It was roughly a year ago that I drove down the driveway at Camp Nyoda for the 100th year reunion. Being the first time, I had visited in many years, a flood of memories and emotions came rushing back. I was thrilled to be a part of the reunion. It was a truly remarkable experience to see old friends, make some new ones, and once again be enveloped by the beauty of Nyoda. It was striking how little had changed over the years. Yes, of course there had been some changes – brand new bungalows for one thing. But the spirit was exactly the same, and I think we all felt it. I heard it over and over again throughout the course of the weekend: “at Nyoda I’m the best version of myself.” I think we can all agree that she truly does bring out the best in us and show us who we are. But why? Why is it so easy to be our best selves the moment we arrive at camp? For some it may be easy to recognize, but for me it was not.

In my late twenties, I was going through a particularly challenging time in my life. I was grieving the loss of my father, after a long and painful deterioration of his health. I was suffering from severe anxiety and had been for a while. I tried many things to cope, but it continued to be a constant in my life. At age thirty, I gave birth to my daughter Eleanor (future Tiamalia – 2031) and the anxiety grew worse. I felt like I was doing everything wrong and that was where my focus lay. My house was a disaster; I couldn’t produce enough milk; there were mountains of dishes stacked up on the counters; and I had a premature, four-pound baby who ate every hour and a half. I was completely and utterly exhausted. I felt like a failure, and I let these negative thoughts take over my hours, my days, my weeks, all while not fully enjoying every fleeting moment of infancy.

A few months later, on Thanksgiving, we took Eleanor to the emergency room for her first fever of 103.4 degrees. Within twenty-four hours she was admitted to the hospital with bacterial meningitis, a diagnosis that even with appropriate and timely treatment, was extremely worrisome in a newborn. There were times during our thirty-night stay in the hospital, particularly in the beginning when things were bleak, that I feared I was going to lose the best thing that had ever happened to me. I realized in those moments, that I wasn’t living the life I ought to be living. I was wasting my precious time worrying about the future and ruminating about the past. I wasn’t the person I knew I could be.

Now, I was 100% sure I could be this person, with pep and zeal who lives life to the fullest because I had been that girl every summer for sixteen years at our beloved home. But what I couldn’t figure out was why? There are many reasons, but I was most interested in ones I could concretely apply to my life in the present day. I started to think about this frequently, and what I eventually came to realize is, at camp we live each day, moment to moment, always focused on the present. We practice mindfulness in almost everything we do, and because of this we are free to experience the joy of living.

Mindfulness is essentially being aware of your surroundings and feelings in the present moment. It sounds so simple and obvious, yet we spend much of our days “mind wandering.” Have you ever been driving in your car and after fifteen minutes or so you realize that you missed your exit and have no recollection of driving because you were so focused on something else? This is not only dangerous in this situation, but its unhealthy. When we are mind wandering we are living in the past or the future. When we are mindful we are simply living. Studies have shown that mindfulness can have a tremendous impact on physical and mental health. It can decrease stress, anxiety, ADHD, depression and chronic pain while increasing productivity, focus, attention span, memory, charisma, self-esteem, and body image just to name a few. But, our modern world makes it challenging to stay present.

At Nyoda, however, mindfulness is an automatic part of our lives. It begins on opening day, when we leave the worries and drama of school and life behind. We see it practiced when a counselor encourages her homesick camper to be engaged in the super fun evening activity. We certainly eliminate the element of technology as a distraction, but it’s more than that. I want to touch on five specific things we do at camp, that you can apply to your current life to increase mindfulness and get closer to the best version of yourself that so many of us reminisced about at the 100th year reunion.

“Today is my moment and now is my story, so I’ll laugh, and I’ll cry, and I’ll sing.”

1. We Savor

In order to live in the moment, you first need to be there noticing it. Have you ever wondered why our memories of Nyoda are so crisp? We can see the light grey mist rising off Wabansee’s mirror surface; we can hear the distance sound of “congratulations” being sung from the swimming dock; we can smell the aromatic scent of campfire combined with the sound of a cool breeze washing over the maples. This is because we fully engage in the present and savor our moments at camp.

Savoring is the use of thoughts and actions to increase intensity and appreciation of positive emotions. Nyoda makes it easy to savor, because it’s often one positive experience after another, and of course it’s stunning. It’s easy to recognize the beauty of a rainbow over the mountain, but we savor so much more than that at camp. How many places would you become excited, if it was your turn to sweep in inspection and that was your favorite job? Or at the sight of bathing caps lined up color order. It sounds ridiculous, but at camp we see the beauty in EVERYTHING. I am a stay at home mom and at least ⅓ of what I do all day is cleaning up after other people. This used to be the bane of my existence, but I’ve come to realize that when you accept the present moment for what it is and take pride in it, the way we do at camp, even the things we dislike become tolerable or, dare I say, enjoyable.

Another way we savor at camp, is by enjoying the journey. When we hike up the mountain, of course we have a goal to get to the top, but the true experience is the climb. It’s getting lost even though you’ve hiked up at least ten times before, or taking a break with your bung mate who is winded or stopping to notice that the view from the within the path is just as breathtaking as the view from the top. We savor each step of the journey.

In the ‘real world’, we tend to only celebrate the “big” things in life, marriages, babies, promotions, retirement, etc., but these moments are few and far between. If we only celebrate ourselves on these occasions, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment on average days. At Nyoda, we don’t just praise ourselves when we pass our swimming level, we sing every time we pass a stroke. We get an effort award at council fire when we’ve been trying so darn hard, but haven’t passed our stoke yet. We jump up and down for joy when we finally figure out how to do a pike dive. When we savor our daily activities, life becomes full of joyous moments, as it was at camp.

2. We Eliminate Distraction

At camp we let go of technology and it’s freeing. Now, I don’t expect people to throw their phones away, it’s not the world we live in. Technology has its benefits, without it I wouldn’t be able to give a chapel sermon from 1500 miles away, but it can also be a huge distraction. Focusing on social media, for example, is a one-way ticket out of the present moment. Don’t prioritize your phone over the people who are right in front of you. We only saw our camp friends for six weeks out of the year, yet for many of us our camp friends are the truest ones we know. We are able to become so close, so quickly, because we are present – listening, talking, laughing and building true connections. So, be where you are right now, even if you don’t like where you are right now. Studies have also shown that even when engaged in an undesirable activity such as sitting in traffic, people who are present in the moment, are happier than those who are thinking about what they are missing out on at home, because they are stuck in traffic.

Technology isn’t the only distraction; another huge culprit is multitasking. In the past we’ve been led to believe that multitasking makes us more productive, but in recent years we’ve come to realize that it actually increases the time it takes to do something, increases errors and decreases our ability to think and focus deeply. At Nyoda, our schedule lends itself perfectly to doing one thing at a time. We focus on a physical activity when it’s activity time; we quietly watch the flag being raised during flag; we sing our hearts out during goodnight circle. In the real world, we are driving while we catch up with friends on the phone, responding to a work emails when we are out to dinner with family, scrolling through Facebook while we are watching a movie with our spouse. It seems strange at first to let go of this constant multitasking, but when we do let go, we really gain. We focus on the drive home which might actually be beautiful. We bond with family or friends over dinner. We soak in quality time with our partner. When we give up multitasking, we gain deeper singular experiences in the moment, just as we did at camp.

3. We Flow

How many of you remember working tirelessly to pass a test? Maybe it was an archery test, you probably waited on the archery bridge for the counselors to finish their post-sing meeting, were ready to knock and shoot as soon as the department opened and the next thing you knew your counselors were telling you activity was over. Yet, it felt like only five minutes had passed. This is flow: a state of mind in which you are so completely absorbed in the present that time itself disappears. In our adult lives we don’t give ourselves enough opportunities to flow. We are always busy trying to get stuff done, but we need to make time to enjoy life doing what makes us flow.

Exercise is a great option; besides the obvious health benefits, it should engage you both physically and mentally. If you are like me, running on a treadmill feels like a chore, and my mind tends to wander. Choose something that doesn’t allow your brain to do this. Maybe for you it is dancing, swimming, or rock climbing. It is very hard to think about your overflowing inbox when you are hanging on to a wall by one arm. A great spin instructor of mine once said “if you are capable of thinking about anything else but breathing and spinning right now, you need to push yourself harder.” Make sure your mind is present to get the maximum benefit from exercise.

Of course exercise isn’t the only option. There are many opportunities to flow. It can be through your passions, perhaps it’s painting or going to a museum, getting lost in a good book or surrounding yourself with the people you could stay up talking to all night. Figure out what gets you lost in the moment and make it a priority, just as our daily structure allowed for us to do at camp.

4. We Wear Rose Colored Glasses

At Nyoda, we recognize that perspective is a choice and we choose the positive path. My Tiamalian year, one of my favorite counselors had to leave camp after the second visiting day in week five. Everyone in my bungalow was terribly upset that she was leaving. We were all crying saying goodbye to her and focusing on how unfair it all was. She hugged me and told me, in her no-nonsense way, that I had a choice: I could focus on how upset I was, or I could enjoy the rest of my night and be a positive influence to those around me. This may have been the very first time in my life I truly recognized that I’m in control of how I view the world. I didn’t have to runoff with my emotions. So, I took the very wise advice of Dawn Rosa and I focused on the present. I don’t remember the specifics of the evening activity, but I do remember running around camp wearing a cape, making up cheers, and leading my squad through the evening activity. And I remember that it was SO MUCH FUN. At camp it’s easier to stay positive because everyone is committed to the same mindset, but when we set foot in the outside world, we are bombarded with negativity. Keep in mind that there is always more than one path to choose. The positive path is rarely the easiest, but always the best.

5. We Practice Silence

Whether we wanted to our not (and I definitely did not) we practiced silence, every day for a whole hour. Maybe we slept, maybe we read, maybe we did a quiet activity or maybe we waited and counted down the minutes until the bugle blew. Regardless of how we filled the time, we forced ourselves to slow down, and this is critical. Our world is so fast-paced, we are constantly “on.” Very rarely do we stop and do nothing, but we need to, in order to rejuvenate our bodies and our minds. For me, this slowing down has been meditation, and it has been the single biggest factor for increasing positivity in my life. We don’t need to devote hours upon hours to it. We don’t need a special mediation room with incense. We just need to make a commitment and carve our consistent time every day to take a break and be still as we allowed ourselves at camp.

In our modern world, it is an increasing challenge to achieve the inner peace that comes from a mindful lifestyle, but it’s not impossible. It takes some work and practice but it is well worth it. If you have ever thought to yourself, “I wish I could be the person I am at camp, all the time,” I urge you to examine your mindfulness and see if there is a way to improve it. It’s not one big switch you can flip on or off. It is made up of many small choices you make every day.

I recently found a letter my father wrote me when I was in high school, and I’ll leave you with this quote, “Remember, we only go down the road one time. A day wasted and not fully lived can never be recouped. Take advantage of this life the best you can.”