If you close your eyes and slowly count to 10, you can get a glimpse of what it means to meditate.
For that short moment, you can shut out your worries and find a sense of renewal, something we all need from time to time.
I first tried meditation at the Wellness Center in December as a kick-start to finals week. Welcomed into a small room by an unassuming woman with a gentle voice, we sat there for one hour to let go of our thoughts.
I’m no meditation expert, but even just one session was a remarkably relieving experience.
I was ready to study during reading days and get through finals feeling refreshed. Everyone deals with problems in different ways.
Some people hold up thoughts inside and others might just go for a workout to take their minds off things.
I thought meditation seemed like the easy way out – avoiding real problems and shutting out the world. But it’s certainly better than releasing emotions through aggression or harboring them inside, and it’s not an easy way out at all.
The goal of meditation is to ultimately let go of outer thoughts so you can hear your inner thoughts.
My experience has helped me gain control of my thoughts and look at my problems in a new way.
Thoughts are just thoughts, nothing more than that. I don’t have to take my concerns and considerations so seriously. And if I want to look at a situation in a better way, it’s simply up to me.
I’ve found that things are never as bad as they seem at the moment. Half the time they’re not bad at all.
If you’re overwhelmed with schoolwork piling up at the start of the semester, experiencing new roommate drama or struggling with relationship problems, it may be time to find yourself.
Lyssa Goldberg is a freshman majoring in journalism and political science.