By DMA Senior Giovanni Teoli

I decided to take Optimistic Mindset because I heard it was easy, but the class has exceeded my expectations by offering much more than that. I find myself looking forward to walking into class everyday. At first I wouldn’t really pay attention to what we would talk about, but as the year has gone on I find myself listening to everything being said. The class’s purpose is to make the environment here at DMA better and I would say that in this class I have seen the environment we are talking about. The class is peaceful. You’re able to be yourself and just take a load off. 

This class has introduced me to many things, but the key thing for me has been meditation. I now use meditation before I go to sleep every night to help me fall asleep faster. This keeps my mind and body relaxed as I am focusing on nothing besides my breathing. I am able to clear my mind out and get all the negative thoughts out of my head. I also think being in this class with my friends makes it better because we get to connect and have fun in a non-traditional classroom setting. It’s a breath of fresh air when it comes to school classes. 

I don’t like to talk much in classes as I don’t really like sharing my opinion or just talking in general, but this class is a safe space for me to be able to express myself. I was able to share what I was thinking about the topics we were talking about. The reflection papers also helped me get out what I have inside my head. Since only Mr. Shelton reads the reflection papers, I was able to sit down and write how I felt about everything and it felt good to get things off of my chest. Taking Optimistic Mindset turned out to be a great decision.