How Meditation Enhance Perseverance

The main aim of the MYP is to help in the development of active learners and as well of internationally minded young people who can be able to empathize with others so that they can be able to pursue a life that is meaningful. MYP enables the students to be able to build confidence themselves, to learn through experiments, to perform better in their IB Diploma programs, they are also able to develop an understanding of the challenges that they are prone to face globally. Meditation plays a great role in the enhancement of perseverance in the IB MYP students.

Definition of Perseverance

Different disciplines define perseverance differently. Perseverance is the state or ability to pursue goals to completion (Oppenheimer, Fialkov, Ecker, & Portnoy, 2014). It is the act of being able to overcome challenges. Perseverance or grit in another term is the state of not giving up in doing something or persistently not giving in. In understanding perseverance, the issue of persistence always come up. Through perseverance, persistence is always showcased. Perseverance requires self-consciousness to take place (Auzoult, Kubiszewski, & Hardy-Massard, 2016). According to Marques & Dhiman (2016), the word perseverance is interchangeably used with persistent to mean an act of voluntary continuation of a goal directed action in spite of obstacles, frustrations tedium or boredom. However, this definition is used in the field of psychology.

Perseverance also enhances delayed gratification. It is the act of holding on to an urge of doing something to gain. It is, therefore, an act of perseverance, because without the ability to persevere delayed gratification cannot be achieved. The act of perseverance also brings out the persistent nature and behaviors of the individual. Persistence, however, may depend on, among other factors, employment conditions, social support and ability to manage stressors. (Madhlangobe, Chikasa, Mafa, & Kurasha, 2014). Individuals who have persistent behaviors seems to persevere the most difficult situations.

Grit is perceived as the perseverance and passion for long term goals (Matthews & Kelly, 2007). Grit can be defined as the perseverance as well as the passion of having goals that are considered to be long-term. It is all about working strenuously towards challenges, maintenance of interest and as well as effort despite failure that has occurred over years, adversity and as well as plateaus that are in progress. It is the act of being resistance to obstacles and challenges with the aim of achieving a certain goal. Grit correlates with perseverance in that; it shows an action of being able to be firm in spirit despite the obstacles. The above definitions of perseverance all point to the act of persistence and being able to withstand challenges and obstacles to achieve a certain goal, thus the definition of perseverance.

Characteristics of Perseverance

Perseverance is an important element to employ when facing an obstacle (Niemiec, Rashid, & Spinella, 2012). Some of the characteristics of perseverance include;

Accepting and surrendering to the situation at hand is a character of perseverance. Perseverance calls for acceptance of the situation or challenge and believing in own ability to influence the situation positively. It is a character of perseverance that relieves and gives strength and zeal to continue pursuing goals despite the obstacle. When we accept the situation, we also find meaning in the obstacle and take it as a lesson and thus perseverance.

Another characteristic of perseverance is finding compassion. When faced with an obstacle, it is important to find compassion in people we trust instead of bottling up our issues. Sharing the experience and challenges with people who are trustworthy is a perseverance character which helps one to obtain assistance and support in the situation. Through compassion one is also able to vent out their issues, and this will help in clearing one's mind (Niemiec, Rashid, & Spinella, 2012). It is also important to self-protect and self-encourage when faced with a challenge. It is perseverance characteristic which allows an individual to face challenges easily; on the contrary, discouraging oneself may lead to acts unforgiving oneself.

According to William & DeSteno (2008), pride can also be perceived as a character of perseverance. Pride acts as a beneficial role in motivating an individual. For this reason, pride is also considered a character that supports perseverance through motivation. Meditation is also a characteristic of perseverance. It allows one to courage face a situation by organizing and reaffirming oneself. According to (Davis & Hayes, 2011) meditation enables one to become less reactive.

How meditation enhances perseverance

When faced with challenges and obstacles in the course of our duties and activities, the challenges dominate our minds, and we seem to have blocked minds. In this situation, mediation is an important factor in accepting the situation and enhances perseverance of the situation at hand. Meditation can be defined as concentration and focus on increasing awareness of the current moment. However, mindfulness has is being used hand in hand with meditation, mindfulness is a prudent behavioral factor for meditation (Awasthi, 2013). It is of great importance to the students. We find that most students tend to fear mathematics problems. They tend to view mathematics as a challenging subject. In the article of encouraging perseverance in elementary mathematics, we find the students later came to appreciate the outcome after an environment of persistence and perseverance was created. According to professor Alan Schoenfeld students hold the beliefs that mathematics have only one correct answer, ordinary students cant understand mathematics, and it is done by people who are in Isolation. Mediation highly shapes these beliefs in a student. It is through the use of problems that are more challenging and as well as engaging to the students. The teacher should show the students that he is not also in a position to solve some of the mathematical problems and through that, the students will also meditate on how to get the solution to it and persevere the challenge until they can solve that particular mathematical problem.

According to Davis & Hayes (2011), meditation may aid in preventing individuals from engaging in upsetting stimuli and allow one to concentrate on the prudent task at hand. Meditation enhances perseverance in a person by allowing an individual to understand and reaffirm him/herself in a particular situation. Without meditation, an individual may have an array of thoughts about the challenge at hand and may not be able to make a knowledgeable decision. It will act as a motivation to the IB MYP students who think that mathematics is only for a few individuals to attempt and solve the problems and as well as other sciences.

Through meditation, one can recollect his/her thoughts about a situation at hand or challenges and therefore make decisions accordingly. It is capable of changing a persons psychology, dramatic ways and physical health (Bond, 2011). Meditation can take place while sitting, walking, lying down or just standing. Meditation enables the IB MYP students to have a non-judgmental appraisal as well as acceptance of their moment-to-moment sensations, events and also their feelings which they may tend to have during the meditation process. It will enable the students to be able to compose themselves which will, in turn, lead to the improvement of their Diploma grades. According to Massone (2007) students who are anxious hold a chance of lower scores about their achievements.

How Delayed Gratification Help IB Students

Delayed gratification largely encapsulates the ability to play off any alluring thing, moment (in the short-run), primarily because of the anticipation of more pleasant outcomes in the longer term. Ordinarily, it is very difficult to find most students clothed with delayed gratification: most of them are usually ensnared by quick results which are, most of the times, fleeting. The ability to delay gratification plays a great role in shaping the lives of the students. The students should always be taught on how they can persevere various challenges by being persistence through choosing the pain of discipline rather than being easily distracted. It will help them to make more developments in their life and become more successful. They should be taught on the benefit of delayed gratification since its worth it and from that, they will also learn that they have the skill of waiting. It is evident in the Marshmallow experiment where children were used to showing delayed gratification and its impact. Through the taking up of challenges by the students it will help them to be more successful (Bond, 2011).

References

Auzoult, L., Kubiszewski, V., & Hardy-Massard, S. (2016). Perseverance in the Effort A new Standard of Self-Regulation Associated to Private Self Consciousness. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 182-18.

Awasthi, B. (2013). Issues and Perspectives in Meditation Research: In Search for a definition. 613.

Bond, M. (2011). Meditation. Everybody say om, 33.

Davis, D. M., & Hayes, J. A. (2011). What Are the Benefits of Mindfulness? A Practice Review of Psychotherapy-Related Research. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(2), 198-208.

Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: perseverance and passion for long -term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101.

Madhlangobe, L., Chikasa, J., Mafa, O., & Kurasha, P. (2014). Persistence, Perseverance, and Succes: A Case Study to Describe Motivational Factors that Encourage Zimbabwe Open University ODL students to Enroll, Persist and Graduate With Masters and Doctorate Credentials. Sage Journals, 1-15.

Marques, J., & Dhiman, S. (2016). Leadership and Perseverance. Leadership Today: Practices for personal and Professional Performance, 338.

Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit; Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087.

Niemiec, R. M., Rashid, T., & Spinella, M. (2012). Strong Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness and Character Strengths. Psychology Today, 34(3), 240-253.

Oppenheimer, M. F., Fialkov, C., Ecker, B., & Portnoy, S. (2014). Teaching to Strengths. Journal of Character Education, 10(2), 93.

Williams, L. A., & DeSteno, D. (2008). Pride and Perseverance: The Motivational Role of Pride. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 1007-1017.