Unit 6: Mindfulness Exercise and Assessment

The exercise and assessment process is relatively simple. When I think of an assessment I think of finding out what area needs some work. Through a series of questions we can assess ourselves and our needs. We can look at any area of our life and figure out which one is ready to change. For example it can be our relationships, something biological, environmental, or emotional development. Once we have figured out the area we then meditate and become still and release all mental activity. We then focus on the area we chose and figure out what we can hope to accomplish for this area. Then we continue this for a few days. We then come back to stillness and focus on the healing aspect, and we figure out what the next steps will be.

I have discovered at no surprise to me that I need a lot of work. But when I really sit and think about it, it isn’t as bad as I make it out to be because everything I need to do better at can be connected to something else. For example I stress a lot about little things I have no control over but perhaps I can meditate and exercise to help me deal with my stress. While I am meditating I am also calming my mind and body and reducing my anxiety which I have a lot of. By exercising I am not only helping myself to deal with stress but I am helping my physical body. I also find that when I exercise I can think more clearly so I sometimes use that time to sort out some things in my head. However I went to the gym the other day, first time in a long time and I felt great then I caught whatever illness the my kids had days before only it hit me much harder because I was taking care of them, not sleeping or eating right myself. So now I have these, flu like symptoms and pain in all the areas I worked out. But I still somehow feel good mentally.

Well I have kind of answered the blog questions backwards here. The area I need to focus on would be mental; stress. I have chosen this area because it is the route of all evil for me. I get so stressed out about things I have no control over and it causing me to have panic attacks or to feel physically sick. I also sometime especially with school work have mental meltdowns when I am not understanding anything. I will re-read a million times ask my husband for help and I get no where. I no family where we are and we are the west coast they are on the east and by the time I get home from work, done cooking and cleaning and get a chance to sit and do some school work everyone back home that I could talk to are sleeping because of the three hour difference. I find myself stressing that too. But the list could go on and on forever. I have always had bad anxiety attacks that I take medicine for because sometimes it feels like I am having a heart attack of some sort. I am finding though that using many of these techniques is helpful now if I can become more holistic or integral and really apply it all the time in my life I think I can minimize the stress or even learn how to not stress some of the silly things I stress.  

Unit 5: Loving Kindness vs. Subtle Mind

Well I enjoyed the loving kindness exercise when I finally was able to do that one. I think for me it was easy to get into and think of the love that I feel for my son and push that out into the world. The difficulty I had was thinking of someone who was suffering, and not think of my own, or to not think of people in say Africa that are suffering much worse then anyone I know. It was hard for me to know who to focus one and if I focused on one person instead of another did it matter. I almost felt as though I wanted to focus on all the beings in the world that are suffering and take it away and fill them with the love I feel for my son.

The subtle mind, well let's see; something was wrong with my cd that I recieved from the school. I tried it in my computer, on my radio, in my car and it only plays the first couple of minutes as the woman's voice is telling you to relax and focus on the breath, and don't worry if the outside noise bothers you it will happen, well then the cd made the most irritating noise I have ever heard, it was this loud screaching noise. What a relaxating technique, I was in the mood lol.

So I turned to the book and used my cell phone to record my voice saying the instructions from the text. After all of that I found that this exercise was easy to do. I think it was easier to do this whole exercise as opposed to the struggles I had with the loving kindness. I found it was simpler, didn't ask of too much, and was easier for me to relax, or maybe it was because I had tried so hard to listen to it that I was determined to get it done. Either way I like both of these activities and I can definitely include them in my daily life.

I think there is a deep connection between spiritual wellness, mental wellness, and physical wellness. If I didn't I would not have taken this class. I chose to take this class because I believe that there is a connection and that we must work on all three areas if we want to be truly healthy and happy. This has manifested in my life in many ways. When I think negatively it creates stress, and physical sickness so that right there goes to show that there is some connection. I pray on a daily basis for random stuff, and I always feel so much better afterwards and there must be a reason why. That is part of the reason I took this class. I wanted to learn about these reasons these types of practices are recognized here in the US as they are in other countries. I hope to be able to incorporate more of this into my life.

Unit 4: Loving Kindness

Hi Everyone,
I have finally found a moment to myself to complete this exercise. It's amazing to me how I can tell everyone in my house that I am going to sit in the bathroom alone for 15 minutes and that is all I need and to go play out in the yard. Every minute on the minute I sware someone was banging on the bathroom door "mom, mom, mom, he did this, he did that, he said this, he said that" then finally when I think I have handled it in comes my husband "honey where's my cover, where's my boots, do I have clean socks?" And wow at that moment I could've really used that loving kindness, because I was not feeling any love or kindness.

So finally I did it. I think that the voice was soothing and relaxing and at the time I sat down to do it my house was so quiet. I immediately was calmed. Reading this exercise in the text made me feel good because I feel that it is something I need to do. I found this exercise to be very beneficial. I think this one was easier than the "Crime of the Century", that one I couldn't focus on the colors. With this exercise I thought of my son because I love him so much and it was so simple to surround myself with the love I feel for him and to put it out into the world. The difficult part was thinking about someone I know that is suffering. I don't know but it was hard because there are people all over that are suffering that I don't know and it was hard to not focus on that. Also it was diffifult to not focus on me in that instance. But once I was finally able to focus and finish the exercise. After the exercise I felt great, better, happy. I felt less stressed, and very free. I feel good today and can not wait to start my day.

I would recommend this exercise to others. I think it is simple and easy to do and we can all take a little time to do an exercise like this. The concept of "mental workout" is to basically workout the brain. If we spend time each day to use our brain to meditate and relax we can give it the exercise it needs which in turn helps all of the aspect of us. I can implement the mental workout in my own life for my own psychological health by just dedicating a meere 5 minutes a day for some meditation. If I can dedicate more time than I will. As for now I will start off small.

I look forward to the next blog exercise. I am learning alot of ways that I can improve my mental health just by sitting at home. However I think I may have to sit in my car far from home, with a fully charged lap top for some alone time.
Melinda

Unit 3: Crime of The Century

On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well being) I rate my physical at a 5, my spiritual at a 7, and my psychological at a 3. I rate myself with a 5 in physical because I think that I could eat better and be in better shape, but I am happy where I am. I just know that I can do better given the abilities. I rated my spiritual at a 7, because I think that I am pretty good in that department. I feel I have a close bond with what I believe. I may not go to church but I don't believe I have to in order to believe. Also we are stationed in a very small town where everyone knows everyone, and everyone has something negative to say about someone. Everyone goes to the same churches and I would rather stay out of the negative banter by simply not going and having my own prayer time at home with my family as well as discussions. I rate my mental at a 3 because I need help in that department. I am always highly stressed and to be completely honest it's over things I have no control over. I have panic attacks for no reason and stress makes them worse. I have tried breathing techniques, and other things to help but it doesn't work. So I take medicine for my anxiety because it is so bad that at least 3 times a week I feel like I am having some weird sort of heart attack.

Goals that I could set for each area would be for physical try to work out, even if it is only for 10 minutes a day. When reading Dacher there was a section that spoke about giving something up that is only for external pleasure, so I plan to give up watching the shows that I tivo to spend time on my integral health. In the time it takes for me to watch one show I can exercise physically for 15 minutes, meditate for 15 minutes, and do some prayer for 15 minutes. It wouldn't take much out of my day or affect the millions of other things I have to do. And it would be better relaxation than sitting on the couch watching those crazy housewives.

The activities I plan to do are to take 15 minutes a day to exercise one body part each day, and take another 15 minutes to go walking with my son. As far as my mental I think that doing these relaxation techniques are great, however I never have alone time. I attempted to do both of the relaxation techniques about 3 times before I could actually do it and there were still some minor interruptions when I was finally able to. I plan to put my kids to bed at 8 pm like I always do and use that first half hour to either do some yoga, that I tivo'd or to do one of these relaxation techniques and then continue my school work. As for my spiritual I am going to keep doing what I do, praying with my son, praying when I go on walks, enjoying earth and culture. I think that I will also watch one of my favorite shows again "Joel Olsteen", which has always helped me and been like church in my living room.

The Crime of The Century relaxation technique was great once I was finally able to get into it. I had many many disruptions and had to stop about 3 time on 3 different days. Finally just now I was able to finish. I felt it difficult to at first let my mind relax, I was constantly thinking and thinking. But finally I was able to focus. The next part I found difficult was the colors. I was focusing on myself being a prism, but I couldn't see any colors. So I restarted the exercise and tried again. I finally got it and wow I felt so relaxed I swore I must have fallen asleep right at the end, and then he said open your eyes. I was sitting here thinking what happened. But then I opened my eyes and felt a bit tired but once I stretched and moved I felt refreshed and best of all relieved. I can't tell you how good it feels to feel relieved, I am so uptight sometimes. I think that this is something I will just have to make time for. I forgot what it was like to have time for myself, even if it was only those 10-15 minutes to relax. I really enjoyed this and look forward to the next one.