Loving Kindness, practice, and mental training

Last week I was away on my family vacation.  This was a perfect time to practice loving kindness because many people I love surrounded me.  While it was easy to make time for the daily activity, it was much more difficult to force myself to do school work!

I found the exercise to be helpful to me.  At first, the timeframe provided to reflect on each section seemed a bit long.  In addition, I spent the majority of the time trying to figure out what I should be thinking about and trying to decide if I was thinking about the right thing.  As the week progressed, I was able to settle in to the practice and was more comfortable with the time allotted for thinking.  Another interesting observation was that as the week progressed, I noticed subtle differences in some of the decisions I made.  I do not see myself as a selfish person, but there were times when I wanted to do something but I did not because I decided it was more important to be with everyone else. 

The concept of a mental workout is not new to me; however, I think there are different types of mental workouts.  The loving kindness practice is more of a personal, psychological mental workout.  I think religion or meditation are more of a spiritual mental workout.  I also think there is an educational mental workout (i.e. schoolwork, Sudoku, research).  Each is important to the holistic picture but each is very different.  Research has proven that mental workouts can improve every aspect of a person.  They can improve mood, stress management, health, disease, wellness, and every other aspect as well.  The best way for me to foster my psychological health is to continue to practice and remain persistent. 

Self Reflection, My honest opinion (aka - Unit 3)

I would rate my Physical well-being as 5 out of 10.  I do get to the gym 5 days a week and I feel like I push myself when I am there, which is great.  I do not have any physical limitations or medical issues either.  However, I am overweight and I need to continue to work to reach a health weight for my body.  I also need to continue to improve my eating habits.  Though I do not eat horribly, I tend to eat a larger dinner than I should and I know I make bad choices on the weekends.  One goal I have for myself is to log my food to ensure I stick to my calorie target.  In order to meet this goal I will use myfitnesspal on a daily basis.

I would rate my spiritual well-being as 8 out of 10.  I am not perfect, so I do not think I will every feel as if I have achieved 10 out of 10.  I am comfortable with my spiritual well-being.  I am not a religious individual but I do have my own beliefs.  I do not really discuss these beliefs with many people because I do not believe there is a right or wrong way to be spiritually well, though some people do.  One goal I have for myself is to be open to the spirituality of others and hopefully learn to expand my spiritual focus.  One activity I can implement is to research various spiritual works and opinions. 

I would rate my psychological well-being as 7 out of 10.  I have a bit of work to do in this area because I do have some confidence issues and I have a lot of self talk that I need to eliminate.  My goal is to reduce the self-talk and boost my self-confidence.  One exercise I can implement to assist in moving forward is to keep a journal of what I am thinking and how I am feeling.  This will allow me to contemplate my thoughts and adjust them to focus on thoughts that are more positive. 

I do not know about anyone else, but when I completed the relaxation exercise in the link for the Unit 3 blog, it was the Rainbow Relaxation and did not mention the crime of the century relaxation exercise.  Regardless, I had a very different experience from last week’s exercise.  This exercise is not one I would choose to do again.  I have actually listened to it before and I really tried to follow it again this time.  I found it more frustrating to try to follow along with all of the colors for the different parts of the body.  It also seemed extremely long for me.  Looking at the positive, I did take a few minutes for myself and I did like the tone and volume of the speaker’s voice.  What did everyone else think?  Does anyone have any other relaxation exercise suggestions?

Journey on Relaxation - Unit 2 Post

The mind is a powerful tool!  Taking just a few minutes for you is so important in achieving health and wellness.  The exercise, Journey on Relaxation, is a tool I have found helpful (link is below for anyone who has not tried it).  I have used it several times to help clear my head and focus on relaxing my body.  I suggest you find a quiet, comfortable place before you begin listening to the audio.  The first time I listened to the entire exercise, I found it difficult to stay focused.  My mind drifted to other things and I had to force myself to pay attention and follow the instructions in the exercise.  After the second and third time using the exercise it was a lot easier for me to block out everything else going on in my head and concentrate on the exercise.  I always feel refreshed and energized after completing the exercise. 

It is hard for me to take time for me because I feel selfish.  On my journey, I have realized that the only way I can be the best me, is to take some time for myself.  No matter how busy I am or how many demands on my time I have, I have to allow a little bit of time for me to focus on me.  I am a better friend, family member, worker… a better everything when I take care of myself.

http://www.kushs.net/kaplan/HW420/JourneyOn.mp3

Welcome

Welcome to my blog!  This is not something that I would have ever thought to do on my own, but thanks to the requirement for my current wellness course, here I am.  I am actually excited about getting started and continuing to document my journey.  I am currently 32 years old.  I live with my fiancé near Lancaster, PA.  We are getting married on August 3, 2013 and I cannot wait!  I currently work part time as a recruiter for a health insurance company.  I am also a full time student taking online courses through Kaplan University.  I will have a BS in Health and Wellness when I finish in March of 2013.

In 2008, I set out on a journey to improve myself.  Over the last few years, I have learned that this journey will continue for the rest of my life and that excites me.  My ultimate goal in this journey is to be the best ‘me’ I can be… not the way that society or anyone else says I should be, but the ‘me’ that I am comfortable with and proud to be.  .  I am looking forward to sharing lessons learned and hearing any encouragement, feedback, or suggestions that anyone has to offer along the way.