Swadharma » Brittany

Stress and Exams

Brittany — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:04:57 +0000

During reading period and exam weeks, we often find ourselves under a lot of stress. Between final projects, term papers, and exams, it often seems that we do not have enough time to do everything we are supposed to. This lack of time compounds the stress already inherent in the projects, and it cycles downwards from there — the stress appears to be constantly increasing. For me at least, when this cycle begins, I find it helpful to step back and detach myself from the work for a little while. While trapped in that cycle, the stress appears overwhelming, but upon stepping back and breaking that cycle, the work no longer seems nearly as overwhelming. Often, what is overwhelming is not the amount of work, but rather the number of tasks that exist. When we step back, we often realize that the tasks we were overwhelmed by actually will not cost us long to complete, and our stress was uncalled for. When we find ourselves unduly stressed, it is often helpful to detach ourselves from our work and look at it objectively. This often reveals that we have become so wrapped up in our work that we have blown it out of proportion, which leads to undue stress.

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Detachment and College Life

Brittany — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:02:08 +0000

When we go away to college, we necessarily become less attached to our families. Since we are away from home, we are not able to interact with our families in the same way we did in high school. In high school, we could ask our parents if we had questions, but at college, we no longer have that luxury. This lack of daily interaction forces us to become more detached from our families; however, we sometimes trade this attachment for attachment to more material ideas. At college, our focus often turns to our grades and our work. This attachment seems to be fairly material, as opposed to our less material interactions with our families. In my mind, this is not a good transition to make, because we trade the less material for the more material. In my mind, it would be better if we could maintain the detachment we begin to develop without becoming more attached to the more material.

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Mindfullness

Brittany — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:41:21 +0000

The other day, I found myself reflecting on the number of times each day I react to others without actually thinking about my reaction. How often in the course of a day do we thank someone for holding a door without really thinking about what we are saying? When I really reflected on it, I realized that many of my reactions to situations that occur commonly have become reflexes, and as such, they have lost most of the meaning behind them. To me, being mindful of my actions, and trying to ensure that my actions mirror my intent is important, so it was somewhat disturbing for me to realize that often this is not the case. I also realized what a difference it makes when someone actually responds to your actions rather than simply muttering the appropriate response without really thinking about it. I noticed that at the end of the day, I often remember the people who actually meant their reactions, while those who responded by rote become lost in the everyday occurrences. It is such a simple, but meaningful thing to consciously acknowledge the things others do for us; but it is something that seems to often get lost when we spend our lives rushing around thinking only about the next thing we must accomplish.

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Explaining Ourselves

Brittany — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:29:59 +0000

As someone who was not raised Hindu, I am often asked both what are the central beliefs of Hinduism, and how I became drawn to Hinduism. I have no trouble answering the first question, and I am pleased that someone is curious about Hinduism. Why then, do I have a harder time responding to the second question? Despite the fact that the second question is similar to the first in that it is asking about what beliefs in Hinduism do I follow most closely, I sometimes end up feeling slightly annoyed at this. The only difference I can find between the two questions is that one asks about Hinduism itself, whereas the other asks about my beliefs, and I sometimes interpret the second question as a need to defend my beliefs. This reaction though, makes no sense, as I should not care about what other people think about my beliefs. Why I am attached to what other people choose to think about my beliefs?

Reflecting on this question has led me to the conclusion that my reaction to this question is in fact a sign of what I need to work on myself. I need to work on responding to the questions by looking at them positively as someone actually caring about my thoughts, or simply answer the questions without passing any value judgements on them at all.

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Desire and Suffering in Balzac

Brittany — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:49:53 +0000

For one of my literature classes, we read an essay about the role of desire in narratives. This essay used Balzac’s novel La Peau de Chagrin as an example of a novel whose narrative is driven by desire; however, it is twisted such that the narrative is actually driven by the protagonist’s attempt to avoid desire. He was given a talisman that would grant him his every wish; however, it also would gradually destroy him. I found this to be an interesting exploration of the interplay of desire and pain. Often, desire is associated with emotional pain such as the loss of something or someone one loves, but in Balzac’s story, desire has been associated with physical pain, and ultimately, death.

I am not sure how the association with physical rather than emotional pain changes the portrayal of desire. At first, I thought that the association with physical pain seemed to cast a more negative light on desire, especially since desire here was ultimately associated with death even more so than with pain. The more I though about it, the more I began to think that perhaps emotional pain was in fact the more damaging. One can attempt to ignore or at least lessen physical pain by focusing on something else, but no matter how hard one tries, one cannot escape from the pain inside one’s head. The physical aspect of pain is more visible to others, but mental pain is hidden.

Regardless of the form that pain takes, I found it interesting that Balzac’s portrayal of desire in his novel is so similar to the Hindu belief that desire and attachment lead to suffering. We tend to believe that we will be happier if we have something; however, often once we have whatever we desired, we realize that it was not worth the cost. Alternatively, we experience desire and attachment towards something we have, and we suffer when it is lost. Balzac deals with both of these points in his novel. The main character experiences physical pain as the cost of obtaining what he desires, and when he finally receives his ultimate desire, he experiences the pain of losing it through his death.

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