Meeting Aesclepius unit 7

Hello Everyone.  Wow, that was cool.  I was actually able to bring to mind a pastor from my church who has long since moved away (over 20 years ago), and he came to mind when guided to seek a "wise" person.  He was there for me when I was going through a tough point in my life, but always remained calm and focused.  He never said an unkind word to anyone that I know of either.  I have not been very regimented on my meditation practices this week as I would like to have been.  I did, however, each day, take time out in the middle of the day to be quiet and try to use the witnessing mind technique which did help me to relax and feel calmer about where I was at that moment.

The saying, "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is true of meditation and taking the journeys that we have taken through this class.  I believe in Ghandi's philosophy that we must be the change we wish to see in the world by setting examples and actually experiencing what we will be teaching.  We need to nuture our spiritual and biological selves so that we can have the ability to nuture others.

I will continue to practice these techniques, continue the ongoing growth process in reaching my full potential, and  learn to demonstrate loving kindness to as many people as I come in contact with.  Those that I do not come in contact with, I will still wish them health and happiness through daily prayer.

Exercise and Assessment

The loving kindness meditation exercise was a little challenging to close my eyes and remember what I was supposed to repeat for 10 minutes.  Then I decided to put the first two sentences together and the second set of sentences together which helped me to remember what I was supposed to repeat.  I got caught up in what I was trying to remember instead of the real reason for this exercise which is to practice loving-kindness to others in opening my heart.  

The assessment which I gathered was from the reading on pages 114-116 from “Notes from a Fellow Traveler” (Dacher, 2006).  During the process of interpreting the assessment, I found that I need healing in a couple of areas:  biological and worldly.  In the biological area, I need healing in the area of stress management and get back into an exercise routine—eating healthier foods would not hurt either.  In the worldly area, I am finding it a challenge to be open in my approach to wishing stranger’s health and well being especially with rude people that I might have to interact with. Perhaps that is what my task should be in order to help me make strides in this area.  I can make a conscious choice to practice loving kindness no matter who it is.  Rude people probably would benefit from it even more so.  Improvement in these areas will take some time, but I know it is possible because I have faith that it will and my tenacious nature will see to that.  Practicing loving-kindness is where I need the most patience and will incorporate the meditation in the morning and again whenever I feel the need throughout the day.

Mental Fitness Power Point

Hello Everyone.  As requested by our professor, I am uploading the power point on Mental Fitness.  If I just could figure out how to do it.

Loving-kindness and Subtle Mind

The loving-kindness exercise was easier for me to do when it came to people who were close to me and a challenge for strangers.  The subtle mind exercise was a challenge for me at first, but I began practicing it at work after a long arduous day previously being subjected to the ranting of an incompetent manager.  Using the vision of her contorted angry face and dissolving it away every time it appeared helped me to open my mind up to more pleasant surroundings.  I also use the spot-focus technique with allowed me to concentrate on my breathing as well. 

The connection between spiritual and mental wellness is strong.  When I experienced the mind-witnessing, I was calmer and my mind opened up to being in touch with my ability to enhance my physical activity.  Brisk walking helped me to feel better physically, but all that mental chatter was still going on.  When I incorporated the witnessing mind, I was able to focus on the exercise and how I felt rather than focusing on all the negative self-talk that was coming in.  Before I knew it I walked further than I had previously and felt empowered to continue.   

Loving Kindness

Loving kindness--bit of a challenge for me.  I can be irritated so easliy when I'm tired or tired and driving in traffic. 

I listened to the tapes and tried to relax and follow the instructions for thinking about someone I love, then someone who is hurting right now, and then a group of strangers.  It was easy to think loving kindness to my husband and my mother-in-law who is hurting and now needs another hip replacement.  It was a challenge thinking about loving kindness for the strangers--it wasn't as deep. 

In answer to the "mental work" out concept--it is a "daily committment" on our part to train ourselves to feel and believe loving kindness.  "One hour a day" in two types of practice:  1) loving kindness--focus less on ourselves and more on others and their well being.  2) the subtle mind--training our mind to be quiet--big challenge for me.  I'm not sure about the research other than the author's experience, which I guess could be considered research.  Dr. Dacher reinforces over and over again that all the work we put into this will pay off. 

I am going to try these mental workouts in the morning before I go to work and before bed and see how they help.  All for now.

P.S.  I applied the "loving kindness" on the way into work today in traffic.  I need more practice--but it did help initially.