From the head

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For the past few years, we have invited facilitators to campus to run Mindfulness Retreats for our students, and this past week, a group of students spent three days exploring the concepts of Mindfulness. The students and faculty outlined some of the stressors we all experience in today's culture:

• We are living in uncertain times and worry about an uncertain future.
• We all experience the impact of our digital dependence.
• The stress of social media seems pervasive.
• We are subjected to our political climate and the divisive messages that bombard us.

Sarah Carlin '80 is one of the two workshop facilitators. Sarah defines Mindfulness as being aware of one's experience in the present moment and learning to respond rather than react. As she said, "We often think about future events (worrying, imagining, speculating) or stress about the past (Rehashing, rethinking, remembering). With mindfulness, we are practicing being aware of and appreciating the here and now with curiosity and an open attitude."

The group worked on exercises both inside at the Renewal Center and out in the woods, using nature as a backdrop for exploring their focus and awareness. Some of the comments from the participants included:

"I realized that everyone needs meditation."

"This will help me a lot more than I thought."

"I enjoyed this experience. It was a safe and welcoming group!"

"I learned that everything is constantly changing, and now I know how to react more positively to those changes."

"Please continue spreading this. I feel calmer and even happier. The goodness and honesty of the facilitators made this retreat very meaningful."

I also sat down with some of the students and was reminded of the power of bringing workshops like this onto campus.

Laura D. Gauld '76

President