A UCA Member’s Personal Well-Being Journey

Well-Being

“Successful people are just those with successful habits.” — Bryan Tracy

Well-Being

Ever so often we are told wonderful accounts of our member’s stories. We shared some in Unified Caring Association members shared their reviews of our benefits. Since then we have had another of these stories shared with us. This UCA member who used the Personal Well-Being Survey self assessment. Excited, they gave a recount of their journey to a healthier life-style and better well-being. We want to continue to celebrate this good news with the rest of our caring community.

“As a member of UCA I have taken advantage of the HeartMath Personal Well-Being Survey.  At the end of April of this year, I took the Personal Well-Being Survey and the results were quite frankly miserable and frightful. I scored [an] unwelcoming score of 19!  Nineteen?!? I knew if I didn’t make changes in my life right then, I was headed down an anxious and exhausting road.

I decided to get together with one of my peers, who was familiar with this survey, and ask for guidance on how to make the adequate changes in my life, to help MYSELF.  I have a hard time with stress management (first test scored 9) and emotional vitality (first test scored 19). I knew that if I didn’t hurry up and make changes in my life, I was on the path to unhappiness and a life full of stress.  After talking with my peer, I started breathing exercises. How this has worked drastically in my life! I faithfully did my breathing exercise for 2 weeks, then it became 4 weeks, and now it’s a daily routine of mine. I’ve also implemented other techniques for myself.  Morning affirmations, saying out loud what I’m grateful for, saying out loud what I can work on to make me better than I was yesterday. And let me tell you, these exercises have helped me in more ways than one.

I recently took the Personal Well-Being Survey, almost 2 months after my first survey and the results were so eye opening!  I scored a total well-being of 86! Eighty-six!!!! WOW!!! I was blown away; my stress management was scored at 87 and my emotional vitality scored at 82!  This test has opened my eyes, to the changes that I have made, I must continue doing! I’m so grateful that UCA has this available to me as a member and all other members.  I will continue to make my changes and keep using the resources that UCA has to offer to better myself.

THANK YOU UCA”

We are so glad that this member has had so much progress in their personal well-being score, and for all of the tools that they continue to use! Thank you for sharing your journey with us all. 

Would you like to read more about Unified Caring Association? Read our other blogs on caring such as 5 Tips That Help Better Our Lives, member benefits like UCA & Scholarships, and caring the UCA way (Invest in Others to Make a Caring Impact). We love sharing  with our caring community and are excited to continue to do so! 

Meditation: A Tool for Self-Care

Life is chaotic and noisy at times, and we all can get stressed out from this. What self-care tool is available to use that can help calm the chaos? Meditation or quiet-reflection. Often times when we quiet our minds we are better able to cope with our everyday lives and during high-stress times, and even improve our health over all.

Stress from everyday life can affect our mental and physical health. It can increase our heart rates, blood pressure, increase our rate of breathing, and more. If the stress is experienced over a longer time period, our adrenal glands become taxed and “…overproduce the hormone cortisol. Overexposure to this hormone can affect the function of your brain, immune system, and other organs.” (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/what-meditation-can-do-for-your-mind-mood-and-health-) More recently, health studies have shown that meditation has beneficial effects in combating stress. Meditation is a proactive activity where your attention is focused inwards, inducing more relaxation. “Meditation is thought to work via its effects on the sympathetic nervous system, which increases heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure during times of stress. …’it will help you lower your blood pressure, but so much more: it can help your creativity, your intuition, your connection with your inner self,’ says Burke Lennihan, a registered nurse who teaches meditation at the Harvard University Center for Wellness.” (https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/what-meditation-can-do-for-your-mind-mood-and-health-)

Results from research on meditation and the brain have been published and reviewed for years now. Benefits of meditation, or quieting the mind, are“…now being confirmed with fMRI and EEG instruments. The practice appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2015/02/09/7-ways-meditation-can-actually-change-the-brain/#39f4a1431465) This reduced activity allows for creativity and problem solving to dominate without overtaxing the mind. (a.k.a. it basically becomes effortless and allows for new solutions to present themselves.)

Once our minds become quieter we are able to become more focused, creative, and resilient. Want to know how to get started? Unified Caring Association has many different meditations tools available for its members for any time of day. Some of these are:

Type of MeditationExample
Uplifting & PositiveAffirmations & Meditations: Healing Body and Mind Spirit
Breathing Makes Everything Better
Relax and Breathe
Relaxation & RejuvenationHealing Spirit: Guided Meditation for Relaxation, Anxiety, Depression, Self Acceptance
Healing
Louise Hay-Assisting in your own healing
Exercise Made Easy
Happier in 5 Minutes- Laughter Yoga
Sleep Better TonightGuided Sleep Meditation for Insomnia (Sleep, Relaxation, Calm you Mind)

If you are looking forward to reading more about Unified Caring Association and other caring acts, check out our other blogs: Caring Connection 24-7, It all Starts with Self-Care, Caring Through the Gift of Time, and Unified Caring Association-Your Life is What We Care About. Or visit our website to check out our Caring News, membership benefits, and other healthcare tools!

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