Again, I had difficulty becoming fully engaged in this exercise at first. My mind kept wandering back and forth with a few distractions in my house. I thought of my great-grandmother. She was always there for me as a child. She fed me cheese and crackers and let me stay up late watching the Oak Ridge Boys and Hee Haw. Those were the good ole days! this exercise made me remember many memories of her that I had suppressed. I had forgotten many of them from a conscous state.

Mindfulness and meditation are great ways to increase our self-awareness whether it be of our body or our mind. It helps to calm the senses and let us understand our areas of weakness. These exercises help us to connect mentally and physically with ourselves. In order to foster these practices in my life, I will continue to find ways to reflect on my total body, not just the physical state, but also the psychological and spiritual states. This helps us to live and function with intention.

The phrase "one cannot lead another where one has not gone himself" is a great way of summaraizing that we cannot help others if we don't set the example first. Others will be more apt to follow our ways if they see that we witness to them and that what we do affects how we function. If they see that by meditating we can escape illness and become happy, healthy individuals, they will be more likely to try them. We are here for others to help them make positive lifestyle changes so that they can escape disease and ill health.

I can implement spiritual growth in my life by just reading scripture more and understanding it so that I can live the life I strive for others to follow. Psychologically, I can grow by learning to only take on as much as I can handle and not more than I can handle. Keeping priorities and letting go of the small things that tend to stress us out but really don't matter.