loving kindness

Doing the Loving-Kindness exercise was fairly easy for me until I had to direct the same loving and accepting thoughts onto myself.  This is a practice that I still need a lot of work on.  However, I have come a long way in the past couple of years.  I guess I would say that this practice was both beneficial and difficult.  As I just mentioned, I am still learning to love and accept myself.  It was beneficial in that it made me very grateful for my loved ones.  I got a chance to sit in peace and quiet and think about all the things that I love about this person and all the way that I am blessed by them.  It also made me think about how much I have changed as a person because of their love and acceptance of me, and I am truly a better person because of them.  I would recommend this practice.  I know that I am not the only one who struggles with loving themselves and this would be a good way for some people to learn how to do that.
The practices that we have been doing each week, for me, are a mental workout.  It is very difficult for me to slow down and relax.  To make myself sit in quiet and listen intently and try to follow the instructions while allowing the practice to actually work isn't an easy task.  This is one way to get a mental workout.  It is challenging me to do something that is difficult, but at the same time very beneficial to my health.  And if I allow myself to relax and listen and focus my thoughts, I feel good afterwards.  It is the same concept as pushing yourself beyond (what you think are) your physical limits.  I workout regularly and sometimes I am able to push myself really hard, and other times I am content with just putting in a little effort.  When I focus my thoughts and push my body to work hard, I get a mental workout and I feel SO much better afterward (mentally and physically)!  Part of me is saying, "STOP! You're gonna die!", and the other part is saying, "Don't stop!  You can do it!  You are strong!".  In order to keep going, I have to shut out the negative and focus all my energy on the positive.  As I have practiced this it has gotten easier not only in challenging myself physically, but in other aspects of my life too.

Haddie

health/goals/reflections

 I did not enjoy the relaxation exercise as much this week.  I have done this same exercise before in a previous class, and for some reason I just have a hard time relaxing with this one.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I am sure that it works for some.

After reflecting on my own wellness I rate my physical health at a 6, my spiritual health at an 8, and my psychological health at an 8.  My physical health is at a 6 because I am getting healthier and stronger everyday, but I am not currently at my target weight.  I am halfway to my "final destination" (on the scale that is...), so I still have some work to do.  Having said that, the reason that I am FINALLY almost to my goal weight is because I stopped focusing on the physical and looked inward.  I had a lot of emotional and spiritual baggage I was carrying around.  I took some time to focus on my spiritual health and my psychological health and then it started to show itself in my physical body.  The reason that I rated my spiritual health and psychological health at an 8 is because I feel it is really good, but there is always room for growth and improvement.  It was (and still is) amazing to me how much of a difference it made to heal some spiritual and/or psychological "illnesses" in my physical health.  Lets just say I am better from the inside out!  My physical goal is to reach my target weight--I have 37 lbs to go!  My spiritual health goal is to continue to take time everyday to be quiet and reflect and pray.  And my psychological health goal is to stay sane!  (true, but just kidding!).  I think that it is good for me to challenge myself everyday and prove to myself that I am capable of many things if I put my mind to it!  Right now, I feel like I am implementing activities and exercises already in my daily routine.  After I eat breakfast, I usually take about 10 min (I would take more if I could) to reflect on some thoughts and pray.  I do lots of playing and running around with the kids, and I go to the gym 5 days a week.  We take a lot of walks and bike rides, etc.  And balancing being a mom, wife, student, maid, chef, and all the other "hats" I wear, plus trying to lose weight, is my challenge.  I push myself really hard at the gym.  Often times it is a mental battle, and I am learning to replace negative thoughts with positive ones; to have more confidence in myself; trust and believe in myself.  I have come a long way from where I started and I am just now learning that it is ok to be proud of that.  I am going to keep fighting to the finish!  *any advice is welcome*


Haddie

Journey to Relaxation

First of all, I have to tell you that as a mother of two toddlers, I don't get the chance to relax as much as I would like.  Once I put my headphones on and laid my head back the music began and I was already relaxed before he even started talking!  Just to have a chance to sit in quiet was all I needed to relax : )  But, this exercise really did work for me.  As he told me to tell me hands and arms to relax I could feel them get warmer and I also felt a tightening in my abdomen.  They felt very heavy, and just like he said, I didn't want to lift them.  When I told me hands and arms to return the blood back to the abdomen, I could feel my abdomen get "fuller" and my arms didn't seem so heavy anymore.  It never ceases to amaze me how powerful the mind is! 

welcome...

Welcome to my blog!  I hope that you will enjoy reading my posts.  I would like to learn from you and I hope that you can learn some things from me too!