{"id":21901,"date":"2014-10-17T15:22:18","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=21901"},"modified":"2014-10-17T15:22:18","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T19:22:18","slug":"holistic-living-for-a-busy-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2014\/10\/17\/holistic-living-for-a-busy-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"Holistic Living for a Busy Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"My head can really get spinning. With so much going on, including schoolwork, tests, classes, extracurriculars and events, things can get crazy.<\/em> Stress is a part of university life especially during flip-out times like midterms. But stress is natural and if you aren\u2019t a little<\/em> stressed about your university activities, you aren\u2019t doing it right. <\/em>\r\n\r\nLet me explain; stress in controlled, healthy amounts is actually a good thing. Going into a mental tailspin, however, is not.<\/em> If you have a balanced schedule full of activities you enjoy,<\/em> the stress won\u2019t feel like stress. It will feel like energy.<\/em> This energy is good and there are many strategies to access it.\r\n\r\n
\"Two<\/a>
Meed Bob and Ted, some veteran study soldiers from my first year. When you are overloaded with work, you can always count on your ability to distract yourself. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nI\u2019ll give you an example. Early October has been crazy for me. I\u2019ve never spent so much time doing so many things all at once. In my opinion, it\u2019s a little early in the year to have two midterms and a heavily weighted essay all in October\u2019s first week<\/em>. But here\u2019s the strange thing. I\u2019ve been working fifteen hours a day for a month straight and yet, my brain never went into code-red meltdown mode.\r\n\r\nFirst reason: My schedule is full of things I love. There. Boom. Easy.\r\n\r\nIf you fill your day with your passions, it won\u2019t feel like such a battle.\r\n\r\nSecond: My schedule is balanced. <\/em>\r\n\r\nYour schedule can\u2019t be too heavy on the work and too light on fun and health-oriented activities and vice versa. All work and no play blahblahblah<\/em>. But how much of each part of your life is necessary and what should actually be included in your day?\r\n\r\nFirst Nations House has an Elder-in-Residence whom I\u2019ve visited a number of times. His name is Andrew Wesley and he is Omushkego Cree from Fort Albany. Elders have invaluable, immense knowledge to share. The teachings I\u2019ve received include protocol for ceremonies which have greatly helped me. At FNH as well as the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto there is plenty of help finding whatever medicines you may need. Also, you can talk with FNH\u2019s Learning Strategist, Bonnie Jane Maracle.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.ncct.on.ca\/giftshop.php<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\"Four<\/a>
These are medicines of the four directions placed in my apartment to ensure it is a safe place to be. The entire atmosphere changed instantly when I put these up. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
My special dream-catcher. The cloth is a small piece of a M\u00e9tis sash, given to me by Bruce Dumont, President of the M\u00e9tis Nation of British Columbia. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nElders in Toronto have also really helped me grasp the value of the medicine wheel in balancing life to maintain healthy relationships with the four parts of our beings. You can definitely explore teachings like these at university. There\u2019s more to learn than I<\/em> could ever teach.\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.fourdirectionsteachings.com\/main.html<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
The original colour scheme of my apartment: balanced but needed one more colour of the four directions. Can you tell which one? (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s a beginner\u2019s guide: life is a continual four-part cycle of our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual <\/em>selves. Only you know what fills these areas in your life, but rest assured, they all should be respected. \u00a0Every Saturday, I spend four hours or so scheduling my week. Though massive,<\/em> these schedules are balanced in the four areas and allow me to maintain physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual wellness. They\u2019re even colour-coded. Thus, I get more done, I\u2019m healthier in the four areas, and the stress<\/em> isn\u2019t all that stressful.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
A relatively light week (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
When in doubt, colour-code EVERYTHING. My system has become so elaborate, I have a whole new symbol language in there too. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
An example of my personal management system: The meal plan for this week from the meals section of my memo ledger. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nMy strategy for balance may not be a perfect match for you, but I think the idea<\/em> of balance definitely is. If you approach university life holistically, and you fill your days with projects that you love, <\/em>it\u2019ll go way smoother.\r\n\r\n
\"A<\/a>
Balance is a big part of my schedule. (Photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\nWhat do you do to maintain your wellness?\r\n\r\n
\"pictures<\/a>
Some tools for balance: pictures of home, cloths for medicines, and a mesmerizing lava lamp. (photo by Zachary Biech)<\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nMy head can really get spinning. With so much going on, including schoolwork, tests, classes, extracurriculars and events, things can get crazy. Stress is a part of university life especially during flip-out times like midterms. But stress is natural and…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Holistic Living for a Busy Schedule”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Holistic Living for a Busy Schedule”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1758,7204,1,58,66,67,68,77],"tags":[86,78,193,88,9307,6487,176,138,286,172,85,25506,89,48,696],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21901"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21911,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21901\/revisions\/21911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}