October 21

The Equalizing Harmony 

The relationships we form and share all have an aspect of discipline, but a sense of freedom and equilibrium is reached in places where harmony is present. This is visible through the representation of the 3 characters present in the picture, Paul (far left), Norman (middle), and their father Reverend Maclean (right). Both children are deep in the train of thought, lost in the impeccable freedom, and the harmony between them, that they rarely acquire from their father at home.

The scenery consists of the rapid moving shallow water that illustrates the free and volatile behavior that it brings. The placement of the characters brings an astounding symbolism with Paul being placed in the deep end of the water and also the furthest from the father. In contrast to the water’s resilient force, Paul’s personality can be compared. Paul is an individual who loves his freedom, being care-free, and free of any control and discipline. Being the furthest from the father represents of the freedom loving attitude that he brings, giving an insight on his hatred of the discipline the father enforces among them. This hatred forces repulsion in the relationship between the father and son leaving a longing for a substitute to overcome this pain.
The level of water that the three characters are submerged in is significant of the problems and hardships each of them faces. The expression, “being in deep waters”, is commonly heard signifying of the hardships and problems that one may face. Norman is shown to be standing above the water showing the innocent, obedient, and content with the life Norman is leading versus Paul being submerged knee deep. The problems and hardships that Paul may face are depicted in the visual of Paul drowning in them. These hardships that suppress Paul’s ability to reach success make him feel much less than Paul, resulting in a factor of jealousy in the relation of the two. This is often overcome where the two are artists, and are in love with fishing, and find the harmony to overcome the differences among them; at the river.

Another point of to be considered is the play of lighting that the three characters are shown under. Paul is casted out darker than his brother and father who are displayed in the bright light casted by nature: sunlight. They are displayed as almost in a sense of god like stature. This god like stature represents of the flawless personalities Norman and Reverend Maclean are shown to have where honesty, hard work, and discipline are valued most. The character differences between the brothers can be identified where Norman is shown as a character that carries an aspect of innocence to his personality and follows the ideals and values the father taught them. Therefore, the darker lighting signifies of Paul’s dark life that is led on by lies and jealousy that have held him back.
The imbalance between the characters creates an obedience vs freedom scenario where characters try to balance their lives and save themselves from the hardships they face under the discipline of the father. But all is forgotten when they unite in a place where they first remembered how to fish, like a child learns to walk, and where they can call themselves at home; at the river. The river creates the equilibrium in the relationship, taking away the imbalances and differences that the three long to overcome in the everyday life. Most individuals are influenced by a form of discipline that pushes them to overcome the imbalances they face and to improve the weaknesses that hold them back. However, this is all forgotten when individuals come together with loved ones in a place of harmony, where cherished memories resonate with them, and each person is an artist and the imbalances are equalized.

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October 21

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through Response Picture

As humans, there is a sense of responsibility to honour and respect the people who have poured into your life, or helped instil your values. The text provided is a photograph of Reverend Maclean, Norman and Paul, all standing in a field by a river watching the sunset. In the image, the father is looking up towards the sky, while his sons are standing behind him looking towards their father. This image combines the beauty and grace involved in nature with the unity of the Maclean value of family and of the Presbyterian faith.

 

In the photograph, Reverend Maclean is at the forefront, with his arms crossed behind his back, looking up towards the sky. He is wearing a black suit with a top hat, considerably well dressed for the setting that they are in. While looking at the physical stance of the father, it creates the impression that he is looking up towards God. The father’s body language with his head up high and his arms crossed behind his back signify authority and respect. For him, standing by the riverbank carries with it a sense of peace and praise towards the Creator. Although the father is seen as a very strict and almost mean character, he is being presented at a time where he is the most vulnerable, when connecting with God and with nature. All the things that the father is doing suggest that he is taking the time to honour God, person that he has based all of his values from, the person he looks up to. It is through nature that Reverend Maclean feel closest to God, and can momentarily return to a sense of peace, his own Eden. In addition to the father’s body language, there is a small space separating him from his sons. The small space of separation between the father and his two sons conveys the impression that the time he is taking now is very serious to him, so serious that he cannot be distracted by anyone. Every other element that could cause the father’s attention to be drawn away is eliminated by the fact that he is in an atmosphere of peace and serenity. Reverend Maclean’s strong faith encourages him to take the time to stop showing respect and admiration to the one that he believes deserves it. In doing this he is being an example to his two sons who follow very closely behind him.

 

Both Norman and Paul are standing closely behind their father in the photograph. Unlike their Reverend Maclean, they are wearing more casual looking clothing and are about a step back from him. Norman’s clothes are more brightly coloured as well as in the light, while Paul is wearing darker shades and is in the shadow. Both the boys’ focus seems to be directed towards the ground by their father’s feet. The particular manner in which the men are standing parallels the hierarchy that is shown throughout the movie, God, Reverend Maclean, and Norman and Paul both at the bottom. This order show the path in which the Maclean men acquire insight, and it also shows who each one of them try to honour. In the same way that Reverend Maclean honours and respects God, Paul and Norman honour and respect their father. This theme is carried through the photograph and also through the film with the countless attempts, from mainly Norman, to live up to his father’s expectations; usually followed up by Norman complying to his father’s wishes in an act of respect. Also in the photograph, Norman is more brightly lit when compared to Paul. It is almost as if he is glowing in appearance. The contrast between Norman’s clothing and Paul’s connects to the film in the fact that Norman was shown as the favoured son in his father’s eyes, while Paul was never held to the same standard. Through Christian imagery Paul is represented as the “prodigal son” who runs off with his inheritance, spends all his money, and comes back to his father when in need of help. While Norman is displayed as the “lesser known son” who always follows his father’s wishes and never goes astray. Although both sons come back to the father in the end, the “lesser known son” ends up with a greater inheritance finance wise and knowledge wise because he stayed with his father and learned about values and morals. Paul and Norman still equally show respect for their father because of the knowledge and enlightenment he has poured into their lives.

 

Reverend Maclean, Norman and Paul all have someone they look up to and base their values and morals from; because of this, they all have an appreciation towards their particular role model. The photograph above from the film A River Runs Through It helps validate the belief that in society people will take the time to honour and show reverence to the people who most influenced their lives.  

 

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October 21

harmony from nature

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The relationships we have carry an aspect of freedom and equality, but they come with discipline. When both are kept in balance harmony is found. In this photograph you can see that nature is a place of equilibrium where the three men can focus on fishing and be free from their life outside of nature. The way they have positioned themselves shows how each of them live their lives outside of this activity and the influences they have on each other. Although they are living different lives nature will always be a place to bring harmony back amongst them.

In the photograph Paul has been shown farthest away from the river bank and in the deepest water, which symbolizes his independent but dark life outside of the safety of nature. Paul’s distance from his father shows his rebellion against his father’s expectations because of his drive to fulfill his own desires. Pail is shown in deep water which symbolizes his addictions or problems and how deep into them he really is. His position being lower than Norman shows Paul’s lack of accomplishments. His life outside of nature shows that he isn’t very close to his father, yet during fly-fishing his is very close to them. Paul brings the aspect of freedom into their relationship with his sense of rebellion.

Norman is next in the photograph and he is shown in the middle, but you can see with the angle of the camera shot that he is closer to his father. This could symbolize him being obedient to his father’s expectations and ideals. Norman being somewhat in the middle shows that he still cares about Paul and has a strong relationship with him. Norman is also standing on a rock which shows his success having a high position. Norman’s position in the middle demonstrates the idea that harmony is achieved in a relationship with a balance of freedom and discipline. Paul representing freedom and his father Discipline.  With those two aspects coming in they are all getting along with no problem in this photograph.

Closest to the camera is the father and he is in shallow water and in a more calm state than his sons. His sense of peace in the photograph symbolizes how much wisdom and patience he has. This could also show how disciplined he is because he is standing with his back straight with a sense of dignity. Reverend Mclean’s higher position shows his influence in the decisions that the other make. It also shows that he is the leader of the three men. Reverend Mclean brings the aspect of discipline into the relationship balancing the freedom.

Even though their relationships may not be as harmonious in their lives outside of nature they will always have this spot and activity to bring balance and equilibrium between them. No matter how different they are or how much they influence they have in each other this spot is a place where they can have peace among themselves.

October 20

Harmony in a Father-Son Relationship

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In a father-son relationship virtues that a father passes down to his son are of much importance. For these virtues are a beautiful sight to see in a son. A son, who looks up to his father as an idol, will soon be a man of much pride. But before a son is to follow the footsteps of his father, he must see his father as his greatest friend.

A visual from the film, A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford, takes the audience on a journey in which two boys, Paul and Norman, grow, prosper, face adversities, and strive for their own happiness under the many influences of their father, Reverend Mclean. Although the boys idolize their father in their younger years, they soon come to realize that the ever changing world around them continues to expose them to many new influences. Which in result creates many differences between the three while maintaining many similarities. It is through these contrasts that we witness the role that harmony plays in balancing the ideologies of discipline and freedom in such relationships. These very relations include the struggle that Paul has towards valuing his relation with Reverend Mclean, while Norman juggles between the two. The imbalances and struggles eventually lead the three individuals to act, think, and live in diverse ways. The only source of balance, the three tend to find, is in fly-fishing; an abundant source of harmony seems to resonate in nature for them.

First off the visual has been explicitly staged in a full shot frame, in order to demonstrate the beauty of the environment and the stimulus that the three are reacting too. In this case the environment is a shallow moving river with plenty of boulder size rocks creating small waves and crashes, illustrating the free and resilient force of the river. This free and resilient nature of the water symbolizes the natural but unpredictable attitude and personality of Paul when it comes to maintaining his relations. While the rocks and the waves symbolize the role Norman and Reverend Mclean play in Paul’s life; holding him accountable and responsible for his actions and pacing him to move more cautiously in life. The very relation that Paul has developed with his brother and father are key examples of when an individual’s chooses to find balance between discipline and freedom. Paul strives for freedom with great effort but is never shy of taking advice from his father and brother; even if the advice or reminders challenge is own ideologies. And in attempt to appease Norman and Reverend McLean, Paul finds harmony with them in fly-fishing; a moment that allows the three of them to balance their powerful influences on one another.

Amongst the three, it is noticeable that the color of their clothing is of different gray contrast and hues. Reverend is glowing in his pure white shirt and shiny gray vest coupled with the matching pants. Norman, who is between Paul and his father, is wearing a light gray outfit, consistent in this color, from top to bottom, and Paul is wearing a complete set of saturated brownish gray clothes. This visual aspect portrays the imbalance between the characters Paul and Reverend, where white represents a life of innocence, battling, a dark brown style which illustrates a life of secrets, and the fact that Norman is in the middle, dressed in a blend of the two colors, symbolizes the balanced relationship he holds between his brother and father; he keeps secrets for Paul, which poisons the shadow of pure innocence casted by Reverend. In another sense the innocence portrayed through Reverend’s attire is an illusion for discipline; an ideology that tells us to hide nothing from one another and forces us to take a pledge towards valuing the relation. Whereas Paul, with his life of secrets, demonstrates what happens when an individual values the ideology of freedom over discipline. This unbalanced approach between freedom and discipline makes it difficult to obtain harmony due to opposing perspectives in a relationship.

In the film, A River Runs Through It, Robert Redford illustrated the journey of brotherhood and fatherhood in which discipline and freedom are two countering ideologies that find balance through the means of harmony. A visual from the film shows two brothers, Norman and Paul, fly-fishing with their father, Reverend Mclean. Their relationship with one another is illustrated through various aspects of cinematic imagery; which include the environment and colors in the frame. These very aspects demonstrate how the three build and approach their relations with one another. These relations are heavily influenced by their own ideologies which in return cause imbalances between Norman, Paul, and Reverend. In order to re calibrate their imbalances the three use fly-fishing as an activity of harmony.

Jassy

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October 20

Visual Response – Erick

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As young generations, we should always remember to respect and look up to our elders. The above photograph shows three men standing on the riverbank watching the sunset, where two of them are standing behind the older man. With their heads down showing respect and gratitude.

The older man in the photograph is clearly the leader, perhaps the father of the two, by his clothing and his unclear facial expression. The second man in black dressed similar to the father, reflects the idea of respect and admire. The third man, dressed completely different from the two and clearly has a brighter color, reflects his unique perspective and wisdom.

The foreground image is clearly the three men. Two standing behind one, like soldiers behind the leader. The background behind them showing the beauty of nature with all that it has: the river, the mountain, and the trees… they are separated from the society at this moment, but blended into the nature, into the one place on Earth where they will enjoy the most.

The father in the photo has developed a path for his two sons standing behind him, the color of their cloths symbolized the idea that only one of them is actually following the father while the other one isn’t. The man in the dark cloth is clearly the follower, suggested by his color and shadow that’s identical to the father’. The other man; however, clearly isn’t following his father.

The photograph is sending a message that we could always learn from our elders no matter how skilled we are. The elders are the ones that taught us all the life lessons, and as they got older, they might came across something new that they are willing to share with us. So we should respect and listen to them as much as we can, because we can always learn new knowledge from their past

As we grow up and began to find our own paths, we might not go to our elders as often as used to be. But we should always keep that respect inside our heart and never forget to show it to them, perhaps through simple actions. Eventually we will be taking the knowledge that we got and give them to younger generations, take the time now to show the respect and listen to our elders so we can make our younger generation’s life more easier.

 

 

Category: Erick | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 2

How would you like to die?

Life is  a long road that we walk on everyday where you can’t see the end, but when you get there, how would you choose to face it? For me,  I would choose to face it happily with no regrets although I am scared. I would probably came up with a different answer 3 years ago, but there is an  event that changes my perspective on death, which is the death of my father’s friend. I barely  know or heard of him, but I was there when my father went to see him for the last time in the hospital. I remember him saying: ” Death isn’t the end, it’s just a new beginning.” Thinking back to that today, reminds me of a new idea: when you reaches the end of the road, all you will see is a right turn. So I choose to be a happy man when I reach what seems to be the end of my road, because it’s not the end.turn-to-the-tree-on-the-road-martin-soler

Category: Erick | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 1

PROUST and You

Choose ONE of the following questions from the famous PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE.  

In a polished paragraph response, answer your chosen question.  and explain in detail, with examples, from your own life.  

Answer in COMMENTS below.  Be sure to have the question you choose at the top of your reply.  

  1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
  2. What is your greatest fear?
  3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
  4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
  5. Which living person do you most admire?
  6. What is your greatest extravagance?
  7. What is your current state of mind?
  8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
  9. On what occasion do you lie?
  10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
  11. Which living person do you most despise?
  12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
  13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
  14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
  15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
  16. When and where were you happiest?
  17. Which talent would you most like to have?
  18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
  19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
  20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
  21. Where would you most like to live?
  22. What is your most treasured possession?
  23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
  24. What is your favorite occupation?
  25. What is your most marked characteristic?
  26. What do you most value in your friends?
  27. Who are your favorite writers?
  28. Who is your hero of fiction?
  29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
  30. Who are your heroes in real life?
  31. What are your favorite names?
  32. What is it that you most dislike?
  33. What is your greatest regret?
  34. How would you like to die?
  35. What is your motto?

 

September 24

What I Choose To Be

Slide1

This is my presentation on the five most important philosophies in my life. I live by these philosophies all throughout my life and I feel that they heavily influence me as an individual and the choices I make.

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My first philosophy is “enlighten others.” For me this means not only teaching and giving knowledge to others but giving them a chance to demonstrate their understanding: because to me understanding is everything a individual needs to better themselves. One more aspect that makes the word “enlighten” so much more powerful is that it causes an individual to overcome their fears and adversaries by believing in themselves. In my opinion, when a person doesn’t need motivation anymore to perform at their best they find true success. And finally this philosophy justifies the metaphor of being the light at the end of the tunnel because the theory of enlightening others is a prime reason that certain individuals achieve amazing feats of success. Merely due to the fact that someone told them that their life was worth living for. The reason I choose Mount Rushmore as my symbolic representation for this philosophy is because all the men in the art are considered to be the greatest presidents in American history . They all enlightened the people of their nation to follow them as leaders in order to live in one of the greatest countries ever constituted.

Slide3

“Be brutally honest,” is my second philosophy and I consider it to be one that has been with me for as long as I can remember. This philosophy demonstrate’s the integrity I have towards my own actions and my responsibility of being apart of a collective where everyone can trust one another. I like to see this philosophy as a way of speaking freely among people in your environment but I always need to remind myself that the words I choose to portray my opinions should be harmless. And finally honesty leads to the healthiest relations among individuals because you are always willing to tell others everything. Even if it may be a bit harsh at first, we need to remember that it is a much better option then lying, and, lying can ultimately leads to others having distrust towards you. The wallpaper I choose for this philosophy is the anonymous mask because it truly portrays the ways in which we should treat our freedom of speech and honesty. I believe we all need to speak as if no person had the ability to break past our barrier of self-trust because there is no weak link or hidden secrets.

Slide4

This is my favorite philosophy of the five; “be able to adapt.” Why? Well because this is probably the philosophy that drives me to sustain and survive in any change within my environment. I like to be on the edge; always looking forward; never regretting over my past and never ever complaining about change that I can’t control. Now I do like to fight against some change, most likely if the change is far too chaotic but in the long run being able to adapt is what allows me to be versatile. And adaptation is the only way of continuing to grow when your living the lifestyle of a highly stressed out high school student. Just living with the anticipation of change is what keeps me on my edge and always allows me to get the results I want. In the background of this slide is what’s referred to as the ‘Tree of Life.” This diagram was developed by the pioneer of evolution-Charles Darwin- and he says that everything that is alive or dead is in the state because of it’s ability to adapt. And I believe that is true because it applies to many aspects of my life; the only way I will be successful in such a fast paced society is heavily based on my ability to adapt and correspond to the never ending changes in my life.

Slide5

They say I wise man once said to “learn to reason,” wait didn’t I say that? Well who knows, but, what’s most important about this philosophy is that reasoning is what allows you to know who you are. And once you know who you are, many decisions that seemed a challenge at first became very simple and understandable: simply because you took the time to know what your talents, skills, and, what areas in your life you put the most effort into. Once you learn to reason for yourself you begin to accumulate all the advantages and disadvantages of your current actions towards the circumstances you are in. Learning to reason is-for me-a statement that says be practical all the time. Being efficient with your time is key to your success because time is one dimension in your life that your can’t control but can only work head around; so instead be practical about it. and finally one very important but overlooked aspect in my peoples lives is emotion; and their lack of power to control it. People who can control their emotions and reduce the emotional clouds against their better judgement are the most successful in life. This also the philosophy where my life narrative comes from. Growing up from the age of only 2 months to the end of my fourteenth year I was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome; a kidney disease. Till about the age of 12 I always lived a life of fear but I honestly decided to change my approach to my condition. I learned to reason with the truth and began to look for hope. And eventually the disease eventaullly went away. The greatest part of my life in that current state was the fact that I took in so much knowledge over what my skills are towards learning to reason.  The image I chose for this philosophy is the brain contrasting it’s two halves. The rights side of your brain controls your creativity while the left demonstrates your math and science skills; when you learn to reason you can create balance and stability between the two sides making for a more powerful thought process overall. Which then leads to great and effective decision making in your life.

Slide6

My finally philosophy is to “have ambition.” Now this is a philosophy that I have only just added to my daily lifestyle but I am already seeing many effective results from it in my life. This philosophy to me is all about continuing to progress through life even in the times of hardship; “always look forward”. I also believe that ambition is the one motive in an individuals life that allows them to achieve the goals they want in  life; the results you want can only be provided for by you. Another thing I believe in is that sleeping is good because it lets you dream, but, in order to live those dreams you have to be awake; this statement has gave me the ambition in my life to excel towards many of my goals. And finally ambition will fuel your will power, because, when all else fails, your will power is all you need in order to out do your opponents and yourself. The image used in this philosophy represents what I believe ambition to be. The stairs represent the steps in our lives we take towards progress and the light and dark areas demonstrate the different parts of our lives; good and bad; but in the end we continue to take the next step.

Slide7

 

And these are the sources I used.

And those are my five life philosophies.

September 24

Life Philosophies

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Picture1

My first Life Philosophy is ” Open your Mind Before your Mouth” and the reason is why that is one of my life philosophy is that sometimes, people forgot to use appropriate language when they came home or go to their work after hanging out with their friends and when they say something inappropriate It makes them feel embarrassed and also make bad impression on their colleagues and also they feel bad in themselves.

 

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My second life philosophy is ” Be a beginner for every single morning Have a fresh day ahead” the reason why this is my philosophy is that I don’t like to a tensed about anything in my life. Life is short and we should enjoy this for every single day we can get by life. Nobody is perfect in the world and born as a perfect so we should not act like that I am perfect in this field or perfect for this competition. We should have only one target for every day when we wake up in the morning is today we will do our best to do things even better than yesterday we did in school or at job and make yourself feel that you are a beginner for every single morning and have fresh day ahead.

 

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My third life philosophy is “Stop Wishing Start Doing”. You can dream about your goals all you want, but you won’t ever reach them if you don’t do anything to achieve them. Sometimes, some people are really good at something and really want to move forward with that quality but they don’t have enough money to accomplish that goal but Hard Work, Willpower and Dedication for a person with these qualities, the sky is the limit.

Picture  Shortcut-to-Success4

My fourth life philosophy is “Never Adopt Shortcuts”. So many people are in such a hurry to success that they eagerly take any shortcuts that come across their way. In reality, shortcuts usually lead to disappointments rather than quicker success. The key to any long-term success is to take the necessary steps to steadily progress rather than skip any of them. Once, my parents and me were coming back from marriage at night and we took a road which is shortcut to our home but on that day because of car accident we got stuck in traffic we got stuck in jam for 2 hours and reached home very late than our other relatives were coming with to our home and they took the normal path and arrived hour before than us. So, on that day I have realized that day that shortcuts mostly leads us to disappointments instead of quicker success and we should never adopt shortcuts.

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My fifth life philosophy is ” Watch, Listen and Learn. You don’t know everything and If you think you do, You’re an idiot”. Most of the time some people thinks that they know everything and try to participate in every conversation and discussion and say something after every single person in order to show that they know everything to everyone, but in general they don’t know anything because it shows that those people talk to much to everybody else. In my opinion we should first watch what is happening and listen to what others is saying on an issue and analyze everything in their mind and then say something impressive and this will make everybody else to think good about that person and also will look that you are intelligent.

September 24

Think, Believe, and Live for Yourself

Copy of 

Life Philosophies – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Q7U2HXQKa2_1441946032265Don’t be jealous of others.

I believe one should not be jealous of others’ success but instead use that jealousy as a motivator to achieve their own goals. Being jealous of someone else is a waste of time. I believe that you need to realize that you are capable of doing anything someone else can do. For example, if a friend of yours has just gotten a job or is doing well is school, instead of being bitter about it, fuel yourself to build up the courage to get a job or push yourself to do well in school.

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Never take advice.

Although this philosophy may seem confusing to some, it is one I live by every day. It is often easy to take advice and experience a situation with that preconceived advice. However, I believe it is imperative that I experience things on my own without any expectations or guide lines beforehand. This way, I am able to make my own advice for myself. I feel that taking advice may skew ones perspective of a situation and therefore may ruin the experience for them. For us teenagers, we often have advice thrown at us from all directions: parents, teachers, mentors, etc. which is able to easily confuse us because we are being told so many different things. Furthermore, I believe it is more beneficial for us to take the road as it comes and make the best of it.

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Don’t allow other to intrude your life.

Allowing negative people into one’s personal life can consequently lead one to alter their beliefs or actions due to judgement. I believe that you should surround yourself with positive people, and although that may sound cliche, it is very important. Judgmental people can be toxic to ones well being because it can ruin one’s self esteem and make them self conscious. Sometimes it is a good thing to remain reserved about yourself.

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Believe in yourself.

Believing in yourself is one of the best things you can do. Why? Believing in yourself can allow you to obtain and achieve anything you want in life. People often sell themselves short by thinking they’re incapable of doing something. This is where the problem is. If you know your worth and have faith your capabilities, you are able to maximize your potential to the fullest. The mindset of being positive and having faith is one of the greatest tools a person can have because it allows them believe in what they’re doing and strive for success. Having no faith and being negative about your capabilities will attract that kind of energy and subsequently lead yourself down a path of failure.

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Do something you absolutely hate in order to find out what you love to do.

If you don’t know what you want to do in life, this is the most useful tip I can give to anyone. I discovered this philosophy over the summer while I had a job painting houses. All summer I would be surrounded by the nauseating scent of paint and have paint all over myself and in my hair, it was horrible. I hated this job. I hated this job so much that all I could think about was what I would rather be doing at that time while I was painting. And at this point, I decided that I would rather be at school. All the headaches and endless shower attempts to get paint off of me lead me to realize that although I didn’t like school that much, I would rather try to succeed in it rather than be stuck painting houses. Painting granted me so much motivation to do well in school. Now that it’s senior year for me, I’ve been channeling that motivation to do well and succeed for the betterment of my future.

(Citation on each image in HaikuDeck presentation)