{"id":8543,"date":"2018-05-13T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-13T16:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=8543"},"modified":"2018-05-13T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2018-05-13T16:08:16","slug":"lessons-on-mindfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2018\/05\/13\/lessons-on-mindfulness\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons on Mindfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Finals are approaching at lightning speed, and you can\u2019t stop thinking about those looming papers and exams. You know that soon, you\u2019ll be frantically rushing to cram everything in while still getting just enough sleep to function. Thoughts of \u201cI should\u2019ve done this before\u201d and \u201cI have to do this, this and this in the next three hours\u201d are constantly running through your mind. Reading about all of this is getting you tense, anxious, stressed and panicked.<\/p>\n<p>Pause. Take a deep breath in. Hold. Release it.<\/p>\n<p>What you just did \u2014 slow, deep breathing \u2014 is just the first of many mindful ways you can survive this finals season, and whatever other stresses constantly pile up in your life. As students, we are always worried about what\u2019s ahead or regretful of what already happened. It\u2019s obviously important to learn through past mistakes and remember future deadlines, but failure to appreciate and live in the present is a vital factor to mindful, stronger mental health.<\/p>\n<p>Mindfulness is the state of focusing on the present. It\u2019s being aware of your current physical, emotional and mental state, as well as calmly accepting those for what they are without worrying about having to alter them. Essentially, it is just letting yourself exist in the current moment in time.<\/p>\n<p>Why is this so important? Well, there are scientifically proven benefits to making mindfulness a habit. It reduces stress, improves memory and focus, allows greater cognitive flexibility, and increases appreciation for the self and for others. These are especially important during times of greater stress and anxiety, such as finals season.<\/p>\n<p>There are many ways to practice mindfulness, with varying intensities. Meditation is one that is well known, and hard for many to grasp. However, with some helpful books or YouTube tutorials, it gets easier the more you know and try. Some other, less intensive ways include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gratitude: Write a list people and things you are grateful for and why. Finding something new to appreciate everyday brings more happiness and perspective into our lives.<\/li>\n<li>Deep breathing: If you can\u2019t get meditation and the art of emptying your mind down, don\u2019t worry. Even taking deep breaths in patterns such as 4-7-8 (four counts of inhaling, seven seconds of holding and eight counts of exhaling) can calm you down and even lower blood pressure when your mind is going at 100 mph.<\/li>\n<li>Stretching: You can relax both your mind and your body at the same time by staying focused on only the present sensations and emotions in you as you stretch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>One of the most important aspects of staying grounded and mindful is not judging yourself as you focus on the now. It\u2019s all about simply accepting that the emotions are there instead of honing in on the negativity.&nbsp;And if you can\u2019t keep up any mindful habits at first, don\u2019t worry. It\u2019s a new habit you have to develop, just like forcing yourself to the gym every week until it becomes normal routine. Except this is easier: you don\u2019t even have to leave your bed to find peace in the moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finals are approaching at lightning speed, and you can\u2019t stop thinking about those looming papers and exams. You know that soon, you\u2019ll be frantically rushing to cram everything in while still getting just enough sleep to function. Thoughts of \u201cI should\u2019ve done this before\u201d and \u201cI have to do this, this and this in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":8547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[812,1370,1420,1596,2117],"class_list":["post-8543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-final-exams","tag-meditation","tag-mindfulness","tag-opinions","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}