I found the “Meeting Asclepius” more spiritual and inviting than the Loving Kindness Practice and Subtle Mind Practice. I found it much easier to listen to the voice & guide me into the steps that were needed. At first when we were told to focus on a wise individual, I honestly had no clued whom. Then we were told to make one up if we did not know of one. The first image to come into my head was a wise Indian Chief. I went with that as I felt at peace with this imagine. The image was of this wise Indian Chief sitting among his tribe/people. There were sitting around a campfire under the stars. He was talking in his native tongue sharing his stories and I just pictured once becoming the chief looking around and seeing the faces focused on every word that is being spilled. There was so much love, trust, and wonderment in their eyes. The belief they felt for their chief and the wisdom that spilled from within and out as the chief sat there. I then felt at peace, I felt wise, and true loving kindness as I imaged myself becoming the Indian chief. I experienced what it may feel like to be a wise individual, one that has met Asclepius; a wise healer.
Meditation has increases my spiritual wellness without a doubt. I have found ways to calm my spirit when I feel my stress will take over me just by doing a simple quick breathing exercise. It has helped in teaching my son on how to calm his spirit when his tired impatient little 4-year-old mind goes out of control. I see that as an adult we can benefit from meditation but so can children. It has really opened up my mind and makes me want to continue to find a meditation exercise that truly works for me but also continue to stride forward in conquering the path to human flourishing. For this, I will not dismiss my stresses anymore, I will heal them through meditation and continue to teach and encourage this practice in my home.
The saying, “One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself” means if you have not seen it or done it, you cannot say that this is the right way. One needs to actually live a certain way before teaching someone about that certain lifestyle or leading a spiritual path. It goes to say if one is telling you that you need to find god or you need to be more spiritual but they themselves do not do the same, they have no right to tell you to do this. They do not have the right to point you in this direction, as they do not know themselves. So in order to “lead” you need to have been led towards the path before and experience those skills before you can “lead” another. WOW what a mouthful there! But as it goes for my “future” clients without a doubt I need to “lead” a spiritual life before I am to help guide them with my suggestions on how they can do this their selves. Therefore, the saying applies to my “future” professional as well. I can implement psychological and spiritual growth by making my inner development my goal. Becoming more aware of the world around me, but becoming aware of self can give me greater knowledge of my true needs and teach me how to touch the more positive side of things than the negative.
4 comments:
Pam,
This is great information of your exeprience with the exercise.. That is totally real of you imagining the Indian Chief, in real-life it is like that when you are sitting in a circle in a tee pee or somewhere you will feel all different kinds of feeling such as, peace, secure, loving, and caring from those who are there with you. I am glad you want to find the inner self of you, that is exactly what I need to do before I lead anyone else further, the reason I said this is because reading other blogs I found myself to think about what I was trying to doing with David, changing him when he wasn't even ready at all..
Yes Tanya! I found this image so easy to imagine. It just came to me and not sure why an Indian Chief, maybe because they do seem so wise but none the less that is what I imagined and it worked!
I understand about the changing. It can be so frustrating when you feel that someone you care about is leading onto the wrong path and you just want to shake them and TELL them that they are going about this all the wrong way. But learning, that is not our duty or our right to tell someone this. Just as we are doing here, we are learning and guiding ourselves into a new journey and a new world if you think about it. It is about patience and if we lack that we are to practice developing it and then we can maybe rub that positive energy to others, like David. Sign bright and someday he will want to shine too!
Pam,
I think your method of imagining the native american chief was brilliant. I imagined my grandmother and it was not that easy for me to connect with my inner healer focusing on someone else that I have known. I think the next time I will create a fictitious character that reminds of my inner healer instead, I enjoyed your post.
Pam, I liked your illustration about the Indian chief. That was a great example! I also completely agree with your statement that people need to actually live a certain way themselves, before they can effectively instruct others how to live that way. You can't truly teach someone something that you haven't experienced first hand, nor can you truly know what that experience would be like unless you yourself have experienced it. Great illustrations!