I found this exercise even more challenging that the Loving Kindness exercise. With the Loving Kindness exercise my mind had a direction to follow and it was easy to focus on the directions. With the Subtle Mind, it was challenging bringing my mind back to my breathing and learning to just "observe" my thoughts rather than ruminate over them. There were a few times I realized after the fact that I had indeed been "thinking:" about something, only to discover it a few minutes later. I find it is easier for me to focus on my chest rising and falling. I was keenly aware of my surroundings, the hum of the refrigerator, my dog's breathing, the cool air in the basement. My senses were heightened.
Every time I sit down to practice one of these exercises I almost have to give myself permission as I am a "doer" my nature. Different times during the exercise I almost feel my mind looking around for something to think about, just like a junkie looks around for another fix. This became really apparent after about ten minutes. At that point I imagined my mind as a Teflon pan and began to allow the thoughts to slide off my mind. A few times I started to jump ahead in my day and think about the things I needed to do later.
I could not relate to the end of the practice where it talked about Unity Consciousness. I am a long way from entering into this phase.
Since every part of our being is inter-related, you cannot separate spiritual health from physical and mental health. Dis-ease in one area will affect the others. Neglect in one area will cause an unbalance in the other two. Health must be all encompassing, reaching to the depths of every aspect of our being. Exercising our mind and spirit is just as important as exercising our body. We seem to be obsessed with our bodies in our culture. But many times this is with the neglect of our inner selves. I love the list of virtues that Dr. D posted. I am going to make a commitment to learn about and practice one of these every week, and encourage my grandchildren to do the same. This will help to develop my mental and spiritual self and help transform me into a more compassionate, spiritual person.
I find that you enjoyed the Loving Kindness better interesting. I was unable to focus as well during the Loving Kindness instructions and unable to five back to myself. It is interesting to read other peoples experiences and reactions. It is interesting how you became more aware of the activities around you and which ones.
ReplyDeleteI fall into that same problem... no matter what I do, my mind wanders and I just cannot concentrate. I have so many things on my mind and in my life right now that you would think that this would be the best thing for me, and it probably would be... if I could just find the time. I study half the day and work the other half, sometimes until 3 or 4 in the morning, and always leave an hour for exercise which I cannot and will not change, so that leaves me with very little time to sit and meditate. I hope someday my life will slow down enough to take advantage of these practices.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteGreat insight on the contemplative practices we are being taught.
I like your description of a doer. I once had a great leader I worked for in our business that admitted that it is hard to do what we do every day in our buildings because we are the doers of a lot, the tasks. Something changed that day after that conversation. I was able to actually teach more people in retail to be successful and have us all work together. Because I am the doer, I taught those I mentor to be the doers and we became a well functioning team. I got a lot from that one statement. We are all doers at some degree. But then comes the obstacles for you and I. How do we slow down and not think of what we need to be doing in one hour, five hours or whenever and be here now. How do we allow our minds to witness these thoughts after acknowledging them all of these years of our life? Practice will be key as we are learning; intention will replace our reactivity (Dacher, 2006).
Resources
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications Inc.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI was the opposite; I found it more challenging to listen to the loving-kindness exercise more than the subtle mind exercise. I was able to keep more focus which made it easier to take the thoughts, feelings, and images, acknowledge them and then let them go. It sounds like you were able to bring your mind back to focus once you realized it was wandering. This is a big step, for many, once the mind begins to drift it is very difficult to put the brakes on and get things back in perspective and on track. You made a very good point about integral health being all encompassing and you also stressed the importance of maintaining balance in our lives. I want to add that it is inspiring to hear about you passing this advice of integral health education to your grandchildren, they will benefit greatly. The goal of virtue development is a step in the right direction to achieving integral health; keep up the good work.
Ed Busche