Who Maxine Is Matters

If it were up to me, I'd make it a requirement for all USC students to learn Transcendental Meditation (TM). TM is so easy to learn, and even easier to practice. TM involves the use of a secret "mantra", which is repeated during the meditation. The meditation is practiced for 20 minutes twice per day while sitting with your eyes closed. Primarily, TM helps to avoid distracting thoughts and promote an overall state of relaxed awareness. But there are a ton of additional benefits of TM. TM alleviates stress and anxiety, improves sleep, lowers blood pressure, reduces cortisol, lowers the risk of heart attack, improves brain memory and function, and creates a greater sense of clarity and productivity.  I've been practicing TM for the past 6-7 months and can admit that I've experienced all of these benefits in my life. What I love most about doing TM is that it is effortless. In order to do TM, you need to sit in a comfortable chair, close your eyes and keep yo...

Challenging the Common View of Pain as Negative: Why Pain is a Good Thing https://www.pinterest.com/pin/479985272762053608/ Can you imagine a world where you felt no physical pain? Broke a bone? Painless. Got hit by a car? Painless. Got stung by three wasps? Painless. Spilled boiling water on your hands? Painless. Some may salivate at the thought of a pain-free life. In today’s society, there is a stigma of pain being a harmful thing that people should generally try to avoid. Believe it or not, the global market of painkiller medications is estimated to reach $26.4 billion by 2022 (PR Newswire 2017). What does this tell you? No one likes to feel pain. Although the thought of a pain-free life may sound like a utopia, pain is necessary for survival and is hugely beneficial to our wellbeing. This article will discuss several reasons why we need pain in order to survive. By the end of this article, you will be hoping to stub your toe, rather than preventing it...