When comparing Loving Kindness to the Subtle Mind exercises, the subtle mind wins only because the voice on the tape shuts up and you can hear the waves in the background. The benefit that I got from the Subtle Mind was that the background noise was relaxing. One thing about me is that I am an analytical person by nature. I survive by letting my mind process the random thoughts that pop into my head so I really don’t want to do away with them. When I have a problem that needs to be solved, I will consider the problem, usually once, then I go about my business and sooner or later a random thought will provide a solution. I guess I’m trying to say that I do not want to do away with my random thoughts.
Spiritual wellness is one of the three parts of the whole person. In my humble opinion, spiritual wellness and mental wellness are often interrelated. Often when I need mental clarity I will move to spiritual wellness to assist with this.
P.S. I know I'm supposed to attach the powerpoint project but I don't know how.
With these exercises It also bothers me that we are listening to an audio tape and it makes it difficult to relax fully. I liked the subtle mind exercise more than the loving-kindness exercise due to the fact that I could control my thought process easier. I;m a firm believer that breathing exercise do relax the mind and body. Anytime I feel overwhelmed I can take a few deep breathes and feel myself relaxing. Your statement about when you have a problem that needs solved you go along and it will come to you. I also do that and many times I will gain my answer while I am sleeping. I know sounds weird but it's true. lol I enjoy my random thought process also.
ReplyDeleteHi Mack,
ReplyDeleteYour assessments of the exercises are interesting to me. I'm sure that gender, age, life experiences, and perceived stress levels all play a variety of roles in the process of relaxing the mind.
You felt that your random thoughts had purpose and wanted to attach to them and ponder solutions, rather than allow them to dissipate. This suggests that you do not feel disturbed by the amount of random thoughts that pop into your head, but rather you are content to be aware of all of them. (Lisa also shared this thought).
People who are distressed with negative and disturbing thoughts naturally would not feel that way. Nervous people who cannot relax or sit still would also not feel that way.
This tells me that your training in the military, martial arts, and other experiences have helped train you to filter out unwanted randomness.
I'm guessing your health is balanced as well.
Best wishes :)
I agree with Lisa, sometimes the narrator can really break my concentration. However, I think I should point out that the is narrator also reminding us what the goals for the meditation are.
ReplyDeleteI think that once a person memorizes the meditation, using the track from the cd is unnecessary, especially if you happen to blessed by an actual ocean setting like Mack is!
Though really, any natural setting would do. I can envision myself meditating to the sounds of my community, I find the sounds of kids playing and lawn mowers growling away to be soothing in their own right. I never have trouble falling asleep to them!
In the end it depends on personal preference, I think.
I don't always enjoy a random thought process I have way to many my mind races at a hundred miles an hour. I can use a slow pace. I agree that the narrator can be distracting.
ReplyDeleteHello Mack,
ReplyDeleteI think that this exercise was better and easier to follow then the love and kindness one, the main reason is because I think that I was not thinking about the people that I don't care for, instead I focused on my breathing and the music. Just like you I believe that the mind and the spirit have more in common than spirit and body. You did a great job this week!
Rosa =)
First and foremost, thanks for letting me know about the powerpoint...I wasn't aware of that. I got a really, really late start this week so I'm scrambling to get everything done tonight:)
ReplyDeleteOnce again (no big surprise) I see eye to eye with you on this issue.
Thanks for sharing.
George
I agree with your assessment Mack. Really, it is much easier to at least TRY to do these exercises without disruption and the speaking does irritate me a little. We read the chapter, we know what we need to do, let us relax and try to enjoy the waves crashing before reality sets back in.
ReplyDelete