I very much enjoyed the Universal Loving Kindness exercise
because this is something that I practice on a daily basis I just didn’t have a
name for it other than praying. I pray for my children, grandchildren, husband,
brothers, sisters and friends daily. I ask the lord to keep them safe and to
fill their lives with many blessings such as health, prosperity and joy.
I completed the integral assessment exercise but I couldn’t
really focus because I felt my mind wandering off somewhere else. I guess maybe
I was too stressed that day and should probably try it again when I’m off from
work so that I won’t have my mind cluttered about work and be able to focus on my
inner self.
The area that I chose to focus on to grow and develop would
be my health. Over the past few years I
have become comfortable with my weight and haven’t focused much on my health.
About three months ago I had a good scare at the doctor’s office with my lab
results. I have since lost 12 pounds and have been maintaining a log of my
blood sugar levels which are consistently at 110 fasting which is a huge
improvement from the lab results which showed my levels were over 200. I still
have a lot of work to do concerning my health. I am learning to put more focus
on my mental and physical health and wellbeing by getting enough sleep,
exercise, eating healthy and not stressing over little
things.
Hello Leonore,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your wonderful blog.
I never thought of my prayers as being an exercise in human kindness. It has just always been natural to sit on the side of the bed each morning and thank the Lord for the wonderful things in my life and ask for blessing on my family and friends. Now we have a way to make it politically correct. We can call it an exercise in Universal Loving Kindness :-) (Dacher, 2006). It is remarkable to understand that for all of our faults of being “Westerners” and being thought to be far more removed from spirituality than the Easterners that we are a country that prays to our higher power. If you look at the amount of TV evangelicals, it is apparent that we, well, at least some American’s pray a lot. I think this is a positive and powerful way in which to make spiritual connections with those around us as well as with our higher power and the world as a whole.
We need only remember the study by Randolf Byrd that proved the positive correlation of prayer and better health (Schlitz, Amorok & Micozzi, 2005) and keep on praying, because if we call it prayer or Exercises in Loving Kindness (Dacher, 2006), It works and we need to keep doing it.
Have a wonderful and blessed day.
Rufus J.
PS, Let’s not forget to aim a great deal of our Prayer and Loving Kindness (whatever our readers choose to call it) to a fellow classmate that is experiencing a crisis at the moment. Sounds as if she can use help in ending pain, suffering and emotional turmoil.
References
Dacher, E.S., (2006). Integral health: the path to human flourishing. Laguna Beach, CA. Basic Health Publications, Inc.
Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M. S. (2005). Consciousness and healing. St Louis, MO: Churchill Livingstone.
Hello Rufus,
DeleteI agree I never knew that when I was praying every morning and evening I was actually performing an exercise in loving kindness. I believe that the power of prayer can heal pain, suffering and emotional turmoil. I will pray for our classmate that she find peace and comfort in her life.
Hello Leonor and Rufus!
ReplyDeleteI am much like you both, as I wake up every morning and thank the Lord for all the wonderful things he has given me, and ask him to do to the same for my family, classmates, and friends.
Leonor, I am very proud of you for understanding the importance of your health. I know many people who have received the news that their health is poor and chose to do nothing but complain about it. It is hard to help them or feel bad for them. You keep going in your journey to a healthy body, and in the meantime class will help you in working on the mind and spirit!
Have a wonderful week!
Warm Regards,
Jenn
Hello Jenn,
DeleteThank you for your encouraging words. It wasn't easy at the beginning giving up most of the tasty foods that were bad for me. I am not as tempted by food as I was in the beginning. I have been more physically active and I am making better food choices. I am actually looking forward to my lab work in August because I know that it will be a good report. I am very grateful to our professor and classmates for sharing their knowledge of health and wellness on the discussion boards.
Hi Leonor,
ReplyDeleteYour mention of prayer reminds me of the study on it that we read. According to a video I watched about the study, the study shows that they found many of the prayers logged were generally prayers of gratitude and a desire for blessings and healing for all individuals. The difference between prayer, and this exercise is that in prayer, we are asking for God to express loving-kindness to all mankind. In this exercise, we are asking we are accepting personal responsibility to facilitate loving-kindness. Many of us know that it is the right thing to do to assist in others' wellness and freedom, but I wonder if the difference in our knowing and doing is simply confessing as we did in this practice. Sometimes I find that if I commit to something in my head, I may be less inclined to do then if I say it aloud. What are your thoughts on that?
You mentioned that you practice the universal loving-kindness exercise often. It made me realize that the exercise is almost like self-reaffirmations. It is good to remind ourselves of the positivity that we do have in our life and let it override the negativities. I can see how the integral assessment can lead you to have wandering thoughts. It is hard to assess and evaluate aspects of our life without getting engaged in it and having worries. I would try it again after doing a relaxation activity such as doing it after sitting in a sauna.
ReplyDeleteThat is good how you found the loving-kindness activity so powerful in your life and are able to practice it. I wish i could have focused on this activity more because I probably would have found it a little more rewarding than the first time I tried it. i have difficulty maintaining my focus in all of them.
ReplyDeleteyour ability to focus on health is an awesome thing. The way we as Americans take health for granted these days is very crazy, and the fact that a change in diet can help in controlling it is amazing. exercise plays a role to and there are so many ways we can implement this with us and family daily. good for you