BLOG 3 ! ~

Vivian Chen Eng -101 (PM)              Happiness and Education

I would be happier if I was more optimistic about education. When most people think about education, they are filled with thoughts of boredom and stress instead of thoughts of enthusiasm and learning. I always wonder why we’re learning this. Will I need it in the future? The people who are mostly negative about things tend to be least happy and would turn it into a drowning model and a hot state. Being negative gets you nowhere. When you are positive, it can lead you to great things and closer as a well-being. Just like Tal Ben-Shahar said “Emotions are necessary not only for the pursuit of the ultimate currency but for the attainment of material success as well.”

When you were little didn’t you always think about how school would be like? Attending school for the first time I was very excited and had a positive feeling about it. I had enjoyed it a lot, there were many activities such as nap time, snack time and also play time. Who wouldn’t enjoy something as comforting as that? At that moment I though school was everything I wanted to be, it was the best. With a child mind I thought anything was possible. I told myself I could grow up into anything I wanted and I assumed if I wanted something it was going to be effortless to contain. As I got older I realized everything wasn’t as simple as I thought it would be. I started doubting myself, education began to be more complicated, and it was hard for me to concentrate in school. I came to face many problems that distracted me from my school work. It leads me thinking education wasn’t my source of happiness.

I thought going school was very useless, I thought to myself why are we learning about this, when I am pretty sure I wouldn’t need it. In school “Students are motivated by their fear of failure” as Tal Ben-Shahar explained it. Most students try very hard in school doing studying the things they don’t like to make their parents happy. I am mostly like them I would study very hard in school to show my parents my outstanding grades. As I fear of failure I was in the drowning model doing things I didn’t take pleasure in it gave me stress, I tried to free myself from the pain. Just like other students I thought about avoiding school. Students who avoid school are people who had faced the drowning model. If you don’t enjoy school you try to stay away from it. I had once thought all my problems would vanish if I just avoid school, but I was wrong. I realized running away from your problems doesn’t solve anything. People who have such negative energy towards education, it lead them to failure in life. If you just change your emotions towards education into a positive thing then going to school wouldn’t be so terrible. Trying to find something you would enjoy can make a big difference, it can change your outcome on how you view things.  I didn’t enjoy a great deal of education in school, until I had teachers who motivated me into enjoying education. My teacher made teaching more exciting for me and my fellow class mates, by having group lessons, plays and speeches. Having group lessons made it easier for me to understand what we were learning because I understood everything that was taught to me I enjoyed learning more.

Changing my emotion on education made me enjoy school even more, by being positive I took time into learning things I didn’t understand. When I take time in learning, I would learn more then I would originally have known. Another way to be more satisfied with your education is setting a goal for yourself. If you decide not to set a goal then your education might just be useless. Tony Robbins said “how people don’t follow their goals because they don’t have the right emotions.” He is right my passion is art and if I doubted myself saying everything I do has no meaning and just give up on the spot then I wouldn’t be able to grow. Tony explained his opinion on growing is a reason to give and that’s what I want to do, be able to give people my creativity. One of my strong points in life is being creative I take pleasure in seeing the expression on people faces when they are shocked to see something that amazed them so much. When I was little I always watch cartoon shows I wished someday I would be the one who makes the animation and have people watching my shows. My goal is to be a cartoonist even if I’m not making cartoons on TV now ill pursue this dream of mine. If I’m not making shows on TV I would be satisfied just drawing on a piece of paper because this is what I enjoy and motivates me. This is what I tend to do now and follow this goal of mine in the future.

I am glad I forced myself from being pessimistic into someone who is optimistic. Thinking I can’t do anything and just giving up gets you nowhere when you can be positive, saying you can do this. It won’t hurt to try, giving a chance in things lends to success. Why do kids seem to be happier than adults? Ken Robinson said it’s because “kids will take a chance.” And it’s true, they are not afraid to be wrong. We adults are afraid of taking chances, where we think “mistakes are the worst thing you can make, and the result is we are educating people out of their creative capacities,” Idea from Ken Robinson. If you don’t take a chance then you wouldn’t be able to move forward in finding your happiness in life. I was scared of making mistakes because of what people might think of me, but without the mistakes I make then I wouldn’t be able to learn anything from it. Mistakes to me are a process of growing which will create your learning capability to a whole new level. As I continue on with my education I will be more positive and it will lead me to great success in the future where I am not afraid to make mistakes.