Comment on the things below

I don’t know how to handle this English question and need guidance.

Comment on both points with a minimum of 100 points

1. The 5-minute meditation this week was easy for me. I started the practice of meditation a few years ago when I visited Thailand and spent the day at The Great Buddha of Phuket. At one point I kneeled before a monk and was blessed while he tied a multi-colored bracelet around my wrist. My experience was very special, and I still wear the bracelet today since it’s tied in a knot and it never comes off. Since then even though I’m not Buddhist, I have practiced yoga for many years before and still do today. The practice of yoga helped with meditation and awareness. Practicing daily mediation has helped me focus and pick my intention for the day. I also follow it with a journal. I have found many benefits from it. My thoughts still wander from time to time but with enough practice it has become easier to bring back my awareness to my breath. I feel it’s valuable time I take out of my busy life for myself and it relaxes me for what’s ahead. With the small amount of meditation, I currently practice and studying the Buddhist religion in this class I can see and just imagine how much awareness of everything in the world comes to enlightenment for Buddhists. It must open so many paths to their minds. I have a high level of respect for it.
2. Reading passage 33 from the World’s Wisdom (pgs. 156-157) talks about the four qualities with one being loving-kindness. Reading this passage interests me because I feel it speaks to how we need to have love, kindness, and compassion for everything with a heart. Everything that breaths no matter how strong or weak, big or small that being is to me. The quote on pg. 157 “And never let them wish each other ill through provocation or resentful thought” is interesting because that can be difficult to acknowledge within oneself. I know I have come across situations in my own life that I resent someone and it’s difficult to move past it and it brings that inner joy of when that person is unhappy. I think it happens when you are young but can also continue through adulthood. But it’s very bad to think or feel that way. Until your mindful of it you don’t even know that it’s bad. The second quote I picked in this passage (pg. 157-158) “And just as might a mother with her life, protect the son that was her only child, so let him then for every living thing maintain unbounded consciousness in being, and let him too with love for all the world”. This passage is very strong to me because I have one son who I protected maybe too much as he grew up to an adult. I feel that maybe I didn’t allow him to be as aware of his own existence or thoughts because I was always overbearing in teaching him right from wrong when maybe I wasn’t as conscious of the world myself.
   1.For me the 5-minute meditation was very easy. I think it came so easily to me because I already do this after every prayer which is 5 times a day. One way that I was able to create spaces between my thoughts when I focused on my breath was when I inhaled and exhaled based on what I wanted to focus on that day. I did this activity where I would inhale in positive thoughts and I would exhale out things about myself that were negative. Exhaling out negativity was supposed to be me quite literally removing the bad out of my life and trying to manifest a better reality. I thought about all that I had going, all that had happened and all could have gone wrong and how despite all that I was in a really good position. I thought about my family and how we’re in a good situation amidst all the chaos and how things aren’t so bad.For me meditation has been helpful in practicing gratitude and practicing positive talk towards myself. I don’t talk to myself or think about myself often since I am so self critical and so having these meditation exercises throughout the day have helped curb my bad habit of down talk. I think it helps Buddhists achieve greater awareness and enlightenment because they are being mindful when they meditate. They are spending time to think about themselves, the world and how they fit into said world. They are taking time to reflect on their strengths, weaknesses and how they can improve. It seems like the perfect exercises for someone whose goal is self improvement and elevation. 2.The reading that interested me is 9 “The rejection of Self-torture as a way to liberation”. There was a portion about the importance of physical strength which stated “Inward calm is needed for success. Inward calm cannot be maintained unless physical strength is constantly and intelligently replenished”. The reason that this got my attention was because it directly speaks to the importance of meditation but also makes a point to stress the importance of diet and physical strength.The text even stresses “only if the boy is reasonably nourished can undue strain on the mind be avoided.” The reason that was a surprise was because I always pictured Buddhism as being a religion that was very focused on the spiritual and even read once they went days fasting on end.