Pondering the Witnessing Mind

Did you know that "Silent" and "Listen" use exactly the same letters? Food for thought :)

Okra & Health Promotion

Wheat Grass Shots from my Juicer...

God gave me a healthy body and in gratitude, I take care Good of myself.

My Experience With The Loving Kindness Exercise

The Loving Kindness Exercise was much easier for me than the other meditative exercises. I enjoyed the sounds of the waves crashing, the visualizations and the relaxed breathing. The only portion I had a hard time with was the suffering of a loved one, however hard it was I believe it helped heal me and my heart also. I have not had to think about the suffering of a loved one in some time and the only person that came to mind was my mom who I lost to breast cancer at the age of 51 years old. I stayed home and helped care for her during her last few months on this Earth, before and during hospice care. I brought my mother into my mind and arms as I could think of no one else regarding the portion “think about about a suffering loved one”.  I was able to experience this while resting comfortably and I let my heart heal from the wounds of losing her. I gave myself loving kindness and healing and am grateful. I breathed in the suffering of others, dissolved it within my heart and gave them back health, wellness, peace of mind and the happiness I felt inside my heart.

Mental Concept Workout

I believe this was beneficial to me and could be to others if they so choose to experience it. I am much more accustomed to working out my physical body than my mind, however this exercise truly opened my mind and opened a door that I thought had been closed and sealed shut. 

The idea of the “mental workout” happens through continued, mindful and thoughtful practice. We improve our mental competence, abilities and train the mind. With positive thinking and loving kindness we can change not only our minds but our physical health also.

The conscious mind along with our perceptions is an influential tool which we can utilize to impact and shape our personal experience.

"A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes” ~ Mahatma Gandhi .

Daily Affirmation

I create positive habits in my life. Habit is a pattern of behavior that is an automatic response or action. This happens after doing a particular routine for a length of time until it becomes natural. I have had many habits in my lifetime. Today, I choose to create constructive and positive habits.

Getting Inspired...with daily affirmations!

I LOVE MYSELF-BODY, MIND, AND SOUL.

When you are at peace with yourself and love yourself, it is virtually impossible to be self-destructive.

The Relaxation Exercise

Well to be honest I had a hard time concentrating or allowing myself to relax for the exercise. My kids and grand kids were being loud and it is very hard to relax when everyone is home. I should have tried the exercise previous to the holiday since we would not have had a full house. I am going to try the exercise later on today or tomorrow while everyone is at the gym and I will let you all know how it goes.

Happy Trails!

This is my reflection and analysis with the purpose of rating my my own level of wellness in the areas of physical, psychological, and spiritual health. The following rating is based on a scale of 1 - 10 (ten being optimal well-being): 

I - Physical Well-being – 7:

  My physical well-being is decent as I have good habits when it comes to my diet and activity levels. I mostly eat organic fruits and vegetables when they are available and I am aware of the dirty dozen and the list of the 2012 Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce and use this knowledge to help me decide on the best and cleanest produce to purchase (http://www.ewg.org, 2013). I also am currently on a gluten and casein free diet which is naturally helping me to deter my allergies during a season in which I usually end up having to have breathing treatments. I also workout three to five times a week for thirty to forty-five minutes and have lowered my blood pressure naturally due to this. However I have gained some weight from kicking the smoking habit and I really need to focus on shedding the pounds at this time.

II – Spiritual Well-being – 7:

Currently my spiritual well-being is lower than usual as I have not attended church in a while. However I do pray and believe in a higher power. I have grown up in church as my grandfather was a minister and also my husband is a director for a global ministry and we lead a life of spirituality with regards to doing good unto others and believe wholly in loving kindness and generosity to man. Recently since I started this class I have started having some alone time to meditate in the morning with prayer and have decided to have my morning talks with God again.

III. Psychological Well-being – 8:

Currently my psychological well-being is higher as I have incorporated more down time for my mind and spirit to achieve oneness which helps me relax and find ways to bring internal and external joy and happiness to my world around me.

The following are activities and exercises for my personal implementation so that I can be able to move towards my goals:

Physical Well-being  Incorporate more time for exercise class in my week.  I also need to focus on the weight I gained when I quit smoking.

Spiritual Well-being  It has been on my mind and I feel it is important for me to go back to my loving church family and attend Sabbath Worship Services and Classes.

Psychological Well-being  I would like to start posting daily affirmations along with reciting them during meditation as I believe this will help me focus on the positive. I have also decided to keep a journal to help my stress levels. “Writing about stressful events has long been known to cause improvements in health and psychological well-being” (http://www.apa.org, 2013).

I am a relatively happy, well adjusted person that tilts a little towards having a “Type A” personality. I have learned at forty five years old, well almost forty five as my birthday is in three days, not to stress about the really small stuff. But that is a relative term isn't it. What is small or large to me might be different for you as in this life it is all about our own personal perspective and it is very subjective.  In the end what makes me happy, healthy and wise may not float your boat. That is okay as we are all individuals on our own journeys in this life and I look forward to all the twists and turns. Good, bad or indifferent. It is what it is and I am willing to make my own personal changes for me, not for you. I wish you all well in your goals in finding your own personal health and wellness. Happy Trails!

Just Relax

Let me say this first, I am have been likened to whirlwind of activity and sitting down to relax is hard for me unless I am reading a good book or I am doing homework. My mind is usually racing a mile a minute and I am always thinking of what needs to be done and how to get it accomplished in a timely manner, so turning my brain off is very hard for me.

I listened to the soothing voice in our exercise activity, took off my shoes and lay on my bed. I had a very hard time focusing at first because both of my grand kids were home.  My oldest grandson, Stryder who is turning five years old next month is autistic and he yells and stomps about  quite a bit.

I closed my eyes again after a couple minutes and continued to breathe deeply and allowed the commentators soothing voice to help me focus on my blood flow from my core. My hands grew from cold to warm before it was mentioned as a side effect of generating blood flow to my limbs and hands. However my fingers remained ice cold. I am glad I felt the warmth before it was mentioned during the exercise and I could just say that this was just “Power of Suggestion” rather than an actual occurrence. I do not feel influenced by suggestion; however I feel I need to work on this a little more as I could not get my mind to fully turn off due the ruckus occurring outside of my bedroom door.

The exercise was very relaxing and I will continue to do this as often as my mind will allow for down time. 

Welcome Change and It Will Welcome You!

Welcome to my blog! Life is such a strange and wonderfully winding road with many twisting turns, forks and u turns. My life has not gone about as I expected it would, things change and I allow for that because I believe all things happen for a reason. Up a little over a year ago I was an Instructor at Kaplan College for four years and was laid off. I was attending Kaplan University's "Health & Wellness Program" earning my Bachelor of Science degree for free on an employee scholarship. Happily I was grandfathered into the program and am able to complete my education for free until I complete it this September 2013. 

This has been one of the happiest times I have experienced. I am able to go to school, watch my children grow into loving and capable adults along with watching my grand babies grow out of whining and diapers. This is not to say that life does not have its up and downs. It is all about perception. "Happiness is not the absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them."

My garden grows and abounds with love, family and this little one Ariana my grand daughter :)

Building another pallet garden this year!

I like to take stuff and recycle them into usable pieces...This was my first attempt last year.  

Happiness is a Journey…Not a Destination

When the world seems so out of focus and destined for chaos and discontentment at times, I am at peace because I believe there is a purpose in everything. In my home, in the cocoon that I have woven so tightly together, my family and I will leave behind memories, echoes of love, laughter and smiles that I want to last a lifetime for my children and their children to come.