Thursday, December 8, 2016
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
News about The Science of Happiness MOOC course!
I have just completed the final 10 th Check-In for the Science of Happiness MOOC course These check-ins sort of give us an idea on how our emotional state has changed over the 10 weeks of the course.
Certificates of completion will be available through edX starting on December 1, both for students on the Verified track and for those auditing the course.
Course materials available indefinitely. Any student who has registered for "The Science of Happiness" will be able to access all of the course materials for as long as the edX platform exists. After November 25, the discussion forums will be closed and you won't be able to complete the assignments for a grade or certificate. But we can return to the videos, readings, happiness practices, and other static elements of the course.
And the most important! If you want to experience the course and have an opportunity for a certificate like me, the team has just announced that soon they will launch a completely self-paced version of the course. This will allow you to make the course without the pressure of the ticking clock.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Midterm exam is done!
Post-scriptum!
Yesterday I took the Final Exam as planned. I found it more difficult than Midterm. I am glad it's over! I did well, I am pleased: I finished the course with 88%! Now I am going to print the all materials and turn it into a kind of manual.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Midterm and final exam in the weekend!
I just finished Week 9 of The science of happiness MOOC! Wow! I found great readings in this course. And I will try to make some changes in my life due to some ideas I found in it! This last week covered some of the new frontiers of this science while also providing opportunities for reflection and synthesis.
The final exam contains 40 questions that span the entire nine weeks of course material, though they focus more on material from the second half of the course (post-midterm). I haven't done the midterm exam neither. I hope I can sit and do both next weekend! It will be 70 questions and I need to have 31 correctly answered if I want to get the certificate. I need a score of 60% or higher in order to receive a certificate of completion. I have 29% so far obtained by answering questions weekly. I found it demanding maybe because it's a new area of knowledge to me.
Instructors extended the deadline for the final exam, along with all other graded material from the course, by one week. It is now all due on November 25 but I don't want to delay it. It has been a great learning experience. In many ways it surprised me much more than Design 101 MOOC did. I really hope I do well on exams because I want to have the certificate. I collected texts and video transcripts, it's 600 pages. This is the minimum you have to read. I did not have much time to dedicate to this MOOC so I skipped interaction with fellow students. I'm very pleased to have finish the readings and weekly problem sets already!
This is a summary I made of Week 1. I stopped doing it because I had no time. But it can give you an idea of what this MOOC is about.
Video 1. Some great thinkers thought about happiness but science is only starting!
4. Greek philosopher 2500 years ago, Aristotle. In his book Nicomachean Ethics was kind of one of his treatments for the ethical life - the Principle of Moderation. We have to accept all emotions cos they all have their place and function when cultivated in the right way.
5. European philosophy - an hedonistic viewpoint of happiness. Happiness is found in pleasure and sensation, the sum of all the sensory pleasures and the absences of pain. It's called the Epicurean philosophy.
7. Judeo-Christian ways of thinking about happiness - Darren McMann, a Florida State philosopher and historian.
Question: What concrete evidence would convince you that happiness is worth pursuing-that it could lead to a more successful career, a more satisfying marriage, a longer life? What other evidence would you need?
"There are two core truths about these positive emotions. One is that they open us. They literally change the boundaries of our minds and our hearts and change our outlook on our environments. The warmth of positivity changes how open our visual perspective is at a really basic level is and our ability to see our common humanity with others. We do know that positive emotions open our awareness they increase the expanse of our peripheral vision we see more. And there are a lot of places where this matters, because we see more possibilities. People come up with more ideas of what they might do next when they're experiencing a positive emotion relative to when they're experiencing neutral states or negative emotions. People are more creative. People are more likely to be resilient. I have a whole line of research on resilience where we've shown that people are able to bounce back quicker from adversity when they're experiencing positive emotions."
"Positive emotions transform us for the better.One of the things I think is exciting is that the latest science suggests that the pace of cell renewal and the form of cellrenewal doesn't just follow some predetermined DNA script, that our emotions affect that level of cellular change. If we increase our daily diet of positive emotions maybe we change who we are. We change our ways of being inthe world in important ways. Now one of the things that I've come to realize
is that changing people's trait or characteralogical positive emotions can be done but it's not easy.
Question- consider how your own emotional experiences-positive and negative-have helped to shape your identity and well-being.
"Is it possible to become happier? And if it is possible to become happier, is it possible to sustain it?
Some of the reasons that maybe we should believe that it's not possible for us to sort of, sustain a higher level of happiness. So, three reasons to be pessimistic:
Video7- Lyubomirsky and her colleagues are also finding that there are intentional activities we can pursue to counteract our set points and hedonic adaptation.
Question: Do you think we have the power to influence our own level of happiness, that it's not all determined by our genes?
What feels like it's missing--or what felt surprising--from this analysis of happiness? For instance, would you assume that there are additional reasons to be pessimistic? Are there certain situations during which you think happiness might be more or less under our control?
Some misconceptions about happiness:
1.Hedonic adaptation is essentially a fancy word for getting used to things. When we think about happiness as pleasure or always having our needs met or trying to feel pleasure over and over again when our needs are met, we’re bound to an endless pursuit. If you think about happiness in the context of people pursuing material goods; Going up in happiness, but then adapting. We need to pursue happiness in a more meaningful way.
"The first is the idea that if we’re not happy now, then we will become happy when x, y, and z happens. The problem is that those events do make us happy—but they don’t make us as happy as we hope or for as long as we think they will.
I do think media and the culture propagate these myths.
The second myth is that a lot of things would make us really unhappy, maybe forever. So if we got a divorce, we would be unhappy forever—if our spouse died, if we got ill, if our dreams don’t become fulfilled, then we would die unhappy.H edonic adaptation takes place in response to negative experiences as well, which contributes to our resilience. We are really good at adapting to negative changes.
Video 9 - the relationship between money and happiness
David Myers - "The American Paradox" and studies by Ed Diener at the University of Illinois about the relationship between money and happiness.
Think about how people rearrange their lives in fundamental ways in the pursuit of materialism and money. So they’ll do longer commutes for that better job when we know scientifically long commutes deteriorate not only your happiness but your health and your cardiovascular profile. They might leave a community for a higher paying job. They might have long distance
relationships or what we’ve seen well-documented in many parts of the world is working extremely long hours to make more money.
If you’re from an extremely impoverished culture, you will have less happiness, EdDiener, Dave Meyers, and others have shown. Money matters at the cultural level. If you insert money into poor countries, happiness rises precipitously because of changes in the conditions of their physical living, their health goes up and so forth.But in the kind of industrialized cultures, in general there is a small relationship.It’s significant, but small, between how much wealth you have and your level of well being or happiness. A wealthier society didn’t guarantee more happiness.
Question-Do you think money can buy happiness at all? At what point do you think a lack of money would negatively impact your happiness?
The most basic issues are exercise, sleep, and having a sense
of achievement, right? Knowing that something that you’ve done has been successful.
These are important elements to happiness, but not ones we are necessarily going to focuson for the rest of this course. We are really going to focus on this overwhelming body of research suggesting that social connection and kindness and what researchers are calling prosocial behavior are key to the pursuit of happiness.
Closing question of Week 1- From the material we covered in Week 1, what felt like it had the greatest practical implications for your life? How might you start to change your daily routines, thought patterns, or ways of relating to others based on something you learned in this first week of the course? What material had this effect on you?
Instructors extended the deadline for the final exam, along with all other graded material from the course, by one week. It is now all due on November 25 but I don't want to delay it. It has been a great learning experience. In many ways it surprised me much more than Design 101 MOOC did. I really hope I do well on exams because I want to have the certificate. I collected texts and video transcripts, it's 600 pages. This is the minimum you have to read. I did not have much time to dedicate to this MOOC so I skipped interaction with fellow students. I'm very pleased to have finish the readings and weekly problem sets already!
This is a summary I made of Week 1. I stopped doing it because I had no time. But it can give you an idea of what this MOOC is about.
Video 1. Some great thinkers thought about happiness but science is only starting!
1. "Chinese philosopher, Confucius, about 2500 years ago writes about this concept of jen. J-E-N. It's about dignity. It's about conveying your senseof or humanity towards others.
2. Buddhism, a line of thinking that traces back 2500 years. The pathway to the state of happiness or nirvana really starts from the recognition, the first noble truth, that there are a lot of difficulties in life, there is a lot of suffering. The second noble truth is that we suffer because of illusions, because of grasping for things that might not bring us happiness because of certain
types of ignorance, that we find nirvana and happiness and peacefulness when we detach from these clinging tendencies and grasping. Things like
practicing equanimity and calmness or things like kind speech, or compassion or karuna of being really concerned with the welfare of others and being kind.
types of ignorance, that we find nirvana and happiness and peacefulness when we detach from these clinging tendencies and grasping. Things like
practicing equanimity and calmness or things like kind speech, or compassion or karuna of being really concerned with the welfare of others and being kind.
3. Taoism. Lao Tzu, the great Chinese philosopher,and his influential book, Tao Te Ching. Happiness is often paradoxical. The meaning of life may not be necessarily grasped by your rational mind, you have to experience it, let it unfold.
4. Greek philosopher 2500 years ago, Aristotle. In his book Nicomachean Ethics was kind of one of his treatments for the ethical life - the Principle of Moderation. We have to accept all emotions cos they all have their place and function when cultivated in the right way.
5. European philosophy - an hedonistic viewpoint of happiness. Happiness is found in pleasure and sensation, the sum of all the sensory pleasures and the absences of pain. It's called the Epicurean philosophy.
6. The enlightenment era philosophers of the 18th and 19th century, which is called utilitarianism. This is the notion that is articulated by John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham and others and its such a useful idea, which is that happiness is found in your actions that bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Thomas Jefferson wrote that we really have to guarantee the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If you allow societies to pursuethis utilitarian notion of happiness of lifting up the welfare of others, societies will do pretty well.
7. Judeo-Christian ways of thinking about happiness - Darren McMann, a Florida State philosopher and historian.
8.Scientists are starting to look:
- Uchida and colleagues and Oishi and others have started to document that the Western mindset and things of happiness is all about freedom and achievement, kind of self-gratification.
- The Eastern mindset, that you might find in China for example or Japan, is a little oriented more towards happiness as relational as connection, community, or duty.
Conclusion: there are many different perspectives on this question of what happiness is."
Question - How do you define happiness? On what do you base that definition? Does it stem from your first-hand experience of what makes you happy, or from your general observations about what you think constitutes happiness for most people?
Video 2. Sonja Lyubomirsky on the benefits of happiness
Are their tangible benefits to happiness, or does it just feel good? Sonja says, yes.
"People who are happier,and people who experience more positive emotions, make more money, and are more productive at work, and are more creative at work, they are better leaders and negotiators; they are more likely to get married... They give more to charity, are better copers, more resilient, and they are healthier; they have strong immune systems. There is evidence they actually live longer."
3. Practical exercise - The three good things By giving you the space to focus on the positive, this practice teaches you to notice, remember, and savor the better things in life.
1.I found indian spice in the supermarket and this will allow me to cook a special meal for my sister and nephew next weekend.
2.I was asked to create a logo for an animal shelter. It will be unpaid work that I will love to do.
3.I had a nice talk with my nephew about his first day at the very same highschool I attended years ago
Video 3 - Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and a leading researcher of positive emotions.
Question: What words or images come to mind when you hear the term “positive emotions”? Jot some of them down. How does Professor Fredrickson’s research on positive emotions support or challenge your opinions about positive emotions?
Video 4- your mind and body are always changing, and positive emotions might play a crucial role in that evolution.
is that changing people's trait or characteralogical positive emotions can be done but it's not easy.
I was very much inspired by some of the newest research on meditation to look at how people might use meditation to elevate trait or characterological
positive emotion(loving kindness meditation, sometimes called meta, and what it does is it asks people to cultivate that warm, tender feeling that you already have towards a loved one or even a pet and really learn to self generate that emotion and direct it towards yourself and direct it towards people you normally wouldn't feel that toward, a neutral person or people you have difficulties with and eventually to direct it to all people and sentient beings on earth.) If we increase our daily diet of positive emotions we come out three months later being better strong more resilient more socially connected versions of ourselves. And what I've, where I'm going in my future work is to look at how that is happening just at a level that we recognize in our behaviors that we can self report on questionnaires but also how it's changing us at a cellular level, how these increases in positive emotions cascade forward and literally change the way our genes are transcribed and shape who we are at a really fundamental basic level. "
positive emotion(loving kindness meditation, sometimes called meta, and what it does is it asks people to cultivate that warm, tender feeling that you already have towards a loved one or even a pet and really learn to self generate that emotion and direct it towards yourself and direct it towards people you normally wouldn't feel that toward, a neutral person or people you have difficulties with and eventually to direct it to all people and sentient beings on earth.) If we increase our daily diet of positive emotions we come out three months later being better strong more resilient more socially connected versions of ourselves. And what I've, where I'm going in my future work is to look at how that is happening just at a level that we recognize in our behaviors that we can self report on questionnaires but also how it's changing us at a cellular level, how these increases in positive emotions cascade forward and literally change the way our genes are transcribed and shape who we are at a really fundamental basic level. "
Video 5/6- The pursuit of happiness- Is itpossible to become happier over time? Professor Sonja considers some evidence suggesting that it's just not possible to make lasting changes to our happiness level.
Some of the reasons that maybe we should believe that it's not possible for us to sort of, sustain a higher level of happiness. So, three reasons to be pessimistic:
- we are all born with what's called a, a "set point" for
happiness, that part of happiness is genetically determined, it is passed down through our families, and so, a large portion, about fifty percent
(50%) of happiness is genetically determined.
happiness, that part of happiness is genetically determined, it is passed down through our families, and so, a large portion, about fifty percent
(50%) of happiness is genetically determined.
-A second reason to be pessimistic is that happiness has been shown to be a trait-it's an intrinsic part of our personality. And we know that personality does not change much over time. Happiness is especially, very highly related to two core aspects of personality which are extroversion, being a sociable extroverted person, and neuroticism, being neurotic and emotionally unstable person.
- Third reason is"hedonic adaptation", human beings are remarkably adept at getting used to any positive changes in their lives. We get a boost in happiness , but over time we get used to that and no matter what kinds of ups or downs in life we have, we sort of, tend to go back to our baseline."
What are the most important determinants of happiness? approximately fifty percent (50%) of the variance in happiness is due to our genes. About ten percent (10%) lies in our life circumstances; forty percent (40%) of happiness, is under our control, under our power to change. My book, and my work, is really about: How do we harness that forty percent (40%)? What
is it that we can do by the ways that we think, the ways that we behave in our daily lives that can affect our happiness level?
People who are successful at being happy, they all really have really stable, fulfilling relationships, partnerships, friends, even with their pets they have good relationships. Okay, so, happy people are more grateful, happy people are more helpful and philanthropic, happy people tend to be more optimistic about the future; they are more likely to live in the present. So, again, this is sort of, studying people who are already happy; how do they behave; what do they think? They tend to savour pleasures in their life, they make physical
activity a habit, they are often spiritual, or religious. And happier people are deeply committed to goals; they have significant meaningful life goals that they are pursuing...
"Interventions." - So, it's basically just another word for an experiment, in which people are instructed to change themselves in some way that has a positive outcome. So, it's basically like a clinical trial, but instead of studying
a drug, or a medical treatment, you are studying a happiness activity.
activity a habit, they are often spiritual, or religious. And happier people are deeply committed to goals; they have significant meaningful life goals that they are pursuing...
"Interventions." - So, it's basically just another word for an experiment, in which people are instructed to change themselves in some way that has a positive outcome. So, it's basically like a clinical trial, but instead of studying
a drug, or a medical treatment, you are studying a happiness activity.
What feels like it's missing--or what felt surprising--from this analysis of happiness? For instance, would you assume that there are additional reasons to be pessimistic? Are there certain situations during which you think happiness might be more or less under our control?
Video 8 - What makes it harder for us to be happy?
- happiness equals feeling pleasure all the time in every place.
- striving for happiness or expecting pleasure and happiness all the
time can be counterproductive. (happiness
has a lot more to do with meaning, engagement with other people, and contributing to something outside of yourself and what we might call the greater good.)
time can be counterproductive. (happiness
has a lot more to do with meaning, engagement with other people, and contributing to something outside of yourself and what we might call the greater good.)
Some bad mental habits in the pursuit of happiness.
1.Hedonic adaptation is essentially a fancy word for getting used to things. When we think about happiness as pleasure or always having our needs met or trying to feel pleasure over and over again when our needs are met, we’re bound to an endless pursuit. If you think about happiness in the context of people pursuing material goods; Going up in happiness, but then adapting. We need to pursue happiness in a more meaningful way.
2. sometimes we’re not really great judges of what’s going to make us happy
or how long things will make up happy. This comes from work that’s been done by Dan Gilbert at Harvard University. Dan Gilbert has something which he calls affective forecasting. And what that means is predicting how much a life event is likely to impact you. What happens is generally on average, people think that really good events are going to make them happy and keep them happy for a very long time and that really bad events are going to crush them and crush them for the unforeseeable future. But given a psychological immune system,
which is what Dan Gilbert calls it, we actually tend to get over things that are heartbreaking quicker than we predict. And things that we think are going to be the answer, that are going to make us happy for the long run, we adapt to those also. So understanding this habit, this idea, that we’re inclined toward making predictions about what make us happy that aren’t necessarily true is important.
or how long things will make up happy. This comes from work that’s been done by Dan Gilbert at Harvard University. Dan Gilbert has something which he calls affective forecasting. And what that means is predicting how much a life event is likely to impact you. What happens is generally on average, people think that really good events are going to make them happy and keep them happy for a very long time and that really bad events are going to crush them and crush them for the unforeseeable future. But given a psychological immune system,
which is what Dan Gilbert calls it, we actually tend to get over things that are heartbreaking quicker than we predict. And things that we think are going to be the answer, that are going to make us happy for the long run, we adapt to those also. So understanding this habit, this idea, that we’re inclined toward making predictions about what make us happy that aren’t necessarily true is important.
3.Another challenge or obstacle to happiness is relating it to the accumulation of things.
Tom Gilovich (Cornell professor) does studies that look at the differences in happiness that are related to material possessions versus experiences and what he does is ask people to look back at a time when they spent a bunch of money on a thing or spent a bunch of money on an experience and asked them how happy you are. It turns out that satisfaction goes down a lot when looking at people who spent their money on material possessions and satisfaction sort of persists in the upward direction, it goes up and it increases when people invest in experiences.
Tom Gilovich (Cornell professor) does studies that look at the differences in happiness that are related to material possessions versus experiences and what he does is ask people to look back at a time when they spent a bunch of money on a thing or spent a bunch of money on an experience and asked them how happy you are. It turns out that satisfaction goes down a lot when looking at people who spent their money on material possessions and satisfaction sort of persists in the upward direction, it goes up and it increases when people invest in experiences.
4. happiness and money. the more money there is, the happier I’m
going to be. Danny Kahneman from Princeton University has discovered by looking at the relationship between money and life satisfaction or happiness is that there is indeed an increase in happiness when you think about the income levels that allow people to have their basic needs met. But once you get to a certain threshold, which in his study was about $75,000 a year, once
you hit that threshold, the line plateaus. Happiness doesn’t continue to go up.
Part of what makes it hard to find happiness is that we're often misled by certain myths about what will or won't make us happy. Sonja Lyubomirsky debunks many of these myths in her most recent book, The Myths of Happiness.going to be. Danny Kahneman from Princeton University has discovered by looking at the relationship between money and life satisfaction or happiness is that there is indeed an increase in happiness when you think about the income levels that allow people to have their basic needs met. But once you get to a certain threshold, which in his study was about $75,000 a year, once
you hit that threshold, the line plateaus. Happiness doesn’t continue to go up.
"The first is the idea that if we’re not happy now, then we will become happy when x, y, and z happens. The problem is that those events do make us happy—but they don’t make us as happy as we hope or for as long as we think they will.
I do think media and the culture propagate these myths.
The second myth is that a lot of things would make us really unhappy, maybe forever. So if we got a divorce, we would be unhappy forever—if our spouse died, if we got ill, if our dreams don’t become fulfilled, then we would die unhappy.H edonic adaptation takes place in response to negative experiences as well, which contributes to our resilience. We are really good at adapting to negative changes.
Video 9 - the relationship between money and happiness
Think about how people rearrange their lives in fundamental ways in the pursuit of materialism and money. So they’ll do longer commutes for that better job when we know scientifically long commutes deteriorate not only your happiness but your health and your cardiovascular profile. They might leave a community for a higher paying job. They might have long distance
relationships or what we’ve seen well-documented in many parts of the world is working extremely long hours to make more money.
If you’re from an extremely impoverished culture, you will have less happiness, EdDiener, Dave Meyers, and others have shown. Money matters at the cultural level. If you insert money into poor countries, happiness rises precipitously because of changes in the conditions of their physical living, their health goes up and so forth.But in the kind of industrialized cultures, in general there is a small relationship.It’s significant, but small, between how much wealth you have and your level of well being or happiness. A wealthier society didn’t guarantee more happiness.
Video 10 - So what can make us happy?
of achievement, right? Knowing that something that you’ve done has been successful.
These are important elements to happiness, but not ones we are necessarily going to focuson for the rest of this course. We are really going to focus on this overwhelming body of research suggesting that social connection and kindness and what researchers are calling prosocial behavior are key to the pursuit of happiness.
Before: focusing on the negative, trying to figure out ways to go from the unpleasant or the ill states to neutral
Now :shifting that dialogue to be more about how can we optimize? How can we figure out ways to be happier than just neutral? How can we flourish? We have to look to social connections, community,and our ability to be kind.
I just finished watching and reading the materials. I am surprised by the contents of the course in a good way. I never gave happiness a lot of thinking in my life. I don't even know for sure why I enrolled. I guess it was pure curiosity. I like to learn new things all the time. I did not know until this course that there was a scientific aproach to happiness! Psychology isn't my area and never had real interest in it.I am not a spiritual or religious person. I am not also a materialistic person. I cared for people more some years ago than I do today. I have to admit it, I prefer to be by myself but I'm not anti-social.Nevertheless I like to help people who need me and often do it. I don't know if I want to boost my level of happiness. Most days I don't feel happy or unhappy. I like my unperfect life. It has good and bad and I accept it as it is.I am not changing anything in my life for now. But I can say that I am looking forward to read more and know more about this course's universe. It's new and exciting.Professor Lyubomirsky’s videos were awesome.
Problem set - "Some of the challenges we might face in trying to increase our happiness levels: a genetic predisposition toward vigilance to threat and social distrust; a fixed level of happiness from which we don't deviate for very long; a tendency to adapt to new pleasures or experiences; and the expectation that pleasures and pains in life will impact our happiness more than they actually do. According to research, rationalizing prior negative experiences to realize a positive, meaningful insight about them is a skill that can strengthen happiness."
Problem set - "Some of the challenges we might face in trying to increase our happiness levels: a genetic predisposition toward vigilance to threat and social distrust; a fixed level of happiness from which we don't deviate for very long; a tendency to adapt to new pleasures or experiences; and the expectation that pleasures and pains in life will impact our happiness more than they actually do. According to research, rationalizing prior negative experiences to realize a positive, meaningful insight about them is a skill that can strengthen happiness."
Monday, September 15, 2014
Two books on happiness that you could read
"There are intencional things that we do and think in our daily live. Those things can increase or dcrease happiness."
Sonja Lyubomirsky - The how of happiness
Dacher Keltner - Born to Be Good
"There is hope for our species and better comunities."
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
The Science of happiness has started!
What am I looking for in "The Science of Happiness" MOOC?
I am not sure. But the staff says it may help
I am not sure. But the staff says it may help
- to identify skills to help me thrive at home or at work,
- to connect with a global community of students,
- to simply learn about cutting-edge research from psychology and neuroscience,
- to...
Meet our instrutctors! They look friendly enough!
Emiliana Simon-Thomas, the science director at the Greater Good Science Center. "Like Em, happiness was really hard won for me.", says Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley.
A Emotion check-in is a course exercize that we'll be asked to take several times. I just did the first one!
I am listening to Dacher's on a video about the content and structure of "The Science of Happiness." And, guess what, some of the conceptual background of the course is indeed interesting, more interesting than I thought when I enrolled...but it's 10 weeks long! As the staff were telepathic or something when I moved to the next video I got this warning: "We estimate that each week should take you roughly two to three hours to complete; however, Week 1 should take slightly more than that because it contains introductory information about the course and must establish the conceptual foundation for the rest of the course."
It's good to have a look in the map. They say 100.000 people enrolled!
It's good to have a look in the map. They say 100.000 people enrolled!
It's me!
Monday, September 8, 2014
Boost your happiness
I decided to give it a try listing the 3 good things that went well today.One thing that went well was the fact that I woke up early to the sound of heavy rain, then fell asleep and when it was time to get out of bed there was this marvelous sun shining all over the city. Summer is for sun, rain, please, please stay away! The second thing is that I went to the supermarket to get some fresh tomato and lettuce and on the way I found a little store with very nice bikini on sale. Soon the summer will be over but I really needed a new one. So I went into the store and found a real pretty and cheap and very good material bikini. Also had a very nice chat with the lady that works there. That was a good buy. I saved money and next year I'll have a new bikini to wear. I'm always trying to save and behave rational when I spent money as I don't earn much! The third good thing of the day that went well was that I got an email from a friend telling that finally he found a good job. He's in his 40's and it's not easy to get a job when we reach that kind of age. Good for him!
The staff also asked for a short video in which I should state my name, where I'm from, and what makes me happy. I did not do it. It looks like I'm starting very well, don't I?!! They said that we should send it only if we are comfortable with it being made public to the rest of the class. Well, I'm not used to making videos of myself or even selfies and get those circling the internet. For years and years I never uploaded a photo of myself. Now I am ok with that. Next century I'll be making videos of myself. But not selfies. I'm not into selfies. Definitely not into selfies. I did not make the video but I answered the survey.
So, what makes me happy? An easy way to answer it is like the things that does not make me unhappy...make me happy. I never think much about happiness. I just live my life the best I can. I never thought of boosting my actual happiness. I just fight to eliminate all that can bring me unhappiness! I try to pull away the negativity about everything, I try to look at both sides of the story and find the best of it, I try not to worry more than enough, when I have a problem I try to get over it as fast as I can...things like that helps me stay positive.
But one thing that really makes me happy is the arrival of summer. In summer we get lots of light, days are bigger, we can leave our houses and offices and spend more time outside! The weather has lots of power over me! I feel bad with the cold, the rain...In winter I get easilly grumpy! Also as soon as the warm weather arrives I can go to the beach. When I'm at the beach I can empty my mind completly. I do feel connected to nature. I am so grateful that I live close to the sea. From June to September I feel happier and healthier. I started enjoying the seaside when I was maybe 25 years old. Now I feel like I really need that summer escape to get my batteries running all through winter! This video was made on September 4! This is where you can find me in the afternoon, after 5 o'clock whenever the sun allows!
But one thing that really makes me happy is the arrival of summer. In summer we get lots of light, days are bigger, we can leave our houses and offices and spend more time outside! The weather has lots of power over me! I feel bad with the cold, the rain...In winter I get easilly grumpy! Also as soon as the warm weather arrives I can go to the beach. When I'm at the beach I can empty my mind completly. I do feel connected to nature. I am so grateful that I live close to the sea. From June to September I feel happier and healthier. I started enjoying the seaside when I was maybe 25 years old. Now I feel like I really need that summer escape to get my batteries running all through winter! This video was made on September 4! This is where you can find me in the afternoon, after 5 o'clock whenever the sun allows!
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Here I go again
I enrolled in a new MOOC. It's from edX -
EdX is a non-profit created by founding partners Harvard and MIT whose mission is to bring the best of higher education to students of all ages anywhere in the world, wherever there is Internet access.
It has nothing to do with design or art. In fact I am surprised with my enrollement decision. I am not sure what to expect from a MOOC called The Sciense of Happiness. I hardly think about happiness. Do you?!! So one thing I know I'll achieve for sure if I take the course seriously - I'll think about happiness. I'll force myself to escape routine to think about something new! Well, that's slightly exciting, don't you agree?
This text excerpt is from the course description:
“The Science of Happiness” is the first MOOC to teach the ground-breaking science of positive psychology, which explores the roots of a happy and meaningful life. Students will engage with some of the most provocative and practical lessons from this science, discovering how to apply key insights from cutting-edge research to their own lives."
And some more words from the teachers:
"Happiness is inextricably linked to having strong social connections and contributing to something bigger than yourself—the greater good. Students will learn about the cross-disciplinary research supporting this view, spanning the fields of psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and beyond.
It will offer students real-life techniques for nurturing their own happiness. Research suggests that up to 40 percent of happiness depends on our habits and day-to-day activities. So each week, students will learn a new research-tested “happiness practice”—and the course will help them track their progress along the way."
EdX is a non-profit created by founding partners Harvard and MIT whose mission is to bring the best of higher education to students of all ages anywhere in the world, wherever there is Internet access.
It has nothing to do with design or art. In fact I am surprised with my enrollement decision. I am not sure what to expect from a MOOC called The Sciense of Happiness. I hardly think about happiness. Do you?!! So one thing I know I'll achieve for sure if I take the course seriously - I'll think about happiness. I'll force myself to escape routine to think about something new! Well, that's slightly exciting, don't you agree?
This text excerpt is from the course description:
“The Science of Happiness” is the first MOOC to teach the ground-breaking science of positive psychology, which explores the roots of a happy and meaningful life. Students will engage with some of the most provocative and practical lessons from this science, discovering how to apply key insights from cutting-edge research to their own lives."
And some more words from the teachers:
"Happiness is inextricably linked to having strong social connections and contributing to something bigger than yourself—the greater good. Students will learn about the cross-disciplinary research supporting this view, spanning the fields of psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and beyond.
It will offer students real-life techniques for nurturing their own happiness. Research suggests that up to 40 percent of happiness depends on our habits and day-to-day activities. So each week, students will learn a new research-tested “happiness practice”—and the course will help them track their progress along the way."
I guess that everyone wants to be happy. I think I'm doing a good job about it already considering that if I could I would like to change my life almost 100%. The thing is... I can't. So I try to make the best of what I have and forget about what I can't have. If I am living a life I don't like and still hardly feeling unhappy I don't know how will I improve my level of happiness further! But I enjoy a good challenge and I am always eager to learn. Plus there's always the backdoor exit - you can leave a MOOC and no one will care because no one even knows you're there. Except yourself. Not my style either. I don't like to give up on projects I start. Anyway it's pretty amazing that there are more than 70.000 persons enrolled. Yeah, I know numbers of Design 101 were very impressive also. But from my objective point of view Design 101 was more appealing than this one. Yet I enrolled in this one, didn't I? For me it's kind of exotic. I don't have any kind of expectations on what I'll achieve in this MOOC. I will take one week at a time. Not sure if I will document it as I did with Design 101 either...but I'll have to take some notes down so I guess this blog will do.
The first course material will go live next Tuesday at 9:00 am (UTC). It will be time to check the the first week's videos and other content. More material will arrive every Tuesday for the subsequent three weeks, each week covering a different theme. During the week of October 7, there will be a break and a midterm exam. Then new material again every Tuesday for four more weeks. The last week's content, and the final exam, will be posted on November 4. Then I'll have two weeks to catch up and complete the final by November 18.
Week 1: Introduction to the Science of Happiness
Will be available starting on September 9
Week 2: Happiness & Human Connection
Will be available starting on September 16
Week 3: Kindness & Compassion
Will be available starting on September 23
Week 4: Cooperation & Forgiveness
Will be available starting on September 30
Week 5: Midterm Exam (and time to catch up on course material)
Will be available starting on October 7. Must be completed by November 18.
Week 6: Mindfulness, Attention, and Focus
Will be available starting on October 14
Week 7: Mental Habits of Happiness: Self-Compassion, Flow, and Optimism
Will be available starting on October 21
Week 8: Gratitude
Will be available starting on October 28
Week 9: Finding Your Happiness Fit and the New Frontiers
Will be available starting on November 4
Final Exam
Will be available starting on November 4. Must be completed by November 18.
The first course material will go live next Tuesday at 9:00 am (UTC). It will be time to check the the first week's videos and other content. More material will arrive every Tuesday for the subsequent three weeks, each week covering a different theme. During the week of October 7, there will be a break and a midterm exam. Then new material again every Tuesday for four more weeks. The last week's content, and the final exam, will be posted on November 4. Then I'll have two weeks to catch up and complete the final by November 18.
Week 1: Introduction to the Science of Happiness
Will be available starting on September 9
Week 2: Happiness & Human Connection
Will be available starting on September 16
Week 3: Kindness & Compassion
Will be available starting on September 23
Week 4: Cooperation & Forgiveness
Will be available starting on September 30
Week 5: Midterm Exam (and time to catch up on course material)
Will be available starting on October 7. Must be completed by November 18.
Week 6: Mindfulness, Attention, and Focus
Will be available starting on October 14
Week 7: Mental Habits of Happiness: Self-Compassion, Flow, and Optimism
Will be available starting on October 21
Week 8: Gratitude
Will be available starting on October 28
Week 9: Finding Your Happiness Fit and the New Frontiers
Will be available starting on November 4
Final Exam
Will be available starting on November 4. Must be completed by November 18.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Unsustainable Madness Survival Explorers.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Martelinhos de São João 2014
Primeiro lugar, Categoria 3D, na 3ª edição do Concurso da Fundação da Juventude, Porto. Trabalho realizado em quilling (filigrana de papel). Na sua construção foram cortadas, enroladas e coladas cerca de 650 fitas de papel. O martelo incorpora os símbolos do São João - manjericos, um fogareiro com sardinhas a assar, o alho porro, um pequeno martelo e um balão, além do santo popular. As cores dominantes são verde-manjerico e azul-douro por razões óbvias! Escolhi esta técnica porque queria obter um produto final popular. O martelo remete claramente para as decorações sanjoaninas, muitas delas feitas em papel, e ainda para o floreado do ferro que adorna tantas varandas e portas da cidade do Porto, sem esquecer, também que a filigrana (mas em metais nobres) é uma arte tradicional no norte do país. Uma semana de trabalho, que incluiu aprendizagem, desenho e finalização, com algum stress pelo meio! Inspirado pela minha paixão pela cidade do Porto, dedico a quem sabe do que falo!
Apareçam na Exposição para ver todas as 139 propostas concorrentes. Além dos projectos 3D há projectos em 2D e video. A Exposição encontra-se no Palácio das Artes – Fábrica de Talentos, Rua das Flores, no Porto, e estará parente até ao dia 3 de julho.
Friday, April 25, 2014
April 25! It's Freedom Day!
Celebrating 40 years of Revolution.
Portuguese street artist Carlos Farinha
Place: Calçada da Glória/Largo da Oliveirinha - Lisboa
GAU - Galeria de Arte Urbana
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
A flower does not.
from Zen Shin Talks
Design 101 participants who blog
Mario Pertile
BDeespankar blog
Anna Rebmann blog
Austere serenity - Maria Mazhar
Paper, pens and lines - Samudyatha
Lieblyn
100 decors - Zlatina Marinova
Cutia de carton - Simona Maria
Gypsy Artscrafts - Margaret Cruz
MC Lauppe Creactivities
Ciccibonconlealle - Franca and Daniela
Rosanna Li Loves making things
Brigitte O. Look mom, my work!
Sunday, March 23, 2014
More blue flowers
These last couple of weeks have been tough for me. One good thing thow. Finally we got some fine weather so I made a few nice walks on the beach. Unfortunately I could not participate in the new course I enrolled over Open2Study platform. I had no time, no patience. My head was and is full. I had to define some priorities. Meanwhile there was another Design101 weekend workshop designed to keep people working on their abstract blue flowers for Berlin exhibit. It seems this weekend is the final voting. I looked Pinterest board and found some interesting works. You can have a look here if you are curious.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
My name in blue flowers!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Moving on - Drawing and Painting
I am just a crazy girl. I have no free time at all. I said that I would like to try another MOOC only in April...But it seems I got addicted to MOOC's routine! I kind of miss the letters and the assignments! So I joined another MOOC! It's from OPEN2STUDY platform based in Australia. It starts TODAY! Later at night I'll be reading all about it! It's a one month course. I am familiar with the subjects already but I hope to get my kowledge organized. If I can practice some drawing and painting it would be awesome. I enjoyed making my pencil portrait and I had in mind drawing every week. But it has been difficult to find that moment. Maybe this course will help me with that routine! I hope it's lighter than Design101 because I really can't afford to spend so much time reading and exploring materials. Wish me good luck!
An extra round (not for me)
AN EXTRA LETTER
Design101 ended on February 5th but maybe on February 10th an extra letter arrived.What's this letter about? It's about doing more blue flowers. (Oh, pleease!) This time students were asked to abstract and refine. I can understand that. I liked one student's flowers and commented with her that I wish I had her idea. My flowers were too close to reality. Giada's was surprised.
Instructors say two more extra letters will arrive for getting ready for the blaueblumen Berlin show. I'm out of the game. But I am follwing my fellow mates efforts as an observer. I am now just a simple bee flying from one blue flower to another!LOL!
This time is Lola, Design101's secretary, who's sending the message. She once again remembers Anne-Sophie's words: "already said, don’t think too much about the “voting”. To tell you the truth, our goal is to fill up the exhibition space with as many blue flowers as we can. And if we need to find a way to exhibit 300 blue flower beds...we will!" First, it was everything about the voting because there was no space, bla, bla, bla. Then, after people spending a lot of time uploading and voting both on the Arena and iversity Platform "voting" is no longer important.
Because of the "voting/competition process" I did not make any blue flower for the show. I just made the task as an ordinary hands on task. When I first read about the blue flower theme I did not get excited about it. But I had an idea. Until now I haven't seen anyone doing it. I would have liked to have it in Berlin. But it was complicated to execute. One week would not be enough. And, of course, they said it had to be done until the weekend and voted the next three days. But I decided not to vote anyone in or out of the show. In order to do that I could not make a flower and join "the competition". Now they say "the voting" isn't important. I feel like I've been toyed around. This is not "improvisation". This is bad planning. Inexperience. But I do not regret my choice. I had fun doing my plastic and pet flowers. I regret that they were such an amateurs at the end. The course was quite good. Fun. Interesting. But this end is a mess.
Now instructors asked for more flowers and again they gave instructions in this extra letter. One student wrote that she had the impression instructors did not liked the first batch of flowers. After reading the letter I got that same impression. They did not liked it and did not have 101 projects to fill a 101 projects exhibition. Perhaps another student was right also - projects were too crafty. Projects were to crafty to exhibit at some Art School Exhibit Space. Nevertheless I think that should not be an issue. I also think that students did so much better when doing homeworks. Most of the assignments themes were also better than the blue flower theme. But I believe that the dulliness of it just added to the challenge. So it was just a question of working a bit harder.
Some notes and links taken from the Letter:
Robert Smithson - “Abstraction is everybody’s zero but nobody’s nought.”
The concept or idea of blue flowers is even more interesting than the “flowers” themselves.
Josef Albers - “Abstraction is real, probably more real than nature.”
Jerry Saltz - “Abstraction is one of the greatest visionary tools ever invented by human beings to imagine, decipher, and depict the world (...) it brings the world into more complex, variable relations; it can extract beauty, alternative topographies, ugliness, and intense actualities from seeming nothingness.”
(From the course letter) He is a very important artist who concluded that only the abstract would offer him freedom and discipline to explore ideas about time, space, light and movement.Throught the “canvas”, he was the first one to truly explore the concept of space. He slashed canvasses with a knife to create new dimensions. He introduced the “space behind” them. For him, space, movement and time were as important as colour, perspective and form:
“I make holes (...) Infinity passes through them, light passes through them, there is no need to paint.”
Carol Bove’s organic shapes seem to sprout from the landscape like green grasses, trees and flowers!
Julia Lohmann's collars
Jennifer Maestre sharpened pencils.
During the weekend two instructors (Anne-Sophie and Stefano Mirti) were online giving advice to the students on Facebook. I had no energy, or patience or time to attend. I think that this should have been done earlier, not now. But it must have been quite helpful for those envolved. Also I did not see the point of it as I am now out of the game. I browsed the Arena on Sunday morning and found some interesting projects.
These projects two are some of new the proposals presented on iversity platform before the workshop.
Bojan Eftimov
Brigitte Ockers
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