Unit 8

Of the exercises we've experienced throughout this course, my two favorites are the loving kindness exercise and meditation. I felt a great deal of happiness and joy when doing the loving kindness exercise. And although I required some more practice in sharing the loving kindness with my "enemies", repeating the exercise has made that come easier and I feel more at peace. As for meditation, I love being in the stillness. I let my mind wander so as not to make myself feel too antsy, but the stillness offers the most satisfying feeling of completeness, that I can't imagine not having meditation practices in my life. I do vary my meditations as I feel the need. Sometimes I use visualizing techniques and stillness meditations all in one session. Sometimes my my won't quiet down, or I feel like my visualizing isn't quite what it's supposed to be, so I'll switch back and forth as I feel necessary until I feel like I get it right. Occasionally that means that I just plain fall asleep, and that's ok too. Sometimes I'll use prayer as a form of meditation. I get some of the best answers when I just let myself talk with God as I might with my best friend. It's quite amazing.