Week 2: At the Speed of Light...AND...Week 3: Creativity and Me

"Periodically you need to take your brain out and dance on it." -Mark Twain

Life is going by so fast lately. The older I get, the faster it goes. I tell myself I have to do things "tomorrow", and before I know it, "tomorrow" is gone and three weeks have passed. That's what happened to my temporary disappearance from my blog-- tomorrow just came and went too fast! BUT here I am! I'm back! So I want to reflect back on the past couple weeks of lecture...

1/21/14
I took notes during this lecture on the things I felt were the most important/intrigued me the most. The most intriguing piece I wrote was: The Paradox of Choice. Dr. V described this to be when an individual has too many choices to choose from, which can ultimately lead to self-blame or decision-making paralysis. This phrase can be applied to my life right now-- I am graduating next spring and I am becoming bombarded with decisions like where to live after graduation, internship/job opportunites, ultimate career choice; basically the major things students my age are faced with. I'm nervous that when making these life-changing decisions, I'll make the wrong one. How can I overcome the self-doubt and ultimate self-blame? Well the next thing written on my paper was unleash the magic. WOW. Hard-hitting right? In order to make decisions and allow myself to be happy in them, all I need to do is unleash my "magic"! So from this point on, I will make decisions (without regret), and allow my true self to come out in everything I do. I'll step out of my comfort zone to unleash my creativity and truly find out how I work!

Also this week after reviewing the online portion, I have concluded that the online modules are very similar to class lectures and just build off of them. Therefore I am unsure if I will be writing on them anymore. I will definitely view them if I am having trouble understanding the material or am very interested in the lecture's material.

1/28/14

This lecture was structured on Creative Thinking, how to harbor your imagination, and how to best center your creative thinking around your personality. I've always believed that I am a creative thinker, but at first this class made me feel otherwise. With the exercises we did, I finished and thought I did great by thinking out of the box. However when students were asked to share their results, people had thought more out of the box than I had, and came up with more ideas. That's when I started questioning myself-- if I am truly creative, why can't I portray it right now? That's when this lecture stepped in and showed me how to use my creative side and how to enhance it. In order to be creative, we have to use our imagination. 

For example in the first exercise we did, Dr. V asked us to reproduce a happy moment we've already lived in our minds. As cheesy as it sounds, my happy moment was my first date with my boyfriend. That part was easy-- I just thought about a day where I just could not stop smiling, and that day immediately popped into my mind. However Dr. V's next question puzzled me a little more-- he asked us to produce a happy moment that we will live. There's so many options! I could say traveling to my dream place, graduating, doing something adventurous, getting married, or a million other things. However I think that was the key to this exercise: to produce a multitude of ideas in your brain. And that's exactly what I did! Within this lecture, I also discovered that as well as being imaginative, I am a word-smart, people-smart, and self-smart thinker. I believe I can take these new discoveries and apply it to how my mind works, which will truly better myself and my thinking.

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Week 1: The Future and Creativity

As I walked into the lecture hall for the first class, I was apprehensive. I had no idea what to expect. My mind was racing and my eyes were wandering as Dr. V. began his lecture. He began by talking to us about the future, which was different than any other class I had taken before. Normally professors teach about the past or even the present, but never the future. He went on and we reached our first in-class activity-- the fire activity. He asked us what things were needed to make/sustain a fire, and the things we could do with a fire.
Generally, I believe myself to be a creative person, but this exercise took me by surprise! Of course I thought of the basic things you need to make fire-- oxygen, friction, and something to start it (like a lighter). Also I thought of the pretty basic things to do with a fire-- cook and keep warm. However when Dr. V. started asking students to share what they had come up with, I was very surprised! The most unique answer I remember hearing was that you can sterilize items with fire. Then I thought of course, why didn't I think of that? It's so simple!That's what creativity is to me: simple. You just have to delve far enough into yourself to truly realize it. After that I began to think of more things you could do with a fire. Well you can melt crayons to create a painting. You can perform the art of glass blowing to create wonderful works of art. Something so simple such as fire can be harbored so that is a product of it. So that is how I will begin to think of my creativity-- as a tool that I harbor to create beauty. And in the end, I believe the beauty I create will affect myself and the world in the future.

As far as the online education module goes this week, it was very interesting to see "who" our professor is and how he's gotten to the point he's at now. However after going through and reading the myths about ENDS, I think this class will be harder than I expect it to...the only thing I can say to that is, "BRING IT ON".