MindWell Blog
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What is Really at the Root of Our Procrastination?
It is safe to say that most of us are quite familiar with what it means to procrastinate. No matter who you are, whether a student, professor, or CEO, chances […]
Practicing Positive Psychology
In 2020, many of us found ourselves isolated and alone, separated from our loved ones because of a raging pandemic. From having to face a screen for several hours in […]
Hygge in Quarantine
In early winter of 2020, I purchased Meik Wiking’s The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living to learn about Danish culture prior to embarking on a summer […]
Cultivating Equanimity
It is no secret 2020 was a turbulent year for most of us. Whether it was the fear of catching or spreading coronavirus, anger around racial injustice, or frustration with […]
Finding Routine amidst Chaos
If you’re like me, you may have struggled to establish a routine over the past few months. It’s hard enough to find a daily rhythm as a college student with […]
Mental Health Literacy: Anxiety
1 in 3 college students report experiencing a diagnosable mental health disorder. However, it is estimated that 64.5% of these students are not seeking the help they need. The Mind […]
Do I Need a Hobby?
When you hear the word “hobby”, what do you think of? You may conjure images of a post-retirement activity or your childhood art projects. Maybe you associate it with an […]
Want Free Therapy? Try Nature
We know intuitively that getting outside is good for us. But how much time do we really spend appreciating green space, away from technology and to-do lists that so often […]
The Clinical Corner: How cancer affects mental wellbeing in patients
Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be the single most terrifying and life-changing moment in many patients’ lives. Coping with this news in a healthy way is an important part of […]
The Roots of Eudaimonia: An Interview with Dr. Joseph Raho
UCLA is holding their third annual Eudaimonia awards on April 29th, 2019, and in anticipation for the event, I sat down with ethicist Dr. Joseph Raho to discuss the roots […]
Resilience on the RISE
Resilience (noun) re·sil·ience | \ ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s 1) The capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress. 2) An ability to […]
Healthy Minds and Healthy Hearts: An Interview with Kimberly Uehisa
While heart health is often overlooked by younger generations, the effects it can have on living a healthy lifestyle are nonetheless important. Mental health can be severely impacted by stress, […]
Slime During Grind Time
On Friday, December 7th, members of the MindWell pod in the Healthy Campus Initiative came together to put on a de-stressing event for students before finals head into full swing. […]
Taking a STAND for Mental Health at UCLA
The Depression Grand Challenge has taken many strides towards reaching its goal of cutting the rate of depression in half by 2050. As of last year, UCLA was “believed to […]
Meet Anusha Sadda, CAPS Student Advisory Board Member
Many people know about Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at UCLA, but most people don’t know there is also a board of students working alongside them to provide the best […]
Yoga in the Community: Meet Carina Marcellas and Yoga for Flexible Futures!
The Healthy Campus Initiative funds a plethora of research and clubs on campus that are related to mindfulness and mental health. Yoga for Flexible Futures (YFF), a previous HCI Small […]
It’s Yanni, okay? How an internet divide reflects the need for cultural introspection
How can we become more aware of ourselves while holding space for other’s point of view? Photo credit: Anna Caitlin Photography. I hear Yanni, or Yanny. I’ve seen it […]
Eudaimonia Honoree Spotlight: Peter Whybrow
For the second year in a row, the Healthy Campus Initiative is hosting the UCLA Eudaimonia Awards. This year’s ceremony will be held tonight, April 24th, after a TEDxUCLA Salon […]
Eudaimonia Society Spotlight: Madison Feldman
Madison Feldman is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA studying Geography with a Conservation Biology and a Geospatial Analysis & Technology double minor. Along with classes, Madison works as the […]
Eudaimonia Award Winner Spotlight: Louis Tse
Aristotle distinguished hedonia, the brief, fleeting happiness derived from immediate satisfaction of drives, from eudaimonia, the sustained happiness that comes from living a life rich in purpose and meaning. The […]
Psychology of Hate
We are experiencing an increasing level of hate in our society. Hate fuels the cancerous divisiveness and polarization which now infect virtually every part of our lives. This culture of […]
How to Meditate
Have you ever thought of trying meditation but been intimidated or confused about how to get started? The basic principles of mindfulness meditation are not complex and can be learned. […]
Why Live Music Matters
Our Mindful Music team entered the Pediatrics Unit at the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center on a mission to engage and uplift children who are fighting short and long term […]
Week 6 is for Mindfulness, are you up for the Challenge?
What is the Stop, Breathe, and Think MIndfulness Challenge? Last year, Campus and Student Resilience and the Mindful Awareness Research Center paired up with Stop, Breathe, and Think to host […]
How to stay grateful after Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving has come and gone; taking with it the feeling of fall coziness and the smell of pumpkin pie, and leaving behind the lure of winter break and an extended […]
Meditation Apps Review: For Your Finals Stress Relieving Pleasure
Week ten seems to have appeared upon us once again in the blink of an eye (thanks quarter system!) and that means that finals are starting for everyone. Testing time […]
5 Tips to Creating Your Perfect “Snooze-List”
We all have that favorite pillow or sleeping position where our worries are set free and the sheep begin to count themselves. Although the process of sleeping brings us so […]
TEDxUCLASalon Resilience
By: Lucy Tseng, MA, Event Organizer and UCLA Staff “The greater the force of your compassion, the greater your resilience in confronting hardships.” – Dalai Lama “Resilience is based on […]
Benefits of Journaling
Sometimes when you are going through a lot, whether it be in your academic, personal, or professional life, it helps to write it down. Now, this might sound like a […]
Hidden in the Shadows: High-Functioning Depression
For the majority of my life, I had no sense of who I was as a person. I had no conception of what I liked or why I did […]
Presence: In Life and on the Page
As you all may know, May is National Mental Health Awareness month, which aims to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness and to spread awareness about the importance of maintaining […]
Stop talking and say something: FacetheIssue.com encourages conversation to tackle mental illness
This May, as we celebrate National Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s time to stop talking and say something. While 1 in 5 Americans struggle with mental health, only 44% of […]
Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg talks Visual Healing
By: Artemisia Valeri, MindWell Pod Coordinator of the Healthy Campus Initiative A UCLA staff member described Louie Schwartzberg’s imagery best saying, “Just looking at those already relaxes me.” Louie is […]
Stop, Breathe, & Think Mindfulness Challenge
We’re just about halfway through the quarter, and midterms, papers, and the desire to maintain an active social life may be causing some stress to all of our daily lives […]
For Metta World Peace, Living Well Matters
By: Vanessa Perez, MPH student at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Move Well Pod GSR for the UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative Metta World Peace is a big […]
Get Involved: Out of the Darkness Campus Walk
It’s the beginning of Spring quarter — with only eight weeks until we reach the much-awaited summer — so what can we do to make this last quarter a memorable […]
Creativity & the Arts in Healing
10-year-old Kara makes a collage featuring a large bird standing on a branch of a barren tree with an arrow pointing its beak towards a strawberry, while a smaller bird […]
Exploring Mindfulness
I was first exposed to mindfulness when I started at UCLA. When I first arrived at Rieber Vista as part of my New Student Orientation, I was jumpy, perhaps even […]
How to Practice Self-Compassion
In the journey towards finding balance in your life, the practice of self-compassion may be a game changer. Self-compassion is the act of recognizing your own humanity, accepting yourself at […]
Yoga and Yogis: You’ve Gotta Check it Out
In a place like Los Angeles, we hear about yoga almost everywhere we go: celebrities use it to stay fit, just about every other person walking next to you has […]
Interview with a Certified Resilience Peer
Upon reading the title above, many questions may come to mind: What is a Resilience Peer? What do they do? Why are they important? By the end of this interview, […]
The Many Benefits of Knitting
When we hear the word “knitting”, many of us think of sweet-looking, elderly grandmothers. However, this connotation does not do the hobby justice. Research conducted on the effectiveness of Therapeutic Knitting reveals […]
5 Non-traditional New Year’s Resolutions for the Body, Mind, and Soul
Every 365 days, a large, sparkly ball drops in Times Square, New York, and the millions of us that watch it often resolve to make up a list of “improvements” […]
New Year, New You? Mental Health and New Year’s Resolutions
While the New Year appears to present a positive opportunity for us to “reinvent” ourselves and make ourselves “better,” the process of setting New Year’s resolutions can negatively affect our […]
Expanding Your Perspective on Self-Care
In order to be a successful student, being healthy and well is pretty much vital. Therefore, self-care should be a priority to manage the stress that accompanies life as […]
8 Ways to Beat the Stress of Finals
Finals week signals the end of weeks worth of students’ hard work and dedication, so it should be a cause for celebration, right? Unfortunately for many students, finals is usually […]
Free Self Defense Classes at UCLA: Protecting the Mind and Body
What if… Imagine walking back from a late night at Powell Library. Its tenth week, and you’ve spent the past few days studying for your upcoming final. Day in […]
Perfectionism, Procrastination, and the Practice of Self-Care
For most of my academic career, I prided myself in being “one of the smart kids”. Homework was completed the day that it was assigned, and tests were taken […]
What to Eat or Drink in Class to Stay Awake and Focused
For many college students, the one thing we can’t seem to get enough of is sleep. Sleep deprivation leaves us groggy, with bags under our eyes, and probably reaching for […]
Implementing Meditation into your Life: How to do it and Why you should
As a college student, there are so many things to think about simultaneously: studying for tests, finishing essays, balancing hours for your work schedule, paying bills, thinking about what you’re […]
Taking Care of Your Mental Health in College: 3 Common Challenges
College is often a wonderful experience for young men and women, providing a path to discover more about themselves and their desired field of education. However, this journey can […]
To judge or not to judge in mindfulness
By Lobsang Rapgay, PhD, research psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry UCLA Being non-judgmental is a defining feature of modern forms of mindfulness. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, which is the […]
Beauty Inside and Out: Female Body Image and Mental Health
Every year, thousands of young women head off to college in pursuit of personal growth and higher education. However, this big change can alter the way women view their […]
Mind Well Gives Students Tools to Address Their Mental Health
By Ross Szabo, Author Behind Happy Faces Every week I read new studies, reports, or articles letting us know what’s wrong with college students today. They’re stressed out more than ever. They’re not sleeping. They’re abusing prescription […]
Play Explores Mental Health and Friendship With Beloved TV Show as a Backdrop
By Gene Gillespie I get by with a little help from my friends – The Beatles Doesn’t everyone have that favorite book they can pick up and read a few […]
Putting Your Brain First: 5 Mental Health Student Organizations at UCLA
The beginning of another school year brings opportunities for students to get involved with new or different clubs and organizations on campus. UCLA is home to more than 1,000 student groups spanning […]
UCLA Health and Wellness Resources 101: A Guide for New Students
In addition to the Healthy Campus Initiative, there are many great health and wellness resources for students on UCLA’s campus. If you’re new to campus, use this list to familiarize […]
Tips to Fight Every College Student’s Worst Habit: Procrastination
If you are a UCLA student, you are probably all too familiar with procrastination. In fact, you might even be procrastinating right now as you read this blog post! […]
The Health Benefits of Prosocial Behavior
Today, August 19th is World Humanitarian Day, which recognizes the aid workers who have lost their lives in order to provide humanitarian assistance to people around the world. In addition to […]
The best mental health book that isn’t a mental health book
The best health and wellness book I have ever read is not one in the traditional sense. It is not written by a doctor, psychologist, or other professional claiming to […]
Resilience in the Face of Tragedy
What can we do to heal from the events at UCLA on June 1? Our student body and facultyare already stretching themselves thin as we close out the final days […]
Wake Up, College Students: Here’s The Science On Sleep
Sleep is something we all love, so why do we constantly put it last on our ever-lengthening list of priorities? You may have heard the sayings, “health is wealth” or […]
Sleep Deprivation Is No Joke
By: Carolanne Link, UCLA Undergraduate Student Recently, I had one of those days where I prioritized homework above sleep. I was in my fourth straight hour of chemistry homework when […]
7 Strategies to Optimize Your Sleep Routine
Co-authored by David Baron, MD and the UCLA MindWell Team The results are in: One in three Americans does not get enough sleep. This is the latest finding in a […]
Be on the Best Stressed List
By: David B. Baron, M.D. I’m having a particularly stressful week. So I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to focus this column on one of the top three reasons […]
The stranger within: Connecting with our future selves
By Cynthia Lee While we routinely make sacrifices for the people we feel closest to — our spouses, children and parents — and will even give money or our time […]
Did you see that story on the news last night?
By: Doug Barrera, Ph.D., Assistant Director, UCLA Center for Community Learning Ok then. Why don’t you tell me what you would do about immigration? No, really. Tell me what you […]
“What is an artists’ book, exactly?”
By: Robert Gore, Visual Arts Librarian and curator of the artists’ book collection in the UCLA Arts Library “There are no limits to what artists’ books can be and no […]
‘Cinemeducation’ – Mental Illness and the Movies
By: David Taylor, MD Would you agree that movies reflect society’s perceptions of mental illness? Naturally there are many types of films and not every blockbuster, rom-com or documentary is […]
Turn Your Assumptions Around about Left Brain & Right Brain
About the Author: Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive psychologist investigating the development of intelligence and creativity. His latest book is Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined. Follow on Twitter@sbkaufman. So yea, you know how the left […]
How do physicians get through the tough times?
By: Karen Miotto, Professor of Psychiatry in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior. She is the chair of the Medical Staff Health Committee. Physicians sacrifice for the privilege […]
Enlightened?—How can we all achieve well-roundedness and find contentment?
By Maxwell James In the last three years I’ve spent at UCLA, I now know the good and bad changes I have experienced have contributed to an overall image of […]
WANTING
Do you want to win the lottery? Chances are, you answered Yes. Okay, so you’ve got the first part down. It’s a fact, focusing on what you want rather than […]
Use of Mindful Exercise to Promote Wellbeing
There is currently extensive use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) — also known as integrative or mind-body medicine — in the United States to sustain well-being in both children […]
Picture This: Healing Trauma through Art
The creative arts therapies are uniquely effective in the treatment of trauma. Board certified art therapist Erica Curtis, a leader in the field of art therapy, offers reflections on the power of […]
The Balancing Brain: Finding Harmony and Awareness
Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk and book — “My Stroke of Insight” — offer vivid and intensely personal recollections of her life-threatening brain hemorrhage. Her stroke shifts a delicate balance […]
