A Personal Development Tool That's Simple Yet Profoundly Effective

The Medicine Wheel As A Simple Yet  Effective Human             Development Tool                                                         

by Ilene Hart

Medicine Wheel Teachings

The Medicine Wheel has been used by indigenous peoples for thousands of years as a symbollic mirror into which people can look and discover parts of themselves that are ordinarily invisible.

Medicine Wheel theory as it applies to human development is refreshingly basic. The greatest teacher anyone will ever have is himself. All human beings have always  had and will always have the same four aspects: the mental, physical, emotional, spiritual. To attain the most vital health possible, we need to attempt to develop and strengthen each of our four aspects then keep them in relative good balance. Each aspect is a teacher

This strengthening and balancing process helps us maintain a good rhythm and lead a balanced life.
 

The Physical Aspect lets you know when you might consider changing your diet, seeing a healer, get tingmore sleep or exercising or relaxing more

Examples of Physical Strengthening (West)

1. Eating nutritious food; drinking plenty of good water

2. Getting adequate rest

3. Exercising

 The Emotional is the direction of feelings. We must learn to welcome the experience of all of our emotions in a healthy manner. We want to be able to identify them, feel them, express them in a healthy way and release them. Examples of Emotional Development (South)

1. Developing the breadth of your emotional vocabulary

2. Learning to identify your feelings

3. Practicing expressing them in healthy ways

The Spiritual is the direction of our creativity; it can be an unseen concept, like the peaceful feeling we get when we look at a flower or hear bells... It is also the place for our gratefulness and / or  prayerfulness. When our spiritual energy levels are low, it affects all the other aspects. When we speak of someone being in good spirits, we think of them as being happy.

Examples of Spiritual Development (East)

1. Keeping a gratefulness journal

2. Meditating or praying

3. Making art or music

4. Appreciating Nature

The Mental is the direction of thinking. These are the intellectual gifts we may acquire: to predict, to analyze, to create, to interpret hidden messages. Each mind can to some extent be trained until it becomes a more highly developed instrument.

Examples of Mental Development (North)

1. Learning a new language

2. Writing

3. Reading about something new

What we want to rememberand respect is that each of these aspects must be defined,personally, by the user and that the user should expect overlap and imperfection!
 

Example of APersonal Wheel

DIAGRAM is  large circle

DIRECTIONS: Define, personally ,each of the four aspects, expecting some overlap; then list, next to each, what you are currently doing on a regular basis to strengthen and/or develop that aspect of your being.

                                               Mental
                                       (mind, learning)
                                      Reading novels
                                        Writing poetry
                                  Keeping a daily journal
                                      Using teaching tapes





 

Physical                                                                   Spiritual

(body)                                                                   
                                                                                  (spirit, creativity)
Walking 1 x/ week                                                   Listening to music
                                                       




               


                             Emotional (heart, feelings)
                      Expanding emotional vocabulary
                          Having weekly therapy sessions
                Using journal to work on identifying feelings
                       Practicing assertiveness techniques


           

Reviewing Your Wheel



What Are Your Current Strengths:?

What Are Your Current Weaker Areas?

What Are Your Current Key Critical Issues?

How Can You Most Effectively Bring Yourself Into Better Balance?



Remember that ridiculously reachable goals are fabulous because success begets success. So when you set a goal, half it, then half it again until it is so reachable you could achieve it with a migrane!


(For The Slightly More Anal Crowd) Your Daily Personal Development Activities:

Mental: 
Spiritual:
Emotional:
Physical:   


Remember that one tiny activity, done regularly, in each of your four aspects will create profound improvements in your health, vibrancy and peace of mind.

If you want more information, please contact me @ coachilene@gmail.com or visit my website @ www.ilenehart.com