Hello Everyone,
Sorry this post is one week late but I have been having computer problems and do not know anyone here in NM that I can borrow their computer in order to get my assignments done. I have truly enjoyed this blogging and appreciate all the comments that everyone has made each week to my blog.
I enjoyed the Loving Kindness meditation exercise on page 93. It was easier to complete as it was much shorter. I also enjoyed this one as I am one of those people who tries to save the world. It is much easier for me to focus on others, their needs, and wants then my own. For me I feel like I am currently trying to lead others towards better health, happiness, and wholeness by sharing my experiences of physical activity and the calmness that it has brought to my life and inviting others to join in on the fun. Last month I lead 5 people to joining the gym and I feel good about this as I know that it will help them in all areas of their lives.
The Integral Assessment made me realize that I need to focus on the interpersonal area of my life right now as I have been letting stress at work affect me and the way that I view my whole work experience. I need to remember that I am in control of how things affect me, try to stay away from the negatives at work, and not to take things personally when they want to incorporate change. This is something that I have been allowing control me and my whole day. So this is the area that I want to focus on growth and development in. There are many things that I can incorporate into my life to change this and some things that I am going to start trying will include reminding myself that I am in control of how things affect me, saying a prayer each day before I go into work that God will give me the strength that I need, practice Loving Kindness, and when things start upsetting me just taking a few moments and go to the bathroom and practice calm abiding so that I can go back into the situation and handle it more constructively.
Pray for me as I am trying to change this part of my life. For the first time in my life I can say that the one area that I feel most positive is the physical part. This is a daily journey for me but one that I am enjoying.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
http://ann-cooper.blogspot.com Unit 5 post
Hello Everyone,
I am sorry that it has been Sundays before I am able to find the time for my post. I am still trying to find the balance between work, the gym, school work, and seminars. Please bear with me and I will start getting to my blog again before Sundays.
The Subtle Mind exercise is my favorite. This is one that I have been practicing for awhile. It helps me during the day when I have a little bit of quiet time that I can slip away to regroup and come back to work and be ready to tackle the world. I have also found this very beneficial for me when I am going to bed at night to practice first as it relaxes me and I am able to sleep much better. Some of the benefits includedd the focus on the rising of the chest when breathing, this is much easier for me as I can visually see this and do not have to imagine it or try to visualize it. As always, the waves on the CD were very calming. This was the calm before the storm.
Five minutes into the exercise my CD went fuzzy and extremely loud in my ear as I was just starting to relax. Wow what a wakeup that was. Some of the frustrations include the fact that my mind tends to wonder a lot so this requires me to come back to my focus point and start again. The biggest frustration was the fact that the CD did not work properly.
I love the fact that once the breathing becomes peaceful it is amazing how peaceful the mind becomes. This is another reminder that the mind, body, and spiritual well being are all linked into one. When one is peaceful the others tend to follow. For me I have seen the connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness since I have begun on the journey to better health. I am approaching this in all areas of my life. I have incorporated my spirituality with my religous beliefs, mental well being by practicing the loving kindness and subtle mind exercises, and the physical well being when I go to the gym and attend my classes. Also, when I feel like I cannot go any longer, I change my thinking into positive thoughts and telling myself that I can do it and before I know it I am able to do what before seemed impossible.
I hope that everyone has a great week at work and with school as well. God bless until we meet again
I am sorry that it has been Sundays before I am able to find the time for my post. I am still trying to find the balance between work, the gym, school work, and seminars. Please bear with me and I will start getting to my blog again before Sundays.
The Subtle Mind exercise is my favorite. This is one that I have been practicing for awhile. It helps me during the day when I have a little bit of quiet time that I can slip away to regroup and come back to work and be ready to tackle the world. I have also found this very beneficial for me when I am going to bed at night to practice first as it relaxes me and I am able to sleep much better. Some of the benefits includedd the focus on the rising of the chest when breathing, this is much easier for me as I can visually see this and do not have to imagine it or try to visualize it. As always, the waves on the CD were very calming. This was the calm before the storm.
Five minutes into the exercise my CD went fuzzy and extremely loud in my ear as I was just starting to relax. Wow what a wakeup that was. Some of the frustrations include the fact that my mind tends to wonder a lot so this requires me to come back to my focus point and start again. The biggest frustration was the fact that the CD did not work properly.
I love the fact that once the breathing becomes peaceful it is amazing how peaceful the mind becomes. This is another reminder that the mind, body, and spiritual well being are all linked into one. When one is peaceful the others tend to follow. For me I have seen the connection of spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness since I have begun on the journey to better health. I am approaching this in all areas of my life. I have incorporated my spirituality with my religous beliefs, mental well being by practicing the loving kindness and subtle mind exercises, and the physical well being when I go to the gym and attend my classes. Also, when I feel like I cannot go any longer, I change my thinking into positive thoughts and telling myself that I can do it and before I know it I am able to do what before seemed impossible.
I hope that everyone has a great week at work and with school as well. God bless until we meet again
Sunday, January 9, 2011
http://ann-cooper.blogspot.com Unit 4 post
Hello Everyone,
I am truly loving this healthier lifestyle that I have started. I'm going to the gym 6 days a week and being concious to change my eating habits as well. This is lead me to a 4.5lb weight loss in 3 or 4 weeks now. I feel so much better about myself and am starting to see the benefits of the hard work and also feel the changes in my body. Thank God for helping me to find the time to make this much needed change in my life.
This exercise this week is very beneficial for me. I have a problem with showing loving kindness to my boyfriend because I have to be nice to everyone all day long and when I come home it is like I am short tempered with him and take everything out on him. This will help us out tremendously if I can make this change with him. The person in my life that I chose was my mother. She is someone who means the world to me, has been there for me through the good and bad, and is very dear in my heart although we are 1400 miles away from each other. I enjoyed the part when she said you must first love yourself before you can love others. That is so true. I am just now starting to feel like I love myself and it is wonderful. It makes me wonder why it took me so long to make this sacrifice for myself.
It made me feel good to take the pain and suffering away from one of my loved ones and be able to give them love, good health, and peace. The part of embracing our enemies was difficult for me because I have 2 people in my life that I am not able to forgive so I have a hard time wanting to give them anything good.
I would definately recommend this exercise to everyone as it would make the world a much happier place to live.
To me the mental workout is about practicing loving kindness and subtle mind daily in order to receive the full benefits that will lead to psychospiritual life. If you practice these things daily, you will start seeing the results in your life and when you stop practicing this daily you will notice it physically or mentally. I think of this as a workout for the mind, just like we work out daily for our physical well being. These will lead to wisdom, peace, compassion, happiness, and wholeness.
I try to implement mental workouts daily in my life with the subtle mind practice to foster my psychological health. This allows my mind time to relax, not think about anything, and then go back into my daily life with a clearer mind so that I handle situations better and keep myself in control instead of letting the situation control me.
I hope that everyone has a great week and God bless each and everyone.
I am truly loving this healthier lifestyle that I have started. I'm going to the gym 6 days a week and being concious to change my eating habits as well. This is lead me to a 4.5lb weight loss in 3 or 4 weeks now. I feel so much better about myself and am starting to see the benefits of the hard work and also feel the changes in my body. Thank God for helping me to find the time to make this much needed change in my life.
This exercise this week is very beneficial for me. I have a problem with showing loving kindness to my boyfriend because I have to be nice to everyone all day long and when I come home it is like I am short tempered with him and take everything out on him. This will help us out tremendously if I can make this change with him. The person in my life that I chose was my mother. She is someone who means the world to me, has been there for me through the good and bad, and is very dear in my heart although we are 1400 miles away from each other. I enjoyed the part when she said you must first love yourself before you can love others. That is so true. I am just now starting to feel like I love myself and it is wonderful. It makes me wonder why it took me so long to make this sacrifice for myself.
It made me feel good to take the pain and suffering away from one of my loved ones and be able to give them love, good health, and peace. The part of embracing our enemies was difficult for me because I have 2 people in my life that I am not able to forgive so I have a hard time wanting to give them anything good.
I would definately recommend this exercise to everyone as it would make the world a much happier place to live.
To me the mental workout is about practicing loving kindness and subtle mind daily in order to receive the full benefits that will lead to psychospiritual life. If you practice these things daily, you will start seeing the results in your life and when you stop practicing this daily you will notice it physically or mentally. I think of this as a workout for the mind, just like we work out daily for our physical well being. These will lead to wisdom, peace, compassion, happiness, and wholeness.
I try to implement mental workouts daily in my life with the subtle mind practice to foster my psychological health. This allows my mind time to relax, not think about anything, and then go back into my daily life with a clearer mind so that I handle situations better and keep myself in control instead of letting the situation control me.
I hope that everyone has a great week and God bless each and everyone.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
http://ann-cooper.blogspot.com Unit 3 post
Hello Everyone,
Before I get into my responses for this week post I would just like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hope that everyone had a joyful and relaxing holiday.
Also I would like to thank God for allowing me the ability to find the time daily for incorporating physical exercise into my daily schedule. Before now, I always had excuses for not making this time for myself and now I see what I have been missing. My first week of going to the gym 6 days I lost 1/2 a pound. I know that is not a lot but I was very pleased and mentally and physically I feel so much better off. Thank God for the eye opening that I had to do this for myself.
Based on my reflections I rate my spiritual well being a 7, psychological well being a 5, and physical well being a 7. This is much higher than I would have ranked it 2 weeks ago.
Spiritually with a 7 I would like to continue with my growth in the Lord and start trusting him more with my life. I know that when I am able to do this that I will see the benefits that have been there for me all along if I just believed, trusted, and followed his guidance.
Psychologically with a 5 I intend to take more time for the relaxation exercises, pilates, and possibly yoga so that I can experience the calming of the mind that comes from all of these activities. I still have a constant battle with myself everyday to go to the gym and not feel guilty for taking the time away from other areas of my life. This has been a battle for me to allow this time to take care of myself and know that I am worth it. I am still trying to get over the eating out of boredom, frustration, depression, and all the time so pray for me while I continue on my journey towards a healthier well being.
Physically at a 7 I want to continue going to the gym 6 days a week so that I can see the results. This includes not having to worry about illness, disease, and other conditions due to the abdominal fat that I have been carrying around for the longest time that leads to depression, CAD, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions. I am going to start adding weight training into my schedule of physical exercise once a week so think of me as this is not something that I look forward to but I know the benefits will be worth it.
The relaxation exercise Crime of the Century was a wonderful experience for me.
Some of the benefits included:
Focusing on my breathing, phrases that were encouraging to hear, the music and voice of the speaker were very calming and relaxing, and I felt calm and relaxed following the exercise.
I only had one frustrating thing for me with this exercise unless you count the fact that it ended to soon:
The visualizations of the colors was very difficult for me. I am a very concrete person so I had a hard time trying to visualize the colors and the beams of light that they put out.
May God bless each and everyone and let each of us experience a healthier and happier new year.
Before I get into my responses for this week post I would just like to wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Hope that everyone had a joyful and relaxing holiday.
Also I would like to thank God for allowing me the ability to find the time daily for incorporating physical exercise into my daily schedule. Before now, I always had excuses for not making this time for myself and now I see what I have been missing. My first week of going to the gym 6 days I lost 1/2 a pound. I know that is not a lot but I was very pleased and mentally and physically I feel so much better off. Thank God for the eye opening that I had to do this for myself.
Based on my reflections I rate my spiritual well being a 7, psychological well being a 5, and physical well being a 7. This is much higher than I would have ranked it 2 weeks ago.
Spiritually with a 7 I would like to continue with my growth in the Lord and start trusting him more with my life. I know that when I am able to do this that I will see the benefits that have been there for me all along if I just believed, trusted, and followed his guidance.
Psychologically with a 5 I intend to take more time for the relaxation exercises, pilates, and possibly yoga so that I can experience the calming of the mind that comes from all of these activities. I still have a constant battle with myself everyday to go to the gym and not feel guilty for taking the time away from other areas of my life. This has been a battle for me to allow this time to take care of myself and know that I am worth it. I am still trying to get over the eating out of boredom, frustration, depression, and all the time so pray for me while I continue on my journey towards a healthier well being.
Physically at a 7 I want to continue going to the gym 6 days a week so that I can see the results. This includes not having to worry about illness, disease, and other conditions due to the abdominal fat that I have been carrying around for the longest time that leads to depression, CAD, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions. I am going to start adding weight training into my schedule of physical exercise once a week so think of me as this is not something that I look forward to but I know the benefits will be worth it.
The relaxation exercise Crime of the Century was a wonderful experience for me.
Some of the benefits included:
Focusing on my breathing, phrases that were encouraging to hear, the music and voice of the speaker were very calming and relaxing, and I felt calm and relaxed following the exercise.
I only had one frustrating thing for me with this exercise unless you count the fact that it ended to soon:
The visualizations of the colors was very difficult for me. I am a very concrete person so I had a hard time trying to visualize the colors and the beams of light that they put out.
May God bless each and everyone and let each of us experience a healthier and happier new year.
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