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Essay for health benefit of meditation
Meditation and mental health research paper
Meditation and mental health research paper
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Passionate Learning
To lack [self-respect] is to be locked within oneself, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference.....It is the phenomenon sometimes called 'alienation from self.' In it's advanced stage, we no longer answer the telephone, because someone might want something; that we could say no without drowning in self-reproach is an idea alien to this game.
-Joan Didion, "On Self-Respect"
Last Spring, as part of a senior project, I took Tai Chi classes and researched how meditation is used in mind/body medicine. I read several books by doctors who use meditation as a form of healing, in stress-reduction clinics and as treatment for people suffering from severe pain and panic disorders. One doctor in particular, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches a method he calls mindfulness, in which he has his patients meditate in order to achieve total mind/body awareness. Zinn instructs patients to focus on their pain and to become aware of it. This often helps them realize that they can live with their pain. No pain is too extreme, he says, in the same way that no emotion is a wrong emotion. Awareness is the only absolute, and the only thing that allows people to live in the moment. Not live for the moment, but live in the moment.
I left that project feeling extremely aware and extremely at peace. After three years of struggling to find answers, happiness, and a sense of purpose, I began to appreciate my present state of mind. I began to revel in the struggle, confusion, and push of not knowing. And as I approached graduation, my high school experience suddenly made sense to me. I understood life as a system of games. High school was simply one of them. I came to realize that playing games was both understandable and necessary as long as we are aware that we are playing them. I realized that a major struggle throughout high school had been my struggle to resist playing its game. I spent my three years at boarding school governed by my passions rather than playing by the rules of the institution. And in refusing to play by its rules, I made it increasingly more difficult for me to function within its realm.
By rules, I do not mean the actual do's and don't's, but rather, I am referring to the prompts the school sets up in order to fulfill its goals as an academic institution.
Most public school in Colombia are underfunded and have very few resources. According to the CIA Fact book education expenditures equal to 4.4% of the GDP. School life expectancy is 13 years and the unemployment rate for your ages between 15- 24 is 21.9 %. These numbers are in direct correlation with the terrorism conflict. The state has to concentrate its spending on military expenditures. This conflict also caused Colombia to become the country with the highest number of Internally Displaced Population. Official, there are 4,175,000 internally displaced people that lost their farms or homes due to the conflict in the rural areas. These people do not receive any assistance and went from being farmers and having a source of income to absolutely nothing. Most move into large cities and live in slumps. President Santos realizes the importance of education assured that “If we want to be free of poverty, if we want to combat it and if we wish to be the most socially unequal continent in the word, worse than Africa, education has to be our primary tool”. Santos believes that this has to be an “American movement. All of the Latin American states have to join together and make education a fundamental objective by creating a regional education
...t. The survey showed that 23% of Americans do not believe global warming is happening. This number has risen by 7% since the spring of 2013 (Prigg 2013). If people don’t come to realize this sooner, the earth could be destroyed. First off, global warming is when the atmosphere traps in gases like carbon dioxide which warms the earth. Global warming is happening all around. Ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica are decreasing in mass and the global sea level has rise by 17 cm in the last century (NASA 2013). If people do not see that it is actually happening, the place that has been called home for millions of years will be destroyed. Global warming is not a situation to be ignorant with. In some situations, ignorance is the better choice; however, there are some situations where being ignorant at the wrong time leads to destruction. It all depends on the situation.
People say high school is supposed to be the golden years of your life. I don’t know what else in life is to come; however, my philosophy is to live in the moment and make the life you’re living in the present worthwhile into the future, not only for you but for those who surround you. I live my life participating in our community and getting involved in our school. The activities, and the people I’ve formed relationships with, are what have formed me into the person I am today. The person I am today is not perfect, but I have learned from the mistakes I’ve made.
Education in Colombia is public and free, although there are private schools that offer different language instruction. These schools however can cost quite a bit, and most typical families cannot afford them. The percentage of children that attend school in Colombia is quite high, with a 113% attendance rate for primary schools. In addition, there is a 61% attendance rate for secondary schools. The public school system does differ a little bit from the United States though. For example, supplies such as textbooks are not supplied by the school, or loaned by the school. Families must purchase their own textbooks. This is very different from the United States where there is almost an expectation of basic education materials to be supplied such as textbooks. Colombia has a literacy rate of 91.3% among the general population. Colombia has 5 years of compulsory schooling, and law enforces this. Colombia’s track to higher education requires a state examination to gain entrance into universities, including the University of Antioquia, which was the highest ranked university in Colombia. There is a law in place that ensures that 10% of the nations budget must be spent on education. Primary and secondary schools use uniforms, and the reason for this is so that you cannot identify if someone from a family is rich or poor.
Thomas uses a great deal of tone and emotion in his literary works, especially this poem that I have researched. His tone is very restricted emotionally which is that he expresses his feelings with an instinctual emotion. Thomas tone is very urgent and possessive when he explains each stage his father has experienced. The poem reads how the writer idolizes his father which defines the magnitude of his love for him. Thomas implies in this poem that life is important; especially how you live it, in that there is no greater feeling than to live life happy, to the fullest and with absolutely no regrets. Thomas identifies every characteristic his father resembles to him in corresponding stanzas. The poem is built to...
Thomas, Dylan. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Elements of Literature: Essentials of British and World Literature. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 2007. 1274-1275. Print.
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, as a therapeutic technique. The M square, as I call it, which stands for Mindfulness and Meditation is making an impact on today’s society, as it has been used by more people with each passing day. They are starting to acknowledge the benefits, some of which are the improvement in both mental and physical health, acceptance of one’s self, lower stress and depression, and maybe more, but to mention a few. Not excluding these two great men: Dr. Martinez, a Biocognitive Psychologist, and Keith Mitchell, an ex-American football linebacker in the National Football League. Both Dr. Martinez and Keith are strong supporters and practitioners of meditation and mindfulness.
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
Dylan Thomas would experience reassurance of his father’s love and approval if his father fought against death valiantly in order to spend more time with him (“Gentle” 4). He would also admire his father’s courage and spirit if his father refused to give up his life easily.
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). (2010). Health info. Meditation: An introduction. Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm
In the past two decades, many philosophers, spiritual leaders, and psychological transitions have accentuated the importance of the quality of consciousness for the maintenance and enhancement of well-being. One of the characteristics of consciousness that has been discussed in relation to well-being is mindfulness. In concentration with the psychology discipline, mindfulness meditation practices have been increasingly used to treat a majority of pain, stress and anxiety-related conditions and also, increasing well-being. The ideology of mindfulness meditation has core roots in Buddhist philosophy and other pensive traditions where awareness and conscious attention are actively cultured (Brown, Kirk Warren,2003).
Have you ever wanted an ideal school, where you can pick all the school rules to your liking? Just think your school would have everything you want, and would not have anything you did not like. You could have all the rules and regulations altered to your liking. It would be so amazing to alter your school rules so they would fit your specific needs. While school regulations are made with the students in mind, it is often flawed. The people who make school rules tend to forget how they felt as students. The rules that are set are often made with unattainable goals in mind. For example, at school we have a rule to always walk on the right side of the hall, yet more times than not, most students do not abide by this rule. It would be a dream to be able to alter the rules to make them more realistic. Whether or not you like your school rules, you can still find rules that would like to change for the better.
Oshita, D., Hattori, K., & Iwakuma, M. (2013). A Buddhist-based meditation practice for care and healing: An introduction and its application. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 15-23. doi:10.1111/ijn.12040
Graduation: the last day that I would unwillingly set foot on the fields of Horizon High School. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, and tried so hard to keep my feet moving one after the other in order to maintain my perfect stature. After the two hour wait of opening speeches, class songs, and the calling off of the five hundred plus names that were in front of me, it was finally my turn. As my row stood up and we walked towards the stage it had set in at last, this is it, I am done. My high school career ended on that night, but it didn’t close the book that is my life, it only started a new chapter, and with it came a whole slue of uncertainties.