Unit 6: Loving-kindness meditation and Integral assessment

The Loving-kindness meditation exercise is a pleasant and relatively easy one to complete.  I like how convenient it is.  I found that by doing this exercise, I felt a growing sense of peace within myself.  The words are so powerful that although I started the meditation without much feeling, repeating the phrases pulled me in so that I was able to say them with much fervor.  I did not expect that it would have that effect on me.  Despite not being able to meditate the full 10 minutes, I feel that I was still able to benefit because of the calm it had promoted.

In doing the integral assessment, I was able to understand more clearly the reason for and importance of its practice.  Of the four quadrants, I chose to focus on the biological.  Despite starting an exercise routine, I feel there are other areas within that quadrant that needs attention.  I feel I’ve neglected this aspect, in efforts to improve the others.  I started to reflect more on my growing interest in participating in a mind/body activity, such as Tai chi and thought about how much my entire self would benefit from it.  Another thought that repeatedly came to mind was nutrition. Admittedly, I do not make the best nutritional choices.  If I want to live a more integral life, I would surely have to change that.  I struggle with this because I am a major “foodie”.  It doesn’t help that I was brought up in a culture that emphasizes eating in social events…we have fiestas for every reason!  I felt very inclined to attend my chiropractor’s food makeover workshop.   I’ve been interested in attending his workshop but have put it off – this assessment forced me to admit that the reason for delay is because I fear this change…I am weak.

Overall, I thought these exercises extremely beneficial.  I hope to include both practices into my routine.     

Unit 5: Subtle Mind

I thought the Loving-Kindness and Subtle Mind exercises were entirely different.  My experience with the former did not work out to my expectations.  I had better luck with the Subtle Mind exercise, fortunately.  Up until this practice, I didn’t understand what detaching from a thought, feeling, or image was like.  During the exercise, when an invading thought or image surfaced, I imagined blowing it away with the out-breath.  Another helpful technique was using the sound of the waves to “remove” these random thoughts and images – almost as though I was sending them off to “ride the tide” and eventually disappear into the abyss.  Admittedly, I am far from acquiring a witnessing mind, but I feel as though I had a tiny glimpse of what it might be like.  I think I might have held on to my stake (breath) throughout the exercise. I felt that if I loosened my focus on my breath, even slightly, I would start grasping on to my thoughts.  Despite not being able to experience complete stillness and silence of the mind, I still feel good about eventually being able to detach from thoughts, and not ruminate as much.  

Throughout Dacher’s book, he’s repeatedly emphasized the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and spirit.  In striving for human flourishing – enduring health, wholeness, and genuine happiness – we must focus on the wellness of every aspect of the self.  We are looking at the whole, rather than just the sum of parts.  Everything I do, every choice I make, has its consequences on my health and my way of life.  When I start my day off on a positive note, it usually sets the stage for a great day.  When I exercise, chances are that I was able to pray, I probably avoided unhealthy foods, and I probably was more patient with others.  These positive actions are often a result of the overall sense of contentment and satisfaction I feel with actually doing something good for myself.  However, when I allow myself to stay cooped up indoors because it’s rainy and I have things I need to do at home, anyway, I find that I am less patient and accommodating with others…my mood will reflect the gloom that is often characteristic of the Pacific Northwest.

Unit 4: Loving-Kindness

I can see how this exercise could be beneficial, but I had a rather difficult time with it.  I attempted the exercise twice, with the recording and with the directions on the book.  And though I was able to maintain focus the first time, I was interrupted by my baby. The next attempt, I completed the exercise, but found that I couldn’t maintain my focus. My thoughts were constantly wandering and I just couldn’t seem to grasp the loving-kindness feelings, especially towards strangers and enemies.  As Christians, we are called to love all, including our enemies. I am going to be honest and admit that I have a hard time with that. I don’t necessarily harbor hatred for others, but when I think about murderers, rapists, molesters, I can’t bring myself to feel love for them. During the exercise, for some reason, I thought about the father who savagely took the lives of his two young sons, and then took his own, here in Washington. I thought of this family specifically, because the crime happened relatively close to where I live.  I couldn’t feel love, peace, or anything positive at that moment and instead felt an overwhelming sadness for the loss of the precious lives of these boys.  I immediately tried to focus my thoughts on others, but I couldn’t wait for the completion of the exercise.  Although, my experience wasn’t great, I realize that it is going to require perseverance and hard work in order to train the mind, just as it would a fit body. I am not going to let this experience discourage any future attempts. My issue is finding time, twice a day, to do this. Perhaps I will be able to do so when my husband returns from training, but at the moment, I am having difficulty setting aside time for school! I would recommend this exercise to others because I believe that each will experience this differently and if there is a chance for benefit then it is well worth the try.

In the context of psychospiritual flourishing, a mental workout entails incorporating practices into one’s daily life in an effort to attain this full inner flourishing.  The purpose of the loving-kindness exercise is to diminish self-centeredness, thus setting oneself up for further development.  The subtle mind exercise aims at cultivating wisdom and addresses witnessing, calm-abiding, and unity consciousness (Dacher, 2006, p.65).  Research studies indicate that a trained mind can influence our physiology, hormonal system, and immune system.  It can also positively affect attention, memory and other mental functions (Dacher, 2006, p. 63).  Aside from  these two exercises, I can incorporate other meditative practices that promote an overall sense of contentment. I will always look toward prayer for self-development.

Dacher, E. (2006).  Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

    

Unit 3: Wellness and Crime of the century

This is hard for me to admit, but my physical well-being is between 4-5.  After giving birth, I waited three months before resuming physical activity…so one can imagine how out of shape I was! It’s been over a month since I started and I am starting to feel better, physically.  I’ve probably only lost about 2 lbs., so far, but I am ok with losing it slowly, but surely.  I am aiming to lose about 10 lbs., and to attain this goal, I plan on increasing my workout days to 4-5/week when my husband returns in a month.  Additionally, I will incorporate more strength training into my routine.

I can always use an improvement in my spiritual well-being.  Right now, it is about 6.  It fluctuates often, not because I am scrupulous, but because there are times when I neglect my spirituality.  Since I am Catholic and we are in Lenten season, I especially feel that there is more that I could do, aside from sacrificing favorite foods, during this holy time.  I wish I had time to visit the Blessed Sacrament, but with my children, I just can’t.  The only people I trust to watch my children seem to always be so busy, that I have to schedule things way in advance – I don’t function that way.  I am truly at a lost as to how I might improve upon this aspect.

It seems that my psychological well-being suffers the least at this time.  I would say it is between 7-8.  I am giving myself a ton of credit for being able to enhance my calm during stressful moments (which seems like many).  I’ve notice a significant difference in my patience, compared to about 6 months ago – this is a big deal to me because I’d been praying for this the past several years.  Nevertheless, there is much room for improvement.  Since I’ve been fairly consistent with maintaining a positive outlook and not giving in to anxiety as much, I feel an overall sense of contentment with my psychological well-being. 

As for this week's exercise, I've done it before, and it is definitely one I can do repeatedly. I enjoyed the affirmations used in connection with a color of the rainbow and a body part.  I found myself yawning, which actually helped me breathe better. Whenever I was distracted by wandering thoughts or noise from my children, I regained focus by concentrating on my breathing. I started to feel a little emotional, but in a positive way.  This exercise would have been more effective, if I had done it while my children were asleep, but because I wanted to complete my blog fairly early tonight, I didn’t really have a choice. By the way, whi is the exercise called Crime of the Century???