Hapiness Revisited QQC

Quote: "It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, how we interpret them."

Question: Does this mean that optimism is the same thing as happiness?

Comment: I think I often mix up happiness with satisfaction. I wish I had known about this reading a month ago, since I was asked if I was happy in an assignment. I said no. I said this because there were so many things in life I was holding myself back from. I'm still holding myself back today. Then again, I suppose that satisfaction and happiness go together, and no one can always be happy. There are just times when I feel blue. This could be because of a chemical imbalance, or something.

I wouldn't say that I'm searching for happiness, more as I searching for a way out of myself--or rather, a way to open myself up instead of holding back so much. I get closer and closer to this goal every day, but as this happens, my craving for it increases. I will admit, however, there are things I search for in life that I believe will make me happier. Actually, it's more like there are people I want to meet that I believe will make me happier or smile more or love the world even more than now. You know, those friends that you find to be absolutely amazing and inspiring? I have a couple of those, but my mind has developed these characters in my brain that I really want to believe exist. They've just got to be out there, you know?

I'm probably not making any sense...in short, I think that happiness does tie directly in with observation and optimism. There are times when I just look at something, and I think: wow...that didn't used to be here, whether it's a baby, a bird, or some piece of technology. I'm happy at where the world is at right now, and look forward to it improving.

Mastery QQC

Alright, this time I have a couple, since this particular article really speaks to what I've been thinking about lately. I really enjoyed this reading.

Quotes: "One happens in a moment; the other unfolds over months, years, sometimes decades"

"Believe that intelligence is just that-- an entity. It exists within us in a finite supply that we cannot increase"

Comment: Those were my two favorite quotes because recently, when I'm setting goals, I've been more conscious of how long I expect or want them to take before I achieve. However, I often find that it takes longer than I expect, because I overestimate momentary success, and think that the rest of the journey will be easy. However, this is not the case, and I've realized that giving time limits to my goals ultimately defeats my purpose.

I enjoyed the second quote mostly because of the bit about intelligence being in all of us. Whenever someone says 'you're so smart' I always think: the smartest thing I do is try to put in more effort. Anyone can do it if they really try. It can be hard, but it's certainly within everyone's reach. But if it's not one of your goals to learn something, then there's a very small chance that you will ever reach it, or even care to reach it for that matter. This thought then connected later in the text, which I really enjoyed as well, but decided to narrow down my quotes to those two above.

On one final note, I also thought it was interesting to think of the two types of goals (performance vs. learning), because I never noticed it before, but I so clearly use both. For example, just like in the reading, being able to speak French has been a goal of mine for a while, so I took a class on it. I was more focused on being able to speak and understand the language rather than ace the test, because I wanted to go to French speaking countries and be able to speak as beautifully as them (this goes for the many other languages I want to learn). This same thing applies to English. I love writing, so I want to get better at it, so when I have an opportunity to exercise my skills in class, I do it, and continuously improve. Unfortunately, this same thing doesn't always apply for math, which ends up making it harder for me to learn. I have a true appreciation for math, since I think it's an extremely creative process, but if I don't think I'll use the skills later, it's harder to be motivated. That's why one of my current goals is to be fueled more by curiosity in math class. The more questions I ask myself and others, the more answers I'll get.