Good Evening Consciousness and Healing Bloggers,
This week I had to allow myself the experience of the
“Loving Kindness” exercise. I do believe
it was beneficial in that I am able to experience, express and recognize
feeling that I have for those I love when they are close to me and the intense
pain and empathy I feel for those who are hurting. The talking was still an issue for me but the
sound of the waves had a positive effect on my ability to relax. Yet, once I had to think of a loved one who
was sick and in pain and remove the image and “breath out” positivity, I was
unsuccessful in that manner. As I thought
about that person, the images were hard to remove and I began to focus more on
the pain of their situation wishing I could take it away. I found myself starting to pray almost
unconsciously that God would remove the pain and heal them because that is my
source of healing when I am having these feelings. Needless to say, after I prayed the images
left but my focus on the exercise was no longer in the picture.
What constitutes a “Mental Workout” is the daily
training of the mind. In the text Integral
Health, author Dacher talks about Contemplative Practice, this practice
involves the intentional practice of quiet thinking, meditation or thought. A
place of peace and calm where you can reflect and am fully alert and in tuned
with your inner spirituality. Research indicated the benefits of a continuous
mental workout can improve hormone imbalances, immune systems, our attention
span, memory and view of what’s around us. Prayer, yoga and meditation would be tools
that I would use to implement my mental workouts. The power to have some follow through on
these mental exercises have the most potential for benefits.
Respectfully,
Desiree Stroder
References:
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health Publication, Inc. Laguna Beach, CA.
Hi Desiree,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job describing your experience with this exercise. I can understand exactly where you are coming from with your comments because I also made the mental connection to prayer. I was able to follow through with the breathing technique, but I admit it felt very similar to the experience of praying for someone. I think both the exercise and prayer can be very beneficial. If you are more in-tune to prayer, I would think that could lead you down the same (or similar) path to a deeper level of consciousness. Since we are all so diverse and have our own preferred methods of reaching our goals, I would imagine we all won't mesh with a single approach to contemplative practice.
Bree
Hello Desiree,
ReplyDeleteI can relate with you, I had problems not thinking of other things in life, the waves helped my relax and helped with keeping me focused, however, when I had to choose a love with pain, there were too many to choose from, and then I would have to re-focus all over again. I also can relate with praying, however, that is one thing I have not done in so long, I kind of forgot it helps to heal the mind as well. I have learned from your blog that I need to pray more and to have trust in God or a higher power.
Thanks for explaining your exercise. I had difficulty with the exercise but the only part that got my attention was when we had to think about someone we care about suffering. I guess that people are empathetic when it comes to people we care about. Are focus changes when it comes to the people we care about. Do you think you would have a difficult time with the exercise if it was maybe a picture of a person that we don't know that is in pain?
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