Getting Back to Class—Improv Class: Pursuing a Passion

Getting Back to Class—Improv Class: Pursuing a Passion

Pursuing a passion.  Learning while having fun. Although I’ve made it my business to share with others the benefits of improv for life, I decided to return to the ‘classroom’ and become an improv student once again. A few months ago, when I was talking with my aunt about everything I was doing—all business and task-related projects—she looked me square in the face and asked, “But, what are you doing for fun?” My aunt, who is long since retired is an avid painter, would send her beautiful pieces of art in Christmas card form. And, her home is like an art gallery of her exquisite works of art. I tentatively replied, “Well, what I do in my business IS fun. Even as I replied to her, I was trying to think of the last time I did something for the sole purpose of having fun. Yes, I have fun with my clients. Yes, I have fun when I am conducting improv workshops for businesses. But, what do I do for fun…and just for me? It’s quite a wake-up call when I am making it my life’s work to teach others how to infuse humor, laughter, and improvisation into all aspects of their lives and, yet, I had a hard time answering the question, “But, what are  you doing for fun?” I challenge you to ask yourself the same question. Over the next few days, I seriously pondered my aunt’s question…“But, what are you doing for fun?” For years I’ve wanted to get back into drawing and painting. When I used to draw fairly often, I would get so lost...
Growing Through Positive Mindfulness

Growing Through Positive Mindfulness

Ready to grow and learn about me Before taking positive psychology I thought this class would be exactly how it was. Of course I learned way more than I ever expected in such a short period of time but that’s the great part about it. I didn’t know how much fun it would be, but then again I thought how could it be boring its positive psychology, there is no way a professor could turn this class into a dreadful one. Knowing it was with Professor Soots was a dead giveaway that it would be a fun, interesting, and very informational class. I really wanted to take this class because my fiancé and I are very into positive thinking and believe what you put out there will come back to you. I have a hard time practicing that all the time because of the daily stressors of adulthood, but I thought the more I learn about it, the more I am able to implement it into my daily life. I really saw this class as the next step. I thought if there is a class on it and not just wellness books and sayings, then this is something that is legit, even though I believed it already they have found a way to kind of put holistic meets medicine or the universe meets science, for example your mind controls a lot of what your body goes through, laughing therapy, crystals and yoga, etc. This is a lifestyle that is becoming very popular. These are some of the reasons and thoughts I had about this class before I registered. Seeing...
The After-image and Finding Meaning

The After-image and Finding Meaning

Lingering after images and meaning in life After-imaging is related to visual perception and light activity associated with sight. It is an optical phenomenon whereby the image a person experiences, through sensation, remains lingering in an altered state. Within the after imagine of human experiences, meaning can be found that links to positive growth. This phenomenon is not reserved only for experiences of tragic events, but also when we stop to find meaning in good experiences as well. Positive vs. negative after-image The difference between positive and negative lingering affect is how we process the event, how a person uses cognitive ability. While both positive and negative after imaging can occur at the same time, visually, negative after-imagine occurs from desensitization to the stimulus. In the light our human experiences, desensitization falls in the parameters of “unless something happens extremely good or bad, we don’t fully acknowledge it as meaningful”. We tend not to value the great strengths that people use to literally pull themselves through difficult events, thus these and vital strengths go unnoticed, unappreciated and unrecognized. The positive after imagines occur because of persistence that happens in the eye, and the chemical reaction that continues to influence sight phenomenon even after the image is no longer there. We, as humans on our own journeys in life have the ability to recognize and utilize these lingering affects to either produce a higher state of happiness, or persevering through a difficult time in our life. We have the ability to use our strengths in a persistent way, whereby even when the experience is gone, we can allow the positive...
Growing Through Positive Mindfulness

Weighing the Benefits of Both Optimism and Pessimism

Hope & Optimism “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement, nothing can be done without hope and confidence” – Helen Keller Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts were: Before taking Positive Psychology, my thoughts were questions. What would such a course fully entail? Would it be merely about the psychological concepts of being positive, optimistic, and or less negative or pessimistic? Would it provide insight into overcoming stress or depression? I knew that prior to taking this course that ‘Positive Psychology’ would relate to emotions, inner strength, and optimism, but having completed the course – there is so much more. Positive psychology provides the vision and tools needed to expand one’s understanding of topics such as self-esteem, self-determination, wisdom, therapy, happiness, kindness, giving, creativity, relationships, hope, problem-solving, and the human mind. Before taking this course, the questions behind my thoughts as to what this course would or could entail, involves answers that are essential to life, and subsequently important that its impressions should be known by everyone. An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about: Positive Illusions At first I thought, what an interesting mince of words; ‘Positive Illusions’. How can the idea or notion of positivity…be illusory? It sounds as if the concept can come across as…unreal; faux. The subject matter helped provide me with a very unique view, that sometimes being too positive and seeing yourself in an ‘enhanced’ way, can become an “…unrealistic sense of personal control…” (Carr, p.85). The theoretical views of positive illusion can cause a unacceptance of trials or tribulations where recognition and resolution may be needed. Where there is stress or...
How to be Ridiculously UNhappy!

How to be Ridiculously UNhappy!

Hopping aboard  the UNhappy train With the happiness movement in full swing I thought I would go against the grain and talk about how to be completely and ridiculously UNhappy! I am somewhat of an expert of this topic since I was suicidal from the age of 12 to 24 and did every single one of the things that I am about to write about.  I suffered from clinical depression for 17 years in total, until only a few years ago.  At the age of 29, I learned how to re-train the neural pathways in my own brain and was able to overcome this debilitating state of mind. Until this point, I thought that I had no control over my own mind and feelings, yet I came to realise that I was choosing to remain stuck in a victim mentality. In the past 2 years however, I have embraced and immersed myself in Positive Psychology and The Science of Happiness, and have so many tools in my ninja belt now, that I have full confidence I will never be stuck in such a dark place again – unless I actively seek it out. Ways to get to Sadsville So here it is – if you want to be stuck in Sadville, here is my go-to quick guide to being miserable. 1.     Dwell on what’s wrong in your life on a daily basis. That’s right, spending hours and hours of time focusing on what you don’t have and what’s not going the way you want it to, will keep you stuck feeling miserable. The brain only sees what you...