Running head: CREATING WELLNESS: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS

OF HEALING
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Unit 9 Final Assignment

Lindsey Culver

Kaplan University
HW420 01 Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

Unit 9 Final Assignment
Spiritual and Psychological Inventory
The following questions make up the spiritual and psychological inventory
that I have created to help gauge ones current state of wellness.
1. What is your definition of spirituality?
2. Do you consider yourself to be spiritual? Why or why not?
3. Are you satisfied with your level of spirituality? Why or why not?
4. How do you practice your spirituality? Can you give an example?
5. Do you feel like you have balance in your life? Why or why not?
6. What are the five most important values to you? How do you incorporate
those values into your life?
7. Recall a challenging or discouraging situation that youve experienced,
how did you handle it?
8. Have you ever felt connected to something greater than yourself (the
bigger picture or the grand plan)? If yes, please describe that
experience.
9. When was the last time you were awed by something or someone?
Please describe the situation and how it made you feel.
10. How frequently do you feel connected to something greater than yourself
or feel like you are in awe of something or someone?

Question number one is What is your definition of spirituality? This

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

question is valuable because it allows you to understand if the interviewee
knows about spirituality, has never thought about it or if they are just uncertain.
After knowing the answer to this question, it is easier to understand where the
starting point is with the interviewee.
Question number two is Do you consider yourself to be spiritual? Why or
why not? and question number three is Are you satisfied with your level of
spirituality? Why or why not? These questions are important as the way one
views themselves is key to how they will receive additional information. If the
interviewee does not view themselves as spiritual and they are comfortable with
that, if they are then in need of growing their spirituality they must first start with
acceptance and understanding of it. Opposite of the placebo effect where if
someone believes something will help them and the likelihood of that
happening increases, if someone does not believe in something than their
chances of benefiting from it decrease (Micozzi, 2011). If the interviewee is not
spiritual but wishes they were, then the acceptance has already been achieved
and they can then start with understanding more about spirituality.
Question number four is How do you practice your spirituality? Can you
give an example? This question will shine some insight on what how spirituality
becomes a reality for the interviewee. We all experience spirituality in a
different way, so acknowledging what works for the interviewee as an individual
is important (Seaward, 2013).
Question number five is Do you feel like you have balance in your life?

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

Why or why not? This question is important as it yields information about the
interviewees personal wellness paradigm. The wellness paradigm comes from
approaching wellness from a holistic view and considering wellness is the
integration, balance, and harmony of mind, body, spirit, and emotions that lead
to optimal well-being, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
(Seaward, 2013). In addition to learning about the interviewees personal
paradigm from this question, we can also learn if there is an area that they have
already identified that needs assistance in order to gain balance.
Question number six is What are the five most important values to you?
How do you incorporate those values into your life? This question is important
because it demonstrates what values the interviewee holds and how that
applies to their life. This yields insight as to what makes the interviewee feel
good about what they are doing. Feeling good about oneself is very important
for psychological well-being.
Question seven is Recall a challenging or discouraging situation that
youve experienced, how did you handle it? This question yields information
about the interviewees muscles of the soul and how often they are knowingly
flexed. If the interviewee has a difficult time recalling a situation, then it is
possible that they are not regularly thinking about their feelings and how they
are handling situations. This could also mean that they handle challenging
situations so well or so regularly that it is now second nature.
Question eight is Have you ever felt connected to something greater

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

than yourself (the bigger picture or the grand plan)? If yes, please describe
that experience. This question is important as the answer to the question will
demonstrate what the interviewee views as a spiritual activity. Knowing this
helps determine how the interviewee can practice their spirituality.
Question nine is When was the last time you were awed by something or
someone? Please describe the situation and how it made you feel. This
question is another important one that helps determine spiritual activities for the
interviewee.
Lastly, question ten is How frequently do you feel connected to
something greater than yourself or feel like you are in awe of something or
someone? This question is important as it demonstrates how often the person is
practicing spirituality.

The Interview
For this part of the assignment I interviewed a woman in her late 50s. Her
answers were as follows:
1. What is your definition of spirituality?
o Oh boyto me it is believing in a higher power.
2. Do you consider yourself to be spiritual? Why or why not?
o Yes because I do believe in a higher power.
3. Are you satisfied with your level of spirituality? Why or why not?
o Yes because I believe with my whole heart in the higher power

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

and I try to live my life the best I can in believing that. I try to be
honest, kind and to do the right thing.
4. How do you practice your spirituality? Can you give an example?
o In everyday life, by my actions and beliefs. For action, I always try
to be courteous and caring to others. I thank the higher power
everyday for my blessings and I think about how grateful I am.
5. Do you feel like you have balance in your life? Why or why not?
o What does that mean? I dont know what that question means.

I explained that there are many different components to

balance and that is unique to the person and gave an
example of an unbalanced life for someone that works a lot
and feels like they should spend more time with their family.
Her response then was: Yes, I feel more balanced now than I
ever have in my life. Probably because of my age and
where Im at in my timeline of life and because I dont work
anymore. When I was younger and had three young children
and had to work full time, I definitely wasnt balanced then.

6. What are the five most important values to you? How do you incorporate
those values into your life?
o These are tough questions. Love, honesty, respect, and trust. I
cant think of a fifth. I love my family more than anything on the
entire earth. I am always honest. I respect others and hope that

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

they will respect me in return. I trust and hope to be trusted.
7. Recall a challenging or discouraging situation that youve experienced,
how did you handle it?
o I really cant think of anything. Can we come back to that one?

After the other questions her response was: I was recently

discouraged when I was house hunting with my children and
the market was so competitive and they couldnt find a
house for 8 months. I dealt with it by turning on my optimism
and praying.

8. Have you ever felt connected to something greater than yourself (the
bigger picture or the grand plan)? If yes, please describe that
experience.
o I dont know what that means.

I explained that you might consider yourself one small piece

of a giant puzzle. Connected to all the other pieces.

Her response was that she feels that way when with the family
as she is one piece of an amazing family that keeps growing.

I then asked if she ever felt that way outside of family and
she said she felt that way when she worked for the YMCA.
She felt like she was one small part of an organization helping
so many people.

9. When was the last time you were awed by something or someone?

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

Please describe the situation and how it made you feel.
o I hate questions like this. Im not a thinker. I know Ive been awed
but I cant think of one single thing right now. How many more
questions are there? I know, Im awed by my children. In general
Im awed because they are amazing and have grown into such
successful adults. I feel that consistently. I also feel awed, and your
father too, after family get-togethers. After everyone leaves we just
feel amazed that we created that family.
10. How frequently do you feel connected to something greater than yourself
or feel like you are in awe of something or someone?
o Daily.

From this information, I have been able to identify how spiritually healthy
this woman is, how often she feels spiritual, what makes her feel balanced, what
is important to her to feel that balance and spirituality. I have also learned that
she regularly doesnt think about these things but still has a pretty good idea of
what she needs to be spiritually and psychologically well. Going forward, there
may be some psychological work she can do to be more aware of her feelings
and how different circumstances affect her, however even without this practice
she has done a good job of addressing her feelings through years of the habits
she has created for herself. In addition to awareness of her feelings, being that
she is open to spirituality, I would recommend that she does intentionally think

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

about it a little more in order to explore more in depth what it means to her.
I also know this woman quite well so having her as the subject for this
inventory has also yielded a bit more information than it would have from a
stranger. There is a piece of the inventory that is missing. She regularly struggles
with stressing about the small things. I feel as though stressing about the small
things is not only unhealthy as it elicits the stress response physically but it also
takes you further away from balance and spirituality (Seaward, 2015). Nothing
in my inventory asked about when she doesnt feel spiritual. In order to really
understand where the work needs to be done, it would be important to know
when the person doesnt feel good and spiritual.
I would also want to improve the inventory by reformatting some of the
questions to be more open ended to elicit more of a response. I would want to
try the inventory questions on someone that does regularly think about these
topics to determine if the questions are unclear and that is why the first
interviewee did not know what they meant or if it was the content that she
didnt understand. If it is the content versus the format of the question, than I
would want to try to explain the content of the question a little more in order to
help everyone understand the question.

CREATING WELLNESS: PSCHOLOGICAL AND SPIRITUAL ASPECTS OF HEALING

References

Micozzi, M. S. (2011) Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative

Medicine. (p. 220). St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier.

Seaward, Brian Luke. (2013). Health of the Human Spirit, Second Edition: Spiritual
Dimensions for Personal Health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Seaward, Brian Luke. (2015). Managing Stress: Principles and Strategies for Health
and Well-Being. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

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