The Loving-Kindness Exercise, to be honest, was both challenging and beneficial for me. When I focused on someone who showed amazing love in their life as well as someone I greatly loved, it was hard for me to focus because the person I focused on was my mother. She passed away almost two years ago but she was the most loving, caring, kind, wise woman I have ever known. Besides my husband she was my very best friend. So, sadness seemed to kind of overtake me at the moment since I had to go so deep in my reflections of her. I know if I let it though those remembrances will strengthen me and encourage me to be like her.

The person closest to me that I know who is suffering is my father. This was hard to focus on as well because he is suffering because of the loss of my mother. It is hard to remember his pain. I found myself slipping into prayer without even noticing so I decided to make that part of my whole exercise when dealing with someone more distantly connected with me and those who I guess I would consider my enemies ( I wish I could find a better word than that).

On the bright side, this exercise definitely encouraged me in the fact that I was practicing loving-kindness to others at least in a mental way where I believe loving-kindness to others starts. I think that when I resolve to change something in my life, whether it is an attitude or a specific way of life, I will do this exercise so that I can practice doing it mentally and resolving to do it mentally before I attempt it physically. I had never really thought of doing a specific exercise to help with this but I believe it is going to work well. The Bible says that the thoughts of a man are the product of his heart. If we can make our heart and consequently our mind/thoughts right then our actions will be right and loving as well.

Unit 3 I think has been the most interesting unit for me so far. It has gone into detail about what exactly our foundation needs to be when trying to heal our whole person. It talked about the five basic principles we need to lay down as our foundation to our overall healing. Some of those I hadn't really given much thought to before. For instance, I don't automatically think of needing to intentionally focus my thoughts on healing. I now believe that if we are not focused we cannot reach our goals. This will be my psychological goal to attain in particular in my healing process. My physical goal is to take time during the day to just stop and sit for a while and not focus on doing anything in particular. I am very bad at that since I have so much to get done with having a one year old, a part time job, and going to school full time. Finally, my spiritual goal is to pray more for God to help me be at peace and to have the wisdom I need to properly heal. God given peace "passes understanding" and I believe will give the greatest potential for healing through a peaceful life. I need to hand my life over to God...it's much better in His hands. He is the Great Healer and I believe that if I let Him, He can lead me on the path to total healing!

     On a scale of 1-10, I would say that my physical health is at about a 7. I strive to eat a very healthy and balanced diet and I try to stay away from medications as much as possible (even tylenol and ibuprophen). I try to find natural alternatives to conventional medications when possible. My arms are very well worked from carrying a 13 month old around all the time but I do not get out and exercise much at all. This is a huge problem when it comes to living a physically healthy lifestyle and I know I desperately need to work on that. Psychological well-being I would put at about a 2 to be honest. I am a worrier and I don't feel that I am very focused. I cannot seem to focus my thoughts on any particular thing for very long if I am not completely 'in the zone'. I worry constantly and have very few moments of true happy peace in my life. This is a horrible way to feel and I am constantly trying to fix this aspect of my life because only I can control how I look at life and handle it. Spiritually I would rate myself at about a 9. I am very at peace with my spirituality since I have God to lean on. There are always things I need to work on however, such as delving into God's Word more often and spending deep time in prayer more. I feel I have made good progress in these areas however and intend to continue to expand on them.

......I just tried that exercise and WOW!!! I didn't think it would work that well! Something about it was different than all the other relaxation techniques I have ever tried before. At first, I had the urge to laugh because I felt silly, but after I focused my mind and really tried to relax the desire to laugh diminished and I just began to feel more calm then I have felt in a very long time! It was a little tough to focus my thoughts solely on what the voice was saying but what he said about the colors was so inspiring to me that at times I got chills. Remembering that acknowledging the fullness of your being is so therapeutic!!! I never thought such a simple exercise could bring about such good results. I think I will make this a practice I incorporate often. I feel calm, relaxed and empowered.

Unit 2 has really helped me to remember what true healing is all about. Healing is a holistic experience, so when the mind is in sync with the rest of the total human being (body and soul) then wellness and happiness is the result. Our lives can be so much richer ( I think that is really the key word) when we have a calm, organized, and purposeful mindset. This is something I desperately need to work on! I am a big worrier so I know that if I could accomplish this healing that I would feel so much better on so many levels and have a fuller richer life because of it. Someone said that the Bible says "don't worry" about 386 or so times. There is a reason it says that so much I think, because it is so vital to the well being of ourselves and those around us.

Unit 2:

     Wow! There were some very interesting claims being made in our reading this time about how our mind works. As the author said, some of those theories seemed to jump right out of a science fiction book. I have heard however that we do not use all of our brain, so I believe that there is more potential than we are using. What that potential is and if we can even actually use it is unclear to me at this point. However, I am a Christian and so I do not believe that we have previous lives to remember or that we can communicate with someone in a different time. However, communicating with one another mentally doesn't really seem that far out there. We can read one another very well sometimes and I think that that could be grown into mental communication of some sort. Obviously, this is just speculation on my part, but I'm enjoying speculating and exploring different ideas. : )

Hello Everyone!

     My name is Leah Kelly. I am 22 years old and have a wonderful husband and one year old baby boy. I am very interested in natural health, especially nutrition, and I believe that nutrition is linked to the mind just as we are learning that the mind is linked to the well being of the body. I don't know much about this area but I am excited to begin learning. Good luck to all of you!