Review the
exercises and practice sessions you have completed in this course (Loving
Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation etc.) Choose two practices
that you have determined to be most beneficial. How can you implement these
practices in your personal life to foster “mental fitness”? Provide specific
examples.
Two practices most
beneficial to me are loving kindness and visualization. Loving kindness can be implemented into my
life by allowing forgiveness and unconditional love to supersede bitterness and
grudges I may harbor. This exercise made
me understand and realize the importance of letting go of anger and frustrating
feelings and replacing them with love, compassion, and forgiveness. This is not an easy feat, especially when
someone has hurt you or caused you pain, but it is imperative if we are to
progress in our path toward human flourishing.
My cousin’s husband has done some terrible things to everyone in my
family in his quest to try and win back my cousin. He is an abuser and a narcissistic
person. He is a, “me, me, me, I, I, I”
person who will hurt anyone in his path.
This is a person I have to delve deep inside and learn to forgive and
love. I realized during this practice harboring
unpleasant feelings and emotions only ends up hurting me and short changes my
ultimate goal of human flourishing and unity consciousness. Moreover, loving kindness is what God would
want me to be like. It is important as a
spiritual and Christian person of faith to “turn the other cheek” as the Bible
states. Visualization is another
practice I find extremely beneficial. I
believe if we visual something (whether a goal or accomplishment in life) it
will happen. As a personal trainer, I
find my clients often like to hear how many more reps they need or how many
seconds are left to perform a certain ‘tough’ exercise. The reason simply put is because they
visualize in their head the end and the feeling of accomplishment. Additionally, I have waited over 20 years to
achieve my Bachelor’s degree and I personally like to visualize in my mind
holding up my diploma one day. This
gives me the extra incentive to perform well and the drive to push
forward. I am sure I will continue to
use visualization throughout my life, since I believe in it and feel it is a
wonderful and advantageous technique to foster mental fitness.
Angela
P.S. A picture that pretty much sums up this week's blog! :)
Great post Angela I know how you feel because we have a mutual problem I have a cousin who is just like that, he is completely controlling and don't thing about the consequence of his action only think of himself.
ReplyDeleteHi Angela,
ReplyDeleteI also love visualization, it gives me a way to look to the future to the accomplishments that I would like to achieve for my family and I. We have always been a close family but no one in my family has the belief in themselves as I do. I have reached further than most but I have also been very sick and learned from that to reach as far as I can to meet any goal I set for myself. I am so glad that you are on that road to human flourishing, family can sometimes put all your beliefs to the test. Again another great blog post Angela.
Yours In Health,
Cyndie
Hi Angela,
ReplyDeleteI also like to use visualization with my clients, as well as in my own life. When I first started teaching Personal Training Education Courses I pictured myself speaking in front of a large group of people. I found I was more confident when I taught my classes because visualization helped me be mentally prepared. I find if I help clients visualize a familiar activity when introducing a new exercise they are much more successful in performing the exercise.
Loved the picture! Have a great week!
Cynthia
Angela,
ReplyDeleteI did not choose the Loving Kindness exercise as one that I found most beneficial. After reading your thoughts on it , I have decided to give it another chance. I think we all have been hurt by others along our path and it is very difficult to consciously decide to forgive them and let it go even when we realize it only continues to hurt our self. I think it's human nature and a normal reaction to have resentment and non-forgiving feelings after someone has hurt us. But if we can learn to forgive we will not only be healing our self but allowing our self to flourish in our future health. I did choose the visualization exercise. I agree that it is a powerful exercise to apply to our own life as well as to a clients to allow them to 'see' their goal and this encourages our mind into believing it will happen.
Great post!
Kristine G.
Hello Angela,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great description about loving kindness and how strong it worked for you. It was really hard to only pick two things to use for the future. I would like to use some aspects of each of the exercises we learned and add in new ones as I learn them. I will really need to work on loving kindness as it is hard for me still to let go of some really old hurt and baggage. Thank you for sharing your experiences and outlook as it has helped me to rethink my thoughts and put things into a better perspective. I have learned so much from everyone in this class. I can utilize some of the visualization and relaxation techniques for my patients, however the hospital stay is so short I think I can only recommend my patients seek out some sources to continue to work towards integral health. The other road block I have found in this area of the country is I live in a very poor community. Most of my clients cannot afford out of pocket services and insurance does not cover. I hope this changes in the future. I hope you had a lovely weekend.
Angela, again, you didn't disappoint me wiht your post. I knew I would find something that I could identify with and I did. I had mentioned how my childrens father had cancer and my daughter had spent pretty much every waking moment at the hospital with him, putting him first and taking her little girl along. She also went to the nursing home pretty much every day when he was discharged. I even went to visit him, becuase he sait it helped him. Well, he is out and home, and he and his lovely wife of 20 years (who I might add self describes herself as the BLACK WIDOW!!!!) have let my daughter know in no uncertain terms that they do not need her help, she is not welcome at his appointments and basically to get lost. Can we get a little more ungrateful? Now, I have to dig deep yet again where he is concerned to find some forgiveness. I have forgiven all he did to me, but this, this is past reasonable! But,I will do it somehow, I will pray and meditate, and know I have to do it for me, if for no other reason.
ReplyDeletesusan
ps- don't black widow spiders kill their mates? he is #4 or 5.
Hello Angie,
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog! I too loved the loving-kindness and visualization practices and found them to be so beneficial in my life as well. I also agree with the point that you made in saying that be implementing these practices in your life it helps to allow forgiveness and unconditional love, I totally agree! Through these exercises I too was able to find a way to let go of anger and replace it with loving feelings and that really felt amazing! I love that you also had the same experience! I also loved how you mentioned graduating and the accomplishment of achieving a HUGE goal such as completing your Bachelors degree, it truly is something to be so very proud of! I hope that you have a wonderful week Angie!
-Megan Bohlman
I so love that little picture (in the end only kindness matters)! Angela I am glad you chose the Loving-Kindness. That one was very difficult for me and because of that I am not able to benefit from it....at this time. However I did put in my blog that I feel it is very important for me to master and that my plan is to incorporate it in my weekly regimen as I so want to forgive myself and others and be able to respect and be kind to everyone. You are so right that holding onto the anger only hurts yourself. I am just starting to realize that. My health has paid dearly for what my mind refused to let go. I wish you much luck with that. Visualization is a great technique as well. I have not mastered that one either and I believe the two go hand in hand. If you can see it you can achieve it!
ReplyDeletePeace and Blessings!
T.
Angela,
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome. What I have enjoyed most about your post is how you are able to share your love for Christ in each one and how you are growing spiritually. :) The lyrics to a song I listen to say something along these lines in reference to forgiveness: "we would be more apt to forgive if when we realize we have been forgiven" God gave alot for us (the life of His only Son) - that is amazing to me as a mommy of five and a true testament to how much He really loves us, with that knowledge how can we not forgive (even if it is really hard at times).
I'm happy we got to have class together again :)
Great job
Tammy
Angela,
ReplyDeleteI also found the loving kindness exercises helpful. I can relate to someone in my family being a "me, me, me" person, because that describes my older brother to a tee. It is very frustrating to deal with it, and forgive everything he's said and done, so I find that those types of exercises come in extremely handy when dealing with him! I always love reading your blogs because I am going to school to be a personal trainer, and you already are! You always have something inspirational to say, and we connect on many levels! Great post!
Beth Bjorkgren
Angela,
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to mental fitness I found that loving kindness has been the most useful for me and that it has increase my mental fitness levels. With the continue practice of loving kindness I feel that it will only get better within time. I just love how loving-kindness make me feel when I actually use it to help in social environments to help others that are in need of my services. Not only does it help you increase your mental fitness, but it also helps you get a better understanding of who you are and who you can become. Well Angela I really enjoy your post and I want you to keep up the great work.