Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.
The Loving-Kindness exercise was okay until we were instructed to inhale other people's pain and suffering. Like I said last week, I was not okay with that since that is something I've always been taught against doing. The Subtle mind exercise was more focused on breathing and just being. I had a hard time with this for different reasons than the Loving-kindness exercise.In comparison to the Loving-kindness exercise, the Subtle Mind exercise seemed easier at first. I thought "oh, breathing, I can do this". Then my mind would take off and I would think about the picture day money I needed to send to school with my youngest son the next day and the produce I needed to order from our food co-op. Then, as I would start to fall asleep, I would start to have very strange dream like scenarios run through my head. If my mind wasn't wandering, I was falling asleep. I did this exercise three different times at three different times of day. Obviously, I need more sleep...lol! After three sessions I still could not achieve a stillness and I had a hard time refocusing on my breath once my mind would wander. I think I will try this exercise several more times before I quit it altogether. This is something I know I would benefit from if I can master it! I do have a very busy mind! I never did fully get to the calm-abiding part. When she said to let my mind float, I was frustrated because I was still desperately trying to tame my mind. :/
Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.
A person who is looking to find spiritual wellness is able to find a balance between their thoughts and beliefs and the social and physical aspects of their life. To have spiritual wellness means to be fully tolerant and accepting of others, including those who think differently from them. They experience more peace as a result which also reflects a healthier mental and physical state. I am by no means going to say that I am spiritually "there", but I will say that this is something I work very hard towards. As I've stated before, I am a believer and look to Jesus as my role model. Jesus accepted everyone and loved freely, even those who persecuted Him. For me, this is the perfect example of spiritual wellness. Since becoming a believer, I do have a certain peace inside and the things and people who used to bother me no longer do. I do not get easily angered and the people who used to upset me or just plain annoy me, I now have a new patience for. I noticed a difference in my job right away. I used to be a stylist/massage therapist (well, I still am. I'm just pausing for now...) and in the salon world there is a whole lot of drama. It was in the middle of this part of my life where I found this peace and I immediately noticed a change when I stopped letting people upset me. My appointment book became fuller and my tips got bigger. I know that this was a result of the way I had changed. No one around me changed, it was simply me changing the way I perceived things. When I changed my spiritual wellbeing, I was happier mentally and felt better physically as well. I realized that people and circumstances may be out of our control, but we can change the way these things affect us simply by changing the way we receive them. For me, it began as a simple step towards spiritual wellness. And I didn't even know it at the time! :)
Jo
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteYou have a good way of explaining the connection between spiritual wellness with mental and physical wellness. I agree that those with spiritual wellness have more peace because of their beliefs and acceptance of others. This peace brings calmness which leads to lower amounts of stress, and lower stress can lead to a better overall health, thus connecting them.
Choosing how you receive people and problems around you can make a big difference. I don't think we realize how much we let others influence our lives just be the way we react to them. If someone tells us about their life problems, it is easy to empathize and feel bad for them, but sometimes, this brings negativity to our own lives, which can eventually lead to stress, and then poor physical health. For this I guess we just have to lend them and ear and/or shoulder, but be careful not to hold onto it, which can be hard.
Donna
Hi Jo,
ReplyDeleteI just love following your blogs. You exude this spiritual love somehow and I just feel good every time I read your blogs, so thank you for that. As for the subtle mind exercise, I feel much the same way you do. I kept falling asleep or thinking about all the different things I needed to be paying attention to. However, I think we are on the right track even if we do not think so. We need to learn to have a witnessing mind, which we do, we are witnessing all the different thoughts in our mind. Now, we need to learn to just observe them and let them go. In essence telling ourselves 'yes I know they are there and I will deal with them in due time, it is ok to let them float past at this time'. Perhaps then we can learn to obtain control of our thoughts as we progress and can then benefit from the calm abiding mind. Good luck.
Mary