The lotus flower is the symbol of human flourishing in the East. These exercises and practices sessions that we have completed in this course has been apart of my human flourishing. Loving-Kindness, Subtle mind, Visualization, meditation have all been beneficial to me, the two practices that I think were the most beneficial were Love-Kindness and Subtle mind.
I can implement these practices in my personal life to foster mental fitness when I effectively stabilize my mind and lessen the grip of self-centeredness (which is the root of all my problems) than I can embrace others. I can accept people just for who they are instead of attaching expectations on them and when they fail me I will not have those destructive emotions like anger, intolerance, jealousy, pride, and greed that agitates my mind. I am powerless over people, places, and things-when I don't accept this my life becomes unmanageable. I think I can accomplish this today and everyday for the rest of my life with a little practice through prayers, advice and basic generosity to others and their differences. I can be patient and understanding to the cashier at walmart when the lines are long, and she is very slow doing her job.
The second practice that I determined was beneficial to me was Subtle mind.
Wow! Taking these steps helped to tame my overflowing mind and cultivate a witnessing consciousness. I was able to clear & still my mind, and stop the mental chatter gaining a valuable freedom. I felt as though I have been liberated from lifelong old crazy thoughts that use to own me;finally I gained the capacity to choose where my thoughts goes creating a foundation for calm-abiding and integral health.
As a result of folling these step I now have a" teflon" mind, thoughts that use to upset me simply come and they go I do not hang on to them for a day, week, or month anymore I might have a bad moment but not a bad day. I have become closer to my God of my understanding.
Wow, this is inspirational to read. I love what you said about not being able to control people and by letting go of this it make your life easier. I need to get this down also. I think if I could do this my life would be much easier. I love your visual of the Teflon mind. I will remember that from now on.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful post Linda. You know exactly where you are and where you need to go, which is a great accomplishment. Being able to let things go and not allowing thoughts or the actions of others fog up your mind and slow you down is awesome. Keep up the great work!!!
ReplyDeleteLinda,
ReplyDeleteI like that discription of your mind being "teflon" when I keep these practices in the front of my mind, I notice it is a lot easier to keep my mind in a good place and dismiss those negative thoughts. The other day I was replacing negative thoughts with almost silly positive thoughts and it was sort of fun in it's self. Great Blog!
Hey LT,
ReplyDeleteI love those fish swimming on your blogspot! Very clever and relaxing to me :-) I enjoyed reading your post!
I believe you make a very good point in attributing “bad moments” to be a fleeting situation rather than something that can ruin our whole day! Thanks for thinking of the Teflon example. I’m going to use that one when my mate behaves as “Grumpy” the Dwarf. I say “Teff-LON” to myself to reduce my feelings of uncontrolled empathy about his situation! Let it go and slide right off.
You do a wonderful job with your post and explained the steps you take clearly. Keep up the good work! I hope we have another class together soon :-) Cindy