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
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post on loving-kindness. I must say, I also found the voice of the man ‘annoying’, I thought, “Uh oh, this exercise is not going to go well” (lol). However, I found the woman’s voice to be calming and pleasant. I really enjoyed hearing the waves; I did not realize how much I missed the sound of the ocean and how soothing it is my soul. I think it may be beneficial for me try a CD with sounds of the ocean.
I am so glad to hear that you found this exercise helpful and would recommend it to others. For me I think there are benefits to it as well, I think it will just take some practice. Forgiveness is often a difficult aspect in life. When we have been wronged and deeply hurt, it almost seems as if our forgiveness is saying it is ok what you did to me. However, forgiveness can be a huge burden lifted off your shoulders and it does not mean you are letting someone off the hook, it means they no longer hold that power over you, so to speak.
Thank you and all the best,
~Bridgett
Hello there Stacey, I hope that your weekend was filled with loving kindness upon your family, friends, loved ones and overall yourself. As always I enjoyed reading your blog, because it is well written and it brings the truth to light for everyone to see. You know I feel the same way about having that silences while thinking of a dear person within my life and then the instructor begins speaking again (breaking my concentration). Overall, the experience was beneficial and necessary for not only us within class, but for everyone all over the world.
ReplyDelete*Lee~
Great post on your experience with the exercise this week Stacey! I felt your pain with the man's voice as well, and it was a nice change to have the woman's voice this week. Although her abrupt approach to speaking after each break was distracting. I grew up going to the beach with family, so any sounds associated with the ocean brings fond memories to me. Did you feel this was the best mediation exercise so far? I liked the concept of loving-kindness and felt this one not only helped to benefit me, and others around us.
ReplyDelete-Kerri
my experience is that a large number of cases are resolved in mediation,with most of those being resolved in the first mediation session.
ReplyDeletefamily mediation & Cost family mediation