A Nerd In Disguise.

Hello SunShiners!

Like the rest of the rising seniors in the world, I’ve been writing some college essays. As I was writing this one, I realized that this was a very happy essay inspired by my favorite scientist, Richard Feynman. This is a shout-out to all my nerds out there. You guys are cool!

Hope you all enjoy,

George :]

I’m not a complete nerd. Only sometimes. I like to think as myself as a nerd in disguise. I will admit, I try to make everything into a physics joke and scream out “SAT Word!” to a bigger word than I usually hear, but at the same time I don’t define myself to completely be a nerd. I didn’t think that these part-time jobs existed, but a couple of years ago, I read about the best well-rounded scientist, Richard Feynman. I was recommended to read his book “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman” during my freshman year by my physics teacher because he thought I would enjoy it a lot. If I become a scientist, I would be more than happy if I ended up like him.

Besides being known for his work in quantum electrodynamics and his contribution to the Manhattan Project, Richard Feynman was known to be a lover of life. He always pointed out how much he enjoyed life, and did everything he did because of his undying curiosity. When he wasn’t in the laboratory, he would go on very unusual adventures such as going to Tannu Tuva, a small country that was annexed by the Soviet Union, going to Brazil to learn how to play the bongos, or learning how to pick locks. Feynman knew that there was more to life than just physics even though he knew that everything in the world had to do with it. Just like me, Feynman loved to spend time with people. He made sure he always gave his family attention and always made an effort to meet people wherever he went. Overall, Feynman lived his life one little adventure at a time.

I feel that Feynman and I are alike in different ways. Besides being completely awestruck by the world’s laws of physics, we make an effort to do other things that we enjoy. I enjoy physics. Every time I think about the fact that a photon is released from an atom when an electron goes down in energy levels it brings a smile to my face. Anytime I read about different theories, I can’t help but to just say “WOW! That’s so cool!” At the same time, I like to dance. I always wanted to be on a step squad, so I tried it out. Very un-nerdy, no? Now, I can’t imagine a Sunday without stepping for two hours with the squad. Dancing brings a similar feeling of happiness to me. I love to make noises with my hands and feet. These sound waves are beautiful. At the same time, I’ve learned how to sing. Why stop in the shower? I joined the chorus and learned how to sing, and even though I struggled with it, I can’t wait for Tuesdays and Thursdays at seven PM.

I love to try new things. Jumping to a new opportunity is just like going on a roller coaster for me mostly because it’s not expected of me to do it. I enjoy being able to experience things that most people will not have the chance to. Just like Feynman’s wife told him about cooking and what people would think about him, “What do YOU care about what other people think?” This saying has always struck me. I’ve started to become more confident in my ability to throw myself into a new opportunity and make the most of it by doing what I like. There is no use doing something that I don’t enjoy although that can be enjoyable in itself. I like to discover and I like to take risks. The world is there for me to conquer and discover!

Having the ability to be aware of the world around me has made me into a deep thinker. I like that I embrace the fact that I love to learn. I am not afraid to admit that I immediately read and research on things that I have never heard of. I love to learn. Feynman has taught me that there is nothing wrong with not knowing anything. It is simply another opportunity to learn. I love to be in a mysterious world that seems to have no purpose. I don’t have to have an answer for everything. Curiosity is one of the best presents I have received. Yes, I am a nerd, but not a complete nerd. I appreciate everything that is around me. Sure, “curiosity killed the cat,” but cats have nine lives, so why not take advantage of that?

Sun Shiner Leah Presents: It’s Thanksgiving!

It’s Thanksgiving!

Well…let me clarify. This is not the Thanksgiving where we get together with our families and eat way too much turkey. This is literally giving thanks, being appreciative, experiencing gratitude.

Why? For no reason other than happiness.

Why today? …why not?

This is something we should do every day. I am a firm believer that gratitude is one of the quickest ways to find peace and happiness. When I think about the things I have in my life that I am thankful for, warmth and a sense of calm wash over me. It’s practically impossible not to smile. The trouble is, I probably don’t do it near enough.

The first step that I have taken to leading a gracious life is an easy one. What I’ve tried to do recently is make a list of the things I am grateful for in my head to help me fall asleep. It’s a good start because it doesn’t take any time out of a busy schedule, and it actually works like a charm. I start listing off all the reasons I am grateful, or in other words, all the reasons I am happy, and any anxiety I am feeling just melts away. When I lay down at night, even if I haven’t had a stressful day, I feel like my brain is buzzing and processing at a million miles a minute, but this nightly ritual brings a sense of peace to my mind. Try it! I can’t guarantee that it will work for you, but nothing but good can come from it anyway! You could start by writing down a literal list that you can revisit every day and add more to, or just let inspiration take over and make a new list each time.

Something else important about gratitude that I have learned is to share it. Do you feel particularly grateful today for a special friend? Tell them! Be vocal about the things or the people that make you happy. It will spread. Thanksgiving, like happiness, is contagious! But this is an infection the world could really use.

What are you thankful for? How do you express your gratitude? What steps do you take to lead a more gracious life? I’d love to hear anything and everything!

xoxo

Leah

Repost SuperForester April’s “Interview on Positivity & Happiness With Professor Bill von Hippel”

Hello SunShiners,

I was on SuperForest today and came across this lovely post from SuperForester April. It’s an interview with a professor about happiness and positivity and all that good stuff. Enjoy!

Pic courtesy of SuperForester Glenda

Dear SuperForest,

It’s a question my thoughts return to no matter how many times I think I’ve got this whole “life” thing sorted: What does it take to lead a happy, fulfilled existence? At times, all these negative thoughts swirl around in my head, but they’re not reflective of the optimism I feel inside. Is there a way to drown out these thoughts? If I’ve developed a tendency to see the glass as half-empty, can I regain my habit of focusing only on the good?

In an effort to answer some of these questions, I recently had a chat with one of my former professors, Bill von Hippel from the University of Queensland. In this interview, he offers us plenty of insight about this always-intriguing topic.

What are the benefits of seeing the glass as half full?
“Optimism turns out to have a number of positive benefits. The first one would be that for people who are optimistic – as you put it, see the glass half full – when they encounter obstacles, they tend to view those obstacles as a challenge, rather than a threat. That’s an important distinction because challenges are things that get in our way that we believe we have the capacity to deal with. Threats are things that get in our way that we believe may overwhelm our capacity.”

Are some people just wired to be more positive than others?
“When I was at university, I remember a good friend of mine had grown up in a ghetto in LA. A good friend of his had been shot in a drive-by shooting, and his mother was addicted to drugs and all these sort of stereotypic bad stories. And he was one of the most positive guys I ever met. And one day, I asked him, ‘How on earth are you always so happy and positive all the time?’, and he says, ‘Well, I got my health’. And I was thinking, well, so does everyone else in this room, but that doesn’t seem to make them happy. Clearly here’s a case where … my guess is there’s a very strong predisposition toward positivity that enabled someone to put up with a lot of difficulty in life and still retain a positive outlook.”

Could anyone, with enough effort and commitment, replace a habit of pessimism with a habit of positivity?
“[Psychologists] tend to view these things as mental habits and so, cognitive behavioural therapy, which is one of the most common forms of psychological therapy, is based on the notion that you get into these mental bad habits and you need to retrain them, and I believe that’s true. There’s a ‘negative attributional style’, ie when bad things happen you say, ‘Oh, that’s typical of me; bad things always happen to me’, and you generalise and personalise them, rather than say, ‘Well, that’s something about the situation and I’ll overcome it’.

“I also believe there’s a genetic component here and that there’s a heritability to an optimistic or pessimistic outlook on life. The key thing to keep in mind, when we talk genetics, is that this doesn’t mean genetic determinism. People think, well if there’s a genetic component then that’s just how it is. Well, genes are no more determinant of our behaviour than the environment is; both of those work together and part of our environment is our own personal desires and goals. And, so, just because our genes influence us to maybe be more optimistic or pessimistic, doesn’t mean we can’t push it around ourselves.”

How can we re-train our brains to think more optimistically?
“Martin Seligman initiated this movement toward positive psychology. He argues that this is just a process, that you need to retrain the way you explain the world – he calls it attributional style, the style with which you explain what’s going on around you. And he talks about how important it is [and] how you can, in fact, train yourself to try to choose the ways you attribute the world so that you have a more positive outlook. Inner dialogue is key. What you say to your friends matters. What you say to yourself matters. And so, the most important thing is not the optimism you profess, but the optimism you believe.”

In what ways does the media affect our outlook?
“The world gets better in lots of ways that we kind of don’t notice or think about or appreciate because it doesn’t make the news. What does make the front cover is some conflict somewhere, and we instantly know about it, or the rich and wealthy doing fabulous things. We’re having our nose rubbed in the extreme good and the extreme bad. And they both have the potential to make us feel bad.”

Does being around people who are positive or negative have a rub-off effect?
“There’s a lot of really interesting evidence for what you might call emotional contagions. We tend to mimic each other. We don’t do it consciously, but we mimic each other’s bodily postures and facial expressions. And we know that both of these feed back into your psyche, the way that you feel in the moment. And so if you have people sitting in a slumped way, they actually start to feel deflated. If they posture themselves in a happier proud way, they feel that way. And so someone who’s feeling really down, either because they’re depressed or are a habitually pessimistic type, will influence others.”

What brings us happiness?
“The things we think will make us happy we’re often wrong about. So we often pursue things, like wealth, that actually don’t bring very much happiness; once you get to a certain level, it gains you very little. And the one thing that reliably makes people happy is when you use your money to purchase experiences rather than objects. Things like holidays, for example. These purchases are ones you look back on and are pleased with even way later.”

What else can have a positive effect on our lives?
“Relationships. At the end of their life, people tend to say, I wish I’d spent more time with my children and partner and my friends. And that’s because, late in life, people do come to this realisation: it’s relationships that matter. And so the one thing that can actually make you happier and stay happier is being in good relationships. Bad relationships are costly, so it’s not like any relationship will do. But having good friends who you care about and who care about you, will actually increase your happiness and that increase will be stable, rather than being the ephemeral increase that we get if we earn a big raise.”

Do you have anything you’d like to add?
“When you radiate happiness, you attract others to you. Everybody likes to be around happy and positive people. Partially, because it makes them feel happier and more positive. I think that’s why we have that old phrase, ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you’ll cry alone’.”

Thanks, Bill!

And thank you, SuperForester April!

I hope you all enjoyed!

Love,

George :]

On Being Alone

Hello Sun Shiners!

Before I start, I just want to say that today, I was awakened by the sound of thunder followed by a flash of light so bright, the white shone through my closed eyelids. It was a really weird but beautiful way to wake up. The light was so bright it shone through my eyelids! It was great.

Well, now to what I’m planning to talk about. Although I don’t feel like I’m done growing, I feel like while I’ve grown up, I’ve learned the difference between being lonely and being alone. One can feel lonely when they are alone or even when they are surrounded by other people. Being lonely doesn’t have to be negative. It just means you are not with anyone else at that moment.

I’ve found joy in being alone. It is not an easy thing to do, but it is very satisfying. Not because you feel less needy or because you feel like you don’t need someone (that’s actually the complete opposite), but simply because you find joy in a situation that doesn’t seem like there’s joy.

I like to take walks. In fact, taking walks this summer has been my favorite time of the day. I take these walks alone, so I do a lot of thinking, and like you saw in my previous post, a lot of singing! I like to swim in my thoughts and just try to get to know myself a little better. While I walk, I always pass a little park with some swings, which are always taken by kids (who I think deserve to play in them more than me). Like I previously mentioned, it rained today. It rained a lot, actually, but I still went on my walk. As I was approaching the park, lo and behold, the park was empty. The swings were mine!

Although it was very dark and cloudy, I decided to swing on in the park all by my lonesome. BUT HOW FUN WAS IT? EXTREMELY FUN! I probably looked like a fool, but I was laughing on a swing by myself. It was great. And about the third time I listened to Neon Trees’s “Animal” the feeling of being alone hit me. It wasn’t a feeling of sadness, but rather a feeling of self-satisfaction and confidence. I kept on swinging for another 10 minutes before going back to my brother’s house.

I’m not saying we should try to live a life alone; I actually don’t encourage that at all. We can’t be surrounded by people all the time, so it’s important to learn to be comfortable when you’re alone. But we should also cherish the moments when we are surrounded by people. Don’t find either situation as a bad thing. Learn to enjoy yourself by yourself, and with others, when necessary.

On the other hand, I want to remind everyone that we as people in fact need other people. And I’m not saying we need a significant other or anything like that, I’m saying we need people! Cherish your relationships and don’t be afraid to be with others.

“The most important thing in life is to learn how to love and be loved in return.” – Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom

Love thyself too.

George :]

Happy Commercials

Hello hello people!

Today, I heard a comment along the lines of “I hate commercials” from someone. Yeah, I can say that commercials seem a bit unnecessary at times and that they can be a bit rediculous, but if you know me, I find something happy or good about any situation.

After hearing the word “hate” I thought commercials needed some love for their effort. This commercial has been out for a while, and it’s made me incredibly happy. I hope you enjoy! Keep finding the bright side of things, even of those things you don’t like.

Love,
George :]

Uncle Jack

I have a very special member in my family. He’s actually done a lot for me in many different ways. He’s one of the people that have really made me believe in myself. He’s Uncle Jack.

Now, we’ve all probably heard of really nice and giving people like Bill Gates and others. Very few have heard of my Uncle Jack. Ever heard of Jack Kent Cooke?

Uncle Jack was born in Ontario, Canada in 1921. He worked doing a lot of cool things during his life. He sold encyclopedias, worked at a radio station, and sold soap too! Uncle Jack never went to college, but he was one of those few lucky people that became really successful despite his lack of education. He made a lot of his money buying radio stations and newspapers, eventually venturing into sports. He was owner of the minor leage Maple Leafs baseball team. He got pretty far. At one point he was the owner of the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Lakers. Pretty cool right?

How do I know Uncle Jack? Why do I call him my uncle? Because he made his biggest contribution to the world through something I am a part of. When he died, the bulk of his $825 million estate went to start the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. His goal was to send to help selected students of modest means attend college. The stated mission of the foundation is to “help young people of exceptional promise reach their full potential through education.” To learn more about the foundation go to www.jkcf.org.

Uncle Jack Lookin' Good

This is where I come in. In the seventh grade, I was asked by my high school councelor to apply for the Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholars Program. This application was about forty pages long, required three long essays, and about five recommendations along with other things. This was the real deal. If I received this scholarship, I would have the opportunity to have funds for high school, college, and grad school. A once in a lifetime opportunity. Eventually, I got a letter that said “Congratulations, you have been selected to be a Jack Kent Cooke Young Scholar. We received over 800 applications this year. You are one of 63 scholars chosen.” I pretty much had a moment of euphoria that was so exciting, I can’t exactly remember what happened after I read it.

Through this scholarship, I have been able to play the violin, take private lessons, go to Chinese camp, go to Northwestern for the summer, and most importantly, learned how to believe in myself. I never would have thought that I would be special enough to receive the scholarship, but for some reason, the foundation believed in what I am capable of. Obviously, not everyone is given this opportunity.

Three years ago, I got to meet my fellow scholars from my cohort. (Cohort VI represent!) Sadly, I did not keep in a lot of contact with them, but this summer I got to reunite with all of them again. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more amazing group of people in one place. At one point, I was in a room with many who have started city-wide community service projects, people who had gone to other countries to help others, violin and cello prodigies, authors, poets, singers, actors, musicians and everything else you could think of. More importantly though, these were people who were extremely happy and giving. All of these people were so grateful for what they had and they were just WAITING to give, give, give. Even though these people haven’t seen each other in three years, as soon as we saw each other, we hugged and laughed and remembered the good times. How amazing. Among being talented, these kids were extremely smart, some were mathletes, physics geeks, bookworms, history nerds, and linguists. Wow. At the same time though, all of these people were very… normal too. I mean, they are not normal people, trust me, but they were teenagers. We liked to dance, we liked to play games, we were awkward. I felt so at home. To say the least, I miss my cohort VI family.

In addition, this weekend reunited ALL the JKC Scholars. Along with Young Scholars, there were College Scholars (who had finished their 7th-12th grade cycle and were going to college with the help of the foundation), Undergraduate Transfer Scholars (who had attended a community college for a year or two before transfering into a 4 year college or university with the help of the foundation), Graduate Scholars (currently attening grad school with the foundation’s help), and the first set of Alumni (people who had started off in the 7th grade and were now done with grad school). Amazing. I was surrounded by about 300 people that were ALREADY changing the world. And what giving people too! ALL the scholars were just so eager to meet each other and exchange emails and give advice and tell stories. I had never met these people, but I felt closer to them to people I have known my whole life! Some were making documentaries, some were making albums, some were finding cures for diseases, and some were becoming doctors and more. Wow. Amazing. And all of them were so happy and willing to help out. Let’s just say I have made 300 more friends and family members. I’ve already kept in contact with a lot of them and expect to ask for help from others in the future. I had another family.

Uncle Jack probably didn’t regret not going to college, but he was very aware not everyone was going to be as lucky as him. He gave pretty much ALL his money to help others. Imagine that. I was told that weekend to try to picture taking ALL the money you had and putting about $200,000 dollars in random mailboxes of people you will never meet just to make their lives better. That was Uncle Jack. He never got to meet us. We never got a chance to say thanks. He knew that was going to happen though. That is probably the epitome of giving and selflessness.

We don’t have to be JKC Scholars to change the world. These people come from all over the country, from towns with about 100 people to places like NYC. Being a JKC Scholar has taught me that we ALL have something inside of us that makes us special and perfectly capable of doing ANYTHING they want. We have a light inside of us waiting to shine and no one can stop that. I want to say that we’re all special, and share a way I think I am too.

Thanks Uncle Jack. For making me feel special.

Love,
george :]

The Animal Inside of You!

Hello SunShiners!

Have you ever caught yourself start doing something crazy while you were doing something well… normal? Perhaps starting to run like a five -year-old while you were jogging? Jumping ten times in a puddle when you were walking in the rain? How about singing really loudly while you’re walking your dog?

Well, the last one really applies to me. Actually, this applies to me all the time, but the latest one literally just happened to me um, thirty minutes ago. I’ve recently been listening (and been slightly obsessed) with this song called Animal by Neon Trees. I actually ran into this song at first while playing Tap Tap on my iPod touch, but didn’t really listen to it until this summer. My very good friend from the lab Lauren Haynes played it in her car while we were going to lunch and I just fell in love with it. Funny thing is, I had forgotten how great this song was and then remembered how I first ran into it. It’s such a good song. So, I’ve been listening to this song a lot. Here it is:

So, it’s a pretty awesome song, right?! Well, what I’m asking myself now is “How in the world have I not been singing this song loudly?!” Today, as I was walking my brother’s dog, I came across this song and it all started off with bopping my head. Standard George. And then the chorus came. I started singing as though no one could hear me (even me, since my music was now blasting through my headphones. haha). And even though I was a little out of breath and eventually ran into some people, it felt SO good! I’m not going to lie, I’m not the best singer in the world and some people would laugh at me if they heard me sing, but whenever you let yourself go, it feels as though you’re riding some roller coaster that you created! It feels awesome. Let all your feelings out when you feel it. Sure, we all feel embarassed, but when your heart tells you to do something, usually it’s something you should be doing! Go for it. Usually, when I have these moments, I tell myself that even though someone is probably judging you, you’re probably going to make them smile later on or you’ll never have to see them again. Haha.

So let the animal inside of you out sometimes. Life already has some leashes so don’t make any you don’t need! Scream. Dance. Sing. Jump. All that good stuff.

With music,
george :]