Meditation
BY DAVID ST. JOHNafter Baudelaire
Quiet now, sorrow; relax. Calm down, fear ...
You wanted the night? It’s falling, here,
Like a black glove onto the city,
Giving a few some peace ... but not me.
I think, well, almost everyone I know
Loves to be whipped by pleasure—right, Killer?—
As they stroll the boardwalk, parading their despair.
So why don’t you come too? But instead, with me,
Away from all these tattered ghosts leaning off
The sky’s balcony like last year’s lovers;
We’ll watch everything we regret step from the sea
Dripping ... while the dead sun drags its arc
Towards China. Shroud of my heart, listen. Listen—
How softly the night steps toward us.
 |
| (Porras) |
Community college students are busy. They make difficult decisions to balance family, jobs, transportation, food concerns, time management, courses, homework, group work, and social life.
Sources of stress in college students include
- Unhappiness in their course
- Unhappiness in personal relationships
- Traffic (!) and parking (!)
- Poor food practices
- Lack of daily exercise
- Load of course work
- Long hours focused on a single task
- Ineffective communication skills
- Loneliness
All these demands and the new world of college -- so different than secondary school and so different than our family discourse -- makes us naturally stressed, and stress is a killer.
That word "killer" is figuratively, but just barely. Stress can be useful to propel us to prioritize our needs -- all those worlds I allude to above and how community students do so well. Stress keeps us alert and gives us energy to seek additional resources to de-stress. In other words, when we're stressed, successful college students look for additional resources, such as librarians, tutors, student organizations, and more.
But stress can kill our hopes, and some students begin to drown in the stress with poor learning habits. I see students feel stress and immediately avoid the stress through self-disappearing. They avoid the stress by stopping, quitting, just choose absences. They believe that being absent is the only means to avoid stress.
We need to address multiple sources of stress and multiple de-stress environments off-campus, but now I want to address on-campus de-stress and relaxation opportunities.
Write
I realize that some students find that writing is stressful, but as for all mind exercises, more writing de-stresses over time. For personal relaxation, write about your concerns and write positive resolutions. Write about your goals and write about how your future self will appreciate your hard work.
Talk
Find people to talk every hour. Talk to people in the hallways between class meetings. Talk with your professors walking across campus. Talk with professional advisors in the college. Take a break and talk with strangers around a table. We always have thoughts that we're alone, but talking shows that we're really so similar.
Exercise
Yeah, really. College students have opportunities to change clothes, lock the books, and go exercise. Walk around the campus for an hour; run on a machine; do some weight training; play soccer or basketball with some friends. Then take a hot shower, clean up, and appreciate the body rewards to your intellectual development. All this can be 30-60 minutes connecting body-mind and feeling your body's own hormones will give you relaxation.
Quiet
Find 30 minutes without reading, homework, without noise, and find quiet space. We think about library spaces for quietness, but look for alternative spaces, such as green spaces, reflection rooms, an art gallery, or an un-used class room. Just focus on yourself -- not the course, not the family, not your work -- but focus on yourself and your long-term goals. Leave the stressful burdens away for 30 minutes a day and just meditate about the simple things in life.
References
Porras, Andrés Nieto. "99/365." Flickr. 9 April 2011. Web.
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