Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Home Run!

Happiness. I always contemplated the idea of happiness while laying on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Yet, I never understood the psychology of happiness.

In class today, we discussed about happiness in the terms of the product of adaptation, focalism, and the psychology "immune" system. People are able to adapt to their surroundings and new life style; for instance, we think that earning a few more thousand dollars a year would make us happy, but we are able to adapt to the situation and not to think of our annual income as the source of our happiness. Another situation where we adapt is when we take a shower or bath. We tend to take it for granted the hot water coming down the faucet, but when we spend some time outside in the wilderness we come to realize how happy hot water makes us feel. That is why it is important to refresh our daily lives with breaks that interrupts the frequency of something. Focalism is the idea that is the focus of our happiness. Whether it is not winning the lottery or getting a promotion, at that certain moment, we tend to base our happiness because of the events; but we tend to not look at other factors that influence our happiness such as, relationships, sports, or hobbies. And lastly, our psychology "immune" system does wonders that are similar to our biological immune system. The psychology immune system can reverse our unhappiness, to a certain event or outcome, into happiness. In other words, make a frown turn upside down. Did you know that the peak of happiness does not happen until the age of 70? I am currently in the decline of happiness, but when I become seventy I will be one of the happiest people alive. It's nice to know that there is more happiness in my life when I become older.

9+10= A Great Pair
In our section today, we talked about the psychology of attraction and relationships. I learned that attractiveness may play a part in our relationships with people, but proximity or the mere exposure of people contribute to a huge part as well. Since I live on the same floor as Rachel and Melissa, I am more likely to be friends with them; and since Reese and Lucy are my classmates, we tend to go to class together, eat lunch together, and do homework together. Another example of proximity is when I was with the Cornell cohort for five days, 24/7, which made us very close friends during that short amount of time because we were always with each other. For mere exposure, it is the idea that we tend to like our mirrored version of ourselves than our pictures. This is because the exposure to the mirrored selves, the more common it is for us, while others see us face-to-face. We also did an activity in class called "The Mating Game." Steve was going to give us a card, ranging from 3-10, where the number 10 was the most valuable. We are not able to look at our number, and we had to socialize with other people. If we wanted to be a pair with the certain individual, we had to shake their hand, otherwise the individual would deny the deal and continue to "shop" around. When we got up, I immediately spotted a 10. It was Megan. My first attempt was to introduce myself to her, even though she knew my name. My instinct was to go for the handshake, which meant I already made the deal without "whooing" her, but I disregarded my handshake and told her a random fact. I said that I love to make people laugh, and that I have a sense of humor, and after that I initiated the shake and she shook it. I was very happy at that moment because I scored a 10. We were the first pair to sit down, and when I saw my number, I felt pretty good. I was a 9, just one below from a 10, but it is still a good match. The pairing went on for a bit, and Megan and I decided to talk about Korean dramas. It is something that we have in common, and I'm glad to be able to find my match and a closer relationship to her. The conclusion of it all was to show that not all of us can have a stunning, attractive significant other. The fact that some people ignored the 3's was a sign to show those who had 3's how much others desired them. Luckily for me, I scored pretty well, and I think we make a good match.

The seminar today was on the topic of depression. As depressing as it sounds, I learned a lot. Today for our seminar, Casey Carr had Jeremy, a student and a participant in Cornell Minds Matter, help her. He told us about Cornell Minds Matter which is a student organization which promotes well-being by holding activities such as, yoga, zumba, arts and crafts, and free massages every month. In our discussion today we learned about positive stresses like, sports and relationships. Positive stresses make us strive for our goals, and promote healthy tensions both physical and mental. However, too many stresses can lead to an imbalance, and then a breakdown. There is the balance point of the brain which is at peak performance, a place where it is just right.

Casey, Jeremy, and I
After our discussion on the chalk board we had an activity where Jeremy read five sentences, and we either agreed or disagreed to the statements. Something that I learned about Cornell was how they keep their students well informed. Whether if it is a suicide, a rape, or any other major incident, Cornell University likes to update students on the news that happened on campus. I really like this aspect of Cornell because as a student, I want to know what is happening to me in my environment. I will be able to trust the administrators more, and I will feel safer in my environment. Another activity that we did involved us acting. We were all given different cards that helped relieved stress, and with those cards we had to find the group that had the same card as us. In my group, we decided to pretend we were playing baseball. I was the batter, and at the third pitch, I would hit the home run. After hitting the ball "very far," I ran around the room in an exciting manner. That was the best part about my day, and I got compliments for my energy. I can't wait to go see Inside Out tomorrow.
Play Hard!

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