Mentem's Blog Talk

By Yong Ying If seasons could describe my life, I believe that I went through the winter in my life. It was the hardest period that I had ever encountered. I was rejected by my loved one, had problems with two of my best friends and at the same time felt so helpless about the imbalanced lifestyle that I was having. I am an outstation student. Hence, without the support of my family, every second of my life seemed to be so tough. It was the first time I felt that there was no one I could turn to and rely on. I could not find anyone to speak to about my problems. I spent most of the nights thinking about what was going wrong in my life. I doubted myself, doubted everything I did and made myself feel more miserable. There were nights I stared out of the window crying while thinking what was the purpose of life and sadness seemed to be the only emotion I felt. As a psychology student in HELP University, I was given the privilege to meet with a counsellor in CPCS (Center for Psyc...

By Lorehta Doreen      Imagine standing behind the yellow line at the train station waiting to board the train. While casually looking around to pass your time, you realize an elderly woman staring at you—not the ‘I’ve seen you somewhere but I can’t remember’ kind of stare, it’s the disapproving kind of stare when they say ‘kid’s these days doesn’t have the word modesty even in their vocabulary.’ It’s clear from her intense stare that she has a problem with your skin-tight pants and midriff baring top, and is quietly criticizing your choice of outfit for the day.      Suddenly, you feel your mood switch. Some kind of emotion starts bubbling inside of you. Is it fear? Or embarrassment?Or insecurity? Or anger? You turn back to face the front, but you just can’t stop from turning to look at her again from time to time to see if she’s still looking. Every time you catch her eyes looking at you, you feel the emotion rising. This causes an inner d...

By Soo Hui Li During my undergraduate years, I was fortunate to be able to attend a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. One of the requisites of completing this course was a full day retreat at the University. I had never been to a full retreat before. The initial idea that came to mind was sitting there for hours and hours on without making the slightest move. Needless to say, I was daunted by the thought of it. I knew I had to attend no matter what, but so many questions floated through my mind. What about lunch? Toilet break? Leg cramps? I never had to deal with these problems during our regular sessions as they were short. But attending one for about 8 hours long, now that was a different story. It turned out that I had nothing to fear. I managed to handle my leg cramps by adjusting my sitting positions. I could leave for the restroom whenever I wanted. I packed a nice and non-smelling sandwich for lunch. And most importantly, we got to experience so many differ...