Category: Life Lesson

History is the study of past events, particularly in human affairs. The importance of history is to allow us to have knowledge of our present time. History allows humanity to look at its own reflection and allows us to think about humanity. Studying the events from the past gives us a better look at how the world came to be including human culture and even nature itself. In my opinion, I believe it is more important to study the past rather than the present because we can learn more from our mistakes. When we learn from our mistakes we take it as a life lesson, we grow upon it, and we don’t let the past repeat itself into our present time.

Everyone at some point in their time being has made some sort of mistake in which it leads them into taking it as a life lesson. One life lesson would be to walk on your path. I say this because when you walk on your path you’re experiencing many new opportunities on what you want to do, instead of listening to others tell you what to do. Sometimes the people that make this mistake by listening to others ends up missing on new experiences. Then they would have thought about how their life would have been different if they walked on their own path and done what they wanted to do.

History is the study of past events, particularly in human affairs. The importance of history is to allow us to have knowledge of our present time. History allows humanity to look at its own reflection and allows us to think about humanity. Studying the events from the past gives us a better look at how the world came to be including human culture and even nature itself. In my opinion, I believe it is more important to study the past rather than the present because we can learn more from our mistakes. When we learn from our mistakes we take it as a life lesson, we grow upon it, and we don’t let the past repeat itself into our present time.

Everyone at some point in their time being has made some sort of mistake in which it leads them into taking it as a life lesson. One life lesson would be to walk on your path. I say this because when you walk on your path you’re experiencing many new opportunities on what you want to do, instead of listening to others tell you what to do. Sometimes the people that make this mistake by listening to others ends up missing on new experiences. Then they would have thought about how their life would have been different if they walked on their own path and done what they wanted to do.

You have not taken the time to discover how to truly make yourself, simply put, yourself. If any of what was mentioned above is you, then I am so glad that you have this book at your fingertips. I am your typical small-town girl. Who found her way onto a huge college campus at just eighteen years old. Who found herself changing her major three different times, joining a well-known sorority on campus, and quickly realizing that there are so many more diverse people out in the world than just those I knew in my small, mediocre town. I began to unravel and develop new tools to help myself succeed. Tools that I necessarily did not need or develop my first eighteen years of life. Fast forward to grad school plus three years, and here I am. I am a Kindergarten teacher who is still, each and every day, discovering new tools to stick in my tool belt. I have come to believe that is what life is about — figuring out new tools to adapt with and . . . well, happiness. If you aren’t happy with your life, then something within you needs to change. I learned that very, very quickly.

My first year of teaching truly was an eye-opening experience. I soon learned that a lot of my students of mine came from almost nothing. I couldn’t talk about families or homes because, as hard as it is to hear, some of them had neither. I was always ready to discuss what my students did over their weekends, but then I quickly disregarded the conversation due to the fact that the majority were not able to do much. Students need a lot of love. I poured my heart and soul into my classroom and the bodies inside of it. Each day, I tried to give it my all. I tried to hide my frustrations because they did not deserve to see me like that. I had every lesson planned beforehand for each subject, day in and day out. I wanted them to learn. I wanted them to grow. I wanted them to succeed in not only their coursework but in life as well. Do you know how troubling it is as a teacher to know that you can only do so much? You can only give a portion of what your students truly need to them. And that right there is an upsetting piece of reality. Not only that but I was overwhelmed with my workload on top of it. I stayed after school multiple days a week and, if I wasn’t staying after school, I constantly brought work home with me. There was always something that needed to be worked on. There was always something that I felt I could be doing better. There was content that needed to be taught in a better way. There were behaviors that needed to be addressed in a different manner.

As a teacher, your job truly never feels completely done. I became despondent and irritable the majority of the time. I thought about my job constantly. I let it take over me, take over my feelings, take over my actions, and take over my entire well-being. I gave it all of my energy. I didn’t have the tools necessary to control the way that I was supposed to handle these types of situations. I let the negative scenarios take over me, too. It affected my relationships. It affected my day-to-day routines. It affected my happiness. It wasn’t until I set off for a run around the lake near my house that I realized what my life was being controlled by. I set out to run the whole route, which was exactly 5.6 miles. As a person who is competitive by nature, I not only compete with other people but I also compete with myself. As soon as I started my run, I felt my blood sugar drop. When this happens, I am not able to endure longer distances. I was about 3.2 miles in when I felt my legs slow to a walk with my hands trembling from my blood sugar. I immediately felt frustration rush through me.

Not angry with anyone or anything other than myself and my body. The situation got to my head. My thoughts were running wild about how I could do better and be better and began to control me — the same way that my thoughts always controlled me. I instantly called my mom on the way back to my car. I still had over 2 miles to walk. I was complaining to her about only making it the distance that I did. I grumbled about how my body wouldn’t let me go further and how it wasn’t fair. My tone was strict. Disappointment crept through my words. My mom let out a sigh and simply said, “You are just like your father.” I paused and let her continue on. It’s certainly not a terrible thing to hear that I am just like my dad, because he is one of the best men that I know — but I knew exactly where she was going with it.

The man has his flaws, just as everyone does. He gets upset. He can’t handle the sadness. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. And evidently, so do I. She informed me that I let the moments that I encounter disappoint me. I let my situations control my overall mindset, causing me to be a disheartening person to talk to at times. “Kode, I just want you to be happy.” These were the words that she spoke to me before I nodded, and hung up the phone. I took the next 2.8 miles to let that conversation soak in. As hard as it was to hear at that moment, I knew that she was right. My mom was always right. I was letting my life, my thoughts, and my happiness, be controlled by my thoughts. It wasn’t my job that was controlling me. It wasn’t the lives of my students. It wasn’t my workload. It was my thoughts. How simple it seemed for my whole life to just be controlled by the ideas that passed through my brain. I made a choice at that moment. I made a choice to practice changing my perspective as much as I could, day in and day out. I wanted to change.

I wanted my life to change. I wanted happiness to set into my soul again. What my mom taught me that day was a lesson. I knew that I needed to focus on the lesson right then, not the issue. There are multiple ways to work towards happiness in your life. However, one of the ways that I will discuss all throughout this book is wrapped around the change in mindset about not dwelling so much on the issue but making sure that you are grateful for the lesson that was taught in that situation. When you change the way you look at things, the things around you begin to change. Not because they change physically, but simply because you begin to change yourself mentally. Your mind is a powerful thing. The more days that I experience in my life, the more I have to alter my mind and the way that it thinks about things. This is one tool that I am still developing each and every day — being strong enough to get in control of my thoughts. And it is one tool that I did not realize that I necessarily needed until I really began to go about living independently, learning from my experiences, and turning these experiences into positive lessons. I came to the harsh realization that life will not always be comfortable. And when the waters get rough, what are we to do? Sulk each time? Wait for a better day? Maybe, before. Not anymore. Controlling your thoughts can be practiced. It is something that you are the authority of. You may not have the ability to control the majority of situations in your life, but you do have the ability to control your mindset. These chapters hold some personal stories of mine (along with many Friends’ references). These stories always result in some type of lesson. The result of these lessons ends in choices that I chose to make to help me continue on my path in life. These choices allow me to find confidence. They allow me to find happiness as an outcome. They allow me to control my view of the situations that I encounter and give me the chance to turn them into something positive. But, these lessons also show that I am learning and growing each day. These are the lessons that help me and empower me to become a better version of myself. I want them to be able to empower others to be more positive, too. Because in the end, the more positive your perspective is, the happier you will go about your life. So, here we are. Read through stories. Learn some lessons. Adjust your thoughts. Sounds easy enough, right? It can be. But it is up to you. It is always up to you — to make the choice to turn these lessons that you experience into something good. It is up to you to make the choice to control your thoughts. To control your mindset. To control your emotions. To control your happiness. To control your life. It is a way of life. It becomes a habit. If you want to feel happy and feel like you are enough, you have to think like it. I hope you find that these lessons help you to feel empowered again. I hope you find the motivation and willingness to begin to change the way that you think about the situations that you encounter each and every day. I sincerely hope that after reading this book, you are able to take life by the horns and say not today, because your thoughts allow you to change what seems like a negative situation into a positive one. It all begins with you.

Introduction

It was a great way to finish my degree with this industry project. I have learned many invaluable lessons from undertaking this industrial project and improved not only my abilities but also contributes greatly to my career development. I was excited to be able to contribute to the work of IYC and help them grow.

This report is to reflect on my experience with Innovation Youth Centre and the gains from this project. Innovation Youth Centre (IYC) is a new start-up not-for-profit youth organization that is aiming to support young people to improve their social, recreational, and employment skills. I mainly operate in the northern urban area of Melbourne, where there is a lack of community services available to young people. NYC is currently applying for government funding to expand and improve its infrastructure and services. In order to secure funding, IYC needs to refine its internal policies and procedures manual and present as an organization that is able to carry out key functions.

Our term’s objective is to update the existing policies and procedure manual as well as implement new policies, so that IYC’s governance, risk management, and financial management are in line with best-practice processes. In updating the existing policies, we are to refer to policies and practices of existing not-for-profit (NFP) organizations, academic research, industry experts as well as key stakeholders. The ultimate purpose of these policy updates is to increase the chances of IYC securing funding so that the organization can continue to grow.

In this report, I will focus on two parts, firstly, I’ll talk about my role in the project, the method that I used to complete my tasks, how I applied theory into practice, and how dealt with project change. In the second part, I’ll focus on self-evaluation and how I can improve for the future to make it differently.

Part One

Firstly, I would point out the most obvious thing I found was the advantage of teamwork. I learned that with limited time and resources, good teamwork is the key to success. I’ve always preferred to work in groups and find that my collaborative nature is one of my strongest attributes. As everyone had their own point of view and many different ideas could be produced, I found that the energy of team participation made me feel more energetic about contributing something. Rosenfeld and Wilson (1999) point out the importance of allocating individual roles to enable the division of labor and therefore increased productivity within a term. In order to know each other better, we have all completed a survey on character strengths, which is a personality test based on research on the theory of the strength-based approach. The survey is about us finding our own strengths in relation to the project and the concept is embedded in areas like governance and youth engagement policy. It was a great tool to help with reflective practice, finding more about ourselves and how we can contribute to the project. Based on that, our project supervisor Maria allocated an area for each of us to conduct research on. My area was finance which is what I majored in as well. Before the first formal meeting with IYC’s director Mr. Paul Papadatos and Maria. I did thorough research on the organization and gathered my ideas. I found some resources relating to the policy area and recorded my ideas about financial policies that I think our team should propose to IYC. Apart from that, I examined the direction, values, and possible execution of the financial policies. We all had different ideas and thoughts, so we gathered up 2 hours prior to the meeting to put our thoughts together and I got great feedback from my team members to improve on my proposal. It was great to meet up with Paul and Maria, we had a better understanding of the project and their expectations. An agreed direction on the project was decided based on the feedback on our team’s findings by Paul & Maria.

To make sure everything is on track, our team met together the day after meeting up with the director and developed our initial project plan. The plan includes the main activities and the method of how approaching the project. Although we did make a few changes to the initial plan, it was really helpful to keep our project on the right track.

Our initial plan was to prepare a policy proposal that details the purpose, background, issues, and recommendations on that particular policy. Present the policy recommendation brief to IYC representatives for reference to decide on which policies would be important to their organization and develop in the future. As I was doing research on the policies in the financial area and drafting policy briefs, the director of IYC Paul had a meeting with the board members and re-collaborated on what is expected from our team. Our modified task is to develop policies and the related procedure, guidelines, and forms in full and submit the full binding policy and procedure manual to the board. Although the change was sudden, I did not stress out, instead, I organized a meeting with my team member and modified our plan accordingly. There was an increase in responsibilities, but I was able to utilize my financial and economical knowledge learned at university and apply them in policy development. The policy proposals that I drafted beforehand were helpful for me as well, it was a brainstorm of ideas that I could include in the policy documents.

Part Two

In retrospect, I feel that I have learned a lot of valuable lessons from this project, and there are many things that I need to improve on in the future. For me, the most useful tool was taking down notes using the daily journal template. At first, I thought I understood all the instructions given by Maria and the expectations from the IYC’s director. However as I started on the project, I realized that I had misunderstood Maria’s instructions and researched in the wrong direction. My team members were confused as well and there we all had a lack of youth work expertise and knowledge. So, we immediately arranged a zoom video call with Maria to get a clarification on the tasks and chatted with professionals to fill the knowledge gap. Having experienced that, I started taking notes for all of our meetings, both team meetings and Zoom video calls with the project supervisor. This has not only helped to_ also ensure that I listen carefully and decoded information down.

In terms of soft skills, I have improved my communication skill in both writing and orally. Ability to seek clarification. As we have to produce professional policy documents, it was crucial to use professional wording and sentencing. Additionally, my critical thinking skill improved dramatically, in policy development, I have refined my ability to analyze and evaluate an issue and form my own judgment. I have also increased my self-confidence where I can speak clearly, thoughtfully, and without feeling nervous when I was presenting my ideas to the director of IYC. I can comfortably handle the increased responsibilities that come along the way.

I have developed my technical skills as well. During the initial meeting with the project supervisor and my team members, we signed up on ‘Slack’, a communication software, this is very important for the future as most of the organization uses similar software for internal staff. After we finished the final draft of policies and gained feedback from the representatives at IYC. We had to bind all the files together and make it a legally binding document. However, I need to pay attention to details including layout, spelling, and punctuation when putting the final policies together. This is really important for the future as well, as tiny mistakes could lead to a big problem.

I need to get more engaged in the IYC community. I missed out on their annual meeting, so I missed out on the chance to talk to their youth reference group and their clients. However, my team member talked me through the meeting and their experience which helped me to gain an insight into their work and achieved a deeper understanding of non for profit organizations. This has not only helped me with policy development but also gain interest in working as a member of the NFP organization and being able to contribute to the community.

I have learned a lot about myself from the host evaluation and how I can improve in the future. From the host evaluation, Maria suggested that I should consider joining more project-based activities, where I can develop more of my own voice in group-based settings. Her feedbacks are very beneficial for me and from that, I can figure out what needs to be improved. I was really pleased to see Maria and the other representatives from IYC were happy with our work and rated me exceeded their expectations. Although I think that I could have done more and contributed further to their organization.

Conclusion

Based on the above, I was relatively satisfied with my performance and contribution to this industry project. In the future, if I had another chance to do the project again, there are many things I would do differently. I have always been interested in working in the banking and finance industry. However, after completing this industry project, I gained insight into a consulting career and established an interest in working as a consultant. It was really rewarding being able to apply my knowledge and help another organization develop and grow.

Reference

1. Rosenfeld, T.H., & Wilson, A.P. (1999). College students’ time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760-768

By completing my first semester in this course, I was able to benefit from learning various new things including new knowledge about programming languages and information about myself that I never knew before. I was able to reflect on the project-based learning approach we took, my biggest challenges, my biggest accomplishments, and how I was able to overcome the challenges that I faced throughout this course. Moreover, I was able to reflect on how the content of this course affected my life at a higher level and on all the assignments completed in the course.

I believe that taking this project-based learning approach taught me more than I ever would have learned if the information was given. When I reflect back to the past, I think I was able to learn more by figuring things out in a group of my peers at the exact moment I needed to know the information. I was able to independently learn and complete assignments that required me to code which resulted in teaching me the basic knowledge of programming. Rather than having to memorize various codes, using this project-based learning approach ensured that I was able to actually understand the role of the code. This way in the future, I am able to apply the correct code according to what needs to occur, in order to be successful. This project-based approach also allowed me to effectively communicate with new peer members, and I was able to make new friends. At the end of the semester, these new peer members turned into strong friendships. Our constant conversations about coding have led to finding solutions to situations, that I would never have been successful in finding independently. Being able to research collaboratively has not only saved time but has made me very successful in this course.

The biggest challenges I faced during the course were at the beginning of the semester. This is because when I entered this course, I knew absolutely nothing about coding. Never once before this course, did I ever code before, and hence, at the beginning of the semester, I thought that I was not going to be successful. The first obstacle I encountered was the feeling of being alone on the course. I felt that I had no close peers by my side which is why at the beginning of the semester, I dreaded coming to this class. I believe that a major factor that contributes to my success, is that I have peers in the class that know me and my learning style. And so, at the beginning of the semester, I felt as if I was at a complete disadvantage because I was a first-time coder and did not have support from friends. It turns out, I was completely wrong. I realized that I did have support from friends, which was what drove me each day. Another obstacle that I encountered was using the project-based learning approach when we started learning new syntax. In order to overcome this obstacle, I started using resources like the website: www.w3school.com which looks like the following: “How to code for dummies.” These media pieces are what contributed to my success in this course. Having peers that support me and these respective media pieces as resources, motivated me to continue to strive and gave me the willpower to overcome the obstacles that I faced. Moreover, another obstacle I faced was solving logical problems, as I was unaware of the various programming languages. I struggled at the beginning of the semester to differentiate the various types of programming languages and did not realize that each individual coding language required different types of code as they had different functions. I was fortunate enough to never face any obstacles with working with peers because my peers were very kind-hearted and helped me when times were tough.

I think my biggest accomplishment was completing the announcement app code. This is because it was very special to me, as it was the first piece of code I had completed in my life. I took pride in the fact that I was able to code because websites that we use on a daily basis are made from coding, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to code this announcement app from the comfort of my classroom. Moreover, I took pride in the fact that I was building something that students and teachers could potentially use on a daily basis. I feel like another achievement apart from coding, was being able to have the opportunity to learn significantly about how computers contribute to our environment’s sustainability. This is important to me because I think having a sustainable environment is quite important, especially for future generations. Not having a healthy and sustainable environment, impacts us greatly. Technology is really important to us and knowing that in addition to helping us, it also helps the environment is quite a relief.

By overcoming these challenges, I learned that no matter how tough things get in coding, you should never give up. Eventually, after multiple tries, you will get the answer and will be successful if you try hard. I learned a lot about the various programming languages. When doing the Java build-a-dice game assignment, I was challenged by independently working on this during the winter break. I overcame this challenge by using media resources that were available to me and learned that through patience and the right mindset, you are able to achieve anything you put your mind to. This right mindset was developed through various accomplishments in this course.

Personally, learning through these experiences and overcoming these challenges taught me important life lessons above the course curriculum. This will be very beneficial for me in the future because I will be able to apply these life lessons throughout my life when faced with new challenges. I feel like I made a great decision in Grade 10, taking this course. This is because ICS was able to teach me about new programming languages, how to independently learn, and important life lessons that I will be able to apply throughout my lifetime. At a higher level, this affects my life in a positive way because in the future I will be able to reminisce about what I learned in this course and how all the things I learned in this course have been able to make me successful. Coming out of this course, I feel more confident in myself and I feel like ICS has boosted my self-esteem. I learned about career options through the post-secondary career assignment that relates to computer science. It was through this assignment, that I was able to develop an interest in this potential career.

As this course comes to an end, I believe that all I have learned throughout the semester will not only benefit me next year in computer science but will help me strive in all my future endeavors. Reflecting on the semester has shown me that I was able to learn quite a lot about different programming languages, the environment’s sustainability, and along with that, very important life lessons that will help me through the course of my life.

Today we will talk about a very interesting self-help book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I hope many of you have heard his name before, perhaps some of you have read this book already. But, if you didn’t then nothing needs to worry about as it is today’s topic. In this article, we will discuss a very brief summary of the book and give you the Top 7 Life Lessons from The Alchemist. Here will be also some important quotes from The Alchemist.

The Alchemist Summary:-

Before going further, we should know about its title- The Alchemist. So, if we consider this name literally, then we find that it was a profession in the medieval period. One more thing, the word ‘alchemist’ comes from alchemy, which originated from the word ‘chemical’, which means ‘art of transmuting metals’. And there was no exception in the case of alchemists. Officially it is believed that an alchemist was a scientist in the Middle Ages who used to change ordinary metals into gold.

Probably, now you are thinking about what the connection has with its title. But, it is important to know the book very effectively.

At the beginning of the novel, we find Santiago, a boy, our center as well as the main character in the form of a shepherd. And the main story is all about his journey toward his ambition to find out the treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. At first, we find his meeting with a gypsy lady who teaches him to give value to his dream. Then, Santiago meets an old man who mentions that he (the old man) was a king and knows everything about him (Santiago). Then he gives many powerful life lessons and two magical stones to the boy. And it was him, who gave the information map to the boy to fulfill his dream. Thereafter, we get the description of his meeting with a crystal merchant. Spending one year in his crystal shop, the boy learned many more things about life’s ultimate goal and very powerful life lessons.

Thereafter, he starts his ultimate journey to fulfill his goal from the desert. There he falls in love with a girl, Fatima. And Fatima also likes Santiago. Somehow, it seemed to be an obstacle to the boy towards his goals. Then, the help of the Omens helped him to manage anyway. And, finally, he becomes able to achieve his goal.

Important Quotes:-

Probably, many of you know this line through Shahrukh Khan’s movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Yes, it is a fact. You can say it is the law of attraction as well. But be sure the wanting must come directly from your heart. That means you have to heartily want then it will be one of your thoughts. Then it transforms into beliefs. After that, your continuous actions help you with your dreams come true.

Here we can easily see the reflection of the author’s practical mindset. There is no doubt about it that money has a very crucial role in our lives. Without money, nothing can happen. But, very often our society, as well as our surroundings, tries to mislead us by saying that money-making is not so important at all to live a happy life. But, the fact is just the opposite.

By the quote, we can define it as the ‘One God theory’. Many great philosophers also believe in only an omnipresent and omnipotent God who has no subdivision of him. And he lives in our hearts.

It is another powerful and valuable quote from this novel. We can take it as a tip to achieve success in our lives. By the statement, it is clearly defining none but to work on our passion. And here treasure means success, a better version of ourselves. We all need success and want and also want to become a better version of our past. But, it will be only possible when we will take it seriously and work on our passion.

Here we can take an example of a sentence said by Sandeep Maheswari, a top motivational speaker on the Indian YouTube platform. He says that the ultimate sorrow is not when one thinks of a very big goal and can’t achieve it, but when one thinks of a very little goal in his life and achieves it. So, we should not lose hope for ourselves.

It is similar to an earlier quote that tells the uniqueness of every person. We all were born with different purposes in this world. Everyone has a specific domain in his life where his passion lies. And we must not forget this and work effectively to become successful in our fields.

Introduction:

This quote is taken from the philosophical book Reason in Common Sense, which was written and published by George Santayana in 1905.

Santayana becomes acknowledged for his aphorisms, and for becoming a professor in philosophy at Harvard which he deserted. Before, Santayana attended the Boston Latin School and Harvard College, in which he studied from the philosophers William James and Josiah. George Santayana’s quote that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it means studying history is necessary to avoid past mistakes because we learn from our past/mistakes. Repeating what happened in the past is either our result of learning or not learning from it, depending on the circumstances. In most cases, we are talking about mistakes that are repeated because people don’t learn from their previous mistakes. We can say when it comes to surroundings; minor words can have a big difference in meaning. If you are unable to learn from history does not mean you can actually “remember the past”. Learning from the past, especially we can say that written history is easier than remembering any past that hasn’t been saved as written oral history. Learning from the past seems to be a cause for nations and remembering the past seems to be for people. He basically argues that, if our world is ever going to make development, it desires to recollect what it’s found out from the beyond. After all, alternate isn’t the identical component as progress. Progress means taking what you have found out and constructing on it however cutting-edge subculture has a way of forgetting things so quickly that there may be no threat to us learning essential instructions from the past.

In the life of reasons, George Santayana wrote that who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In Santayana’s naturalistic approach point of view, he sees knowledge and beliefs not arising from reasoning but it comes through interaction between our minds and our observable environment. What we observe and learn. The meaning of an original quote and a misquote is probably the same. Santayana’s quote is sometimes misquoted as we do our best to remember our past atrocities. But Santayana’s point of view is about making progress. For our progress we should not only know our past experiences but also learn from them; to do things in different ways things. Through experiences and learning, we stop doing the same mistakes again and again in our life.

The American Revolution is a great example of this quote. The British experience during the American Revolution and the American experience during Vietnam. They both have striking similarities between the two events strategically and tactically, just in Vietnam example, they were British. They did not remember the lessons of the past in terms of empires trying to control distant colonies with strong desires for independence, and history intimately repeated itself.

We can say that progress is only possible to look at there is AT&T building in New York they used old patterns and strategies of architecture to build this building in new ways. Through the use of past patterns and understanding, they formed AT&T building using the old patterns in a creative way. We can say that history repeats itself.

Studying history is important it helps us to understand our past, which helps us to understand our current. If we want to know about our world, we must check history for answers. People usually say history repeats itself, but if we study our past, we must avoid mistakes.

Everyone knows about Titanic. It’s a story from more than a hundred years old. Replicas have been built, museum galleries have been displayed. On April 15, 1912; the Titanic sank after crashing into an iceberg. The fact was that there were not enough lifeboats, firstly the ship split into two parts and then sank into the ocean some survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia and more than 1500 people lost their lives. Ninety years Titanic went down in the Atlantic Ocean; there was the sinking of the Tek Sing in the sea of South China. The Tek Sing was going from China to Jakarta and loaded with precious products, and also carrying 1600 strangers. Because the ship was overloaded the people were sleeping on the deck. On Feb 6 the ship crashed into a small barrier reef, resulting in people losing their life. Through occasionally referred to as Titanic, the story of the Tek Sing is failed to notice. Both Titanic and Tek Sing events are the same. In the case of Titanic, the ship was going faster. For the Tek Sing, Captain decided to take a shortcut. But the demise of both ships also occurred the same way- crashing into something. The iceberg hit to Titanic, while the Tek Sing hits the reef barrier. Both of the crashes were avoided if they were not doing the same thing rushing to their destination.

The History of United States. UN is a country that is founded on freedom, yet they created themselves by trimming the freedom of an entire group of people who were already living there. When Columbus arrived and see, he sent out search parties (he detailed this in his letter back to Spain) to see if he could find a king or kingdoms. He saw nothing but small villages and many people, but he describes them as being nothing. They were from the start almost, regarded as savages (this is the main example of cultural arrogance) and enslaved. The same process repeated once again with the slavery of African Americans. During WWII they were horrified by Hitler and the way he treated the Jews who were living there. However, they were doing something to the black citizens on our own soil. Perhaps they were not sending them to their deaths, but they were isolating them by keeping them in poverty in a similar fashion to the way in which they isolated the Native Americas on their reservations. They continue to repeat this process through wage-based slavery of the lower classes in our society today.

Conclusion:

After writing this whole report my conclusion is that this is true in history and in our daily lives, to some extent. The idea is that if we forget the mistakes we make, we do them again. Unfortunately, we do repeat the same mistake over and over again. History is a recital of the same disasters. We make the same mistakes in our daily lives. According to Santayana if we remember our past experiences and learn from them we can prevent ourselves from repeating the same mistakes.

A remarkable and inspiring story about an old professor and his former student. Based on true events written by the former student himself, Mitch Albom. With a great extent of help from the old professor’s friends, family, and colleagues, they tell and embark the story of Morrie and how he changed the lives of every person whom he came across. The novel was published dated back in 1997 by the company Doubleday. Tuesdays with Morrie has touched so many hearts and lives of citizens from around the world and already has its very own movie adaptation which was released on the 5th of December 1999.

The story is about the journey through the life and death of Morrie Schwartz. Life was going well for him, he had a loving family, and a stable job and was surrounded by people who loved him dearly, all was well and perfect until his sickness kicked in. He has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS disease. A condition that will slowly overtake his body in time, until it gives up. Unfortunately, there is no cure for such sickness. This is where Mitch comes into the story, the moment he found out about his favorite professor’s condition, every Tuesday he would come and visit him, to just sit down, talk, and listen to Morrie’s aphorisms on how he managed to handle these things positively despite of his condition. They would take on a new adventure exploring the true meaning of life and how death can be a good thing, a new path, and a new journey.

My favorite part of the book is when Morrie decides to have a living funeral. This is not your ordinary funeral, they held this even though he’s still alive. As Morrie said, it would be so regretful that he wouldn’t hear the eulogies and great stories that people have about him. Ironically, we would only say good things about a person when they’re already dead. Why can’t we say those things when they’re still alive and well? That’s one of the most amazing conclusions that Morrie made me realize. It has indeed struck my mind how each of us sees things differently. How all of us have different perspectives about life and death. His life story has gravely impacted me in a great way and has sparked numerous conclusions and driven me into countless amounts of thinking. There are a lot of wonderful parts in the book, but this one has truly caught my eye and has left me dumbfounded.

The lesson that I have learned in this story is how life is so precious and priceless, and how we often see the negative side of it. We set aside the positivity and goodness in everything and would only see the unfavorable. That’s why we always suffer and live in the pit of darkness and despair as we do. We are alive, but are we truly living? We are seriously and undeniably blessed to have this opportunity, to experience and feel these amazing things. To truly know life and the parts of it; the good and bad. But most of all, to live a life this long. I can only hope that all of us will someday see the purpose and the good side when hard times pass by. To never give in to bad thoughts and emotions that would someday destroy us. To never let such things ruin and jeopardize this unforeseeable adventure. Lastly, never take this gift for granted and start living. Start living the true meaning of life.

I would honestly recommend to give this book a go. It can be read by teenagers, adults, and old people. I’d say I give this book a 10 out of 10, for all the teachings and new learnings that I have reflected on. I felt a lot of emotions while reading this book, laughter, sadness, and happiness. It has taught me so much, so many lessons and realizations that will truly leave you amazed at how amazing it is to live and to have this remarkable journey called life.

Morrie Schwartz was a 78-year-old man with a tremendous amount of courage, wisdom, and many life lessons to offer the world. He shared his knowledge with his students as he taught sociology at Brandeis University. His diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) opened his eyes to many things in life that he never thought twice about before. He began to appreciate the small things such as time, family, love, and forgiveness. He also had the opportunity to share his lessons on the Nightline television show with Ted Koppel. This reunited him with a dear student of his, Mitch Albom after he witnessed his presence on the TV show and discovered his diagnosis. Mitch began to visit Morrie every Tuesday and they would talk about the world, life, regrets, death, family, emotions, money, and much more up until the day that Morrie passed away from his disease. Tuesdays with Morrie was their final thesis together and it is how Morrie still lives on to this day by educating others on the importance of life and helping others through life struggles.

While reading this book it triggered a lot of emotion. I felt deeply saddened by Morrie’s disease and how it slowly took everything from him. From not being able to walk, to not being able to use the bathroom on his own, to barely being able to talk, and then to not being able to breathe. Even though I felt sad, Morrie was the opposite. He would bounce right back if he was feeling down which was reassuring. I also felt content that so many people reached out to him and praised him for being such a great person. He always put others first and aimed to help people and others recognized that. I was also happy that Morrie got to do one last thing that meant everything to him. He gets to live on through others as they read his story and hopefully, others will benefit from his story as well. The ending was heartbreaking, but I was also satisfied because he went peacefully, the way that he said he wanted to go.

Morrie’s story correlates to Human Relations because he talks about how to improve self-esteem through a positive attitude, communication, values regarding life, forgiveness, and stress. He is also a great example of a true leader. I think that Morrie handled the struggles of ALS because he always had a positive attitude. Without his positive mindset, he wouldn’t have been as strong as he was. This is important because everyone should have this mindset to remain happy and productive even in the toughest times. He also demonstrated how important communication is when it comes to opening and expressing his thoughts and feelings. This is related to what we learned because being open makes it easier for others to understand where we are coming from and what we might be going through. Morrie’s values were a great example of how this story correlates to Human Relations because he had strong values when it came to all the topics discussed including, family, death, emotions, regrets, and forgiving those who may have wronged us to be at peace. All of which are values that we discussed during the chapter. Overall, Morrie’s story depicts the relationship between an instructor and his student who taught him possibilities and how he can grow and succeed throughout life. This also gives Morrie the chance to learn how to accept his fate and understand the true meaning of life. He realized all that he was missing out on in life. Morrie said it best, “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Morrie’s advice also leads Mitch to reconnect with his cancer-stricken brother whom he had lost touch with over the years which had been an issue that he struggled with. Even though Mitch lost his “coach,” the relationship that they had remained in his heart, and the relationship with his brother was mended in the process.

Morrie had several amazing quotes that offer great advice and wisdom. One of my favorite quotes was “The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” This quote was extremely powerful because it made me realize how much time is wasted worrying about the things that don’t matter and we should be appreciating life itself. We should be focusing on the things that bring us peace and the things that make us happy instead of everything that brings us stress and heartache. Once we realize that we are going to die, we are much more driven to live a fulfilled life. Another quote of Morrie’s that I liked was “There is no such thing as ‘too late’ in life.” I like this because it is motivational. Some people get discouraged that they can no longer follow their dreams because it is too late. That is far from the truth and I liked how Morrie made the point that it is never too late to do anything. Finally, another quote that I enjoyed was “Love wins. Love always wins.” I love this quote because to me it means that love can be a battle but no matter what, love will always win. This was inspirational and a great way to view relationships, especially if there is tension.

The most profound lesson that I learned from Morrie was that we are all the same, despite our differences. Regardless of appearance, race, religion, or gender, we are all more alike than we tend to think. It is important to be accepting of others and view each other in that way, then we would be more eager to come together as a whole and care about others as we care about our own families. It would be a much more loving and caring world and I think that more people need to understand this. Morrie made an excellent point when he stated, “But believe me, when you are dying, you see it is true. We all have the same beginning—birth—and we all have the same end—death. So how different can we be?”

I believe that this book was required for this class because it is an excellent example of human relations through Morrie and his student Mitch. It demonstrates the meaning of life and death by Morrie explaining what truly matters in life as well as how to apply and appreciate those things. On a deeper level, it offers a vision of the relationship between the body and soul. Morrie was not worried about materialistic things. Instead, he was more concerned about others and embracing the world. This was a great story and it was comforting to learn from Morrie’s quotes and understand his life lessons.

The purpose and importance of psychology in our life I feel is to remain happy and healthy in all aspects of life. Psychology is the study of people’s behavior, performance, and mental operations. Everything I have learned in this course has helped me understand my past a little better because I have learned how the human mind works and operates. I also am now able to explain how I can apply everything I have learned from this class to my future.

When I was 13 and my sister was 9, my dad cheated on my mom causing them to get a divorce. In my adolescence I was just learning about deeper morals and knowing that was a terrible thing he did, it had a huge impact on my sister and me. As a 9-year-old she didn’t know too much, but just enough to understand that dad doesn’t live at home with mom anymore. For me on the other hand, I knew what was going on. Taking what my dad did to my mother and my sister and me to how it has affected me today I see people differently in different ways. Honestly to me, I have no respect for cheaters. Just because of what my dad put us through and knowing what he was doing really hurt our family.

Growing up, I was a huge daddy’s girl and wasn’t as close to my mom, but after the divorce, I became much closer and lost touch with my dad for a while. My sister became super depressed and would always bring up having a father in the picture. My dad didn’t try to communicate with us for about 3 years, and during those 3 years, my mom took over both parts of the job.

Now being an adult and still growing up, everything that I saw my dad do, makes me very uneasy, and see all men like my dad. My dad has really caused me to have trust issues, and seeing my mom so upset and my sister so depressed because of my dad cheating. I have really set my standards high for a man, and I can’t see myself ever lowering them. No one deserves to be treated like that and completely heartbroken or torn from their family.

I think the three major areas that have stood out to me and that I think have impacted my past are, the science of psychology, Motivation and Emotion, and Psychological Disorders. I think these three will have the biggest impact on my future because they all kind of catch my eye. I think these three are most related to me in some ways than the others.

The science of psychology is such an in-depth topic and really got me thinking. This section was one of my favorite sections to learn about. All the different approaches and how each one works are amazing. I think each person has an individual approach they mostly relate to. I personally relate to the Humanistic Approach. I am one to have positive qualities, look at growth, and want my own freedom (King,2019, p.10). I love to figure things out on my own. I choose my own life, not based on what is around me. I think my personality definitely changes around certain environments, but I like to choose what I do and how I live. I like to look at people’s positive side rather than their negative side.

I also see the behavioral approach as well. A behavioral approach is an approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants (King,2019, p.9). Skinner says that people act by the way they are rewarded and punished. I agree to disagree with Skinner. I believe that it shouldn’t matter how you are rewarded or punished. You should act with good behavior unless you are upset. I don’t think kids should always get rewarded for doing something right. For example, when I was younger and played Little League basketball, it didn’t matter if you were 1st or 5th, you always got a trophy. I think nowadays nothing is fair, and nothing will ever be fair. People are setting their kids up for disappointment later in life. Kids will always be expecting something when they do something good.

Another area that stood out to me was Motivation and Emotion. Motivation is the force that moves people to behave, think, and feel the way they do (King,2019, p.326). There are two different aspects to this area. A need and a drive. A need is a deprivation that energizes the drive to eliminate or reduce the deprivation. (King,2019, p. 327). A drive is an aroused state that occurs because of a physiological need. (King,2019, p.327). I believe there are needs in life and drives in life. A lot of people talk in the form of drive. People say they need this or need that, but it’s more of a drive. People might use sex as a drive. It is something that meets your standards and it gives you just enough to be satisfied. Optimum Arousal Theory is something that is referring to a person’s feelings. When you are excited your arousal, levels are high and when you are bored, they are low. It is the same thing for motivation. When you get excited and want something you are anxious, but when you are unmotivated, it is hard to force yourself to do something. (King,2019, p.327). I think this area will affect my future extremely. I haven’t quite learned the difference between a need and a want. I want things all the time, but I don’t need them. Having the motivation to do things is challenging at times. If I like doing what needs to be done or if I am going shopping or something, I have no problem motivating myself to do it. I think this area will help me a lot with motivating myself to do schoolwork more often and making time to go to work more.

The last area that stood out to me was psychological disorders. Many people look at someone that has a disorder and laughs or make fun of them. Now that I have read and researched how disorders can be dangerous or very serious it has changed how I act around those people. My life has forever changed the perspective of those people. Having a disorder can be very challenging and heartbreaking. I even so think because it’s in my family. People that have ASD can’t help that they have it. After having psychology this course makes me want to help them.

I believe in the truth that the lessons we learn from the obstacles we face can be fundamental to our later success. “What matters when you work on something is not the final result – it is the skills you have acquired that make you a better person”. Lin Zhou’s saying never fails to remind me of his uplifting when I work on designing video games. I’ve always appreciated him, but a significant experience last March helped me understand its more profound meaning.

Mr. Zhou, as I would greet him affectionately, has mentored students in coding classes in my local community for almost 10 years. His dedication and emphasis on developing good character have left an enduring impact on me and hundreds of other kids. Not only did he help me discover my talent and love for programming, but he also taught me the importance of teamwork and patience and to approach every obstacle with the same effort that I bring to a long-term project. When I learned that coding mentors had been hired by the learning organization, AlphaStar Academy, I felt that Mr. Zhou deserved similar respect.

AlphaStar Academy indicated they would only hire him if I could prove to them that he was exceptional. I took charge and encouraged my fellow students to issue petitions, reach out to other people in my community, and gather the projects that we have worked on under the guidance of Mr. Zhou. We received impressive support, collecting almost 500 signatures and words of support from my community. With help from my teammates, I presented this evidence to AlphaStar. They did not blink. Most of the staff argued that adding another mentor wouldn’t make a significant enough change. Knowing that we had to act quickly to convince them of its importance, I called my teammates for a group meeting where we planned on showcasing a video game we had designed together for the next board meeting. Much to my shock, they chose me to present this project. I was far from extraordinary at public speaking and felt my hands shaking before delivering my rebuttal. However, at that meeting, I realized that I enjoy arguing for and demonstrating something that I am genuinely passionate about.

Public speaking resembles working on a video game project. Opening up the programming software, you have to trust your knowledge and demonstrate confidence in your work. When a key error reveals itself, you can’t let it demotivate you; your performance has to be consistent, effective, and even relaxed. At the next board meeting, the staff was on my computer ready for action. As I walked up to it, I felt like a cat on hot bricks. Instead of the computer screen and the ‘Play Mode’ option glaring into my eyes, I faced the audience of AlphaStar staff and my fellow students. I felt my heart beat rapidly, but reassured myself: I’ve prepared for this, my presentation is powerful. As the staff asked me to demonstrate our video game, I visioned the ‘Play Mode’ button in the back of my mind and pressed ‘Play’. We finished demonstrating, and Boom! The silence was me saving the progress of my project.

I knew from the staff’s awe and my teammates’ applause that I had played such a game. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough; our demonstration was denied. I was disappointed but proud of myself and my teammates. We stood up for something we believed in, and I overcame my fear of being a leader. Although I discovered that advocating for a major change requires perseverance and can be a difficult process, I learned that I also enjoyed the challenges it can offer. I now often organize many webinars to advocate for a variety of causes, including better access to coding resources and increased awareness of video game development.

Just as Mr. Zhou taught me, I worked passionately to achieve my goal. I may have not finished with the endgame that had initially been planned, but I certainly gained a vast amount of knowledge, and that would have made Mr. Zhou proud.