1. Describe your experience. (Did you find it beneficial? Difficult?) Why or Why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or Why not?
I believe the loving kindness experience is one that all people from all walks of life would benefit from. It is not always easy to wish everyone well in their lives, especially people that you have not met or are angry with. However, I believe that doing this exercise will help me to not only be able to grow as a person but also be able to give to others as I have never given before.
I found this exercise to be completely beneficial as well as easy to fit into a busy schedule because all it takes is a mere 15 minutes to feel rejuvenated and in a more peaceful state. I must say it was a bit difficult the first time I tried it because I could not seem to shut my mind down enough to totally benefit from the exercise. However, I do plan to implement this into my daily routine and would encourage everyone else to as well.
Yes, I would recommend this to others because it can teach us not only to love ourselves but also to love others, and to me that is an important concept that I see society lacking, or at least from where I live and what I see on the news.
2. What is the concept of “Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?
The concept of “Mental Workout” is where you put forth the effort and training needed to bring yourself to the point of being able to incorporate the loving-kindness practice and the subtle mind practice into your daily routine. Essentially, meaning that you are “working” out your mental health, just like you do your body in your physical health routines.
The proven benefits are the ability to open our hearts to others, whether we know them or not, and allowing ourselves to leave that self-centeredness behind us. It also allows us to have unity within our minds with our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Furthermore, it allows us to flourish into a more loving, kind, wise, and calmer person.
I can implement mental workouts within my daily routine. I will begin to make sure that I have those 15 minutes or more out of my day to do the exercises and work on finding a clearer and calmer path to be able to fully reach the potential of what I am learning to do.
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point about the majority of society these days and the selfishness of it. People (not all) tend to be too self centered trying to get ahead or whatever and forget about helping others. We forget that we are all in this life together and should be helping one another instead of stepping on each other to get where we think we should be.
The news as a whole is so negative and angry. People wonder why there is such a rise in bullying, slandering others, or bias, just look at politics. We and our children see supposed adults arguing, cutting each other down, not willing to compromise, generally bullying, which is everything we try to teach our kids not to be! How can we blame newer generations for their behavior when the prominent examples out there are a hateful joke.
I think these exercises we are learning should be mandated into everyday life, especially in Washington, lol, they really need to learn loving kindness!
Jen,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your response to the exercise, I can definitely see our differences head on. I would most certainly recommend this exercise to others because it works if you allow it to work.
While completing the exercise, I felt more at peace in the beginning than towards the end. I was able to focus at first but after the 7 or 8 minute mark, my brain went into overdrive as if to tell me that I had been relaxing for entirely too long.
I think I'll keep trying, like Dacher suggests, and see what my "mental workouts" do for me.
I agree I think it would be easy to incorporate these into our daily schedule. When I first thought about meditating I thought I don't have time for that. But the exercise was easy and it only takes between 5 and 15 minutes per day. That is well worth the benefits that come along with it!
ReplyDeleteJennifer, I think you are right about learning to give to others like never before. I think it is important that we look at one another as all taking part in a wondrous journey. Many times people get lost and these are the people we need to pray for.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that in our fast passed society we forget to take care and love ourselves. And we certainly can use more loving one another.
Jenny