Thursday, January 31, 2013

Your Turn to Speak

Dear All,

Now it is your turn to give a speech or talk - or a little performance. Any topic is fine. You can either record yourself and upload your speech/talk/performance on youtube and just paste the link into the comment box, or you can transcribe your speech and post a written version.

This is your opportunity to share your important ideas and/or skills with the world - or at least with some of the people in it :o)

I am looking forward to what your speeches/talks/performances!

Gudrun

8 comments:

  1. One of my favourite things to do is sing. In the shower.
    However, lately I have started adding my covers to youtube for people to hear. I am way too nervous to ever sing in front of people face-to-face, so I use youtube. Here is the link to my covers: http://www.youtube.com/user/tmawani1?feature=mhee
    Hope you like them! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hey Tatiana, I think it is so great that you have posted your covers for people to enjoy. I've always loved singing, but have never had the courage to record myself, let alone upload something to youtube. I'm very impressed, amazing singing!

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    2. This is really gooood! I like your voice. The fact that you recorded yourself and uploaded on Youtube shows that you're really confident and passionate in what you're doing, its great. You should continue doing this like I said, you have a nice voice ;)

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  2. Hate your work? Maybe not anymore.
    First, I have to define what it means to hate work. After many books I have read, and many professional conferences I have attended. Hating work simply means you won’t wake up in the morning or stay up late to finish your work under no pressure. It’s mainly about your motivation.
    Most of your lifetime is spent either on sleeping or working. To spend your life happily and fruitfully, you can either sleep well or have fun with your work. Sleeping well is the easy part; just buy a good pillow, blanket and a bed. Done.
    The hardest part is having fun with your work. Why? Is it because we are lazy, not motivated or not determined? Are they the main reasons why we hate work? Not really. We play video games; it requires more attention than we study. We watch movies; it requires more time than we read a book. Our entertainment part actually requires an equal amount of resources and effort from us than our study. Then why are we still doing it? We are doing it because it’s enjoyable. Then why can’t we just find some job that can entertain us and give us a living at the same time? Of course we can, it’s just that we don’t know what we like doing in terms of professions and we don’t have time to explore numerous careers in the market.
    These two reasons can actually be eliminated. Have you ever tried to explore some careers before? I’m sure everyone has. Have you found your loved ones? Maybe some people have. If you haven’t, do you want to find one in you next shot? It’s easy, but first please spend some money on courses or maybe surveys to find out who you truly are, and so you can fit your personality with the right job, and enjoy your work. Sometimes we think we know ourselves, but we actually don’t, since we are under influence by our society, family or friends. We take their opinions and then install it into our brains as commands. “Son, doctor earns good money, should try it out!” “But daddy, I like painting though” “doctor or starve, son! Listen to me! Be a doctor!”. We hear quotes like those in our daily lives all the time. We slowly turn our own opinions into ash, just so that we can work like robots to earn “good money”. People might have struggled before they turn into those robots, but most of them fail. There’s just nothing to back them up during their struggle. We should study what we are interested in. Go with what we enjoy studying most.
    With the understanding of ourselves, we will have a shorter list of jobs that we can explore, and once we have the list, we can explore the careers with shorter time, and with more determination.
    I’m the few lucky ones who received this piece of advice from others who have failed before. I would like the others to have this piece of information too! Everyone deserves to do what he or she likes, and be himself or herself. Thus, I wrote this passage. I hope anyone who reads this would start exploring instead of wasting their time doing something they hate. Good luck!

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  3. Adolescence is an immensely impressionable time of life. Personality traits are strengthened the most in this time period. Almost anything can influence us: movies, music, celebrities, books, friends, siblings and of course, our parents. I would say parents have the most control over what gets filtered out from our innocent minds after we come home from a long day of venturing into the thick, gunky world of vast and deep ideas and beliefs that don’t always end in “happily ever after.”
    In university however, international students leave the nest. We flap out into the world of no parents, very little authority and absolutely no filters. Questions pop into our mind every time we see something new, and we get pelted with new things every two minutes. We question what we believe if an idea challenges our preconceived notions or opinions about it. Morals, what are those? It’s ok to drink until I throw up? Can I invite him to my room at this hour? Should I take the cigarette she’s offering? No one is going to tell you no. Does that mean yes?
    It is a time of making mistakes, finding out who exactly we are, who do we want to be. This does not just apply to social situations; it could be about finding out if we agree with what we’re -in some ways- “told” who we are. Very few people completely know who they are and are sure about where they are headed and I commend these people. The rest of us are all looking for our passions, our callings, what we do like, what is never acceptable to us, what kind of people we have the most fun with, what kind of people we are repelled from and why?
    Personally, this new freedom that was thrown at me was not caught immediately, I fumbled with it at first. I made big mistakes and had a lot of bad days. As the days went on however, I learned to be patient with myself, to discover myself slowly by unveiling what I genuinely did enjoy doing. I’ve realized the hype around what university is supposed to be like all comes down to the individual you are and how you react to situations, what kind of people you want to be around. Its not all fun and games, and if you don’t create a stable, safe foundation, you could end up getting hurt.
    When I go back home or talk to younger students who will be entering university, my advice would be to be patient with what university hands them, since it usually isn’t the way media glorifies it to be, especially not at first. It can get lonely, it can be dangerous, there is not a lot of place for naïve innocent birds in some situations. However it is ok to make mistakes, it will happen to the best of us. What we learn from mistakes is the most important part. Also, asking for help is something no one should be afraid or apprehensive about.

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  4. Why Should We Write Journals?

    What’s the purpose of writing journals? It is very time consuming, yet some people write it every day?

    Journal is where we can record our first reactions to what we read, learned and experienced in one day. The first and obvious use of writing a journal is that it helps us to remember something later as it serves as a record to look back on. It may be that we do not have time to work out what is going on right at that moment - keeping a note in a journal helps us to recapture that moment later so that we can look at it more deeply later on.

    Second, the act of putting pen to paper by writing down things engages our brain since in order to write we have to think. As I mentioned earlier, journal serves a purpose of being a record, which we can refer back to just as this quote says, “The act of writing something down often crystallises a particular problem or issue or enables me to see where a particular piece of work has not achieved its objective”. Through writing journals, we can identify our strengths as well as weaknesses, and areas in which we could benefit from further training and practicing.

    Third, writing journals gives us the opportunity to examine our ideas and reactions rather than attempt to find the “correct” answer. This also encourages engagement and self-reflection. I find when I write journals, not only thoughts are being stimulated; I am also able to look at my feelings, my actions, and myself in different perspectives. Furthermore, writing journals indeed pays off. The reflection and exploration that journal writing brings with it can open up new avenues of thought with regard to how we handle different situations or work with particular individuals and groups.

    So coming back to the question, why should we write journals? Because we can improve our writing skill, deepen our understanding about the materials learned, and it makes added sense of our lives and what we believe in. It also helps us to entertain, contain and channel troubling emotions and gaining perspective. Through the process of journaling, we could develop a greater awareness of daily life and becoming more alive to what is happening around us.

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  5. Sports
    It’s a game and it is also a life lesson. It is a game because there is competition and opponents. It is what they call the fire in our eyes. We do not play sports just to prance around, we play them so that we get the victory and beat the other team. This is not always the case but in the back of every athlete’s mind, they want to beat their opponent. The competition of sports is what drives us athletes to want to go that extra mile. It provides us with the motivation that we need. The competition also brings out rivalries that can carry on to the next generation. This can create a tradition that brings people together. On the other hand, sports can be a life lesson that cannot be taught in a desk and chair. I know this from experience and I am sure many other athletes can as well. The amount of skills and values that I have learned from my coaches has been unforgettable. Like teamwork for example, when a teammate of mine falls down, I try to get there as fast as I can to help them back up. It shows that you are supporting one another. Teamwork also shows when you play team sports like basketball. It takes more than one person to get the basketball into the basket and it definitely takes the entire team, event the ones on the bench, to win games. These lessons will stay in my long-term memory probably longer than the academic facts that are taught in school.

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  6. Adaptive sports

    Since today sports, and activities are such a big art of our lives and lead us to healthy practices and habits, it is important to understand the effects sports or activities have on people that are disabled.
    These experiences help prepare individuals after rehabilitation to face the adversity of a disability in their lives and to learn to bounce back in the face of challenge and change. Sport instills self discipline, a competitive spirit, and comradeship. Its value in promoting health, physical strength, endurance, social integration, and psychological wellbeing is of little doubt, therefore it is not difficult to understand why adapted sport is so important for the well being of people with disability. The list of adaptive sports is growing; however so is the need for coaches or instructors, that are certified to teach these adaptive programs. I would encourage anyone that is interested in these sort of programs to do some research and find out how to get involved, as their is a need for more instructors and coaches in various different sports. Thanks

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