Mental Workout

The Loving Kindness meditative exercise was quite different. I never imagined taking on anyone else's challenges, hurts, or troubles as part of a meditation. I guess I never really knew what to think it would be like. It was difficult to make it all the way through on the first attempt. I was a pretty long one. I think my biggest hurdle to overcome on this one was questioning how taking on someone else's burdens would not take on a life of its own by my acknowledging it. I was afraid that it would not completely dissolve away upon breathing it in to my heart.
I completed that portion of it anyway. I thought of two people. The one that you would consider a loved one is the oldest of my three brothers, whom has been on drugs and alcohol since our sister's death. He has even stolen from our parents and another brother and then pawned those belongings to support his drug habit. The most fearful thing for him is that he came into our home as a newborn foster child addicted to crack cocaine. His biological mother admitted to taking a gram of crack a day in an effort to end that pregnancy. It is known that drug addicted babies will automatically want something stronger because of that drug addiction in utero.
The second is a really good friend of mine who has been having health issues and there have been discussions of the need for a hysterectomy.
Having thought about it since then though it is like praying for them. You take it in acknowledge it and give it to the Lord. To me breathing it in and allowing it to dissolve upon arrival to the heart is much like what is done in prayer.
Mental workout is allowing the mind to relax, to stop overtaxing it with schedules, workloads, and daily or even long term stresses. It can be through meditation, yoga, to daily live out the Golden Rule as we were meant to by respecting and loving others, being kind and courteous. It can be in the ways we find enjoyment in our lives, whether it be our family or children, our professional lives, in ways we volunteer, or even in our physical exercise. When I walk the Noland Trail here in Newport News, VA it is a nature walk. I love sitting on the benches at a couple points to break for a few minutes. You are surrounded by trees and water. The trail is five miles long and it encircles a portion of the river. If exercise was not a main goal for me I could sit and relax all day, just staring out at the water.