Unit 6 - Loving-kindness and the Self-assessment

For this week’s exercise, I wrote the mantra down on a little piece of paper and carried it in my pocket. I looked at it whenever I had a moment to concentrate on the words especially when I was feeling frustrated. As I read it over and over, different ideas or questions would come to mind; for example, assisting all individuals to find health, happiness, and wholeness – How am I to do that? And, my mind would wander from there to other ideas and questions. I’m not sure if this was an intentional part of the exercise or not.

In going through the different recommendations on how to do a self-assessment, each one lead me to immediately think of a specific area of my life that is in great need of help…my marriage. I decided that this is the area that I need to work on, because it causes so much distress for me as well as my husband, children, and friends. It is the area of my life that I can do the most good for myself and others around me.

An exercise that I have considered might be helpful is meditation to calm myself, clear my mind of mental chatter (especially the negative kind), and hopefully gain some patience.  I also continue to carry around my little mantra on loving kindness in hopes of gaining some toward my spouse. I have also intentionally started doing more nice things for my other half. I talk with friends that love us both in order to get their support in the best way to improve my marriage. Interestingly enough, they are both divorced, but they know that pain and do not wish it on others. Those are just a few of the things that I can do to improve. In reviewing and thinking about this problem, I came to realize that there is actually quite a bit that I can do to improve this situation.

Unit 5 - Subtle Mind Exercise

This week, we are to compare and contrast our experiences with the Loving Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises. For me, the Loving Kindness exercise was an important teaching tool for learning how to forgive. The Subtle Mind exercise instructed  how to recognize and let go of mental chatter to obtain a state of mental clarity. At the start of the Creating Wellness class, I found it very difficult to concentrate on the meditation exercise. Today, I noticed that it seemed much easier to concentrate on the exercise despite the noise in and around my house. My husband was in the kitchen making noise. The kids were bouncing the basketball in the driveway outside my window. However, I was not disturbed by any of it like I was with the first meditation we did. If you remember, I was searching inside and outside of my house for a completely quiet spot.  I didn’t need complete silence this time; in fact, I just about fell asleep.

To answer the next assignment question, spiritual wellness is connected to mental and physical wellness by “ease and lightness entering our life and cleanse our mind and body…extends our ability to prevent mental distress and physical illness, enhances recovery from disease, and promotes integral health, happiness, and wholeness” (Dacher, 2006, p. 86). I can relate to this in my own life through the comfort that I get from the belief in an afterlife. That comfort increases mental and physical well-being.

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publication, Inc..

Unit 4 Blog - Loving Kindness

The Loving Kindness exercise that I did this week for my Creating Wellness class was interesting. I sat in my chair and listened to an audio guide assist me through the meditation. At first, a man gave basic instructions on the audio. He had an annoying voice, and I hoped that he was not going to guide the meditation. Fortunately, a woman came on for the exercise with the sound of waves in the background. She was better. I appreciated the loving kindness exercise, because it immediately brought to mind a very dear person in my life…my Plain Grandma that passed 6 years ago. When asked to turn those feelings on myself, I had difficulty understanding exactly how to do that. When the guide instructed to think of a person that is suffering currently, I immediately thought of my other grandmother that was admitted to the hospital this morning. By the end of the meditation, I thought that this would be a good practice for me to do to help forgive others. There are a few people in my life that I have found it very difficult to forgive, and I think this practice may help facilitate that. One of the things that I really liked about this particular audio is that it allowed ample time to follow instructions. One thing that I did not like was that the guide startled me every time she began to speak again. I would recommend this practice to others, because there is so much worry and stress in our society; I believe this would help to calm and make others feel better.

For the next part of my blog assignment, the term “mental workout” means to exercise your mind. To do this, one must spend time in contemplative practice every day just as one must exercise daily to keep the body in good physical shape. Perseverance is key to continued improvement. I haven’t been to the gym in a couple of months, and I feel the effects of lost conditioning. The same is true when training the mind. The benefits of mental workout are “the progressive development of an expanded consciousness and its healing capacities” (Dacher, 2006, p. 65). However, contemplative practice must be done correctly in order to obtain these benefits; otherwise, all you’re doing is relaxing (Dacher, 2006, p. 65).

References

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publication, Inc..