Practicing Mental Fitness

Thinking back over the past few weeks and the different mindfulness practices that we learned, I would have to say that the Subtle Mind and the Loving Kindness exercises would be the most beneficial for me. The subtle mind is a great practice that doesn't require very much time. It can be done at any time, anywhere.  If things are getting stressful at home, chasing kids around or trying to do school work, I can take 10-15 minutes to go somewhere quiet and focus on clearing away all the distractions.  As for the Loving Kindness exercise, I like to do this one at night when everyone is asleep and the house is dark.  I usually start out with prayer time and that just flows into praying for others. It's amazing how hard it is to stay mad at someone when you are praying for them, instead of frustration and anger my feelings turn more into empathy and consideration for whatever situation they may be going through.

Mindfulness and Spiritual Wellness

This week, my meditative practices included listening to the Meeting Aesclepius mp3, prayer, and quiet time in which I practiced the Subtle Mind meditation.  I really feel that the quiet and still meditative practices are easier to do throughout the day, because they don't require much of anything.  Instead of trying to remember specific things to say or trying to visualize specific things, I can just close my eyes, breathe deep and feel myself relaxing.  I will continue to do the Subtle Mind practice regularly. I also found that after a couple of minutes when I have cleared my mind from distractions I seem to have a more thoughtful, intentional prayer time with the Lord.

According to Dacher (2006, p. 477), "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself".  I think sometimes the best person to help another through a any situation or new practice is when one can relate to that person because of a common experience. An example that comes to mind is teaching someone to knit. I don't know how to knit, I would be a horrible teacher.  Sure, I could probably read all about it and explain how to do it to someone, but I wouldn't be able to answer any of their questions or actually show them how.  When a person speaks from experience, there is a lot more validity and strength behind what they have to share.  I would rather learn things from people who have some sort of experience or expertise in what it is they are teaching.  In applying this as a health and wellness professional, it is important to model what I teach.  In order to lead others to a place of spiritual, psychological, and physical wholeness, I need to be in a place of wholeness in these areas.  I know that I need to become more consistent in practicing psychological and spiritual health. I would like to set aside at least 15 minutes per day to work on this, I just have a hard time remembering because it's not as high on my priority list as it should be.  I think that leaving little notes around the house will help me remember; like, on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, in the laundry room, etc..

Reference: Dacher, E. (2006) Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Universal Loving Kindness and My Personal Assessment

          As instructed I spent some time meditating on the universal loving kindness exercise.  It was very interesting. The phrases that I was to repeat for about 10 minutes were: "May all individuals gain freedom from suffering, May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness. May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering. May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness." After stilling my mind and body for a couple of minutes I began to repeat those lines.  Immediately faces started popping into my head very clearly.  It started with family members, then friends and neighbors, and even the village of people that I visited in Nicaragua.  What surprised me is that faces of children started coming to mind in regards to the little punks in my neighborhood that I have repeatedly battled to try and stop them from continuously tromping through my yard.  When  I realized who they were, a part of me wanted to exclude them from this exercise, but it was just a fleeting thought. About halfway through this meditation exercise I began to feel bit of apprehension mixed with a feeling of being overwhelmed.  There is no way on earth that I can assist ALL individuals - that is one enormous feat.  At this point I may have hindered what was the original intention of this exercise, and now I'm not sure what to do with it. 

          As for my personal assessment to discover what area of my life is causing me stress and needs some development, I feel that it is my biological self.  After really thinking about it, I spend much of my time fretting over my workouts, my calorie intake, my reckless amounts of snacking.  I have been trying to lose 5-10 lbs for about 3 yrs now, and I am realizing that it consumes way too much of my time.  However, the reason I have not accomplished this simple goal during this long period of time is simply that I sabotage myself on a daily basis. If I lose a pound, I celebrate with ice cream.  If I gain a pound, I comfort myself with pastries.  I will have 3-4 amazing days of nutritional eating and then go out to dinner and lose all self-control. This is an area in my life that is way more of a distraction then it should be! I use a nutrition tracker every day, but I'm not very faithful at recording all the extra little bites through out the day.  I need to figure out why I sabotage myself so much in this area, what the root cause is, and go from there.

The Subtle Mind vs. Loving Kindness

For starters, I believe the Subtle Mind exercise should have been done before the Loving Kindness exercise:  maybe that's because it seemed to be easier for me to do.  In the subtle mind exercise I was able to get comfortable, close my eyes and focus on my breathing.  The only time I was distracted was when the lady would start talking again.  In the loving kindness exercise I recall the water noises being distracting and making me feel cold; however, the noise did not bother me at all this time.  I actually found myself starting to doze off a couple of times, and thanks to my head falling backwards I was snapped back into the present.  I find it much easier to clear my mind and keep it 'deliberately empty' during meditation than to try to make things happen - like, taking on someones love or suffering.  I still have a hard time observing my random thoughts. I don't find them distracting, I just discard them as soon as they show up.

In my life, maintaining a good relationship with God is how I maintain my spiritual wellness.  Through prayer, reading, and just talking to Him throughout the day.  I give him my problems, I thank him for my blessings, I pray for those around me, and I feel that worship music is a great way to be in His presence.  As we have been reading in our texts, studies show that mental and spiritual health and focus can affect the physical body whether it be negative (anger - high blood pressure) or positive (love- lower heart rate).  I believe in the min-body-spirit connection very much so and that they play off of each other continuously.