Hello! Thank you to everyone who read the first post! And thank you to those who left positive feedback! It is much appreciated!
In an attempt to be productive during my time at home, one of the things I have started (apart from this blog) is an online college course titled "The Science of Well-Being". I think that the appeals of the material world and the constant life pressure to achieve can often be overwhelming and cause us to frequently sacrifice our well-being. Therefore, it can sometimes be helpful to take conscious efforts to improve our well-being, and this is my attempt at that. Although I have only completed one week of this class so far, I have enjoyed it and the new form of introspection it encourages. The class began with me determining my initial levels of happiness to be used as a measure of reference for my growth by the time the class ends. Through the use of the PERMA scale and the Authentic Happiness scale, I was to determine my happiness through self-report inventories. I have always had a dilemma with self-reported inventories because often I find myself purposefully selecting options to obtain an intended result. This bias is nearly unavoidable, and I honestly found the scales to be quite accurate. Compared to my own rating of my happiness, I found both scales and my own rating to be almost exactly the same. Taking a distinctive period of time to focus on analyzing my current state and well-being is an exercise that I don't often do, but I hope to continue this reflective practice. Following this objective measurement of my happiness I also had to do another inventory to determine my strengths and how I could best use them in novel ways. From 10 minutes of meditating to increase my spirituality to researching the cultural context of tacos to deepen my curiosity, these "rewirements" - as the professor calls them - have driven me to take some seemingly abnormal actions. However, these unique activities have helped me do things outside of my comfort zone and learn more about my self which I hope to continue to do as I continue the course.
I encourage whoever is reading this to engage in any activity to not only encourage productivity but stimulate self-reflection during this time of much isolation. This course was originally my mom's find on Facebook, and to conclude this post, I wanted to leave you with more food for thought brought to you by my mom's Facebook page. It featured a video discussing the idea of being thankful for the disease. Obviously, this opinion is controversial because COVID-19 has caused massive distress and millions of deaths around the world. But, the video mentioned that COVID-19 has shown humans how dependent humanity is on nature and how interconnected we all are as well as the dangers and wonders of this interconnectedness. I am interested to see if anyone has any opinions or thoughts on whether we should be grateful for this disease, and if so, what lessons it has taught humanity?
In an attempt to be productive during my time at home, one of the things I have started (apart from this blog) is an online college course titled "The Science of Well-Being". I think that the appeals of the material world and the constant life pressure to achieve can often be overwhelming and cause us to frequently sacrifice our well-being. Therefore, it can sometimes be helpful to take conscious efforts to improve our well-being, and this is my attempt at that. Although I have only completed one week of this class so far, I have enjoyed it and the new form of introspection it encourages. The class began with me determining my initial levels of happiness to be used as a measure of reference for my growth by the time the class ends. Through the use of the PERMA scale and the Authentic Happiness scale, I was to determine my happiness through self-report inventories. I have always had a dilemma with self-reported inventories because often I find myself purposefully selecting options to obtain an intended result. This bias is nearly unavoidable, and I honestly found the scales to be quite accurate. Compared to my own rating of my happiness, I found both scales and my own rating to be almost exactly the same. Taking a distinctive period of time to focus on analyzing my current state and well-being is an exercise that I don't often do, but I hope to continue this reflective practice. Following this objective measurement of my happiness I also had to do another inventory to determine my strengths and how I could best use them in novel ways. From 10 minutes of meditating to increase my spirituality to researching the cultural context of tacos to deepen my curiosity, these "rewirements" - as the professor calls them - have driven me to take some seemingly abnormal actions. However, these unique activities have helped me do things outside of my comfort zone and learn more about my self which I hope to continue to do as I continue the course.
I encourage whoever is reading this to engage in any activity to not only encourage productivity but stimulate self-reflection during this time of much isolation. This course was originally my mom's find on Facebook, and to conclude this post, I wanted to leave you with more food for thought brought to you by my mom's Facebook page. It featured a video discussing the idea of being thankful for the disease. Obviously, this opinion is controversial because COVID-19 has caused massive distress and millions of deaths around the world. But, the video mentioned that COVID-19 has shown humans how dependent humanity is on nature and how interconnected we all are as well as the dangers and wonders of this interconnectedness. I am interested to see if anyone has any opinions or thoughts on whether we should be grateful for this disease, and if so, what lessons it has taught humanity?
*credit to the medium.com @spunkywise
Thanks for reading,
Janvi :)
This is so cool! In terms of COVID-19 and both it’s direct and inadvertent effects, I am cautiously grateful. I am grateful for the time to step back and learn new things that I otherwise wouldn’t have the time to. I’m grateful for the opportunity to grow with my family and experience this as a team. I am grateful for the immensity of the healthcare system and it’s dedication towards fixing this. In contrast, I am disheartened with all the cancellations and sheer isolation the virus has caused. As an extrovert, not seeing the people I love is frustrating and it’s hard not knowing when everything will return to ‘normal’ but, I am remaining optimistic and living one day at a time. I loved this entry! Keep it up! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the kind word! I love reading your ideas. I think "cautiously grateful" is a great way to describe emotions towards this crisis. There is definitely a lot to be thankful for including the lessons COVID-19 is teaching us not only about the structure of our current health care system but about ourselves. However, the impact this disease has on society has been devastating in terms of those who have lost their jobs, family members, or their self-expression. These simultaneous feelings of gratefulness and sadness have been interesting to decipher.
DeleteThanks for sharing, Janvi! Great thought-provoking discussion.
ReplyDeleteI'm also noticing some "silver linings" with COVID-19, but on the whole I wish lessons like appreciating nature, family, or the postal workers, grocery stores, and health workers who keep countries running-- could have been learned without thousands of deaths. It's also been interesting to see extroverts experience what many introverts (in America, at least) go through every day, when their personality type isn't advantageous or "compatible" with societal expectations. Hopefully this will lead to an increase in compassion and appreciation for each other.
Thank you so much for leaving a comment!
DeleteI have also found it unfortunate that these lessons of appreciation have been coupled with thousands of deaths. But, I also hope that it encourages more empathy towards different individuals(specifically introverts & extroverts as you mentioned) and causes society to ditch some of the harmful "societal expectations".
In all likelihood, COVID-19 is a result of challenging the nature in some form or in some ways not acceptable for maintaining the balance of nature. Yes, there are many positives as an outcome of the ongoing pandemic. Amongst others, we have been reminded of need and strength of personal relationships and family bonding time (perhaps lost or diluted due to excessive use of technology). It has been a revelation and quite an experience to watch animals and bird from the wild reclaiming their space as the traffic reduces on highways and city roads because of the ongoing lock-downs. All construction work, in every form, is considered progress. All science, technology, inventions are progress. With this "progress", are we altering the fragile balance of nature? Is the nature getting back at us, and challenging the human race? Are we headed towards extinction? Being an optimist, I agree with Janvi; we shall overcome this calamity too. But, do we need to learn any lessons; I wonder if we will? Soon enough, as the current pandemic completes its cycle of damage and we survive, it shall be business as usual. Are we to progress from one to another catastrophe? Is the next disaster waiting to happen around the corner, originating from whichever part of the Planet Earth? The race is on! Meanwhile, Janvi, keep it coming as your write-ups are indeed thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the thoughtful comment! I do find that our current situation has taught people(including myself) to recognize and be more grateful for many of the things we take for granted including nature and quality time with family. It is also an interesting idea whether this could be nature "getting back at us". One of the things I found fascinating about the effects of the pandemic was some of the environmental benefits in terms of increases in air quality due to social isolation. Could this pandemic be what we need to recognize and act on some of our environmental problems? Just some of my thoughts . . .
DeleteI like your statement, "Could this pandemic be what we need to recognize and act on some of our environmental problems?" I recently watched on TV and also read in news papers that Earth's ozone layer is going through a natural process of restoration. I guess it could be the result of that many lesser vehicles on the streets. Is the Earth getting to be "green" again?
DeleteI was also thinking about positive environmental effects. Yes, in some ways this is good for "nature" in the short term, but this New York Times op-ed helped put things in perspective for me. We have an opportunity for very good change to protect our environment, but there are also dangers with that mentality because the planet won't heal on its own in this time. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-climate-change.html
DeleteVery interesting article! I certainly agree that this time isn't sufficient to the planet to heal. But maybe this period of time inspires efforts around the globe to help the planet heal in the long-term?
DeleteVery interesting nice choice of words to pen down your thoughts , there is one thing i like to add if you have not from what I understood , is encourage each other irrespective of what country what religion you belong to come up over this so call bad time also the fact once we come out of this lock down we should respect he nature instead of abusing it the way we used to do it .. net net nice message .
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I definitely agree that after everything is "over"(although I don't know if it will be soon due to all of the long-term socioeconomic consequences), we will have an opportunity to stop abusing nature, which I hope we all do. If you enjoyed this blog, I just found out that you can become a follower(simply by clicking the sidebar), which allows you to get notified when I post again! Glad you are enjoying!
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