Loving Kindness

Practicing loving kindness begins by learning to love your self first, however; at times it is hard to do if you don't feel complete.

I imagined my youngest son in particular when asked to picture someone I loved. He is temporarily staying with my ex-husband while he finishes school. The sense of spaciousness comment made me feel empty without my son in the house so the track made me feel lonely and uptight instead of relaxed. With all these thoughts running in my mind, my concentration is just next to none. My emotions got the better of me. I love all my children dearly and at the moment, our home is not complete.

Mental Workout

Mental workout can help streghten our mind by keeping it active. With training and regular practice, mental workout can enhance our learning ability. Advancing age affects our memory and cognitive abilities but if we stimulate our mind then we can minimize its effects or even improve it.

Everyday life challenges can affect how our brain processes information.  From the moment we wake up until we go to sleep at night, our brain keeps on working. In this day and age, we are all immobilize by all the comforts advance technology can offer. Sedentary lifestyle imprisons not only our physical self but our mind as well.

Like physical fitness, cognitive fitness is necessary. Our day to day routine becomes ordinary and less challenging as time goes on, therefore; we must find new interests to stimulate our minds. A break in the routine will help keep our minds active. For instance, we can learn to play a new instrument, do crossword puzzles, or maybe even learn a new language.

Reflections

1.          Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal wellbeing), where do you rate your A-physical wellbeing, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

I would rate my physical wellbeing as 6. Although most people have said I don’t look my age, I feel older inside. The daily stress at work, home, and school has slowly taken a toll in my overall physical state. I just don’t feel as energetic as I should. I am not an active person which is one of the main problems I have and should work on. I am not spiritually in touch with myself so I would rate it 4. It’s not that I have lost faith, I just don’t practice it. What I meant by practice is I don’t go to church nor do I pray. I was raised a Catholic but when my family emigrated here from the Philippines, I stopped attending Sunday masses. I still have strong faith and I don’t think I would lose that just because I don’t physically go to church. As far as psychological well-being, I would rate it a 9. I have to be psychologically fit in order to fully engage in my daily tasks at work, home, and school.

2.          Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

I need to exercise! I have to stop making excuses and trying to avoid or commit to any type of physical activity. My excuse is “I don’t have time.” I feel that I don’t have enough time in a day to finish what I need to do but I have to work on setting aside some time. I became I member of 24 hour fitness thinking that by paying a membership fee will encourage me to work out during the week. Nope…didn’t work and I cancelled my membership since I have only used it once in the course of 6 months. Spiritually, I need to start praying again and maybe go to mass even if it’s not every Sunday. I remember how good it felt just to see the people around me in church. I rated myself a 9 psychologically, but I can be a ten if I stop procrastinating and plan ahead of time. It can be overwhelming at times when I have so many things to do all at once.

3.          What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

I can start walking with my daughter. Unlike me, my daughter goes to the gym at least twice a week or at least walk if I can’t take her. This will not only give me the physical activity that I need but also a chance to catch up with my daughter. Plan ahead and stick to my schedule is what I need to do to achieve my perfect 10 psychological state. To start, I will work on my spiritual well-being by saying prayers at least once a week.

4.          Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

The rainbow meditation didn’t work for me. It was hard to concentrate. I guess because in reality we are currently experiencing an awful weather and I can hear the rain in the background. It’s been raining and its very windy for the past week now and the power has been intermittent. I’ll try it again next time.

Tough Week!

Quote of the Week:

"Every human being is the author of his own health or disease." (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

This week has been quite a challenge! Work and home has been stressful and I can't wait for the weekend to start. However, as much as I am eager to start a relaxing weekend, I really could not think of something different to give it a nice jumpstart. We have 4 dogs so it's really hard to getaway due to the costly expense of boarding, so going out of town is out of the question. Any suggestions? My boss took the day off yesterday and told me he needed a mental health day. I thought it was an interesting concept. Maybe that's what I need!

 

 

Welcome

"If we want a rainbow, we must first learn to put up with the rain (Anonymous)"

Life is full of surprises! And that is what makes life interesting.....sure we all make mistakes along the way but we'll only fail if we stop trying.

Welcome to my blog. I consider myself a private person, so blogging is something I may struggle with. We have numerous students in the class that are pro's on blogging and I truly enjoyed reading their posts.

Well, I am hoping to get better at this by the end of the term and I hope to bring laughter as well as inspiration to the readers.

Thanks for visiting!

Autogenic Training Technique

Autogenic training technique is based on the notion of passive concentration and a means of controlling stress by training the autonomic nervous system to become relaxed (holisticonline.com, 2007).

This stuff actually works! I am the type of person that cannot sit around. As a mother of 3 children, I am constantly moving. This relaxation technique is really helpful. My first try the other day was unsuccessful because my dogs were snoring (although it was cute) so loud I could not concentrate.

I will try to use imagery next time to see if it will enhance the effects of this technique.

Flex Seminar

It's disappointing that there is only 1 flex seminar time offered for this class. I was under the impression that flex seminars are offered at different times to accomodate most student's schedule. Unfortunately, I would still be at work when the class is in session for both my classes this term. Although the seminars are no longer graded, it is still one of the best ways to interact with the students and professors especially if we have questions that need immediate answers. I will try my very best to attend if  "work" permits.