Loving Kindness

I did this exercise this week and it was difficult.  I did not have a hard time visualizing my love ones.  I first thought of my mother and then my children.  This all made me smile and by the end of the week I was smiling and welling up.  I found it easy to think of someone ill.  I have a uncle who has stage 4 cancer and he has been in my prayers since we were notified.  I liked the idea of taking in his pain and worries and turning that into loving feelings and sending that out into the atmosphere.  I also did the same for the group of people who were not so close to me.  Good exercise.  However, some of the audio was difficult to me.  I could not always see the group of people, I would have to say the names in my head to connect with their pain and my loving feelings.

I would love to share this with a girlfriend of mind.  She does meditation but I'm sure nothing like this.  I think it could be beneficial especially the part about connecting with our love and giving it back to ourselves.

The concept of "mental workout" is to train us to think more positive thoughts, to see a more positive outcome and live a healthier happier life.  The benefits of this is slowing down the process of disease, a more fulfilled life, and better stress management skills to name a few.

I'm trying to lose weight and I don't always like what I see in the mirror.  With doing more of this mental work out I can help to foster more feelings of acceptance of my body right now.  With the understanding that I'm doing something with my weight training to change how I look, which will come through the way I feel and react to others.  

Looking at the woman in the mirror, self reflection

  This week I was asked on a scale of 1-10 and 10 being optimal wellbeing where I rate my physical, spiritual and psychological well-being.  After deep reflection and consideration I think I'm only half way there in all three catagories.  My physical health can be better, I need to loss some weight about 30 pounds, I need to increase my core strenght, my endurance and stamina.  My spirituality is in it's infancy stages, I know right from wrong and I have always been compelled to do what was right and do no harm.  However, I still have struggles with things when I feel that I have been hurt, disrespected or wronged.  I have recently given my life to Christ, and have leaned on his understanding and relied on his strength to help me get through the things described earlier.  I am still learning what his word means and how to use it in my life.  I'm learning how to love again, to see things with fresh eyes, but not being naive about the world.  Psychologically I know I need improvement, I just came through something pretty traumatic and I still have some mental scares.  However, with the teachings from this class, and what I'm learning in church the scares are starting to fade.
     Things that have happened in my life have made it hard for me now as an adult to trust people and let them in my life.  I also have a fear of judgement, and small places.  Through the things I'm currently learning I know that fear is not of good and it is detremental to a whole life.  I'm working to rid myself of these fears by learning to love myself and letting go of the need to control my environment at all times and trusting in others in ways that normally I would not.  Growth is my short term goal in all these areas, my long term is to be healed.  I plan to continue to go to church on Sunday and want to start bible study on Wednesday nights.  I'm currently going to the gym and I want to continue the weight training and maybe add some yoga and/or zumba.  I think that I will continue to do meditation exercises, like what we are doing in class.
     This weeks exercise was really enjoyable.  It seems the more I do them the easier the visualization gets.  This exercise asked use to focus on our breaths, and see colors that related to the shakra points as it explained what each represented.  If I had a hard time seeing a color I would think of something in that color and then I would be able to maintain it until prompted to move on.  I was completely relaxed and almost in a hypnotic state.  It took me a few minutes to realize my son had even entered the room.  I was amazed at how deeply I was tuned into the voice I was hearing and my breathing.  I'm sold, I will make this a part of my life, the benefits are that I feel relaxed, energized, and I haven't stopped smiling since.  

Journey On Relaxation

Hello everyone,

This is my first time ever going to a blog let alone creating my own.  Hope it is informational and fun. 

Reflection on the Journey On Relaxation:
I opened the link provided below not knowing what I was about to do.  Almost immediately I knew it would be something that would require me to relax.  That was going to be a problem.  I had my kids watching TV, my husband and the dogs running around the house doing what they normally do and I was in home work mode.  So I closed it.  Said to myself I don't have time and the environment is not good right now for me to relax.  This is not uncommon for me.  I don't normally have time to relax until late in the evening once everyone else has gone to sleep. 

Second try, I was able this time to listen to the recording all the way through.  My son had company so he was occupied and my husband was outside washing our vehicles, so interruptions from him and my daughter was in her room taking a nap.  I went into my bathroom and locked the door.  This is where I normally go to get away from things and have a little quite time.

I was amazed at how relaxed I became, I noticed that when it started my neck felt tight and stiff and by the time it was all over my neck felt better.  As for as what was being suggested I was able to follow along and I did achieve the feeling of my arms being heavy and not wanting to lift but I found it difficult to achieve any temperature change.  I'm normally pretty cold natured and my hands remained cold the entire time.  However, I think the ultimate goal was achieved.  I was relaxed, re energized, clear of mind and ready to write this post.  I will put this exercise in my tool box and try it again and again.  

http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/JourneyOn.mp3