Hey everyone. First I want to apologize that this is such a late posting. I was having trouble getting into the Kaplan site all weekend. I am assuming that was due to the renovations they were doing.
I listened to Loving Kindness Practice by Dacher. I have to say honestly I was not that thrilled with it. I did fine when the person was talking. I was able to do what she was telling me. However, the periods of silence were way too long and my mind started to wander. Also, I did not enjoy the sound of the waves after a while. This one might not be a bad one to listen to right before bed but during the middle of the day was a little bit more difficult.
The purpose of a mental workout is to keep your mind fresh. It is a way to always keep the mind active or evolving (Dacher, 2006). Some of the benefits of a mental workout are being able to open the heart and mind, and help with better understanding (Dacher, 2006). Incorporating mental workouts into my life can definitely help me psychologically. It will help me think more clearly and open my heart to others. This will not only help me with decision making but also to have empathy for others.
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Laguna Beach: Basic Health Publications.
Kristin
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are saying about it being difficult to keep focus for long durations of time. I think with practice, though, that this is supposed to become easier. You do have a point too in referring to the time of day. I think that the exercise would definately be easier at the beginning or the end of the day. This way you would not have to try to calm your mind from all of the business going on in the middle of your day and instead, you would be more able to focus on the task at hand.
Kristin
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your insight into the subject of mental workout. Just like any other aspect of our lives, our psychospiritual fitness requires exercise in order for us to experience premium health. You are right in that this sort of mental workout will help us all to open our hearts and minds and to build an empathy for others.
Kristin, I am glad to meet someone that has a littler attention span than I do!! HA I typically find my mind wandering if there is too much time to "think" about what you are supposed to "think" about. For some reason my experience was good. I have to admit that I have only done the exercise once... my goal was to do it every day. :( I did the exercise first thing in the day, so that was probably good too. I so lack in the area of "a witnessing mind", so I just have to get to the point where exercises like the Dacher Loving Kindness one is practiced every single day! That is scary for me!
ReplyDeletePS LOVE that you are a roller derby gal! That is so cool! I want to go to the derby in Denver one of these days. They are even starting a derby up in my small town! So, I wont to go and check it out! You go girl!!
Kristin it seems like a lot of us were affected by the outage, so no worries there!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the exercise. I agree that it would be probably be best before falling asleep at night, but definitely overwhelming to think about doing very frequently.