Sunday, September 9, 2012

Universal Loving-Kindness and Integral Assessment


The first part was to practice the Universal Loving-Kindness mediation. We were to close our eyes for a minute or two, rest into the natural ease of our mind and body and repeat the following phrases for 10 minutes:
May all individuals gain freedom from suffering.
May all individuals find sustained health, happiness, and wholeness.
May I assist all individuals in gaining freedom from suffering.
May I assist all individuals in finding health, happiness, and wholeness.

By repeating this phrase and concentrating on the meaning of each word in each sentence I did gain a sense of calm, healing and love within myself and I had the desire to share this feeling with others.

In the second part, I am supposed to take inventory of the four aspects of my life and determine which area needs attention. The four aspects are psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal and worldly.

I feel I need to concentrate and develop the psychospiritual aspect of my life. If this part of my life is in disarray I know the other aspects are suffering as well. This is one of the main reasons I decided to take this class. I have become more aware and mindful, mediating, reading the assignments and just thinking is helping me tremendously to grow and cope with things I have been struggling with.

I am taking baby steps toward integral wellness. I am constantly thinking about everything that I am learning in this class and trying to apply it. Today has been a great day!

Thanks for reading!

Reference:

Dacher, E. S. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. Basic Health: Laguna Beach, CA.

 

 

7 comments:

  1. Lori,
    I think baby steps are what helps us reach our goals. I have been following your blogs and I believe you are truly trying to implement the skills that we are learning through this class into your daily routine. It is evident that you are on the right path towards integral wellness, and will achieve it! Glad you had a great day!
    Laurie

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    1. Thank you Laurie for your kind and encouraging words. I am taking it one step at a time, one day at a time.

      Thanks again :-)

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  2. Lori,
    I enjoy the positivity of your posts! Today is a great day! I find that positivity breeds positivity and only good things will follow. I had a similar reaction to the Universal loving-Kindness exercise in that I had the desire to share the feeling with others and to help others. I think this would be a great tool to share with friends, family, or clients as a way to help others focus on universal loving-kindness.
    I can relate to parts of life being in disarray and that causing other aspects to suffer. Everything is intertwined. Your approach to take baby steps and focus where you feel it is necessary is great! Those baby steps will add up and before you know it, you will be looking for a different focus area for growth and development.

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  3. Hello Lori,

    This is great. The awareness of what you want to move forward and change in your life is a big step toward how you want to encourage better health for yourself. I think this is something that many individual's are not aware of or understand how to go about the change to incorporate better health though the mind, body, and spiritual experience. I think you have a positive outlook and plan on how you want to approach reaching the goal of integral health, Kudos!!!

    ~Linda Jackson

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  4. I think psychospiritual wellness is something we all stuggle with on some level or another. We may not even realize it, or we may have a false sense of security in our beliefs. I think we all need to look whithin ourselves for a better understanding of our mind and spirit.

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  5. Lori, I agree, psychospiritual connection is challenging. There is definitely a reason that we have learned it is the most underdeveloped aspect of ourselves in western culture. We put more stock in the concrete and measurable. I think these meditations and affirmations are good ways to open the door. Thank you and good luck!

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  6. I am approaching my job as well as my life in the same manner. It helps me to feel 'full' and satified with myself. It attracts great energy to my being. By taking full responsibilty for all of my actions, I put myself in a position to grow and expand my spiritual self. I always enjoy your blog Lori because it helps me to grow and stay intune to my higher self!

    Yahimba

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