Hey I hope everyone had a good Halloween. The main task I achieved, which I wrote on my card, was setting up an appointment with Robert Johnston who is the head of the program I'm trying to enter here at UIC. I emailed him and we settled on next wed. morning as the time. He seemed very nice and welcoming; using phrases like "delighted to hear from you" and such. It really was encouraging and it seems like it will be a fun meeting. I don't have much formal experience with interviews but I enjoy talking face to face with people and I'm confident I will seem like a better candidate in person than I do on paper. I look forward to blogging about it.
I also reached out to my formal English teacher Mr. McCarty but I've yet to hear back from him. I remembered hearing a while back that he was at UIC now so I used their "Find People" tool to get his email. A part of me is concerned it was the wrong person so I need to do some more research. It felt great though thanking him (assuming it was him) for the letter of inspiration he gave me ten years ago and the help he gave me in Junior High. I feel it would have to be fun for him to read because we all like to be remembered and it's fun to hear you've made an impact in someone's life. It was cathartic for me as I always regretted not visiting him.
So, I'm excited about my upcoming interview but, unfortunately, I still have not caught up with my role model interviews. No excuses, I don't know why I've lagged so far behind on this and made it more difficult than it should be. I have though been researching possible graduate schools around the country which was on my flow chart but I'm hoping my interview with Mr. Johnston will give me a better understanding where I stand and which schools would be open to me.
I would like to just share some of my thoughts on "The Secret". I really enjoyed the movie and feel, for the most part, it was an important message. I talked about it with some classmates after the film about how our mind possesses more power than we give it credit for. In the end, all we have is our relationship with our own mind, and which thoughts we choose to dwell on can decide the type of life we lead. In many ways, it's simple common sense. The notion that happy people are more successful with other people or that positive attitudes will achieve better results seems rather clear, but the key is it has to be genuine. And that is what makes it difficult. "The Secret" isn't easy as the film suggested; it takes a lot of inner focus. Knowing it doesn't mean we can achieve it. Happy/positive people that don't seem true to themselves are not necessarily more successful at all. But people do respond to people who understand themselves and are driven to embrace what life gives us. "The Secret" to me is just a realization that time and life can only be experienced in our own way and with the parameters we set. That is immense power.
We see the power of the mind in stark terms when we witness evil. The kind of pain people can cause is amazing and it is the culmination of extreme negative thinking; the positive end of the spectrum is equally possible and just as powerful.
I did disagree with the film's implication that we should ignore negative emotions such as guilt. I agree with Sher that this is completely unrealistic and problematic. We should listen to ourselves and try to understand why we feel the way we do; then try and move on. If we pretend like we can brush things like grief aside then we are demeaning ourselves. Bad things happen and mistakes occur. They should receive their due credit but we often give them too much credit, which is maybe what the film really meant. Also, doctors and medicine are part of this universe and are as natural as anything else, so they should always be fully embraced. Our mind is powerful but it still needs help. It's powerful enough to make proper decisions like listening to doctors, even if the news isn't what we wanted.
Thanks for reading this if you made it all the way through. Just my opinions. Let me know if you have any thoughts.
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Thanks for your reflection on the secret. I agree with you about the craziness of ignoring negative emotions or trying to suppress them. My negative emotions hold great information for me, it's just up to me to: 1) recognize them, 2) identify them, 3) ask myself what's going on and where are they coming from, and 4) not be overwhelmed/paralyzed by them. I think interrogating our negative emotions can yield amazing insights! Like you, I also believe that our thoughts hold tremendous power. Most of us tend to feel powerless when in fact, we have power over lots of things in our lives (not everything, but more than most of us exercise).
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Great reflection, matter of fact, it encouraged me. I met with my major advisor today and for some reason her vibe just made me feel numb. I tried to ignore the feeling, but suppressing my feelings and denying myself of the negative feeling made me weak. I feel like I used up so much energy trying to suppress the negative emotion, instead of just having a hard times, like Barbra Sher would suggest.
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