Wellbeing and Mindfulness Reflections

In this class I learned many useful mindfulness activities that helped me cope with my stress and anxiety. However I also learned a lot more about well-being in Dr Castillo's mindfulness class every Monday morning. In this class I got the chance to learn about activities such as different mindfulness activities and how we can bring our focus on the present moments and not worry about the future. For example, on my first day in the class we did an activity that I really enjoy called mindfulness walking where we all stood up and walked in a continuous Circle slowly at first and then picking up the pace. I really like this activity because it feels like everyone was connecting to each other even though it was silent the entire time. It's also great to stand up and stretch and to walk around in a space that has our personal space as well as a big enough space for us to interact with each other other than being at our desk like other classes. There was also another day where we did a listening activity where we took turns trying to listen to one another talk and to not interrupt. I think this activity really helps me with trying to maintain my focus on someone's conversation and to really take in what they are saying. I think that my listening skills had improved a lot by the end of the course and I am able to look at the person who is speaking in the eye and to really give them all of my attention. The benefits of this activity is that I found that when it's my turn to speak other people also respect me in the same way and that makes me feel a lot better about myself. Whenever I'm stressed about an assignment I would go to Dr Castillo's mindfulness Monday and I found out they really help me just temporarily forget about my stress and to focus on the present moments but not to entirely push away my problems instead I got to learn about different strategies on how I can manage my things better. I found that I have become more productive after every session and I really would love to have been able to attend more sessions if it weren't for me taking a lot of units this quarter. However, I am also glad that I was able to attend some sessions because I don't think I would have been able to manage my coursework this quarter without this mindfulness class. 

The mindfulness exercise that I think had the most effect on myself was the exercise about the power of sounds when Dr. Morse showed us how we could tune our brain using a tuning fork. At first The Sounds were a little hard to hear because I was not used to the frequency just yet but after a while they became really really calming and I was really surprised at how calmed I became. I think I was in the calmest state I have ever been just after that one session. When we were using the sound I found myself deep into a meditative state and a lot of ideas suddenly came into my head. Those ideas really help me toward writing the last bits of my research paper which I was really surprised because I have been trying to organize my research paper for a very long time and it never came together but after hearing the sound of the bowl and the sound of the tuning fork it was like all of the wires in my brain were connected again and I suddenly found a deep inspiration to write the final paragraphs of my research paper. My calmness also helped me recollect myself before the finals which I'm very grateful for. I the future I think I might get myself my own wind chimes or tuning Forks or try to play some meditated music before I go to sleep because I think that would really help me sleep at night

Outside of the class I also tried to do my own wellbeing activities whenever I can throughout the quarter such as being mindful in the moments. I like to take walks around Aldrich Park and I would purposely take a little bit of my time during the day to walk the longer the way just so I can surround myself in nature. I also learned something very important in the class which I still use everyday: the ability to calm down and be more aware of mess surounding. For example I used to be a very impatient person whenever I drive or whenever someone cut me in line but I learned to take a deep breath assess the situation before I come up with a solution and I found that really helps me with my problem solving skills not just in life but also in my classes as well before. Before I was stressed out about assignments I would take a deep breath and reassess the situation, make myself a plan of attack and I found that really helps me with my assignments and also my well-being. As the year progresses, I notice great improvements in my mental and physical health in which I am very thankful and optimistic about.