Is there some power in positive thinking?

ENG 101

Jose Torres

Professor: E.MacCormick

12-06-10

Is there some power in positive thinking?

            Positive thinking and attitude are closely related to the success of people. The fact of wanting to do something with conviction is really a powerful weapon in the realization of people’s lives.

            Personally to achieve my goals I have had to think positively. I have psyched that I can do one or other activity and I have to give the best of me. It is not enough made something if we are not doing it with our five senses. The predisposition plays a very important part on it. The planning and structuring strategies lead people to win. Many people have changed their lives radically they have changed from one state to its opposite thanks to their positive thoughts and good vibes.

With positive thoughts and attitude we can even get a mental and physical health because we do not let problems affect our lives, in this way we avoid stress and its harmful health consequences. In the same hand our self –esteem will be high and it will permit us to achieve whatever we want.

            I have serious problems in this country from the moment that I come, but thanks to my attitude and thinking I have been overcoming them little by little. I performing other activities like sports to keep my mind open to new opportunities and seek other solutions for my problems. I am sure that positive thinking and our positivity towards life leads us to success.

Happiness and Health

ENG 101

Jose Torres

Professor: L. McCormick

12-06-10

Happiness and Health

     Happiness is an emotional state, in which it helps people to be healthy all around; being laughter one of the most powerful weapons to achieve happiness.  The happier a person is, the healthier that person can become. However, due to the lack of happiness people may experience health problems because, they could acquire stress which is the cause of many diseases.

            The laughter is a way to get healthy; thanks to it people fight diseases.  Laughter acts directly in the physiology of people, it can deal with the functions and activities of live or living matter as organs, tissues and cells. Many scientists have made experiments about the connections between laughter and its influence on the human body. As stated in “The Laughing Guru”, as a result of experiments of Dr. Berk and psychiatrist William Fry; they determined that laughter dampened the production of cortisol hormone that eliminates the immune function. The chemical and biological effect of laughter, it manifest in other investigations in which neuroendocrine and stress hormone changes as a result of laughter. In the same way laughter help to produce cells which are using by the body to combat infections and cancerous expansion.

            Happiness as a mechanisms to achieve health, it has been studied for many scientist, educators, psychologist for many years.  According to “The Laughing Guru” by Raffi Khatchadourian,  “in sixteenth century England, Richard Mulcaster, a humanist educator, argued that laughter produced warmth throughout the body, and was a good antidote for colds, headaches, and bouts of melancholy”.  When both happy people and unhappy people have contracted a virus and diseases such as influenza and cold, it has been proven that happy people easily overcome them and they present fewer symptoms that unhappy people.  It indicates that there is a close relation between the psychological part (happiness) and the physical part (health).  An American Journalist named Norman Cousins explained about his own experience of unhappiness after a trip to Russia and how it affected his health.  He experienced stress unhappiness as a result he developed ankhylosing spondylitisis, which is a degenerative disease of the joints (85).

            Due the lack of happiness people may have health problems because, they could acquire stress which is the cause of many diseases like, pain of any kind, digestive problems, depression, obesity, sleep problems, heart disease, skin conditions like eczema and loss of appetite. To overcome these problems and their consequences, people like doctors, adviser, counselor and gurus, have developed countless programs, advices, therapies and techniques to help unhappy people.

The health and happiness are closely related each and other, but when this equilibrium is broken in any way people's health is affected seriously. According to “Happiness Enhances Health” by Rick Nauert.  “A new study finds that happiness and other positive emotions play an even more important role in health than previously reported”. When people are unhappy they are likely to get more diseases because their self-defense is low. The unhappiness brings many negatives emotional states like stress and its consequences like depression, headache, tension, irritability, fast heartbeat and other. In the other hand, happy people can easily overcome them or they do not show any signs of them.

Unhappy people are more exposed to stress which play an important role in people life because, its response is the body’s way of protecting themselves, help people to stay focused and alert when they are exposed to an emergency give them extra strength to defend themselves. But when stress gets out of control it is harmful to health destroying people relationships and the enjoyment of life.

Specialized people have developed treatments to help unhappiest to improve their emotional state and therefore their health and happiness. Psychiatrist treats children, teenagers and seniors because the unhappiness and stress has not preference for age. Many management programs can teach them about the nature, sources of stress and its effects on health. Many therapies have been created like cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy and exposure therapy. In the same way alternative treatments have been developed like, massage therapy, acupuncture, acupressure, diet, meditation, yoga, breathing exercise, Tai Chi and sound therapy. The use of many pharmaceutics is considered to avoid stress and achieve happiness like vitamins B6, B complex, C, panax ginseng, valerian and many more.

Happiness helps tremendously to people to be healthy, because thanks to it people avoid illness and overcome diseases that affect the body. Laughter plays an important role to achieve happiness and it is very important all the research and investigations that expert such as Doctors, Scientist and Gurus like Kataria are doing to develop programs based on it to reach full happiness.

 Khatchadourian,Raffi.”The Laughing Guru”ENG101.The Pursuit of Happiness.Ed.E.McCormick.New York:La Guardia Community College.2010.84-85 Print

 Nauert,Rick.” Happiness Enhances Health”.November 8,2006. December 1,2010.< http://psychcentral.com/news/2006/11/07/happiness-enhances-health/392.html>Web

Happiness and Health

ENG 101

Jose Torres

Professor: L. McCormick

Happiness and health

Due the lack of happiness people may have health problems because, they could acquire stress which is the cause of many diseases like, pain of any kind, digestive problems, depression, obesity, sleep problems, heart disease, skin conditions like eczema and loss of appetite. To overcome these problems and their consequences, people like doctors, adviser, counselor and gurus, have developed countless programs, advices, therapies and techniques to help unhappy people.

Health and happiness are closely related to each other, but when this equilibrium is broken in any way people’s health is affected seriously. According to “Happiness Enhances Health” by Rick Nauert.  “A new study finds that happiness and other positive emotions play an even more important role in health than previously reported”. When people are unhappy they are likely to get more diseases because their self-defenses are low. The unhappiness brings many negatives emotional states like stress and its consequences like depression, headache, tension, irritability, fast heartbeats and others. In the other hand, happy people easily overcome diseases such as influenza and cold and they present fewer symptoms than unhappy people after contract a virus the both of them.

Unhappy people are more exposed to stress which plays an important role in people’s life, because its response is the body’s way of protecting themselves and helps people to stay focused and alert when they are exposed to an emergency situation; giving  them extra strength to defend themselves. However when stress gets out of control it is harmful to their health, destroying people’s relationships and the enjoyment of their life.

Experts have developed treatments to help the unhappiest to improve their emotional state and therefore their health and happiness. Psychiatrists treat children, teenagers and seniors because the unhappiness and stress has not preference for age. Many management programs can teach them about the nature of stress and its sources, and the negatives effects that it has on health. Many therapies have been created like cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy and exposure therapy. In the same way alternative treatments have been developed like, Massage therapy, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Diet, Meditation, Yoga, Breathing exercise, Tai Chi and Sound therapy. The uses of many pharmaceuticals are considered to avoid stress and achieve happiness like Vitamins B6, B complex, C, Panax Ginseng, Valerian and many more.

Jose F. Torres

Complaining vs. Fixing vs. Accepting
As human beings we are always complaining about any situation in our lives, whether is professional or personal. However, when we complain we try to find a solution to the problem and if that solution solves our problems acceptance is the result. My biggest complain in my life right now, is the fact that it seems that I do not have enough time in the day to finish anything. I work full-time, I go to school full-time and I’m also a husband and a father. There are times that I just cannot finish one thing alone, it frustrates me that I cannot fulfill one task. The only solution that I’ve found so far is to wake up earlier in the day and manage my time better, I have made myself a schedule on how to do things; I read during my train back home and when I’m eating my meals I finish my homework. Sometimes my wife gives me ideas on how to do my projects, but basically I do it all alone. I know that my life is hectic and I complain a lot, but I’ve tried to find a solution to my problem and I think that I am managing my time better.
Real Love vs. “The Ideal”
I think that real love and the ideal love are halves truths, we are always in the search of happiness especially happiness in love. Men and women have different ideas on love, women from the moment they are born they are thought that at one point in her life she will find prince charming. She starts watching fairy tale movies that shows prince charming being tall, dark and handsome; sensitive and especially always agreeing with her, which in real life is not always true. Men in the other hand do not have that kind of perspective; we want someone that wants us and of course if that person looks like Megan Fox it would be the ideal. However reality hits, we could be prince charming and be tall, dark and handsome; but there will always be issues that as a couple might not agree with. When I got married I thought life would be easier since I found the woman that completed me, with her I ended my search for companionship she is the person that understands me and gets me. My ideal woman is someone that loves to run like I do, loves to have everything in order and precisely
clean; but my reality is that my wife is my complete opposite, but I think that is why that after almost ten years of marriage I’ve realized that I love her more now than I did back then. One can create an ideal person that would understand one’s needs, but when reality sets in we have no other choice than to accept it.
Spending More Time with Loved Ones
I am guilty of not spending time with my loved ones it is not that I do not want to, but I just do not have enough time for it. The little time off that I have I use it to entertain my four year-old daughter and usually she leaves me exhausted. Mu family understands my sacrifices and they are willing to forgive the lack of attention that I give to them. I really make a huge effort to satisfy my family and spend time with them, and when I do I am the happiest of all men. My mother lives in Ecuador and I bring her here every year, because I cannot travel at the moment; I do not have any vacation days left. This year has been a difficult one, I lost a very important person in my life and I feel guilty that I could not spend time with him in his last days. It wasn’t that I did not want to I just couldn’t, and because of that I’ve made a priority in my life that I need to have my family and loved one around me at all times; because I’ve never known how long I would have them around and I do not want to miss anything in their lives.

Cultivating Happier Romantic Relationships

ENG 101

Professor: McCormick

Jose F. Torres

 Cultivating Happier Romantic Relationships

Human beings are always in search of the perfect partner, the person that will complete us and understand us.  In my opinion, it is more important to cultivate a relationship instead of finding the perfect mate; someone that shares the same activities as I do.  Every person is different the trick is to find the one person that will click with my personality.  However, it is difficult and it takes hard work to cultivate a relationship and build intimacy.  To shape a relationship to the point where both partners are happy with each other, takes years and lots of different opinions about different matters.

Everyone is in the search of the perfect partner, the person that will make us happy forever.  I think is overrated and downright unrealistic. It is more important to cultivate a relationship than just have one.  It is a fact that nobody is perfect.  I think our society has ingrained us with the thought that such idea exists, if that idea is correct there would not be many divorce cases in our society.  It is a fact that fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, I think people that are going through that went into the marriage thinking that they “found” the perfect mate; but reality sets in; finding a person that feels attracting towards another person is not difficult, I think the whole problem lies on the fact that looks are really not everything; that is a phrase that our parents always tells us in fact is true.  Intimacy is not always linked to sex, the other kind of intimacy; the one that getting to know someone in an intimacy level is beautiful, knowing that person’s attitude towards life, morals, religion, politics, etc.  I think now is easier just to give up, technology has made it easier. We can talk to new people every day in many different ways; there are social networks, video chats, and the internet.  We are constantly bombarded with the different options that we might tend to forget what we have at home.  Since we have other options, the minute that we see trouble or sense danger; some people just cop out and do not give the relationship the time that it needs to develop.  My grandparents remained marry until the day that one of them died.  Nowadays, we act surprise when a couple is together seven years; and sometimes people ask what the secret is.  I think we owe it to ourselves to give a chance to real love and let it develop to what it might surprise and be the perfect relationship.

The moment that we have established a relationship with another person, the key to cultivate a happier romantic relationship is to shape it to a degree that both people would comfort in each other.  I have been married for almost ten years, and I must say that my wife and I are complete opposites; we had had our struggles during this time.  She is very free-spirited and I am stricter and follow rules, she looks at life as an easy road, no problems, no stress; she really does not get anything to her.  However, I look at life as a very hard road to walk on, my stress levels are high, and I am always thinking about our bills, our mortgage, what our daughter is going to be when she grows up.  Those are the things that stress me, but she does not let those things bother her.  In the beginning I found that kind of attitude insufferable and I thought she was crazy, I have never met anybody like that; that our opposite ways of handling problems cause us problem for ourselves.  It really took a while until we have figured out, we complement each other with our different looks on life; I am trying to be more spontaneous and lead a less hectic life, whereas she tries to lead a more discipline life, of course sometimes our old habits are difficult to brake and trouble arises; but she and I know that we have to make it work for our daughter and she deserves a happy set of parents and a healthy environment.

Another way to cultivate a happier romantic relationship is to share activities together, if a couple wants to be together they have to do things that each person will enjoy.  Even though sometimes my hobbies are not the same as my wife’s, but we have found our “thing” to do together we go almost every Sunday to do cross-training.  I love to run; my wife hates it with a passion.  I love to exercise and I do it every day, she might do it just to please me and I know she hates it; but we have found a common ground where we enjoy our favorite activities and do them while we are together.  She likes to walk in the park, I enjoy a good hiking.  And there are many more things that we share, but the point is that we make an effort to share our likes with each other.

In conclusion, I think romantic relationships are easy to find the real task is to learn how to be happy in one.  Cultivating a healthy and happier romantic relationship takes a lot of patience and learning what the other person thinks and feels towards life.  We have to find someone that shares our likes and dislikes, but before we enter any relationship we have to know that the ideal or “perfect” person does not really exist; nobody is perfect and everyone has flaws.  The trick is to mold each other until we find and have a healthier romantic relationship

Jose F. Torres

Complaining vs. Fixing vs. Accepting
As human beings we are always complaining about any situation in our lives, whether is professional or personal. However, when we complain we try to find a solution to the problem and if that solution solves our problems acceptance is the result. My biggest complain in my life right now, is the fact that it seems that I do not have enough time in the day to finish anything. I work full-time, I go to school full-time and I’m also a husband and a father. There are times that I just cannot finish one thing alone, it frustrates me that I cannot fulfill one task. The only solution that I’ve found so far is to wake up earlier in the day and manage my time better, I have made myself a schedule on how to do things; I read during my train back home and when I’m eating my meals I finish my homework. Sometimes my wife gives me ideas on how to do my projects, but basically I do it all alone. I know that my life is hectic and I complain a lot, but I’ve tried to find a solution to my problem and I think that I am managing my time better.
Real Love vs. “The Ideal”
I think that real love and the ideal love are halves truths, we are always in the search of happiness especially happiness in love. Men and women have different ideas on love, women from the moment they are born they are thought that at one point in her life she will find prince charming. She starts watching fairy tale movies that shows prince charming being tall, dark and handsome; sensitive and especially always agreeing with her, which in real life is not always true. Men in the other hand do not have that kind of perspective; we want someone that wants us and of course if that person looks like Megan Fox it would be the ideal. However reality hits, we could be prince charming and be tall, dark and handsome; but there will always be issues that as a couple might not agree with. When I got married I thought life would be easier since I found the woman that completed me, with her I ended my search for companionship she is the person that understands me and gets me. My ideal woman is someone that loves to run like I do, loves to have everything
in order and precisely clean; but my reality is that my wife is my complete opposite, but I think that is why that after almost ten years of marriage I’ve realized that I love her more now than I did back then. One can create an ideal person that would understand one’s needs, but when reality sets in we have no other choice than to accept it.
Spending More Time with Loved Ones
I am guilty of not spending time with my loved ones it is not that I do not want to, but I just do not have enough time for it. The little time off that I have I use it to entertain my four year-old daughter and usually she leaves me exhausted. Mu family understands my sacrifices and they are willing to forgive the lack of attention that I give to them. I really make a huge effort to satisfy my family and spend time with them, and when I do I am the happiest of all men. My mother lives in Ecuador and I bring her here every year, because I cannot travel at the moment; I do not have any vacation days left. This year has been a difficult one, I lost a very important person in my life and I feel guilty that I could not spend time with him in his last days. It wasn’t that I did not want to I just couldn’t, and because of that I’ve made a priority in my life that I need to have my family and loved one around me at all times; because I’ve never known how long I would have them around and I do not want to miss anything in their lives.

Fear in Education

Fear in education

Fear is a feeling that all human beings have, fear of the dark, fear of the unknown and also fear of not accomplishing your goals. I have been living in New York for seven years, the minute I stepped into this country I thought that even though the cultural transition might be a challenge, I never thought it would be too difficult.

I have always been fascinated by different cultures from my own, different languages, different customs. In Ecuador, I studied Japanese, a little Russian and when I lived in Israel I learned a bit of Hebrew at least I learned to read and many phrases and words. However, I have always studied English my whole life in the elementary school, in the high school and in the college, I was able to understand what other people were saying to me and also I was able to communicate what I wanted to say to them and write a little. I really thought that I was ready to come to United States. But when I came here I did not understand the accent and people talk to fast I was lost, nobody understood what I was saying, then I realized that my knowledge of the English language was not enough for me to defend myself out in the real world (AMERICA). I was wrong in my expectations.

The moment that I landed here in New York I knew things would be different, the whole environment, the way people do things were different. I had to learn to walk fast in this city. I had to learn subways and bus schedules. But nothing prepared me on how frustrating would be learning English all over again.

            I decided to continue my studies in order to get new and better opportunities, I have been interested in everything electronics and I saw how the job market in that area is high. I tried to apply to many four-year colleges, but at the moment to take the English tests I found out that my knowledge of English was not good enough. Counselors advice me to go to a two year college and start from there, that’s how I ended up here in LaGuardia College.

            I have passed all my technical classes. I thought that if I took all the difficult subjects first and leave the easy ones at the end would be a good plan, little did I know was the huge obstacle that I’ve encountered when I took my English classes. I’m part of the Phi Theta Kappa society, I have been at the Dean’s list for good averages; however all that changed when I started taking my English literature classes or when I had to attend classes in which I needed to understand what the teachers explained. I have put my whole energy and devotion to learn and advance my knowledge in the language, but it has become a great disappointment for me that what I thought I learned before did not help me advance here. I have spent sleepless nights trying to understand and learn, but it seems that my brain is not getting it; I’ve tried many maneuvers to learn the language but I feel that I’m not going anywhere, this really frustrated me and make me unhappy.

            I am a married father of a four-year old girl, I have a full-time job and I’m an avid runner. In order to finish my studies I have made many sacrifices to attend college, I have a very hectic schedule; some nights I only have a three hour sleep some nights I do not sleep at all. My weekends are full with finishing homework and also working overtime, I’m aware that if I continue do this lifestyle I might get sick; but all my energy is shifted to my goals. I want to show and prove to my little girl and myself that it can be done, it can be accomplished; even if it takes my sanity I will overcome my fear of thinking that I cannot learn proper English.

I am taking necessary steps in order to help myself and improve my language skills, in my I-pod I have downloaded many language podcast that I listen while I am working. Unfortunately where I work I have no one to talk to I work by myself, I do not have anybody around me and sometimes that frustrates me; because I am not exercising my brain with the language. I know a lot of people that arrived to this country way after me and I noticed that they overcame their fear of speaking a different language from their own. I think the reason behind that is that those people had interacted with others and practice the language; something that I do not have. In my house Spanish is only spoken and when I am in school I seldom speak with my classmates in English, something that I am trying to avoid.

I think that my biggest problem is my accent, sometimes when I am trying to communicate with others and they do not understand what I am trying to say, I feel frustrated and a little bit shy; because I think some people find it funny when someone has a different way of pronouncing words or letters. I do not care what others think, but I am self conscious of my lack of communication. I can properly write in English, but sometimes that is not enough.

In conclusion, I know the many obstacles that I need to overcome. My lack of practicing the language with others, in that way repetition can help my brain and tongue to click and

Communicate. I know that all my sacrifices will be paid at the end; all my sleepless nights will be rewarded. I know my family will be proud the moment that they see my degree and that would be the greatest accomplishment as a student. I hope do not mistake in my news predictions which would make me unhappy again.

Happiness in Education

Jose Torres

ENG 101

Professor: Dr. McCormick

Happiness in Education

I am sure that the education is the most important part of people’s lives, thanks to it we get satisfaction, self-confidence, enrich our personal knowledge, we can find a good jobs and make a lot of money. For all these reasons people can achieve the happiness.

Personally I like to study, through the years in the elementary school, college, high school and in the Navy, I had good experiences, the fact to learn and understand the physical and chemical phenomena that happen in nature were an interesting experience, many concerns and questions I asked my-self in those years.  After finished my studies I could put into practice in my job what I learned as student, it was very exciting and rewarding.

Feel that our time of sacrifice and dedication was not in vain is a comfortable feeling that makes us happy. I emphasize that during our years of study we know and share many people and all those experiences are an important part of our lives.

Psychological immune system

Psychological immune system

It is the group of mechanisms that people use to protect themselves from negative experiences which affect them emotionally. Due that psychological immune system has a correlation with the biological immune system, people make mistakes at the moment of process and transform the information of present affairs into more tolerable events. Because this system act without conscious awareness, people fail to anticipate its effects and that is why people are wrong when they are forecasting affective affairs. The psychological immune system includes many mechanisms like: ego defense, rationalization, dissonance reduction, motivated reasoning, self service attribution, self affirmation, self deception, terror management and fading affect bias.

Through the rationalization  mechanism people protect their self-esteem  and  self concept for example when they explain an unacceptable behavior  in a rational manner avoiding the true reason for the behavior, people usually attribute to themselves their triumphs, successes and blame others for their failures. Through Cognitive dissonance when people face a conflict of thoughts, attitude, emotion, belief or behavior, this mechanism work as a driving force which compels the mind to invent new thoughts or change those that are the reason of the conflict.

Self serving attribution mechanism is used for people when they are finding external causes for your bad performance; they claim responsibilities for their successes than their failures. Other mechanism which people use to protect their self is the motivated reasoning (hot cognition) in which they response to environmental factors regardless of the response’s impact, they response based on emotion unlike people who can calm down to analyze process and response impact by (cold cognition).

When people feel threatened by a disease the body creates immediately defenses to avoid being infected. In the same way the psychological immune system act when people are affected by experiences negative emotions, the intensity of the mechanisms will be according to the severity of the problems which are attacking the people’s emotions. Due to the focus on the events, people ignore outsides activities which later affect them in their emotional state. People who effective choice strategies will be more prone to biased affective forecasts.