Mindfulness and the SAT

Mindfulness and the SAT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In this article, we'll discuss how to use mindfulness to crush the SAT (and everything else that stresses you out!). On Test Day â€Å"Our mind is constantly evaluating our experiences, comparing them with other experiences or holding them up against expectations and standards that we create, often out of fear.† -Jonathan Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are When you walk into the gym/classroom/cafeteria on test day, it’s likely that you’ll be feeling anxious and scared. Even though you might have prepped for the SAT with all kinds of courses, you may be nervous. All kinds of important, but unpredictable, life situations produce these feelings. But here’s the thing: anxiety and fear actually impede (get in the way of) your ability to perform your best on the SAT. In fact, they impede almost everything we try to get done in a day. To boost our performance, the best thing we can do (besides personalized SAT prep) is try to minimize our anxiety, but most people have no idea how to do this. There is a simple solution: mindfulness. What’s mindfulness? â€Å"You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf.† -Jonathan Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are Mindfulness, according to the Oxford New American Dictionary, is: 1: the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something; 2: a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. So, it’s possible to be mindful in any given moment, not thinking about anything but the present time and place. But the practice of mindfulness is cultivating the ability to be mindful more frequently and more easily, and is the secret to the inner peace of Buddhist monks, among others. However, while monks meditate for hours every day to cultivate their mindfulness, it is possible for high school students (and, in fact, anyone) to use the power of mindfulness. Given any amount of time, but especially if you start well ahead of test day, you can harness the power of your own inner strength using mindfulness to get your best possible score. // What can mindfulness do for me? Life is stressful, especially for teenagers. There’s school, sports, extracurriculars, social life, family time, andon top of it alltest prep. Mindfulness is a scientifically proven, thoroughly researched way to reduce stress and provide a calm state of mind that can help you get through any situation, especially one as potentially anxiety-producing as the SAT. Read on for details of what exactly this means. Practice: how and when? Meditation, or mindfulness practice, is nothing but sitting, standing, laying or even walking while focusing only on the present momentwhat you see, hear, and feel right now. There are a million websites and books that discuss when, where and how to do it. But the great thing about mindfulness practice is that, while 30 minutes or an hour of daily practice can do wonders, even 5 minutes of intentional mindfulness every day (or even every few days, or every week) can seriously improve your ability to stay calm, focus, and perform better. If you follow our recommendation to do 100 hours of focused online SAT prep (it’s not as bad as it sounds!), you’ll end up with 250-500 minutes, or 4-8 hours, of mindfulness practice. That’s more than enough to boost your emotional and psychological readiness for the SAT, as well as the crazy stuff college is going to throw at you. We recommend that, before you start your SAT prep session, sit (on the floor, ideally) or lay down and focus on nothing but the present moment. Many people find that it helps to focus on the breath moving in and out of their body. Try to do it for 5 minutes, even if it is difficult or frustrating. By associating your mindfulness practice with your SAT practice, you’re training yourself to be mindful on test day. Discipline concentration â€Å"Discipline provides a constancy which is independent of what kind of a day you had yesterday and what kind of a day you anticipate today.† -Jonathan Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are In addition to its other benefits, regular meditation improves discipline and concentration, which are key for any academic pursuit. You don’t have to do anything to gain this benefit: just do nothing for 5 minutes before every session of SAT prep you do, the more often the better. Try it out Right now, just sit cross-legged on the floor, close your eyes, and focus your attention on your breathing. Count the breaths, if that helps. When other thoughts pop up, acknowledge them and let them go, bringing your attention back to your breath. Try it for 5 minutes, and see if you don’t feel calmer and more centered afterward. If you found this helpful or interesting, please take a moment to sign up for our email list at right: we’ll never sell your email address, and we crank out great posts on SAT-related topics every week. Also, check out our Free SAT Guide:

10 Nursing Careers You Didnt Know Existed

10 Nursing Careers You Didnt Know Existed the nursing field is one of the fastest growing in the country. as healthcare modernizes and expands from the er into the app store, there are a number of new opportunities to look out for as you consider nursing or look to explore a new area of your career.   1. holistic nursingpractices of holistic nursing include massage, complementary medicine (which combines conventional and alternative techniques), and mind-body integration. you’ll find these jobs in upscale clinics. successful holistic nurses should be calm, centered, and open-minded.  2. nursing informaticsnurses in this specialty need exceptional computer skills- beyond developing fluency with existing programs, they provide guidance to it professionals and code developers to create the tools that help hospitals and doctors’ offices operate efficiently and effectively. the blend of real-world nursing knowledge and technological savvy makes this niche profession appealing to the nurses of the digital generat ion.  3. forensic nursingnot for the faint of heart, forensic nursing involves working closely with law enforcement to investigate deaths, sexual assault survivors, and trauma cases, as well as partnering with child services for advocacy work. these nurses provide emotional support to patients and may be called upon for courtroom testimony.  4. outcomes managementif you’re fascinated by statistics and interpreting data, nursing in outcomes management may be a good match for you. these nurses analyze stats on patient needs, length of stay, quality surveys, and utilization of services to measure efficiency and propose adjustments in hospital policy or regulation. this is another specialty where your nursing knowledge overlaps in a productive way with the more administrative tasks of the job.  5. fitness nursingif you’ve ever contemplated being a personal trainer, this specialty offers you the chance to combine your nursing degree with a desire to help people learn to take better care of themselves. look for jobs in rehabilitation centers, post-surgery recovery, health fair screenings, or even health clubs. fitness nurses provide assessments and make recommendations for exercise and diet regimens that may help patients maintain their health or recovery from an illness or procedure.  6. entrepreneur and consultant (self-employed)let’s hear it for the freelancing nurse entrepreneur! if you open up a consultant business of your own, you can travel to offices, schools, medical centers. and other institutions to provide trainings from cpr to first aid. you might hold seminars, contract with staffing agencies, or consult with medical publishers, putting your knowledge to work and setting your own hours.  7. medical esthetics nursingan aesthetics nurse works in medical centers that may also provide spa and other holistic therapy services. your license would include laser procedures, chemical peels, botox, collagen injections. and spider ve in treatments, and your daily responsibilities would include treating patients directly and providing post-procedural care.  8. faith-based nursingif you consider your religious practice a priority, there’s a growing need for medical practitioners with religious sensitivities. you might find a position in a religious educational institution or rehabilitation center that combines spiritual care with medicine. faith-based nurses pick up where chaplains and pastors leave off to add a layer of treatment and healing provided by their medical background.  9. insurance nursingare you interested in helping coordinate patient care and communicating clearly and effectively with patients, medical professionals, and insurance policies to ensure a high level of care for clients? an insurance nurse position might be an ideal match for your strengths; your responsibilities might also include informational writing, running educational programs, and monitoring their effectiveness.  10. assisted living and long-term careif you enjoy working with seniors or those recovering from accidents or injury and the emotional rewards of long-term care, this work may be perfect for you. you’d also have responsibilities like meeting with patients’ families, developing care and transfer plans, and working with outside support professionals. there is also growth potential in this specialty- if you find an institution where you enjoy working, there may be opportunities to move into management or coordinator positions.click here for a full list of nursing positions