Hi friends,

This week we went from five minutes of mindfulness practice daily, to ten minutes. This week has been super tough for me. It has been filed with so much stress and anxiety. My graphics class for interior design had our first big project due on Wednesday and I spent 30-40 hours in the lab this weekend. All day Monday and Tuesday I was in Human Sciences room 425 working on my project. It was so easy to spend hours doing the tedious activities that when I’d look down and 5 hours had passed, I wouldn’t even think twice. I did my ten minutes of mindfulness practice as breaks from working. I would stand up and pace while focusing on my breathing. It made my body feel better to get in some stretching and also relaxed my mind a lot. I’m really glad that we were given this “assignment”, because I wouldn’t have given myself any breaks otherwise.

On Tuesday I was placed in a breakout group with three other girls that I’ve never been in a group with. I actually joined class from 425 while working on my project so there were five other people in the room listening every time I spoke. Two of us had to read the NO reading and two read the YES article. When discussing if corporations should get involved with poverty, me and another girl said no. We both believed that it would give corporations too much power and we already have issues with monopolies. I said it would be difficult to try to and make guidelines to make sure no one has too much power. But I also see how it could be helpful. The other two girls saw our point but believed the benefits outweighed the risks and decided to put YES on our jamboard. We said yes, but with regulations to protect people from power hungry companies.

It is always hard when not everyone agrees but I think it was nice that we could come to a solution. No toes were stepped on and we came to an agreeable solution, but I think it was a good learning experience on how to work together to come to a conclusion.

Something that has been sticking with me from the discussion is that companies often push those in poverty into locations where they know they have no chance to thrive. From when I was born until I was ten my family was highly involved in an organization called feed the hungry. It was when we lived in Houston so every thanksgiving at 5:00 am we would go to downtown Houston and start setting up for the thanksgiving styled meals we would give out to the homeless. I am so glad that my parents had my brother and I involved in that because it really showed us that the important things have nothing to do with money and everything to do with family. With that being said, I have always had a heart for the less fortunate so this week after our discussion I have been trying to think of more ways that I could help and get involved.