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.