Hello and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that your turkey day was full of family, friends, great food and most of all thankfulness! I was unable to start this exercise until Sunday morning, so I apologize for the late submission. We have a VERY full house from Wednesday morning until Sunday morning! And while I loved having them all here, it is next to impossible to do anything! As I said, the first time that I listened to the Loving Kindness exercise was Sunday morning. It proved to be a little more difficult than I had assumed it would have been. I am not sure if it was because I was the furthest thing from relaxed or that I had just spent almost 5 days living in close quarters with some of my loved ones. I got through about the first 8 minutes, turned it off and planned to try again later. Later that night, I got ready for bed, did my routine and then tried again. Immediately I felt a big difference, I was calm relaxed and was really able to focus and reflect. This time around I found it beneficial, opening my heart loving those I hold dear, those I have not met, enemies and myself. However, I did at times lose focus, than my focus quickly turned back. As suggested in our reading this should be practiced twice a day for a week, to really allow you to open your heart. And if I was to recommend this to others I would stress that. Keep trying, you’ll get it!
The concept of “metal workout” to me is to allow the mind to travel inward, working toward strengthening not only the mind, but the body and soul as well. Research indicated that training the mind can influence the psychological, hormonal and immune systems (Dacher, 2006). And can not only have short term results but long term effects as well (Dacher, 2006); allowing us to use our minds as instruments, helping our mind and body communicate. In order to foster your psychological health your need to follow three steps; first, “tame the minds ceaseless mental activities that obscure higher states of awareness; then, through mental training, gaining access to subtle levels of the mind; witnessing consciousness the mental states of calm abiding and pure awareness of a unity consciousness.” (Dacher, 2006).
Until Next Time!
Mallory
References
Dacher, Elliot M.D., (2006). Integral health, the path to human flourishing. (pp. 59-69). Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, INC.
Hi Mallory - I can empathize with a full house and little quiet time! I, like you, did not get to my homework until Sunday. Part of this was my misunderstanding about the holiday school schedule. I did begin listening to the meditation on Friday evening as I was curious to see what this weeks medication gift was. I truly enjoyed most of it, just maybe not the bringing other's sorrow into my heart. I am glad it worked for you the second time you attempted it and hope you have enjoyed it the past two days.
ReplyDeleteHi Mallory,
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving was great! I was just happy I could finally decorate for Christmas and not get a death glare like, "no you didn't!" I had some trouble with the exercise too. It is good to see you tried it a second time. I'm not sure I could do that exact exercise 2 times a day for a week. I think working on loving-kindness is feasible though. I found myself trying to bite my tongue or reword what I want to say this week when I was frustrated. But I still have these buttons that can be pushed where one minute I'm like, "let's talk this out, I can handle the situation", to...."someone stick a sock in my mouth before I say a lot of stupid things!" lol I guess it is a learning progress right? I wonder if they have meditation that teaches you to tune out your husband... :D