Wow! The Future has come to a close!

These past 10 weeks certainly has come and gone quickly! I think it was like a whirl wind for me. I have been through a very tough period in my life in these past 6 months and fortunately, this class has helped me through it. I can't say that I participated the way that I should have, but I am definitely leaving this class knowing that I something will be taken away from what I have learned!
Comparing how I scored myself in Unit 3 to now on these three elements is not as relevant as what I have learned, at least that is my opinion. I do not see that the score has changed much except that I have gain a better understanding in each of these aspects of health. They have each increased just a little bit.
As mentioned before, I have tried to obtain the goals that I have set for myself, but I have not been completely successful. If you want to reach a sense of absolute happiness and be able to love someone fully but they seem to put a wall up that you cannot break down is not my idea of succeeding. I have tried in all three aspects but unfortunately, I do not see it happening.
Learning about integral health and well being has definitely taught me a lot about myself and those around me. I would definitely agree that my well-being has improved. I can see things more clearly and I am aware that health and well being on the outside is just as important as it is on the inside. Learning to accept others even if they are not nice and create hostility in my life, is probably the most challenging lesson I learned these past 10 weeks. When we did the Loving - Kindness exercise, it took me a little time to get over taking away the bad in people and sending out the good. But I know that the positive energy I have learned to possess will help others to see that positive energy is beneficial for all. I can also help others by showing them that it is not about the outside world, but it is about the inside of your self that you need to look at and realize what to do with!

Unit 5 Exercies

My unit 5 exercise was so much more in depth for me. It opened me up to being able to really focus on breathing and learning how to achieve the subtle mind. I don't know about any of you, but I noticed so many different faces that tried to deter my attention away from my breath of people I didn't even know. Does this happen to anyone else? Once the exercise was over, I felt so happy and lifted and relaxed, I slept so well that night!

I feel as though this exercise was much more easier for me than the previous one because it wasn't asking me to do something that I am not comfortable doing. I didn't have any frustrations but I definitely enjoyed listening to my breath move in and out of my chest more so with this one than the last one.

Since I have completed the subtle mind exercise, everytime I feel stressed, I just go back to that feeling that I had and it helps to relax me just a little more.

Loving Kindness

So I thoroughly enjoyed this week's exercise, as I do each week. Every time I listen to these exercises, it gives me this overwhelming sense of calmness, but then I go back to what I was doing and feel almost as if it wasn't enough. I guess that is because I am just starting out and I need to learn to put myself into that feeling and keep it there for as long as I can and use those feelings to push out any bad feelings that I may encounter. However, I would definitely recommend this and the other exercises to other people, in fact I have tried to get my husband to do these with me, but he has declined. During the exercise, it asked us to think of someone who is in a time of need right now. I immediately thought my aunt who is having a rough time financially, emotionally, and spiritually. This is the person I would recommend this to most. The concept of the mental workout is to teach the mind to think differently than it would normally think on an average basis. The benefits of a mental workout are being able to have a sound mind and to be able to think of others and show that self centeredness in a negative way is not healthy. Only a few minutes a day of outward thinking of others and their problems is one way of implementing mental workouts. Another way would be to see or feel the stress and hardships of others and take a moment to inflect on those feelings and help to push them out.