Loving Kindness and Mental Workout

Loving Kindness:

I am really struggling with the Loving Kindness exercise. I have two daughters that I love dearly and would do anything for, but I cannot elicit the feelings that the exercise suggests I should have when thinking of one or the other of them. I have the same problem when trying to think of either my mother or father. I cannot feel the depth of emotions that it seems I should have to complete the exercise. I know that I tend to hide my feelings quite deep inside, so I will continue to try this exercise and report later if I have any success with it.

Mental Workout:

The concept of a “Mental Workout” is to use contemplative practices to open our hearts and minds, and then to further develop the mind. Without using our mind and exercising it, we are not attaining our potential to discover and evolve our psychospiritual self. The two types on contemplative practices are loving kindness and the subtle mind. Loving kindness is to focus our concern and compassion on others and their needs before our own. The subtle mind is the taming of our busy minds to a stillness where we can develop a witnessing consciousness, or a trained mind that can set aside distractions and become clear and focused towards peacefulness.

Spiritual well-being

I meant to post this first thing this morning, but it has been a busy day! So I got up and took a walk this morning around 7:30am. It had rained yesterday, and then hit the 30's last night. When I got outside, the sky was clear and the sun was shining, while everything was covered in a beautiful frost. Cars, lawns, bushes, rooftops - it was so pretty I wished I had a camera with me. I watched as the sun melted areas of frost and a magical mist came rising off of the things it was warming. I think enjoying this natural beauty upped my spiritual level from a 0 to a 2 or 3. I took spiritual to mean basically just a strong belief or faith in something, but I felt something inside of me that made me feel a part of all that I was seeing. Today started beautifully!

Unit 3 Blog

Well, I am going to try to be as honest as I can be about my ratings:

Physcial well-being: 4 - My goal is to be more active. I have already started walking on the weekends, and will start some stationary cycling during the week. I might even start going to the gym I joined last year!

Spiritual well-being: 0 - My goal is to learn meditation. After I learn to to meditate, then I will try to practice it on a regular basis.

Psychological well-being: 7 - My goal is to "calm down" or worry less. That is what my daughter always says to me. She thinks I get worked up too easily over things that aren't that important and I think she knows me all too well.

For the "Crime of the Century", I enjoyed this exercise, but I could not concentrate for the entire time. I found the voice relaxing, but I found myself disagreeing with some of the suggestions he was was telling us to repeat out loud. I think I was too disagreeable to get into it, but plan to try it again soon.

Sally

Reflective Statement

I am in this class because I needed to take an elective for my Accounting degree. There were so many choices available, and I was even considering one called "Investigating Cybercrime". I made out a list of about ten possible choices, but I cannot explain how I ended up choosing this class, except to say that the description drew me in. I believe that all things happen for a reason, and perhaps by the end of this course, I will discover the reason I am here. I do believe this class will teach me a lot about myself and help direct me towards a healthier lifestyle. I am not the most disciplined person, so I know this may be a challenge for me. I intend to move forward with a positive attitude and am eager to learn more about meditation and other techniques for self-improvement.

Introduction

Hi Class!

First of all, I am terrible when it comes to sharing about myself. But I'll give it a try!
I am a native Californian and haven't been out of the state much and have never left the country. I hope to travel as soon as I can retire. Maybe in about ten to fifteen years?
I have two daughters that will both be starting college in the fall, around the time I will be finishing.
I work for the local government in a mid-level accounting position, but I will be able to promote once I get my Bachelor's in Accounting from Kaplan this year.
I joined a local Mustang Club last March, and truly enjoy going on outings with them throughout the year. It is the most fun I have had in a long time. There is nothing like a convertible in this lovely weather!
I look forward to talking to you all soon!

Sally

Saturday, 2/5/11

Hello! This is test to see if I set up my blog correctly. It's a sunny, breezy day here in Vacaville, CA. It's time to take a drive in the convertible just to feel the sunshine on my shoulders. Although, I should be doing more of my homework!