Journaling and Mindfulness
Reflection on my Journal
The demo of song that I made when I first moved here about living in the U.S.A
My graduation with my family
Getting my U.S. citizenship
When I go back and re-read my journal, I noticed that the theme of family came up on many of my entries. This was not a surprised considering how important my family are to me as they have always been my biggest supporters and motivators in anything that I do. My parents have sacrificed so much for my sister and I to study here in the United States and my biggest dream is to be able to study hard and give back to them in the future. There was a period of my life when I first came to the U.S and was struggling with depression and had to receive therapy treatments. Instead of getting mad, my parents were by my side, encouraging me to not give up and telling me that everything will be ok. I wrote this song about my struggle as an immigrant and although it wasn't the best song, it resonated with a lot of other people who were going through the same thing I did. When I graduated high school with honors last year, my parents were very proud of me and that made all of my struggles gone away. Recently coming to college, I just wanted to continue working harder and harder toward my goal of being the first person in my family to graduate from college. I know that there is nothing to be afraid of because my family will be with me on my journey and I am very thankful for them.
Mindfulness and Mental Health in my Everyday Life
I have made it one of my top priority this year to improve my sleep schedule because of the correlation between sleep and memory (+mental health).
Last summer, I conducted a study about the this for the aging population. Every day that summer, I would read scientific articles and come up with different hypotheses. I discovered many types of memory and narrowed my research to explicit/declarative memory. Then, I surveyed my population of people ages 55 and older to ask them questions about their amount of sleep, number of wake-up times on average, and whether they were taking any sleeping medication. Finally, my participants took a credible memory test from the Everyday memory questionnaire.
The result of my survey was very unexpected. Although there was a negative correlation between sleep quantity and memory score, this correlation was not significant. However, there is a significant correlation between sleep quality and memory. Many other scientific articles also supported this conclusion.
Afterward, I explained the importance of my findings and advised my grandma to improve her sleep. When she followed my advice, her memory and mental health also started to improve.
I found out that the recommended amount of sleep my age group is at least 8 hours of sleep and I have been doing that since Fall Quarter. I found that I have a lot more energy during the day that I was able to do better in school and I am also much more happy. I think I will continue to do that.
I am glad that I made my personal and mental health one of my top priority this quarter. Because of that, I was able to fully experience many memories that I will cherish forever. Life moves very fast so I love it when I can slow down and take in what is happening at that moment. I learned from Dr. Castillo that mindfulness is when you become in tune with your body and realized all of your surroundings and feelings. I was able to incorporate mindfulness into my life by taking walks in nature, enjoying foods and picnics with friends and family, cooking, etc. Overall most of those activities are small things but if you take a moment to enjoy them, they can turn into a much bigger feeling. This quarter, I also spent time taking pictures of things on campus, especially when it is raining. I thought that the pictures I took when it was raining has such a calming vibe.
Art Museum Trip to The Broad
This quarter, I was able to go visit The Broad museum in LA with Dr. Castillo. It was one of the highlights of this Winter Quarter. We were able to see the Kara Walker Exhibition as well as many other art from other historical periods. I had a lot of fun looking at the arts in real life because it is a totally different experience from just seeing them via a screen. They are a lot larger and also a lot more beautiful to see in person. It was amazing because it is so good to see the things that you learned in class being applied in real life as I had so much fun trying to interpret the art piece with Dr. Castillo. This trip was also a fun mindful experience and allow me to get out and experience new places.
Importance
I was able to learn so much about myself and the things that I value in life through the reflection of my Journal and conversations that we had in class. This is important to me because it establishes who I am and what my purpose is in life. It also give me a chance to understand that life is short and that one should enjoy life by cherishing the little moments.
Next quarter, my goal is to continue working on myself by improving my self confidence. I want to start working out and eating more healthy. I will continue to work hard on my classes so that I can get the highest grades possible, but I will try focus more on my effort and not be so hard on myself.