Emotional Intelligence, Stress Management and My Last Week

My results for the Emotional Intelligence Test was a 77 out of 100. This means that I am "reasonably skilled", but I still have room for improvement. I can understand my test results, because I am a very intuitive and empathetic person and usually fairly level headed, sometimes when the people I care about are unhappy, I am concerned and worried. I think in every area of life, there is always room for improvement, and am perfectly content with my EI score.

I thought it was interesting that we were talking about stress management this week, as I had just been researching the same topic with the podcast assignment. I do have the tendency to get very stressed about things that are out of my control. I get easily distracted and nervous.  Because anxiety is a problem I have had for awhile, I have learned coping mechanisms. One of the effects that stress has on my body is to make my ADD worse symptoms such as boredom than it usually is. To help me focus when I do my homework, I'll listen to music so that I don't distracted by the conversations going on around me. When I am feeling particularly stressed, I will make myself tea or coffee, and try to immerse myself in something else. Some examples are reading, writing, doing art, watching a mind stimulating TV program, and organizing while I listen to music. Some of the stress relieving tips from the article were very logical and helpful, which I appreciated.

As short as my time at Azusa has been, I am not bored or overwhelmingly anxious. I feel like I learned a lot of helpful, lasting lessons, from this course particularly. These few weeks have flown by, and I have enjoyed completing most of my assignments. When I felt my stress levels going up, I was able to take a step back and calm myself down.

Creating my ideal career is definitely a challenge because I have so many ideas of what I love to do. I have always loved the arts and the stage, as I'm sure you know by now since I don't stop chattering on about them. I think being an actress or a writer would be an amazing job. I think it would be so enjoyable to travel around the world and share stories with others. You would get to learn from putting yourself in the mindset of another character.
     Realistically, I would really enjoy a career where I am able to work with people while using my love for creativity, preferably at an internationally based company. This way I would be able to do something I enjoy while travelling and learning about others.

It's hard to believe its my last day in this course. I have enjoyed it immensely, and I absolutely loved the blogging aspect, as this is something I have wanted to do for a long time now. It was nice to be able to be introduced to how to work and write and capture the main concepts of your ideas. I actually made a personal blog, on which I have yet to post on, and I am happy to say that I am going to start writing on that. I have learned so much and look forward to what lies ahead.

Thank you for reading!
Warm regards,
Rachel

Stress Reduction, Learning, and Brain Structures

Stress Reduction

This week, I listened to a four podcast series titled, "Stress Reduction the Navy SEAL Way." As a student with both general anxiety and test anxiety, I thought it would be interesting to take a look. As a whole, I think the tips were very helpful, though I felt like some of them were common knowledge. 

The ones that really stood out to me were:

• Setting easily reachable goals. 
• Talking yourself down and giving yourself encouragement. 

One thing that the speaker mentioned was how optimistic people don't usually struggle with anxiety, stress or depression, etc., and I thought it was interesting how it connected to the study we had looked at earlier. 

What the speaker said about mentally rehearsing how the test would happen is a familiar concept, but I never thought about applying my imagination to tests, and it relieving stress. I would definitely recommend these tips to my friends, as I found them helpful. 

Learning//Brain Structure

I have always been interested in how our brains work. Since I learned the concept of left-brained, right-brained and how it affects your personality, I instantaneously categorized myself as right brained. Being extremely artistic, imaginative, and a lover of music and stories, I thought it was the perfect fit. This week I learned that I am actually more middle brained, and one point more left brained than right brained. After reading the articles and lectures, I found that I had characteristics on both lists, and that I can be, and am, both. I love words, and am artistic, and I am semi-organized. 

Thanks for reading, 

Rachel 

Asking Powerful Questions and Taking Risks

Since I was a little girl, I have always been extremely inquisitive. I remember sympathizing with Curious George and Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green Gables) because they were always getting into trouble because they "wanted to know" and asked "loads of questions." Since I've had and loved my curious nature for what seems like forever, I was really looking forward to this week.




Three questions...
For the Future:
1. Where will I be in the future, what will I be doing, and why?
Assumption: I will be in a different place in the future, and I will be doing something important with an important reason.
2. What will change about the future and how will it impact the world?
Assumption: The world and the way it works will significantly change in the near future.
3. Will the skills and hobbies that I currently have aid me in what I pursue in the future?
Assumption: The skills and hobbies I have are useful, and will help me through something important.

For my APOU:
1. Will I find a career field that complements my strengths and interests?
Assumption: There is a career field suited to my strengths and interests.
2. Will I be able to apply what I have learned at university from my courses and professors and transfer the lessons I learn to my career and the rest of my life?
Assumption: I will learn valuable, memorable lessons, and that they will help me when I get a job.
3. How much of a lasting impact will my professors and courses have on my future life and me?
Assumption: My professors will have an impact on me.

For my loved ones:
1. What events in your life have changed you the most, for better or for worse?
Assumption: They have allowed themselves to be effected by the events in their lives.
2. What would be your ultimate dream, if all things were possible?
Assumption: They have improbable aspirations, or dreams unbound by the boundaries of reality.
3. Who has had the largest impact on your life, and how did they change you?
Assumption: People have shaped their character and personality.

The Curiosity Challenge:
It was ridiculously hard for me to find a risk to do this week. I was trying to think of ideas, and I couldn't think of any-which hardly ever happens, and is kind of an improbable accomplishment of sorts.
Finally, I thought back to what I have done when I was little. My mother, who is incredibly artistic, always gave us crafts when my brother and I were little. When we lived in France, I was very small, and had the incredible of blessing, and was surrounded by art museums full of the accomplishments of world class artists. My mum, my little brother and I would bring our sketchbooks and attempt to draw statues and paintings. When we moved away, and would come back and visit, we would draw the same statue. Flipping through the sketchbooks, we would see our progress. My favorite artists are Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Vincent Van Gogh, My favorite painting is the Starry Night, and the last time I had attempted to paint it was in the third grade, and it wasn't spectacular. So I decided, I would attempt to paint it again. I didn't think it would turn out well, but I though I accomplished the assignment with a satisfactory product that I was proud of.




As always,
Thanks for reading!
Rachel Khan