The loving kindness exercise is a lot different than the subtle mind exercise. In the loving kindness exercise you do not focus on yourself but rather focus on others. This is very easy for me because I see myself as a compassionate person. I will help others even when I know I really shouldn't. I am a true believer of the quote "do unto others as you would have others do unto you". For me being a mom is the best thing that has happened to me. I may forget or not do things for myself so that my son can have. It's something that has always come naturally to me. I have always been a care taker from the time I became a big sister, helping my mom with all my younger siblings. For instance, my sister is not a mom. She focuses on herself a little more than most people do but as for me I focus on my child. I try to teach him to be a good person and do what is right in hope that he will grow up to be a positive role model for his children one day and teach them the same things.
The subtle mind exercise was somewhat harder for me to really get a grasp on. I think this is something I will have to work on because my mind was jumping from one thing to another and any movement or noise I heard would distract me. This exercise is designed to "cultivate wisdom by taming and training our mind, accessing its deeper levels, and exploring the essential nature of mind and experience (Dacher (2006) pp.65." When this exercise is achieved, you go into a different level of consciousness and the end result is calm-abiding.
Spiritual wellness is connected to both mental and physical wellness. I think they all coincide with each other and when one is off, it causes the others to be off as well. They work as one to make a person whole. I personally believe that you don't have to be religious to be spiritual. I don't go to church as often as I would like but I do know who and what I believe in. As I get older I seem to be more spiritual. I try to keep a positive attitude especially when faced with difficult circumstances and also work on my physical wellness as well such as eating and exercising. Ultimately, I think spirituality is the last thing that is focused on.
Hi, I agree with you that the subtle mind practice does teach us to access the deeper levels within, I want to use the word 'discipline'. Our minds are known to wander from one thought to another and it can be quite a task to teach it to be still. The subtle mind practice does come in handy. I enjoyed the subtle mind practice tremendously and the loving kindness practice was harder for me. I hope that with time I would get better. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYes ma'am I too find that I tend to take care of everyone else before myself. Especially my children, because that is what a mother is suppose to do. These exercises are hard for me too, but I do like Subrina's advice here we have to be disciplined. I think that I am just trying to hard that my mind is basically playing some tricks on me.
ReplyDeleteI liked the loving kindness too. I am the same way when it comes to other people, I do for others before myself. I am a compassionate person and my kids are my life. I felt the loving kindness exercise helped me to learn to forgive, which has been a hard thing for me to do and I have felt very differently about life since the exercise. It is probably because I got out all that negative energy.
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