Wellness Wednesdays with Diana: Your Weekly Dose of Happiness, Nutrition, and Fitness Tips
Deep Breath
Frequent reflection and self-evaluation are important, but so is learning how to turn your thoughts off. You have your shower playlist on 8tracks ready. Nicki Minaj keeps you company at the gym, and you play back a list of things you have to do during your sociology lecture. When was the last time you had zero thoughts running through your head?
The constant flow of thoughts we entertain at every point of the day is exhausting. You’re always on edge when you’re thinking about the next thing you have to do, playing back a conversation you had earlier in the day, and simultaneously editing a mental grocery list for your afternoon trek to Trader Joe’s.
So maybe it’s not feasible to turn off every thought in your head, it’s just not in our nature, but you can definitely do everything you can to brush them off. As I stand four months away from graduation, my anxiety is palpable, and I know I’m not alone. While stress is pretty typical at all stages in our lives, we have to be mindful of its consequences. Unmanaged stress can be a precursor to depression, heart disease, and illness, to name a few.
In 1984, psychologists Susan Folkman and Richard Lazarus identified two ways in which individuals cope: problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. With issues that are reasonably within our range of control—like an exam coming up—problem-focusing coping should be your go-to. But when it comes to stressful aspects of life we can’t necessarily change, I’ve found emotion-focused coping tremendously useful.
I was lucky enough to enroll in Dr. Pamela Zamel’s education class at Penn, “The Psychology of Personal Growth,” because it reminded me of the benefits of meditation. Like many of my peers, I walked into class out of breath, anxious, and caffeinated. My professor started playing some neutral, soothing music (nothing you can’t find on Youtube) and instructed us to close our eyes and focus on nothing but our breathing patterns. I struggled to relax at first, but I was eventually able to convince myself to dive in, and abandon all thoughts and worries. I was focused on monitoring my patterns of inhaling and exhaling. It was the first time in a long time my brain was vacant. It was more refreshing than the energy drink I had been clutching for the past hour.
I was recently introduced to the excellent “left nostril breathing” exercise, as strange as that may initially sound. And that’s just one of many meditation practices out there. Maybe simple breathing exercises aren’t for you. And that’s why you should use your web browser for something other than homework and Facebook. There’s so much you could do before letting stress overpower you. Experiment with meditation forms until you find what works for you!
Meditating has helped me with anything from writer’s block to stress management. It has helped me enjoy five whole minutes of not thinking at all about every assignment I have coming up. Just give it a try; you might get to enjoy the bliss of an empty mind for once.
Diana Gonimah is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania from Cairo, Egypt. She is a writer, Features Editor, and Recruiting Chair at the UPenn chapter of Her Campus. She’s passionate about psychology, journalism, creative writing, and helping people in any capacity. Check our website every Wednesday for Diana’s column!