Blog # 4

Happiness and Work

             Human beings need to work in order to fulfill their basic survival needs. We have to pay our rent, utility bills, grocery and all our basic necessities of life. In order to fulfill these needs, we need hard currency. This can be achieved from work or doing a job. It is also important that we are happy in our work in order to increase our satisfaction. So, hard currency and ultimate currency which go hand in hand are important for our survival. Now, how can we derive happiness in work?

            If we are interested in our work and if it matches our skills, then we will definitely derive satisfaction, which will lead to the ultimate currency, but some individuals work only for the hard currency. They look at their jobs, which will give them financial gains rather than personal satisfaction.

            Tal Ben-Shahar in his article named “Happiness in the Workplace” mentions, “Finding the right work, work that corresponds to both our passions and our strengths can be challenging.” I agree with him because I feel that it is very challenging to find a job in this bad economy which matches our passions and skills. For instance, I don’t have a job experience, but I have a friend named Jane who is a computer engineer. Due to the bad economy, she received a lay-off before a year.  At present, she works in Dunkin Donuts. She goes to work because she feels that she has to, rather than she wants to. Jane has no other expectations from her job besides her paycheck at the end of the week and looks forward to Friday for it. She is not happy at all because her skills are not matching her job. She has to pay her utility bills, rent, etc, so she is doing this job just for the sake of money.

           Hence, a career-minded person is primarily motivated by money as well as progress, so I think that thinking about meaning pleasure and our strengths can lead us towards more happiness and success in the workplace.

What did I find about myself?

I found out that I can be a counselor. After doing this activity, I also found that I can be a good Nurse, because I like to take care of people and feel happy helping those in need. As it is my dream to be a registered nurse, I think my skills correspond to my future goal which is to be a nurse.

Assignment #1: How you can increase your own happiness in education

            Learning doesn’t stop with age. Education is a life-long learning process. I think education is the journey which helps us achieve our goals. Mark Van Doren in the article “Happiness in Education” states, “Our best chance for happiness is education”. He means that the best happiness is found in education. But how do we find happiness in education? Education creates more happiness in my life by giving me more opportunities to grow as a better individual. It opens my mind which increases my self-confidence and allows me to prepare to achieve my career goals and in turn make me feel much happier in life.

            Education expands our mind by acquiring knowledge in our day-to-day life. My career goal is to become a Registered Nurse. One of the pre-requisites which I’m currently studying is General Psychology. Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes. Inter- personal skills are required to be a nurse. These skills are gained by knowing things, so this course will give me knowledge on these skills. I get a deeper understanding of how to interact with people. Also, knowledge allows us to change our perspectives and consider other ideas in order to analyze and think critically. I can understand ideas much better than I did before. I can increase my happiness by taking more social sciences courses to widen my knowledge and understanding.

            Education helps build self-confidence and therefore increases happiness. Self-confidence is being content with yourself with your capabilities, abilities, and intelligence skills in your daily activities. All these things will make you happy with yourself. Education helps to build and acquire new skills and these build self-confidence. If we go to school and work, we learn to balance and be more responsible. Character traits are an asset and can benefit us. Self-confidence builds our character and it’s a part of our inner self. For instance, I go to school full-time. I don’t work, but I have to manage my household (husband and children), so I have to balance my college responsibilities as well as household responsibilities. Although it is difficult, I have learned to balance, multitask, prioritize and manage time. All these skills have helped me accomplish my tasks and in turn boosted my self-confidence. This has made me happy with the person I have become and leads me towards my goal.

            Going back to school after twenty years has increased my self-confidence and happiness. Learning or achieving a degree in another country is difficult because the rules, language, and processes are different. Overcoming these differences will make me happier in education. Adaptability to a new environment is important to increase your happiness. A new or unknown environment usually creates stress and fear. One chooses to either adjust to this new environment or not, but I chose to overcome this obstacle and thus build my self-confidence. As Tal Ben-Shahar in his article “Happiness in the Workplace” has mentioned that, “What we need if we are to implement change in our lives is courage. And courage is not about not having fear but about having fear and going ahead anyway”. He is saying that if we implement change in our life, we need courage as well as fear to move ahead in life.

            Now, how does education help you accomplish your dream? My life-long dream has been to become a registered nurse. Since my childhood, I’ve liked to care of people and help them. I have migrated from India to the U.S. I achieved my GED and I’m currently doing my pre-requisites in LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC). I want to get into the LAGCC’s nursing program, accomplish my nursing degree, and eventually work in a hospital. In order to attain this degree, one must be perseverant, committed, responsible, and hardworking. My professors and I both see these qualities in me. For example, LAGCC has a very strict attendance policy. I agree with this because I believe attendance is very important to learn because if you miss out on course work, it is harder to keep up with what’s going on in class. This is the reason why I haven’t missed any class or assignment ever since the semester began. I think our presence and commitment does make a difference. I think being a nurse will make me happy in life. I believe that education is the bridge which will link me to my profession. As Tal Ben-Shahar has stated in his article “Happiness in Education”, “As I discussed earlier in the chapter on goals, having a clear destination in mind liberates us to enjoy the journey.” This means that if you have a clear goal in mind, then you have the freedom to enjoy the journey. Since I have a clear goal in mind, I’m enjoying my journey, which gives meaning to my life. My happiness comes from knowing that I’m going on the right path that will lead me to accomplish my dream.

            I think that there is one thing I need to change about myself. I have a habit of over-analyzing. I have a tendency to over-analyze things and as a result, miss out on simple things. For instance, whenever I have a task to do, I think too much and end up with exhaustion. When I was in the midst of acquiring my GED, my teacher, Charles Perkins used to give essays to write in class. I used to sit thinking and watching the others, while they use to start writing and finish off on time. I remember he used to say, “Let go! You don’t have to be perfect! Just write whatever comes in your mind!” So, hopefully I will try to change myself.

            In addition to over-analyzing, I think I should participate in class discussions. I do not participate more in class because first of all, I’m shy, and secondly, I think I may be wrong. In Ken Robinson’s video entitled “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” he says, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original…We stigmatize mistakes. Mistakes are the worst things you can make.” Mr. Robinson’s words have inspired me because they have helped me realize my weaknesses and bring out my strengths. I will try to come out of my “shell” and share my ideas in order to raise my self-esteem and get one step closer to success.

            In conclusion, education will help me grow and be a better individual, and allow me to prepare for my journey to reach my destination. Pursuing my nursing degree makes me happy because I feel I’m one step closer to accomplishing my career goal. Hence, I think I can increase my happiness in education by acquiring knowledge which will broaden the horizons of my mind and result in learning new skills eventually boosting my self-confidence.

Blog #2

          Education is a life-long learning process. Learning does not stop with a human being's age. I think Education is one of the keys to success. . Ken Robinson also says in his video, 'Do schools kill creativity' that everyone has an interest in education. We all do have interest. He further says that our education system is formed in such a way that it doesn't bring up the different talents in the children. This means it lacks creativity. Creativity should be as important  in education as literacy.Every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. First, Language and Mathematics, second, Humanities and finally, Arts. (Art & Music than Drama & Dance) Ken questions, "Why not Dance?" Math is as important as Dance, but if you have an interest in learning music and dance, you will not get a job on those grounds. Some enjoy school while others feel like it is a burden. They do not enjoy doing it, but they just do it for the sake of getting a good job in the future. I also agree with  Mark Van Doren's statement in the article Happiness in Education  where he says, "Our best chance for happiness is Education." But how do we find Happiness in Education?

          I am a Visual and Kinesthetic learner. I learn better when I see or do things. I can work better in groups than on my own. I don't see myself the way as others see me. I am a very shy person, having a very low self-esteem and weak public-speaking skills. My parents and my in-laws never appreciated me for who I was. In fact, they always showed me my drawbacks. Even back home in my school, since I was shy I was always overlooked by my teachers. As Tal Ben - Shahar has mentioned in his article 'Happiness in Education' about the two models that show how students are motivated: the drowning model and the lovemaking model. I think I was like a drowning model in the context that I was drowning in work that I didn't enjoy and was motivated by the fear of failure. I used to be relieved and happy after my exams, but here in school I'm experiencing the opposite. I am being appreciated by my professors. I was so happy when I got an e-mail from my professor saying that I got the highest grade in my class for an assignment. I feel that my esteem is slowly rising high and is motivating me to learn and come to school. I think I have changed from the drowning model to the lovemaking model because I feel that I have developed a love for learning. I enjoy coming to school and know that it has both present and future benefits. As Tal Ben - Shahar says, "As in the drowning model, there is a desirable end goal, but in the lovemaking model, we derive satisfaction from everything we do along the way." Basically, at present, I feel satisfied and confident in everything that I do in school.

         My future educational goal is to become a ' registered nurse'. From my childhood, I had a strong feeling to help and care for the sick people. I think and feel that when a person is sick you have no self esteem, you can't fight a crippling disease, no one to make you feel special, everyone abandons you and as a patient you have to rely and listen to someone who is a stranger(nurse). So I think I would be the right fit, because I like to care and help those people in most need. I have started taking my pre-requisites(courses needed) to get into the Nursing program. I am going through the journey to achieve my goal(destination). During this process, I will try to come out of the shell, participate more in class discussions and try to build  my public speaking skills. Hopefully, Inshaallah(God Willing) If I become a nurse I think it will help me build my self esteem high as well as help  raise the patient's self-esteem too. So, I think this education and profession will make me happy in life. As Tal Ben has stated in his article, that if you have a clear goal in mind then you have the freedom to enjoy the journey.

          Hence psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains that having goals, having a clear sense of purpose is necessary in order to attain flow, According to him, "Flow is a state in which one is immersed in an experience that is rewarding in and of itself, a state in which we feel we are one with the experience,in which action and awareness are merged". Which means we derive pleasure or enjoy doing a particular task, we feel like we are absorbed in doing a particular thing for example, while talking to a friend or reading a book we are engrossed so much that we fail to hear anything and also we realize that hours have gone by when it seemed that only minutes had passed. These are some of the experiences of flow. When we are in a state of flow, we experience pleasure and perform at our best. In other words, we experience flow when the difficulty of the task and the level of our skills correlate with each other.

          To conclude,  " Human beings are created as such that we cannot stop learning. We learn about areas of information that we will never have personal contact with.For example, living in a submarine, or being an athlete in the olympics. The information we get will not even cover one- fourth of our brain cells. I think education is a privilege. I feel that we can find happiness in education by combining our learning styles as well as  love of learning together,also by creating environments at home and school that provide conditions which makes it easier to experience pleasure, meaning, as well as present and future benefits.