by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
“You are essentially who you create yourself to be and all that occurs in your life is the result of your own making.” ― Stephen Richards When I made the decision to enroll in this class as opposed to a different one, it was because I was struggling with dealing with a lot of stuff at work and at home and I was having a hard time with my attitude. I was starting to notice that stress was taking over my life and I knew that my workload at work was going to drastically increase while my free time to unwind was going to decrease. I felt like this course would help me with dealing with those things and give me some good techniques to do so. I’ve taken courses with Professor Soots before, so I knew what to expect with the course load and that I would learn some awesome ways to help with keeping a positive attitude. It comes from within An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation and the benefits of intrinsic motivation. It was really eye-opening learning about how important intrinsic motivation, as opposed to extrinsic motivation, is in changing your habits. It is also incredibly important in keeping a positive attitude about the tasks I’m completing. Intrinsic motivation is important because it helps keep you happy about what you’re doing and it helps you focus more on the benefits of the task you’re accomplishing as opposed to the rewards of actually completing it. Learning about intrinsic...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education, self-development
“I am in charge of how I feel and today I am choosing happiness.” Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were: I thought the course was going to talk about positivity within a person and how to avoid negativity in a person’s life. Though I also thought to my self what if the course was about things deeper then just positivity within the mind. Maybe it was going to be about something completely off topic. Luckily I was wrong about my second theory. The course stayed right on track with the word Positive. I think this was the perfect timing in my life to take this course. Specifically for personal reasons as well as it correlating with my Health and Stress Psychology class. An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about what FLOW meant. When reading the textbook when the word FLOW appeared I was a bit confused at first, I thought maybe the word FLOW was going to mean something of more complicated to the subject. Little did I expect it to mean it is something that I absolutely love to endure and puts me on cloud nine every time I have that experience. After understanding the meaning I realized and even said “Ah-Ha” in my head when I said this sentence out loud. “Don’t mess up my flow babe.” Now I fully understand the expression I tend to use a lot with my husband. Meaningful engagement in happiness—daily Positive Psychology opened my eyes to the happiness I need to appreciate in my life as well as changing habits in my life to gain even...
by Lynn Soots | January, 2016 | Classroom Reflections, Education
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act but a habit.” Before Taking Positive Psychology my thoughts about the course were that positive psychology was about being happy and looking at the brighter side to life. I thought positive psychology was about sharing your happiness with others so that they could be happy too; I proved myself wrong. Positive psychology is not just about being happy or being optimistic, it’s more than that. It’s about living a meaningful life that influences those around us and the world we live in. It’s about making a contribution that benefits you and those around you. An Ah-ha moment for me An Ah-Ha moment for me was learning about habits and how to commit to them. In the book, “Habits of Happiness”, the author talks about habits and the three categories they fall under. Habits can simple and instinctual to the point where we don’t even notice do them, habits can be good for us, habits can be bad for us; our habits influence our behavior. Specifically, the book focused on how bad habits can influence bad behaviors. For example, if I were to eat ice cream today and every single day, a habit of eating ice cream forms. Personally, when I eat ice cream, it is late at night. I am slouching on the couch and getting ready for bed. When I wake up in the morning to get ready for work, I am sluggish and my energy is low. I noticed also that when I eat ice cream every day I begin to gain more weight and my...
by Lynn Soots | December, 2015 | Health, self-development
In the midst of the festive season it is often easy to get caught up in abundant taskings and volunteer efforts, and while leading experts tell us that giving back to others is a wonderful way to receive back two-fold, it can come at a price of compromise to personal wellness if we are not careful. Why don’t we say no when our plate runneth over? Why do we allow ourselves to exhaustively watch others merrily engage in social activities while we run around planning, serving, cleaning etc. to the point of misery? While we all like to think there is a little super-hero within us, it is important to check in with ourselves every now and then and see how we are doing; to see if perhaps our energy level of a super-hero has gone to super-zero. We need to know ourselves well enough to know when to say “no” so we can fuel our fire steadily. Have you ever asked yourself “Hey, how are you doing?” How are You Doing? A student reminded me that one of the key exercises of good military leaders is to check in with soldiers. The simple phase of “how are you doing” is a beacon to stop for pause and gather their thoughts regarding just how they were doing. While we can all appreciate the stress military members endure, in the face of any sort of stress it is beneficial to check ourselves and gauge where our stress meter is at, or where our energy level is at. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and we can’t buy more...
by Lynn Soots | December, 2015 | Positive Psychology, self-development, Strengths
“Dear Santa, How are you? I hope the reindeer are being nice to Rudolph. For Christmas what I really want is superpowers. Oh, and an iPod.” I have spent the last 20 minutes scalding my arm over a kettle, steaming open my daughter’s carefully sealed letter. The paper falls soggy in my hands as I blow on my burning fingers, dumbfounded. It has been a couple years now that I know she knows the truth. It’s hard to sustain the benevolent deception of childhood fantasy characters in this day and age of internet searches and YouTube videos. And so I was surprised when she handed me this secretive letter addressed to the North Pole. She had even drawn an elaborate seal on the edge to ensure no one but Santa himself would open it. Caught in the Whirling Wonder I don’t get it. Is it the effect of too much screen time? Is she this out of touch with reality? Does she actually think superheroes are real? Somewhere in me, I’m envious. How is it that she can believe in such crazy dreams? Because she chooses to. I have watched her these last few days, spending hours hanging over the back of the couch staring into the dancing lights of the tree. The reflection of multicolored ornaments flicker in her eyes and speak to the wonder, literally- the wonder. I wonder what’s coming. I wonder what amazing things are in store for me. Believing in Possibilities She lives in a world of “Imagine ifs” and “What if I could justs”. A world where wishes are granted, magic happens and...
