Following Through by Leslie

Following Through by Leslie - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

High school was a very interesting time for me, one of drama and boy crushes, but it also came with responsibility and self-awareness. I had always been involved in student clubs like the Gay-Straight Alliance, Student Council, the Red Cross club to name a few. But I was looking for something else. I couldn’t put my finger on it for a while, but I was looking for a club that addressed our spiritual and mental health, a club that gathered community, and focused on one’s inner peace, but that did not come attached with any specific religion, because I, too, was figuring out what I believed in. I started the Meditation club at my high school, during my senior year. At first, there was a lot of hesitation for my classmates to join because no one knew or barely knew what meditation was, its purpose or origins. I did a lot of research on meditation and even attended some meditation classes in the area before I started the club, so I had a pretty easy time explaining to people that although meditation is usually correlated with Buddhism, meditation itself was a tool, a practice, that anyone in the world could engage in. Meditation aims to bring our attention and focus to our bodies, our breath, and our minds, rather than the stimuli we can easily find on the television or our phone screens. This was a different idea to introduce to kids under the age of 18. Meditation aims to bring about awareness in oneself, which can eventually lead us to a more peaceful and mindful life. As soon as you walked into the club meeting, our phones had to go away in our bags, and strangers or friends surrounded us. This pushed us to communicate with others in person, be vulnerable, and open to diverse people. We all first started the meetings very shy and quiet, but eventually we realized we were in a room full of beings who wanted to talk about their feelings, who wanted to feel connected, who wanted to calm down, who acknowledged that anxiety, worry, and stress were a common factor between most high school students. Most of our members began, or tried to bring their meditation practice home with them. The mindful time we had during our meetings helped us all move our focus from our problems, to the divine essence and life force in each of us. So many times do we get drowned with doubt, fear, and insecurities, we forget that we are perfect, divine, just the way we were born. As time went by, we all became a little more open, a little more loving, a little more compassionate, a little more peaceful, etc. At the end of the year, we all remembered that we weren’t alone in this world, that there is hope in following our dreams, and that we all had a unique gift we can offer the world. I think this club did way more than I expected or thought it could do for our student body. I am so grateful I stuck with it, and didn’t become discouraged.