Interdisciplinary Psychology:

          The first activity I chose to lift my mood is exercise. Exercise makes me feel good while I am doing it and that positive feeling stays with me. I decided to incorporate an exercise routine for my mornings. I am so happy that I did it! What a wonderful start to my day. This has served as a way to focus my mind and my energy in the morning. I decided to jog on my treadmill for 20 minutes and listen to music while doing it. It was really hard to wake up and get myself to do it. I was motivated by knowing I was going to have to write this paper and now the jogging has become routine. I noticed that I am more relaxed during the day and I am generally happier with myself when I exercise. I plan to continue this routine.

            The strategy I chose for limiting rumination was “The Body Scan” (Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy). The Body Scan is a meditation where you focus only on your bodily sensations. The aim of this meditation is to bring detailed awareness to each part of your body. This exercise trains you to keep your attention focused over a period of time and helps you to develop concentration, calmness, flexibility of attention, and mindfulness. I am definitely one of those people that struggle with ruminating thoughts and the body scan is really helpful at training you to be able to control your thoughts. The only thing I would do differently is maybe choose a strategy that I could utilize while at work or at a social gathering because the body scan would be fairly difficult to use in that situation. However, I think if I continue doing the body scan daily I will eventually train my thoughts and be able to use that training in any given situations.

            The strategy I chose for reducing physiological arousal was ‘breathing space’. This is also a technique from “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy”. This technique is used to help a person become fully aware of a thought or feelings and then, having acknowledged it, move their attention away. Taking breathing space is important when trying to handle difficult situations and it allows a person to take the time needed to think clearly. For me, taking a breathing space calms me, relaxes me, and lets me make the next right decision. I found this strategy to be very helpful and easily utilized in all situations.

            I chose to break this activity into two different parts. The first thing I did was to help my elderly neighbors. During the summer I mow their lawn and help them with general yard work or house upkeep but then I normally do not see them during the winter. This elderly couple has disabilities and they are very limited in what they can do. Their closest family member lives in Seattle and that person comes down once a week to go grocery shopping for them. The elderly man is worse off than the woman and he spends most of his days in bed. I decided that I would offer to go to the store or help around the house, however, this ended up turning into a much different way of being there for my neighbor. I ended going over to her house with the intent of offering my ‘services’ but instead we ended up sitting down in the living room and talking. I ended up staying over there for a couple hours. We looked at pictures and chatted. Then a WWII war documentary came on the T.V. and we watched it. It was so interesting. On the commercial breaks she would relay stories about her husband and his time serving in the war. She talked about the letters they used to send to each other and told me about their friends that died in the war. This ended up being an amazing experience. I think it meant more to her to have me sit their and listen than to do something like mow the lawn. The experience really touched me as well. I will not stop mowing her lawn or doing any miscellaneous chores around the house if needed but I will intentionally take the time to sit down and listen to her story.

            The second activity I took part in was at my place of employment which is an elementary school. I get really busy while at work and really focused on accomplishing the tasks at hand; whether it be completing a worksheet with a child, running a reading group, or getting them to lunch on time. I decided to take the time to sit down and talk to a few of the kids that I know struggle with home issues. I did this with three different kids. I called them over at recess and asked them how they were doing. With each child it did not take any more prying than that. They were ready to spill their guts. One child in particular is living in a foster home with at least 8 other kids. I could tell that getting the undivided attention of an adult who cares what he is saying really meant a lot to him. Another child, whose mother just went to prison, ended up breaking down and crying while we were talking. It broke my heart but at the same time it felt really good to know she was getting to vent these emotions. The last child just sat and told me jokes but again I listened and laughed with him and, for this child in particular, that was enough. He walked away with a smile on his face.