Subtle Mind (perhaps not in my world, maybe in yours)

Hello my furry little kittens!! Welcome to yet another week of Psychological and Spiritual Healing Adventures. It’s hard to believe that we are half way through this class already. Last week, we explored the concept of Loving-Kindness. This week, we will talk about the Subtle Mind. So, come and tip toe your dainty little paws (sideways if you'd like) with me through our next exercise and let’s see how this one compares to last week.

1. Compare and contrast the Loving Kindness exercise and the Subtle mind exercise. Explain your experience including the benefits, frustrations etc.

Last week, when we were asked to listen to the Loving-Kindness exercise, I had a very hard time concentrating on the instructions. The voice of the instructor bothered me a lot (yes, my claws came out and I was wishing I had a scratching post, it drove me nuts) and I simply couldn’t concentrate that well. It was an exercise that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Now, this week, we were asked to listen to the Subtle Mind exercise. While this exercise had the same instructor, and her voice is still grating on the nerves, she didn’t talk as much (which was a blessing, because too much of her voice probably would have made me turn loose the flying monkeys, which I didn’t want to do. I’ve been good all week (like you guys believe that) and besides, the monkeys need a rest) and I found myself able to listen to the waves and flute music in the background. The Subtle Mind exercise focuses on our breathing and asks us to train our minds to ignore the pesky thoughts we have and concentrate on opening our minds to focusing on more important matters. Our minds are clear, but we are aware of our thoughts and surroundings. With our breathing techniques, we become more of a spectator to our thoughts. It’s very easy for our minds to be distracted, especially considering what we go through each day. Breathing techniques tend to bring us back to our center of focus. This exercise would need to be done for a few weeks at least to take the full effect, but I think this would be an exercise that I would recommend. However, someone new to these breathing techniques and training of our minds may want to begin with some easier exercises and then work their way up to this one when they feel more confident.

2. Discuss the connection of the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. Explain how the connection is manifested in your personal life.

Many people have different definitions of spiritual wellness. I think the best way to describe spiritual wellness would be this: a personal matter involving values and beliefs that provide a purpose in our lives. Many people may see this as following two important steps, which are as follows:

*It is better to ponder the meaning of life for ourselves and to be tolerant of the beliefs of others than to close our minds and become intolerant.

*It is better to live each day in a way that is consistent with our values and beliefs than to do otherwise and feel untrue to ourselves.

Reference:

UCR (2012), Spiritual Wellness, University of California Riverside, Retrieved from http://wellness.ucr.edu/spiritual_wellness.html

I think that for us to reach spiritual wellness, we have to have an open mind and be willing to allow others to have their opinions while we have ours. I’ve always believed that to truly understand something, you have to understand all aspects of it. The same goes for our values and beliefs. My values and beliefs are different from the next person, but I’m not going to change them simply because someone doesn’t agree with the way I think and do things. I wouldn’t be true to myself if I did that, and being untrue to myself, I’ll never be able to achieve true spiritual wellness. If my values and beliefs were being questioned and I changed them, I would begin to question myself, which would work greatly on my mind. This would affect my mental wellness, and as that would go on, it would begin to take a toll on my physical wellness. I would feel down and depressed, even worthless, and that would make me feel like I had no energy, not want to do anything, not want to eat, and so on. Everything is connected and when one part of that connection is thrown off balance, everything goes out of whack. For anyone who has been through this, it’s not a fun thing to experience. 

Will I be able to achieve spiritual wellness? I believe so. I don’t expect it to happen overnight, but with some time and keeping in mind that I need to stick by what I believe in and what I think, I should do just fine.

Well, my fine furry friends, we have come to the end of yet another week in our journey. I encourage all of you to challenge yourselves each day and to never give up on anything you’ve set your mind to. We are all on the same page, some of us in the center, some on the edges, but we are all together, and as long as we believe in ourselves and our abilities, we can accomplish anything.

And so, I leave you with these words of wisdom. Life is for sure like a box of chocolates. Some are bitter (they play games with your mind), some are sweet (they go right to your hips), and some are full of nuts (crazy as can be), and those, my friends, are the ones you want to keep in your life for a long time.