Reflecting a Life Worth While

A.     Physical Wellbeing-I rate my physical wellbeing a 6-7/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. When I think physical I am thinking about my body and whether or not it is physically fit. I have been working on improving my physical health over a long period of time and have made great strides to a healthier lifestyle. Ten years ago I weighed 408 lbs. on the day that I gave birth to my first child (son). Today, I weight 260 lbs. after shedding 50-60 lbs. on my own and undergoing a weight loss surgical procedure in September 2013. I am continuing to lose weight but have endured various changes throughout (physically, mentally, and emotionally). I can jog a short distance in between my long walks now and it makes me feel great because that is something that I was not able to do before. I now have two children that I am trying to teach about physical wellbeing so that they do not have to spend half of their life reversing what they originally became like I did. Overall, despite having been morbid obese I was of great health without co-morbidities like most people (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea).

UPDATE: Today I weigh 255 lbs. This means that I have only lost 5 lbs in the past few weeks, but I also have to give myself credit because I had surgery 6 weeks ago and was unable to physically be active the way I typically would like to be. I returned back to work yesterday and have already implemented positive enforcement regarding my physical wellbeing. On the scale of optimal wellbeing I originally rated myself as teetering from a 6-7/10 and now have rated myself a solid 7/10.  

B.     Spiritual Wellbeing-I rate my spiritual wellbeing an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I am very in touch with my surroundings and ways that I can center myself when I feel off track. At times it is difficult to task when various distractions are occurring at the same time. There is always room to improve. I am trying to alter my connections in relationships to a positive level and fade out the negative links that are not of any beneficial gains. My personal values are in place and my purpose in life is strong-willed. Furthering my education, working on my personal health, ensuring that my children and mother are safe and well-supported and maintaining a shelter (my home) are important pieces of my life.

UPDATE:  My spiritual wellbeing has remained unchanged as an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I have undergone two life altering surgical procedures within the past 11 months and have to provide myself with an optimistic reflection on how far I have come through all of the walks of life I have endured thus far.  

C.     Psychological Wellbeing-I rate my psychological wellbeing a 6/10. I have struggled with an anxiety disorder and depression and have been trying to gain control over the symptoms during all of my mental, emotional, and physical changes since my weight loss. This was a huge life change not just for me but for my children and mother (they are my only family). Each day I coach myself to think in a positive manner and cut out anything (including things like social drinking) that may be the slightest of negativity in my physical and mental wellbeing.

UPDATE: Psychologically, I am moving myself from a 6/10 to an 8/10. I have to recognize and be aware that if I was not on the level at which I place myself now, then my achievements would never be reached. I have down days, just like anyone else who does have or doesn’t have anxiety/depression. I take that back, of course naturally, everyone has anxiety, but where it controls you is when it becomes a problem. I stepped up to the stage and will continue to behave in the most happiness manner.

STATUS OF MY LIFE:

I am not entirely contented with my life at present. From a well-being point of view, I feel that I am less able to realize my potential than most people, all other things being equal. I am not feeling much in the way of optimism at present, but this could be related to multiple stressful events within a short period of time and an upcoming surgery and recovery to overcome. I find it hard to trust others fully and feel that I have few people you can turn to for help. However, there are a couple of people that I feel can provide guidance and support, one being my mother. I may benefit from self-help materials through personal support from a professional perspective.

UPDATE: I returned back to work full duty as of yesterday after six long weeks of recovery after a major gynecological surgery performed in July. My mother has been quite the irritating person over the weeks despite me hardly being around her. I thought I was going to enjoy the time off, but it was the opposite. I found myself procrastinating and feeling irresponsible and not being that strong and achieving individual that I have on occasion viewed myself as being. I try daily to remind myself of the changes in my health and wellness over the past year and that I am still healing from all and learning to adapt. Yesterday, my life felt like it returned to normalcy as I returned to work and began working with patients who have their own set of health and wellness concerns. I was able to concentrate on them and not worry about me. I picked myself back up again after being down and can only go up from here.

GOALS:

There are various ways in which I can handle stress through coping mechanisms. My goals are to remind myself daily of the various changes that have occurred over the years and how I was able to overcome all of those obstacles and see that what is happening now may be different, but not at all different with regard to it being a challenge that I will still defeat successfully. I will identify each personal meaning of each change and recognize the feelings I am experiencing and question myself how I can adjust to each change. I need to be more mindful and take my time at making decisions, especially those that I am anticipating in the future (i.e., major surgery, transition in college degree to nursing and clinical). With a slow and steady pace I will win the race and it will get done. My accomplishments are viewed as a continuation of my daily life and not a road block or a destination to be reached. Self-compassion and patience will be learned more in depth and understanding that it is not abnormal for people (such as myself) to become overwhelmed by life’s stressors. I will learn to recognize those things that I can control and those that I cannot control, and, when possible, will decide on which modifications I want to take on.

UPDATE: There is not a day that goes by without me self-encouraging even when ¾ of my day may consist of a depression episode. Even when I find others around me speaking positive words, I sometimes feel like they are lying because they don’t know what it feels like to be me and have more than a boat load of responsibilities without help. When I read my previous goals I can tell that I was more upbeat and optimistic. I may not quite feel that strong today but will work up to it with more rest and after surviving my six day work week and starting my nursing classes as of next week.  

IMPROVING WELLBEING:

The following are ways in which I will improve to improve my physical, spiritual, and psychological wellbeing:

1. Create contentment in my life’s situation

2. Make time to be alone and locate my inner peace

3. Sit back and reflect on life’s situations to resolve worries

4. Experience satisfaction for a job that I have done well

5. Become more involved in a physically active lifestyle (i.e., hiking a mountain, site seeing), so that I be sure I am not viewing life as a passenger but rather from the driver seat with my seatbelt fastened securely that the life that I hold

6. Balance and life control needs to be managed and sustained

7. Establish and create relationships worthwhile

8. Each day I wake up I need to rehearse that I have a meaning and life and a purpose

9. I will accept growth and the dares of life

UPDATE & WHAT I AM TAKING FROM THIS CLASS:

1.      Working on contentment because I have been very confused in my personal life. I am dating a new and extremely respectful and caring individual that I never expected to meet or even feel as good as I do when I am with him.

2.      In all of my six weeks of spare time I did not give myself a lot of alone time, but when my anxiety was increased and I could sense it, I forced myself to be alone so that I could think clearly and work towards the inner self that is peeling through the layers to be exposed.

3.      I am constantly reflecting on life encounters and solutions are all I want so that stress can be avoided.

4.      I still feel satisfaction to an extent but because of my leave of absence from work I feel that it was weakened. I don’t know if this is normal, but I have hope that it will be back to the level it needs to be at in no time!

5.      I am restarting the implementation of healthier eating habits, watching proportion sizes, and finding time to get any exercise no matter the amount of time or distance. Anything is better than nothing. I get off my bottom every day and move about life as I am supposed to and more activities will follow as the seasons change to fall and winter.

6.       Still balancing and managing by way of my individual capacities.

7.      I have bonded with an individual that I never expected to get close to because she is of a different class than I am. I found a new friend that needs my help!

8.      Rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse. A meaning, a life, a purpose.

9.      Growth transpires every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, and every year. Life is life and the gambles and challenges that provoke courage!

 

Achieving Goals of Health and Wellness

Creating Health and Wellness

It is vital that any and all health and wellness professionals develop psychologically, spiritually and physically. We have a promise to uphold and a humanity to respect as well as superior quality of care to provide to our patients. Medical providers have to not think just outside the box, but place themselves inside it and break it down so it can be used over and over again. Mind-body techniques and their theories are vital to all professionals in the health and wellness field because if they do not have a sound body and mind, they will not be able to educate, counsel, or support patients in behavioral and mental development by way of positive thoughts and feelings. Physical fitness and proper nutrition are the blocks to building a firm and sensible mind-body relationship. Healthcare professionals live in a world covered with stress when handling patients with various illness and diseases and to keep composure and never let them become altered by the environment surrounding them, maintenance of optimal health and wellness is crucial.  

As Dacher stated, Integral Health is created and nurtured from within one’s own self. It guides to an all-embracing, universal, in-depth therapy of the physical body, mentality, and a soul that is resistant to life’s misfortunes, incorporating illness, phases of age, and demise. Authentic Happiness surfaces from the inside and is costly, strong, loving, and impervious by the occurrences of day-to-day living. Genuine wholeness entwines encounters of all components of life, a unified presence and an unremitting solidarity that is collectively joined by comfort, contentment, compassion, kindheartedness, and a weightlessness of coexisting. To reach health, happiness, and wholeness, health and wellness needs to be established. Believing, comprehending, and managing life to its fullest capability by encompassing respect for one another, creating memories, being attentive to individual sentiments, and sharing optimism in a copious fashion throughout the lifetime evolving at hand are ways in which medical professionals, or any person for that matter, can develop psychologically, spiritually, and physically.

I have indeed assessed my health in each domain of psychological, spiritual, and physical health and have determined which areas need further developing in order to achieve my goals.  Primarily, my physical and spiritual states of health are lacking the mind-body connection when I am having physical ailments such as Fibromyalgia flare ups and because of the pain I recognize my anxiety and depression is on the rise. When I take care of my physical well-being I am aware that my psychological and spiritual health are in a phase of restoration and desire even more of the drug-like addiction feeling.

 I have rated my physical wellbeing a 6-7/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. When I think physical I am thinking about my body and whether or not it is physically fit. I have been working on improving my physical health over a long period of time and have made great strides to a healthier lifestyle. Ten years ago I weighed 408 lbs. on the day that I gave birth to my first child (son). Today, I weight 260 lbs. after shedding 50-60 lbs. on my own and undergoing a weight loss surgical procedure in September 2013. I am continuing to lose weight but have endured various changes throughout (physically, mentally, and emotionally). I can jog a short distance in between my long walks now and it makes me feel great because that is something that I was not able to do before. I now have two children that I am trying to teach about physical wellbeing so that they do not have to spend half of their life reversing what they originally became like I did. Overall, despite having been morbid obese I was of great health without co-morbidities like most people (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea).

I rated my spiritual wellbeing an 8/10 on the scale of optimal wellbeing. I am very in touch with my surroundings and ways that I can center myself when I feel off track. At times it is difficult to task when various distractions are occurring at the same time. There is always room to improve. I am trying to alter my connections in relationships to a positive level and fade out the negative links that are not of any beneficial gains. My personal values are in place and my purpose in life is strong-willed. Furthering my education, working on my personal health, ensuring that my children and mother are safe and well-supported and maintaining a shelter (my home) are important pieces of my life.

I rated my psychological wellbeing a 6/10. I have struggled with an anxiety disorder and depression and have been trying to gain control over the symptoms during all of my mental, emotional, and physical changes since my weight loss. This was a huge life change not just for me but for my children and mother (they are my only family). Each day I coach myself to think in a positive manner and cut out anything (including things like social drinking) that may be the slightest of negativity in my physical and mental wellbeing.

Utilization of your psyche can modify a physical workout to a mind-body workout in which the mind allows for enhancement in the results of the work out. The physical exercise of the physical well-being is manipulated for psychological training. During workouts, we have the ability to envision the escalation in power, adaptability, and perseverance (Dacher, 2006).

We have to shift gears and sanction the mind to support us in accomplishing our goals. We can be tentative to the way we breathe and how breathing engages actions and if our concentration wanders, we can reverse its direction and guide into focus. When disturbances evolve, we need to permit the disorder to evaporate intuitively. As we become motionlessness and begin to relax, we need to let cognizance and consciousness to encounter all things but connect to nothing. Moving forward, we must maintain the accessible, compulsory perception (Dacher, 2006).

The mind-body functioning as a complete unit will help to merge physical activities and meditative training as a connection for the mind-body communication and exchange. Examples of activities that are energy orientated and join the mind-body connection are yoga, palates, healing meditation, tai chi, and martial arts.

Paying attention to your atmosphere, the surroundings, and the people in it are important, but at the same time, we have to learn to channel the white noise out of the picture and locate our flow of air, blood, and senses. Using the imagination by recalling mental imagery will wipe the slate clean and initiate a fresh foundation with each breath, step, and momentum. Energy amongst all can foster a mental-spiritual work out in which the mind-body are united.

Monitoring my physical exercise, journaling my psychological encounters, and watching for a spiritual connection are basic ways in which I can assess my progress or lack of progress in the next six months of fostering a great health and wellness. Life responsibilities will continue to collect as I head life head first into my nursing education, cutting down on work hours, and maintaining shelter, food, and clothing for myself and my children. I work in family practice and it is essential that I create coping mechanisms to assist in maintaining my long-term practices for health and wellness.

Reference

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral health: The path to human flourishing. Laguna
Beach, CA: Basic Health.

 

 

 

 

Benefits of loving-kindess and meditation

The loving-kindness and meditation practices have been the most beneficial is guiding me through this course. I am struggling with creating mental fitness because I have undergone two major surgeries within ten months and have endured many hardships in the process. The loving-kindness brings me back to a warm and comfortable frame of mind that enables me to manifest optimism when I think back to myself “what is loving and what kindness is?” My answer to this question is focused and only on imaging what I view as love and what I view as kindness. I have observed that my children have these attributes, they are just not aware of it yet. This leads me to self-awareness and where I turn to next in the journey of life, meditation. Meditation is difficult to implement in my daily life, therefore I have to work at it in my evening life when homework is said and done, kids settled down, and my own body enters a relaxation mode. I am a coach to myself, but hearing the noises when the sounds of moving water, no voices, no interruptions, only me and the water in our natural states and in the same time, mixing in visuals that bring me into a deeper meditation. I plan to try yoga and use this as another form of meditation in which I can become more in tune with my inner self, mentally, physically, and spiritually. My self-esteem and confidence has improved to a level that I never thought I would feel again. The practices have created another support outlet that won’t drive me in the wrong direction because the only place they will bring me is up!

My Aesclepius, My Meditation, My Practice, My Growth

Complete the Meeting Aesclepius mp3 (located in the Doc Sharing area). Describe your meditative practices for the week and discuss the experience. Explain how mindfulness or meditation has fostered an increase in your psychological or spiritual wellness. How can you continue to apply these practices in your life to foster greater health and wellness?

Aesclepius, my mentor, my vision, is a she, my mother Theresa. My meditative practice was focused on her, my immediate go-to, life-long supporter and ruler. The speaker’s voice was soothing this time around, but why? Is it because I am adapting to the various practices or that I did focus and listen genuinely? Dacher refers to the river connecting to the ocean and its stillness, quietness, and stability yet the waterfall is noisy. I find the sound of a waterfall to be the opposite and quieting in my mind. Wise, individual, present, past, respect, honor, connection, it can be difficult to designate a person of such qualities yet we have the ability to imagine and create one of such reflection. I have stayed with my mother and have deepened the connection that meeting Aesclepius instructs. The white light, a beam of energy represents thoughts and images and is said to be in a way that we can alter to stabilize the mind as it soaks in purity and wisdom from my mother, Theresa. The waves are crashing but recede with a soft washing of any imbalances. The speech is to come of what the wise one (mother) had spoken and is being passed onto me so that I can continue to pursue wisdom and lovingness through my sensitive speech. The heart is purified by bathing in compassion and loving-kindness. I hear in the background what imitates a thunderous sound or the depth of the ocean, like the deep thoughts from my mind, words from my speaking, and the beating of my heart, all of which I was able to transform myself into self-guidance.

Mindfulness meditation has opened up my psyche to see life on a clearer path that has helped me to determine my purposes, go about reaching them, and continuing to strive for health, happiness, and wholeness. My mind, body, and spirit are trying to connect. Unfortunately, with all of my recent major surgeries it has been extremely challenging and continues to be that way throughout my self-healing process. I continue to apply optimism regardless of my situation and regardless of who is surrounding my atmosphere. In my home, in the street, in the store, in conversation, and deep within my consciousness I self-adhere and comply with the intent to flourish my psychospiritual health and wellness and foster only the positivity that life has to offer.

Describe the saying: "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" (p.477). How does this apply to the health and wellness professional? Do you have an obligation to your clients to be developing your health psychologically, physically, and spiritually? Why or why not? How can you implement psychological and spiritual growth in your personal life?

I cannot guide someone in the direction of the unknown, a place where I have never been, seen, felt, heard, or touched. In the medical profession I cannot conversation with patients about their own level of pain or direct experiences when I, myself, may never have encountered similarity. Another saying, “you can’t lead a dead horse to water,” becomes clearer to me. This is something my mother has said to me repeatedly over the years and speaks that if we, ourselves, do not know where to find what is necessary to survive, then we cannot carry or guide life to the essentials required for that survival. I certainly do have an obligation to patients that I work with on developing my health psychologically, physically, and spiritually. How can I act, respond, prepare, or have intents that will provide quality care for people if I do not have self-awareness, a sound mind, loving-kindness, or that connection needed between the body, mind, and spirit. Personally, I am in control of all aspects of my human existence and as a result I can implement psychological and spiritual growth in my personal life. For example, a burning building, people are frantic and lots of chaos would be apparent like the sounds of people screaming, crying, the smell of fire burning, crackling sounds from wood burning, and everyone heading for the very same exit to save their own life. This scene imagined in my mind can be changed to a calm and collective exit for survival by eliminating the noises, concentrating on the purpose of finding the way out and to help others surrounding me to remain stable so that we can make it out together, all we can do is try.

Meditation and Me

Universal Loving-Kindness Exercise

The universal loving-kindness exercise is meant for I (me) as the individual and All as the individuals, which explains why it is universal and a collective loving-kindness. Initially, as I began to repeat the phrases for the duration requested, I thought I was going to be very distracted in my mind and have difficulty focusing. However, that was not the case. I discovered that I have already been exhibiting acts and qualities of loving-kindness without having any prior meditative or integral healing practices in my life. I immediately started to recall the acts of kindness that I have assisted friends, family, co-workers, and strangers in gaining freedom from suffering by opening up their opportunities to find health, happiness, and wholeness. It could be that I have suffered in life like others and fostered my own individual path to health, happiness, and wholeness. I share and reflect my personal experiences and education with just about anyone that crosses my path by chance or even by a conversation. My mind and heart has always been great and so I have been told on numerous occasions that it is made of gold. I hold a treasure (my gold heart) and I will unearth more valuableness with time as it passes. I find myself engaging in with random people throughout my day whether it was at the gas station or at the grocery store. Each person has a story and I am a listener and there is more to be told. 

Integral Assessment

My biological aspect of my life is the source of difficulty and suffering at this point and time in my life. My body is the first level of development that is essential to me. Fitness is my primary line of development. I have been lacking on physical exercise with a recent surgery (2 weeks ago today) and have been trying to continue with weight loss since my weight loss surgery that was performed in September 2013. My nutrition is the second line of development that is interconnected with fitness. My body is continuing to heal in recent days and it was a major change for me at such a young 31 years of age. I had a hysterectomy that came along after my 100+ pounds of weight loss. Despite it being a great change for me not to worry about a monthly menstrual cycle, I was saddened that I permanently was no longer able to carry any more children. I don’t understand why that is when I had a tubal ligation 7 years ago when I had my daughter by a scheduled C-section and signed a contract to fix me. This part of my body is healing. My hormones are connected to my spirit and mind which are affected levels of development with the major changes to my physical person within the last ten months. I have cut back on my working so that I could provide further healing, but in some ways I feel like I am just on a vacation that is boring and have made the goal of returning back to work next week a few days at a time and then as tolerated. Growth and development is taking place in many different areas of my life all at the same time. Today I decided to visit my brother who lives 2-3 hours north after I went to have my interview and drug testing in order to start nursing classes next term. Low and behold he coincidentally got the okay to see him son for the week, his son he hasn’t seen in 12 years, my nephew I hadn’t seen in 12 years. This is an emotional experience but happy all at once because neither of our visits were prearranged and I feel like God brought us together. Yesterday my son had a visitor from out of state (grandmother from father’s side of family, a father not involved) and she hadn’t seen him since he was a year old (he is now 10). I am trying to figure out why all of the reunions are taking place all around the same time? I am becoming more awareness that not only my physical body is changing, but the people surrounding my atmosphere are changing. These people are important to me despite the fact that I do not travel often to see them. Today is the first time in 8 years that I visited the town where my son born. The small city has changed, but I don’t miss it because it was a city where negative memories existed, yet I don’t think about those memories as the reason why I am here today. My mind, body, and spirit are becoming balanced and focused on healing in order to promote integral development within my biological developments. I hope this makes sense to anyone that reads it. I am sure it sounds like chatter in your mind, but it’s a reality and recognition of cognizance in my mind.

I will always be able to foster new adaptations with the changes that are ever-lasting by continuing to keep a balanced life amongst the psychological, biological, and other aspects of healing and wellness. Practicing meditation when I have a spare moment that I say to myself "I am bored" can turn into a healthy "I am bored." I will be waiting to approach a yoga class once I am fully healed from surgery and can't wait to see what other dimensions of my mind, body, and spirit will open for doors and windows of opportunities.

Thought, Wellness, Healing...Mind, Body, Spirit

Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

At the start of the Subtle Mind exercise I found it difficult to concentrate on my breath through my chest falls but on the contrary was ease focusing on my breath through my nostrils. I felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety just with trying to center my focus on my breathing instructions. As a result, I was feeling slight frustration because it reminded me of working with my hands on a tedious object that I was unable to handle. I did not experience interruptions of chaotic thoughts outside of my focus because I practiced this exercise while lying in bed with only the white noise of my fan in the background of my headphones as I listened to the speaker’s voice. Again she had a calming tone of voice but disturbed me when she began to speak after the duration of oceanic waves and music that I associated with Native Indians (I don’t know why that is, but I presume because their culture if very absorbed in rituals that involve sounds from nature). The musical ambiance was more calming than the ocean atmosphere because of the soothing flute. The Subtle Mind involves a direct relationship between the breath and the mind, a peaceful breathing, a peaceful mind, a still breath, and a still mind. Stabilization of my mind be establishing a witnessing consciousness was successful through this technique and will involve several attempts to make it a routine. The term subtle covers an array of meanings such as intelligence, understanding, delicate, and ingenious. I know associate my mind with each one of these meanings because the mind is composed of these ideas and much more.

The Loving-Kindness approach entailed opening my heart and concentrating on someone that I love dearly. Developing a full experience directed me to care and provide affection to myself, my sensations, my loving-kindness, and create spaciousness with ease. This exercise fixated on thoughts, feelings, images, and the observation of each. Similar to the Subtle Mind concept, stillness, peace, and gentleness are the main attractions of the mind. The loving-kindness was interpreted as a natural home with substantial surroundings of straightforward awareness in which mental activity hovers. Loving and kindness are words of comfort and worked towards more of a behavioral thought process that the subtle mind engaged performance of breathing practices.

Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

The connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness is the evolution of the interchanging from body to mind to spirit. It is a swing in encounters and distinctiveness from the physical domain. It is a transfer that accentuates existence, impulses, and personality to a refined and indescribable mental domain. The mental wellness centers on thoughts, purpose, and centralizes a bond to a refined spiritual domain of recognition, perception, and unity.

As we become stable after psychospiritual development, higher levels of consciousness and enhancement of experience and its subtleties of the mind-body connection, we begin to recognize the aspect of the spiritual body. Broadening the boundaries of the human experience poses the topmost conception of the human body.

This connection is part of every individual’s personal life. Particularly, in my life, my mental and physical wellness are key to opening the door for my spiritual wellness. My physical aspects are my body (physiological/biological), my home, my children and mother (all of these are standing tall). My mental aspect speaks to my organization of the collected responsibilities, management of my anxiety disorder and depression, and more subtle, being able to think on impulse. If I have a balance in the physical and mental department, the spirituality cultivates and shows me that highest point I strive to reach daily. Every day I wake up with my physical body, I open my eyes, stretch my legs and arms, and wait for clarity in my mind. When my mind and body connect I can determine the intentions for the day (whether routine or not). I am well-rehearsed is habit and as I age, I see the spiritual side of me peeking through the door like the sun through the clouds. It is there always, just waiting to be uncovered.

Loving-Kindness, Is it a mental workout?

Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not? 


My experience was very unusual because I was extremely tired in the moment that I decided to listen to the relaxation exercise. It probably didn’t help that I had taken a shower after a long day and was winding down. However, the woman’s voice was very soothing, but the ocean waves and background sounds were much more relaxing. When there was a break in the listening to the sounds I became startled when the woman started to speak again. I have to be honest, I did fall asleep towards the end. I certainly would recommend the loving-kindness to others. I will listen to it again in the future because I did find it to be a tool in relaxing my mind and focusing on important people in my life. I did have a difficult time trying to imagine one person that I love but was able to flip my mind through images of each person that I do love and think about them in a way that the loving-kindness has played a role in each individual life and how it connected to me. I was very happy to think about these special people as I do not have a long list, rather a shortened and specific list. Any exercise such as the loving-kindness that provides a refreshing and cleansing of the mind, body, and spirit is worthwhile and of great value.


What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?


Our minds need a daily workout just like our physical body. Practice leads to positive results as we clearly would not be practicing for negativity. We cannot attain human flourishing without utilizing aspects of our psychopsiritual life. Education, knowledge, and resources are available for each and every one of us to exercise and reap benefits, but if we lack mental workouts, our mental and physical performance and state of being will be deprived of the health and wellness it needs to maintain psychological health. Persistence and diligence is vital when fostering a strong psychological health. Mental workouts can be implemented through rest and relaxation. Having a quiet and comfortable environment will open up our minds to establishing our internal relationship and connections. Acting on our own behalves, we should surround ourselves with positive and environments so that exercising mental workouts can be done easily and provide stepping stones to greater health.