“For all of us, love can be the natural state of our own being; naturally at peace, naturally connected, because this becomes the reflection of who we simply are.”
I
enjoyed this exercise. The experience
was beneficial because it reminded me of the simple fact that in order to give
love to another, I must love myself. It
also reminded me that it is okay to love myself, but to make sure that I extend
that love to others and shift away from tendencies that are self-centered. I also enjoyed breathing in someone in our
lives who is distressed and exhaling out to them health, happiness, and
wholeness. In doing this exercise I now
have a more peace of mind knowing that their distress can turn to health,
happiness and wholeness.
Although
this was beneficial to me, I also found it difficult. I found that the length of time that each of
the exercises were too long. My
attention span is the size of a penny, so I found that I was distracted easily
and my mind wandered in different directions.
Even though I found it difficult at this time, with practice I think I
learn to keep focus.
I
would recommend this to others. I think
that more people need to practice loving-kindness. Even if others do not want to practice
loving-kindness, I found the exercise to be very relaxing and I hope others
will too.
The
concept of “mental workout” is that we can train our mind to enhance our
emotional and physical well-being.
Research has shown that if we train our minds that we can have robust
health through systematic and planned inner development. Like I mentioned above, I have small
attention span and need to train myself to focus more. With this awareness, I can practice and train
my mind to develop this ability that will help enhance my overall health and
well-being.
Hello Kristen,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you had a good experience with this exercise. I had a difficult time with this specific one. However, all the other ones we have done so far have been beneficial for me. I should take another try. I will say that I agree with you that the length of the exercises were too long. No wonder it is easy to become distracted. I think with any practice, it will get better though. I also agree that everyone should practice loving-kindness. :)
Hey Kirsten
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Apply where needed!
I remember a long time ago wise man challenged me to practice a random act of kindness every day for a week and if the person knew or found out I did so it did not count. He also told me to write down my experience and that we would meet at the end of the week and discuss my challenge. This was a tough week for me as I was approaching this exercise from a place of self centeredness; I had no idea how to have a relationship that was mutually beneficial all I knew how to do was take hostages. Needless to say the day came for our meeting and I was sweating bullets I had nothing to report but frustration, he looked at me and smiled and said “did you try prayer?”
Our next exercise was I was to write down 7 qualities I sought in the perfect women, one quality for each day; oh this is easy I said to myself finished the same day! The week passed slowly however my confidence rose quickly proud of my list I presented it to him at our appointed meeting time I rattled them off she has to be:
1. Honest
2. Trustworthy
3. Physically fit
4. Spiritually fit
5. Emotionally fit
6. Financially stable
7. Family Oriented
There was this grin from ear to ear on the wise man’s face he said to me: “Vinnie those are all admirable qualities, what makes you think if you could find a woman with all these qualities that she would have anything to do with you?” I was shocked, how dare he say this to me! He went on “when you have become all these things listed here you won’t have to look for her she will find you”. This was my sponsor talking to me at age 15; I was 6 months into my recovery from a heroin addiction! It is ok to love yourself; once I learned to think more selfless than selfish I was able to love another!
Peace
Vinnie
Hey Kristen
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the exercise this week. It was kind of hard to get through because mi mind also started wondering. It was a pretty lengthy exercise to complete I found myself opening my eyes to see how much longer I had to do it, I started thinking about how I was supposed to call my friend back. Once I got pass that though I enjoyed the exercise. We are just going to have to keep trying the exercises especially the longer ones until we get used to them. This exercise really does remind you that before you can love others you need to be able to love yourself. This is something that I remember being told a long time ago from a class where we talked about building healthy relationships. I also liked the part of the exercise where we were breathing in the suffering from a loved one and exhaling health and joy towards them. Like I mentioned in my post this made me think of my grandmother because she was rushed to the hospital last week and the nurses were saying she wasn’t going to make it. This exercise helped me a lot with dealing with that.
I also would recommend this exercise but found it lengthy. I have always been a person who believes in giving and receiving, No matter what it is! If you love yourself and give love you will receive love. I think the exercise could help people fall in love with them self. When this initial shift from thinking of someone was turned onto “you” I felt amazing and realized how much I loved myself, without feeling or being selfish. I think everyone needs to take time to love and appreciate themselves.
ReplyDelete