It’s that point in the semester where everything starts piling up: Exams aren’t spaced out very well, papers have to be written, and deadlines that once seemed so far in the future are suddenly looming on the not-so-distant horizon. It’s that dreaded time that we call midterm. It’s so easy to get overwhelmed with all of the work thrown at us, and sometimes we can get stressed almost to the breaking point.
Obviously, we can’t stop the tsunami of assignments that washes over us, and we can’t keep ourselves from occasionally stressing and worrying. But what we can do is take a step back every once in a while and free our minds from worries for a few minutes in a practice called mindfulness.
Dr. Jennifer Spencer, a professor at Auburn’s vet school, first got me into mindfulness. It’s something that is still fairly new to me, but she swears by it and so do many of her students; I can also attest to the fact that it relieves stress and helps me focus on the moment and what is truly important.
So what is mindfulness?
According to Psychology Today, “Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention on the present. When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experience.”
That can seem like a weighty definition and can be a lot to process, so let me break it down for you. When you are practicing mindfulness, the only thing that matters is the present. The moment you are in is all you pay attention to. Other thoughts may drift through your mind, perhaps about the future and perhaps about the past, and you acknowledge them and then let them pass by without any judgment. Thoughts come and go throughout the day and we spend so much time focusing on them. Mindfulness is about focusing on the present moment and nothing beyond it.
There are a plethora of reasons why we should practice mindfulness, which Berkeley outlines for us. One of the key benefits of it from their list is this: “Mindfulness helps us focus. Studies suggest that mindfulness helps us tune out distractions and improves our memory and attention skills.”
I started practicing mindfulness to decrease my anxiety. I kept it up for the reason above. Before a quiz or a test, I take a few minutes to just let go and draw my focus to the moment. If a thought pops into my head about what could be a potential question, I let it float on by because at that very moment, it doesn’t matter. After a test, I usually will do the same thing; otherwise, thoughts will overwhelm me: maybe I missed that question. Oh my god, I should have picked C on twenty-three. I made such a stupid mistake! And while it’s important to learn from our mistakes, dwelling on the past does nothing to help us.
I’m still a work in progress and it’s taken me a long time to get to this point. But practicing mindfulness has helped me keep focused on the present and stay on track, rather than daydreaming and worrying about the future or concerning myself with the past.
During midterms and finals week, mindfulness can be especially important and useful, because everything hits the fan for us. There is so much going on in every aspect of our lives, and it’s at these times that it’s most important to take a few minutes to center ourselves on the present moment and release our worries and stress and anxiety, if only for a few blissful moments.
There are a lot of how-to guides out there on mindfulness, but I find that the practice itself is very personal and individualized. What works for me may not work for you. Once you find your comfort zone, you fine-tune it to work best for you. That being said, I think that this is a good beginner’s guide. It’s short, sweet, and to the point.
I wish you all the best of luck with midterms and hope you remember the importance of living in the moment.