Unit 4-Loving Kindness Exercise

I, again, apologize for this being last minute. I feel like I have no time. I need better time management.

Anyway, is it just me, or are these exercises harder than they make it seem? I know it's supposed to take practice, but I don't think I'm getting out of it what I'm supposed to be. They definitely relax me, but to the point where I feel like I'm falling asleep....not reflecting inward. I did the Loving-Kindness exercise at work while sitting in my chair and the sound of her voice made me almost fall out of my chair. I had that sensation of falling, like when you do when you're abruptly awoken from a sleep. But ultimately, I didn't feel anything from this exercise. It may be my frame of mind right now. I feel incredibly stressed out lately. Although I'm trying to really control my level of stress, it just seems to start over every day the same way. I'm swamped at my job, then I come home to my 9 month old son and my two dogs, cat, husband, and messy house. Then I get my son ready for bed by 8 and then once he's asleep, I get about an hour to do school work and then I get ready to go to bed myself around 9:30 or 10 at the latest.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really just venting because this has been really difficult for me. I just keep holding on to the thought that I'm almost finished with school and that I can hang in there.

The meditation practices do seem to work to relieve whatever stress I have in the day, but I don't have those lasting affects that are talked about in the books. I just take the stress and then try to relieve them later before I go to bed.