Why do teachers all have to give tests at the same time? I have 3 tests this week alone! Gah, and they're all my first tests for these classes, so I'm already nervous enough. On top of things, I don't like one of my classes, abnormal psychology. It's not really my favorite subject; I would much rather be taking another social psych or neuroscience class instead.
Besides stress, I am quite excited about my research proposal topic this semester. The topic I chose is relatively new to the world of psychology, and I've talked about it before. It's called self-compassion. I'm not exactly sure what my proposal will be or what my research project will be, but I know it will have something to do with self-compassion and perhaps aggression or self-esteem.
Last thing for this post... I decided to write a missionary yesterday. I haven't sent my letter yet because I'm not sure if I have written all I want to say. I'm also kinda nervous about writing him. I mean, we were friends in school, but I never asked to write so I have to ask his bishop what the address is that I'd write to. Hopefully he enjoys the letter and doesn't think I'm weird or something like that. I actually don't know if anyone knows who I'm talking about here. Oh well...
Well, that is all for tonight. Until next time...
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wonderfully Busy Life and All that it Entails
So, I haven't written in a long time. Life is so busy! Gah, it's ridiculous! But I don't want to talk about my busy life... I want to explain it in detail, but I won't put anyone through that type of torture, so here's the shortened version instead. Enjoy!
I don't know what's been going on with my mind, but I feel so much calmer and more at peace in my life than I've felt in a long time. Honestly, I don't know what to attribute these feelings to. I thought it might be church, but I don't think it is. Maybe it's because I'm back on a schedule; I know what is expected of me and how I can accomplish it. Or, it could be this new yoga class I am taking.
My yoga class is pretty awesome - it's called Kundalini Yoga. Last week, we did meditation, a few basic exercises, and learned about the first chakkra. It's not like normal yoga; I would actually term it a self-compassion, -knowledge, -understanding type class since the whole goal is to align and come to peace with our emotions, minds, and bodies. I am fascinated with it and absolutely love the class. I thnk I talk about it as much as I do psychology, lol, which is quite something.
So I've been practicing the techniques and different "poses" at home, and I think it's really starting to change my understanding of myself. It's wonderfully crazy! I just want to share my excitement and joy with everyone I meet; they should all learn how to totally and completely relax without any thought.
I am also taking a beginning guitar class this semester. I don't know why I waited so long to take fun classes... they are the best! Anyhow, my guitar teacher is pretty awesome and I'm trying to learn the different notes and chords right now. You know how they say learning a new language helps you with your first language? Well, I'm hoping that the same principle applies to instruments. I've hit a road block in my music. So, I went out and bought some new piano books (one is the Keith Urban Defying Gravity CD for piano!) and am hoping those will help along with learning the guitar.
In other news, I was called to be class rep for my institute class, which I am still nervous/excited about. I get terrified in front of people and I forget what I want to say, so hopefully, I will be able to get over that sooner or later. Preferrably sooner rather than later... I already have enough anxiety and don't need any more to add to the stack. But I also hope that I'll be able to be a good class rep; I want to get to know everyone, which is a huge struggle for me, and I want to really grow and learn from this experience to help me become a better me. (cheesy, I know, but it's true).
Last thing I really want to address is my research project idea. I am fascinated in self-compassion. I want to know what it is, how it affects people, and how it relates to other areas of life. So, my research project is either going to be one of two things: first, it might be how self-compassion affects aggression levels (which would be a way fun study, and later could be used practically). Second, it might be how self-compassion affects self-control/self-regulation (this one could be a bit more practical later down the road, if my prediction is supported by the data). I'm really excited for this project, though I'm not sure if I will enjoy reading as many articles as I've already gathered, lol. It will definitely be a lot of work. But, if I carry it out over the summer or next fall, it will be awesome!
Oh, I actually lied. That wasn't the last thing I wanted to address. I have one more, and that is my possible summer internship. I finally got my personal statement written and submitted. Now, all I need is my college transcript and 2 teacher recommendations. I'm sad though, because I want my neuroscience professor to do one of the recommendations, and my cognitive psych teacher to do the other one, but they're married! So, I think maybe I'll get my social psych teacher to write one instead. Hopefully, I will be posting that I get the internship soon.... unless I don't, which I guess would be okay 'cause then I could do my research project over the summer instead. But I'm hoping everything works out!
Now, that really was the last topic. I shall be drifting off to sleep soon, so... until next time.
I don't know what's been going on with my mind, but I feel so much calmer and more at peace in my life than I've felt in a long time. Honestly, I don't know what to attribute these feelings to. I thought it might be church, but I don't think it is. Maybe it's because I'm back on a schedule; I know what is expected of me and how I can accomplish it. Or, it could be this new yoga class I am taking.
My yoga class is pretty awesome - it's called Kundalini Yoga. Last week, we did meditation, a few basic exercises, and learned about the first chakkra. It's not like normal yoga; I would actually term it a self-compassion, -knowledge, -understanding type class since the whole goal is to align and come to peace with our emotions, minds, and bodies. I am fascinated with it and absolutely love the class. I thnk I talk about it as much as I do psychology, lol, which is quite something.
So I've been practicing the techniques and different "poses" at home, and I think it's really starting to change my understanding of myself. It's wonderfully crazy! I just want to share my excitement and joy with everyone I meet; they should all learn how to totally and completely relax without any thought.
I am also taking a beginning guitar class this semester. I don't know why I waited so long to take fun classes... they are the best! Anyhow, my guitar teacher is pretty awesome and I'm trying to learn the different notes and chords right now. You know how they say learning a new language helps you with your first language? Well, I'm hoping that the same principle applies to instruments. I've hit a road block in my music. So, I went out and bought some new piano books (one is the Keith Urban Defying Gravity CD for piano!) and am hoping those will help along with learning the guitar.
In other news, I was called to be class rep for my institute class, which I am still nervous/excited about. I get terrified in front of people and I forget what I want to say, so hopefully, I will be able to get over that sooner or later. Preferrably sooner rather than later... I already have enough anxiety and don't need any more to add to the stack. But I also hope that I'll be able to be a good class rep; I want to get to know everyone, which is a huge struggle for me, and I want to really grow and learn from this experience to help me become a better me. (cheesy, I know, but it's true).
Last thing I really want to address is my research project idea. I am fascinated in self-compassion. I want to know what it is, how it affects people, and how it relates to other areas of life. So, my research project is either going to be one of two things: first, it might be how self-compassion affects aggression levels (which would be a way fun study, and later could be used practically). Second, it might be how self-compassion affects self-control/self-regulation (this one could be a bit more practical later down the road, if my prediction is supported by the data). I'm really excited for this project, though I'm not sure if I will enjoy reading as many articles as I've already gathered, lol. It will definitely be a lot of work. But, if I carry it out over the summer or next fall, it will be awesome!
Oh, I actually lied. That wasn't the last thing I wanted to address. I have one more, and that is my possible summer internship. I finally got my personal statement written and submitted. Now, all I need is my college transcript and 2 teacher recommendations. I'm sad though, because I want my neuroscience professor to do one of the recommendations, and my cognitive psych teacher to do the other one, but they're married! So, I think maybe I'll get my social psych teacher to write one instead. Hopefully, I will be posting that I get the internship soon.... unless I don't, which I guess would be okay 'cause then I could do my research project over the summer instead. But I'm hoping everything works out!
Now, that really was the last topic. I shall be drifting off to sleep soon, so... until next time.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Better than Your Textbooks!
God answers prayers in some very strange ways sometimes... Who ever would have thought that the answers to my problems would be presented in my stress management class? I sure as heck didn't. But, I'm feeling better about life in general now, thanks to that class.
The whole class was about stress and spirituality. This was a rather interesting topic. I had no idea that we would discuss the spiritual health of our souls in any college class. But I was glad we did. Spirituality and religion are completely different subjects, although spirituality can be expressed through religion. I know some of my friends and I have talked about this before, but I didn't realize that someone had written a whole entire chapter in a psychology book about it.
One point I found rather interesting, but I am also skeptical about it, is a study that someone did where they showed the affects of words on ice crystals. It was strange, not gonna lie. And I'm still pretty skeptical about this effect, but I wonder if it's true. In the experiment, positive affirmation statements created beautiful crystals, whereas negative statements created less attractive crystals. They also studied the affects of music and got similar results. So, I don't know exactly what to think about this study....
I definitely believe in the effects of words and music on the soul. I believe that mental and psychological issues cause just as much stress and take just as much energy as physical issues. Researchers have started doing studies that indicate that the amount of glycogen in the brain decreases with mental stress (such as willpower, traumatic situations, etc.). This goes to show that mental and psychological issues really do take energy from people. It's a rather interesting study, if you ever care to research or write about something in psychology.
Another topic we looked at in class was spiritual healing. We looked quite a bit at forgiveness. Here's a concept I never considered before. Forgiveness is only for oneself. Keeping in anger, aggression, and hatred hurts only whoever is holding the grudge. The person who did the wrong never knows about the anger, the built up tension. It only matters to the person who either can't forgive or is trying to forgive. So, that was a good study. Something worth knowing, even for someone who isn't a psychology major.
Well, if you cared enough to read this, I'd really appreciate to know what you think. If you have views, it might be fun to discuss them. Anyways, I doubt anyone will actually do that, so I hope you enjoyed reading! It's better than a textbook, right?
The whole class was about stress and spirituality. This was a rather interesting topic. I had no idea that we would discuss the spiritual health of our souls in any college class. But I was glad we did. Spirituality and religion are completely different subjects, although spirituality can be expressed through religion. I know some of my friends and I have talked about this before, but I didn't realize that someone had written a whole entire chapter in a psychology book about it.
One point I found rather interesting, but I am also skeptical about it, is a study that someone did where they showed the affects of words on ice crystals. It was strange, not gonna lie. And I'm still pretty skeptical about this effect, but I wonder if it's true. In the experiment, positive affirmation statements created beautiful crystals, whereas negative statements created less attractive crystals. They also studied the affects of music and got similar results. So, I don't know exactly what to think about this study....
I definitely believe in the effects of words and music on the soul. I believe that mental and psychological issues cause just as much stress and take just as much energy as physical issues. Researchers have started doing studies that indicate that the amount of glycogen in the brain decreases with mental stress (such as willpower, traumatic situations, etc.). This goes to show that mental and psychological issues really do take energy from people. It's a rather interesting study, if you ever care to research or write about something in psychology.
Another topic we looked at in class was spiritual healing. We looked quite a bit at forgiveness. Here's a concept I never considered before. Forgiveness is only for oneself. Keeping in anger, aggression, and hatred hurts only whoever is holding the grudge. The person who did the wrong never knows about the anger, the built up tension. It only matters to the person who either can't forgive or is trying to forgive. So, that was a good study. Something worth knowing, even for someone who isn't a psychology major.
Well, if you cared enough to read this, I'd really appreciate to know what you think. If you have views, it might be fun to discuss them. Anyways, I doubt anyone will actually do that, so I hope you enjoyed reading! It's better than a textbook, right?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)