Saturday, February 26, 2011
Reflections on Loving Kindness Practice
I have to comment that I was hoping dearly that Dr. Dacher was not the one who was going to be guiding us through the loving kindness exercise, because he has that rather irritating, East coast-New York City accent that makes me think of Brooklyn when I hear it. Not that this is a bad thing, it is just very noticeable to someone who grew up in Iowa, where they speak very blandly. I was very happy to hear that a female voice was used for this exercise and I was able to focus on the instruction much more effectively. :) But I digress. I am the kind of person who has a lot of problems quieting the mind anyway, so a visualization of compassion and love is rather difficult for me. I have no problems thinking of people to focus this energy on, but I have difficulty visualizing love emanating from my heart to someone else, and then redirecting the focus of that feeling onto myself. I have trouble thinking of what this particular feeling should look like in visualization. I believe that in order for me to be able to improve visualization techniques, I must first lose the idea that I know going into it that it will be difficult. I have a preconceived notion that I will not be able to do it, and although I know that I must not think this way for it to work, this is the barrier that I need to be able to overcome in order to progress in visualizing anything, whether it be love and compassion or any other type of activity. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and although I had a lot of trouble with this exercise, I do have the belief that I can improve in it if I consistently practice it. I would recommend this particular practice to others, since it focuses only on projecting compassion and loving kindness onto others who are know to us and progresses to practicing the focus of these feelings onto everyone else in the world as well as ourselves, and I think in everyday life it is easy to not think about loving others. We must take the time to focus on this daily, and eventually with practice it will become second nature to us. The world will be a much better place for it if we all practice.
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OMG I thought that I was the only one hoping that the nasal twang of the far northern accent would not be the one guiding on the CD. LOL. I find I listen more to how the words are said than what is being said. Of course my mind is one of those that can wander off by itself so to speak so the talking is actually distracting to me. I totally understand the difficulty you are having with these activities though, they are difficult for me as well.
ReplyDeleteYou have achieved a great victory: Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteI think the first part of the practice is the key. Initially it can be difficult to embody a loving feeling. I used the memory of my beautiful granddaughter snuggled up next to me; but was not able to maintain the feeling for myself. On behalf of others I was able to but it decreased somewhat.
During the days following the beginning of this practice other precious and loving times came to my mind. One was a time camping that my son 12, now 31, plopped down, for the last time, in my lap so I could read him a story.
It has been getting easier to stay with the feeling throughout. The idea is to keep coming back to the thought and feeling whenever I forget; that is the practice.
What works for me is to imagine a scene and feel the love emanating from the heart and, like potty training a small puppy, bring the mind back again and again to the feeling. It should feel the same as when you think about a beloved.
I think you are able to do this. And when you do, be sure not to judge how you do it, just keep doing it.
Remember “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.” Mohandas Gandhi
Charles, I believe I have hit on something here that will be helpful in the future. I am kind of stuck in a circle, where I have trouble opening my mind to practice and then become discouraged when it doesn't happen. I am my own worst enemy, and I believe that the chain of negativity will be broken with practice, I will get better at my practice because my practice has changed the way I think.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelly,
ReplyDeleteShelly visualization techniques are great to do. Shelly I am glad you recognize the problem, now you can slowly work at it. I like during visualization techniques it help me to relax from a long stressful day.Shelly I understand visualization techniques are very popular because of the long term benefits that affect it has on people.
Shelly listening to music execising and self help books are great for visualization techniques to achieve better result in your personal life. Shelly experience compare to my experience I must be willing to take the time to apply some of the techniques. I learn from Shelly blog is recognize the problem and try to practice visualizing love from my heart and erase all the negative thinking I may have.