- 500-700 word reflection on your overall mindfulness practice experience for this semester. (sept-dec)
- This final reflection responds to the general questions:How, from my own experience, can mindfulness practices impact our media habits and ideologies?
- You are evaluated on how much you engage with reflecting on the practice of meditating, not whether or not you are a good or bad meditator. The reflection will be written in the first person and you are not required to cite any sources for this.
- Consider
– How did meditation go?
– Does any moment stand out?
– How did this day differ from another day this week or last week?
– If I imagine that no matter what happened in that experience, it was perfect, what does that mean to me?
- I have also attached a few readings regarding the concept of mindfulness practice, media ideologies, feel free to read to understand more about the topic.
6.The meditation(mindfulness practices) that I have been practicing:
– breath meditation
– body scan meditation by tara barch
– nature meditation
– loving-kindness meditation
Impact of Mindfulness Practices on Media Habits and Ideologies
The concept of mindfulness embodies the Buddhist’s approach to shaping the mind to create awareness and cultivate attention. I find mindfulness informative and aware of what I need to take care of my emotional and overall well-being. People engage in mindfulness to foster their awareness and attention to present experiences. The dramatic rise in mindfulness intervention maps how mindfulness practices impact cognitive, health, affective, and interpersonal outcomes. The daily routine of attention, awareness, and meditation has helped me excessively rely on social media use in digital media and ideologies. There are several ideas I share with my friends on social media. All these help us form interactions that seek to build each other and foster relationships among ourselves.
I have learned the habit of meditating every week. Meditation has been an integral practice in my life, just like eating and visiting the bathroom. Although I do not exercise meditation in the scope of yoga, I try five minutes every Saturday evening to improve my understanding of life, reflex my mind and improve my attention. The consistent efforts in mindfulness have shown me to appreciate my surroundings. As a result, I have realized that social media is infodemic and can potentially mislead one individual. For this reason, I approach all the things I access on social media with skepticism. Creswell (2017) indicates that mindfulness is a process that allows a person to openly attend to their thoughts and create awareness of their present experience. The attention creates contrast with the reality of life and gives us the impetus to establish our worldviews intentionally. Therefore, I am mastering the art to reflect on my life through the weekly mindfulness practices. I do not take media presentations as gospel truth but instead, ask myself questions before agreeing with what the media portrays.
Mindfulness has helped me adopt a critical attitude in my media habits and outcomes. I have learned that social media helps discriminate information that can be useful to deal with several issues of society. I have read concepts about mindfulness practices and media ideologies, which have informed my understanding that mindfulness creates the quality of mind, establishes the peace of thoughts, and refines the daily attitude towards life. I am yet to reach the heart of Buddhist mediations, but I believe t any form of meditation is central to the Buddha’s teachings and traditions on the insights of meditation (Kabat-Zinn 2015). As a result, meditation is strengthening my resolve to continue with mindfulness. I derive insights into my aspirations and thoughts on media habits and outcomes. The more I engage in mindfulness, the better it is for me to continue self-reflection. Therefore, I recognize my feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and values for what they are. In this case, I use my mediation to question all the information social media presents critically, whether it is just for entertainment.
Mindfulness practice has helped me become a positive influence. I have learned that it is better to avoid harm and engage in efforts that build a positive legacy. Therefore, I guide others around me in appreciating the information that occurs in social media. I believe that cultivating a mindful spirit helps check my actions and improve my social habits. For this reason, mediation and mindfulness help me remain on course. I keep sight of the future and understand that I have a role in shaping destiny. The increased use of social media is critical to the life of society. It is imperative to take some time and think about making appropriate decisions that are compatible with our purpose.
References
Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual review of psychology, 68, 491-516.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2015). Mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6(6), 1481-1483.