Keynote Speaker: John van Bladel

by Soleil Griffin

At the PTK Regional Conference, we experienced interesting Keynote Speakers and enjoyed interacting with other chapters within the New York Region. One particular speaker who caught my attention was John van Bladel. His presentation was interesting since he taught us the art of Mindful Meditation.

At the start of his presentation he spoke about growing a happy brain. He said “if you practice mindfulness, it will enable you to live a happy and healthier life.” This is represented by controlling how you react to situations. For instance, he claimed that when you walk into a room, you have the ability to change the mood. By making a decision to be proactive about it, no one will be able to force you to feel however they want you to feel. His presentation geared to how he wanted to create peaceable learning communities and workplaces that support civil discourse and critical thinking skills. He tied it into how now a day’s people are starting to believe the notion of fake news. If we started to think critically and practiced the art of mindfulness, then we would be able to differentiate what is real and fabricated.

When he moved to my favorite part, the mediation, he had everyone close their eyes and pay attention to our breathing. This exercise was well needed at the time since we had a long day. After a couple of minutes, he rang a bell and told us to open our eyes. He expressed to us that the activity was called Mindful Mediation. This art of mediation helps with anxiety, depression and our case as academically high students, our GPA. The purpose of practicing it was so that we could give ourselves permission to allow our inner wisdom to be present. If we practiced it every day, our thoughts would start to gradually change and our days and lives would become better.

Having Dr. van Bladel as a keynote speaker was influential. Being able to take a step back from a situation and focus on yourself and your breathing can change your mood and better your life. I hope we as PTK members will allow ourselves to free our minds from negative thoughts and inner judgment through this practice.