Hello everyone!

      I have gotten so much out of all the exercises we have done from Dacher but the two that really stand out to me are the visualization exercise we did this week and the loving-kindness exercise. The visualization exercise we did this week involved remembering times in your life when you felt the happiest, most whole, and most alive! Remembering those times gave me a sense of hope and made me the happiest of all the exercises. Even though those feelings were temporary they helped me in remembering what those three things felt like at their fullest. There is a verse in the Bible that says "Whatsoever things are true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." (Philippians 4:8) I believe remembering past things that are everything this verse says is so beneficial to us! It helps us remember that there is light among the dark and that it is stronger than the darkness. I am making a very pointed effort to think on good things and push out the bad. I have a confession to make. I have a great worrier and I am always afraid that something bad is going to happen. The last few days I have been thinking only on those things that are good and no matter how tempting it is to worry about some thing or another, I am putting it all in God's hands and remembering every time I am tempted to worry that God is greater than anything else in the world. He has promised to make everything work as good for His children and focusing on this truth and the times He has blessed me in the past is an essential practice that will help me overcome my fear and anxiety.

     The loving-kindness exercise was of great help as well. It helped me focus on the attributes I wanted to express in my own self. Imagining others who have the trait you want to have and imagining it in yourself is a great first step towards actually having it in your life. Focusing on what you want is the first step in getting it. The second, is asking God for it and for help to achieve it, and the next is doing it.

     Both of these exercises are wonderful tools to learning to live a happier, healthier, more fulfilled life. If anyone has not tried them yet, PLEASE take time to do them at least once. It will give you a taste of this happy healthy life that you want and it will drive you to be disciplined in it. Don't give up! Diligence in these will pay off a thousand fold. Just remember, only God can give you the complete happiness you seek. I consider these meditations as good tools but after trying them and then letting God take control, it is no contest between the two! Giving your life to God will do so much more for you, but God has given us tools for us to help ourselves achieve our goals while He actually gets us there in the end.