Running Head: WELLNESS INVENTORY

Wellness Inventory/Interview
HW420-Final Project
Katie Johnson
Kaplan University

Running Head: WELLNESS INVENTORY

Wellness Inventory/Interview
Bringing together all of the concepts that we have read and learned about over the course
of this term in an attempt to create a spiritual and psychological inventory/questionnaire has
proved to be a bit of a daunting task. There are so many different, personal paths and journeys
leading to spiritual and psychological wellness. I wanted to ensure that I was asking the
questions that would best help my fianc understand his path, or at least make it more clear. It
was a fairly difficult interview, as these are questions that he does not ponder on a day-to-day
basis; however, his wheels are definitely turning because of it. The questions are as follows:
1. How do you feel your optimism contributes to your overall well-being?
I posed this question because our attitude towards life, whether it is negative or
positive, has a profound impact on what our life is going to look like, and what we are
going to feel like living our life. If you feel like everything bad happens to you and
those are just the cards youve been dealt, then those are definitely the cards you have
dealt yourself. Optimism, or an attitude of I can and I will will enable you to see the
silver lining in every situation. This will positively impact every aspect of your lifemental, spiritual, physical and emotional (Seligman, 2006).
2. Whats one way that you show that you have a good understanding of healthy
solitude?
Understanding boundaries and how to tune out the noise of the world is a practice that
is crucial for continued well-being. Our minds, bodies, and souls need a rest from the
daily beat downs the outside world tends to throw at us. Recharging and rejuvenating
ourselves will keep us from losing touch with who we really are at our core, in our
soul (Seaward, 2013).
3. What kind of spiritual practices/disciplines awaken your soul and clear your
awareness?

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Spiritual practices and disciplines shift our motivations and really transform our
awareness from clouded to clear. Clearing our awareness and awakening spiritual
vision through our practices and disciplines is crucial if we are to see ourselves and
the world sensitively and accurately (Walsh, 1999).
4. What are your core values and how do they help define your spirituality?
Values have a very subtle, yet powerful way of directing our lives, as we tend to
gravitate towards those things that we consider most important to use. Those things
that we hold to a higher standard. These are the things that, perhaps, our spirituality
and beliefs were built upon (Seaward, 2013).
5. How do you distract yourself, or deal with, depressing thoughts?
Learning to recognize these negative thoughts that flit through the consciousness, and
then learning to dispute them and distract yourself from them as to not ruminate, will
make depression that much more avoidable. It will also make more room for
happiness and peace in your mind, body and soul. Basically, how you think is how
you will feel (Seligman, 2006).
6. How do your beliefs in self-improvement affect your overall wellness?
Believing that you can and will take steps to improve your situation, whatever it may
be, will give you the momentum to do so. Self-improving through prayer, meditation,
exercise, reading, learning, etc. will impact your overall wellness immensely and in
many positive ways (Seaward, 2013).
7. What are some ways that you incorporate balance so that all aspects of your
wellness (mind, body, spirit, and emotions) are recognized and valued as equals?
As stated in our text, 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). Incorporating balance and recognizing
that you need all these aspects working together harmoniously is when wellness will
be achieved.
8. In what ways do you use your spirituality to overcome road blocks in your life?

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Often times we will take a stressful situation, a road block on our path, and blow it up
into a massive wall that we wont let ourselves get over. We make mountains out of
molehills. In these times, turning to our spirituality, our higher power, and relying on
it to help us remove this road block really enables us to look at the bigger picture and
see this as the tiny blip on the radar that it most likely is (Seaward, 2013).
9. In what ways do you use stress in your life as an invitation to explore and
develop your relationship with God?
Any time we encounter stress, it serves as an invitation to explore and develop our
relationship we hold with God. It gives us the opportunity to invite Him into our lives
and really be the Father that He wants to be to us. In those stressful times is when that
relationship can become more deeply rooted and valued, and light can really be shed
on the darkest of times (Seaward, 2013).
10. What do you consider your medicine for your soul? In other words, how do
you nurture your souls growth process toward the divine?
I asked this question because we are constantly bombarded with external stimuli
every minute of every day, and it is much more common these days for the soul to be
sick, spiraling downward toward a darkness where depression, anxiety, crisis, and
chronic disease dwell (Seaward, 2013). Because of this slippery slope that so many of
us seem to be on, it is so important to use medicine for the soul.
As I previously stated, this interview process was tough. My fianc often struggled to
find answers, which is understandable. He answered I dont know and I struggle with that to
many of the questions. The only question he felt really confident in answering was number 1,
pertaining to optimism. He truly is an optimistic person and he feels that his positive outlook
allows him to diminish many stressful situations in his life. He also said his Can do attitude has

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helped him achieve professional success, as well as kept his mind and body healthy by allowing
him to avoid stress.
When I asked the questions about spiritual awakenings, overcoming roadblocks using
spirituality, using stress as an invitation to God; really any of the questions that have to do with
spirituality and/or God, he answered with prayer or the serenity prayer and I have faith in
Gods plan. He also noted that he would like to start using prayer more often in his everyday
life and with our children.
Nick decided that a way for him to incorporate balance in his everyday life, which he
admitted to really struggling with, is to create a physical checklist to ensure that all areas of his
wellness are tended to each day. He is a visual person. His mentor has always told him that in
order for him to find true happiness in life, he needs to find a balance of God, family, health, and
career, in that order. Nick is a very career-driven person, but I have really seen a shift in him
lately. He is realizing that he has put work before many other things for a long time and he hates
that. I think that asking him the question about balance and wellness really set a fire in him.
He considers his medicine of the soul to be his family, church, and being outside either
playing with our kids or golfing. But, again, he struggled to understand what I meant when I
referred to the souls growth process toward the direction of the divine, so his answer was a little
uncertain.
I believe that this process was quite eye-opening for Nick. He was kind of slapped in the
face with the fact that he doesnt necessarily take his psychological and spiritual well-being into
account, although he realizes the importance of both. I cannot tell you how many times he
uttered the sentence I really need to work on that. As an individual, as a couple, and as a family

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we will continue to strive for wellness in all areas of our life. I am glad that we experienced this
grueling questionnaire together.
I think that I would add to the questionnaire a little bit more about enlightenment and
what that means to him. However, I would definitely change my wording for most of the
questions. I worded the questions as someone who had just learned what all these terms mean
and what they mean to me. I should have taken into account the fact that Nick has not been
studying these things for the last 9 weeks. He has not had them in the forefront of his mind, daily.

References
Seaward, B. (2013). The Call to spirit. Health of the Human Spirit: Spiritual Dimensions for
Personal Health. 2nd Ed. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning LLC.
Seligman, E.P., Martin, Ph.D. (2009). Learned Optimism. How to Change Your Mind and Your
Life. First Vintage Books Edition. New York, New York.
Walsh, Roger, M.D., Ph.D. (1999). Essential Spirituality. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Running Head: WELLNESS INVENTORY