Update: Loving-Kindness

After searching I have found an audio clip for loving-kindness that I enjoy listening to and resembles Dacher’s audio clip. Although it is still a difficult exercise for me it is getting easier. I have to say that the exercise is more enjoyable because the audio file is only a voice so I am able to input my own background noise making it unique for myself. I feel as if I am taking Dacher’s advice and making my own integral practice.

Compare & Contrast

First and foremost, I like the subtle mind exercise 100 times better than the loving-kindness exercise. I do wish that the voice on the mp3 was different. It is easier for me to focus on breathing with letting my mind relax. The first couple of day were a tad bit frustrating because of the activities I was trying to plan out for the next couple of weeks. After I dealt with them my subtle mind exercise was more fulfilling. Although I do believe it will be a while before I am able to fully focus on a witnessing mind without having to go back to breathing. What can I say… my mind likes to wander in and out of thoughts. I do think that if I practice the subtle mind exercise before the loving-kindness exercise I will be able to focus more clearly on the goals of loving-kindness. Being able to visualize the connection between my mind and body gives me to ability to perceive triggers in my life that create uneasiness or a loss of motivation. I am now starting to take that connection and bring my spirituality into the picture. This creates feels of relief and frustration at the same time for the reason it is a working progress and because I am able to intertwine another aspect of my life instead of leaving it in a room closed off to the rest of me.

Exercise: Loving-Kindness

I found this week’s exercise to be extremely difficult, I don’t consider myself to be a self-centered person as Dacher so gracefully describes it in the introduction mp3. I think that for reasons that I am trying to deal with I was just in a very bad mindset or place this week. Personally I think the voice on the Loving-Kindness exercise was raw or coarse, at least for me. However as the reading suggests this is not an exercise that can be mastered in one week and therefore I will keep working on loving-kindness.

The concept of the “mental workout”, at least for myself, is what we do to strengthen our minds to release unwanted emotions, stress, and encourage calmness of the mind. Current research has provided positive benefits of mental exercises such as learning to leave negative emotions behind flooding one’s body with positive emotions, other mental workouts are meant to reduce stress and stress symptoms within one’s life, and others help and gradually teach us to take ourselves out of the box and look at the bigger picture. I truly enjoy the idea of the loving-kindness exercise and would like to implement this exercise into my psychological health routine however I do believe that I will need to look for a different recording or create one of my own so ensure that my center remains calm and focused throughout the exercise.