This week's exercise was focused on producing feelings of loving-kindness and then projecting those feelings onto your thoughts, yourself, and your environment. As I began the exercise, I had a distinct feeling of fear in me that I couln't put my finger on. I listened carefully but couldn't shake this sensation and it definitely made a difference on how effective this could have been. I don't know what I was afraid of but I did notice that it was still possible to feel this loving-kindness; however, it wasn't strong and when I managed to place it in certain areas it only kind of touched on them and didn't give the full effect that it could have. I would still reccomend this exercise to others because, dispite my difficulty, it did have a slight positive effect on my feelings of well-being afterwards.

I did some reading on the concept of a mental workout and it makes a lot of sense that it is something that needs to be repeated over and over again. A mental workout is more than just a few simple breathing exercises to relax you; it serves to quiet your mind so that you can gain a better perspective on your internal self. Regularly perfoming these exercises can lead to decreased feelings of emotional instability because of the calm mindset that it all comes with. I plan on practicing this during my quieter moments of the day or when I can get in an environment where it might be useful. Off the top of my head, two moments I can think of are when I shave and brush my teeth in the mornings and during my commute on the metro and trams to work.