The Importance of Mindfulness

"With the pandemic, each day has rolled into the next and for some people, they could be going through a lot such as high school seniors. Right now, all of the Common Application deadlines are coming up, the FASFA, supplemental essays, and on top of all of this, we are still trying to maintain good grades. The stress during this time is unbelievable and sometimes we honestly forget to breathe. We fill our lives up with so many activities in one day but we don't ever set aside time for ourselves." This was from a draft I wrote to originally be posted in December of 2020, but time got ahead of me. Looking back at this, this individual who took the time to write this would not know the individual currently updating this post. My senior year of high school, I was the athlete, honors student, and yearbook editor/photographer, just trying to find a way to occupy time. Now, I am a college student in the honors program on the committee, global scholars administrator, COMPASS mentor, student ambassador, and most importantly a friend. I found who I was through this pandemic, taking a deeper look into who I am as a person as well as what my calling was. Taking the time to reflect on your day and by creating a schedule to be productive not only helped people in the past but it will forever help those in the future. It helps you as an individual find that meaning to do amazing things not only for other people but for you.

Taking charge and understanding your feelings is a big step for individuals suffering with mental health issues. For some, it feels as though one event is catastrophic and they will never recover, so by getting ahead of that feeling and taking charge helps the body immensely. A way to relate this to the individuals suffering from Crohn's disease and anxiety disorder is the connection between the mind and body. In my recent research methods course, I am proposing a study to test if there is correlation between the mind and body when individuals have Crohn's disease and anxiety disorder. As we are all taught in our basic psychology course, the central nervous system is the connection between the "backbone" of our body to our brain with our nerves. Synapses and neurons are constantly firing within the body, sending the signals to our brain of what our body is trying to tell us. With this, the way in which we think about certain situations can cause flare ups all because their anxiety is causing the fear to be a physical reaction within the body. If individuals could get ahead of their anxiety and follow the simple steps of slowing their breathing, labeling the feeling, and acknowledging it, then the individual will find greater relief. In my mind, the key to my heart is food, but the key to peace is mindfulness.

At the end of each blog post, I leave something to make the audience think and take with them. I want you to think of what mindfulness is in your opinion. Take a moment and try to define this word in the best way in which it relates to you.