Unit 5

The Subtle Mind

I attempted this exercise with a positive attitude and ready to push my stress and frustrations away. Things started well with my breathing and relaxing. However just as my heart rate has lowered and my breaths more deep, this horrible loud continuous static noise erupted from the cd player. It startled me and my heart began racing. I manipulated the cd for a while and assumed for whatever crazy reason, the noise must be apart of the exercise. I restarted it and found I could only maintain my calm for about three minutes. I could not take it anymore, it seemed like self-induced torture. The noise would have continued on for at least 20 minutes, but I was having none of that. In essence, it is difficult to compare and contrast the Loving-kindness and the Subtle Mind exercises because I do not think mine was working properly. But if it was, then I will definitely have to chose the Loving-kindness. It made me focus and direct my attention, but it left me feeling refreshed. Subtle mind, not so much; it made me irritable and my quiting showed my lack of patience (this hinges on if I was supposed to hear the static).

Spiritual wellness is deeply connected to mental and physical health. Each one affects the others; similar to dominoes falling or chain reactions. If there is a malady in one aspect, it will subsequently affect the other two. Conversely, positive changes in one can bring about benefits to the others. All take practice and patience when pursuing higher levels of wellness. For an integral, total being experience, one has to give attention to all. They are going to be pursued at different levels of aggressiveness based on present health conditions. For me I do not have to struggle to maintain my physical body because I like to exercise because it lowers my stress and boosts my energy and I eat as nutritiously as possible. I find looking for inner calm by quieting my mind to be difficult because there is so much random mental activity. I have started cultivating my spirituality more, but I noticed even when trying to pray I am thinking about other stuff. This shows me how important it is to get my mental processes under control so that I can get more out of my spiritual activity. What is important for me to know and take to heart is all three are interconnected and one must not ignore one, for they all will suffer.