Our recent course topics we talked about the past two weeks were about mindfulness and sustainability. On week three when we went into our breakout rooms, we were assigned to read a little section of a paper about mindfulness and then put it on the jam board for the class to see. Our section of the paper talked about how being present in the moment leads to people being happier and that people whose minds wander more often are typically more unhappy than someone who is being mindful. It talked about how it is important to be in the “here and now.” Something I brought up to my group was how with our generation, we are always so concerned with getting the perfect picture or video. When I go to a concert, almost everyone has their phone out recording the concert rather than just being present and truly taking in that moment of being in the concert. I think it is important for people our age to practice mindfulness and to be better at being present in the moment and not wasting it on our cell phones. During the week four lecture, we talked about the articles we read about sustainability. I was assigned to the “no” article. When we broke out into our groups, we were to discuss with each other about the differences in the articles we read and choose parts from each that best supported sustainability, and then decide if they were compatible with globalization. One thing I brought up to my group was how I believed the idea of the “No” article had the right idea, but the goals were unrealistic. I talked about how I think it would be great if we could have a culture shift to support sustainability, but that people are too set in their ways to make a change. One thing the article mentioned was how if we started taking busses instead of driving our cars everywhere, that it would reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses being emitted into the environment. This sounds like a good idea, but to take a bus to work instead of driving yourself would take more time and planning, and most people would not be willing to make that sacrifice. I mentioned to my group that it is hard to want to do anything make a change when we are unable to see the results of the change we are making. With that being said, there were a few things that I took away from the past two weeks lectures. I realize that I must make a conscious effort to work towards practicing sustainability habits such as recycling, thrifting, driving less, etc.. The article showed me how consumption and consumerism are only getting worse and we must try and do something to make a change or we will use up all of our planet’s resources. One thing I learned from the first lecture, was to start trying to be more mindful. To help achieve this we were assigned to practice five minutes of mindfulness. What I did to practice mindfulness for five minutes was listen to a meditation video on YouTube. I found one called “Mindfulness Meditation – Guided 10 Minutes.” When I first started doing this, I found it hard to focus and sit still for five minutes just being by myself, but as the week progressed it became a little easier to sit and be present for the whole five minutes. I do believe this is something I should work on practicing more often because life can get so busy and overwhelming and this was something that helped me wind down and be with myself for a small part of the day.