Meditations That I Find Helpful

The two practices that have been the most beneficial to me have been the Loving-Kindness exercise and the Wisdom Visualization exercise.  Loving-kindness comes easy for me.  I always try to listen and understand what people are going through versus guessing and passing judgment.  What I love most about the loving-kindness meditation is that I can breathe in others struggles and concerns and breathe out to them health, happiness, and wholeness.  I have even been working on extending loving-kindness to the one person that I do not like.  Since doing this, I have less negative thoughts about them and have reached a point where I am ready to extend forgiveness to them.   Which feels really good!

I think I like the visualization exercise because I am a very visual person with an active imagination.  I find that using visualization techniques keeps me more focused while doing the exercise.  I have been trying to incorporate visualization in the other meditation practices that I have been doing and I feel that I am getting better and better at meditating each day.  Like they say practice makes perfect.  I am finding that the more that I practice these meditations; the less my mind is wandering to other thoughts and feelings. 

Both of these exercises help to foster “mental fitness” in my life as they both make me more aware of myself and the world around me.  With this awareness, I can reduce the amount of negative thoughts and emotions that try to disrupt my life and replace them with intentional, healthy, and positive thoughts.