This week we covered the loving kindness exercise. We started by thinking of someone close to us that we think of when it comes to loving someone. For me, I thought of my older son. He was my first born and I have cherished having him in my life. After reminiscing about my son and thinking about the love I have for him, I begin to move onto the next step. By this time, I am calm, happy, and relaxed. Next, I am feeling my own love for myself and trying to just enjoy the sensations I have, but letting go of them as well. Just relaxing.
The next stage in the exercise is to think of someone I love and their struggles. For me, this was my older son again. He has been facing some struggles and has been in a dark place lately. He has been reaching out for help. I feel his pain and want to help. During this part of the exercise I have the opportunity to remove some of his pain, or the pain that I can feel he has been experiencing. I breath deeply in, hold it in for a moment, and I can feel my heart, my love, dissolving his pain. I breath out as if I just let go of his pain and replaced it with my warm love, with my support, and with my kindness. I feel that he will know I am there helping to ease his sorrows.
Next in the exercise, we are asked to branch out to those suffering outside my immediate circle. I can see those suffering like my son who need my help. I repeat the exercise by breathing in their sorrows. I exhale and give them back my loving kindness. When this is completed for all of them, I can feel they know I have helped them...even if they don't realize it just yet.
The following step branches out to others. I begin to do the same for anyone that comes to mind. I am feeling relaxed because I feel like I am at more peace because others will be more at peace. I feel loved and I feel like I have shared my love for others. This makes me feel good. I feel stresses being removed from my life. My heart feels less strain and less heavy than it did when I just ached for others sorrows if that makes sense.
Even if these feelings are not quite what was intended, I feel like the exercise was a success because I feel relief from overwhelming stress. I feel like the remaining sorrows can be resolved much easier than before. I do not feel doom like I have in the last week. I feel free and uplifted.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Physical, Spiritual, and Psychological
Good day everyone!
This week we were asked to rate ourselves in the physical, spiritual, and psychological areas on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best. As of lately, I would have to say my scores in these areas are lower than they used to be. Currently I would rate them as:
Physical = 5
Spiritual = 4
Psychological = 6
For me to improve these areas I need to be able to remove the activities of my children and their friends (they are riff-raff) so I can get back to a less stressful way of life. Also, I need to introduce more stress reliving activities such as the relaxation exercises I performed the last couple of weeks in my health and wellness class.
My goals are to try to take my life back and set boundaries for my children and their friends and to make time for the relaxation exercises even when my class is over where I am learning about them is over. I would like to commit to the relaxation exercises, learn to be disciplined to try to be less negative, and to find more quiet and alone time for my sanity!
This week we covered a relaxation exercise, the Rainbow Meditation, which uses colors of a prism to identify with being grounded, centered, being loved, being able to love, having a meaningful purpose, having balance, and being connected.
Personally I didn't like this one as much as the one before from last week, but once I was able to get through the exercise without a houseful of riff-raff distracting my efforts (interrupted on 4 previous attempts) I was able to relax. I did feel all of these things for a bit., but I believe it would have gone better if I could have just had the successful 1st attempt. I might have done the 5th attempt to soon after being interrupted the two times before it.
Well I'm out for now and can't wait to see what my classmates thought of this exercise.
Elicia
This week we were asked to rate ourselves in the physical, spiritual, and psychological areas on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best. As of lately, I would have to say my scores in these areas are lower than they used to be. Currently I would rate them as:
Physical = 5
Spiritual = 4
Psychological = 6
For me to improve these areas I need to be able to remove the activities of my children and their friends (they are riff-raff) so I can get back to a less stressful way of life. Also, I need to introduce more stress reliving activities such as the relaxation exercises I performed the last couple of weeks in my health and wellness class.
My goals are to try to take my life back and set boundaries for my children and their friends and to make time for the relaxation exercises even when my class is over where I am learning about them is over. I would like to commit to the relaxation exercises, learn to be disciplined to try to be less negative, and to find more quiet and alone time for my sanity!
This week we covered a relaxation exercise, the Rainbow Meditation, which uses colors of a prism to identify with being grounded, centered, being loved, being able to love, having a meaningful purpose, having balance, and being connected.
Personally I didn't like this one as much as the one before from last week, but once I was able to get through the exercise without a houseful of riff-raff distracting my efforts (interrupted on 4 previous attempts) I was able to relax. I did feel all of these things for a bit., but I believe it would have gone better if I could have just had the successful 1st attempt. I might have done the 5th attempt to soon after being interrupted the two times before it.
Well I'm out for now and can't wait to see what my classmates thought of this exercise.
Elicia
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Reflection of Relaxation Exercise
Hello everyone!
Today I tried my first relaxation exercise. At first, I found it very difficult to get relaxed because there was a lot going on around me. Lesson 1, find a place away from the surrounding commotion.
Once I was able to get away to a quiet and peaceful area, I found the relaxation exercise to be most rewarding. I was surprised at the effects such an exercise could have on my body. The exercise was about the power our minds have over our body. It was truly amazing to think I had the power to move my own blood from the core of my body and direct it where I wanted in order to relax. The most amazing thing was that my blood went where I directed it and as a result, just like the exercise indicated, I would not be able to move those limbs (in this case - my hands and arms) until I later directed the movement of blood back to the core of my body. It truly happened just as the recording was saying it would. I was in complete and utter astonishment.
When the relaxation exercise was complete, I felt a new sense of energy that I did not feel before and most importantly, I felt relaxed! This exercise is something that I can see being a part of my daily routine, maybe even a couple times a day. I might even focus on other extremities in order to get the most out of this exercise!
My overall reflection of this exercise is that today I discovered the power of my mind and how I can use it to benefit my health and well being. I am excited to learn much more and can't wait to see how my classmates viewed the exercise and look forward to their reflections too.
Today I tried my first relaxation exercise. At first, I found it very difficult to get relaxed because there was a lot going on around me. Lesson 1, find a place away from the surrounding commotion.
Once I was able to get away to a quiet and peaceful area, I found the relaxation exercise to be most rewarding. I was surprised at the effects such an exercise could have on my body. The exercise was about the power our minds have over our body. It was truly amazing to think I had the power to move my own blood from the core of my body and direct it where I wanted in order to relax. The most amazing thing was that my blood went where I directed it and as a result, just like the exercise indicated, I would not be able to move those limbs (in this case - my hands and arms) until I later directed the movement of blood back to the core of my body. It truly happened just as the recording was saying it would. I was in complete and utter astonishment.
When the relaxation exercise was complete, I felt a new sense of energy that I did not feel before and most importantly, I felt relaxed! This exercise is something that I can see being a part of my daily routine, maybe even a couple times a day. I might even focus on other extremities in order to get the most out of this exercise!
My overall reflection of this exercise is that today I discovered the power of my mind and how I can use it to benefit my health and well being. I am excited to learn much more and can't wait to see how my classmates viewed the exercise and look forward to their reflections too.
Welcome!
Welcome to the adventures in surviving life's challenges blog. Here we will follow my journey on finding new ways to to have a more peaceful and less stress free life which I will be learning about in this health and wellness class.
I welcome you all to my reflections while learning how to have a more peaceful mind, body, and spirit.
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