Tuesday, January 29, 2013

An Exercise in Loving-Kindness and Mental Workouts


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

I felt that I couldn't concentrate on the exercise this week. Maybe that is because as we explored last week my spiritual portion of the mind-body-spirit connection is the weakest. So far I have realized that a male voice seems to be more relaxing that a female voice to me. The sound of waves crashing I found more relaxing than music but I also found it slightly distracting this week. It could just be my personal stress level as well as I have had a lot less ability to practice “silence and stillness” that we've been learning about than I have in previous weeks. I tried the exercise multiple times throughout the week, at different times of the day, hoping that I would be less distracting and none of them seemed to work.

Regardless of the fact that it did not work for me and I received no benefit from it, I would still recommend the exercise to others as they may have a better connection with a female voice, or the sounds of the waves. Others may also have more time to relax their minds and practice “silence and stillness” than I have been able to do.

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?

What is a mental workout? In the same way exercise is a physical workout that helps strengthen your body a mental workout helps you strengthen your mind. Mental workouts have been proven to be able to increase clarity and focus and even increase a higher thought process which has been scientifically measured by the use of gamma waves. Not only can it have short-term benefits, thanks to a study by Antoine Lutz it has been shown that the benefits can be long-term as well. By applying the practices we are learning then we can do short daily workouts to help boost our own thought processes and mental health and wellness.

I apologize for coming in so late to my blog post this week, I am currently fighting the stomach flu and have been so sick that my entire body is sore. I hope to get an earlier start this upcoming week.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sandy,
I was late as well posting my blog so you’re not alone. I never really ever thought of mental work outs helping in your daily life until I started doing them for this class, I do admit for a brief time it helps. Now, if I can continue to do them maybe I can build up my endurance to last the whole day.

Unknown said...

I agree Thomas, I think like our reading mentions Olympic athletes - who train constantly if we want these to become like a "second nature" we must do them daily. Of course that is a lot easier said than done in many cases.

Like my post on the discussion board last week, I often find it hard to take "me" time and the "silence and stillness" seems almost impossible some days.

I am willing to keep trying though.

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