.5 credits for watching TED talks what's up

How are you today? Happy? Good. I would hope so.

So I'm in this really awesome class about TED Talks and literally all we do is go in, watch two or three talks, and then discuss them as a group. It's a course taught by students so it's super relaxed and I get a half credit for doing something I probably would do on my own time! There were two talks in particular that I feel, if you get the chance, are definitely worth a watch.

You might've seen this one before, Sarah Kay on the power of spoken word. First off, her spoken word at the beginning is beautiful written and performed and her metaphors are new and strong. Then she goes on to describe how she's used spoken word in classrooms with kids and with adults to help them express themselves. She says that she uses spoken word to figure things out, so that when she gets to the end of a poem, she's discovered something that she didn't know before. This is something that I relate to strongly, but with my blog rather than spoken word. Why do I blog: so I can figure out something about myself and others that I didn't know before and be able to verbalize it better and then go on to share it with other people who might be thinking the same exact thing. I wish I could write spoken word, but I write very matter-of-fact with meager metaphors and descriptive content. The way that she delivers this is beautiful.

Shawn Achor is absolutely hilarious and I also love the message that he's delivering. We believe that we should work to be happy and that once we reach our goals, we have reached happiness. However, once we reach our goals, we keep creating new goals and thus feel like we've never reached where we want to be. That, I guess, is for the more motivated of us. But really, for me, I think happiness lies in the process of reaching these goals, feeling like you're getting closer and of course, when you finally reach them as well. Happiness is in creating those new goals and having something to look forward to, something to keep you going. Once you have stopped and settled and live each day the same as the last, you are content and have stabilized and while this is a great state to be in as well, I think people tend to view it as a dead end when it is not. You can always do more, see more, have more, be more, as long as you work toward some goal. "See what we're finding is it's not necessarily the reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality. " Let your brain live and view your experiences in a positive way and it will make you a happier person. 

So yeah. In other news, life is good, the weather is getting better, sophomore year without orgo is beautiful. Every morning when I wake up, I think of one thing I'm happy about that day. Whether it be something I'm looking forward to or something that happened to me the day before or something that simply exists in my life, it puts a smile on my face and I go about the rest of my day. I can tell you as a fact that I am a significantly happier person than last year and the year before that and of course the year before that. I suppose the older I get, the more mature I'm getting and the more I realize that there's so much to be happy about in my life. But I've given this spiel before so I'll just stop it here for now.

Hugs and kisses from Sonal. Yaaay(: