Unit 5

The following is the assignment for this unit's blog:

Complete the following and post in your blog:

Your mental fitness practice this week incorporates the concept of the subtle mind (Dacher p.75). This week, replace the Loving Kindness exercise of unit four with Practice 2: The Subtle Mind practice mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing thread).

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.
2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The truth is that I really dislike the loving kindness exercise.  I understand and appreciate the concept and find it helpful to focusing on others and forgiving them.  I think that loving others and forgiving them is important to obtain for mental wellness, and letting go of negative harmful thoughts and emotions.  I dislike the exercise because it brings to mind a lot of junk (for lack of better word), and those thoughts are equally powerful, if not more than the loving thoughts I am able to think about.  Not only that, but unlike what is taught in this class, I believe that sometimes negative thoughts/feelings such as anger and unforgiveness are there for a good reason, to help protect us from future harm.  I don't really know if I agree that forgiving someone is the right thing to do, if doing so allows you to overlook treatment that should not be accepted.  For example, I have a family member who has hurt me far more than they have ever benefited my life, and having them in my life was causing stress that I did not feel was fair, therefore I finally cut them out of my life, and therefore they are "out of site, out of mind", and that is far better for my mental health than being exposed to their toxic ways.  Forgiving them would mean bringing up all those hurtful behaviors all over again, and focusing on letting them off the hook, but the thing about it is, they will never change and refuse to see the error of their ways, and would keep doing the same hurtful behaviors over and over again.  No thank you.  I do not believe I should suffer because someone else refuses to change.  Maybe I don't understand forgiveness completely.  I understand the benefit of forgiveness, but I guess that I am saying that sometimes it is best not to forgive so that we don't continue to be hurt.  I cannot separate forgiveness and tolerance in my mind, though I have tried.  

That being said, I really enjoy the witnessing mind exercise, and gain a lot of insight from it.  I think that combining the two exercises is beneficial when you are able to see your interactions with another person through the eyes of love and understanding as they briefly pass through your mind.  I think that physical activities such as stretching/yoga is a great way to relieve stress, and I think that if you combined it with mental health exercises, than it could lead to even more stress relief.  I rarely exercise so it has really not manifested in my life.  

Unit 4

So, I had a difficult time concentrating on the loving-kindness exercise.  I focused more on doing the witnessing mind exercise, in which I just observed my thoughts, because I had a lot of bad thoughts.  I started out focusing on someone and my love for them, and then myself... but so much time lapsed between the speakers leading that by the time they spoke again my mind had gone somewhere else.  I always have difficulty with this exercise, therefore it is my least favorite.  Maybe that is something worth exploring.  I agree with the speaker though that until we love ourselves, it is difficult to love others.  I also see the benefit of doing this exercise, it helps to get our minds off of ourselves and onto others.

Unit 3

Here is a copy/paste of unit 3 assignment:

Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)          

So to answer above questions...

On a scale from 1-10, I rate my physical wellbeing as a 5.  I am able to walk, talk, breath, and without pain (which is more than I can say for a lot of people), so I am doing at least a 5 on the wellness scale.  As far as being physically fit, ummm well that is the 6-10 I need to work on.  Let's be honest, I am overweight (post baby body), and sedentary (I do not like the discomfort of physical activity unless I have to).  So, my goal is to do some daily stretching (which the last time was several days ago, so I am due today).  I also plan on making the time, putting on my tennis shoes and playing kick ball with my kids and hubby today (yesterday when they were playing, I was watching the hamburger meat cooking... always have too much to do).  I've also asked my hubby to fix my bike so I can start going on bike rides with kiddos or by myself.  I have even more goals like purchasing the "just dance" games for my son's xbox.

On a scale from 1-10 I rate my spiritual wellness a 5 (actually, I really don't know what to rate it anymore).  I am a christian and feel confident in God's love and good will, and for the most part I have a lot of faith in prayer and that is one of my most effective coping skills.  However, I deal with a lot of poisonous beliefs (due to a negative history and relationships), and I am also a naturally pessimistic person, because I have found that reality is usually not a bed of roses and am not willing to delude myself.  So, there is an inconsistency between my belief in God, his promises, and his good will, and my own poisonous mindset.  I have developed so much self-awareness since the last time I took this class, and just as I've grown as a person, however I am at the point now where I am really willing to unlearn some unhealthy  mindsets and practices, however making it a realty is hard to do.  It is hard for me to completely understand the difference between the mind and spirit.  I think a lot of this is about mental wellness, which than leads to spiritual wellness so I'll go ahead and add that I rate my mental wellness anywhere from 3-5, depending on the day.  I plan to practice more meditation, especially the witnessing mind (we learn about later) which opens the mind up so much, exposing the mind's thoughts and feelings without judgement, and focusing on the positive.  

The relaxation exercise took a while before it was relaxing to me.  Some of the visualizations made me feel anxious or uncomfortable, because it reminded me of the anxieties that I had.  However, as it went on I started to realize that I let these stressors weigh me down, and began to see myself more whole.  I strongest colors for me were the orange, yellow and aqua.  

Priscilla Ahn "Dream" (Lyrics)

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The Power of Suggestion- Unit 2

While listening to the relaxation recording, I focused on doing what the speaker said.  The background sound was relaxing, it made me feel like I was floating around in outer-space.  The exercise reminded me of the power of suggestion.  When he told us what to think about, and gave guided imagery, I was able to picture what he said, and felt my body relax in the process.  I think it hits home the message of unit 2, that our focus, such as what we think about, effects not only our body, but our very being.