OK, not funny! This weeks exersise in suble mind was frustrating to me! I tried so hard to quiet my mind and stop it from moving all over the place. That is really hard for me. I must be a really flight-y kind of girl or something! ggggrrrrr!!! I never thought of myself as too light-hearted to quiet my brain down but apparently I am. Here is my story...
Loving kindness exersises are so much more natural for me than the subtle mind exersises. Talking about feelings, thoughts, and images are a very natural part of my life. I practice this based on my upbringing. My family has always prided itself on providing loving kindness to themselves, others, and especially those in need. Turning the mind inward in order to provide kindness to another is a natural process for me.
In contrast, the subtle mind exersise on the Dacher CD was extremely frustrating for me! I can not seem to quiet my mind. This technique is going to take a lot of practice for me. We learn through the subtle mind exersise that we have the power to impartially observe our lives without an emotional response to the events. Per Dacher, after mastering the subtle mind techniques, our clear and still mind is revealed (Dacher, p73). Like I said earlier, I will have to practice this one for a while before I can quiet my brain! :) However... I will prevail!
One way I can accomplish this will be to concentrate on my mind-body-spirit connection. It is amazing to me how well the mind can affect the body and change actual heart rates or hormones due to emotional response. An example of this is how I can affect my response to a very normally stressful situation by practicing a quiet mind, calm innerself, and focused intent for response. For me to affect my workouts at the treadmill I now try to picture my muscles getting leaner and stronger with thick fibers running through them. I seemingly make a better workout if I do. I guess that would be considered mental imaging.
Until next week... I will be working on my subtle mind technique by utilizing the calm-abiding theology. Wish me luck! :)
Micky- Good Luck. I find it interesting that you have the reverse problems with these exercises. I loved the subtle mind exercise because it gave me something to refocus on when I got distracted. I have always considered myself a loving and kind person and I can focus all that energy well on one person, but when asked to think of a group I get distracted thinking about details within that group about specific people. And then I lose my focus. We all have things to work on, you will get it! Good luck and great blog!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Micky, Great Blog, and I do not think you need any luck, you have got the skills, to me you have it going on.LOL Thanks for the "peek" in the Doc Sharing I believe you saved fifteen years of my life, I will be your fan forever. I have always considered myself a loving and kind person and the beauty of this course, blogs, and classmates like yourself help me to continue to grow even better everyday. Thank you so much...Linda
ReplyDeleteHi Micky,
ReplyDeleteI was just saying that I don't understand frustration when it comes to these exercises but you gave me a glimse as to why someone might be frustrated. I hope that you can find a way to balance this out so that you can get the most out of these assigments. Thanks for your honesty. Hang in there!
Kristin
Hello,
ReplyDeletei had the same experience as you trying to calm my mind. A thousand miles a minute and the quiter the quicker they seemed to go. I did find that when I tried again in the evening instead of morning I did a lot better, I guess that is because I usually do a lot of planning in the mornings.
You sound like I have for the last four weeks. This was the first week I was able to use this time to really achieve a level of subtle mind. I hope you try this technique again and find your quieter mind.
ReplyDelete