Sunday, December 5, 2010

Positive Thinking

  I believe there is power in positive thinking. Many people don't realize it and how important it can be. It is an incredible ability a human can do. Positive thinking can get you ready for what can happen to you later on. Without thinking positively most things wont come out right. Positive thinking is very good for a person. It can prevent negative feelings. It is important because people need to think positive in order to move ahead. If a person thinks negatively, things may not come out as wanted. An example of positive thinking is planning out what you want to be in the future and be ready for what is required. As well as not giving up. Negative thinking will be the opposite. Negative thinking will be doing things without imagining what the outcome is going to be. It can also let you down and not feel like things are too hard or good for you. That's why positive thinking is very powerful, because it can determine things such as feelings and accomplishments. People think everyday, as they think they gain more knowledge and experience of the positive things in life. But that can only happen if you think positively. Negative thoughts will only bring negative outcomes. Even though people also learn from bad outcomes because everything won't always come out perfect in life. Positive thinking is a very important thing in our lives. All the decisions we make are based on what we think. That is why people with positive attitude tend to achieve more of their goals. If people increase on positive thinking they can be happier in anything they put their mind on. Many people probably still don’t know about this ability, so actually thinking about it makes people understand how important it can be for our lives.  

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Anti-depressants

        Many people suffering from depression are introduced to anti-depressants. Anti- depressants are a very popular type of pharmaceutical drugs. Companies who sell these drugs to thousands of people are making lots of profit. People don’t really realize how these drugs can affect their life’s and health. These drugs can turn into addiction such as other drugs like heroine and nicotine can. These things can really affect who a person is and will be. Now people have the right to tell their doctor what medication they want and don’t want to take. Certain people that really cant control their disorder should only be allowed to take anti-depressants. Pharmaceutical drugs shouldn’t be used on a person unless they have tried helping the patient in other ways and weren’t able to succeed. Negative effects of the drugs can really affect the patients life.
      
        Depression is a disorder that any human being can go through. Dysthymia and anxiety disorders as well. These disorders can either be passed down genetically or formed by the environment events in which the person goes through. Genetically meaning if your parents suffered from the disorder you are more likely to as well. A person can also get it by events that occur in life such as separation of a loved one or losing some close. Psychiatrists way of treating is with anti- depressants. Anti-Depressants is a very common and popular type of medicated drugs. These medications are giving to the patients by the psychiatrists. Anti-depressants are medications for mood disorders. Major depression being one of them, as well as dysthymia and anxiety disorders. Those three disorders have similar symptoms noticed in a persons emotions. Some symptoms are bad feelings, facial expressions, and low self esteem. A very popular anti-depressant pill given to the patients who suffer from these mood disorders is Fluoxetine. They are commonly known by their trade names Prozac and Sarafem. Fluoxetine has been around since 1970, it was known as antihistamine diphenhydramine. Then later on the name changed to Prozac, which it is still known as now. Article Oh How Happy We Will be states that author Peter Breggin from the book “Talking Back to Prozac” argues that “anti-depressant drugs are merely the latest form of middle class stimulants”(Crister.34). What he mainly is trying to express that almost anyone will buy them just to feel better. Many patients suffering from disorders that buy anti-depressants give lots of money to the company. They also don’t realize the effects it can have on them.
   
        Pharmaceutical drugs have side effects that can cause damage to someone’s health. Nobody wants to be affected by anti-depressants, because obviously they take it to cure their disorder. Prozac are such strong pills if mixed with any other chemicals, it can cause significant intestinal bleeding later on. Sexual side effects have also been found as well as Akathisia. Akathisia is a side effect found in patients that took fluoxetine. It is the inability to stay still, often making purposeless movements of the feet and legs. It has also been shown that patients under these drugs had higher percentage of suicidal attempts. When they stopped the feeling went away. It affects a persons health, gaining weight and anxiety being few of them. The anxiety of taking more pills comes because they think its doing them good. That is seen as an addiction to the drug. Being addicted makes it almost impossible to stop, as if it was the only option. A quote I can relate to that comes from Greg Crister, author of  Oh How Happy We Will Be implies that “I wonder, though, if my depression is unbearable without medication only because I know that this medication exists”(40). He wonders if his life can be better without medication because he knows he has that option but can be hard for him to stop. Many people can go through the same situation as him and wont be able to stop. That is making all this pharmaceutical drugs wealthy with many patients consuming the drugs.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Things Im Grateful for

   There are many things i am grateful of. One thing i am grateful for is for having good health. I am grateful about that because if I didn't have good health my life wouldn't be the same. Being health gives me the opportunity to do many things. I am also grateful for my family, without them I don't know where I would be right now. They always give me advice and help me out in what they can. I think they have raised me well and I love them for always being there for me. Since i was small they fed me and took care of me to grow healthy. I am also grateful for having the ability to play the sport I love, which is soccer. That is the sport I loved playing ever since I was little. I really enjoy being able to play the sport. I am grateful for the education that I am getting. Education is very important now and not many people have the opportunity to get it. People don't take advantage of the opportunity but I am happy that I have the chance and I'm taking advantage of it because i know it will be helpful for my future. I am grateful for so many other things as well which makes me who I am. Without many of the things I have done and received, I wouldn't be the person who I am now. But I am really grateful for what I have received.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Cultivating Happiness in Friendship

Friendships require work from both to build a stronger and happier relationship. Cultivating is very important for a relationship. It is what makes a relationship good. There are many ways of cultivating a relationship. Some ways are spending more time, gratitude, honesty, support. Those are ways of cultivating happiness in a friendship. It takes time for people to be happy and get along well, but everyone seeks to have a good friendship in these type of ways. Happiness in a relationship is very good for a person, it makes them feel better. People have to work together hard and understand each other in order to have good communication, because friendships don’t grow in a short period.
      Spending time with people is the best way to get to know someone. By spending more time together people understand each other better. They will learn what each other like doing and what they don’t. That is really important in a relationship, so it can keep growing. Understanding each other is necessary because if two people cant understand each other it is impossible to have a good friendship. Bonding with a friend will give each the chance to know what the person is like and what their interests are. That will lead to better understanding between one another. That is good in every relationship because you can prevent problems by doing things the other person doesn’t like. From an internet article “ How To Make Strong Friendship” they state “First, you need to acknowledge the fact that you make friends who are from very different backgrounds. You must accept and appreciate their experiences”. People have to realize that everyone is different in many ways that characterizes them.     
      Honesty is also another major aspect in cultivating a friendship. By being honest to each other will make them get closer. It will show them the type of person you really are. "Genuine friendship cannot exist where one of the parties is unwilling to hear the truth," says Cicero. What he is mainly trying to state is a good friendship doesn’t exist if one person isn’t of capable of hearing the truth. That is why being honest is really important in any type of relationship, because that is the way you gain respect. Everyone needs loyal friends they can trust with anything. A recent study shows that people, who express their personal issues with a trusted friend, are commonly happier in life. Without honesty we would be confused on who to count on to keep promises and secrets. People that usually participate in a dishonest friendship, will find it harder to make a new trusting friend then before the problem of dishonesty occurred. Honesty is cultivation of friendship, in a friendship we need honesty because honest friends can maintain us stay happy , without honesty we won’t trust anyone.
     Gratitude is very important for a relationship. By being grateful you make a friend feel better which makes them more comfortable being with you. The person knows that every time they spend time with you there going to feel good. Showing thanks to a friend will often benefit in a good way. By being grateful it shows the other person that you actually care about what they are doing for you. It makes them realize that they can make other people feel good and will make them feel good for accomplishing something. Then the other person will feel good and show the same love back. Being thankful can also be a show of respect to what they do for you. Sara Groves from the “ Independent Record” stated that “ Multiple scientific studies have shown that being grateful can increase immune function, reduce the risk of disease and even make people more hopeful”.
Which means a person can be healthier just by being thankful and grateful to other people.
    Once a friendship grows bigger they will show if they are actually supportive to you. If they are true friends they will support you in whatever they can. Being supportive also comes from being trustful to a person. Sometimes a person gets into an argument or has any other type of problem and they need support or advice from a friend. A good friend will always be there to have your back and will never turn their back on you. Many times when people get into problems they find out who their true friends are. The one’s who support them with their decisions and give advice when having problems will be remain close friends, then to those who turn their back. Supporting a friend shows how much you care for that persons friendship. Problems aren’t always easy to solve, but a true friend will support you through thick and thin and give you advice. Supportive friends can also make the other laugh, smile and most importantly feel better when passing through a rough time. Having close friends who you can trust on can make you healthier. On an online article ‘Strong Friendships May Help You Live Longer” by Jennifer Warner, it states that  “ A new study shows that having a group of good friends around may be even more important than family for a long and healthy life”. That study very well explained how happiness from friendship can benefit you for a longer life.
     People work to cultivate their friendship with others. People spend time to see who will make a good friend by getting to know who they really are and spending more time in order to bond. It is impossible to make a friend one day and then the next day be best friends. Strong friendship takes time to form, so a good communication can be available. After time of bonding happiness will naturally come with a good friendship. Having a good relationship can be healthy for a person. As studies have shown people that are happy spending time with friends often are healthier and live longer. Cultivating in different ways is the way to get to that point of happiness in a friendship.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Relationship and Happiness

Spending more time with loved one is very important. It gives you the opportunity to bond and get along with each other better. People who tend to spend more time with loved ones tend to be happier. It makes me happy when i spend time with my family because i know those are the people that will always support me and give me advice in what i do. It makes me feel closer and more open to them so we can talk about anything.

   Gratitude is being thankful or appreciating for something. Every person shows gratitude at points in life. I have learned to be thankful for others who help me. I think its the correct and respectful way to treat someone after they have done something for you. Gratitude in a relationship can be very important to build a stronger relationship. Having a stronger relationship will benefit both. It can also make one another feel better.

    Sacrifice is a very tough decision to make. In life many people will have to sacrifice something they like doing to make someone else happy. In a relationship there are can many sacrifices a person goes through in order to not lose a loved one. For example a guy can sacrifice playing in s ports team to go live with his wife that he loves so much because she wants him to move with her for school. If the guy decides to move and forget about the sport he loves playing can be considered a sacrifice. He believed even though he sacrificed what he loved he can still be happy because it can make his relationship stronger.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

happiness at work

Working is an important thing about life. Everyone has to work in order to make money. It can either be hard work or easy work. It can get a person mad and stressed or they can be happy with what they do. I have had some experience in work and there are things I like about it and other things I don't. I don't like that sometimes it can take time and I can't do some things I want to do like hang out with my friends or family. What I like about it is that I get paid. That's the main reason for work but also because I  like helping others.

     Happiness at work can also depend on who you work with and the things you do. The way you communicate at work with other workers is very important because if people dont get along it is going to be very difficult to be happy at work. Currently I am not working but I would like to find a job that I like and can communicate well with others so I can be happy at the job. Then for the future I want to work doing something i really like and maybe get payed more but the most important thing I want is to be happy at work and not be worried and stressed so much about work.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Happiness with Education

 I see education as a good thing in life. Other people might have different opinions about it. At times my emotions kick in when I'm dealing with education. I have learned ways to deal with it and my weaknesses and strengths as well. Weaknesses and strength is something everyone deals with in education. In my years of being in school i faced problems and realized some of my strengths and weaknesses as the years went by.  
      One weakness i have faced in education is being lazy. There has been times when it affected me a lot and sometimes it still does. It is not a good thing to be feeling that way. It is not good at all for me because i started doing bad in school because i got too lazy to study and do all my work because I would keep saying ill do it later but then i would end up not doing anything at all. It is not good because when i have a lot of work i would save it to the last minute which now i know isn't good at all because it can show I didn't take my time to do it. Now i tend to focus more on my stuff so I can improve as a student. A fear i have always had is going in front of the class to present something. I never liked doing that because I get shy. It makes me feel worried and makes me think if I'm actually going to do good on the presentation. So I know I have to overcome my nervousness in order to do good and most importantly overcome that fear. I can relate to what Ken Robinson mentioned in the video “Does school kill Creativity” when they realized the girl was a dancer. I can relate to it because sometimes there’s thing i cant do correctly and it makes me feel lost but when I'm in an enviorment where i like doing what i love its really different because it makes me happy.
      A strength that i have and that i learned through time and experience is to never give up. There were many times before when i was small that I encountered hard occasions while in school and sometimes i gave up on things and didn't try as hard.  Not giving up is a very important part in life. It made me realize that it is real important because everyone faces in challenges in life that wont be easy . Also challenges will come upon me for everything i want to do and succeed in. The good things in life aren't that easy to achieve. You have to be a hard worker and try your best always, that is the best to do because being lazy and letting it take you over isn't good at all.
     Frustration is a very common thing in education as well in my opinion. I think it is because I myself have faced frustrations in school when I wasn't able to do something correct.  In school there are many things i have come upon on. Some things take more time to learn and to study more than other subjects. Sometimes it frustrates me when other students understand things better then me. It makes me feel like if they are smarter then me but i know that everyone is good at different things. Now i just say to myself that I am better then them at other things. Sometimes it makes me feel a bit better, because I know people are different and have different interests which can make them better at things I might not like at all. Another thing that frustrates me is when I have to write long papers. It frustrates me because I don't really like writing a lot and I don't think I'm a great writer. I have always felt like that about writing and it frustrates me but i want to keep writing to get better and get that frustration over with because i know writing is very important and i will need it.
     For me another important event that happened to me  in education was the motivation i received from others. To me the motivation and advice I received I will never forget. I will always remember the advice and words people have told me to not give up and keep trying. When i started failing classes in high school because i started getting lazy my parents motivated me and gave me advice that i always have in mind. They made me realize that if I give up it wont be a good decision and how it can affect my future. They also told me that I'm capable of anything if i work and try my hardest cause life isn't easy to get the best that it will be full of struggles but to never give up. Around that time as well my soccer coach noticed what was going on with me and he wondered why i was getting lazy. So he then gave me advice also and told me that its like soccer, if you want to keep improving and getting better you always have to train to get better at it but if you give up you will never learn new stuff and be able to expand my knowledge about things which is in the sport I love and my education. So as time passed I listened to those advices and changes started showing. I was doing all my work again and i started getting good grades and started passing all my classes again which was most important to me. During that time i received a most improved award from my school. It made me so happy and made me realize that if i work hard i can do anything. That motivated me even more to keep myself on track and not to slack because I was able if i worked hard and didn't give up. It was a big event that occurred while i was growing up dealing with school and my education and I am really happy for all the advice and motivations I received at that time to take to where I am now in college and i still receive advice from many others as well and it helps me stay focused now that I'm in college so i keep learning and facing new challenges. Its great thing to have support and advice even now.  
    

“Does school Kill Creativity” produced by TED, Ken Robinson, TED, 2006