Practice #57 - Meditating In A Chaotic High School Cafeteria

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,840
So, I find myself in the middle of a chaotic high school cafeteria.

2
00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,800
And this was not during normal high school hours.

3
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:19,520
This was actually during summer.

4
00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:25,240
What am I doing in a high school cafeteria during summer?

5
00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:33,800
So, I'm sitting there at the cafeteria at a lunch table.

6
00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,800
And I don't really have anyone to talk to and I'm not really using my phone.

7
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:46,040
And so, I don't really have anything to do and so I'm just kind of sitting there awkwardly

8
00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,080
until all of a sudden everything changes.

9
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:53,880
Now, how did I get to this point?

10
00:00:53,880 --> 00:01:08,960
It all started when during the winter of my junior year, I got an email from a teacher

11
00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,800
who runs this program at my school called Leadership Launch.

12
00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:15,560
It's basically like a leadership class.

13
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,120
And I got this email.

14
00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,360
She was like, oh yeah, you should be a leader.

15
00:01:20,360 --> 00:01:25,200
You're invited to be a leader.

16
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:26,200
You were recommended.

17
00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:32,840
And I was like, oh, somebody recommended me to be a leader?

18
00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:39,040
Somebody did recommend me to be a leader and I was like, no, I'm not doing it.

19
00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:44,000
I remember sitting there with my parents talking about it and I was like, nope, not doing it.

20
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,920
And then after a little bit of thinking, like after a couple of days of thinking, I'm like,

21
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,760
oh, maybe I should actually do it because I don't want to do it.

22
00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:58,000
And I remember actually writing that down in the application because I had to apply

23
00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:04,400
to be a leader and so I wrote down in the Google form in the question that said, why

24
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:05,960
do you want to join leadership?

25
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,920
And I'm like, well, I don't want to.

26
00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:15,200
So that's exactly why I should.

27
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,080
But that's pretty much why I started it.

28
00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:23,760
And then I found myself at the leadership training during summer with a bunch of kids,

29
00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,680
a bunch of people my age, all leaders.

30
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:33,880
And we spent like the past hour playing a bunch of games, doing team building activities.

31
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,640
And it was time for dinner.

32
00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,360
We were just sitting there in the cafeteria.

33
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,320
My team was all eating together and then everyone just kind of left to go hang out with their

34
00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:45,800
friends.

35
00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,880
And I didn't really have anyone to talk to.

36
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,400
And I wasn't using my phone.

37
00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:58,040
I had my phone, but I was like, I'm not, I don't use my phone anymore.

38
00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:03,280
And so I didn't want to, I knew that it was like a moment of growth to not use the phone

39
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,840
because the phone would have just been a cope and it would have been like something that

40
00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,680
I just go on to distract myself from the reality of the situation.

41
00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:12,680
So I didn't want to do that.

42
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,880
I was literally just sitting there awkwardly, literally just like, just like looking around,

43
00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:21,000
just like hoping no one sees me trying to be invisible.

44
00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:29,640
But then I was just like, I remembered what I've been training for because a couple months

45
00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:34,800
before this, I actually started meditating consistently.

46
00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:36,480
And I remembered to control my mind.

47
00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,480
And so now I'm sitting in this cafeteria.

48
00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:40,800
Now I'm more relaxed.

49
00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:46,120
Now I'm just like completely controlling my mind, extremely focused.

50
00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,080
I'm just looking around.

51
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:55,440
I can hear all of the noises, like all of the chatter, yelling, people running around,

52
00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:57,840
everyone eating pizza, everyone having a good time.

53
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,000
I'm just looking around.

54
00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:07,640
Somehow I found peace a month amidst the chaos.

55
00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:13,160
I found peace in the middle of an extremely chaotic environment.

56
00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:19,600
And I've actually had social anxiety for a pretty long time.

57
00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:29,360
And so like a situation like that would be like not very fun for me to experience.

58
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:35,760
But somehow I just something clicked.

59
00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,840
And it was like I was in the eye of the storm.

60
00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:48,480
And so for the rest of that night, I was just super calm and chill and relaxed.

61
00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:59,040
That was probably one of the most successful occasions I've ever had in a situation like

62
00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,760
that, controlling my mind.

63
00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:08,800
And it really reminds me of how important it is to meditate and actually learn how to

64
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,680
control your mind.

65
00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,800
Because you can calm yourself down in any situation.

66
00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:39,080
It's just a matter of actually doing it.