Philosophy
-
Cold Turkey
Quitting things is hard even if its tiny habits like looking at your phone in bed, or eating candy. I imagine that a lot of people wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s been helpful to me in the past, that is, quitting something cold turkey. The ideas is that by quitting it completely is that you don’t have leeway to over do your limits, and that you can realize stark differences in your habits/lifestyle with certain changes. The first time I can remember trying it with food was with a mediocre snack cake, it was something my family kept in the pantry and we all liked it too much. So one day I…
-
Creating Value
Creating content is one thing, creating value, on the other hand, is a whole other level. If you’re ever on YouTube or really any social media site, you’ll see “creators”, or “influencers” all over and the content they’ve created. Sometimes that “content” isn’t actually very valuable, and I try my hardest not to watch those videos, or look into those posts, because if they’re not valuable, suspicion has it they’ll be a waste of my time. I have been developing a lot of projects for Praxis opportunities lately. I’ve learned a lot about not just doing work for rubrics, but instead doing work that is actually helpful to a given business. …
-
Truth Matters
Tact usually does too. Facts don’t care about feelings. These are important things to remember when we’re searching answers or information in general. There’s also an interesting balance here when it comes to actually communicating things. I wish I could actually just be armed with facts, but then I’m reminded that how I come across matters to how the truth is received in most cases. The phrase facts don’t care about feelings comes from a political commentator I enjoy listening to. It’s meant to communicate that we shouldn’t based our opinions off of feeling but instead off of facts, because without the acknowledgement of truths there is no basis for ideas to stand on. …
-
Don’t Be Jealous of Good Influence, Be Inspired By It
I’ve had times in my life where I see others who I want to have a good influence on are more inspired by others. It’s been hard for me to see that in the past, but last night I realized that it can really onl help me in addition to those the good influences. There’s a big caveat to this concept though, the influence needs to be good, when I see mediocre celebrities or terrible news stations, I get frustrated by the influence they have, this is the kind of influence that I wish I could replace. It’s hard to see people get obsessed and to look up to “influencers”…
-
What’s Required for a Flower to Thrive
I heard a song the other day that inspired me to think about the trials we go through in life in a new way. Sometimes we may think all we want in life is sunshine, but we really need to rain to be complete people. Allow me to explain. Flowers look beautiful in the sunshine, you can stop and smell the roses for as long as you like when it’s sunny. But it’s almost obvious to remember that while that flower was growing it needed to be stuck out in the rain to thrive. It had to be around for the gloomy days. If a flower only knows sunshine it will…
-
I Like Facebook Best for Social Media
I know, I know, I sound old when I say this but please hear me out, I have some good reasons. I have enjoyed using Facebook since the summer before 8th grade. Facebook was the site most of my family was connected on already, and that my friends were getting introduced to as well at the time. It became a fun website where I could post fun, and funny pictures and text, simply “friend” friends and message friends for free, because texting wasn’t unlimited at the time. Facebook gets disliked by some younger people because the older generations are also interacting with it, but this is one of my favorite…
-
Read and Be Okay with Relearning
I got a new temp job this week, and while talking with one of my coworkers, I realized I had mentioned something twice and he replied with something that actually struck me as very valuable, even if it’s sometimes obvious – you should always be ready to relearn good lessons and read more. Relearning things can give us a new perspective on what we may already know something about. Relearning something you previously found valuable means your willing to invest more time into improving your knowledge on the subject and I believe that’s wise. Relearning can help us better understand what we thought we may have known. I think the best example…
-
I Voted.
Check. Donezo. Got ‘er done. Complete. I already voted a couple of weeks ago. Politics are important to me, it’s the science of influence after all. I voted early because I knew who I wanted to vote for, and I didn’t want to worry about a line on election day, because that’s youth group night. Voting is something I grew up being a part of. As a homeschooler my mom would take her with us when she went. Plus I got a sticker anyway. In addition, during lunch prep she would turn on talk radio, so that was something else I was aware of. Lastly, she got us involved with…
-
Philosophy Module Week 4
I just finished the last of the content for the philosophy module in Praxis. We had two blocks of content this week, a short video series called “Everything is a Remix”, and an essay series called “Software is Eating the World” I enjoyed the first more, but it helped that it was far more condensed and visual. I appreciated learning about what society can do with technology and learning from each other. I’ve put together my last analysis video and it is listed below. This week I was also challenged by my advisor to create an advice video for future Praxians and learners of philosophy in general (linked below as well).…
-
Celebrity, Influencer, Superstar, Person
I’ve heard all of these terms throughout my life but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that the all the people described by the first three are also just the last as the same term. No one person is more important than another in the grand scheme of things. There is a difference between the first three but they’ve all managed to make their words very valuable to others whether they should be or not. Now I admit I still enjoy the work of some celebrities. From different musicians to good actors. I enjoy elements of pop culture. Though I tend to not, and try to not obsess over celebrities…
