BDS Reflection

I think a good song generally builds up, then there's a drop, a decline of action, a break from the peaks of activity in the song, and I think I've started to imitate that while writing because of BDS's and this class. I now use an intro for my metaphorical song, I prewrite to come up with ideas, to inspire creativity. I have the fast beats and climaxes, the line in a song you have to rewind and listen to again to completely understand just how great that was when I write. I can feel the excitement building up and starting to take off to euphoria, but then it's time for the chorus, or break. That's when I regroup, settle back in and prepare for the next verse of the song. Repeat these steps a few times like we did today in class, and you have yourself a song, or paper you can be proud of. There's no headache from nonstop action, there's a longing to do it again. There's an anticipation for the next time you hear that song or sit down to write the next BDS. This revelation was brought to you by a mixture of insomnia and the new Kanye West cd, and with that, I'm gonna drop the mic and walk off the stage.

Boice reflection

I won't lie, I struggle with anxiety. Whenever a big test is coming up, I can hardly sleep (hence why I am up at this ungodly hour). I lay there in bed, tossing and turning, my mind won't stop freaking out and worrying. Now this is a different anxiety than others have, but I feel this intense mental blocking is the same. With that being said, I liked a lot of what Boice was saying. The idea of pulling a Thomas the Train and using positive thoughts to block out the negatives ("I think I can, I think I can."), is something I feel is a great idea, in theory. I find it much harder to actually pull that off and reassure myself of the positives when I am anxious. I was sort of taken aback when Boice said he rejected treating anxiety with drug therapy because it is "addictive and soporific." If we wanted to reject the idea that using drugs to cope with problems such as anxiety or depression then we'd be missing out on most of America's great literature. Alcoholics drink for many reasons, many alcoholics think it helps with their anxiety or depression (even if it is technically a depressant I feel most of us have felt adverse side effects). Here's a list off the top of my head of famous authors and athletes that were either addicted or using drug therapy: Hunter S Thompson, Tennessee Williams, Poe, Capote, Kerouac, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, David Foster Wallace, J.K, Rowling, Stephen King, Zack Greinke and Ricky Williams. All of those people had their problems solved in one way or another by using drugs. I won't argue it can't be destructive, but I would argue there's a strong correlation between dependence and overcoming problems.

Sorry about my rant and back to Boice. Being the logical minded, rational thinker I try to be, I liked that he brought that up. I've always felt that using logic and reasoning helps eliminate the excess emotions we sometimes get caught up in, and I was happy to see Boice actually acknowledged that. Like Boice was saying, it's not bad to have emotions, but we need to use rational thinking to moderate their levels. I feel our meditations in class have really helped with that.

BDS Reflection

After today's conversation, I thought today I'd try to consider emotions and my thoughts more during my writing session. I wanted to write a little bit about my opinions on the topics we touched in class, which hit close to home for me as well. I found that yes, while emotions did creep up, remembering situations my family has gone through, it really does help to take a step back, wait till you can handle those emotions, and continue. This waiting strategy not only can keep the body comfortable when writing, not only the mind focused, but it really helps the quality of the writing as well. Emotions tend to make us look like fools. They creep up on us and begin to control what we think and what we write, so when I noticed I started to feel something like anger or sadness, I took a break. I took some deep breathes, refocusing my attention to the present, and continued. I'm the guy who loves to debate, and emotionally charged points never have the credibility or logic well thought out points do. We can still inspire an emotional reaction without being controlled by emotions ourselves, it just takes practice, brief daily practice (baha).

Boice Reaction

I found it interesting, this idea of an emotional compromise or emotional range of acceptable happiness. While I can clearly see the benefits of fighting against depression, it kind of disappoints me that we should calm ourselves when we are too happy. It's a catch-22, we strive to maximize pleasure and happiness all our lives, but being too happy can, in fact, have negative consequences. It's like being drunk, you always think something sounds like a good idea at the time but when you sober up you realize how scatterbrained and bad your idea most likely was. I think there really is something to be said for a "happy medium" when it comes to writing or productivity of any kind. We become careless, overlook mistakes, have illusions of grandeur when we are overly emotional. Maybe it is true, everything good in life is immoral, illegal, or bad for you..

BDS Reflection

My BDS today was all about getting everything I was thinking out and off my chest. I think most of us find that extended amounts of time with extended family can be quite stressful and that stress can mess with our heads. So my BDS may seem sporadic but it was a much needed venting session. The deep breathing, meditation and yoga we did in class helped get me in the right mind to express my thoughts. I planned today by simply stating what topics were on my mind. Then, I began to see a pattern, ways they connected, I had something best described as the clichéd moment of clarity. Following my plan led to a much more fluid and readable writing. The word vomit became word regurgitation,  something not entirely good, but a step in the right direction. The breaks helped me stay focused and on subject, keeping me from rambling off into obscure thoughts. I found it so helpful in fact, I took two shorter breaks to gather myself and readjust for comfort.

BDS Reflection

Today I held myself to the idea that I wouldn't watch tv and would give my roommate a dollar if I didn't write, so as soon as I got home and had free time, I felt like this would be a good time to sit down, and get to work. I needed to do notes for my online class, so I decided an hour would work because of the length of the assignment at hand.

I used the double sided notes again, they really seem to work for me. Adding in your own personal thoughts on one side seems to help remembering the key points on the other side. It also gives it a bit of personality and fun that just writing down facts doesn't have. So I took my time to remain comfortable and wrote down only what was absolutely needed to maximize efficiency.

I can feel the stress of waiting for the due date to arrive is already a fleeting feeling. If I can just continue this habit of actually getting stuff done before its due, then slowly and surely I can get things done. Such a new and fresh feeling.

Boice 107-112 Reaction

I'll come out and say it: I'm lazy. The word sloth comes to mind when describing me. A perfect day is a day in bed napping. I find that I will wiggle and barter my way out of anything just to do nothing, then binge and finish it the hour before it is due. So this contingency planning sounded like a grand idea. It may set the spark to ignite my fire. I've already told my roommate if I don't do a bds I owe him a dollar a day (because I can't afford to be sending checks to the NRA). I've also set up the reward/punishment part that if I don't do a bds, I am not allowed to watch tv that day, which is going to be killer because at my new house, there's pretty much nothing to do. So hopefully, I can form the habit of working at a constant pace to chip away at longer tasks so I don't have to barter and binge to get them done the minute they are due.