Holistic situation example

Throughout history, communication has been an essential skill to have in society. Communication is the foundation that helps a relationship grow and flourish. With communication, it takes years to build trust and seconds to break it. For example, the war that almost broke out between the United States and Syria. If there was no communications between the mutual parties, then the United States would have confronted Syria with an attack. Luckily, the world was able to avoid a war by communicating with one another. It is important for a person to know how to interact with others. Learning the theory of the human person is significant to improving communication. Dr. Gleaves said that the reason why we have a theory of human person is to organize what we know about people and that we need to understand people. The theory of the human person consists of dualism, materialism, and holism. Depending on which theory a person believes in will shape the persons behavior. The three theories do not only help communicate with others but gives a person more self awareness of who they are and what they want to be like in the future.

Life is constantly changing and as I grow up my perspective changes too. The only thing that I am confident in that will not change is my core as a person. A core is the foundation and beliefs that make up who I am and how I want to live my life. I believe that to achieve happiness a person should focus on self improvement on the mind and body. Growing up, I have always been physically active and I did not care about education. It used to be fine for me to get mediocre grades, just as long as I was enjoying my life. My perspectives have changed now and I am now putting more emphasis in knowledge. I am improving my mind by reading more and working on my writing skills. I do not see the mind and body being better than one another, but more as significant parts that should be balanced. After learning the theories, the best one that matches my core as a person is holism. Holism is a theory that believes that a person is homogenized. The mind and body are not separated but embodied in one another. The difference between holism and dualism is that dualism values the mind more than the body; treating both parts differently. Another aspect that separates holism from dualism is that holism talks about the quality of behaviors. The quality of behaviors is important because it distinguishes a person more specifically based on their current situation and action. This allows the element of body and mind to not play a major factor but view the person as a whole. Holism was the most compelling theory because it aligned with my characteristics.

The challenging part that comes next is to apply the theory to everyday life. How am I going to use holism in my 20s? Holists believe that the whole is greater than some of its part. I remember Dr. Gleaves gave an example of a cake. There are different ingredients that make up a cake to taste good but if a person tastes the ingredients by itself it would not taste good. We can apply the same concept to everyday life. Life can be split into three categories such as school, work, and social life. In order to be productive and achieve happiness, aperson needs to balance the three categories. If a person neglects or focuses too much on one aspect of life, he or she will not be able to experience the bigger picture. For example, I have a lot of friends that put all their emphasis on school and work but neglect their social life. There is nothing wrong with putting emphasis into school and work. They are progressing in life, but they are not enjoying it. They always complain that they do not have time to do anything. It is impossible to have a perfect balance between the three, but by trying to balance them has removed the walls of ranks that separate them. A holistic approach to life allows a person to reevaluate their current situation and recalculate what they have to do to get back on track.

Using holism in a professional setting is very crucial. I interned at Kesslers Wellness Center for a year. When Dr. Gleaves mentioned the toolbox, it reminded me of the wellness center. Each profession specialized in different fields but contribute significantly in the persons recovery. In the article Lakers Add Key Staff, nba.com, the Lakers organization has created a medical staff for the players. The Head Athletic Trainer, Gary Vitti runs the operation and has been with the Lakers since 1984. Head Trainer Vitti knows his weaknesses as a trainer; he has a broad knowledge of everything but does not specialize in any fields. It was necessary to hire a physical therapist, massage therapist, and strength and conditioning coach. As a future physical therapist my ideal work environment would be an out-patient wellness center. The wellness center has an atmosphere of a team that shares a single goal and that is to help the patient recover. At Kesslers Wellness Center there were Doctors of Chiropractic, massage therapists, and a physical therapist. I was able to observe each profession and they used the five holistic techniques in practice. Without realizing it I was using the holistic techniques too. The holistic technique that I used was to be patient, talk less. Communicating is key in rehab, but listening is also a powerful tool. I remember an elderly women who was a patient always miserable and in pain. I would always ask her how her day was and how she was feeling. As she responded, she began to tell me about her prior physical therapist, and how he rarely had a conversation with her. She felt neglected and that they did not care about creating a relationship with her. She was very happy that I would talk to her. As she began to recover her movements, her mood drastically changed as well. After hearing the story from the women, I knew that rehab is not only physical but it has a mental aspect to it too. Dr Gleaves states that a holistic view is that the body is always minded and the mind is always embodied.

Examples:

In the video, Katie Couric is an award-winning journalist, TV host, and author that talks about a holistic approach to life. She believes that in order to be successful people cannot focus only on a career over everything else. The holistic approach to life allows a person to juggle with different parts of life.

In the article The Doctor Will See You-If You Are Quick, thedailybeast.com, talks about how medical doctors are too focused on charts and equipments. This is an example of a doctor that has a materialist approach. The patient had kidney cancer but was not treated right away because the doctor would show lack of concern to the symptoms. The doctor failed at assessing the patient.

In the article,Eleven Rings,latimes.com, summarized a segment in Phil Jacksons book. In the book PhilJackson explained that initially Metta World Peace thought that he was picking on him. Phil Jackson at that point realized that he had to use a different approach than he would with other players. Phil Jackson said, I realized that the best way to communicate with Ron was to couch everything in a positive way not just with the words I used, but with my gestures and facial expressions as well.