The Harry Potter Alliance

By Jess

December 7, 2009

Day #1 — Meditation and Molly Weasley

Hi! Welcome to Day #1 of our Breaking Out of the Muggle Mindset series on stress. I’m Jess, a writer/copy editor for the HPA. I hope that by sharing one way that I cope with stress, I might inspire you to deal healthily with your own.

First, a confession: I used to eat breakfast in the bathtub. As a graduate student at the nation’s top-ranked library school, I took a course schedule that would make Hermione proud and worked three jobs. I got home from work after midnight, woke in time for an 8am class, and rolled breakfast and bathing into one precariously balanced act because without a Time Turner, I couldn’t do them separately. I reasoned that getting a “real” job would be worth the intense schedule.

Today, I’ve been out of grad school for seven months, working in teen services at a public library. It’s a more balanced life, but it’s still easy to fall into the Muggle Mindset of “if you’re not stressed, you’re not doing enough!” At work, I help out in other departments; at home, I push myself to keep up with chores; in the HPA, I clear my calendar when last minute editing needs to be done. There’s nothing wrong with any of these things, but if I don’t actively manage the stress they cause, I’m crankier than Molly Weasley before Bill and Fleur’s wedding.

Mrs. Weasley’s short temper during that time made life difficult for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. One person’s stress affected others, something that often happens in our world. I’m certainly guilty of it. When I came home from the library recently, my cats thronged around my ankles in greeting. I should have felt lucky to have a good rapport with them. Instead, I was irritated. I’d had a frustrating day, and they were making it impossible for me to so much as step into my house.

I’ll admit it: I yelled at them. Yep. The cats that had gone out of their way to greet me scattered in surprise and alarm. If you ever want to feel like a total jerk, look at your pet’s faces after you’ve been, well, a total jerk. They’ll tell you exactly what you’re like without saying a word.

As I offered the cats a conciliatory can of salmon, I realized that I needed to manage stress more effectively. What could I do to be less pre-wedding Molly?

As a Buddhist, one thing that helps me is to meditate. Mindfulness meditation, or “sitting”, asks the practitioner to focus on the breath, and to be aware of what the mind and body are doing. If desired, you can recite phrases, or mantras, as a way of maintaining focus and staying in the present moment.

The benefits of meditation are numerous. As Psychology Today points out, “[n]euroscientists have found that meditators shift their brain activity to different areas of the cortex – brain waves in the stress-prone right frontal cortex move to the calmer left frontal cortex. This mental shift decreases the negative effects of stress, mild depression and anxiety. There is also less activity in the amygdala, where the brain processes fear.”

If these benefits sound good to you, but you’re not a Buddhist, fear not. People of many faiths (and no faith) practice meditation. You can meditate sitting on the floor, or on the edge of a chair, or walking, or laying down: the key is that you give your full attention to the breath connecting your body with the world. It’s important to realize that it’s normal for the mind to wander, and when it does, you should respond with compassionate patience.

It is with compassionate patience that I noted that prior to pulling a Mrs. Weasley on my cats, I had not kept up my meditation practice. To break out of the Muggle Mindset, and to deal healthily with the stress in your life, it might help to try meditation. No matter how brief your session, you’re reminding yourself to breathe, to literally and figuratively connect with this irreplaceable moment.

When Mrs. Weasley is at her best, she is loving, generous, and capable of wiping out Bellatrix Lestrange. Today, ask yourself who you might be if you conquered your stress, and let the best of you shine through.