A short video of me walking my cat Silas at UNM.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Know Thyself - It can make you happy!
Greetings to all,
As we change and transition into the next semester, let us know our internal selves a little better. Here is a great website to study. It is a more extended read, but well worth the time: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583
As we change and transition into the next semester, let us know our internal selves a little better. Here is a great website to study. It is a more extended read, but well worth the time: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-myers-briggs-type-indicator-2795583
The Development of the Myers-Briggs Test
Both Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine were fascinated by Jung's theory of psychological types and recognized that the theory could have real-world applications. During World War II, Myers and Briggs began researching and developing an indicator that could be utilized to help understand individual differences. By helping people understand themselves, Myers and Briggs believed that they could help people select occupations that were best suited to their personality types and lead healthier happier lives.
Myers created the first pen-and-pencil version of the inventory during the 1940s, and the two women began testing the assessment on friends and family. They continued to fully develop the instrument over the next two decades.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Times of Change and Transition - You are Not Alone
Greetings to all,
As we near the completion of our course this summer, I have a website to share with you all: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/bible-verses-change It is a rapid read. I promise you it will fill your heart with joy and positive expectations!
13 Bible Verses For Times Of Change & Transition
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Moments of Lucidity and Alzheimer's
Greetings to all,
I had a unique experience at work today that made me happy. I will now share the experience.
My client and I stood together in her kitchen, looking out the kitchen window into her garden. The plums, pears, and apples ripe, filling the trees with their fruits heavy laden created a picturesque scene. It was four o'clock, and the sun-filled the yard with light enhancing the green grass. Jenny washed and polished six small bright purple plums that had been picked from her garden. She handed me three plums and kept three plums. Together we enjoyed the sweetness of the fruit and the beauty and bounty of her garden. She was lucid and thoroughly enjoyed the moments in her kitchen, gazing into her beautiful garden, eating her plums. Her lucidity made me happy as I could sense her willingness to share, her pride and contentment in her creation.
When I got home and had time to contemplate the aforementioned incident I did some research and found a website on Alzheimer's that explains:
I had a unique experience at work today that made me happy. I will now share the experience.
My client and I stood together in her kitchen, looking out the kitchen window into her garden. The plums, pears, and apples ripe, filling the trees with their fruits heavy laden created a picturesque scene. It was four o'clock, and the sun-filled the yard with light enhancing the green grass. Jenny washed and polished six small bright purple plums that had been picked from her garden. She handed me three plums and kept three plums. Together we enjoyed the sweetness of the fruit and the beauty and bounty of her garden. She was lucid and thoroughly enjoyed the moments in her kitchen, gazing into her beautiful garden, eating her plums. Her lucidity made me happy as I could sense her willingness to share, her pride and contentment in her creation.
When I got home and had time to contemplate the aforementioned incident I did some research and found a website on Alzheimer's that explains:
Alzheimer’s Patients Can Have Moments of Perfect Lucidity
Many people who care for those with Alzheimer’s can often tell you about times where their loved one has had moments of complete, stunning lucidity. Sometimes it lasts only a few moments, other times a few hours, even sometimes an entire day.
Some caregivers have reported that their loved one with AD actually had an entire week of relative clarity. And then, her dementia returned.
As the illness gets worse, the lucid episodes will happen less often. But when they do happen, it can be a very striking and precious time.
A recent article in Huffington Post provides a few examples of the author’s experiences with this momentary lucidity in her husband, who has Alzheimer’s. She had an interview a few years ago for a new job and it went well. She went back for another interview and it also went well, but she was sad that she would not be able to share it with her husband, as he could not understand. She had told him about the job possibility a month earlier and he could not understand anything.
However, after the second interview, she decided to tell him about it, and shockingly, he completely understood! He said, ‘that’s wonderful! Congratulations! With all of your talents, you are sure to get the job!” Her ‘old’ husband was back, if only for a few moments.
Those lucid moments can last in some cases, and it also may allow the person to be aware briefly that they have dementia. This obviously can be painful for both the caregiver and the patient."
If any of you have family or friends with the disease you may relate to why today's experience is a happy memory that I now cherish.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Friday, July 17, 2020
Time, Space, Money, Right Livelihood, Existence, and Consciousness
Greetings to all,
I was not anticipating that work would take up as much energy as it is. It is said that time is energy. In a sense, this is true. It is also said that time is money, and that energy is money. The word is - is usually associated with an equal sign. In the instance of my work this summer, I would say that time is energy is money is disproportionate. The equation needs to be rewritten to include the variations of levels of emotions involved with the work. Also, the purpose of existence needs to be part of the equation. I am contemplating this as I walk today.
After walking and contemplating the aforementioned ideas, I found a website that made me very happy because it gives insight into the above contemplation. This is the website:
https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Schopenhauer/schopenhauer.html
I hope you take a few moments to look at this website and view the ideas of some of the greatest minds that have contemplated consciousness, man, and existence.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
I was not anticipating that work would take up as much energy as it is. It is said that time is energy. In a sense, this is true. It is also said that time is money, and that energy is money. The word is - is usually associated with an equal sign. In the instance of my work this summer, I would say that time is energy is money is disproportionate. The equation needs to be rewritten to include the variations of levels of emotions involved with the work. Also, the purpose of existence needs to be part of the equation. I am contemplating this as I walk today.
After walking and contemplating the aforementioned ideas, I found a website that made me very happy because it gives insight into the above contemplation. This is the website:
https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/Philosophers/Schopenhauer/schopenhauer.html
I hope you take a few moments to look at this website and view the ideas of some of the greatest minds that have contemplated consciousness, man, and existence.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Cinema Therapy and Stress Release
Greetings to all,
The last few days at work have been very stress filled. I walk, dance, practice yoga, meditate, journal, and yet the pressure remains. I decided to watch the movie "My Spy." It made me laugh. After watching the movie, I finally was able to relax a little. Then I started thinking and researching, "Why does viewing a movie support relaxation?" Here is what I found.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-watching-movies-can-benefit-our-mental-health/#:~:text=Movies%20bring%20us%20a%20sense,which%20produces%20feelings%20of%20pleasure.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
The last few days at work have been very stress filled. I walk, dance, practice yoga, meditate, journal, and yet the pressure remains. I decided to watch the movie "My Spy." It made me laugh. After watching the movie, I finally was able to relax a little. Then I started thinking and researching, "Why does viewing a movie support relaxation?" Here is what I found.
https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-watching-movies-can-benefit-our-mental-health/#:~:text=Movies%20bring%20us%20a%20sense,which%20produces%20feelings%20of%20pleasure.
"Aside from being a few hours of fun with friends and family, watching films can also be a form of therapy. Apart from the obvious — escaping our own lives and problems for a short time — there are many documented benefits to watching movies. In fact, it even has a name: cinema therapy."
Birgit Wolz, PhD., MFT, who facilitates cinema therapy groups, says:
Well, cinema therapy worked for me today! I am grateful that I enjoyed the movie and experienced a sense of stress release after watching the film."Cinema therapy can be a powerful catalyst for healing and growth for anybody who is open to learning how movies affect us and to watching certain films with conscious awareness. Cinema therapy allows us to use the effect of imagery, plot, music, etc. in films on our psyche for insight, inspiration, emotional release or relief and natural change."
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Finding Balance through the Gravity of the Situation
Greetings to all,
It was 6:55 am, and I went outside on the back patio to wait for my employer to arrive at 7:00 am. I was preparing to leave after a 13-hour shift at work. Grey clouds filled the sky. I looked up at the apple tree in the center of the yard and saw a hummingbird rest upon a branch for a blink of an eye; I saw an object fall from the tree, then heard a loud "thud!" A golden-green apple had hit the ground. I thought of Isaac Newton and his epiphany when an apple fell on his head, and he was lead to define his law of gravity. Then I thought of Galileo's experiment.
It was 6:55 am, and I went outside on the back patio to wait for my employer to arrive at 7:00 am. I was preparing to leave after a 13-hour shift at work. Grey clouds filled the sky. I looked up at the apple tree in the center of the yard and saw a hummingbird rest upon a branch for a blink of an eye; I saw an object fall from the tree, then heard a loud "thud!" A golden-green apple had hit the ground. I thought of Isaac Newton and his epiphany when an apple fell on his head, and he was lead to define his law of gravity. Then I thought of Galileo's experiment.
Galileo's Famous Gravity Experiment | Brian Cox | BBC Two
"You probably know that two objects dropped in a vacuum fall at the same rate, no matter the mass of each item. If you've never seen a demonstration of this, then you really should, because it's incredible to watch.
Here is perhaps the perfect example, brought to us by physicist Brian Cox. He checked out NASA's Space Simulation Chamber located at the Space Power Facility in Ohio. With a volume of 22,653 cubic meters, it's the largest vacuum chamber in the world.
In this hypnotizing clip from the BBC, Cox drops a bowling ball and a feather together, first in normal conditions, and then after virtually all the air has been sucked out of the chamber. We know what happens, but that doesn't stop it from being awesome, especially with the team's ecstatic faces."
full-length experiment: https://youtu.be/E43-CfukEgs
After watching this, I thought about how negative thoughts can hit one like a bowling ball and crush one's positive emotional state and how a positive psychological impression can touch one like a feather and bring a sensation of soft pleasing pleasure.
Then I thought how meditation could create an emotional vacuum in one's consciousness so that there is "no crush of a bowling ball" and "no soft sensational feather." There is just observing the fall of the emotion (negative or positive) in an airless vacuum.
Sincerely,
April Vihilidal
Monday, July 13, 2020
Panda Mei Mei and Her Cub
This started my Monday off well! Why is it that fluffy, adorable animals melt our hearts and make us happy? I know in my head that they are wild animals and ould likely hurt me, but this just made my heart sing a well as melt!
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Baby Turtle Alert
Musing about Happiness in Online Discussions
One of the reasons I created this blog is to encourage us all to interact with each other and by doing do help make ourselves and each other happier. Research indicates strongly that interacting and sharing our ideas with others even briefly can actually increase positive thinking and personal well-being. Yet, I know many of you-- and myself included-- have a hard time always keeping up with such interactions.
While our Happiness for Honors Students class does not really represent my usual teaching style in a regular class, I typically require some type of regular online/digital interaction between students. Yet, in those classes as well as this one, I sometimes feel that students are simply checking off requirement boxes instead of really engaging in authentic, useful discussion that encourages all of us to learn from each other. My students also frequently tell me they feel online discussion in classes that use Blackboard/UNM Learn tends to come off as something they do for a grade, not because it fosters and improves their learning in the course.
So, I am asking you to help me think about and learn from you about how I can establish really strong, vibrant, engaging online discussion forums in my future classes this fall. I would really like to know your honest thoughts on this and promise that nothing you say on this topic will lower your grade in this class.
Below are some possible questions that might help you focus your thoughts on this. But, as you think about this, please try to imagine yourself in my position as a college Honors teacher. I want my student not just to get a degree but to learn skills and better understand themselves and others in ways that will make them more successful in their futures (meaning happier and more fulfilled, not making more salary!). I prefer to encourage and trust students, rather than police and doubt them, which means I want to spend my time reviewing and grading work that inspires them to do their best and truly reflects their learning. Spending tons of my time grading "busy work" each day is not what I consider either conducive to student learning or to my own or the most useful way for me to spend my time. To sum up: I want my classes to matter to your future in ways that are meaningful; I don't want my classes to be simply requirements you have to get through.
On to some questions! Feel free to come up with different questions of your own.
-- Have you ever had interesting or good online discussions with others you don't know well? What made those discussions good?
-- How much supervision do you need to have productive online discussions? In other words, would you work best if I leave you mostly alone or comment on every word?
-- What best motivates you to go online to discuss something related to a class?
-- What if each student was assigned to lead, develop, foster online discussion for a week or two of each class? Would that encourage you to take more ownership of the online work for your assigned weeks? Would you be more inclined to help out your peers in discussions for their assigned weeks?
-- Would making online discussion optional and ungraded have any value? Would you be likely to interact in online discussions if they were not required?
-- Would it be useful to have a basic level of required participation in online discussion and then another level of optional participation that could be used to replace a different kind of assignment?
-- Would it help the liveliness and collaborative quality of online discussions if you were required to post a brief video summary of each of your own assignments (papers, presentations, etc.) on the online discussion at the same time you turn in the regular assignment to me? Doing so would be part of your grade, though the videos would not be graded individually but points would be deducted if you did not turn in the video on time or it did not meet very basic expectations.
These are some of the questions I am mulling over as I work to prepare my fall classes. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated and would help make me happy! Also, if you would like to share this with others you know and get their responses, too, I would welcome that as well.
While our Happiness for Honors Students class does not really represent my usual teaching style in a regular class, I typically require some type of regular online/digital interaction between students. Yet, in those classes as well as this one, I sometimes feel that students are simply checking off requirement boxes instead of really engaging in authentic, useful discussion that encourages all of us to learn from each other. My students also frequently tell me they feel online discussion in classes that use Blackboard/UNM Learn tends to come off as something they do for a grade, not because it fosters and improves their learning in the course.
So, I am asking you to help me think about and learn from you about how I can establish really strong, vibrant, engaging online discussion forums in my future classes this fall. I would really like to know your honest thoughts on this and promise that nothing you say on this topic will lower your grade in this class.
Below are some possible questions that might help you focus your thoughts on this. But, as you think about this, please try to imagine yourself in my position as a college Honors teacher. I want my student not just to get a degree but to learn skills and better understand themselves and others in ways that will make them more successful in their futures (meaning happier and more fulfilled, not making more salary!). I prefer to encourage and trust students, rather than police and doubt them, which means I want to spend my time reviewing and grading work that inspires them to do their best and truly reflects their learning. Spending tons of my time grading "busy work" each day is not what I consider either conducive to student learning or to my own or the most useful way for me to spend my time. To sum up: I want my classes to matter to your future in ways that are meaningful; I don't want my classes to be simply requirements you have to get through.
On to some questions! Feel free to come up with different questions of your own.
-- Have you ever had interesting or good online discussions with others you don't know well? What made those discussions good?
-- How much supervision do you need to have productive online discussions? In other words, would you work best if I leave you mostly alone or comment on every word?
-- What best motivates you to go online to discuss something related to a class?
-- What if each student was assigned to lead, develop, foster online discussion for a week or two of each class? Would that encourage you to take more ownership of the online work for your assigned weeks? Would you be more inclined to help out your peers in discussions for their assigned weeks?
-- Would making online discussion optional and ungraded have any value? Would you be likely to interact in online discussions if they were not required?
-- Would it be useful to have a basic level of required participation in online discussion and then another level of optional participation that could be used to replace a different kind of assignment?
-- Would it help the liveliness and collaborative quality of online discussions if you were required to post a brief video summary of each of your own assignments (papers, presentations, etc.) on the online discussion at the same time you turn in the regular assignment to me? Doing so would be part of your grade, though the videos would not be graded individually but points would be deducted if you did not turn in the video on time or it did not meet very basic expectations.
These are some of the questions I am mulling over as I work to prepare my fall classes. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated and would help make me happy! Also, if you would like to share this with others you know and get their responses, too, I would welcome that as well.
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