Unit 4 The Loving Kindness Exercise

1.             Describe your experience. Did you find it beneficial? Difficult? Why or why not? Would you recommend this to others? Why or why not?

I found it to be more beneficial than the other two. I did not find it difficult, but rather a bit more unnatural than I believe it should have been. I would recommend it to others, because I know these kinds of experiences are useful even if one could point out areas of improvements. Also, I know from firsthand experience that meditation and self-hypnosis do make a very big difference. While I generally do things to help out my issues using a different form of meditation and self-hypnosis, but I did find it useful to be done this way. Sometimes the best ways to deal with something’s is to release some of the emotional ties to it. However, sometimes it could make it worse, which is why I generally use other techniques which are good for solving issues without the emotional attachment, so one can think rational instead of responding mostly to the feelings.

2.             What is the concept of "mental workout"? What does the research indicate are the proven benefits of a mental workout? How can you implement mental workouts to foster your psychological health?

“Studies indicate that meditation may be like actual brain exercise, stimulating physical changes to neural fibers and having widespread ramifications for the body” (Science in the News, 2014). I have had firsthand experience with increase in mental abilities after I first started meditating. I was once diagnosed with having ADHD and I used to show many of the symptoms. Now, after years of self-hypnosis and meditation I am able to concentrate better than most people. Mindfulness meditation has been found to increase grey matter in the brain and also has a positive effect on our brainwaves, which correlates with our ability to think and focus (Science in the News, 2014).

I have found that everyone has an ideal balance of things they need to find. I have found that 20-30 minutes of meditation and around 1 hours of self-hypnosis later in the day have helped me out a lot. However, I do not take naps and I am pretty much always doing something when these times are not happening. I am a very busy person almost all the time. Usually I do my half day meditation when I start to feel a little mentally exhausted and I find it reinvigorates me. Later during that same day I will at some point begin to start to feel a little drained mentally, then I will either do some self-hypnosis or guided hypnosis. I do this in the afternoon, because it seems to be a little better at reinvigorating me and that it helps get rid of any stress I might accumulated throughout the day and it feel almost like one took a good nap. After, I started this routine I noticed I was much more productive than, if I skipped either activity, I also felt better, slept better and the list goes on.

Here is another video I created a while ago. It is created, so it helps one alter their mental state. I hope you will enjoy it.