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My Mindfulness Journey


 Image includes the mindfulness practices I experimented with throughout the journey: walking mediation, mindful breathing, and mindfulness while listening to music.
Self-Made Visual Representation of Mindfulness Journey

Over the course of one week, I experimented with various mindfulness practices: walking meditation, mindful breathing, and mindfulness while listening to music. Overall, I genuinely enjoyed all three as they all managed to make me feel present and at peace with myself. I also noticed that practicing mindfulness boosted my self-esteem, which provided me the strength to confront stressful and challenging situations more optimistically. Moreover, I felt a lot of the positive effects that we discussed in lecture: enhanced relationships, an increase in my positive emotions, an improvement in my ability to focus and tune out distractions, and an increase in motivation to do things I lost since the beginning of the semester, like working out (Gohar, 2021).


I believe that mindfulness can increase my resilience. While all three mindfulness methods played a significant role in benefitting me physically, socially, and psychologically, I believe walking meditation – walking while focusing on the present and breathing – promoted the most benefits and resilience (A step-by-step guide to walking meditation 2021). I initially had my doubts because walking in Ann Arbor can be distracting, but in reality, I was most engaged with my present self; I was aware of my senses and surroundings, talked to myself, and learned about how and why I was feeling a certain way. I noticed that I was becoming an observer of my thoughts – distancing myself from storytelling – which allowed me to see situations more realistic and unbiasedly (Gohar, 2021). For instance, when my friend could not call me until really late at night, rather than thinking that he didn't want to talk to me, I understood that he was swamped with work. I realized that scheduling interfered with our communication, not me, thus boosting my self-esteem. Accordingly, through the practice of emotional acceptance and my work to reframe my thoughts more positively, I am cultivating resilience (Bahadur, 2020).


Most importantly, though, walking meditation increased my resilience by enhancing my relationships. Walking alone is meditative, but it also feels lonely after several minutes. My lonely feeling encourages me to reach out to those I care about and talk to them, thus strengthening my relationships with my parents and friends. When I am not focused on the present, talking to others does not come to mind. The less I talk to my friends or family, the less connected I feel, which in turn, can weaken my relationships. Strengthening supportive relationships is essential to building resilience because they can provide positive and protective support throughout hardships (InBrief: The science of resilience, 2020).


My experiences over the last week have made me determined to make mindfulness a habit in my life. Habits are part of the unconscious, so we do them without thinking and learn them differently from our conscious decisions (Wood & Kaufman, 2020). One concept that effectively reduces habits is friction – the idea that we can stop/prevent habits by making it harder for an individual to reach the goal (Wood & Kaufman, 2020). Thus, to form and enforce a habit, one must reduce friction. The best way for me to do so would be to incorporate mindfulness within my schedule rather than add it to my schedule. For instance, I can practice walking meditation while walking to class. Moreover, I can also try different practices of mindfulness depending on the day. For example, on a busier day, I might walk and meditate, while I can take the time to sit and engage in mindful breathing on a less busy day.




Citations:


A step-by-step guide to walking meditation. Wildmind. (2021, April 13). Retrieved

September 27, 2021, from https://www.wildmind.org/walking.


Bahadur, N. (2020, May 28). Building resilience might be the thing that gets you through this.

SELF. Retrieved from https://www.self.com/story/what-is-resilience.

Gohar, D. D. (2021, September). Mindfulness for Resilience. PSYCH 477 – Psychology of

Resilience. Ann Arbor; University of Michigan.


InBrief: The science of resilience. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

(2020, November 6). Retrieved from

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-science-of-resilience/.


Wood, W., & Kaufman, S. B. (2020, May 20). Wendy wood on how to make positive changes

that stick. Scott Barry Kaufman. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from

https://scottbarrykaufman.com/podcast/wendy-wood-on-how-to-make-positive-

changes-that-stick/.




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