There are two types of people in this world; the ones who define themselves, and the ones who are in constant search of definition.

Generativity- a capacity to care or others in a broader way than previous stages to nurture that which outlives the self

At some point in your life you will come across something at least once that you will truly find bigger than yourself. It comes with maturity and I know there is no speeding that up, but patience is a virtue and love is not something you search for.

Stagnation- Being self centered and self indulgement with a lack of concern about contributing to the welfare of society

A very commonly asked question is if people’s personalities change and I am about to answer that question for you.

OCEAN
Openness
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism

Right here are the 5 aspects of personality that tend to never change. Personality does relatively stay stable overtime and any changes that do occur are relatively modest.
Ex: Ones who are neurotic, become a little less neurotic

Let me make this a little clearer, here is the list again.

Openness
-imaginative or practical
-variety or routine
-independent or conforming

Conscientiousness
-organized or disorganized
-careful or careless
-disciplined or impulsive

Extraversion
-sociable or retiring
-fun-loving or somber
-affectionate or reserved

Agreeableness
-softhearted or ruthless
-trusting or suspicious
-helpful or suspicious

Neuroticism
-calm or anxious
-secure or insecure
-self satisfied or self pitying

On the study done if people really do change, they had 2,000 40 year olds who were told to think about their personalities and whether they changed or not. 52% said they stayed the same, 39% said they changed a little, and 9% said they changed a lot. So in total 90% felt their personality stayed relatively stable. The study related a lot with Erickson’s “Stability vs. Change.”

Stability- adult personality is stable over time
Change- adult personality is a continual process of change and growth

Okay so that was a lot of information, let me give it to you short.
In general agreeableness and conscientiousness increase in middle age (but remember!!! if you categorized yourself as ruthless or suspicious under their topics, these will increase as well) And as for extraversion and openness, these either don’t change or decrease slightly. Becoming comfortable in your environment is key in feeling as comfortable as you can, cause your surroundings don’t only need to fit your needs, but need to allow you to be successful. Our personality is responsive to life experiences, but that change exists within boundaries. Just because a person has a change of perspective does not necessarily mean it changes them. Take a moment to question, Is it really you changing or you just learning more about yourself?

Food for thought! have a great weekend

We can never see the outcome of things before they happen. A blessing or a curse?
I guess the best things in life always put us in a predicament.

Give Americans a land to love and allow your surplus on food and knowledge to be what causes lost blood.
Give them your hand and 95% of the time they will take your whole arm.

Our race almost always predicts that their future will hold a more negative outcome than it actually will. Pessimism or projection?

The Model A. Selective Optimization with Compensation Model done by the Baltes Couple in the 1980’s further explains how true age-related deficits place limits on cognitive and behavioral resources. They explain that the way in which we must maintain a thorough performance is to

Select
Optimize
Compensate

Now what does this mean to you?

Motivation. Find what makes your hungry!!!

How do you get things done without motivation?

Money.
*And trust me that is not satisfying lifestyle

Select certain domains to focus your energy on.
Optimize what strategies are successful for you and what activities you want to be putting increasing effort into.
-the more practice the better
– you cannot find yourself without cultivating yourself
Compensate for whatever it is you had trouble sleeping over for a certain period of time.
*soon to come
-age related declines
-behavior
-memory
-cognitive declines
-physical demands
…. it’s never too late, believe me.

In one of my earlier blogs I discussed the beauty of art, and not like your standard murals or sculptures, but a true art; the mastering of a skill.
Give this generation a race and their focus will be the outcome rather than the preparation. Ironic how it should be based on endurance rather than finishing.
The truth always catches up, even the the rabbit knows that from the turtle.

Now what is it to age “successfully?”
I know we may all have different definitions to the meaning of “success” but when it comes to life or death, I’m sure the majority of us are sticking with the life part over death. So here are some starters:

a) avoidance of disease/disease related disability
b) maintenance of high physical and cognitive functioning
c) sustained active engagement in social and productive activities

Yes this is broad, but there is ALWAYS a place to start.
So definitely a focus on an active, rather than passive lifestyle to help reap physical and psychological benefits, cognitive engagement, a good diet, scheduled exercise, and healthy social relations.

Now, please notice I didn’t use any of the words “diet,” “train,” “learn,” ect. because these are suppose to be life long habits, not impulsive ones.

When I use to watch movies as a young girl I use to always hate the scene where there would be a funeral with only 1 person standing in between shuffled, empty chairs. (Maybe two people including the priest, but even he stands at a pedestal)

You can either be the one in the grave or the guy who shows up.
You may choose the life you live, but you also get to choose what you leave behind. Be the artist.

Americans finish their plates because they see it as a task. right
Americans eat a lot of food because they are nurturing their bodies. left

In life there are certain things we cannot avoid. Ignorance, Bliss, Love, Hate, Depression, Euphoria, Confusion, Determination. (I put them in caps because each word is so powerful in itself). We ARE fixated as humans to believe in something, something that drives us, something that gives us greater definition. Whether that be religion, science, drugs, love, family, or friends.

The thing is, why is it that it use to be so much more common for humans to flourish through love and communication but the only definition I now perceive is a generation of lost souls. What is the fun in forming yourself to only satisfy the people whom surround you? You know that’s an endless chase right? Because we can never satisfy everybody.

I watched this documentary the other day on Netflix called “Chefs Table.” (If you have not watched it I suggest you do, and I’m sure you have an account, who doesn’t.) In this film you get to watch the rigorous yet depressing things that life inevitably entails through Massimo Bottura.

1.Why is it that in modern day society everyone tries to conquer all and truly believes that all these draining activities will never catch up with their mentality?

Technology.

2.Where is the beauty in honoring an individual who puts their heart and soul in the one thing they truly believe in?

Massimo was a very determined chef who never gave up on his specific vision, even after being torn down time after time. Every critic hated what he brought to the table, Gilmore encouraged him to refine his vision with a mixture of pedantry and love. But honestly now thanks to Gilmore he exposed Bottura to Maurizio Cattelan at the 1997 Venice Biennale, where 2,000 taxidermied pigeons pooping on the walls, crystallized Bottura’s will to pursue his vision at Osteria Francescana. But whats the difference between him and the rest of this world. He’s a fighter, where the hell are the fighters?

For the longest time I wanted to start politics because when I want something, I get it. No one can stop me once I have my eyes set on a certain goal. The thing is I cannot go against what I believe in. Honesty. How can I rule the world when my people are nothing but blind white sheep? How can I rule the world when I know my message I broadcasted throughout my campaign is only being jeopardized every approaching day in the Oval? Here is a video of a some type of UFO seen in the sky over California 2 days ago. And you want to know how the government responds? scared, scared of course. The latest claim is that it was a “Military missile.”

So for those of you who thought I was crazy the other day in class for raising my hand and saying aliens indeed exist, HAH!

Yes! You heard it here first! Poverty has now become contagious. First starting in the U.S., then China and Japan, some parts of Southern America and slowly making its way over to places like Europe and Dubai. Africa is so lucky they are nowhere near the contaminated areas.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up? What is the last thing you do before going to bed? What do you do when you are sad? What do you do when you are happy? What do you do before you shower? What do you do after you shower? What do you while you eat? What do you do when people talk to you?

Too many people are going to answer these questions with “I’m on my phone.”
OH.. and for the ones who don’t, they’re just too ignorant to admit to the fact that they indeed are somewhat addicted to their phones/ or at least have a high dependency on technology.
fools if you ask me.

I can actually tell you a funny story that happened to me this morning. I am waiting to get on the white loop and some smart soul had decided to stick his still burning cigarette into a trashcan. For those of you who don’t know, paper is flammable. But wait it gets better. I don’t have a phone (personal preference) so I could not make a call. I immediately take out my water bottle and start trying to be proactive about the situation. You wanna know what everyone else did? Took pictures for instagram, twitter, and snapchat. OMG!!!!! how exciting! There is a fire in this trashcan, and there is an intense cloud of smoke beginning to form, let’s take pics!!! I was literally panicking for help and since people only know how to communicate to their phones they would not even reply to me. Some of you might think it’s extreme that I chose to use the word “Poverty,” but if you don’t have yourself, you don’t have anything at all. The people in Africa may be exposed to so many more life threatening diseases, but at least they know love and family in ways we never will.

Ignorance.
and that my friend is this next generation.
So let’s continue to exploit the land that use to be so rich and prosperous in it’s love and pride. Let’s carry on the tradition of concealing the truth and prioritizing how to socially conform rather than really ever figuring out who we truly are.

This link here shows a previous Instagram model who is beginning to go viral on all types of social media. She decided to step back from what has now become “normal,” and confess the truth about what social media actually entails. Watch this video to take a closer look.

What’s crazier? The fact that everyone already knew this was going on, OR that it took this long for someone to say something?

I ENJOY!!! walking the campus, looking at the trees, smiling at the people walking by, helping who I can, engaging in positive relationships, and sometimes even spending time with just me to check up on how I am actually doing. and the saddest part about this was that all my new “friends” thought this was weird and I even began to alienate myself. We cannot define ourselves through other people, it is setting yourself up for destruction.
All this generation knows is running, but now the time has come, the disease is slowly but surely spreading. Ironic how we are the ones who actually infected ourselves. Now it’s time for you to choose what type of life you really want to keep living.

P.S.
I actually have a personal blog that I shared on my initial blog post, but I have one specific post that matches a lot with the theme of this blog post as well so if you wanna check it out, here you go!

And for those of you that I just finished ruining your day here is one video that will make you happy and one video that will make you hopeful.

Crime surrounds us everyday and is something that has been continuously obtaining more attention because of technology. The definition of crime depends on that certain societies culture and social institutions. Since we all feed off each other to define what social norms are, people decide collectively what is and what is not okay. Functionalist Theory shows us that crime and deviance both result from structural tensions. Crime is inevitable, I’m not saying that everyone attempts to surpass crazy extremes, but we all mess up as humans at some point in our lifetime. *Anyone who says they haven’t is a liar.* Crime and deviance are two necessary elements that make up modern society. Anything that has power will always demand a group of people who work against that force. We can see this with the government, food industry, environment activists, and businessmen. All of these institutions/ forces have such high amounts of power that they have to instill rules, but when you don’t live in a utopian society people will always go against rules, “rebels.”

In America there are still certain cities and counties that have banned alcohol and have remained dry since the Prohibition, or later encountered a problem again and had to ban it. Now the ironic thing is that when there was a study done in these alcohol free areas, it was discovered that these places had more meth labs. This just goes to prove that deviance always manages to find its way into our society, and is seen currently with Marijuana abuse in our modern day society. We are currently experiencing a generation of people where the demand on Marijuana has reached a whole new extreme. Ever since Colorado has made it legal and then taxed it, they completely surpassed the amount they predicted they would make.
. The thing with deviance is that it is modes of action that do not conform with social norms, so is it really for the action itself or the thrill? Although the majority of the US still hasn’t legalized weed, when this generation was growing up it was illegal everywhere. I believe all high schoolers interviewed would agree with the fact that the whole process of obtaining Marijuana is much more of a thrill than smoking it is. People tend to become more deviant because certain labels are attached to their behavior by political authorities/others and causes them to feel as if they have to reach this certain expectation. In return, as kids continue to perpetuate in the activity with groups of kids, they begin to feel more accepted, and then the habit ends up becoming a lifestyle. Differential associations actually suggest that criminal behavior is learned through association with others who regularly engage in crime. During the Prohibition there was an extreme uproar of crimes and felonies committed, which just goes to show that history really does always repeat itself. I’m not saying no one consumes alcohol anymore, but when there is less curiosity, there is also less cravings.

Howle Becker, a man who studied marijuana users in the 60’s, saw that a lot of the individuals he studied depended on the level of acceptance they felt by their close associates and their views on deviant behavior. He implies that once a teen is confronted by their parents in a negative way, that they will stop engaging in the activity. But honestly based off of personal experience and the kids I have seen/met, once they feel more alienated, they only indulge in the activity more. So the real question is whether once it’s legal, will it continue to have the demand it has now or drop?

As humans we are constantly searching for a greater definition, or even a legacy we can leave behind. We are constantly breaking new records in the industrial world but only to see our environment on route to its greatest downfall in return. Who are we? And how is it that we define ourselves?

If we evaluate Erikson’s outlook on identity, specifically identity vs. role confusion, he states that “one must learn to be himself where he means the most to others, who have come to mean the most to him.” If you take a moment to re-read this, it applies to all of us. We need to express who we are as human beings, if we don’t there will always be a certain level of dissatisfaction or discomfort. The people we choose to surround ourselves with help us recognize and accept who we are. Humans will always flourish through their relationships, no sane man ever triumphed in permanently isolated conditions.

Commodities humans should consciously be thinking about are things like our interests or our ethnic identity, and even our spiritual or political ideology, rather than our body image. Yes it is important to stay aware of the fact whether our bodies are in healthy condition or not, but awareness has become obsession. Social media has put a strong social pressure on many young males and females who believe they have to reach these expectations. Technology has made it extremely easy and accessible for us to visually compare ourselves, and has inclined a strong and growing source for encountering identity issues.

James Marcia, one of the more pivotal psychologists in history, is given great amounts of credit for spending almost his whole life researching adolescents and coming up with the four topics we fall under. The first group, which we all aim to be apart of, is “Identity Achievement.” This group defines an individual who is able to make commitment to particular goals, beliefs, and values, and even though crisis is encountered, it is able to be resolved. Although for some of us it would seem more preferable to live a life with no crises or pain, these situations are ironically the ones that allow us to become the most aware of ourselves. The fourth group on the opposite end of the spectrum is better known as “Identity Diffusion.” This certain group of people never make any type of commitment and experience no crises at all, in return not having to even think about or resolve any type of  identity issues. What happens in situations like this is that the feeling of being lost becomes inevitable, and once we are lost it feels impossible to be found. The even harder part about Identity Diffusion is that when he/she comes to realize the fact that they are this lost, they already convince themselves it’s too late to experience any change.

I wanted to focus on the high correlation between identity diffusion and suicide, I know it is a harsh topic, but one that needs much more attention than it currently receives. Yes, it is nice to live in oblivion because sometimes this world is unfathomably cruel to completely take in,  but avoidance of reality is really avoidance of oneself. We need to come alive through our relationships, we need to rise, we need to fall, we need to feel!! Don’t be afraid of crises, we need to feel loss in order to ever be able to indulge in the emotion of love. Don’t hide the light from yourself. I’m not saying there won’t be days that the darkness doesn’t feel completely consuming, but with strong-will and consistency those days soon become nothing but a memory we grow from.

Confusion. Purpose. Heaven. Hell. Adam. Eve. Union. Government. Bonded. Alone.

These are some of the reoccurring words that pop up in my head when I am asked the question of why we exist. There are two types of people; those whose search for definition, and those that define themselves. The common denominator they share is curiosity. Curiosity drives us as humans and allows us to really cultivate our personality through experience. Now of course I could go into details about nature vs. nurture, but forget that cause the school system has already shoved that far enough down your throats. It’s been said that trust is established at 18 months of age through mother-infant interactions, but to me thats bull crap. Now I am not saying that ones caregiver doesn’t teach them a lot, or most of their definition, but at the same time, as humans we are constantly losing ourselves to only be found on the corner of a new journey. In times that we are lost, the feeling is unescapable and we churn in lakes that cannot be dried out. We lose a lot, some more than others, so I refuse to be categorized as to when an individual determines their capacity to trust. The elite, but now deceased psychoanalyst, Erik Erickson would probably go into his Theory of Development. He would defend his stage of trust vs. mistrust and stand by his belief that ones development is life long, but you cannot tell me a humans will to trust is determined in only the ages from 18 months to three years. If the world does not meet my needs as a child, I get the fact that it stays in my subconscious mind, but mistrust from ones older age is completely aware information. Our minds are just constantly observing, dissecting, and analyzing information so quickly that when we do have access to what has made us unable to trust, it is much easier to indulge in. It’s no wonder Erik Erickson named himself the son of him self….. Ignorance is bliss. 😉

Okay so just for starters I was a B/C average Chem./Bio. student throughout high school so its your choice whether you would like to keep reading my blog entry of how to “Think like a Scientist” or not.

As human beings, we are constantly observing and interpreting all the information that surrounds us. Not only do we put it into perspective after analyzing it, but also personalize that information that then either becomes a unique thought or experience to that individual.

This is a generation of people who like to make assumptions. “flock of sheep,” Stalin said…. by the way don’t forget to take my dark humor lightly.

We are constantly attempting to describe, predict or explain these phenomenon’s that surround us everyday. Also known as a theory. Also known as how evidence suggests that Kanye is having an affair with every Kardashian. Now we can make this theory but we can never know the explicit truth till we are apart of the immediate family, which I would prefer not to be apart of, and which is why it stays a theory. In Science, there will always be outliers which is why things have to be generalized to a certain extent at given times. This is the given reason why it is so rare to see “Scientific Laws” because in order to have an average trend or anything to compare your date to, you need time, which obviously isn’t a malleable component.

How many times a day do you find yourself making different assumptions or hypothesizing the outcome of every pending situation/component in your life? I think this goes for everybody, at least at some point. And if you didn’t just admit to that, then you’re a liar too. As humans we are constantly proposing explanations for everything we evaluate and give our opinion on. So right now I could tell you how Copernicus hypothesized that the Sun was circling around the earth, also known as the “Heliocentric Theory.” I could also tell you how other scientists in generations to come backed him up. I can also tell you that the Sun doesn’t rotate around the earth, but I mean this was made off their observation so whose to blame?

This is another great example of why things take so long to become facts or laws. Technology without corruption could do some pretty great things.

Oh and just to keep your minds analyzing and hypothesizing, black and blue or white and gold?

So since I’ve been here a constant reoccurring  question is “Why?”

Why did I come from Miami? Why is Communications my major? Why Journalism? Why not media and design? Why Penn State? and now, Why this  course?

Well for starters the truth is I am an indecisive person and indecisiveness and impulse tend to come hand and hand. I’m a strong believer that living in the moment has gotten me places much further than the times I chose to stay in the dark. Im not egging on rebellion but a little self adventure never kills.

My first time in the state of Pennsylvania was this last weekend, and for as many outraged replies and facial expressions that I got in return to that comment, I have to tell you I don’t really think you have to visit somewhere first in order to love it. For example the first people who visited lets say the Eiffel Tower in Paris sure as hell had no clue what they were in for but if they wouldn’t have taken the chance on going they would have never known the beauty or magnificent iron laced work entailed with that monument. Adventure is experience, experience is wisdom, and wisdom is power. The experience is really just what you choose to make it, error is inevitable anywhere you go considering we are human but that never defines who we are it only allows us to see that much more truth in oneself. and I mean HONESTLY how bad can a city ran by kids be, right?

Oh! and to top things off their Communications program is nationally and internationally renowned and anything relative to reading or writing is what keeps me hungry.

Now getting back to the topic because not only am I impulsive and indecisive, but also have a short attention span. The reason I chose to take this course is because Science has never been something I excel in, my mind tends not to think in numbers or straight memorization most times, which can be good and bad. I also really enjoy the way this course looks at Science, it really interests me and I cannot wait to continue to dissect Science in our world.

P.S: heres a link to my personal blog if you want to see any of my writing! 🙂

RELAX HERE