Loving-kindness and Integral Assessment

“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.” Ray Bradbury.

My daughter Audrey and Me being silly

I found the exercises this week to be very interesting and easy to follow.  I am an avid thinker, so I really enjoyed thinking of ways to incorporate and put them into play within my own personal life. I of course also have a very busy mind, so I do struggle with trying to stay completely focused on how I want to make changes and ways to incorporate those changes into my daily routine.  I have been in a really weird place lately and find myself struggling to find my way out of it. Loving-kindness usually comes very natural to me, but with the events that have unfolded before my very eyes the last month, I find resentment taking its home once again. Grrr! The thing is, I want happiness for everyone and I do not like to see others upset, hurt, angry, etc.—so I am always putting their feelings and happiness in front of my own. Not the greatest habit, but as I have stated previously, I am nowhere near perfect. I believe being the constant “go to” girl when someone is having an issue or needs something done has really taken its toll on me mentally. I am normally a fairly focused person, but I have been finding it difficult lately. My mind is a total cluster, so I feel I really need more work on how to calm my mind. I want to continue be there for others, but I have to learn to stop taking responsibility for everything. I really enjoy meditating first thing in the morning to gain that inner peace and clarity to begin my day and I also incorporate Yoga or Pilates for physical exercise to give myself the burst of energy I crave to get through the day! I just bought a treadmill, so I have been running on it for 30 min every other day to keep up my cardio. I am trying to get my daughter more involved in things, so I have had her do some of the exercises with me (once we get past the giggling). She actually enjoys doing them with me and wants to learn how to meditate. She is a lot like me being she does not want to see others hurt, so she bottles up all her feelings to avoid hurting others. I believe incorporating these exercises in her life will also be a great experience for her.