Week 6 - The Power of Mental Health

The quote Dr. Shahi used in the beginning of his lecture on this day really struck home for me. "All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." The Buddha (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddaharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.) Much like the simple phrase coined by Descartes: "I think therefore I am". Our world is created by thought that leads to action. Everything begins and ends in the mind. We are constantly absorbing and producing new experiences, reliving the past and contemplating the future both consciously and subconsciously. I have found it necessary to detach myself from situations in order to see them more clearly. In fact, yoga has really been my saving grace, an amazing practice which allows me to cultivate the art of living in the moment and releasing myself from my actions and reactions. At the end of each class on Wednesday nights, the whole class says a silent prayer lead by the instructor dedicating the practice to those people who need the strength and clarity and who don't have the luxury of doing yoga in a safe and amazing environment. This little reality check is always a welcome reminder of just how lucky we are to be empowered that way. If everyone had the chance to take a little respite from the ever spinning wheel of life, I think the world would be a much better place. However, so many people, as we have been discussing, don't even have the basic necessities such as clean water, sufficient food supply, or safe living situations that allow for time to reflect on philosophical notions. It is clear that these problems must be addressed so that good mental health can have a fighting chance. This is clearly laid out in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs which Dr. Shahi presented in his slides, and more than just needs, I believe they should be rights of every human being. The right to have the opportunity to have all of those things: Physiological well-being, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, Self-Actualization. And so when we examine these problems every week in class and whether they can be solved, I guess the answer is best described as the following:

"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."

- Henry Ford (1863-1947)

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."

- Umberto Eco

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."

- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)