A lot is asked of students these days, both explicitly and implicitly. It's common for my students to ask when they will have the opportunity to have real choice and freedom. With rigorous classes, extracurricular activities, and the pressure to plan for summer programs or even future careers, the demands are never-ending.
Feeling like you are living someone else's life or playing by someone else's rules can lead to disengagement and burnout. When stressed, it's easy to react impulsively, whether by saying something hurtful, shutting down emotionally, or pushing people away. We often don't even know or realize what we're doing, how it's probably not doing us any favors, and why we're really reacting.
Mindfulness is a powerful tool that can help us gain the 'ultimate choice.' We can’t always change our circumstances and can’t choose or control desired outcomes (I’ll come back to this often). But by developing mindfulness, we train our brains to respond wisely rather than react impulsively. As Viktor Frankl said, "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." By cultivating this space, we open ourselves up to a domino effect of positive change.