Back when I was 10 years old, my mom brought me to a Toy Castle to pick out a gift for my birthday. I had chosen a small piano keyboard as cheap as $10. When I got home, that first touch on the keys laid the foundation of love at first sight. I immediately knew music was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Throughout my 10 years of learning, playing, and performing, after constant jams and performances with bands, my ears decided to give up one day. I had unfortunately developed a rare hearing disorder called Pain Hyperacusis, and I sadly could no longer tolerate sounds, let alone music as I used to. Imagine a die-hard musician having to give up on his true love and passion. It’s difficult, but it is also what led me to discover a powerful spiritual practice.
Incorporating mindfulness into your daily lives can ease many of your sufferings, and at the same time, bring a true, beautiful sense of joy to your own life. Many of us College Vikings here at West Valley walk around campus mindlessly holding onto our deep, painful thoughts and emotions. Many of us are unaware that these pains can be the very fuel for our true happiness.
Mindfulness can be interpreted as being non-judgmentally aware of your internal and external surroundings. There are many mindfulness practices out there, but a common practice is meditation. Some might argue that meditation, or the act of sitting alone with their thoughts or physical pain causes them more suffering than good. Why can’t people just choose other options to relax such as hanging out with friends or doing any activity to relax and forget about the pain?
Although hanging out with friends, consuming alcohol, or mindlessly binging on Youtube throughout or after school will get your mind distracted from the pain, and bring you relief, what happens when these are all over? These activities are only a temporary fix to your deepest problems. In a recent 2022 research article on mindfulness, a researcher at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dr. Loziak states “The goal of mindfulness techniques is to monitor one’s own experience and to accept both positive and negative contents of consciousness.”
Perhaps, many of us Vikings are unaware that we are nourishing our negative pain and emotions on a daily basis by identifying ourselves with them as well as resisting them. Mindfulness practice gives us the opportunity to directly face our problems by dropping our habitual negative and positive labelings on everything we come in contact with, and just see them as pure experiences. No good, no bad. Just as is.
A couple of months ago, I was walking around campus to get to my next class. Unexpectedly, a hard trunk door slammed by a construction worker sent a sharp stabbing pain to my ears. At that moment, many sensations of physical, mental, and emotional pain had arisen within me.
Instead of proceeding to my next class, I strived to sit down near a quiet area and practice a mindfulness body-scan exercise I had learned. One by one, I took time with each body part, fully noticing how they felt, regardless if they were in pain or not. The key moment during this experience was when I had come in touch with my eyes. Although my ears were in pain, I noticed my eyes were not. I started to imagine how sad it was for those out there that have lost their vision, and could only wish for another day to see the nice blue sky.
At this very moment, my gratitude for my precious eyes broke the level meter of 10. I was truly living in the present moment. As I got back up to walk to my class, I started to observe our campus and noticed many wonders and beautiful things I have not truly noticed before. It honestly felt joyful to see the oak trees, the large depth of our campus, and the beautiful Vikings that were walking all around to get to their destination. I’ve had these pairs of eyes since birth, however at that moment it felt like I was receiving them for the first time.
If you are truly tired of your sufferings caused by a mindless way of living, hit the brakes, turn the wheel, and start heading in the path of mindfulness. Many students and teachers might think they can only begin meditation practice after the semester is over where they can move to the quiet mountains and not carry a jargon mind along. However, this is not true. You do not have to wait, travel, or mentally go any further than where you currently are. The true practice of mindfulness is to develop inner peace with whatever is in your present moment.
Don’t let pain be your worst enemy. Allow it to become your greatest teacher.
Reference
Loziak, A. (2022). Mindfulness or relaxation: What is more effective for work stress? Literature review. Psychology & Its Contexts / Psychologie a Její Kontexty, 13(1), 33–45. https://doi-Links to an external site. org.westvalley.idm.oclc.org/10.15452/PsyX.2022.13.0003
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