This blog post is in regards to my research project and my personal findings on the PERMA theory while looking back on my “Three Good Things” journal entries. By going back and relating PERMA theory to my journal entries it helped me better understand Seligman theory of positive psychology and how his PERMA theory relates to well-being. By connecting this theory to my own personal experience I felt more personal to my research project and it was easier to write about it because it was more understandable for me. Below I was go more in details what PERMA is and how I used it to better understand my entries as well the theory itself.
Seligman illustrates the concept of well-being in five measurable element called PERMA, which stands for Positive Emotion (feeling good, optimism, pleasure and enjoyment), Engagement (fulfilling work interests and hobbies, “flow”), Relationship (social connections, love, physical interaction and intimacy), Meaning (having a purpose, finding meaning in life), and Accomplishment (ambitions, and realistic goals). To fully understand how each factors played a key role in my life, I decided to go back into my “Three Good Things” journal entries and tally mark each day to see which factors I was participating each day of writing my list. After tallying up all my entries I measured that my low factors were the Engagement and Meaning factors. I realize that it was an eye opening because I tend to not focus on my hobbies and interests to gain some source of purpose. In other areas like Positive Emotion, Relationship, and Accomplishment I scored extremely high, which I was very proud of myself for.
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For this blog For this blog post I will be sharing how I went forward to revising draft two of my research project. After handing in my research project to have it looked at, one of the major revision I needed to do was to include a section into the literature review section about research’s that suggests gratitude doesn’t improve well-being. I was missing that huge junk of research because I didn’t think I needed it since I am trying to prove that it indeed improved my well-being. One of the huge mistake that we make when we are trying to persuade readers when writing a research project is not including skeptic into your paper, but I learned that is actually an advantage and it can actually strengthen your argument. When you wrote about the opposing side of your argument it shows that you are aware and acknowledging the skeptic, in hence people will be more opening to hearing what it is you are persuading them.
So for that part of my research project I decided to read an article by Summer Allen entitle “Why Is Gratitude So Hard for Some People?” to be able to argue the other position of whey gratitude may not be working for some others. It was hard finding articles that specify that gratitude doesn’t improve well-being, so instead I focus on why gratitude may be harder for others since the point of my research was focusing on why I felt that the “Three Good Thing” exercise worked and if it doesn’t work for those who do try it, the reasons that I found within the article can explain why it is harder. Summer Allen article explained some different research that suggests that gratitude may not come as easy to others because of differences rooted in the brain, gene, and the personality of others. Some research has been done on fraternal and identical twin, romantic partners and etc. The twin research conducted by Michael Steger showed that differences in DNA could explain why gratitude is difficult for others. Reading this article was very interesting and very resourceful because it helped me a lot when I was revising my paper. I am very glad I came across this article, it was pretty informative. For this blog I have cited all the articles I used to complete my research project on positive psychology. Usually I would just use EasyBib to create my citation, but I am proud of myself because I took the time to handwritten all my citation by using print out of MLA forms that was is give at the campus library. However, when it came to citing a TED talk video I watched, there wasn’t a print out that was specifically for TED talks, so I ended up getting help from a librarian who then help me create the work cited for the TED talk video I used in my research project. If you every find yourself struggling on how to work cite, ask your local or school Liberians for help.
Work Cited Ackerman, Courtney and Pennock, Fontane Seph. “What is Positive Psychology & Why is it Important? Definition + Examples.” Positive Psychology Program, 20 Apr. 2018, https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-positive-psychology-definition/#definition-positive-psychology. Accessed 25, Nov. 2018. Allen, Summer. "Why Is Gratitude So Hard for Some People?" Greater Good Science Center, 10 May. 2018. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_is_gratitude_so_hard_for_some_people. Accessed 8 Dec. 2018. Brandt, Adrea. “Science Proves that Gratitude is Key to Well-Being.” Psychology Today, 30 Jul. 2018, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindful-anger/201807/science-proves-gratitude-is-key-well-being. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018. Rojas, Teresa Del Pilar. “Subjective Well-Being: Your Life, Your Happiness.” Positive Psychology Program, 24 Feb. 2016, https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/subjective-well-being/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018. Seligman, Martin. “The New Era of Positive Psychology.” TED, Feb. 2004, https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_seligman_on_the_state_of_psychology?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare. Sanson, Randy A and Sansone, Lori A. “Gratitude and Well-Being: The Benefits of Appreciation.” Psychiatry, vol. 7, no. 11, 2010, pp. 18-22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010965/. Accessed 26 Nov. As we come to the end of the semester we were asked to compose a reflection about our experience in our English Composition I class. This blog may be a farewell to my semester, but it's also an homage to continue what I have learn in the class this semester. Although it was not an easy journey, it was a beautiful process that I am very proud of completing. Below is picture of the top ten things I've enjoyed learning although the semester and that are now a part of my growth as well as it is now install in me. However I will focus on number 5 on my top 10 and explain more in details why It is the most important of all.
Number 5 on my top 10 of what I've learned this semester states: Comfort learned how to "make meaning" in her everyday life and she feels that is very powerful because she didn't feel like her life was "writing worthy." She has learn that living in the moment helps her to write her journey. "Make meaning" is the password we use to gain accessed to the classroom course websites. The first time we were asked to accessed the website, I always wonder why that was the password and I guess a little part of that curiosity was filled with interest. As we finished our first week of class I came to the conclusion that our Professor was not the usual college instructor, but as the time progress, I realized that he is indeed a needed instructor and that his nontraditional ways of teaching is truly a footprint left on my journey that I will continue to carry on. I can truly say that EVERYTHING we learned, watched, read, and etc. had a sense of purpose in our own personal growth and classroom journey throughout the semester. Every day in his class was a meaningful day. I remember the first time we were asked to write a blog about a present day in our life, and for the life of me, I did not think I could come up with anything worthy enough to write about. However, that day in class Professor Mangini, assured us that we could write about anything that we experience and that our experiences is meaningful enough to write about. He encourages us to live in our moment and write about it, he thought us that writing is a process, and every process is not perfect, but with practice and good habits we are able to create meaningful great work. It was this lesson that kept me moving forward throughout this semester and this same lesson that I held on too composing my blogs, my first narrative, and my research project. It this lesson that I will continue to take and use throughout my life. I am truly grateful for this class and it’s amazes me what an AMAZING journey it has been for the past five months, this class has left a footprint on my life as a whole. In the process of writing my Research Project I will be blogging about how I am attacking this project by sharing some of my writing process in preparation into writing the first draft of my Research Project.
This first blog into my Research Project is about my experience taking the Happiness Quiz. Since my Research Project is base on Positive Psychology and the pursuit of Well-being, I decided why not see how happy I am by taking the quiz. If I’m writing about my Well-being, I would like to know what state I am in. Before taking the quiz I felt like I was happy in all, maybe a little down currently but as a whole I felt happy or maybe I was grateful and that was some sort of happiness to me. Since I was feeling happy, I felt that I would receive a high score that would assure me of my feeling but that was not the outcome. The quiz was not what I expected. I was asked series of 13 questions about my daily hobbies and base on my answers, I was then given a percentage of how happy I am. After reading The 7 Habits of Happy People, I came to an understanding of why the quiz is created the way that it is. By having a concrete measure of something, we are able to then finds ways to help improve the measurement, in this case improve my happiness. I do recommend reading The 7 Habits of Happy People before or and after taking the Happiness Quiz. After taking the quiz, I scored a 76 out of 115 as my result. I was not very happy with my score because I didn’t think my happiness was on a low spectrum. I think 76 is low and I guess I was expecting an 87 or higher, so that was disappointing. However, it was nice to know how I can improve my happiness and the reassurance of ways that I can improve by partaking in different life skill brought a source of comfort to me. I do wish that the rest could show you what category to improve on or what categories I score high on and low on but it doesn’t. I did leave a comment about it so maybe in the future they will include that. After I work on myself I do want to take the quiz again in about a month or so just to see if I’ve improve. This blog post is my begining process to my Research Project for living a more meaningful life(Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page). My Research Project will be focusing on postive pyschology and why it is important if you want to live a more meaningful life (What is Positive Pyschology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program). In my journey toward living a more meaningful I will be trying out the Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action). For the last seven days I've documented three things that I was grateful for each day, I've listed it below. Oct. 30, 2018
I got in a verbal/physical altercation with my roommate and today just been a SHITTY day, I lost track of time and ended up not taking time out of my day to think about what I have to be grateful for. Nov. 04, 2018
After listening to Lulu Wang podcast “What You Don’t Know” in class, our professor imposes the question to us “If we had a terminal illness, would we want to know about it?” this question was asked because Wang podcast told the story of how her entire family created a fake wedding to bring all the family together to be able to say good to her grandmother who was diagnose with cancer at 80 years old. What was interesting about this story was that her family did not disclose to the grandmother that she was dying of cancer base on cultural reasons that the family valued. Wang explains to us the internal and external issues that she and her family went through to pull off this huge lie.
Listening to this story absolutely made me look at lying in a different way then I usually would. I didn’t really think lying was okay in any occasion or circumstance just because I feel like it does more harm to lie. Sometimes the truth hurt but I feel that overtime it heals. In Wang case, lying seems to the grandmother seem to worked since it seems like it was already a passed on tradition being that the grandmother did the same to the grandfather, but it makes me question, is it only turning out okay because the family have already accepted the tradition and are only basing the outcome on what they are doing? How different would it be if they were to let the grandmother know and be able to experience the moment together with them? How would that outcome change their perspective if they are only stuck in believing what it is that the family is used to doing? It’s almost as if they have fixated the outcomes by already deciding to lie. This Blog is my answer toward the question impose by my professor “If I had a terminal illness, would I want to be told about it? I’m on the fence with the question just because Wang story screwed my perspective a little bit. So my decision would strictly be based on how old I am and where I’m at in life when I’m diagnose. For example, if I was to be diagnose right at this age and where I am in life I would most definitely want to be told. I would want to be told simply because I am still strong and since my days would be limited I would want to experience life a little faster since my days would be limited. I would live without thinking about the future just because it wouldn’t be guarantee. I know the saying goes that tomorrow is not promise but we don’t know that for sure, so we carrying on our day looking forward to the future, especially when you are young, you feel like your future is bright, or at least that’s how I feel. However, If I was 80 or older I wouldn’t mind not knowing. I wouldn’t really care to know as long I am able to enjoy my family in every moment. At that age I would hope that I already experience life and now just sharing on the wisdom that I had gained through my life experiences. So not knowing at such age wouldn’t bother me at all. For week 7 blog post I will be writing a two part blog which will include a revision for the first part and a reflection for the second part which will include a video answering some questions that will be posted below. For the revision part I will be creating an Erasure found poem title "Existence" by using the first few paragraphs of my Narrative Project “Sunday Memories.” By creating a Found Poem using my Narrative Project, I am able to view my work in a different matter so then it can help with my revision when I am rewriting the second draft of my project to make it better. Also, creating a Found Poem will help me realize if my Narrative Project needs more descriptive language and also if my narrative holds a clear theme that reader are able to pick up on. Some samples of Found Poems are: What is a Found Poem? | Sample Found Poem | Visual Examples of Found Poems. For the specific genre of found poems I focus on was Erasure and some other samples are: Tom Phillips’ A Humument, Jen Bervin’s Nets and Austin Kleon’s newspaper blackouts. In the video I will be answering these questions:My first Vlog.
This week blog is all about REVISING REVISING blog post 5: Composing A Past Scene. After getting the opportunity to read my scene out loud in class I was able to get some feedback from my classmates that can help me better my scene. After reading My Mother Gives me a Writing Lesson (Martin Lee), which talks about focusing on details with purpose I decided to add more details to the scene when I went back into the bathroom after hearing the bad news. I want the hairstyle to eventually have a purpose leading into the ultimate theme of the story I want to share. I also rearrange my story in a way that helps it have a beginning, middle, and ending like when you read the text My Name is Margaret) by Maya Angelou.
I was in the bathroom tying up my hair into a ballerina bun, which I was extremely obsessed at a young age, when my mother called me into the living room. She was sitting down on the couch with this look I’ve never seen before. The phone was in her right hand glued to her ear. I wasn’t sure who she was talking too; but why would should call me if she was on the phone I thought to myself? “Yes mom!” She looked up at me and handed me the phone. “Your father wants to talk to you.” For a minute I thought that was the reason for the look, she was talking to one of her least favorite person in the world. So of course that was reasons enough for the distasteful look on her face. I took the phone and sat next to the empty space she was patting, signaling to me to sit. “Hi,dad!” “Con.shea!” My dad only calls me that name when he’s feeling bad about something, so I started thinking what could be wrong. It was July 22, 2005 when I receive the bad news. I had just turned fifteen two days ago, I was getting dressed when the house phone ring. My mom or my older brother is usually the ones who pick up the phone since I was just visiting. On this day my mom was the one who picked up the call. Since my mom was allowing me to go see Hustle and Flow, I was excited because that was really all I wanted for my birthday. I didn’t know what was more exciting, going to see a rated R movie or getting to see it on the day it first premier in theater. Since I was under aged, I would have to go with my older brother who was nineteen years old. But I was okay with that, after all I was getting to see Terrance Howard and Tarij P Henson in action. So I was cool with having to hide behind my brother. “How are you enjoying Jersey?” He continued with the small talk. “Its fun dad, it’s really fun!” “How was your birthday? At that moment I realized he didn’t really care about how I was spending time with my mom, he doesn’t even care about birthdays. He was just easing me into a blow that he had called to tell me I started thinking that maybe he had changed his mind and I would have to return home earlier than expected. Finally over with the small talk I decided to just end it. “Is everything okay Dad?” “Con.shea, your grandma just passed away” “No, she didn’t!” Those words came out so easily. I wanted it to not be true, so saying it out loud I guess lead me to believe that it wasn’t! Not realizing that my mom had already pulled me closer to her until I felt the warmth of her silky, leathery skin as her body absorbs my tears. The tears coming from my eyes didn’t matter; I believe my grandma was okay. I would get to see her after the summer was over. I believed that everything would return back to normal. I didn’t realized what I had decided in that moment but it wasn't to cry. You see, after ten years of being apart from my mother, my dad had finally allowed me to spend the summer vacation with her. This was my first time every out of Pennsylvania since we moved into the United State six years ago because of the war that was happening in Liberia. So this bad news wasn't going to ruin my first vacation with my mom, but it did! I got up from the couch and went into the bathroom to continuing getting ready, while leaving my mom as she sat on the couch still talking to my dad. As I look into the mirror I was proud of my neatly bun that was set in place with half the bottle of echo styling gel that my mom brought for me. Making sure every piece of hair was secure I place another bobby pin on to the end of the bun to make sure no hair would come out of place. After a while, the chatter in the living room continues to die down, until I couldn’t hear my mom voice anymore. I came out of the bathroom. “Mom, I’m ready to go!” |
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