Christmas Season

The Christmas season is suppose to be a joyous time of the year, but in reality people have misconstrued almost every aspect of Christmas. We've made it about consumer products and political correctness. What we really should be focused on is caring for others, and feeling blessed for what we have. We should want to help those less fortunate and spend time with our loved ones. It may sound a little cliche, but currently in the world we live in these things are constantly put to the way side. To be honest it shouldn't be about religion either, religion seems to divide people and we should be coming together as a whole instead. These concepts should be followed in our everyday lives, all the time, but that isn't the case and if the Christmas season is the only time this is really emphasized we should talk advantage of it. I say we should abuse others with kindness not our religious integrity or consumer products. Just try and keep these simple but crucial concepts in mind this Christmas. With that being said:


MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

The Meaning of Life

 Natural psychology seems more philosophical than other fields of psychology, which seems appropriate since psychology's roots are in philosophy. The article below explores the age old question "what is the meaning of life?" If you've never contemplated this question, you truly need to in order to understand your own life. The only finite things to life are your birth and death, the journey is completely up to your own volition. In my opinion I do not believe there is a simple answer to this question. Perhaps the only simple answer would be to find the things that make you happy, but even that answer is more complicated than it seems. I have never lived my life pursuing one specific purpose, because there is not one purpose that could encompass a whole person's life. I think it is more important to live life with eyes wide open, keeping your own morals and values as guidelines, but not concrete. Maybe we are just meant to live life as it comes and enjoy the journey until it's end. This includes all the ups and downs, because even the things do not seem so positive do contribute to the person we become. I think everything would be worth it's while in the end if we could be happy with the person we've become. Just because there is no definite meaning to life does not mean it is sad or pathetic, it gives us the opportunity to set our own goals and create the life we want, not follow some intended structured path. This idea is what makes life have such intrinsic meaning in my opinion. The best part of this question is that it's open-ended, so you can determine your own "meaning to life," whatever that may be.  
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rethinking-psychology/201211/why-choosing-your-life-purpose-is-so-darn-hard

Vase; A Metaphor For Love

This is how I look at relationships. A relationship is like a vase crafted by two loving people; fragile and beautiful. But when one person hurts the other, that vase falls and breaks, each person gets some of the pieces. They can choose to start trying to put the pieces back together, but if only one person is trying to put the pieces together, that vase won't be whole until the other is willing to work at it too. If that person doesn't care they will keep misplacing and losing pieces, until they've lost all their pieces or perhaps they decide to start rebuilding. If they do start trying to rebuild, the vase still won't be whole because of those already lost pieces, unless they are willing to go searching for them. The thing to remember is you will always be able to see the cracks and it will never be as strong as it previously was. That sounds like a slightly sad way to look at it, but you can also see the effort put forth by both parties to make it whole again and find beauty in the cracks.

Rape Myths

The idea that any woman wants to be raped is beyond any expression of words. No woman wants this, NONE. It's not a hard concept, if she says no than that's your first clue she doesn't want it. If she struggles it's more than obvious she doesn't want your nasty body parts anywhere near her. But somehow these stupid men committing rape don't see how that's not consent. How anyone can think a woman brings it upon herself to be raped by what she's wearing and how she's acting, needs a right smack in the head. No one brings that upon themselves and no one wants that. If you don't know or understand the meaning of "no" go back to kindergarten. Five year olds know what it means, how can thirty-five year olds not? And this whole aspect that men can't control their urges, get over yourself. We are grown people, we are the human species, the apparent superior species because we have the ability to think, SO DO IT! You have the ability to control your own behaviours, we have will power, use it! You are no more than a dumb, stupid animal if you commit rape. Don't give in to the rape myths either, they are just that, a myth. They aren't true and they are merely acting as excuses for peoples' actions, take control and responsibility of your own actions. And for anyone who believes rape myths, again use your head, get educated. If you think anyone deserves this, you're sick. 
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-love-and-war/201211/she-asked-it-the-impact-rape-myths

Glen Arthur

(The picture above is called Blood is Thicker Than Water, from The Ghost and the Banshee collection)
Glen Arthur, is one of my favourite artists. His pieces are always so well done. The titles of his pieces are clever and explain the meaning behind the piece. They seems like simple pieces but they are so complex. He uses different types of media and touches upon such serious life subjects. His artwork is so raw and I love his colour schemes, and his signature use of the hummingbirds. My favourite collection is the ghost and the banshee. The theme of daulity and the themes of each piece are hunting. I feel like we all face the idea of the image others see of us fighting against the image that we see. Also the good and evil in ourselves clashing. I can praise Arthur for all his work but it's more meaningful for you to experience for yourself.
This is a link to his website http://www.glennarthurart.com/Glenn_Arthur_Art.html
 

The Power of Laughter

Currently I am out of a job and need one desperately. I have some money troubles, who doesn't? The only thing causing me a ton of stress is the fact that I don't have a job, I'm not even finding school too stressful. But this job thing is killing me, literally. Stress is a silent killer. It increases neurotransmitters that can increase hormones like cortisol, which are harmful to the body. Cortisol decreases immune functioning, leaving you susceptible to illness and disease. A lot of recent research has been looking at the positive effects of laughter, which release hormones like endorphins (these hormones relax you). Laughter could quite possibly be considered a medication for fighting the effects of stress. Positive psychology is a fairly new area in the field, so more research needs to look at the subject of laughter. For now though I think it's safe to say whenever you feel a panic attack coming on, sit down and watch your favourite comedy.    
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/jobless-not-joyless/201210/unemployed-and-feeling-down-try-laughter-2

Awesome

The author of this article, Christopher Peterson, was a positive psychologist who recently passed away. This was the last article he wrote and somehow it is huntingly beautiful. He mentions his own death and how he hope that he leaves some kind of unique not necessarily lasting impact. His article talks about the true meaning of the word awesome, which has manifested into simply meaning good or bad (awful). In a way it's sad because it's true meaning has so much more depth. It means something is so great that it causes positive feelings but because it's so great it also causes fear. He talks about his awe inspiring memories, but also the true meaning of this moments. Most times we live our daily lives without giving much thought to the amount of people in the world and how we are all the same but also unique. One of the times I noticed this and had an awe moment was being in the Mall of America looking down from the top floor to all the levels. There were so many people and it looked like a giant ant hill. Everyone was just going about their business but I was struck in this awe inspiring moment. Sometimes these moments happen randomly, sometimes we plan them out, such as a trip to Greece, but these are the moments when we realize how amazing and beautiful life truly is. Even reading this article reminiscing about my own moments caused a bit of an awe moment in itself. Thank you Chris for giving me that.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-good-life/201210/awesome-e-pluribus-unum