A few weeks ago, I posted an article about travelling affordably and often, and in it, I discussed Greenheart, the company through which I travelled to Austria. Lately, I have been thinking quite often about the power of being part of a group. Greenheart has a fantastic alumni program; alumni can apply for Greenheart Grants (funds that are used for collaborative, sustainable projects that impact the community), attend the Greenheart Global Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C., and network with other alumni to pursue joint projects and adventures. I am blessed to be an alumnus of Greenheart, and my experience at GGLC last summer (where we met with leaders of Fair Trade organizations and sustainable businesses) has shaped my career and life goals. Greenheart was the obvious example of a constructive group in my life that led me to think about other groups and their merits.
School organizations, like the Junior Civitan club, DECA club, and Science Olympiad team, have been great opportunities to inspire and be inspired. All of the community service I have completed through my Junior Civitan club has been extremely enjoyable because our projects are centered around goals meaningful to group members (such as a benefit for Marshall Baker, a senior and dear friend at our high school who was victim to cancer). DECA allowed me to partner with other leaders in our school and in our community to raise several thousand dollars for the Syrian refugees. I have enjoyed partnering with both those older than me and those younger than me in Science Olympiad competitions. High school without organizations would have been dreary, lonely, and a poor use of time and opportunity. The power of groups can also be seen in sports teams; my teammates and I motivate one another to reach our maximum physical potentials, and we would not be nearly as successful if we practiced and competed alone every day. The laughter and joy that my teammates offer has been undeniably integral to our success. I am hit especially hard by the power of being part of a group when I am in the yoga studio; performing synchronized actions with fifty other people who have come to the room with similar anxieties and similar goals of peace is a one-of-a-kind experience. I have practiced group yoga countless times, and I believe that each time I do, I become a little bit more connected to, and empathetic with, the human beings beside me. But enough about me. The point is, groups are powerful. Although we often tend to isolate ourselves in times of stress and pressure, engaging in group activities has been proven to be far more indicative of success and ultimate happiness. If you think about your life and see many individual activities, but few group activities, it may be time to reprioritize. How can you surround yourself with people who support you and people you can inspire? Consider the following:
No matter how tempting it is sometimes to retreat into our turtle shells when the rain starts pouring, it will always be more sustainable and enjoyable to team up with others and build a shelter that can withstand the heaviest of storms. Let’s all make a goal to remember this next time we are confronted with anxiety or stress, and the world will be a happier, more constructive, and more connected place.
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You know those sappy TV episodes where heartbroken girls throw torn-up photographs of their ex-boyfriends into bonfires and then laugh hysterically with their girlfriends at how petty their relationships were? Have you done this or something similar yourself?
Here’s a mind-blowing fact: it works. Throwing photographs and slips of paper into the flames is not just for TV drama; this ritual has been performed for many years by many people for many different reasons. Often referred to as the “Burning Bowl Ceremony,” setting fire to past regrets and emotional baggage has a purifying and tranquilizing effect. People often perform the Burning Bowl Ceremony on New Year’s Eve, before weddings, and, yes, after rough breakups. This ceremony is actually appropriate for any situation at any given time; all of us could definitely do without some of the anxiety and negativity we carry around on a day-to-day basis. Plus, fire is cool, and who doesn’t like setting things on fire? I encourage you to try this ceremony for yourself by following these simple steps: 1. Establish a source of fire; it could be as small as a candle or as large as a bonfire. The traditional Burning Bowl Ceremony favors a stone bowl, the contents of which you set on fire in a later step. 2. Take a few minutes to meditate on whatever is ailing you. 3. Write down three worries, anxieties, or sources of negativity on a slip of paper, or take a moment to analyze any photographs you plan on burning. If you are following the Burning Bowl method, place the paper/photograph in the bowl. 4. Mindfully light the paper slip or photograph on fire, and let go of that which has been bothering you. 5. Take a deep breath and meditate for a few more minutes, making sure to visualize a happier, lighter future. 6. Following this activity, whenever you catch your mind returning to those negative thoughts and emotions, remind yourself that you have released them to the flames. Now, this may not seem as fun as that other TV breakup coping strategy (by this, I am referring to eating entire tubs of ice cream in one sitting!), but I promise you that it is more effective and much healthier. Good luck! Believe it or not, science has suggested that journaling might be linked with benefits like improved immune system functioning and asthma relief, as well as improved mental health. Why? It is quite a hazy topic, but remember that the mind affects our physical bodies far more than we know. If you have not already, read this past blog post on our amazing mind-body connections.
Alongside the surprising benefits journaling has on the body are the more well-known benefits: stress reduction, self-awareness, and emotional articulation are among them. If you do not already, give journaling a try for the next seven days, and observe its ability to connect you to and release you from your innermost thoughts and feelings. Monitor your body for any physical effects that might arise as well. Here are seven prompts to get you started: 1. Write about a time when you “danced like nobody was watching”: a time where you let loose and were yourself. 2. Write about a time when you felt happy for someone else. 3. Write about something that happened today that caused you anxiety. 4. Write about a favorite childhood memory. 5. Write about an area of your life which you wish to improve. 6. Make a Top 10 list of the places in the world you most want to visit. 7. Write about someone who inspired you today. A few weeks ago, I shut Shawn Achor's bestselling book, The Happiness Advantage, feeling enlightened and empowered. This book is an exploration of happiness and it's undeniable role in career success. Although our society is so often tempted to focus on and research negativity and failure (for example, there are thousands of studies that attempt to identify the roots of depression and how to counteract it), much can be learned from researching positivity and success (positive psychology centers on how the most fulfilled and successful among us capitalize upon inner happiness to achieve their maximum potential).
Positive psychology proves that happiness is a prerequisite to success and not the other way around. The old phrase, "Money doesn't buy happiness," is quite applicable to this concept. Holding a high-paying job does not guarantee happiness or success; in fact, high-paying jobs are often the most stressful positions we can hold, and when stress accumulates, failure to achieve our potential results. By no means are high-paying jobs and stress unalterably connected; the quality of our experiences depend on our projections and perceptions of the outside world. If we actively project happiness and search for the goodness in life, we will be happier people and workers, and we will come closer to our potentials as a result. The Happiness Advantage examines far more than the relationship between high-paying jobs and success. Achor studied all kinds of businesses, from Fortune 500 companies to Wall Street firms to non-profits, and he found that happiness was universally integral to true success. If you own a business or manage a team, you need to read this book. If you don't, you still need to read this book. It contains concepts important to leaders and followers alike, and it will teach you how to retrain your brain and prioritize your actions to look for and harness possibilities (rather than closed doors). I also highly recommend watching Shawn Achor's TED Talk here! Stay positive! -Sierra I am blessed to spend this weekend at Duke University, and tonight, I had dinner with Mark Goodacre, a professor of religion at the University. Since I have a very busy weekend ahead of me, I am going to keep this brief, but I wanted to touch on something we talked about concerning stress levels of college students.
Duke students are stigmatized as being constantly stressed out and always studying. Through conversation with current Duke students and Professor Goodacre, however, I realized once again that stress is a choice. It is our responsibility to take the challenges of the universe positively and constructively rather than negatively and in a stressed manner. Self-awareness and establishing your values before setting foot on campus is integral to the quest for positivity. I learned that some students go to the library for 15 hours on Sundays, Snapchat and Instagram for 13 of them, score terribly on their next tests, and experience intense disappointment that all those hours in the library did not pay off. This is why self-awareness and honesty are key to success. Furthermore, regularly spending that many hours in a library is a sign of imbalance, yet it is considered a bragging point by many. Let's remember that spending time outside the library to apply what we are learning, interacting with fellow human beings, exercising our bodies, and enjoying the environment around us are all wonderful uses of our time and not things to be regretted or ashamed of doing. Compartmentalization is also important: when going out for dinner, it is important to allow yourself to enjoy your social life and recognize its vitality in achieving your greater purpose rather than stress about assignments you still need to complete. As I gear up for college next year, these are all tips I must remember. I know many of you will face similar pressures and difficulties in college, and I hope these tips will help you CHOOSE happiness. You are not alone. **For those of you who follow my posts every day, I went missing this past weekend because I was backpacking in Doughton Park, near Stone Mountain.
Friday night, my brother, his friend, my boyfriend, and I all slung on our hiking backpacks and trekked into Doughton to spend the weekend in the wild. We set up our tents, cooked dinner over a gas stove, chatted by the fire, and climbed into our sleeping bags for a refreshing slumber. Saturday morning dawned bright and cool. I meditated by the creek flowing by our campsites and ate a warm, hearty breakfast of oatmeal. After cleaning our dishes in the creek, we slung our packs back on and began a long hike of 12.5 miles. The weather was perfect: cool and breezy enough to keep us comfortable when we hiked uphill (rather, upmountain), and sunny and clear enough to render beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. We completed our hike in the late afternoon, proud, satisfied, and hungry. Content and pleasantly exhausted, we slept even better than the night before. Sunday morning brought rain. Nearly as soon as we awoke, a drizzle began to splatter the canopy of leaves above our heads. That drizzle quickly soaked the ground, and we donned rain jackets and extra socks and gloves. We stretched rain covers over our packs and began what would become about a four mile hike along the creek...a hike that involved nearly a dozen crossings over slippery stones and cold water. I am amazed I managed not to fall at all. This second hike was a test of our fortitude. That morning, we had three options. We could... A) Forget the creek trail and simply hike the 1.5 miles back to the car B) Complete the trail, and complain the entire time C) Complete the trail, and thoroughly enjoy it We chose Option C. Yes, it was raining, and yes, it was cold, but the rain was also an opportunity to see a different kind of beauty in nature. The rain drops created gorgeous ripple effects in the creek, and they gave the leaves a certain green glimmer that can only be admired when it rains. Sunday's hike was an obvious opportunity for us to see the glass as 1/2 full, and the truth is, opportunities like this abound in everyday life. We must only look for them. So, next time it rains in your life (literally or figuratively), you do not have to necessarily look for the sunshine...you can look for the beauty in the rain. Whether or not you meditate (and you should!), mantras, or “sound tools," can be extremely helpful in infusing your days with mindfulness and focus. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a mantra is “a word or sound that is repeated as a prayer” OR “any word or expression used repeatedly.” Thus, you can use mantras in prayers to yourself, prayers to religious figures, or as gentle reminders to yourself to calmly ground your mental state throughout the day.
Mantras are backed by realms of scientific reasoning; many scientists postulate that the repetition of certain sounds activates one’s nervous system, which in turn affects one’s emotional and physical energies (where we feel/see the results). It has been found that silent mantras (those repeated mentally) and vocal mantras are both closely connected to the nervous system. If you are interested in the science of mantras, you can read more here. Here is a challenge for the next week: experience the power of mantras for yourself by making a goal each morning to incorporate a new mantra into your thoughts. Post this mantra somewhere visible: for instance, as a sticky note on your bathroom mirror, as a background on your cell phone or desktop, or as a note on a white board. Repeat this mantra to yourself when you are greeted by stress and joy alike, and let it be your first and last thoughts of the day. Day 1: “Om.” Pronounced, “A-U-M,” this classic sound that resonates through yoga rooms across the world is said to have been the first sound heard upon the universe’s creation. Some believe uttering this syllable unblocks the throat chakra (a center of spiritual power) to improve communication. Whether you buy into this or not, it can have a very soothing effect. Day 2: “Om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ.” Pronounced, “A-U-M Shanti Shanti Shanti,” this mantra means “Om Peace Peace Peace” and sends positive energy into the universe to create well-being, wholeness, happiness, and peace for others. Day 3: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi) Yes, mantras can be spoken in English as well. Use this empowering mantra to inspire you to lead by example and spark change. I have a bracelet I wear every day that has this quote inscribed upon it. Day 4: “Sat Nam.” Pronounced, “Saaaaaaaat Nam,” where “Sat” is eight times as long as “Nam.” This mantra means “Truth is my name,” and it helps those who utter it trust their intuition and honesty. Day 5: “I change my thoughts, I change my world.” (Norman Vincent Peale). How true. Use this mantra to emphasize the power our projections and perceptions hold over our reality. If we change the lens through which we see the world, our reality will change as well. Day 6: “Neti-Neti.” Pronounced, “Neti Neti,” and meaning “Not this, not this,” this mantra will help you peacefully turn away from toxic situations and interactions. Day 7: DIY, meaning formulate your own mantra! Choose a quote, a sound, or a word that is especially meaningful to you and repeat it throughout the day. My host mother in Austria is a craniosacral therapist, meaning that she aligns patients' cerebrospinal fluids with their energy fields to relieve stress and pain. Sounds radical, right? I did not believe that such treatments were viable until she performed craniosacral therapy on me; I could feel my energy radiating off of me as I drifted into a semi-conscious trance. After just an hour of therapy, my host mother accurately postulated that my birth had been out-of-the-ordinary (I came very quickly into this world and nearly died due to a nurse blowing a hole in my lung!).
A few days after my first craniosacral treatment, I was walking to the bus stop after school and saw a car adorned with a craniosacral therapy ad. This was one of those moments when I realized how drastically different Austrian culture and American culture are. You see, craniosacral therapy was a highly-accepted practice in Austria...so much so, that my host mother was often booked morning to night with appointments. Conversely, craniosacral therapy is hardly heard of in most parts of America. There is only one certified craniosacral therapist in Winston-Salem, out of a total of eighteen practitioners in the entire state of North Carolina. Eighteen is a very low number when you compare it to statistics from other professions...imagine how many thousands of dentists, chiropractors, and psychiatrists there are in North Carolina! Craniosacral therapy has been largely excluded from Western medicine because it has no apparent concrete evidence or explanation. The world of Western medicine adheres strongly to physicalism (also known as materialism), the doctrine that everything is shaped by physical properties (you become sick due to a virus, you experience love due to oxytocin, etc.). Strict physicalism can be a very limiting perspective, however; for example, it does not account for the placebo effect or unexplained, spontaneous healing. This is where vitalism comes in, the belief that living beings are shaped by non-physical factors, like energy fields. Physicalism has done great things for humanity; modern medicine would not be what it is today if it were not for the cause-and-effect nature of physicalism. Vitalism, however, can supplement the offerings of physicalism; consider this study conducted by former Wake Forest professor, Kathi Kemper, that found that non-verbal communication of compassion is possible and practical. This study proved the viability of the meditation practice of sending loving kindness to others that has been used for years. Consider also Reiki and Healing Touch, two practices that have been used for decades and have touched millions of lives. Even yoga centers on the union of mind and body, and for nearly three thousand years, it has promoted metaphysical well-being. Craniosacral therapy seems pretty radical. But try it out, and you may find that its effects are real. While there is not much science to currently back up this treatment, the scientific community is rapidly coming to terms with the fact that physicalism cannot explain everything. Indeed, fifty years ago, meditation was hardly a scientific interest at all, and now it is generally agreed that meditation, for whatever reasons, is powerful and effective. Imagine how our perspectives will change in the coming fifty years, and craniosacral therapy might not seem so radical after all! One thing is for sure: I would much rather have a human-administered, natural, holistic treatment for my anxiety and stress than a synthetic, austere pill. Most of us have routines that ground us and slow us down. Whether it's the usual morning routine of rolling out of bed, putting on the coffee pot, and brushing your teeth, or it's a pre-race ritual of doing the Michael Phelps arm swings to intimidate your opponents, routines are, well, routine parts of our lives.
One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2017 was to nail down my morning and nightly routines so that the first and last moments of my day are wholesome and peaceful. No longer would I check my email at 11:30 PM or browse social media until 1 AM or forgo brushing my teeth to get an extra two minutes of sleep. While I have absolutely deviated from my morning and nightly routines since January 1st, for the most part, I have stuck to them rather well, and my mood and actions show it. Of course, factors like a change in location will alter my routines, and flexibility has been key to accepting this fact of life. A typical day will begin and end in the following ways: Morning: 1. I wake up to a peaceful song-no blaring beeps or annoying ringtones! 2. Meditation and mindfulness. If it's cold, I'll wrap up in a blanket and meditate, but it is an integral part of my morning. Meditation is a routine in and of itself; I start by lighting candles, take a moment to check in with my emotions and feelings, and then proceed to meditate either through the Breathe app on my phone or by reading meditative quotes. 3. Brush my teeth. 4. Dress. As quickly as possible. Because I'm usually freezing. 5. Cook breakfast. Usually, this takes ten-fifteen minutes. I feel more excited for and confident in the day when I can start it by giving my body a healthy and delicious meal. I ate NutriGrain bars and yogurt for years until last year, when I found the impact a lovingly prepared, nutritious breakfast can have on my day. 6. Eat breakfast! While I eat, I usually journal. I keep a Daily Greatness journal, which has turned my life around by holding me accountable and inspiring me to put ACTIONS to my ideals. 7. At this point, I turn my phone off of Airplane Mode and leave for school. And I'm human, so I usually rush out the door. 8. If I have more time, I try to knock one item off my to-do list before leaving the house. This helps me feel organized and empowered. Night: 1. Brush and floss my teeth. 2. Put on a face mask. I absolutely love Pretty Baby Naturals' Masque-R-Aide. It has mineral earth and Dead Sea mud, coconut oil, tea tee oil, shea butter, aloe, cucumber extract, etc. This mask leaves your pores feeling cleaner and tighter than ever. I leave it on for about twenty minutes while I perform the following actions. 3. Turn off my phone. 4. I turn off the artificial lights in my room and light candles and my Himalayan Salt Lamp. This has such a calming effect that I suggest everyone try it out! 5. Journal (still in my Daily Greatness journal; it has prompts for mornings and evenings). 6. Meditate. This is always the last step of my nightly routine. Following morning and evening routines will help you start and end your days mindfully. Find your own unique rituals, and enjoy the peace! The power of music is often underestimated in the realm of mental health. Over the past several years, I have come to appreciate the ability of music to motivate me, soothe me, empower me, and ground me. Still unsure about the power of music? Think of the emotional attachment to the song that played during your first dance at your wedding, recall the last time you were chilled by someone singing the national anthem, and remember the exhilaration you felt last time you turned up your car radio's volume when your favorite song started playing. Music is powerful.
I asked the one who knows more about music than anyone else in my life to make a playlist of his favorite songs for relaxation and grounding. Thus, courtesy of Jamie Beamguard, I give you a "Chill Out" playlist. 1. Make It Rain (Ed Sheeran) 2. (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding) 3. Slow it Down (The Lumineers) 4. All Will Be Well (The Gabe Dixon Band) 5. Cope (Manchester Orchestra, off the album "Hope," not "Cope") 6. Piano Man (Billy Joel) 7. Take Me Home Country Roads (John Denver) 8. Can't You See (Marshall Tucker Band) 9. Like a Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan) 10. Flow (Cage the Elephant) |
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