Day 88: The Notebook Method is amazing!

What went well? 

1. Am feeling more confident about my mindfulness/Buddhism research paper now. Used the Notebook Method to clarify some ideas, then talked to my professor about it, and that was super helpful. Then, wrote my introduction and started the etymology secton - about 600 words. So, it's going! I have officially put pen to paper (keyboard to pixels??)!
2. My Sociology of Education class was cancelled today as the professor was at a big education conference, so I was able to audit today's positive psychology lecture on positive cultural influences. It was really interesting!
3. Intro Buddhism lecture was engaging as always. This was really funny - the professor expressed some sadness that we're nearly done with the course, and a student commented, "I sense some attachment there!" Everyone cracked up laughing. It was funnier than it sounds - Buddhism in-joke?

What did I learn? 

• Finnish people have a concept of "sisu" that they see as integral and unique to their national identity. Sisu isn't easily translated, but it has to do with grit, determination, guts, indomitable will, stamina, stubbornness, and determination.
• Sabbagh et al. (2006) found that pre-schoolers in China had a 6-month developmental advantage on executive functions (measured by 8 tests) compared to US pre-schoolers. The role of cultural expectations for self-control.

Day 87: Just research, only research

I had an objectively boring day! Just working on my Buddhism paper. But that's ok, since I had plenty of fun last night and Friday night.

What went well? 

1. There was brunch at Stouffer today and there was so much fruit. Pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. I think I got enough vitamins for the week! Really appreciated the GA's effort in organising the brunch.
2. Watched a few videos of various stagings of Pur ti miro, the duet I'm performing for Opera Scenes. The great thing about having singing as a serious hobby is that it's a productive form of procrastination! That is, it's enjoyable and a good brain break, but still "productive".

What did I learn? 

• Not a whole lot - I was basically re-reading the notes I'd already made, since you really do forget stuff you read a month or two ago...and a good paper is all about the nuances and connections that you're able to make when you can hold and play with several ideas in your mind at once.
• The brain pill in Limitless actually exists. And the results ain't pretty...I'm really intrigued by where neuroenhancers will go in the future, and what the public acceptability of them will be. Dr Olivia Carter wrote a really interesting column on this issue back in 2011, "Drugs to enhance us will enchant us … especially if there are no side effects". I guess my main fear is of a psychopharmacological "arms race". But it does make me wonder about human potential. Very hypothetically, what if there actually was a magic pill that could make everyone reach their full potential (intellectually, socially, emotionally, spiritually) and improve society? A pill for peace? Lol. Random ramblings.

Day 86: Birthday (again!)!

The love continued. And it was uplifting.

What went well?

1. Got a really uplifting e-card from my singing teacher. Even though she's on her European tour and was preparing for a major performance in Germany (I think today??), she still thought of me. It's amazing.
2. Had a lovely birthday dinner (at HipCityVeg) with friends. Even though I stated no presents, they gave me flowers, an awesome book of happiness, and cupcakes!! And even though one of my friends couldn't make it, she stopped by my dorm later to give me a card that she had made...probably the most special card I've ever received. Beautiful in art and in words. Just so touching.






How much more perfect could this get??



My reaction: :O!!!!!!!! Wow. So grateful.

3. Had a great Skype session with my mum! It was the first time in about a month that we'd talked, oops. But it was definitely a positive and high quality conversation :) We started talking about a project I'm going to do over the holidays to improve my Chinese - translating that book chapter on positive education into Chinese, because all I really care about it being able to talk about my research in Chinese in the future. Looks like it will be quite challenging since there aren't necessarily satisfactory equivalents for several words in Chinese, but it will still be a great project.
4. And....before having more fun afterwards, I still managed to write the first 660 words of my mindfulness paper! #workhardplayhard

What did I learn? 

• I have friends who are true givers and who really care about me.
• A little bit of thoughtfulness goes a long way and makes a huge personal impact.

Day 85: All you need is love

Today was a joyous day. The cool thing about being on the other side of the world is that I get to celebrate my birthday for two whole days!

What went well? 

1. Got messages from my parents wishing me happy birthday. Was especially touched to hear that my dad woke up this morning and wanted to wish me happy birthday even though it's not my birthday yet in US time. Super cute. Feeling so much joy and love right now. <3
2. Went and saw the Phantom of the Opera with my friend!! He bought me my ticket for my birthday, and even though they were rush tickets, we had AMAZING seats with a perfect and close view. The production, set, special effects, acting and singing all made for a compelling and exciting show.
3. Before seeing the show, we got dinner at a vegan restaurant. It was unassuming, but the food was great and I had the most amazing vegan chocolate cake there.
4. I was really high in energy today, which makes everything easier.
5. We fine-tuned our survey for our study which we'll be launching soon!

What did I learn? 

• The post-doc that I'm working with is meeting with the Melbourne GSE Dean tomorrow for coffee...I am so excited for her!!!!! I remember that a couple months ago we were talking about how cool it would be if she came to Melbourne...and now it looks like it could actually be a happening thing...??? Everything happens for a reason, and it's so interesting to see how interconnected things are.

Day 84: How fast can I write this post?

Today was the first time I very nearly forgot to write this blog. I need to sleep! But habit kicked in, so super-briefly:

What went well? 

1. Someone found my lost key and handed it into the guard box. Such a relief as it meant I didn't have to backtrace my steps and search the library carrels to see if it had fallen out of my bag somewhere. And also, that I didn't have to pay for a lock change. All's well that ends well.
2. My class presentation on my mindfulness & positive education paper progress went really well. I really love and feel alive when presenting and teaching, so definitely look forward to doing more of that in my future career.
3. Read a few really useful sources for my mindfulness & positive education paper. It's definitely on a roll now, and hopefully I can terminate research by Saturday and start writing and have a first draft down by next Sunday.

What did I learn? 

• Varsity students athletes have a pretty shit life. It's everything stressful about Penn amplified to the max. Today's Duckworth lab meeting was basically an informal conversation about mental health in student athletes & what can be done, and some lab members had experience as student athletes, and one said that she would only shower about once a week because a shower takes 20 minutes and she would only get about 3 hours of sleep because of all the practice and travel...and people hoped that they would break an ankle or something to get out of practice...sports was their only source of identity and pride, and that was basically why they did it. It was really disturbing.

Day 83: Hilarious adventures in singing/acting

What went well? 

1. Had the most hilarious rehearsal for Opera Scenes. We were trying out different "story lines" for our characters, and one of the scenarios was me being super intense and obsessive and my lover being kinda creeped out by it. Her [she's singing the role of a guy] expression at one point cracked me up and everyone just started laughing so much. It was the funniest thing ever and I was literally in tears of laughter.
2. Buddhism lecture, interesting, awesome and provocative as usual.
3. Professor Duckworth gave some extremely insightful advice in her positive psychology lecture today, that has actually changed the way I think about writing papers. It was profound. Basically, based on a paper (David, M. S. (1971). That's interesting!: Towards a phenomenology of sociology and a sociology of phenomenology. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 309-344), there is a formula for writing an interesting article/essay. Interesting findings or theories contradict accepted facts, beliefs, or opinions. Interest lies in novelty. So the basic structure for an interesting piece of writing would follow a format like this:
• It has long been thought that…
• But this is false because…
• Here is the evidence that this is false…
• The practical implications of this discovery are…

What did I learn? 

• Like any religion, Buddhism can, and has, resulted in violence. Attachment to any views does that.
• You know, the WWW exercise really does work. When I started writing this blog post I was in a really, really bad mood because I actually had quite a mindless day, so I lost my key to my room (so will have to get a lock change). But reflecting on the good and the laughter from the day made me laugh again, and bring some perspective and affective balance back. Overcoming the negativity bias requires active work, but it's kinda more rational - a lot of good stuff did happen today, after all, and that shouldn't be outweighed by a mishap. So, I just changed the title of this post from "Ugh" to "Hilarious adventures in singing/acting".

Day 82: So grateful

What went well? 

1. Woke up to an email from my mentor in Melbourne, explaining the details of a project she wants her team of five undergraduates to help her with - co-authoring a journal article reviewing school-based positive psychology interventions!!!!!! I had kinda been fantasising about publishing stuff as an undergraduate especially since hearing about Amy Wrzesniewski's insane achievements (6 papers as an undergraduate)...and it looks like those dreams were actually closer to reality than I could have ever hoped for! I'm just so grateful and so inspired by my mentor's generosity and kindness in giving us this opportunity. It's incredible.
2. Went to a really interesting talk this afternoon by David Moser - "Is Chinese character writing still a basic skill? The new digital Chinese tools and implications for Chinese learning". It was so thought-provoking and so relevant. See below.
3. Got another email from my mentor telling me that the positive book chapter I helped her to edit last year, "Balancing the curriculum: teaching gratitude, hope and resilience", has been published! It was really cool to see the final product.

What did I learn? 

• In China, there's a problem: "Character Amnesia". Even native-born Chinese are finding it difficult to remember how to write everyday characters in their own language, and resort to pinyin to fill in the gaps. Why? Digital tools (e.g. digital dictionaries, Pleco, OCR, speech-to-text) have reduced the need to actually produce characters by hand. The Chinese government has gone to serious efforts to try and promote more emphasis on writing characters, with a lot of attention in the media about this issue and even spelling bee-style game shows on CCTV. David Moser suggested that this is futile though, as digital tools are the future. Instead, he argued that digital tools are both the problem and the solution. If we can write using digital tools and have our reading assisted by digital dictionaries and OCR automatic character recognition, why waste that much time memorising characters when you could just be trying to expose yourself to as much text as possible to acquire vocabulary? Recognition is key, not the physical production of words. Importantly, he's not suggesting that we get rid of characters, but just decrease the emphasis on writing and increase the emphasis on recognition. His talk definitely emanated a lot of the American values of pragmatism, efficiency and individualism, and probably the Western universalist perspective, but it was a compelling argument nonetheless, and has certainly influenced my ideas about how to best go about approaching my Chinese learning. I guess my goals would be to be able to have deeper conversations with family in China, as well as being able to talk to people about (and within) my profession in the future. So, based on his talk, I think some good ways to go about improving my Chinese vocabulary for these domains might be to try and read a lot of this kind of material (supported by digital dictionaries) and also do translations of these (again, with digital dictionaries). But I've asked him for more advice on this, so it will be interesting to see what he says.