As I sat an repeated the Universal Loving Kindness phrases over and over for 10 minutes it reminded me of my Aunt Mary. She used to say her rosary beads 3 times a day. When she would do so she was always so relaxed and calm. However, I digress. I felt really at peace repeating these phrases. I began to envison the world and what it would be like if everyone was happy, healthy, whole, and free of suffering. What a beautiful world we would be living in.
When completing the second part of the exercise I found that the interpersonal aspect of my life is my current source of difficulty and the area that is ready for growth currently is the biological aspect.
At this moment my interpersonal difficulties are centered around the people who are doing repairs in my home. When things do not go as planned or the technicians do something incorrectly I have a hard time thinking before I speak to them. I am trying to work on this by doing something I do when I exercise: take 3 deep breaths and move on. It has been helping somewhat. I think additional meditation will help me in this area as well.
The area in my life that is ready for growth is biological. I have been focusing on fitness and nutrition for awhile now, but I am ready to focus on self-regulation so I can move to the next step of wellness. To implement this I am going to begin to more closely regulate the amount of alcohol I drink and focus on the number of days and amount of time that I put into my workouts.
Here is to this finding you happy, healthy,and whole!
Rose
Hi Rose
ReplyDeleteI can see your comparison of the chant and the Rosary beads. However, I think the words imply that I have more control over the world’s afflictions than I do. So I just changed a few of the words and ask God to relieve the suffering and help those who needed his help to achieve health, happiness and wholeness. “Assisting all individual” is unrealistic – knowing what I can and cannot do is the beginning of wisdom. By changing the words a little bit, I got the results that Mr. Dacher expected.
Deb C
Rose, I always enjoy reading your post (you probably know this because I usually comment on yours). They're always so heartfelt and honest. I had some trouble with the repeating of the phrases, because I was so focused on saying them verbatim, that I could not focus on anything else...it was seeming to be defeating the purpose of repeating them, so I had to stop. I do better if I only have a word or two to concentrate on. I am really glad that you identified areas that need work. It's really difficult sometimes to do that, and the fact that you have discvered how to "fix" it, is great too.
ReplyDeleteOn your fitness and nutrition goals....AWESOME!!! This will make you feel so much better in other areas of your life, not only in the obvious biological ones. You'll feel more balanced and energized, I think. (That's how it affects me, anyway).
Great blog!
I know what you mean about the interpersonal stuff. I learned a long time ago not to blurt out the first thing that came to my mind. It was usually hurtful. Over time, I have learned to keep those feelings to myself. You know the old saying, "If you don't have anything good to say then don't say anything at all". It sounds cliche', but there is a lot of wisdom in that saying. It's true not only because of how it hurts the other individual, but it also is hurts you personally to fly off the handle. Learning to change your thoughts helps you to be more at peace. Great post.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Rose,
ReplyDeletegreat blog, when doing the exercises I found that I need to work on my interpersonal and psychospiritual aspects. Like you I have a tendency to blurt out things before I actually think and I have been working on this since I found out I was going to be a mom. When acting before I speak I tend to hurt others and could have prevented the hurt by simply thinking before I speak or saying nothing at all and moving on with my thoughts.
I have found that truly monitoring what you are putting into your body can really make a difference in how you look and feel quickly. I cut pop/soda out of my diet entirely for one month, and I felt amazing from this change. With that I cut alcohol out as well, with the results in physical characteristics, came a growth in mental strength and stability as well.
ReplyDelete