Reading Other People

I want to show you all a TED talk given  by a woman named Rebecca Saxe. She talks about how the brain thinks about other people's thoughts and how the brain judges other peoples' actions. Be thinking about your own set of morals and how they vary/change over time.

It fascinated me at how you can see how children develop ideas about morality. With the puzzle of the pirates and the sandwiches, it shows that at first we can’t analyze other people thoughts very well. But as we get older our brain are more capable of understanding how other people think, and to understand that they may have different morals and beliefs.

She also said that adults can struggle with the same thing. Since everyone develops differently, it also means that everyone think and acts differently as well. When comparing the results of the sugar experiment, adults thought Grace should be severely punished for a failed attempt to harm her friend and only slightly punished when she accidently killed her friend. Which do you think deserves more punishment? Why?

But the amazing part is when she talked about being able to change people’s thoughts using magnetic pulses. After she used the magnetic pulses to disorganize the neuron function in the brain regions, people’s morals changed. They now thought that Grace should be punished more for an accidental death compared to a failed attempt at harm. This new technology is hoped to be used to help children learn how to make fair moral decisions in the future.

3 A's of Awesome

This week I will be sharing a TED talk about a guy named Neil Pasricha. He talks about the simple things in life that can change your mood, and shares his perspective on how to have a happy life. During the video, try to think of some small things that can genuinely make you smile.

As I watch this video I thought about the little things that make me happy. Like when strangers hold open a door for you or you’re 32 cents over what you have to spend and the cashier acts like they didn’t see anything. Neil says the three “A’s of awesome” are attitude, awareness and authenticity.

What I took out of the section he talked about attitude is when he said “You can swirl and twirl and gloom and doom forever or you can grieve and then face the future.” I completely agree with him. Throughout my life I’ve had to deal with some rough times, but who hasn’t? Everyone has their own problems and everyone has their own ways of dealing with things, it’s just a lot easier to move on when you decide it’s time to move forward. Never forget the past, because the past is what makes you who you are, but don’t let it overwhelm you. Even if you’re going through a rough patch in your life, it’ll only be that way if you choose to stay there.    

The second thing that truly impacted me is when he talked about being you. Everyone struggles with questions of “Who am I?” and “What is my purpose?” It’s a natural thing that everyone has to deal with. Nowadays peer pressure can change how kids see the world and they see themselves. Always be yourself, if people don’t like you for you then they aren’t worth it. True friends won’t make you change who you are and there is always going to be someone that’ll like you for you. 

What are some ways you have been able to deal with difficult times? For Neil he used writing as an outlet, and for me I had a lot of support from my family growing up.

Bunny Ears and Bow Ties Revised

One of the most time consuming things when I was a kid was tying my shoes. I would have to sit down and sing the little rhyme to myself for about ten minutes until my parents became impatient and tied them for me. But when I finally learned how to do it myself, I had a huge feeling of accomplishment. Today while watching Ted Talks I stumbled upon one with an interesting title... "How to tie your shoes." While watching this video, be thinking about how you were taught to tie your shoes and how simple it seems to be.

This video made me think that even though we all have our own ways of doing things, listening to other people's advice might give us a greater advantage. We've always been told to listen to others and be collaborative workers, but outside of school most kids don't continue to listen to the point of view of another. In this case, it was a small change that Terry Moore taught is, but to me it had more meaning than just saving a little extra time in the day.

A quote that really intrigued me was when the speaker said, "Sometimes a small advantage some place in life can yield tremendous results some place else." This had me realize that in school, my teachers knew what they were talking about! Weekly we had to read off habits of mind from a white poster hanging in the back of the room. They had been trying to engrave it in our brains since sixth grade that they can help us be successful. As soon as I heard this quote I thought of applying past knowledge to knew situations. It was one of the main, and most dreaded, habits of mind we learned about. If you use the advantages from your past by remembering what made you successful, you can remain successful in the future.

What I want to know is some other unique ways of doing simple things that can help you remember better or get things done quicker. Like tying the knot on your shoes the other way or writing in a planner so that you don't forget to do things. Everybody has some interesting way of getting things done and I'm always up for learning about ideas other people have!

Bunny Ears and Bow Ties

One of the most time consuming things when I was a kid was tying my shoes. I would have to sit down and sing the little rhyme to myself for about ten minutes until my parents became impatient and tied them for me. But when I finally learned how to do it myself, I had a huge feeling of accomplishment. Today while watching Ted Talks I stumbled upon one with an interesting title... "How to tie your shoes." While watching this video, be thinking about how you were taught to tie your shoes and how simple it seems to be.



This video made me think that even though we all have our own ways of doing things, listening to other people's advice might give us a greater advantage. We've always been told to listen to others and be collaborative workers, but outside of school most kids don't continue to listen to the point of view of another. In this case, it was a small change that Terry Moore taught is, but to me it had more meaning than just saving a little extra time in the day.
A quote that really intrigued me was when the speaker said, "Sometimes a small advantage some place in life can yield tremendous results some place else." This had me realize that in school, my teachers knew what they were talking about! Weekly we had to read off habits of mind from a white poster hanging in the back of the room. They had been trying to engrave it in our brains since sixth grade that they can help us be successful. As soon as I heard this quote I thought of applying past knowledge to knew situations. It was one of the main, and most dreaded, habits of mind we learned about. If you use the advantages from your past by remembering what made you successful, you can remain successful in the future.
What I want to know is some other unique ways of doing simple things that can help you remember better or get things done quicker. Like tying the knot on your shoes the other way or writing in a planner so that you don't forget to do things. Everybody has some interesting way of getting things done and I'm always up for learning about ideas other people have!