When I think of psychology I think of talking about my feelings and going to see a therapist, however, this is only one aspect of psychology, but I find it to be the most interesting. Sigmund Freud, a well-respected neurologist, founded the term psychoanalysis. Psychology today is composed of five different roots: one being psychoanalysis. Freud emphasized that your early child hood experiences can have great impact on you later in life. In other words, the experiences you have as a child can influence how you develop later in life, especially affecting your personality and psychological problems. Freud believed one way you could help ease psychological problems is by talking about past times and bringing up unconscious memories to the conscious mind. This way, you are bringing up past experiences that have clearly impacted you and addressing them head on.
I personally found many things from my childhood have greatly impacted me. Growing up I have always looked towards my mother as my role model, and today I see many qualities of her with in myself. I remember one time, when I was about nine years old my mom and I were leaving a bagel shop and she noticed an elderly man whom one could tell was not in a lucrative position at the moment, and she kindly told the woman at the cash register that she would pay for his meal. My mom did not tell the man nor did she look for any kind of thank you, she was simply doing this from the bottom of her heart. She would do little things like this all the time; like helping people bag their groceries at the grocery store and on one time she offered to help an elderly woman and got chased down the street by the woman and her cane. I found that story very amusing, however the point is because my mother did all these acts of kindness around me I felt it was normal and the right thing to do. You have the ability to make some one else’s day just by “paying it forward” and help others. While my experience is not traumatizing nor did it have long lasting psychological effects on me, it did help shape me into the person I am today. Just the other day I was out shopping with friends and offered to help a woman, who could not carry every thing in her hands, bring her bags to her car. While this childhood experience was so small, it still helped make me the person I am today.
Maggie Yanowitz
Having good role models in your life do help shape who you are. Your mother seems to be a great role model in your life, and I can easily relate to you. My mother has also been a very prominent figure in my life and I couldn’t imagine growing up without her being there. She has helped guide me and has taught me so much in life, like the values that your mother instilled in you. I try my best to be the best person I can be and to help others so that I could someday be like my mother. Thank you for sharing your story!
I really enjoyed reading this blog post. I felt that I really connected to it because I feel that each of my actions today are influenced by how my parents raised me. I feel that I am just like them in many ways. I also really enjoyed this post because it was not a traumatic event from your childhood but instead, something happy that you connect with. When I read this I thought of my parents and everything they did to help shape my life and the way I am today.
This was a very touching story! Your mother seems like a very compassionate woman. Seeing how the old expression goes “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” you must be just as kind and compassionate. I can relate very well to you and your mother because my parents, when given the chance, always do little things like these for strangers, and I believe, because of them, I try to go out of my way to help make a stranger’s day a little bit better. Just like your mother helped shape you into the person you are today, my parents did the same for me.