The Universal Loving Kindness exercise is a little 10-minute meditation exercise to practice open up your mind and your heart in greater lengths than they are currently. This meditation can help in displeasure and enmity. Universal Loving Kindness is to practice loving everyone, even your enemies. This exercise can be done anytime.
After completing this meditation exercise I discovered that I had no problem falling into a relax state, no problem spreading my loving kindness to others but I did notice that my enemies were not among them. I still left them aside, inside their bubble that I left them when I did the first Loving Kindness Practice. So I have not reached the final leap into our interpersonal development and have not conquered Universal Loving Kindness. This is the area that I still know that I need to focus on for growth and development. This is one of the steps that need to be addressed for interpersonal development and I am having problems with what steps I need to take in popping that bubble. I think it is time that I need. I acknowledge this but this process is still new to me, so please hang in there with me.
The Integral Assessment is personal program that we develop to assess where our strengths and weaknesses are and will give a better picture where we would like to make improvements to promote human flourishing. This is done using the Lines of Development using the four aspects of human experience; Psychospiritual, Biological, Interpersonal, and Worldly Flourishing.
The Integral Assessment help me discover in psychospiritual flourishing in the cognitive level I had problems in the reactive pattern. I do tend to be reactive… but mostly in this aspect for my emotional development I discovered that again have tend to have uncontrolled reactive emotions and anger and fear. This is where I need to address my issues if you will. I need to learn to let go, stop the metal chatter and discover my deepest calling, I want to be like the Woodcarver!! For interpersonal flourishing, I would like to reach out to my community more. I tend to do everything for my family so I would like to get my son involved in helping others as well. When it comes to my health, my eating is under control and the choices I make for me and my family is balanced. I tend to lean towards helping the environment by having my own organic garden and purchasing from my local farmers. Therefore, I was happy with that. I think that falls under biological flourishing and worldly flourishing. As I have completed this assessment, I plan to do this again. Reason for this is I feel I have a better understanding of the breakdown of this assessment than when first applied. Continue to balance everything out and I do know I have work ahead of me!
9 comments:
Hello Pam, your ppt was really beautiful. Excellent job, I would like to save it for when I am trying to explain what mental fitness is. I have a case of knowing it when i see it, but explaining it is difficult. You just said it like it is, i enjoyed it immensely.
I also feel that me self assesment was a little lacking in the wordly area. I tend to lean to environmental activity and not that much volunteerism. You seem to have a good grasp on life, stick with it. great job.
Thank you! I would be honored if you were to save my PPT! I sent it to my sisters and my best friend. We all like this kind of stuff & they are very interested in what we are learning in this class. Love to share!
I try to keep things on the positive side. Sometimes it can be difficult but I look at my 4 year old and remember why I need to see the positive side of things. I feel that negative energy and positive energy rubs off on another, don't you?
Hi, I do understand and can relate to the uncontrolled reactive part of our life especially when I have so much to do that I do not get the time to meditate or go on a peace walk. Getting your son out together to be more involved will come in time, our lives go through phases and when the opportunity present its self then go for it. Live in Peace.
Jen Wheeler
Hi Pam, I enjoyed reading your entry. It's funny how we all have different experiences. I guess we can all learn from each other that way.
Hi Pam! You and i share the same difficulties with achieving lovingkindness toward those that we dislike. I just put them out of my mind when I am doing these exercises, but they are right back when I finish. This exercise would really help me if I continued to practice it more. Once you continue the exercise, try to replace the people that your are thinking about with those that you do not care for and see of it helps. i am going to try this technique and see if I can achieve a greater sense of lovingkindness to them. Kathryn
Hi Pam. Your page is just beautiful. I could sit and look at it for a while and feel relaxed without even reading a word!! You seem to have a natural talent for that. ALso, I enjoyed your power point and the pictures are awesome!
Thank you Jennifer, Bridget, Kathryn, and Karena! I thank you for all your feedback. This is a learning process and I do know it is for all of us but it is always nice and refreshing to hear what others have to say and any suggestions they can send my way! I thank you girls for all your encouragement and I sure hope that I can conquer this exercises by Unit 10. That is right around the corner isn't it?!!!
Pam I too struggle with including people that I don't particularly care for in the loving kindness exercise. It definitely is a habit to forget about them when thinking about loving others and being kind to others, and to leave our enemies in their own seperate bubbles. I think the only way to really include them is to do the exercise a seperate time focusing just on them, and not including our loved ones.
Pam, my biggest struggle is also including those I don't like. My way of dealing with those I don't like is by ignoring them and just going about my day. I just feel I don't want to spend the energy on them in any way. I guess to get that point where you can include them you will be well on the way to being a master. Everyone has good points about them though, so it might help to think of those points. I just feel I don't the time to deal with pettiness in my life and just don't give those individuals any energy at all. Do I have to? Hmmm....