The mindful teen – Dzung X. Vo, MD, FAAP
(*) Cuốn sách “The mindful teen” được mẹ mua cho tình yêu bé khi con bắt đầu bước vào giai đoạn teen – giai đoạn dậy thì nhiều khó khăn. Có những điều mẹ nói nhưng con không muốn nghe hoặc khó chịu nên cuốn sách này như một cái phao cho cả hai chúng ta. Con tự mình đọc và tự mình suy ngẫm. Ở giai đoạn 11 – 13 tuổi con cảm nhận thế này nhưng có thể đến khi 15 – 18 tuổi con sẽ có cảm nhận khác. Một cuốn sách hay sẽ giúp mình có nhiều trải nghiệm khác nhau mỗi lần đọc nó. Việc review cuốn sách này khó khăn hơn những cuốn trước đây vì mẹ yêu cầu con level up – không chỉ đồng cảm với tác giả mà còn cần biết đặt câu hỏi phản biện. Mỗi nội dung con đưa ra đều “được” mẹ góp ý đào sâu hơn. Mẹ tin là tình yêu bé đã có thêm bài học cho riêng mình. Với mẹ thì bài review này của chàng trai 13 tuổi xứng đáng nhận 2 điểm A ♥️.
The Mindful Teen – Book review
The Mindful Teen is a book that targets teen readers and helps teens live a mindful and heartful life. The author of this book is Dzung X. Vo, MD, FAAP. He is a pediatrician specializing in adolescent medicine. In this book review, I will tell you all about the mindful lessons that you will find in this book.
Short recap
Mindful Teen is a guide for teens who are struggling in life. It will teach you how to be present at that moment, handle school stress, and just be calm in every moment of life. It introduces many mindfulness techniques like mindful breathing, body scans, and self compassion. This helps teens manage emotions and live a healthy, mindful life.
Favorite chapter
Chapter 7: Everyday Mindfulness: Finding Freedom Wherever You Are
In this chapter, we learn a method to be mindful. An example of this is when you’re washing the dishes. At first, you might not enjoy washing the dishes that much. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s still a chore. However, when you start to do it repeatedly, you begin to notice other things, like how you wash certain dishes and how the water feels cool and refreshing. Soon, every time you do the dishes feels like a free mindfulness session.
This chapter is very relatable because I do the dishes a lot as a chore. At first, I didn’t really like doing the dishes, but I kept doing it anyway. Soon, I started to see things I don’t regularly notice. I notice how I wash certain dishes in a certain way, and there’s an order to how I clean them. For example, I’ll always wash the bowl or plate with the largest surface area first, then I move on to the medium sized bowls or dishes, then I wash the smallest item last and put it on the top of the pile. After washing dishes way too many times, I started to enjoy it a lot! Not because I get paid (Though I really like getting paid 😋), but I enjoy letting the cool water run over my arms every time I do it. In general, it feels relatable, and I will do some more mindfulness sessions while doing the dishes.
Chapter 11: Handling School Stress
School stress is very common. Maybe it’s because of a test, a project, or homework that you just realize you haven’t completed 2 minutes before class. But despite all of these scenarios, it’s still possible to be calm. In this chapter, we learn about STOPping. First of all, S means Stop. This means you should stop what you’re doing and realize what is happening at the moment. Second, T means Take a few slow breaths to calm yourself. O is to Observe your thoughts, your feelings, and your body sensations. Lastly, P stands for Proceed. With awareness, make your next choice wisely and calmly. Of course, even after following these steps, they won’t get you out of trouble, but they will help you deal with it more calmly.
I sometimes experience a lot of stress in school, mainly because I realize I have homework but I forgot to do it and the teacher is standing in front of me asking for my notebook (hehe😅…). But after I learned about STOPping in this chapter, I understand that not finishing my homework is not the worst thing in the world! Because no one’s gonna die because of it. I think the next time this happens, I will be a lot calmer.
Chapter 15: The Power of Mindfulness in Sports, Music, and the Arts
Stress can be found in sports, music, and the arts. For example, in sports, athletes may feel pressure to win, fear making mistakes, or become nervous before a competition. Mindfulness helps athletes focus on what is happening in the present instead of worrying about the score. The same applies to music and the arts, where people can focus on each note they play or each brushstroke they make. This chapter teaches readers to focus on the process instead of worrying about the outcome. By being present in the moment, people can enjoy the activity more, and the final outcome will be better.
This chapter reminds me that it’s more important to focus on the process rather than the outcome. I actually tried this in real life, and it worked really well for me. When I went to a Rubik’s Cube competition, I was nervous about whether I would get an 8 second average. But instead of thinking about the outcome, I focused on each and every solve and made sure I performed as well as I could. Another experience that I had was when performing the violin, instead of worrying if I played my pieces well, I paid attention to each note and played with determination. And at the end, I played pretty well! Even better than expected!
Lesson learned
Live in the Present
This is very important because it helps you focus better. You shouldn’t worry about the future when it’s not even there yet. Instead, you should focus on the present because doing so often helps you prepare for the future better. Personally, this lesson is very valuable for me. There was one time I worried a lot about the future when my mom and dad told me about their life . I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would do in the real world. I was scared that I would mess up and end up on the street. But soon I understood I should just be present at the moment and experience every moment as best as possible. Then, when the future comes, I’ll be ready and have no regrets about the past.
Stress Is Normal
Many people seem to freak out when they’re stressed, leading them to have anxiety. But in life, feeling overwhelmed is normal, and you shouldn’t panic because you’re under pressure. In life there are times where things don’t go your way, and sometimes bad things keep on happening to you. I experienced that many times before. For example, I hadn’t finished my math homework. Then I realized that I had a math test the very next day. I was concerned about whether I could study for the test and finish the homework at the same time. But I understood that we need to have priorities. This is only one example. Another example is when I was under pressure over forgetting to do things, and I became anxious because I was already overwhelmed. This can be concluded that I was worrying about being overwhelmed. But soon I learned that I should just try to remember small important stuff, because many things that seem like an issue aren’t actually that serious.
Thoughts don’t decide facts
This can happen in school. Thoughts like “I’m going to fail!” or “I’m not good enough for this class” fill your mind sometimes. But you need to remember something important. Those negative thoughts are just thoughts. There was a time when I had to do a competency test in my extra math class. If I got a decent grade, I would learn in the same class as my friends. But I was really doubting myself about whether I would get any chance of learning with my friends again. Inside my head, I’m thinking, “I’m so bad at math! Might as well give up.” But I then realized that if I kept thinking like this, it would be even more likely that I’d do horribly on the test. Finally, I figured out that I should just go all in and try my best. And guess what? I actually got in the same class as my friend! (I’m not gonna say the score though….). So I want everyone who reads this book to know that thoughts don’t decide what will happen to you, because you’re the one in control of yourself!
Final thoughts
When I first started reading this book, I thought that I would never find this book helpful. I thought life would be smooth. Boy I was wrong. The first time I read the book I just speedran every single page. But when I turned 13 I realized that everything in the book could have helped me so much. So I finally started reading it for real this time, and when I finished it I felt like I had become closer to being a teen.
However, I do think differently on some points that were given in this book. First of all, the author suggests teens should include mindfulness practice in everything they do in life. I don’t fully agree with this statement. Because for some people mindfulness practice takes a lot of time, and for teens they would really want to finish whatever they’re doing quickly without thinking about doing mindfulness practice. Of course for some other people mindfulness practice actually seems to help them focus and finish their work a lot quicker. Overall I believe mindfulness should be practiced when needed rather than during all activities. Another statement that I don’t fully agree with the author is Stretching Meditation. In sports it’s extremely important to stretch. And Mr Dzung suggests we should do mindful practice while stretching. Here’s how it works: While you’re stretching, take a deep breath in between every stretch. Of course for some people, stretching meditation actually helps them. They feel calmer and the stretching session becomes more effective. However, for some others this technique doesn’t help so much. Some people are too focused on trying to maintain their breathing; they might accidentally pull a muscle and end up badly injured. But in the end Stretching meditation is indeed effective, but for beginners it’s best to start slow and slow and not overdo their body too much.
Apart from that, this book helps me a lot in my life, and it really makes life feel easier. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with schoolwork and deadlines, but this book helps me deal with them. The skills that I learned from this book can be applied to pretty much anything in life! It could be performing well in a Rubik’s Cube competition or doing an important test that you spend 15 minutes studying for (Boy do I regret doing that 😭). But I don’t stress because these skills help me feel calm and collected. A special thing about this book is that most of the advice has already been taught to me by my mom ♥️. So whenever I think about trying to be mindful, it always reminds me of my mom. Overall, if you want to live a mindful life and always think about your mom 😂, this book is for you!
Happy Reading!
