" IMA READER MANIAC..MANIAC" BLOG 3

Reading books and Writing stories makes me Happy. Going to class and listening to a teacher talk about reading books and writing doesn’t. In “Happiness and Education” Tal Ben-Shahar talks about how there are two different kinds of students in Education which are Lovemaking models and Drowning models. The lovemaking models thrive for education; they love learning new things and seeking out the pleasures that benefit from it. Drowning models, like myself, lack the integrity to actually commit to doing any work at all that doesn’t make them happy. I read about 5 different books at a time but to have to go to class and told by a teacher to read a book for that class in not something that I’ll enjoy.  I seek my own pleasures in doing something for myself that I ended up abusing it.

I remember how I always used to hate going to math class in high school and how I used to always skip and sit in someone else’s class. Knowing that I wasn’t achieving anything by ditching my academic studies to sit it one of my friends class and watch them learn didn’t faze me until I had to take a test for it. Seeing my downfall I felt like I destroyed any chance of being a better person and making my family proud. I felt as if school was a burden, a curse, that I had to do and I expressed that feeling by skipping. When Tal Ben-Shahar spoke about “Lovemaking models” and “Drowning models” in his article “Happiness in Education” I thought about my time as a student in high school.

In my years at being in high school I loved reading books that I felt I could relate to. I read books in math class, art class, music class, not science class because I was always on point there but any other class I had I read books in. In my mind I could enjoy reading books all the time because that’s what made me happy in an institution that made me feel caged. I was a drowning model when it came to English class because I never wanted to listen to the teacher talk about the book we were supposed to read or the questions that we needed to answer. I enjoyed reading books that I preferred for myself instead of the ones chosen for me, and that was my downfall.

When I saw my grades at the end of my junior year I finally saw what I needed to do and how I needed to do it. I came back to school my senior year and started putting myself out there on how much I love books and learning. At the end of my dramatic change I ended up graduating most improved in high school because I put what I enjoyed so much to good use. The look on my families faces when I was called up for my award was so heartwarming that I cried. Now looking back at that memory I figured out that in seeing as how I was on the border line of failing in school I made myself work hard at doing what I was supposed to and seen that I actually enjoy the work that was given to me. I ended up turning into a Lovemaking model because I understood that I could make my education fun if I turned away from the negative aspects about school and focused instead on the beneficial opportunities that I can get from achieving goal.

Tal Ben-Shahar said that his brother loved to study psychology but hated it as a student. If people stop and think about how much easier or better school can be if what you already know is put out there then that’s better for them. Students focus on school in a negative way because that’s all they see it as when they’re assigned to do so much work. That’s what my mindset was focused on when I was in high school. My only thoughts was that I had to do work all the time and projects and papers; so I just stopped all together and starting living a life I though made me happy. Seeing the outcome of my ways made my education look like elementary so I gave myself a pity talk and got to doing what was right. Reading is fun when you do it as a group because there is so much things that you can learn from what other people say. Reading motivates me in having a happier education.

Being a college student showed me that I can make it somewhere in life and that I don’t want to be on a path that  leads me into situations that I can’t get out of. I love my education and I love the different people that I get to see every day when I go to school. I now see that reading so much was the best thing I did in high school because it led me to where I am today. I limit myself to how much I read and what I read to make room for much more important things in life like my education. All in all though I know that I can’t let what I enjoy most control what I need the most. Education can have happiness; I just can’t let what I need berate what I know.  

"Ashley's World" blog 2

“Hey class I want you to write a fifteen page paper on Beauty, on how you see Beauty, on how you think it affects us in a literal sense compared to what some people might think is Beautiful to them and then make sure that you identify the human characteristic that possesses…” blah blah blah ! Who seriously wants to hear all that rambling going on and on and on about fifteen pages GET OUT! Not everybody is too happy about that...well except for that kid bouncing up and down in his seat…Oh My Goodness. Does Education contain any ounce of Happiness that could make an individual constantly crave it? In “Happiness and Education” Tal Ben-Shahar discusses the difference between a Lovemaking model in which a person basically has no qualms about writing thousands of pages for class and always enjoys new ways to enhance their education, and a Drowning model which is someone who feels as if the pressure is always on them and actually attempting to submit themselves to the work is not always accurate. Maybe some people love absorbing the pleasure of learning new things and hands on creativity, but for me it’s a little different because I just can’t wait to get home crack open that good old workbook and fall asleep (Warning-drooling may be possible).

Tal Ben-Shahar talked about how his brother loved to study Psychology at Harvard and how he spent his free time reading, writing, brainstorming, all that good stuff, but in the end his brother didn’t like it as a student. Maybe his brother felt as if he was put under pressure to study even harder about the subject he loves and felt as if there is no happiness in having to constantly research it and write pages on it, etc.  Maybe Shahar’s brother loved the fact that he can easily do what he has to in class in his own atmosphere, in his own time when he feels better about studying and gathering information about it. Students tend to go toward the bad side in education where they feel as if it’s a waste of their free time and there’s no fun in what’s being taught. Even if the class is fun in the end when you go home and is asked how your day was you’ll probably say it was boring...walk in your room and mope.

I know that one of my favorite subjects is English and I can’t stop reading if my life depending on it. After coming home from school I literally walk into my house start up my PC and read stories on it all day or I just write about what's on my mind. When it comes to going to class for English I can’t stand it because I don’t enjoy it as much unless the teacher makes it fun. I can call myself a drowning model because I don’t like to do work unless it benefits me in my own time…in "Ashley’s World". I think that Shahar’s brother was a drowning model because he loved to study up on Psychology all the time, in his time. He disliked it as a student but loved it as a way of entertaining himself when he’s alone or sharing his views with people who’ll listen. I’ve had teachers who made English very enjoyable and others who made me want to set my ears on fire so I won’t have to listen to what they say, but when the time comes for me to go home and all that educational work for class has been done and put away…Ashley time is on and it doesn’t stop.

I had a little Lovemaking thing going on when I was in science class, and before you get all scared and hightail it, I was talking about the subject. I Love…Love…Love…absolutely Love Science. I don’t care if it’s in my spare time or in school I’ll listen to anybody who’s willing to share some views about anything related to science. It’s my dream to be a science major but my problem is that I just don’t know what part I want to major in. Science is really my Educational Happiness because I can’t live in a world without it which is impossible because the world wouldn’t be here without it. I don’t feel pressured into the subject and if anybody asked me a question about science I won’t put up a fuss in answering them. I see now that Tel Ben-Shahar is right and there is some Happiness in Education… you just have to be willing to find it in yourself.

"The Gift of Reason"

Just because you want a new shiny car to go with the new house you bought so you could feel happy about yourself doesn’t mean that you will be. In Jon Gertner’s article “The Futile Pursuit of Happiness” he wrote about four psychologists  theories on Happiness and the one psychologist theory that I thought was completely accurate was Jon Gilbert. He spoke about how there are two types of Happiness that humans produce. His theory had me questioning myself and what I really believe makes me happy or what I think will make me happy. Gilbert proves that not only is Happiness an emotion that maybe just maybe we might be able to control how happy we are and how happy we want to be. Is Happiness a feeling that comes naturally or something that I can create myself?

Dan Gilbert states that there are two types of Happiness called natural happiness and synthetic happiness. Natural Happiness is when we’re happy because we got what we wanted. It’s comes in time, anytime, anywhere. Natural happiness is uncontrollable and unpredictable because it can comes to you when you least expect it. Say if you walking somewhere and you found money on the ground, you’re going to be happy because you figured it must be your lucky day. Natural happiness can come to you at anytime whether you like it or not. It’s the gift of reason and you cherish happiness because it’s what giving you that glowing feeling.

I felt this kind of Happiness millions of times and they all came when I least expect it. I felt Happiness walking down the street because I felt that I’m getting the exercise I need or I felt happy just with family because I know that they’ll always be there for me. Shockingly I even felt happy when my father was diagnosed with high blood pressure and had to take off work for a while. To me that made me happy because I got to spend more time with him than I used to. I used to pray for my father to be home more and I guess I got what I wanted an I see that Natural Happiness is a blessing  at the right times.

Another kind of Happiness that Gilbert says that we have is Synthetic Happiness and this one is shocking to me because its true and it comes at me differently. Synthetic Happiness is when we’re happy when we don’t get what we want. This feeling is odd to me because I feel happy when what I truly wanted for myself is unreachable or possibly impossible to get, and I start thinking to myself about do I really need it. I remember when I was at the mall and I wanted to buy a binder from Bloomindales just because it was name brand and I thought it would make me feel good, feel cool about myself that I had it. I didn’t buy it because I didn’t need it, I just wanted it for show so I left it there and in the end I felt good… great actually.

 “The futile Pursuit of Happiness”…what is that really? Is Gilbert’s theory on Natural Happiness a way to say that people feel obligated to have happiness in their life? Is synthetic Happiness healthy for us because it teaches us a lesson about ourselves that we need to rethink? I think these theories are brilliant because people need to understand that maybe Happiness is not just a feeling or an emotion, that maybe it apart or us or something that we can control to make us feel better in a situation or just make us feel Human.

HI

IM NEW ON HERE SO GO EASY ON ME OKAY. MY NAME IS ASHLEY AND I LOVE EVERYTHING THAT HAS PAGES AND A MYSTERY TO IT...ITS A BOOK IF YOU DIDNT GET IT. UMM..I LIKE ANIMALS, I LOVE THEM, THATS WHY IM MAJORING TO BECOME A VETERINARIAN TECHNICIAN SO I CAN TAKE CARE OF THE LITTLE WOOPER SNAPPERS. I HATE MY HOUSE AND I WANT TO LEAVE AND MOVE TO MANHATTAN, DON'T CARE ABOUT THE EXPENCE, AND JUST LIVE MY LIFE AS IT SHOULD.

Paramore: The Only Exception [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

The Pursuit of Happiness: Dan Gilbert on Happiness

This video taught me alot about Natural Happiness, is what we get when we achieved what we wanted, and Synthetic Happiness is what we get when we dont get what we wanted. I was shocked at first when Dan Gilbert showed how people were happy or themost happy when they didnt get what they want. The article at 06:50 about Harry S. Langerman and readign an article about a burger stand that he wanted to franchise in turned out to be unsuccessful and he said "I believe it turned out fot the best". Synthetic Happiness to me is better than Natural Happiness because it makes people believe in the brighter side of things instead of what they couldn't accomplish. People like Pete Ringo even though he was cast out i think that maybe his life just got better after the Beatles.
Dan Gilbert explained how if we had freedom to choose what we want then there is no point to Synthetic Happiness because we are trying to get what we want instead of being happy and i quote " ...letting the chips fall were they may". I loved this video and i'll try to not alwyas get mad at what i can't get but just be happy that i had a chance to.

I love to read love stories but only in the paramormal sence. I live in brooklyn with my brother and annoying mother but I am hoping to move out really soon so root for me ;-). Email me at: Angelbrown92@hotmail.com