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https://positivepsychology.com/eudaimonia/
The article “What is Eudaimonia? Aristotle and Eudaimonic Well-Being?" by Catherine Moore is about the oldest definition of happiness and how it still applies to us today. Eudaimonia is the Greek word for happiness. First, this article talks about the greats Socrates, Pluto, and Aristotle, and their take on eudaimonia. The article focuses mainly on Aristotle’s teaching. Next, the article explains his work called the Science of Happiness. Also, how it still holds validity. Lastly, the article throws light on the ideas of virtue and well-being. In short that the more comfortable of a life we live, gearing more towards financial stability, the happier a person. Aristotle's definition of happiness, “…Some identify happiness with virtue, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom, others with these, or one of these, accompanied by pleasure or not without pleasure; while others include also external prosperity…it is not probable that…these should be entirely mistaken, but rather that they should be right in at least some one respect or even in most respects.” Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I, Chapter 8 (excerpt from Nothingistic.org, 2019)
After reading this source, I wonder how eudaimonia correlates to the hedonic lens of happiness? I wonder if living a stress-free life is what makes a person’s happiness set-point? “Quality of life derived from the development of a person’s best potentials and their application in the fulfillment of personally expressive, self-concordant goals.” I interpreted this quote as the more you strive for a successful life equals more happy and comfortable you feel. I do agree that a better quality of life equals a happier life. Though, I still feel as though the search for personal happiness is a difficult path to find. But reading about psychological definitions helps brings a person closer to finding that answer. It gives a person a starting point of where to look.
Reading this article made me want to figure out what I believe I need to do to find a eudaimonic defined hppiness. I love how the article explains that success is not always about financial. Rather that it can be who you surround yourself with. But maybe in your case it is both. Do you know what makes you happy? Do you think that alone will lead you to live a happy life?

Work Cited

Moore, Catherine. "What Is Eudaimonia? Aristotle and Eudaimonic Well-Being." PositivePsychology.com. 01 Sept. 2020. Web.

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https://positivepsychology.com/hedonic-treadmill/

The article “The Hedonic Treadmill – Are We Forever Chasing Rainbows?” by Steph Fontane Pennock is about how psychologists decipher happiness through hedonic principles. First, a hedonic treadmill is a principle that a happiness level will return to one baseline. Steph Fontane Pennock states in the article an example explaining hedonic when her goal of reaching happiness is to buy a house. When she finally does, the positive feeling is there but will eventually dwindle back to her happiness set point of wanting more. Next, Pennock explains that happiness set points are our general level of happiness. Meaning that no matter what life throws at someone, over time, they’re happiness goes back to the same set point. Happiness set points explain about fifty percent of the differences between his or her happiness compared to others. Lastly, in Pennock’s article, she shares research done by psychologists. Psychologists have studied the hedonic treadmill principle and found five main points of hedonic. Those being that the set-point is not neutral, the set-point is custom to each person, a person has many happiness set points, happiness changes, and the adaption of specific events in life is handled differently from person to person.

After reading this source, I can make several personal connections! “Take this theory with a classic example: say you get married, move into a new house, get a promotion, lose a job, suffer an accident, etc., over time, you’re likely to return to your set point of happiness.” For instance, I’ll reach a goal and be ecstatic for a while. Then goes back to business as usual. I feel as though those happy moments do not last. That would explain why I never truly feel as though I am living a happy life, but that also explains why I am not constantly depressed when something happens. It does not seem to be a good thing though it also is not a bad thing either. “Personality traits play a role in someone’s happiness set point, and well-being is moderately heritable.” I understand how different personalities can affect how happy a person is in certain situations. For example, my happiness set point is going back to being stressed out because my personality trait is high-strung. While my older sisters, whose personality is laidback, happiness set point always reverts to carefree. Though I wonder how well-being is passed from parent to child?

Reading this article made me rethink what happiness really is. It made me realize that happiness is a goal to be achieved but it is a fleeting feeling. Maybe if we start to live in the now, rather than the future, we’ll be able to appreciate life more. How would you define happiness? After reading this do you still think of happiness as you did? If not, what changed?

Work Cited

Pennock, Seph Fontane. “The Hedonic Treadmill – Are We Forever Chasing Rainbows?” PositivePsychology.Com, 1 Sept. 2020, positivepsychology.com/hedonic-treadmill.

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I’m curious about what happiness is. I decided to do some research on it and I found some interesting contexts about happiness. One being psychologists believe that happiness cannot really be defined and only described. I found that surprising because if you look up the word happiness in a dictionary there is definitely a definition. It did make me think more in depth about happiness and understand what the psychologists meant. I think they meant that because happiness is different for everyone, and to define it wouldn’t be accurate to everyone’s needs. A second topic I found is that happiness is the experience of joy or a sense that you are living a good life. Meaning it is either a fleeting emotion or how well you think you’ve lived your life. I think it could be both. The third and most interesting take on happiness that I’ve found is that happiness is not always feeling good. I think of this statement as it’s not realistic to be glad all the time and that you need to be out of your comfort zone to experience happiness.

Word Count: 185

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For my paper I want to research about what happiness is. I want to figure out if there is a basic set of things or events in a persons life that lead to happiness. It’s really about how versions of happiness is different from person to person. Can your version of happiness change? Or if it did change from the original can it go back to what it used to be? It made me think. If so are you ever truly happy, and are we always chasing it? A good way to be curious is to think about your own happiness and ask others what they think happiness looks like or is. A theme I see emerging is that happiness may just be a spurt of emotion we get. If I were to go onto Google to find answers to my questions I would type out “How to find your own happiness.”

Word Count: 152

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Democrats Summary

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A comma splice is when two independent clauses or complete ideas are inappropriately joined by a comma.

Example of a Comma Splice

My house is filled with plants, I sometimes forget to water them.

3 Ways to Fix Comma Splice

1. Semicolon “ ; ”

My house is filled with plants; I sometimes forget to water them.

2. Comma “ , ” w/ conjunction and

My house is filled with plants, and I sometimes forget to water them.

3. End each clause with a period “ . “

My house is filled with plants. I sometimes forget to water them.

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A run-on sentence is where two or more independent clauses or incomplete ideas in one sentence with no punctuations or conjunctions.

Example of a run-on sentence

I love plants I water them everyday.

3 Ways to Fix Run-On Sentences

1. Semicolon “ ; ”

I love plants; I water them everyday.

2. Comma “ , ” w/ conjunction and

I love plants, and I water them everyday.

3. End each clause with a period “ . “

I love plants. I water them everyday.

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1. Remember the acronym M.I.N.T.S

2. Months I Names Titles Sentences

3. Capitalize names of people, places, and official names of things. Also capitalize the beginning letter of each sentence.

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1. Grammarly corrects your work as you write saving you time on proof reading!

2. Grammarly is able to pick up on missing possessives or wrong possessives that spell check won’t be able to.

WRONG - Their it is!

CORRECT - There it is!

3. You can get Grammarly on Microsoft and Windows. I personally have the Grammarly app on my IPad! Works just as good.

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https://www.ted.com/talks/valarie_kaur_3_lessons_of_revolutionary_love_in_a_time_of_rage?language=en

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Active Reading Post 1 - Activating Schema 

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Active Reading Post 1 - Activating Schema 

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Before I watched the Ted Talk I looked up the speaker, Valarie Kaur, to understand who she is and why she is giving this Talk.

How much did you know about Activating Schema before this week's lesson?

- Before this week I knew a little bit about activating schema though I thought is was just called good note taking or getting a good understanding and didn’t know it had its own name!

Educator James Lang notes, "Prediction helps lay a foundation for richer, more connected knowing." How do you think this insight connects to the task of activating schema?

- This connects to activating schema because it means that you are thinking and brainstorming what you already know about what you are about to or are already reading. Which I believe helps you retain more of what you learned through the texts.

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Valarie Kaur: 3 lessons of revolutionary love in a time of rage

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What's the antidote to rising nationalism, polarization and hate? In this inspiring, poetic talk, Valarie Kaur asks us to reclaim love as a revolutionary act. As she journeys from the birthing room to tragic sites of bloodshed, Kaur shows us how the choice to love can be a force for justice.

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Active Reading Post 2 - Reading w/ Purpose 

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Active Reading Post 2 - Reading w/ Purpose 

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Through Valarie Kaur’s Ted Talk, she advocates change in the system and not in people or “bad actors.” She recalls when she fought against “bad actors” she saw no change but when she fought against an unjust system she saw that she and others were able to change things like federal hate crime policies. Valarie Kaur composed her own three lessons of revolutionary love through her own and other’s experiences of rage. At last, she illustrates the steps of revolutionary love being “in order to love, see no stranger”, “in order to love our opponents, tend the wound”, and “in order to love ourselves, breathe and push.”

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Describe the situations around each re-telling. Whom did you tell? Where? How? When?

- My mom likes to stop by my house every Sunday and make sure that my fridge is stocked and my cats have food. “If they don’t eat, you don’t either.” My cats are well fed, very well fed to the point they took on the shape of footballs. I thought she would be the perfect person to talk to about Valarie Kaur’s Ted Talk because who knows how to love better then a mother?

- I talked to my boyfriend Kyle about Valarie Kaur’s Ted Talk while he was making dinner. I wanted to hear and understand if he also agrees with Valarie Kaur’s lessons of revolutionary love.

What did you do before you told the first person? Did you re-read notes, think about your major points?

- Before I even thought about talking to anyone I went over my notes and re-read the key points making sure that I didn’t get anything Valarie Kaur said confused.

Did you revise your review before telling the second person? How did it change? What would you do differently?

- I revised my review but it was after I talked to the second person because when I talked about the Ted Talk talk a second time I found myself understanding and relating to more of what Valarie Kaur said.

How did repeating the summary solidify your understanding of the Talk?

- Repeating the summary helped because I was able to see my mom’s and Kyle’s understanding of my review as if they had seen the same Ted Talk I watched.

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Prancing into Angels with Paws on 24th and Youngsfield like two little school girls, we got a whiff of a litter box with a hint of Fabreeze. Playing with each kitten and sitting next to each old gal and guy, Kyle and I came across a seven-pound orange and white mass. Purring so loud and so hard, he sounded and shook like a car engine.
"That's Patrick," the volunteered chimed. "He's only three months and from Tennessee!"
Eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Kyle and I glance back and forth from each other to Patrick.
"You're lying," Kyle says in awe "He looks like a grown man to me."
Patrick following right in between Kyles's feet as Kyle and I explore the kitten maze. Tripping every third step, Kyle lifts Patrick so they are face to face about to scold him until Patrick bellows out a small meow and showing off his adopt me face.
"He likes you two!" The volunteer cheers.
"Oh, we're just here to play with the kittens!" I explain with my hands up.
Feeling awkward and maybe even a little pressured Kyle and I say our goodbyes to the sweet volunteers, cats, and kittens.
At the car door with our hands hesitantly on the handle, we glance at each other from across the car.
Telepathically declaring to each other, "We can't leave here without Patrick."
Racing back to the building and squeezing through the entrance door.
"We would like to adopt please!" Kyle and I cheer simultaneously.
"Back for Patrick?" the same volunteer asks us with the adoption papers already in hand.
I always wonder if it's something instinctual that draws someone to love something or someone right away. Whether it be an animal at the shelter that you adopt or a raggedy couch that you find at a thrift store that you reupholster.

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Stubby legs running on a skin blistering June afternoon in 2004, my cousin Mileena and I trying our absolute hardest to track down the ice cream man! Always a block behind like a game of cat and mouse, I questioned the likely hood of getting that Spongebob popsicle that'll stain your tongue with his flavorless beady black gumdrop eyes.
"I swear he must see us in his mirrors chasing him!" I wheeze.
Questioning humanity I thought to myself, “This guy has to be one of the cruelest beings I've ever encountered in all my eight years of living.”
What must have only been an hour felt like an eternity. After the third block of just barely missing our chance, WE LOST HIM. Deciding to prevail, we searched for kids that had what we have wanted for the past hour. With each encounter, a heartstring snapped.
Another eternity passed, Mileena and I decide to stop our epic quest on the swing set. Realizing not only had we lost the ice cream truck, but we've also never seen this park before. Surrounded by lush pine trees and not our usual neighborhood willows. Later coming to an agreement that we are too terrified to call her dad for a search and rescue, we start backtracking.
Trying to recall if we have seen this insignificant pebble before or if we should turn left or right at the pink house on Oxbow Dr., we heard that sweet Red Wing tune! Bolting towards the music we find the same ice cream truck that has been eluding us all afternoon! Running towards the truck like a cheetah towards a gazelle all while flailing our arms, the ice cream truck stops!
A dollar fifty poorer I am finally enjoying sweet victory which is my Spongebob popsicle. Mileena chose an ice cream sandwich. Why she would go through all this trouble for that still blows my mind.
Through this experience, it reminded me of the commercial “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” What lengths would someone go through to get what they want?
https://youtu.be/FcvqpV4h8Pc

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Eyelids dry like sandpaper against my pupils as I emotionlessly gaze into the reservoir.
"Fish on!" I scream out to the top of my lungs.
Fighting with this massive shadow like a game of tug of war and gripping tighter onto the Ugly Stick as my hands start to sweat. Flashes of its white belly blinding me as this fish tries to drag me into the trenches with him. Taking one shaky step back and digging my heels into the mud to hold my balance, I start reeling in my cast with every last ounce of energy I have left in my little body.
"I better get this fish, or so help me," I utter to the universe.
My patience dusting away like Thano's snap. At the shoreline, rainbow hues glisten off the fish!
"Dude, a rainbow trout!" Kyle exclaims.
What had been hours of repetitive casting and reeling, I finally have something to show for it all. Kyle quickly swoops up the rainbow trout in a laced net and triumphantly holds it in the air like a trophy.
Whistling a made-up tune, Kyle skips back to camp and starts up the grill. Scurrying to the shoreline, I gently release the rainbow trout back into his home.
I bid the rainbow trout farewell, "Thanks, bud."
My eyes recording every zig-zag the rainbow trout made back to his hideout. Navigating my way through the mud, I lock eyes with Kyle that had a visible vein popping out of his forehead.
"Honey, why did you let it go?" Kyle asks with a hint of irritation.
Realizing that I had let dinner go and too embarrassed to face him, I pick my fishing pole back up and say a prayer in my head as I cast my reel again.
Patience is a virtue but is everything worth our energy?

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1. Commas are used as a ramp between the dialogue and dialogue tag.
2. Commas in dialogue can go two ways!
- Sylvia sighs, “Commas can be difficult.”
- “Commas can be difficult,” Sylvia sighs.
3. In the second example above, you can ONLY end a sentence with a comma if the dialogue ends with a period (.).

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Apostrophes used in 3 ways!
1. Contracted Words
- An apostrophe in this sense is used like a filler for missing letters.
- Do not = Don’t
2. Possessive
- Apostrophes are also used to show that something belongs to a noun.
- This is Sylvia’s Padlet.
3. Plurals
- Apostrophes are ONLY used to indicate the plurals of letters, numbers, and symbols.
- I like to dot my i’s with hearts!
NOT
- I like to dot my is with hearts!

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1. True/False: One of the books Heller discusses is his work, The Artist.
- False! He was discussing “The Painter”

2. Heller says he composes his work where?
- He likes to compose his work at a coffee shop.

3.  What is a "cliche"?
- A cliche is an overused phrase that has lost it’s effectiveness.

4. According to the author, Peter Heller, how does he avoid being cliché? Be sure to look up “cliché” if you need to. What advice could you take from this to apply to your writing this week?
- He avoids being cliche by recognizing the cliches in his own writing and revising his work with a fresh set of eyes.
- I could use this in my analogies as I realize that I have used some cliches.

5. The interviewer says, “The best writing is re-writing.” What do you think he means by this? What does this mean for you?
- I think the interviewer meant that acting like your writing is a rough draft and improving on it brings out better work.
- This made me realize to reread what I have written and find areas that I can improve on.

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Stubby legs running on a skin blistering June afternoon in 2004, my cousin Mileena and I trying our absolute hardest to track down the ice cream man! Always a block behind like a game of cat and mouse, I questioned the likely hood of getting that Spongebob popsicle that'll stain your tongue with his flavorless beady black gumdrop eyes. "I swear he must see us in his mirrors chasing him!" At this point, I thought of the ice cream man to be one of the cruelest beings I've ever encountered in all my eight years of living.
What must have only been an hour felt like an eternity. After the third block of just barely missing our chance, WE LOST HIM. Deciding to prevail, we searched for kids that had what we have wanted for the past hour. With each encounter, a heartstring snapped.
Another eternity passed, Mileena and I decide to stop our epic quest on the swing set. Realizing not only had we lost the ice cream truck, but we've also never seen this park before. Surrounded by lush pine trees and not our usual neighborhood willows. Later coming to an agreement that we are too terrified to call her dad for a search and rescue, we start backtracking.
Trying to recall if we have seen this insignificant pebble before or if we should turn left or right at the pink house, we heard that sweet Red Wing tune! Bolting towards the music we find the same ice cream truck that has been eluding us all afternoon! Running towards the truck like a cheetah towards a gazelle all while flailing our arms, the ice cream truck stops!
A dollar fifty poorer I am finally enjoying sweet victory which is my Spongebob popsicle. Mileena chose an ice cream sandwich. Why she would go through all this trouble for that still blows my mind.
https://youtu.be/FcvqpV4h8Pc

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First, I learned that commas are meant to separate sentence elements such as lists, dates, clauses, etc. Secondly, commas NEVER belong at the end of a sentence. Last but certainly not least, commas can redefine or clarify a noun phrase, called an appositive.

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Haider Javed Warraich had unfortunately experienced the Boston Marathon Bombing on April 15, 2013. A day later had his article “Living Through Terror” was published by the New York Times!
As Warraich explains his concern for Islamophobia and says “would I not fit the bill?” It brought me back to May 2020 when I was able to go back to work after the lockdown. Being of Asian descent, Chinese and Laotian, I had patients ask me what my ethnicity was several times and I would reply with Laotian because I did not want anyone to be afraid of me. I have even had some patients straight refuse to be seen by me even though I was born and raised in America and have never set foot in China before.

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On April 15, 2013, Haider Javed Warraich was at the Prudential Center on Boylston Street eating Chinese food with his wife and friends right before the Boston Marathon Bombing. Warraich was scared for him and his wife’s safety while also being afraid about the outcome of a billion people due to Islamophobia.
Simply what Warraich is trying to convey to his readers is that one person’s actions do not speak for an entirety of that race, religion, etc.

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Part III: Elements of Descriptive Writing 

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Part III: Elements of Descriptive Writing 

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What stood out the most was Warraich’s use of strong verbs, specific ideas, and sensory details in his article. A visual detail that I loved from Warraich’s articles was “The water in our plastic cups rippled." He then mentions Jurassic Park, which made me understand and envision what he was saying even more! “...when we heard the dull and deathly reverb.” Warraich was able to convey his eerie experience through this auditory detail. Warriach has also used pacific names such as the Prudential Center on Boylston Street that gave the reader a visual understanding of how close Warraich was to the bombing.
In Warraich’s article, he explains how he is carefully trying to avoid speaking in Urdu and strictly in English to his family over the phone.
Warraich’s use of analogies helped me understand the severity of the situation with phrases “People gushed across the hallways like fish in the white water rapids." and “What was left of the food court was a land frozen in an innocent time."
Throughout the article it felt as if I was in Warraich’s shoes and feeling his own anxieties.

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I am learning to write in such a way to help my readers visually understand my story through dialogue, strong verbs, specific ideas, analogies, and sensory details. Descriptive writing is when a person uses lots of detail to describe a person, place, or thing that paints a picture in the reader's mind.

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Descriptive writing using 5 senses ✍️ | How to write the perfect piece of descriptive writing

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What do you think it takes to having a great idea?
Having a great idea usually comes to me in the heat of the moment or at 4am. There’s rarely ever an in between. What I’ve come to find myself doing to find great ideas is thinking big picture. I find my ideas through putting myself out there and talking to people outside my “normal” groups. That way I can get perspective from all different walks of life. I’ll usually think of many ideas just so I’m not tied down to just one. Don’t hold yourself down! Some ideas will be a bust but one is bound to be great. :)

5 Things I know to be true about learning:
- Learning is literally food for the brain. It keeps you sharp and ready to go!
- Having a broad spectrum of knowledge can help you be ready with new experiences which in turn can help you through all kinds of challenging times, questions, situations, etc.
- Learning also brings confidence. Learning has definitely helped me feel more secure in my own abilities.
- More opportunities open up as I find myself becoming more knowledgeable.
- As you learn more and about more you find yourself becoming passionate about many things!

Question for my class: Are you an early bird or a night owl?
I’m a night owl. I feel like I’m more energetic at night and can actually get things done.

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The great outdoors!
I’m the type of person who gets stir crazy fast so I’ll find myself walking aimlessly around the block to de-stress. My boyfriend and I will usually go camping, hiking, bouldering, or fishing throughout the year and sometimes we’re lucky enough to meet some neat animals. We ran into this guy in Genesee, CO. Getting out and exploring always reminds me of how much I appreciate nature.

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Without her my childhood would have been so dull and nothing worth telling. I’m thankful to have had someone so cooooool to have matching bowl cuts with, grow up with, and look up to. Now that we’re adults I can better appreciate all that she has done for me throughout the years.
Right:Me & Left:My older sister Olivia

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Been together since 2015 and he has always pushed me to be a better me. Cliche but true :) He has taught me to let things lay as they fall and to work my way around or through them.
P.s. our cat in the picture is named Patrick and our other cat Paul!