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Writing is like driving a car at night, you can only see as far as the headlight, but you can make it the whole way
- E.L. Doctorow |
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Writing is like driving a car at night, you can only see as far as the headlight, but you can make it the whole way
- E.L. Doctorow |
Categories
All
|
The following is a literature Review done on the topic of gratitude. To really start off we need to define a few terms. First, what is Positive psychology? In short it is the study of happiness and was first founded by Dr. Mark Seligman. Positive psychology studies the emotion of happiness, but happiness can be defined as wellbeing and the meaning of wellbeing is best thought of as Seligman says in his article “Using wellbeing for public policy: Theory, measurement, and recommendations”; Wellbeing is now understood not simply as positive emotions, but, rather, as thriving across multiple domains of life (Diener, Scollon, & Lucas, 2003). Wellbeing integrates hedonic wellbeing (feeling good) and eudaemonic wellbeing (functioning well). The development of an integral conception of wellbeing that goes beyond affective indicators (e.g., happiness, affect balance) (Seligman). Another term that we need to understand and define is gratitude. What exactly is gratitude? gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself; it is a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation (Sansone). Gratitude is basically being thankful about someone or something.
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Happiness and wellbeing are coveted by todays culture and people. But do we as humans really know what wellbeing and happiness mean? For me, gratitude and happiness can be found in a scene where other people praise me or my work. An example of this can be found when I came home from school one Tuesday. I walked into the open kitchen and began taking off my shoes. My mom was over at the other end of the kitchen cooking at the stove. The smell of spaghetti gravy wafted over me. She turned around at the sound of me entering. After greeting me, she asked how my Econ test went. I responded by saying that I got a 100%. My mom got excited and gave me a hug and told me how proud she was and how well I was doing in school. This is what I am grateful for. A mom that is proud of me, that I can do well in school and that my parents give me support in school. Dr Martin Seligman hypothesized that being grateful can improve a person's wellbeing. I believe that the “Three Good Things” Experiment improved my wellbeing in two different aspects; Mentality and physical wellbeing.
This is my new introduction that I used in the first draft. I tried to explore using different tools to make this intro. I started with a initial claim and then asked a question and tried to answer it. I used this approach to try to make the reader curious about this topic and then try to make the reader more and more interested in the reading. Introduction
Happiness and wellbeing are coveted by today's culture and people. But do we as humans really know what wellbeing and happiness mean? For me, gratitude and happiness can be found in a scene where other people praise me or my work. An example of this can be found when I came home from school on Tuesday. I walked into the open kitchen and began taking off my shoes. My mom was over at the other end of the kitchen cooking at the stove. The smell of spaghetti gravy wafted over me. She turned around at the sound of me entering. After greeting me, she asked how my Econ test went. I responded by saying that I got a 100%. My mom got excited and gave me a hug and told me how proud she was and how well I was doing in school. This is what I am grateful for. A mom that is proud of me, that I can do well in school and that my parents give me support in school. To truly understand what these terms are and what they mean, we need to delve and into how we as humans can achieve them. While doing research on this topic, I found that an article writing by Randy A. Sansone, MD and Lori A. Sansone, MD had this to say about wellbeing; “The word “gratitude” has a number of different meanings, depending on the context. However, a practical clinical definition is as follows--gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to oneself; it is a general state of thankfulness and/or appreciation. The majority of empirical studies indicate that there is an association between gratitude and a sense of overall well being. (Sansone) This article is, in short, saying that in order to achieve well being, gratitude must be introduced and cultivated. They are saying that gratitude or thankfulness can cause a "Overall well being" to be the result. If we were to think further and really try to think about what the writers are saying we could conclude that the more appreciative we are of things the better our well being will be. Right? Yesterday, professor Mangini asked us to write a letter to Dr. Seligman and tell him weather or not our overall well being was improved after completing the " Three Good Things" assignment. what I am going to post is what I wrote in the five minutes that we were given.
Dear Dr. Seligman After hearing about you experiment of "Three Good Things" I went and performed the same experiment myself. I journaled three things every day that I was grateful for until seven days was up. My findings and results lead me to think that you are, in fact, right, my overall well being was improved. you might ask how my well being was improved in this experiment? Well I learned not to take things for granted and the be grateful for what I have. I can say that I am more grateful about life than I was when I started. I truly want to thank you for what you have written and hope you will write more on this topic. Yours Truly - Coleman Clark After thinking about this letter and hearing a few question about it. I decided that I should focus this next part on PERMA and how it applies to my research findings. After looking through my research I found that I was able to be grateful for things that related to me Engaging in an activity or when I refer to Pleasure, Relaxing or Doing a hobby that I like. I think that in my project I should mention this and try to really relate the research in to this part of the project. This is a week of data that I Collected for my Research project. The goal was to list three "good" things that happened to you every day. All in all I have twenty-one things that I and grateful for. here are articles that we read in preparation; What is Positive Pyschology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program), Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page), and Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action)
Tuesday 1. I received a good grade in a ECON test. I like the class but receiving a good grade helped me to be more enthusiastic. 2. Today I was able to study for the SAT's for 2 hrs. I am starting to get really nervous about the SAT's but studying helps me to calm down. I am grateful for the time I was able to spend studying. 3. I am grateful for the friendship that I have with my neighbor Judah. Whenever I go over to his house we always have a good time playing soccer. Wednesday 1. I was hoping to get off of work early today and Jay said that I was allowed to go home early. Going home helped me to relax and unwind from the day. 2. I was really grateful for the time that I was able to study for the SAT's today after I got off of work early. 3. I woke up on time for work which helps me to have a better day. Thursday 1. I am grateful that Christ redeemed my life and saved me. I always need to be reminded of the good news. 2. I am thankful that I am able to do well in my school. I sometimes take for granted that i get to have a education as good as the one that I have. 3. I am grateful for the comfort that I enjoy day-today. Friday 1. I studied fro the SAT's for the last time today. It was a relief to be done with all of the studying and practice tests. 2. I was able to have friends over after dinner. I had a lot of fun and I was able to take my mind off of the SAT's 3. I am grateful that I have a job and that I love to do what I do. Saturday 1. I am so glad that the SAT's are done and over. I feel free and more able to do more things. 2. After the SAT's I attended a conference and listened to two really good messages, one was on work and the other was on racial identity and how to be comfortable with you identity. 3. one of my friends had a snowboard and offered it to me. I was really looking forward to going snowboarding this winter and this just helped my excitement. Sunday 1. John Pain preached at church today on the kingdom of heaven and its promises. I loved the message it really helped me to think in a kingdom impact rather than a world impact. 2. I am realy greatful for the promise of heaven and what heaven holds. 3. I am really glad that the Redskins lost. This puts the Eagles closer to first place. Monday 1. Dan, one of my co=workers, offered me a ride into work which I was grateful for. 2. my sister and brother in law invited us over for dinner yesterday. I was remembering that night and was really glad that they did that. 3. I slept really well last night. I don't normally slept well but last night I slept really well. This is a video about the second draft of the Narrative project. We had to rewrite our story and make different choices. Here are all of the links to the articles that we used and read during the writing process; What is Fan Fiction -- and why is it making people nervous? (Stephen Downes), a link to Rewinding and Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Head (Hidden Brain Podcast) I hope you like it. The following Vlog is my first ever Vlog. I am going to try to clearly review what we have accomplished in my English 112 class at Delaware County Community College. I am going to try to walk week-by-week what we had to write out or read. I will provide links for all of the assignments that I mention. here are the links to my Narrative Project, Composing a past scene and Composing a Present Scene. If you wish to know more about me you can visit my Proust Questionnaire.
I leaned forward in my chair and spaced out
I grabbed the pink bike riding past one of the neighbor's houses The squirrel jumped out in fright Logan jerked at the blue leash In one loud scream and screech A hard shaft of red-hot pain Down on the side of the road I cried “The bone is broken” The nurse said Eight weeks of my injured arm in a brace Eight weeks were over, the glorious feeling Life seemed hopeful Like ray of sunshine might exist behind the dark clouds. Part II
“Click....Click” The X-Ray machine photographed the terribly painful bone underneath my flesh and blood.
“Ok dear, I'm going to turn it slightly so that I can take a better picture, ok?” the nurse said it like it was a question. But did I have a choice? She was just telling me to let me know what she was doing. The room was dark, and I was wearing what felt like a ton of lead inside of those clumsy blankets they put on while taking X-Rays. I spaced out for a moment, but I still could hear the “Click” and hum of the X-Ray machine in the backround. It was a warm June day in 2010, the sun made it feel warmer than it really was. I hadn't done much that day, I had played around with my toys and played with my brother but by the time I was sick of playing around, it was only ten O 'clock in the morning. After seeing what time it was, I declared that I was bored and had nothing to do. I walked in to one of the rooms in my house that had many windows and allowed for lots of sunlight and laid down on our denim blue colored couch. After about an hour and a half of doing basically nothing, my mom called me to come and eat lunch. As I ate my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, my mom asked me if I wanted to go and play with some friends for the rest of the day. There was a moment of silence due to the glue-like peanut butter in my mouth but, after I swallowed, I said that I would be glad to go. I put my elbows up on the wood table and thought to myself, this was finally a glimmer of hope in my gloomy day, I now had something to look forward to. My projections for the day spiked upward. My mom saw how excited I was and said that we could leave as soon as I walked the dog, Logan, around the neighborhood. Logan is two years old and is a Yellow Lab. My neighborhood in my mind at the time seemed like a grueling, perilous and gruesome mile long hike that I might not survive. Still sitting at the table, I conceived a plan, if I could walk the dog faster than the more time I would have to play with my friends, the only way in my mind to accomplish this was to use my bike. I quickly put the blue rope leash on Logan and walked out to the garage. As I walked you to my bike, I thought of the many times that my Mom clearly said, “Honey, don’t walk the dog while riding your bike, you'll hurt yourself that way.” I quickly countered my conscience by thinking that Mom wanted me to be quick and this was the only way. I grabbed my neon green Huffy bike and climbed on, I looked down and saw that I had a flat tire. Just my luck that the one time I need my stupid yet very cool looking bike, it lets me down. That flat tire should have stopped me from trying to use my bike to walk the dog, but it didn't. I looked around the big cluttered garage filled with other bikes and scooters. My eyes lit upon my sisters light pink Hello Kitty bike, I had second thoughts about doing this now not because I wasn't supposed to but because the bike was pink, what would people think if they saw me riding down the street with a dog and a pink Hello Kitty bike? I thought of my friends and that this who thing wouldn't matter if I just got it over quickly. I grabbed the bike and started the journey around the Neiborhood looking away if anyone looked in my direction. Everything went perfectly wrong when Logan saw the Squirrel. Logan jerked at the leash that was in my hand, my hand was holding one of the handle bars and turned the bars to a perfect perpendicular angle to the way I was already riding. The momentum that I had maintained carried me in the air and crashed me on the cold hard asphalt. I tried to break my fall with my arm but only got a hard shaft of red-hot pain up my arm in return. I knew that this was the result of me deciding that using my bike was a good idea. I laid down on the side of the road and cried from pain and what I had just done. In that background I could hear Logan smelling the tree that the Squirrel had run up, his leash and dog tag clicking and chiming with one another. My bike had spun out of control some five feet back behind me. I was miserable, I knew that I had to try to get up and get home. I got to my feet and tried to move my hand, nothing but a bolt of pain, I decided that it was just sprained and that I could worry about it later. I managed to get my bike and Logan without causing my wrist anymore pain. When I got home, I quickly told my mom what had happened, she listened and after I was done she told me that she wasn't angry with me but that I had learned my lesson. Sha concluded that my wrist was not broken but sprained and took me over to my friend Sam's house. I tried and failed to enjoy myself because my wrist hurt so badly. Eventually, after playing wiffle ball and hurting my wrist further, my mom came and took me to the hospital where we found out that it was broken. I knew that this was my fault, if had just listened and not used my bike this would never had happened. At the hospital I looked bitterly at my arm that was now useless to me, I could no longer bike, I couldn't play lacrosse with my brothers, and I couldn't play outside without thinking about my injured useless arm. Eight weeks of no playing and only a arm in a cast to look forward too was all I could think of. |
Coleman
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