Author: srp5800

With the new and improved warmer weather coming our way, some of our life problems seem to melt away.  It’s much easier to forget our stressors with a slight tan, nice weather to walk to class in, and the beginning of the summer season.  As our winter-scaries start to dissolve and we embrace the sunny mindsight of the new season, I think it’s important to remember the difficulties we’ve faced throughout the year and cope with them now that we’re in a softer environment and a traditionally less stressful time of year.

I’m not sure if this post will resonate with everyone, but summer has always been a relaxer for myself.  According to the American Psychiatric Association, over 5% of American adults struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (popularly referred to as seasonal depression).  This means that like myself, I know there is a large population that experiences some release and less anxiety as the weather becomes warmer.  I want to offer some practices that are mostly viable in the summer to help you remain relaxed and to work through some of your struggles you may have faced throughout the year.

Visit a New Place with Comfortable People

On a post by Go Abroad, their team emphasizes the ability travel has on curating new mindsets, building connections, and combatting stress and anxiety.  Although I know how stressful traveling can sound, with the right set of people and an open mind, the pay off will be worth it.  Traveling can give you an opportunity to get away from your normal environment and reflect in a new place.  This may mean a solo day trip or maybe a cross-country trip with your closest friends.  Either way, a change of pace is sometimes good for the soul.

Practice Physical Activity Outside

My favorite thing about summer is exercising outside.  I love the ability to go sweat outside then jump into the closest body of water.  Like traveling, I’m sure this can feel intimidating to try.  All you need to do is get yourself outside and hike, walk, swim, run, whatever suits your fancy.  This is an amazing way to get your body moving, endorphins pumping, and soak up some sun while your at it.  I’ve also found that exercising outside offers a new sense of peace and a great time for some introspection.

Join a New Group

Again…sounds intimidating.  But totally accomplishable.  Joining a new group could mean establishing a different routine where you will see familiar faces on a daily basis, attending a community meeting, or just saying hi to some new people.  Because this endeavor is not always simple, summer is a great time to tackle this task.  MyKellyJobs offers 6 great tips on joining a new group that can apply to all aspects of life, not just from a career orientation.

 

Now I know that these three tasks do not always look or feel simple but I do believe they are healthy challenges to implement into your summer plans.  Spreading your horizon in terms of friendships, places, and experiences can be easier done in times of your life that seem less stressful.  Summer is a great time to relax but it also offers new opportunities to push your limits.

Now let’s be honest, no one can keep their cool 24/7.  Or at least I can’t.  But I plan on offering a few ways of regulating your emotions (especially in times that may literally infuriate you) to make sure you can have the most zen possible at all times.

Psych Central explains that emotional regulation is important due to its ability to limit anxiety, enforce emotional intelligence, and build stronger connections with others.  It is important to be aware of your feelings so you can convey them to others and so you can assist others with their own emotions.

For starters, you have to recognize the emotions you’re feeling and what’s causing them.  This may not always be easy to do because of something we call ‘arousal misattribution’ (contributing feelings to the wrong cause).  This concept is well-explained in an article by Practical Psychology.  It’s not always easy to dial in and figure out what is really generating the feelings you experience.  When I face this difficulty, I try to spend some time by myself to work through this.  With this being said, too much time alone can form a kind of personal echo chamber which doesn’t do much good either.  While being mindful and alone is not bad, it’s also good to be conscious about ruminating on something too long to the point where it becomes a source of stress.

After you have clarification on the cause of your emotions, it is time to cope with them.  Mental Health America claims this is now the time to think and then to seek help.  This part could look very different based on the individual and the situation.  Sometimes it might just mean talking to someone you trust.  Personally, I find a good rant can always be comforting but doesn’t always offer a genuine solution.  You should think about possible solutions, find which one would do the most good, then pursue that resolution.  Maybe this means starting a new conversation, taking more time for yourself, or reaching out for help.

I think it’s very important to note that although there are millions of ways to cope, not all of them are necessarily helpful.  As long as you aren’t turning to harmful methods, I encourage trial and error to find what methods seem the most helpful to you and help you make the most progress.

Remember, the overall goal for this emotional regulation is to become more in tune with your feelings and to better convey them to others.  You want to be able to make deeper connections with others without giving up your mental stability and mental health.  So even though it would be nice to always be able to solve our own issues, there are always resources to seek help.  By building deeper connections, you are also providing yourself with more trusted resources to turn to when things just aren’t able to be handled by yourself.  Emotional regulation is more a journey then a destination so don’t expect it to be a walk in the park.  Progress isn’t linear, but don’t let this be a set back.  And as always, stay zen my friends.

One thing that makes my life feel under control is the ability I have to make goals and break them down so they become achievable.  This is a newer thing I’ve been focusing more on and making these goals much more conscious endeavors.  I find making larger goals that can broken down allow me to feel as thought I always have  something to work towards or a larger purpose when things start to feel too mundane.

BetterUp, a blog on well-being, discusses the importance of goal setting and highlights the relevance of direction in your life and the motivation goals provide.  Goals provide a better view of your future and allow you to step back and further investigate your life, your aspirations, and what you feel you are lacking.

CALE does a great job at defining different types of goals: process, performance, and outcome goals.  This post also encourages to set both short-term and long-term goals.  I strongly recommend this as well because it allows you to always be making progress.

I would also encourage writing down your goals in a place you will see often.  For me, I have mine written down on my ‘to-do’ list on my computer, right under my everyday agenda.  It helps to see them and think about what I can do each day to get closer to my desired outcome.

In order to better explain these types of goals I’m going to give a few of my own person examples.  My top three at the moment are to get more involved in a club here at Penn State, to find a job I enjoy, and to put more time into a personal hobby (right now, I’ve been working on a Podcast).  They are things that make me feel more productive and that also force me to think more about what I enjoy and wish to make more time for.

I originally started this way of thinking to fill time when I started to feel a lack of productivity in my everyday life.  With this being said, things have started to pick up for me which means I also have to give myself grace.  Now, I use these goals as a means to reflect on whenever I find myself having downtown.  This is especially useful if I’m ever feeling bored because I can look through my goals and can always find one I can do something for to work towards my future outcome.

I’m fully aware that although aspirations are always a good thing to have, it is not always as easy to stick to the means to get to that end goal.  A post by BetterHumans offers a few foolproof ways to stick to these goals, especially when motivation starts to decline.  Some of the ones I found useful were to chop down your goals and to keep track of the progress you are making.  I also believe that finding a person to share a goal with or to keep you accountable can be highly effective in the long run.

I hope this post is at least a form of encouragement for you to start that thing you’ve always wanted to or for you to set more time aside for the things you truly enjoy.  And as always, stay zen my friends.

My life lately has been anything but Zen.  We all face bumpy patches and times where it feels almost impossible to find a sense of peace.  These just happen to be the times where we need practices of relaxation the most.  What a conundrum.  I plan on offering a few ways to blow off some steam, how to relax, and how I sort through my life when my brain feels rather crammed.

Walks (even better with a furry friend!)

Now I know I’ve kind of touched on my adoration for lengthy strolls, but it really is an amazing way to decompress and burn some calories (if you care about that kind of thing).  Add a pet or two and it makes for a wonderful time.  When I walk, I try to clear all my thoughts instead of ruminating on them.  It’s easy to think of the past, but make yourself become present.  Think of how the sun feels, or how the gravel sounds, or even just take a look around.

Keep a Journal

To be honest, English has never been my best subject.  Not even top three.  But I’ve recently grown rather fond of writing.  I like when my writing starts to flow and it takes off a good amount of weight from my chest.  I would encourage you to journal any time you feel a rather large emotion, not just the bad ones.  My favorite way to journal is writing until you literally can’t write about anything else.  And then, keep writing even if it’s absolute nothing.  Eventually the thoughts start to flow again and this is where the really juicy stuff comes out.  The University of Rochester’s Health Department makes a ton of good claims about the benefits of journaling along with a few good starter tips, so make sure to check them out.

Exercise

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I can sometimes be a little bit of a health nut.  Sure the health benefits of consistent exercise are good, but I love the sense of control it provides me over my life.  The Mayo Clinic encourages movement of any kind in order to get your endorphins pumping.  It may seem like a chore at first, but eventually it will turn into a routine and something you may even look forward to.  Swimming is one of my favorite exercises and one that you can do even in old age.  Exercising in nature not only allows you to feel the rush but also provides you with great scenery while doing so.

Stress is no easy thing to tackle but that doesn’t mean you can’t try your best to manage it.  You can add little things into your every day routine in order to cope with these anxieties instead of waiting for them to pile up and seemingly take over.  And if my methods didn’t do it for you, I recommend checking out 12 Mindful Ways to Manage Your Stress at IES Abroad.  Happy destressing my friends.

Meditation is something that I find extremely useful in my everyday life.  Although I think meditation can be different for each person or even depending on the day, I will try to take you through some of my methods and how they came to be.

As much as I would like to claim that my ongoing journey to find inner peach was a conscious effort, it really was not.  My ‘meditation’ began as five minutes after a workout at the gym where I listened to music and stretched.  Working out was almost as calming as this post-ritual habit of stretching since it was something I used to clear my mind.  When I was working out, I wasn’t thinking about my personal problems or when my next assignment was due.

LinkedIn does a great job about further investigating this idea in their article ‘The Secret Connection Between Stretching and Meditation.’

Then, I found a shift in my meditation process.  Instead of just a five minute stretch, I wanted something more concrete.  Living on a hectic college campus, it’s not exactly easy to escape the anthills full of people.  I turned to mindful walks with my favorite headphones so at least I could feel some sense of privacy.  One of the struggles I ran into was: What exactly do you think about when you meditate? I used to think meditation was a way to work through every single life problem you were facing.  A set time to tackle all anxiety and controversy that was crowding your brain.

A few months ago I had a major shift in my meditation practices.  Instead of viewing it as a time to work through all mental struggles, I started viewing it as a mental cleanse or a moment for pure relaxation.  This is when my processes started to resemble the more classic definition of meditation as can be further investigated on Mindful.com.  They also offer a great beginners guide to meditation along with some of its benefits.

I began to focus more on my body’s current existence and breathing.  I was aware of my surroundings but not in a way that could bother me.  I enjoy feeling my presence without the nagging of other stressors.

Now, I would say that my meditation journey is far from final.  I have found plenty of ‘zen spots’ around campus as I’ve become more comfortable with staying in once place and ignoring the environment around me.  Now, I am working on staying focused for more time and making sure I try to do it everyday.  It’s easy to let daily life take over and overcrowd our brain, but this is a practice that can be individualized and done by anyone at almost any time.  I hope this post shows that meditation doesn’t have to be the same concrete ritual for each person and should be viewed as a journey rather than a destination.

For more information on the overall usage of meditation and some simple steps on how to get started I recommend checking on our folks over at self.com where they offer all sorts of information on mental fitness and mindfulness.  Happy meditating!

In order to truly find your Zen, I think it is pretty important to first understand what it is exactly.  Now, I am in no way an expert on this topic and honestly have no credentials other than my first person experience.  So be sure to take each post with a grain of salt and apply it to your own personal experience.

Zen can mean a number of things depending on who you ask.  The word is normally associated with Buddhism and holds roots in wisdom and peace.  This perspective can be further digested on this article by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, but I plan on using the word Zen in it’s more modern attire.

This more broad usage of the word being defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary itself as “a state of calm attentiveness in which one’s actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort.”  Although I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with this statement, to me the word implies much more.  I view Zen as a practice, open mindfulness, and a means of escape from life’s busy everyday tasks.   An opportunity to clear my brain and find peace that doesn’t always seem reachable when surrounded by the countless stimuli that clutters and bog down our deepest thoughts.  So as we go on I will be using the word to refer as a spectrum of practices.

Further than an escape, I believe taking time to clear out your brain allows for your more deeper thoughts to emerge.  Maybe this means exposing an emotion you didn’t know you were feeling or maybe it’s just realizing your life is somewhat more put together than you allow yourself to believe.

There are countless benefits of Zen and mindfulness alike such as a clearer thought process, better stress management, better physical health, and just an overall more satisfying life.  The American Psychological Association dives into these benefits deeper as they have a more direct focus on mindfulness and the reduction of anxiety and stress.

To get a little more personal, I would say I started my Zen, or better defined as mindfulness journey, about a year ago.  So as I had mentioned before, I am far from an expert.  My journey was sparked by an abundance of stress as Senior year of high school, college decisions, and everyday life struggles don’t make the best meditation medium.  I would even say my ‘meditation’ began as daily trips to the gym.  And then it morphed into journaling and short periods of genuine meditation.  And THEN an appreciation for time alone and a new found selflove and dignity.

So although my journey is not finished, and some may say it is merely even starting, I have high hopes in sharing my tactics and experiences to hopefully encourage others to take a mindfulness journey of their own.  Not only will I talk about the past and mistakes I’ve made along the way but I will also try to keep you up to date on my current practices to make my life a little more satisfying and hopefully a lot more peaceful.

If you are eager to start your journey today, I suggest just taking a few minutes to start a journal of your own .  I’ll list a few of my favorite prompts below 🙂

Where do you want to see yourself in the future? And what can you do now to help future you reach those goals?

What are your more important values in life and how can you better live by them?

Make a list of ‘absolutes’ that you require of yourself and the people you surround yourself with.