I had a bit of trouble with the exercise this week. I am unsure if this is due to my current situation or not. My mother has been in the hospital for over 4 weeks now and has not made any progress. She is not doing well mentally or physically which causes me a lot of distress. The universal loving kindness meditation exercise had a phrase that I was to repeat for 10 minutes. The phrase was a simple 4 sentences yet I could not seem to remember what I needed to say so I had to keep opening my eyes to read what it was I was supposed to say and repeat. The exercise stated to close your eyes for a minute or two as I rest into a natural ease of mind and body. I did this with ease but then when it came time to repeat the phrase for 10 minutes I could not remain in my natural ease of mind and body due to the fact that I kept having to shift my focus to re-read what I was supposed to say. I think the exercise is a wonderful tool to use and I plan to try this one again when I can concentrate a bit more. The integral assessment is a tool used to assist one to integral flourishing and to identify the areas in their lives that they need to pay attention to. There are four aspects in life that one should search to see which area needs the most attention including psychospiritual, biological, interpersonal, and worldly. I have chosen to focus upon the interpersonal flourishing aspect for I have discovered that my life is out of tune at the present time due to family and trying to do everything in order for my father to live the same lifestyle he did when my mother was at home. I have a 6 year old daughter and she consumes a lot of my time as well. I feel as though I need to find a balance between my needs, wants and my family’s needs or wants. This makes me feel selfish in a sense though so I know for a fact that this is the area that is of most importance to me right now. I can identify or ask myself the following questions to foster greater wellness in this area: which interpersonal line of development is most urgent for you to address, which will most benefit you in the long term, what level are you currently functioning from, and what level would you like to achieve. I can also implement the loving kindness exercise in which I send loving thoughts out to others which would possibly make me feel as though I was doing enough rather than not enough. I hope to achieve a healthy balance within this area as soon as possible for this has been an extremely difficult time for me.