The past few weeks have been really hard on me as my mother is in the hospital and not doing well. With that being said, I have had a bit of a hard time trying to calm my thoughts in order to truly relax. Last week we did the loving kindness exercise where you was to focus your energy and thoughts on external factors or people within your lives. I did that with ease as there are many people whom I love but it became difficult for me to imagine a stranger who I know nothing about and try to send them loving thoughts and kindness. I am nice to everyone but to truly do that I feel as though I need some sort of relation with the person. This week we were to do the subtle mind exercise. I feel as though this exercise focused more on the breathing aspect and calming your mind from all the senseless chatter. There was numerous times when I would notice my thoughts, feelings, sensations, etc. beginning to veer off track and distract me, but I did notice when I was doing this and was able to return my focus to my breathing. It was hard for me to visualize or think of the stillness created within because with my worries being so strong this week I was unable to truly return my focus. There is a huge connection to the spiritual wellness to mental and physical wellness. If one practices a physical fitness routine yet they are not mentally healthy then they may allow their feelings of not wanting to exercise to overcome them causing them to not exercise. Plus being healthy within the mind will have many beneficial gains in terms of physical exercise. Spiritual wellness allows a person to realize their worth including external and internal factors. I know that when I am feeling down I can go for a hike or go fishing and it calms my mind. I can actually sit and have one thought at a time rather than a million thoughts running around clashing.