Happy day after the 4th of July!! I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!
I did the loving kindness exercise with a bit of reluctance. I already have an almost daily quiet time, when I pray and reflect on my relationship with Jesus. I pray for myself, my family, my friends, and others that come to my mind. I read a bible study and I read the Bible. This is my way to start the day in a positive way. I didn't want to replace it by doing a loving kindness exercise, and I already incorporate some of this in my quiet time through prayer. I have to admit, I didn't do the exercise for a full week. It is beneficial, but not as much as my regular quiet time. I would recommend this exercise to others, but only if they aren't already doing one of their own. If you are already doing something that works for you, continue with it. If not, this is a good exercise to incorporate into your life.
Mental Workout is taking time daily to work on your psychospiritual self. Getting better and stronger at anything takes dedication and practice, and working on your psychospiritual self is no different. You have to set aside time each day to focus on "growing" your psychospiritual self. Having a strong mind gives you more resistance to mental distress and physical disease, expands our healing capacities, and promotes well-being (Dacher, 2006). Taking time every day to focus on yourself and others, and praying and seeking guidance, will strengthen your psychospiritual self. Most people don't take the time to put the work in on themselves. They just take each day as it comes, and don't put an intention in what happens to them everyday. Mental workout is being intentional about your life. It is giving yourself the tools to be the best that you can be.
Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health. Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.
Hi Beth,
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about psychospiritual flourishing needing to be intentional. Just like other aspects of life, many people feel like things will just happen on their own, like someday they will just magically have a successful career, successful relationship, and a healthy and fit body. All of those things require intentional work and so does developing our inner selves. Just like we all have the ability to achieve amazing bodies and successful careers with intentional hard work, we also have the ability to achieve mental fitness and a higher sense of connection with the universe with intentional hard work.