Unit 8

With the limited amount of time I've had this term I was able to complete at least two of the practices and found that they are very useful in my daily life (when I can find time to do them that is).  For the post I will discuss Loving Kindness and Meditation. 

Loving kindness is something sorely lacking in the world these days and on a worldly side it made me feel good to think that I might be putting some of that out in to the world.  Personally, the aspect of looking at ones self with loving kindness was difficult for me.  There are many aspects of my life, the decisions I've made and my body image issues that I have trouble coming to terms with.  I have used this method of meditation to look inward to each of those aspects I'm not happy with and find a way to love what I did, where I am or how I look.  I won't say that I have turned my life around but it has given me so insight as to WHY I might think or feel that way.  I think that WHY is the question that plagues us the most when we are experiencing mental chaos and confusion.  Looking at myself with love, spreading that love to others both near and far is a passion I can get behind and continue to use.

As for meditation, I have difficulty not fidgeting and maintaining stillness during meditation.  I feel that there is ALWAYS something else I could be doing and that I was wasting time.  Then after a period of time it's almost like a switch got flipped and I start to gain a sense of calm in my mind.  If I can keep for getting physically distracted by my children, the sense of calm is one that seems to be sustained for a good while afterwards.  It makes it a lot easier to deal with the daily stresses.  I can see that this will be really helpful over the summer with all three kids home at the same time for days on end...

Well back to attacking the laundry monster that is rapidly trying to eat my house...