Reality Self-Check

As they say, practice does make perfect. Each time I work on the "loving-kindness" exercise I get a better grasp of the overall goal of selflessness and mind control. This has been enlightening especially and most difficultly, the part where we were to show this immense love toward all living beings. In my mind, i pictured myself out of this world with our whole planet in my arms and I let my heart burst with the deepest, most unconditional love I could. Spreading this power of love and kindness throughout every continent and every inch of every sea and literally to every living being. The overwhelming feeling I feel after doing so is incredible. This may be the same feeling some experience when they believe one person can change the world. I too, now feel hopeful of this. 

Now assessing oneself on any level is a whole different story. A reality check to say the least. However, I feel as practitioners we need to master this before being able to successfully assess others. The goal of this Integral assessment is to ultimately alleviate needless suffering and promote human flourishing. We do this by settling into our calm mind and releasing all mental activity. We then ask ourselves "what aspect of our life; phychospiritual, biological, interpersonal or worldly is the source of difficulty and suffering?" Establish an answer and move on to a positive aspect of assessment by asking yourself, "what area of my life is ready for growth and development?" Personally, after doing this self-assessment, I found numerous areas in which need to be a focus of growth and development. First things first and I realized that my interpersonal aspect of family needs attention and my biological area of fitness. Having moved away from my immediate and really all family and splitting with my son's father I am really on my own with him. I have not been as attentive and nourishing to my family and close friendships. To make sure these relationships are still developing and flourishing I plan to set aside time to connect with each person on a more regular basis and set more personal  time with each during visits back home. I have always found myself to be good at this and deeply bothered by those who let "life" get away from them and forget about the relationships that mean the most. Now I feel a bit guilty of that. As far as fitness goes, it should be inexcusable seeing as i AM a trainer! I have been lazy and will set a workout schedule and get back on track to make sure this biological aspect is not lacking and I can strive integrally and reach a state of complete homeostasis.