Welcome back to my blog! I took the liberty of interviewing a few of the teachers at Pacifica who know a little about psychology and meditation, and their responses were very informative. In the next three blogs I am going talk about each of my interviews in order to give some better context about my project. I'm also going to share some things that I have found helpful in de-stressing along with the traditional meditation that I have been practicing, so stay tuned. Today, let's go over what Mrs. Ross and I talked about! Interview 1: Mrs. Ross (psychology, Civics, Econ)Mrs. Ross heavily focuses on behavioral psychology in her classes as they are less in-depth in the science aspect in the regular psychology classes. At the beginning of the interview, I asked, "Is anxiety directly linked to stress?". In response, Mrs. Ross described the two sides of stress. Stress can be a motivator, such as in a sports game or an important test, and can actually encourage someone to perform well. She called this the "good kind of stress". On the other hand, there is the "bad stress". This is often triggered by the things that a person cannot control, such as abusive and violent family life, which provide no release or outlet. We discussed how both buildup and triggers can lead to anxiety attacks. Bad experiences leave certain people more sensitive to specific circumstances or words that can trigger a panic attack without warning. Mrs. Ross suffers from an anxiety disorder herself, and she shared some of her personal methods for preventing anxiety attacks. The very first thing she said was that she avoided triggers as much as possible and avoided the things that she knows will cause stress in her life. For teenagers specifically she said that working out, staying physical, doing extracurriculars, and eating healthy could all help students to cope with bad situations at home or toxic situations with people at school. She also mentioned that for many yoga and meditation could be helpful. For her personally, reading the Bible and prayer are also helpful for her to focus on the good and not on the bad. She emphasized that coping methods are different for everyone, saying that people need to find the thing that works for them. She mentioned the Placebo Effect and how the brain has more power over the body than most people realize. In regards to meditation, she said that society today makes it very difficult for people to calm their thoughts. With the busyness of life, it can be extremely difficult for a person to meditate, but it can also be very beneficial.
Progress: So the second phase is officially over! I'm done meditating only twice a week. Its time for daily meditation. I'm not going to lie, the twice a week meditation was rough. There were times when I forgot because I was so busy with the chaos of the holidays and the start of a new semester. I'm actually looking forwards to daily meditation because it provides more consistent. When I was only doing two days, it was a lot easier to push it off or get distracted. By doing it every day I am implemented meditation more securely into my daily routine. Reflection: In doing this project, I've been exploring and thinking about situations that calm me down and make me feel my best. I find it really easy to get lost in all the negative aspects of my life and I am seeing how important it is to find the things that help change that negativity to positivity. This project has also been challenging my procrastination issues. I know that if something is important to me, I will make the time for it. As I plan times to take a break from school work and other responsibilities, and as I plan times to meditate, I feel how little I value taking that time for myself, despite how immensely it can help. In my head, breaks seem like a waste of time, a mindset that can be extremely detrimental to my well-being. As I continue my attempt at meditation, I hope that I can slowly change this mindset and come to value meditation and what it can do to help me. how i de-stress: musicMusic has been a big part of my life. I come from a very musically-talented family who love to both play and listen to music. Every since I was a baby we have loved listening to music and it has become something that I find a lot of comfort in. Although I do not play instruments as much as I used to, I still love to sing. When I had the opportunity to play music with Toby, I was super excited. Here's a video of us practicing for our Open Mic performance this past March. I don't know what it is, but something about singing and playing music with people relaxes me. I stop thinking and stressing so much and just have fun. There's no over-thinking involved, giving me a much needed break from it. *I planned a time to record a newer and longer video for this blog post, but with the COVID-19 quarantining measures we were unable to meet to play music. This is the only video I have of us playing recently where the audio is good.
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