Loving kindness and integral assessment

Each week I hope that the given exercise is one that I not only can do but also one that I find beneficial. Don’t get me wrong, I think all of these practices have benefit to someone but I am not sold on the idea that it benefits me. So this week I was to perform the loving-kindness exercise and complete the integral assessment. Something very new to me yet again so needless to say I was skeptical at first. I imagined the meditation exercise being difficult because I had to memorize four lines but it was rather easy and actually pretty cool. I just kept saying them over and over again and closed my eyes in a quiet place and wow it worked finally. Quite frankly I had little hope of tis working as none of the other exercises provided much benefit at all.

There are several areas that I can work on and one particular area is more of the emotional side of things. Another student mentioned that in her blog and that is an area of concern for me also. I find that at times my mood swings towards my girlfriend are uncalled for and although they aren’t anything too serious they are enough for her to step back and say what’s the deal. It seems that I am only this way when I am feeling stress which I guess most people would say. Of course that doesn’t make it right so there are a few things I think I can do to help. The first would be meditation and I will begin that immediately. I could take 10-15 each day to meditate and this would help relieve the stress and in turn cause less mood swings.

Subtle mind and loving-kindness

Well lets face it, I am not really good at doing these exercises yet for some reason. Sure I make improvements each week but I just don’t get it like I should. The subtle mind exercise was pretty difficult as I could not get myself to actually have no thoughts. Is that even possible really? If it is I can’t do it. The loving-kindness exercise went a little better as I was able to picture what the narrator was saying. The problem is that lasted like two minutes. These exercises are just too long and although I am positive they can be effective I have yet to fully experience the effects. Maybe if I do a few minutes a day that will at least yield some benefit.

Developing a spiritual awareness is very important and it is something I actually need to work on. It would clearly benefit from it both mentally and physically. Unfortunately, I am not religious at all so that is one stumbling block I have to developing the spiritual awareness. I would consider going to church if I felt it would benefit me somehow. Many friends I have believe strongly in religion and in the spiritual aspect of life. It would be a smart decision to embark on the spiritual journey.

Loving kindness

The loving kindness exercise seemed great at first but I have to admit that after a few minutes I got a little anxious to move around. I hate just sitting still for very long so even though I was able to do it quite effectively for a few minutes it became difficult. I did find the narrator’s voice soothing and the sounds of the waves really made me relax more than I thought it would. The narrator said to have thoughts of something you love so I immediately thought of my son and that just made me smile. As I sat there with my eyes closed I simply imagined him growing up over the years and all of the changes he went through. That was such an incredible feeling that I didn’t want it to end. The long pauses between the narrator’s comments were good but after doing this a few times I found it to be too long. When the narrator asked to think of someone who is suffering I thought of my mother who is going through some medical issues right now. Of course that made me sad and I didn’t even want to do the exercise anymore. In fact I just stopped for a few minutes to collect myself before continuing but after that I found my concentration to be limited at best.

Mental workouts like the one we did for this exercise are a great way to harness those deep thoughts we keep inside. It is hard to get to those under normal conditions so finding a peaceful quiet place is important. We should be able to control the mind just like we do the body when we go to the gym. We go to the gym with a purpose so exercising the mind is the same although for me not as easy. Mental workouts are beneficial to our health because it allows us the relax which is something many of us have a hard time doing.

My goal is to try and develop a better understanding of mental training and how to effectively do it. I know it will be difficult but in the end it will make me healthier.

My wellbeing

I must say that rating my wellbeing is something I find very difficult to do. I of course would love to sit here and tell you that I am a 10 on everything but that’s just not reality. If I asked others how to rate me that might be easier than rating myself. My physical wellbeing would be a 9 and that is real because I exercise 6 days a week doing a variety of activities from weight lifting to training mixed martial arts. I only give the 9 for the simple reason I am not perfect. My spiritual wellbeing is a 1 and that might even be pushing it. I follow no religion at all and do absolutely nothing in regards to praying or anything even associated with the spiritual aspect of wellbeing. My psychological wellbeing is around a 5 as I do like to medicate occasionally and this is generally before I train. I do that to focus but I don’t do it often so a 5 may be a stretch.

I know that I need to set a goal to improve my wellbeing so to start I can say that spiritually I plan on discussing these options with my girlfriend as she goes to church and always wants me to go. This at least would be a start. I think to prove my psychological wellbeing I should start meditating as I have read many articles on the benefits of this. To improve my physical wellbeing I could get a massage once a month to help recover and relax my muscles.

The relaxation technique was supposed to be relaxing and it was to a certain extent but I have a hard time just sitting and relaxing so it was not easy. Frustrating may be the best way for me to describe it but I did find it beneficial when I could relax. Even if the narrator wanted me to breath and focus I simply found my mind wandering to other things like what I would do later and what exercise I would do in my workout.

It sure looks like I could use some assistance on improving my wellbeing.

Relaxation

This will be my first real post on this blog and my exercise was to listen to a relaxation track and then write about my experience.  I started the track and decided to sit on the couch which to me would be the most comfortable place. I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath and then relax on the exhale. I did this a few times and it took quite a few times to actually relax. I have a hard time sitting still in silence so needless to say this was not easy.  The narrator said that I would be using my mind to move the blood that was in my abdomen to other parts of my body. As much as I tried I found this very difficult although after a few tries I kind of felt something. I’m still not sure at this point if I am doing this right since I really haven’t experienced what other students are stating. Could this just simply be something I am not able to do? I am beginning to wonder and I am getting disappointed so I decided to stop and try again later. This time was better as I felt the blood flowing a little more to different parts of the body.  So I guess I did it right but I surely don’t feel as though I experienced what others did. Maybe next time…..

This is crazy!!!

Hello everyone,

Although I am on the internet and have a Facebook account this blogging thing is all new to me. I don't quite understand it fully to be honest so hopefully everyone can help me by posting some interesting thoughts to create conversation. This seems like it could be a neat way to communicate once I understand it.