October 19, 2012 ends another successful midterm week at CCNM.  Not including our NPLEX 1 board exam, which was written in August, our first midterm week of 3rd year ticks a grand total of 61 CCNM exams off our growing lists.

This exam period was our lightest one yet – only 4 exams in 4 days (our last midterm period consisted of 8 exams) and no practical examinations.  We are such seasoned veterans that our desperation for good grades and pre-exam anxiety were pretty much insignificant this time around. Nevertheless, I want to congratulate all of my exceptional colleagues. With each exam period and completed assignment behind us, we continue to chug onward towards the promise of an amazing career and the power to change people’s lives.

To celebrate the end of exams, I got out with my family and trusty dog and engaged in some Shinrin-yoku, enjoying all of fall’s beautiful colours. I took some photos for painting inspiration over the long weekend.

I feel that my good mood and low stress over the exam period were due to the puppy therapy I received from Coco and the baby therapy I received from the lovely Alice, Erica’s beautiful 5-month old baby. It is a well-document fact that being exposed to “cute” things before a stressful event decreases cortisol, increases serotonin and dopamine and actually improves your rates of success. A colleague of mine even claimed that there are studies showing that looking at pictures of cute animals and nature scenes has a positive effect on reducing stress (as opposed to look at pictures of food, celebrities or fashion).  Here are some pictures to remind us that, even in times of discomfort there is still beauty waiting for when the difficult times pass.

You may also like:

Forest Bath

Colombian Nature Cure Photography

Puppies or Painkillers?

Living “I am” Moments