Easy Come...Easy Go

This weeks exercise was much easier than the previous week.  I was able to do this without crying.  I think my emotions from the week before played a major role in how I reacted.  I felt a little "hormonal".  This week I feel better.  My dad actually received some great news from his doctor and no longer has to take one shot that I was giving to him (thank God I got my Medical Assisting Degree in order to this for him, hind sight).  Now he just gets one shot a week and will go to the doctor at the end of the month.  I think I do have a preference when it comes to the voices on the exercises.  I like soft, spoken voices, that speak calmly, smoothly and are in lower tones.  The higher pitched voices catch my breath when they start speaking again. 
These exercises are helping me concentrate better when I pray, and I like that.  My mind has always wondered, especially when I start to pray for people I care about and when I am laying in bed. 

My faucet of care turned on the faucet of tears : /

I am not sure I liked this technique at the moment.  Maybe another day I would like to come back and retouch on this.  I could be me, I have been feeling somewhat emotional the last week.  It did not help that I thought about my dad when asked to think about somebody that I love dearly.  My dad is not in the best of health at the moment and it breaks my heart into a million pieces.  I thought about him, how much I love him, how much he loves his family.  I thought about much he loves Dawson (my son) and doing things with him and spending time with his extended family and helping others.  How much it misses doing all the things he loves because he does not feel able.  I thought about how I want to take away his illness, pain and sadness and make him well again.  I thought about how much pain he has to endure with every shot and blood draw, how he almost cringes when it is time to eat because everything has lost its flavor or has a bad taste in his mouth.   However, I do feel that this is a great exercise and practice and I can almost feel a difference with one practice.   I wish I could encourage others to try this because I see this being very helpful to many people.  It is like as Dacher stated in our book, "cross-training" the mind.  We can work out our physical bodies for an hour or more a day and we need to exercise our minds for an hour or so daily too because exercise adds up.  These exercises decrease stress and can improve relationships. 

trying to relax with a 22 month old beating on the door

I really enjoy meditation and relaxation techniques of all kinds.  I was grew up listening to relaxation cds in the car and at night at home.  My mother was a physical therapist and believed in what she did and practiced what she preached.  The only difference from then and now is that now I enjoy them and I am not embarrassed to listen to them.  I enjoy taking a break at the end of the day and sometimes at the beginning of the day just to lay on floor and take some time to relax, let my mind and muscles rest, and deep breath.