I also am reading the AP Psychology book, my ap world history teacher lent me. Psychology is awesome! Psychology is the biopsychosocial process of how a person thinks and behaves which can be influenced by environmental, genetic and social factors. The number of mu receptors determines a person’s tolerance to pain, yet people can minimize pain if they focus on something else such as when a doctor tells a patient to look away when they are given a shot, by focusing on something else, the pain receptors in the brain aren’t as active since the mind is focused somewhere else and the person only feels a slight sensation. Also there is the power of suggestion such as when people have complete faith in what their doctors say and do something that they never would have done unless under hypnosis such as in a case study where some patients who were sick were given a pill that was really a gummy bear disguised to look like a pill, yet they were told that this pill would make them better, the patients took the pretend pill and were better. It is amazing what the mind can do and how it can affect health. Since the brain has nerves connecting to our body and these nerves communicate messages that help send electrical signals to help our body function, our mental thoughts can affect our bodies negatively or positively depending on what we think about. There is also the theory of multiple intelligence where Howard Gardner thought mind could be divided into eight different specific functions each person having a different degree of the eight different intelligences. The eight different intelligences are:

1. Musical Rhythmic and Harmonical- talent in music, sounds, singing (I like music and can imitate them, but I’m not an instrument person)
2. Visual-Spatial: imaginative, visualize things clearly in their minds (applies to me)
3. Verbal-linguistic: good at reading, writing, memorizing words and dates (applies to me)
4. Logical- mathematical: reasoning, numbers, critical thinking, problem-solving (algebra is okay, but I have a more creative mindset and enjoy science to math)
5. Bodily-kinesthetic: agility, coordination, athleticism, people who have high bodily-kinesthetic are good at sports (amateur soccer and lacrosse, bowling and badminton are great) , dancing (not in front of people), acting (I don’t like the stage, but i can perform)
6. Interpersonal: empathy, compassion, understanding for other’s moods, cooperation, teamwork, leader or follower, enjoy discussion and debate (applies to me)
7. Intrapersonal: relating to the self, self-reflective, able to see one’s faults and talents, understand oneself (applies to me, although sometimes I have trouble finding out who I really am and wondering what my talents are)
8. Naturalistic: survival in nature, interest and connection in nature, retaining information from nature and surroundings, human interaction with environment such as hunter-gatherers (applies to me, I love nature and enjoy camping. I have stuff to learn about wilderness survival though, but I think I know enough)

Also in psychology, it also says that there are three types of parents: demanding, authoritative and passive. Demanding parents are good because they teach their kids self-discipline and morals, yet they can be be judgmental, criticizing and hard to open up to and are also the ones who enforce rules such as grounding or placed on restriction. Authoritative parents are the best way to be because they discipline their children, yet also allow them to grow and develop independently, they are open-minded, praise their children for good things, but also reprimand them in a way that creates a healthy relationship between the child and the parent and isn’t too demanding and negative on the child. Authoritative parents maintain a healthy authority, but also let kids have a freedom. Passive parents let their kids have mostly free reign on their own lives and don’t punish as much. Also there have been some studies that children with demanding parents are more likely to develop eating disorders like anorexia because they feel like they need something they can control and the stress from their parents often leads to feel like they need some sense of worth. Also there is also a theory that men who get along with their mothers will treat their wives well since they have a feminine influence. It’s amazing how much insight psychology can bring in understanding people. Sometimes children will try to please their friends by doing reckless things since they can’t please their parents no matter how hard they try. Such as in the realistic fiction story, The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines where Tom Barney’s parents didn’t think there was a future for their son because, Tom’s older brother Michael had been arrested and Tom could turn out like them. At first Tom was a very studious student, yet when he couldn’t please his parents because their opinions of him were already jaded by his brother, he began to think of the uselessness of trying so hard and began to take a downhill turn. He makes a bad turn when he tries to please a self-absorbed girl, Grace by joining the military because he thought it would please her to know he was a brave person. Is it really worth it to let other people’s negative opinions influence your path?

I think I have learned a lot and acquired much insight into people’s behavior and the way they act just from reading Meyers AP Psychology. Do you think children can change themselves for the better if they don’t like some of the values their parents have? I believe that they can, yet there are so many people who say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and no matter how hard you try, you will still be like your parents. I know that I value hard work and education same as my parents, I also value self-discipline like them. Yet different from them, I am more of a realist and also more spiritual and hopeful than they are. I believe that there are many possibilities out there and that if you believe and work hard you can go far and attain happiness in life. I believe that there should be temperance in self-discipline and that an open mind and compassion are great instead of being judgmental and not accepting some things. I am the person who if I have a goal, I will try my best to work for it and although sometimes I do compare myself to others, i try not to let it bring me down, but to let others’ successes to motivate me in creating my own. Although sometimes I may have doubts, I try not to let what others say bring me down and if something bad happens, I try to accept it and say whatever, stuff like this happens, i’ll just let it go. I don’t want to be like my parents in the way they hold on to negative thoughts and let negative occurrences bring them down, I want to find spiritual fulfillment in life by understanding myself instead of seeking it through material pressures like money and to live each moment of my life being grateful just to be alive. The people I admire the most aren’t the wealthy and smart ones, there the ones who are healthy and fit like Jillian Michaels and also the ones who are spiritually fulfilled like Buddha. Currently I am working on how to build my immune system, improve my circulation (keeping my hands and feet from getting too cold in winter and too hot in the summer) and healing my eyesight. Feel

I think I got at least an 86 on my algebra 2 honors final. While I arrived at 9 am, I was sitting with a friend in the cafeteria (that’s where the desk attendant told us to wait till 9:20) and I was helping her study for geometry finals. I was surprised I could still remember and understand geometry from 10th grade (I’m in 11th grade) and I was able to help her. I think reiki helps a lot because it was like my subconscious mind was helping me focus on the memories and making me finally understand geometry when at first learning it in 10th grade it was hard for me, but I still got an 82 in geometry honors. Since there were some other juniors and seniors coming in late for final exemptions, the desk attendant didn’t bat an eye when my friend Izzy and I signed in. I was exempt from my gym final, so instead of 7:10 regular school time and waking up at 5:45, I woke up at 8:25 and arrived at school at 9 am and the final began at 9:20. I almost ran out of time on the calculator portion of the final because I took 50 minutes on the non-calculator portion, there was one problem where I had to graph a polynomial function with degree of four and four zeroes and describe increasing and decreasing which took a while and I did bad on. On the non-calculator portion, I spent some time on a synthetic division problem because the answers i got weren’t what the multiple choice questions were, so I ended up picking the closest one. With three minutes to go, I quickly solved two more problems, one on finding the polynomial function using finite differences and another problem on graphing a vertical and horizontal transformation of f(x)=sqrt(x). I think I did bad on the graphing part, but i tried to pick the points as best as possible since I was running out of time. The greatest thing is I feel like my subconscious mind is working with my conscious mind to retain more information so I remembered most of the algebraic and geometric formulas I needed to use. I wish my parents would stop being so critical and telling me I have my head in the clouds. I try to live in the moment and if something is my fault, i accept the blame without complaining. I try to look on the positive side of things and expect things to turn wrong, so I’m prepared for them with a positive attitude. Also after doing some slight meditation, I realize that it has helped me realize that my thoughts sometimes do go far ahead of myself and I tend to over-criticize myself and let others define who I am. I have decide to listen to my heart more and go for my goals. My parents are very criticizing and they told me once that I wouldn’t make the gymnastics team because I couldn’t do a handstand, I ignored them and tried out and I made the team. Now I am on the high balance beam doing tuck jumps and having friends. I was only on the team in 10th grade because now I’m busy with my ap and honors classes. My parents think that I don’t apply myself hard in school even though I’ve gotten good grades, they think my interest in spiritual fulfillment is a distraction to my school work, but I feel it gives me comfort and also helps calm and center me in school. If you have any ideas on how to remain calm when parents criticize you or when they yell that you’re not good enough or complain about their life and how stressed they are and how you don’t know how to survive in life, please give me some advice. I would love to hear your ideas and in the meantime, I am working on building a reiki positive shield so I can filter out negativity.

Thanks for the support, anita:D I like your idea of thinking about moving like the wind or thinking of trees in the forest, I think that would be a great idea to help me feel more secure, free and balanced. I think I did decent on the ap world history midterms (65 questions which were relatively easy and a comparative essay on how christianity and islam impacted women, i didn’t put the time period in my thesis and could only come up with one difference instead of two, but the overall essay was good and I had decent evidence, the least I think I would get is 4/9) or today which is good because I didn’t finish the Ch. 11 essay yesterday on the changes and continuities of Mongols in 11th-13th century because I was busy planning the timeline and the multiple choice questions (80) were hard. I took the ap english midterms today (jan. 21 at (:15-11:25) and i think I completed 22/40 of the multiple choice questions (skipped 18 because I only had an hour left and I still had the essay to write) and when it came to the essay, during the planning, I only came up with two cons for the essay (it was about whether high schools should form corporate partnerships and use the corporations advertisements to help spread the news about the sports) even though I was supposed to have three pros and three cons. With 40 minutes left, I wrote a good opening paragraph (I didn’t have time to touch up on my vocab, but I tried to do well, it included the theis I was going for the pro side and also the pros and cons) and I got to the second paragraph which I wrote about pros which were that it would encourage school spirit since more people would come if they knew reputable company was advertising and getting the news out and more people coming would mean more fans supporting the players. Another pro is to fundraise for school since by partnering with corporations, the school would attract more people and therefore attain more money for renovating school programs. The cons were the advertisements would distract student from their school works and it can be risky to rely on businesses because they can decline. I was having trouble putting evidence to support my pros in the second paragraph, I couldn’t think of corporations except for Apple and NBC news and was trying to make connections to them and how it would be a positive if high school sports aligned with them to advertise sports. I think I said that if high school sports were to align with Apple and make a negotiation that for every fan who goes to high school game would get 10% off Apple products, then the school would earn more money and more people would buy Apple products, but I’m not sure that was a good example. Anyway with 3 minutes left, I couldn’t think of any examples of how a corporation (specific name of corporation) could sponsor a high school sports game could increase morale of players and how it would help the school in its fundraising. I think i said something about how it would be less money for the school to advertise and that because the company would advertise for them, they didn’t have to worry about spending time getting the word out and also that the word could be spread further. i didn’t get to the cons paragraph because I ran out of time. Anyway, after the ap english midterm, I was just tired and was grateful that one of my friends was around and he and I talked about the exam and comforted each other. He said he didn’t do well on the ap english either, but I think he probably got a 5/9 and I got a 3/9. I have algebra 2 honors finals tomorrow and I hope I do well on that. Also I am nervous about SATs on saturday, but there is supposely a snowstorm coming up so I’m not sure. the guy that I had a strong connection with since seventh grade is worried that I’m being too hard on myself and I’m afraid that I’m losing myself. He seems glad to know I have two guy friends in ap english that help me, but he is also worried because I have a lot on my mind this week. Yet, i’m glad i have friends and support from you guys on tinybuddha, thanks a lot!

when i was bullied, i held on to wicca because i felt that it was the only left for me to still comfort in, talking to spirit guides and angels helped me get through the worst low self-esteem years in seventh-eighth grade when i thought i was worthless and no one seemed to take me seriously since lots of my classmates thought i was a freak, yet i still held on because i needed some hope to pull through.

Thanks Juanita, that was very supportive and insightful;)

anita, I think I let my past failures and what other people say about me fuel the insecurities about myself. I need to learn to love myself. I had dreams to become an ice-skater and get into a class for the medical field, but they were unsuccessful. Also, after failed relationships in seventh grade, I haven’t been as trusting and very shy when it comes to relationships. I don’t show myself as much as I used to. I used to love acting and I still do, but now I don’t feel comfortable being in front of people. I feel like I’m most myself when I’m alone.