1. The experience of doing the loving-kindness exercise went pretty well this week. I only did it for five minutes to give it a try. I am normally an even keel person, and really don't stress about too many things, so many times I feel I really don't need to practice an exercises such as loving-kindness. I can see how many people would benefit from doing this exercise. I would recommend this exercise to friends and family that don't easily relieve stress and tension.
2. The mental workout is the idea that we can't reach a more complete wholeness and happiness without practicing it mentally. Similarly to physical training, when we stop practicing we will see a drop off in conditioning. It takes an effort to think clearly and remove negative thoughts from your mind and replace them with more positive thinking. The goal is not necessarily rest and relaxation, but more a progressive development of an expanded consciousness and healing capacities.
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad your experience went well for you for the listening exercise this week. Mine was the opposite of how yours went. I thought this was a long exercise for beginners and for me it really did not help me relax much, but made more agitated with thinking about all the homework I had to do. I didn’t think this was a good relaxation exercise, but it would be a good spiritual listening exercise to get to know yourself better and also practice getting in touch with loving-kindness.
I agree with you that the mental workout does take practice. I myself am practicing removing all the negative thoughts from my mind and trying to replace it with positive energy. This is not easy, and I still have lots of work to do.
Nellie