Review the exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course. (Loving Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific examples.
The two practices/exercises I feel where the most beneficial for me and that I also really enjoyed doing are the Loving Kindness and Universal Loving Kindness Exercises. I really feel as though they helped me open myself so I can find empathy for other people and understand how they are feeling and what they are going through. They also helped me realize the hurt and pain that I have gone through and how to grow from that instead of letting it weigh me down.
The way I can implement these exercises in my life is to just be aware of what I am going through and be able to put that aside from time to time and really get to understand what the people in my life are going through. I can only keep practicing these ways by doing it out right. There is no contemplating about it or meditating on it, all I can do is do it. Be that caring, open, loving person that is aware of everything and everyone. I feel I have been that way for a while now but the exercise helped me go deeper in to what I was feeling already. If you have a hard time opening yourself up in general to feeling yourself and others these exercises help.
Jameela-
ReplyDeleteI think sometimes that is one of the worst problems I have with anything--actually doing it instead of contemplating or meditating! I tend to plan and write lists but just have a problem with actually going through or finishing the project or the feeling.
It seems like our lives and our society move at such an extremely quick pace now it is difficult to be aware of everything and everyone but this class has helped.
Hey Jameela,
ReplyDeleteI love reading your posts; they are always just so matter of fact, straight forward, and honest. I like when you say you just have to do it. Most of the time all we ever really do is just plan and talk about doing things and changing things but really how often do we ever 'just do it'. I think another problem we have as you point out is that we get so absorbed in ourselves that we rarely take the time to understand where the other person is coming from with their needs and desires. All of these exercises were beneficial but it sounds like you have really found the most important ones for you. I think from now on I am going to stop analyzed everything so carefully and just make it happen! Good luck to you.