Week 11 Learning Challenges: Being Present

This week I chose to look at attention memes because I feel like recently I have been less focused. I chose this meme because it becomes a real problem when we cannot let go of our phones to be present with he people we are with. I usually try to stay off my phone in classes so that I can process the information given, but sometimes I forget when I am with friends or family. This post was a reminder to pay attention when I am with other people. When I was in high school my friends and I used to play a game when we were out to dinner. Everyone would put their phones int he center of the table, and whoever touched their's first had to pay for everyones dinner. As you can imagine no one wanted to be responsible for that, so no one touched their phones. It was a great way to get everyone focused on the present, and the people they were with.

The Paradox of Presence
From Laura Gibbs

My Challenges with Learning Challenges

I have always seen the jellybean video floating around, but never took the time to watch it. After watching it, I felt very motivated, and it made me want to enjoy everything I do.

That is why the area of H.E.A.R.T. that I am most looking forward to would have to be health and happiness! To me, happiness is the most important thing there is in life, and if you can build a foundation on being happy, then you can manage anything. Mental health goes hand in hand with this, and has come to be an incredibly important issue to me recently. I have a few close friends who struggle with depression, and am always looking for new ways that I can be of help to them.

Happiness is books
From Flickr

I am also consistently struggling with attention, as are many people (Hello, phones!). I am excited to learn new techniques, but one of my own is classical music. It does wonders for paying attention while studying! I usually hate sound when I am trying to focus, but classical music is one of those things that you can tune out so easily, yet it somehow focuses you on your task. Luckily, in high school we were taught to manage our time very well, so I don’t struggle with that too much anymore. I am very diligent to make schedules on when I need to be doing work, and when I can take breaks. I have actually used the tomato-timer before, and it worked pretty well! Although, sometimes if I am in a really good groove I will continue working, then reward myself with a larger break when I finish. I do struggle time to time to get motivated to start my work, so I am interested to see what I can learn about getting that first wave of momentum going.