Eleventh meditation

This meditation occurred yesterday but I could not find the time to post it.

I was getting ready to go take the ACT test at Adlai E. Stevenson high school around 7:30. I was starting to get really nervous because I know I didn't prepare for it as well as I wanted to and that led me to think negative thoughts about myself. On the car ride to the school I closed my eyes and began to meditate. Feeling the anxiety build up throughout my body, I started to take note of how it was affecting me. My hands were shaky and clammy, my breathing was going really fast and my heart beat sped up a lot. It felt really unhealthy for me. I started to do the 7/11 breathing again, breathing in for 7 and out for 11. It helped when I went into the school and waited to look for my room to take the test.

I saw some familiar faces and I felt at ease when people were saying they were nervous too, obviously I won't be the only one who is nervous but it's good to have that comfort of having someone scared with you and going at the test together. Even though I felt calm in my mind, I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body and making my hands shake worse. As soon as I got into the testing room, there were about 10-15 other juniors in there that I didn't know so that also built up the anxiety in the room. I sat down in my desk and started to meditate again to control the adrenaline building up in my body. I meditated and focused solely on my breathing and easing the overall shakiness in my body.

As soon as I got the test I started to crack down on it. The answers were starting to come to me, I retained my focus throughout the test and being mindful of the time even thought I had to make a few guesses. My concentration was only on the test and nothing else, everything else around me melted away and the adrenaline helped me scan the information better and make logical guesses on what what the correct answer. The english, math, and reading section of the test was where I spent most of my energy on and once I got to science I died down a little bit. After the multiple choice, It felt like my brain just jogged 3 warm up miles. I felt incredibly relaxed and turned my clear and concise focus towards the writing section. My deep inner thoughts expressing my opinion for the topic came out clearer than ever before when writing. Overall, I was surprised how well my thoughts flowed and how well I could retain that concentration for a long period of time. Meditation really does help on standardized tests. :)