Book Report | |
File Size: | 496 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LovingKindness Part 1 | |
File Size: | 2400 kb |
File Type: | jpg |
LovingKindness Part 2 | |
File Size: | 1928 kb |
File Type: | jpg |
Cody Hilton
Meditation Journals
Journal 1: Today was my first attempt at meditating on my own in my own home. It was very weird because I kept putting it off. It was hard for me to keep focused on just sitting because I am constantly moving. After I finally sat down and meditated for 10 minutes I realized that this could help me a lot.
I put all stressful things aside just to sit. Usually I would never put things that I need to get done aside to just sit still for 10 min. It was kind of nice. I think doing this for a few times a week can really help me keep things mellow. I am not sure how things will go throughout the semester.
Journal 2: This is a follow up on my first attempt of meditating alone. It was much easier to tell myself to do it this time. I have a hard time focussing on things because I have ADD so I know doing these meditations will be a bit of a challenge. Another thing I noticed is when I meditate at home is that I feel a little uncomfortable when my wife is there. I feel like she is just starring at me weirdly. I know this will change as well the more I do it.
For being my second time meditating at home though, it has already shown signs of helping my daily life. I think the further I get into the semester, the more focused on tasks I will be. I look forward to the change it brings in the future. So far I am happy I took this class instead of some classic gym class.
Journal 3: Book Report: Wherever You Go, There You Are.
Journal 4: Lovingkindness Exercise.
Journal 5 Mountain Meditation: While doing this meditation I visualized being on a peak of a giant mountain. Sitting as still as possible. In the video it talked about having the presence of a mountain, and letting it move into your body making you become the mountain. I love the aspect of visualizing meditation. It helps put things into perspective. I have always been a visual learner so this really hit home.
I felt very sturdy compared to doing plain sitting meditation, and also happier. I’ve always loved nature and I could almost feel a slight breeze of cold air up my spine. I could hear leaves moving on the trees. I felt as though if I were to open my eyes I would see a mountain range in front of me. I wish I did this exercise outside instead of inside. Maybe I will try this again down the road on an actual mountain.
Journal 6 Lake Meditation: This meditation was quite different than the mountain meditation because I tried it laying down. This was the first experience I have had doing any other meditation than sitting. It was much more relaxing, but it almost made me tired. I focused on a body of water somewhere I have never been. I had a blanket I was lying on and it was very peaceful. After doing the first visualization of the mountain I had an easier time doing this.
The same goes with this meditation with the wish that I can use this technique near an actual body of water in nature instead of my thoughts. This practice made me smile because I love the sound of moving water, particularly rain. Whenever I travel anywhere with an ocean I can just sit there for hours, listening. I will be using this visualization in the near future.
Journal 7: Today I sat outside the SLCC South City Campus near the fountain on the grass and closed my eyes. I heard the bustling of students and cars as they came and went. I chose a spot where I could sit straight up but also in front of a tree so if I just wanted to lean back and enjoy the breeze I could do so. I tried channeling my thoughts to my school work because at that time I was very stressed about my assignments do the next day.
One interesting thing happened and it may sound dumb, but a leaf fell from the tree and landed right into my lap as I sat there. It sparked my imagination and I took that leave to my next design class and drew it. Maybe it was a sign of good luck or safe travels ahead? Who knows? It was a beautiful experience. Maybe life and that tree knew I was there and decided to show its appreciation to me taking the time out of my day to enjoy nature.
Journal 8: Today was a fun time meditating in particular, because I actually got my wife to try it with me. She was a little awkward about it at first, but unlike me she sat still and didn’t make a sound the first time she tried it. She is very into henna and also is a vegetarian so this was right up her alley. She was interested and was happy she did it with me. I loved it because when we were finished we just looked at each other and smiled and cooked dinner and talked calmly to each other the rest of the night.
I think meditation can improve a few things in a relationship. It may be hard, but I feel as though if we were arguing we could just stop each other sit down and meditate for 10 min and be over it. I will have to try this out in the future. Being newly weds we are still figuring out what ways to not argue about stupid little things. We will see where it goes with meditation. I will be writing about this again.
Journal 9: In class we learned walking meditation, I thought I’d use it as a journal entry because I found it very fun. Although it did hurt my feet a lot for some reason. I think like we talked about, we are so used to walking awkwardly instead of heel to toe like the practice. I was surprised how often I found myself loosing balance when just simply walking!
Another very interesting thing is the energy I felt throughout the exercise from other people. All moving in unison with each other had a sense of power. I also tried closing my eyes for a minute and that was very difficult. It almost felt like I was going to fall into a hole with no end. I thought walking normally with my eyes open was hard to keep my balance, but that took it to a whole new level.
Journal 10: I am a little upset with myself at this point. I took a very long break from doing meditation because I have had so much homework to catch up on. But here I am typing about it again. I missed having the little bit of time to just sit still alone in a room thinking about anything that comes to my mind. Today I realized humans take that word “time” for granted. It is basically what controls us in the end where we meet death. Is it really spent well?
That get’s me a bit anxious because everyone runs out of time eventually, and what awaits us in the afterlife? Who knows really? I hope that I meet my wife again so I can be happy wherever I end up. From this day forward I am going to spend all of my time wisely, either doing something creative or spending it with the people I love. I have so much time I have wasted over the years and it is time to make a change.
Journal 11: We’ve been doing silent sitting meditation in class a lot lately and I took a different approach we haven't tried yet. I tried meditating with different types of music in the background. I started out with Blink 182 which is my favorite band and to my surprise it worked really well! I thought at the beginning that it will most likely make me distracted, but I listened to a very sad song written by them “Adam’s Songs.”
This song was written for a fan that committed suicide. It hit me so hard when I first heard it. When meditating to it I felt myself in the shoes of someone having that kind of fan and finding out that tragedy. It hurt…. I cried to be honest. It was a good experience I think in the end though.
Journal 12: This was a very interesting day indeed! I tried walking meditation in public near one of the libraries in my town. People watched me on a bench awkwardly walk in circles at a slow pace. A young couple walked past me as well and actually knew what I was doing, they asked “are you meditating?” I said “yes I am haha, how did you know?”, they said “we have done walking meditation before.” It was cool.
After that couple left I just collected myself and ignored those who starred at me, not because I thought it was rude, but I wanted to block out the weirdness and distractions. I have always been at peace when I am in a nice environment with trees. So getting into the mood of walking around was very easy for me. At this point in my college life, I have noticed my stress has gone down significantly.
Journal 13: Today was probably one of the hardest meditation days I have had yet. I sat down with one goal that I have been struggling with since the beginning of the semester. The fact that no matter what I do, I twitch randomly because my very bad A.D.D. and I always have to be active. I tried so hard to not move at all and not let my mind wonder… Squirrel! Just like that!
No, but for real. I have had a slight bit of anger towards myself because of it and that is not fair to me as a person. Self judgement has always been a slight problem for me growing up because my dad was never really involved with me and kicked me out of his house when I was very young. My mom on the other hand was way to lenient and I never learned the basics of finance or keeping on top of my tasks.
Journal 14: This is about the end of my journals and I really want to address the funeral visualization. I want to go over the basics of what I experience, because WOW it was weird. Firstly I walked into a sand color painted room with a bed and a dresser. Pretty simple right? Well once we walked through the door in the room I ended up on a grassy hill in Ireland! After that I followed a dirt path down to a chapel with a castle on a hilltop near it. I witnessed my dead body and instantly felt grief for myself and thought how did this happen?
After leaving I saw my grandpa outside waiting for me as a ghost. We walked along a path to a small town below. Just before we got there the path turned into clouds, after that outer space, and then my body started turning into a light blue color. I then turned into a full light blue being with no face just the mold of a body. After we brought our awareness back, our instructor said that the light blue being is tied to deity’s. That was very awesome!
Journal 15: In this journal I want to go over karma. We talked about it a few times in class, but I’d like to touch on it a bit more. I think that karma is a very powerful thing that hands down is a big part of our lives. Whether it be good karma or bad karma. Sadly you can’t have one without the other. But what you can do is control which you give to others.
Karma has always been an interesting topic for me. It’s an invisible thing that drapes itself over somebody depending on their actions in life. I have experiences both, but let me say that I have definitely received good karma over bad karma since I started college. I was so impatient with everyone and didn’t realize how much support I get from others. I used to always get so frustrated when I get asked a lot of questions in a little amount of time. I hated that I couldn’t focus on one or the other. But now I don't have that problem.
Journal 16: This is the final journal entry of the semester. I first want to begin this entry by saying thank you for being a fantastic instructor! I hope you read this one in particular because I want to let you know how much meditation has helped me in my life outside of class. Learning about different practices, karma, and chakra has really opened my eyes to what I don’t fully understand. I took advantage of that because I wanted to learn what I didn’t know.
I was very happy with my classmates for the trust we all gave each other. You shared things with us that you probably wouldn’t tell many people and we all gave something to you and each other that is the same way. I gave away my comfort for a very long while during the semester because I knew I would see the same people once every week. After that I learned more and more about everyone. So thank you for a great semester and the knowledge of a new life skill. Meditation.
Meditation Journals
Journal 1: Today was my first attempt at meditating on my own in my own home. It was very weird because I kept putting it off. It was hard for me to keep focused on just sitting because I am constantly moving. After I finally sat down and meditated for 10 minutes I realized that this could help me a lot.
I put all stressful things aside just to sit. Usually I would never put things that I need to get done aside to just sit still for 10 min. It was kind of nice. I think doing this for a few times a week can really help me keep things mellow. I am not sure how things will go throughout the semester.
Journal 2: This is a follow up on my first attempt of meditating alone. It was much easier to tell myself to do it this time. I have a hard time focussing on things because I have ADD so I know doing these meditations will be a bit of a challenge. Another thing I noticed is when I meditate at home is that I feel a little uncomfortable when my wife is there. I feel like she is just starring at me weirdly. I know this will change as well the more I do it.
For being my second time meditating at home though, it has already shown signs of helping my daily life. I think the further I get into the semester, the more focused on tasks I will be. I look forward to the change it brings in the future. So far I am happy I took this class instead of some classic gym class.
Journal 3: Book Report: Wherever You Go, There You Are.
Journal 4: Lovingkindness Exercise.
Journal 5 Mountain Meditation: While doing this meditation I visualized being on a peak of a giant mountain. Sitting as still as possible. In the video it talked about having the presence of a mountain, and letting it move into your body making you become the mountain. I love the aspect of visualizing meditation. It helps put things into perspective. I have always been a visual learner so this really hit home.
I felt very sturdy compared to doing plain sitting meditation, and also happier. I’ve always loved nature and I could almost feel a slight breeze of cold air up my spine. I could hear leaves moving on the trees. I felt as though if I were to open my eyes I would see a mountain range in front of me. I wish I did this exercise outside instead of inside. Maybe I will try this again down the road on an actual mountain.
Journal 6 Lake Meditation: This meditation was quite different than the mountain meditation because I tried it laying down. This was the first experience I have had doing any other meditation than sitting. It was much more relaxing, but it almost made me tired. I focused on a body of water somewhere I have never been. I had a blanket I was lying on and it was very peaceful. After doing the first visualization of the mountain I had an easier time doing this.
The same goes with this meditation with the wish that I can use this technique near an actual body of water in nature instead of my thoughts. This practice made me smile because I love the sound of moving water, particularly rain. Whenever I travel anywhere with an ocean I can just sit there for hours, listening. I will be using this visualization in the near future.
Journal 7: Today I sat outside the SLCC South City Campus near the fountain on the grass and closed my eyes. I heard the bustling of students and cars as they came and went. I chose a spot where I could sit straight up but also in front of a tree so if I just wanted to lean back and enjoy the breeze I could do so. I tried channeling my thoughts to my school work because at that time I was very stressed about my assignments do the next day.
One interesting thing happened and it may sound dumb, but a leaf fell from the tree and landed right into my lap as I sat there. It sparked my imagination and I took that leave to my next design class and drew it. Maybe it was a sign of good luck or safe travels ahead? Who knows? It was a beautiful experience. Maybe life and that tree knew I was there and decided to show its appreciation to me taking the time out of my day to enjoy nature.
Journal 8: Today was a fun time meditating in particular, because I actually got my wife to try it with me. She was a little awkward about it at first, but unlike me she sat still and didn’t make a sound the first time she tried it. She is very into henna and also is a vegetarian so this was right up her alley. She was interested and was happy she did it with me. I loved it because when we were finished we just looked at each other and smiled and cooked dinner and talked calmly to each other the rest of the night.
I think meditation can improve a few things in a relationship. It may be hard, but I feel as though if we were arguing we could just stop each other sit down and meditate for 10 min and be over it. I will have to try this out in the future. Being newly weds we are still figuring out what ways to not argue about stupid little things. We will see where it goes with meditation. I will be writing about this again.
Journal 9: In class we learned walking meditation, I thought I’d use it as a journal entry because I found it very fun. Although it did hurt my feet a lot for some reason. I think like we talked about, we are so used to walking awkwardly instead of heel to toe like the practice. I was surprised how often I found myself loosing balance when just simply walking!
Another very interesting thing is the energy I felt throughout the exercise from other people. All moving in unison with each other had a sense of power. I also tried closing my eyes for a minute and that was very difficult. It almost felt like I was going to fall into a hole with no end. I thought walking normally with my eyes open was hard to keep my balance, but that took it to a whole new level.
Journal 10: I am a little upset with myself at this point. I took a very long break from doing meditation because I have had so much homework to catch up on. But here I am typing about it again. I missed having the little bit of time to just sit still alone in a room thinking about anything that comes to my mind. Today I realized humans take that word “time” for granted. It is basically what controls us in the end where we meet death. Is it really spent well?
That get’s me a bit anxious because everyone runs out of time eventually, and what awaits us in the afterlife? Who knows really? I hope that I meet my wife again so I can be happy wherever I end up. From this day forward I am going to spend all of my time wisely, either doing something creative or spending it with the people I love. I have so much time I have wasted over the years and it is time to make a change.
Journal 11: We’ve been doing silent sitting meditation in class a lot lately and I took a different approach we haven't tried yet. I tried meditating with different types of music in the background. I started out with Blink 182 which is my favorite band and to my surprise it worked really well! I thought at the beginning that it will most likely make me distracted, but I listened to a very sad song written by them “Adam’s Songs.”
This song was written for a fan that committed suicide. It hit me so hard when I first heard it. When meditating to it I felt myself in the shoes of someone having that kind of fan and finding out that tragedy. It hurt…. I cried to be honest. It was a good experience I think in the end though.
Journal 12: This was a very interesting day indeed! I tried walking meditation in public near one of the libraries in my town. People watched me on a bench awkwardly walk in circles at a slow pace. A young couple walked past me as well and actually knew what I was doing, they asked “are you meditating?” I said “yes I am haha, how did you know?”, they said “we have done walking meditation before.” It was cool.
After that couple left I just collected myself and ignored those who starred at me, not because I thought it was rude, but I wanted to block out the weirdness and distractions. I have always been at peace when I am in a nice environment with trees. So getting into the mood of walking around was very easy for me. At this point in my college life, I have noticed my stress has gone down significantly.
Journal 13: Today was probably one of the hardest meditation days I have had yet. I sat down with one goal that I have been struggling with since the beginning of the semester. The fact that no matter what I do, I twitch randomly because my very bad A.D.D. and I always have to be active. I tried so hard to not move at all and not let my mind wonder… Squirrel! Just like that!
No, but for real. I have had a slight bit of anger towards myself because of it and that is not fair to me as a person. Self judgement has always been a slight problem for me growing up because my dad was never really involved with me and kicked me out of his house when I was very young. My mom on the other hand was way to lenient and I never learned the basics of finance or keeping on top of my tasks.
Journal 14: This is about the end of my journals and I really want to address the funeral visualization. I want to go over the basics of what I experience, because WOW it was weird. Firstly I walked into a sand color painted room with a bed and a dresser. Pretty simple right? Well once we walked through the door in the room I ended up on a grassy hill in Ireland! After that I followed a dirt path down to a chapel with a castle on a hilltop near it. I witnessed my dead body and instantly felt grief for myself and thought how did this happen?
After leaving I saw my grandpa outside waiting for me as a ghost. We walked along a path to a small town below. Just before we got there the path turned into clouds, after that outer space, and then my body started turning into a light blue color. I then turned into a full light blue being with no face just the mold of a body. After we brought our awareness back, our instructor said that the light blue being is tied to deity’s. That was very awesome!
Journal 15: In this journal I want to go over karma. We talked about it a few times in class, but I’d like to touch on it a bit more. I think that karma is a very powerful thing that hands down is a big part of our lives. Whether it be good karma or bad karma. Sadly you can’t have one without the other. But what you can do is control which you give to others.
Karma has always been an interesting topic for me. It’s an invisible thing that drapes itself over somebody depending on their actions in life. I have experiences both, but let me say that I have definitely received good karma over bad karma since I started college. I was so impatient with everyone and didn’t realize how much support I get from others. I used to always get so frustrated when I get asked a lot of questions in a little amount of time. I hated that I couldn’t focus on one or the other. But now I don't have that problem.
Journal 16: This is the final journal entry of the semester. I first want to begin this entry by saying thank you for being a fantastic instructor! I hope you read this one in particular because I want to let you know how much meditation has helped me in my life outside of class. Learning about different practices, karma, and chakra has really opened my eyes to what I don’t fully understand. I took advantage of that because I wanted to learn what I didn’t know.
I was very happy with my classmates for the trust we all gave each other. You shared things with us that you probably wouldn’t tell many people and we all gave something to you and each other that is the same way. I gave away my comfort for a very long while during the semester because I knew I would see the same people once every week. After that I learned more and more about everyone. So thank you for a great semester and the knowledge of a new life skill. Meditation.