1. Describe your experience. (Did you find it beneficial? Difficult?) Why or Why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or Why not?
I enjoyed the part of the exercise, where I focused on others and loving kindness towards them. I love caring for others, that is where I find my happiness through work and with friends and family, being selfless makes me feel whole. The part that I felt a little disturbing is where I had to focus on myself and loving kindness towards myself. I tend to lack trust in others, my emotions and the future, so I have doubts about where I am and where I should be emotionally. I feel that I know that I will truly care for others but don’t rely on other to do the same. I felt myself tuning out the speaker when she was focusing on self verses others.
2. What is the concept of “Mental Workout? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a Mental Work Out? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?
I believe that trough mental workout, one can learn to become less focused on self and learn to care for others, which in turn will show others kindness and will intrigue them to return the same loving kindness. Also by training your mind, we can also learn how to truly love ourselves ( which is a topic I need much work on), from the reading and listening exercise, by learning to love ourselves will allow us all the better to love one and other.
Hi Heather. Great blog post! I have a friend who is close to her 60s and has been a nurse for her entire adult life for hospice patients. Knowing her and speaking with her, I realized that she considers herself the caregiver and therefore does not allow anyone to take care of her. Her husband is a paraplegic (sp?) and so being the primary caretaker is her life at home and at work. I have tried to offer my help to her in minor ways and she is a bit extreme about not letting anyone in to help her. I think it's very interesting from a psychological perspective but from a human perspective, it's a little sad. I think that caregivers, such as yourself and my friend, get so used to being in this role that they/you don't allow yourselves to be cared for like that. Wow, this turned out long. My point is, as wonderful caregivers, you should also remember how important it is to take care of yourself and sometimes let others help you. You sweet, sweet, stubborn people! lol. Great post =)
ReplyDeleteBritt
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI agree that showing others kindness and being less focused on ourselves is how we grow and flourish. Mental training can help us be less self-centered and look at the world differently. Others will see this, and hopefully be able to show kindness back.
Great post!