I will continue to practice this meditation exercise regularly as it not only benefits others; I see that I am able to benefit from it as well.
Now the personal assessment exercise took quite a bit more work than I expected. I tried to narrow down the areas of my life that I felt needed the most urgent attention and focus, and that was no easy task. I have quite a few areas that need attention. However, I ended up nailing it down to the areas of my mental fitness and psycho spiritual development/flourishing.
I am the type of person that seems to stress out over just about everything, especially if it’s something that I think I can fix or control. This type of behavior has been the cause of some much needless and unnecessary mental distress that it began to take its toll on me physically. I began to have mild panic attacks, problems sleeping, horrendous migraine headaches and severe episodes of fatigue. It took me a long time and numerous trips to the doctor to figure out what was causing my ailments. When it was brought to my attention that these were most likely stress related, I knew that I had to change otherwise I would never have any peace.
This brings me to the area of my psych spiritual development. As a child growing up in a Christian home I was taught about the importance of prayer from a very young age. I was taught that God cared, loved me and was always listening when I prayed, and that He would always help me whenever I called on Him. However, as I began to get older, things started to happen that cause me to question my faith in God, His love, care and power. I really didn't think that it was really necessary to develop my spiritual life anymore. Then I enrolled in this course. The readings, exercises and assignments have taught me so much about the mind, body, spirit connection. I am truly grateful and thankful for all I have learned. I am now able to once again turn to God as the source and strength in my daily life. I am still learning to release control and turn things over to Him; I'm a little bit of a control freak. However on a daily basis I find myself reciting the Serenity Prayer, allowing myself to accept the things I cannot change, trying to change the things I can, and finally knowing the difference between the two. This revelation in and of itself has been so freeing. I will keep practicing this as long as it takes as I continue my journey on the road to sustained health, happiness and wholeness.