better results.
EMPATHY: Overall I find it easy to empathize with others. In some situations it
can be harder, for example when it is an experience I have little knowledge of. In
most cases I find it easy to empathize with others because I care about them. It is
easy to put myself in their shoes when I have a deep affection for them. Like with
my husband or a close friend. Something that helps me remember to be
empathetic is that like everyone I seek empathy too and I would want to be
treated with empathy if I needed it. So I try and treat others with empathy.
COMPASSION: As a woman I feel that it can be easier to be compassionate that
for men sometimes. By nature I am a compassionate person. Life can be so harsh
and unfair and it can give people many deep scars and pain. I myself have
suffered. With so much hurt and pain in the world I want to add as much
compassion as I can to help bring joy and happiness to the world. It is easy to
become bitter by our own life sufferings and I never want to get to a point where I
cannot share compassion because of my own life problems.
LOVING-KINDNESS: It is easy to be loving and kind towards people you love and
care about. It is easy to show this kindness to others that treat you well. It is
harder to be loving and kind to those that hurt you or that you have difficulty
with. This is something I struggle with. I try my best to wish others well and I can
wish well to those that hurt me. I just need to make sure I am having sincere
feelings. I do not want to wish someone well only because it is the right thing to
do. I want to truly mean it. This is where I struggle.
SYMPATHETIC JOY: Being joyful is a wonderful experience and it is so great to be
able to delight in other people. I feel this most intensely with my children. The joy
I find in them in limitless. If I remind myself of this feeling when I deal with other
people I find that I can give others a higher amount of sympathetic joy. I find it
easier to be joyful with people I am close with. I still can offer joy to other people
but I tend to be more reserved with people I am not close to.
EQUANIMITY: This is something that I struggle with. In the very busy day to day
activities it is hard to slow down and think about the interconnectedness of life. It
is hard to remember to interact with strangers. It is not that I do not want to
invest in strangers it is just that in a busy world with three small children my time
is limited. However I try and remember that when I do have to interact with other
I do not know I try and remember to be kind and joyful and treat them as I would
like others to treat me.
Summary

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Overall when I stop and think about these qualities I find that it is easier to
connect with others in a positive and loving way. Taking the time to connect with

9
Unit

others can sometimes be my problem. One of the biggest things I live by is

treating others the way I wish others would treat me. This helps me be a better
person and treat others in a better manner. Learning to treat others well is an
important life skill.
(Stahl & Goldstein, 2010).

Unit 9: Applying Stress: Critical Issues for

Management and Prevention to your
Professional Life
Information to Remember:
Key Learning Point: There are many different ways to cope with stress. One valuable way to manage
stress is through support. Support can come in the form of friends, family, co-workers, or support
groups. People thrive of companionship and support from others feeds this need and helps people
cope with stress. (Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Hobbies are activities that differ from the regular day to day requirements of work
and family. Hobbies are an outlet that allows a person to temporarily forget about stress and relax in a
favorite activity. Hobbies lower our stress levels and refresh us to face the stress in our lives.
(Seaward, 2015).
Key Learning Point: Prayer (and faith) is one of the oldest and most commonly used coping
mechanisms known to humankind (Seaward, 2015, p 356). People that pray and are connected to a

22

faith believe in a bigger or divine power. Hope in this divine power is what can help people cope with
stress.

Additional Unit Materials:

For unit 9 there was additional information available in the web resources link. The link took you to
the heart math institutes website. This site was created in 1991 and was created to offer scientifically
based tools to help people bridge the connection between their hearts and minds, and deepen their
connection with the hearts of others (Heart Math Institute, 2015). This website offers information on
the mind, body, and heart and how it is all connected. There are links to research, memberships, and
much more. They offer information from a personal level to a global level.
In unit 9 we also had to opportunity to read chapter 10 out of our mindfulness-based stress reduction
workbook. In chapter 10 they go over the importance of bringing mindfulness to our eating, physical
activity, rest, and our connection to ourselves and others. In this chapter we get a break down of why
food is important and why it is very important to bring mindfulness to our eating. There are multiple
learning activities from understanding emotional eating to light exercise based activities. (Stahl &
Goldstein, 2010)

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Additional Information
HelpGuide.org is a great website for all things related to stress. This site has valuable information
about identifying stress, coping strategies for stress, and links to other resources. Help guide is a great
tool for any health and wellness professional to have. This source is a secondary source.
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm.
Harvard Health Publications has a health blog and on this blog there is an article on the benefits of
meditation. The author writes about how meditation can ease a persons mental stress and anxiety. at
the bottom of the blog there is links to other meditation resources like yoga and mindfulness
meditation. This is a secondary source.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mental-stress201401086967.
In the Kaplan library I found an article on self esteem and perceived stress and stress management.
This article talks about how people with higher self esteem have better coping strategies for stress and
there for have less stress. This article is a secondary source.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=3026d8bb-2652-4cdf-93d247f42d69873f%40sessionmgr114&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU
%3d#db=a9h&AN=73951026.

24

References
Corliss, J. (2014). Mindfulness Meditation may ease Anxiety, Mental Stress. Retrieved July 9th, 2015
from http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/mindfulness-meditation-may-ease-anxiety-mentalstress-201401086967.
Eisenbarth, C. (2012). Does Self-Esteem Moderate the Relations Among Perceived Stress, Coping,
and Depression? College Student Journal, 46(1), 149-157. Retrieved July 9 th, 2015 from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.lib.kaplan.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=3026d8bb-2652-4cdf93d2-47f42d69873f%40sessionmgr114&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU
%3d#db=a9h&AN=73951026 .
Heart Math Institute. (2015). Expanding Heart Connections. Retrieved July 12th, 2015from
https://www.heartmath.org/ .
Jenkins, S., Randall, C. (2012). Visualization. Retrieved July 12th, 2015 from
http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/lifestyle/relax/visualization.aspx .
Seaward, B. (2015). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being (8th ed.).
Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved July 9th, 2015 from
http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781284084603/epubcfi/6/2.
Smith, M., Segal, R. (2015). Stress Management. Retrieved July 9th, 2015 from
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm.
Spangler, B. (2003). Reframing. Retrieved July 12th, 2015 from
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/joint-reframing.
Stahl, B. & Goldstein, E. (2010). A mindfulness-based stress reduction workbook. Oakland, CA: New
Harbinger Publications, Inc.

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