Persuading others....

Recently, I’ve been attempting to sell my old car because I’m getting a new one. However, I’m learning that my skills at persuading others can use some improvement. What tend I do is I don’t speak with confidence and that hampers my efforts at selling my car. I should exaggerate a little bit…..build up some hype…….and convince the other person that they are making a worthwhile deal.

Everybody wants a good condition car……..so that’s what you tell them. Nobody is looking for a car that has a lot of mechanical problems. Face it……….nobody these days are honest anymore…….especially when it comes to business. It’s funny because I read a quote from someone, in which he said “believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see”. This is a very symbolic quote and it is very true in many ways. For example, the job of politicians is to lie in order to convince others that their way is the right way. Also, religious leaders sometimes exaggerate certain elements in order for you to submit to their cause. Last but not least, parents lie too because they believe their lie is for your own good. When you were little, you asked your parents whether Santa Claus, tooth fairy, leprechauns, etc. Of course their going to tell you yes, because they don't want to makey you feel bad or be disappointed. Obviously when you get older, they tell you the truth because they believe now you can handle it since your more mature.

Face it…….there is a lot of people out there telling you lies. You have to be careful in what or who you choose to believe. If you are conscious about these things, you will succeed not only in business, but in life in general.

If I was a billionaire.....

Sometimes when I am bored........I envision myself as a billionaire. I would think about what I would do if I was a billionaire and how I would contribute too the benefit of mankind. Some things I might do for charity work is to build schools and shelters for poor people. Especially in poor parts of the world like Africa, parts of Asia, Latin America, and even here in the U.S. The U.S has alot of homeless people, orphans, and poor neighborhoods as well. They need a place to sleep. The instutions that I would build would be state of the art with plenty of room for each person, entertainment systems, computers, and decent furniture.

If I build schools in Africa, students will learn and as time goes by, they will acquire the skills necessary too take care of their own people and have stable countries. I know I won't be able to build instutions for everybody, but I hope that I can set an example for other billionaires to do the samething. I'm not saying that they should sacrifice their entire wealth, but they should at least build one instution a year. Since their billionaires, it shouldn't affect their wealth much.

Of course after I do all those good deeds, I will also enjoy life as a billionaire as well. I would buy all the world's top cars and as well as build mansions all over the world for myself and family. But responsibilty comes before relaxation.......so I do my best to help people all over the world and attempt to alleviate their suffering.

Parents!!!

Are you getting tired and annoyed with parents constantly bothering you about everything thats happening in your life? I know I am. Ever since I was little, my parent's were so overprotective of me and would do everything in their power to spy on me. They claim it was for my own good........yet I disagree because I told them there is never a guarentee that you will be safe. I tried to tell them that no matter how hard you or I try to protect overselves from bad things that happen in this world, the reality is different.

Life is full of hardships and difficulty. But, it's how we respond to those hardships that make the difference. If you view hardships as something that is unnecessary, then you will not mature and learn. I view hardships as a way to get experience........and an opportunity to learn. Experience is important because it makes you wise and strong. This why some people regard experience as the "greatest teacher" in this world. I agree with that saying because it is true in many forms.

I tried to explain to my parents that I need to have experience in life in order for me to learn and grow. Just as they have had experience in their life........I need to have my own types of experience. People experience things differently and in a variety of ways. Just because something bad happened to you.......doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen to everyone. Some are just luckier than others and others are not. Yet the unlucky ones also benefit because once again........they are getting experience.

Despite my parent's objections to certain things.....I continue to live my life and have my own types of experience; in time my parents learned to accept that fact and they stopped being too overprotective of me. I appreciate the fact though, that they care and are concerned about me, which I'm sure all parents are. But when it's time to let go......they need to let go. This doesn't mean that your going too cut off all ties with them, it just means that they have to trust us now whether they like it or not.

Motivation

Let’s face it……….most of us cannot succeed in accomplishing our goals if we are not motivated or inspired. Motivation is the force that drives us to succeed and put more effort into our goals. However, sometimes it is difficult to become motivated, especially if you are not interested. This is especially true, when we are writing research papers or making an oral presentation. So how do you motivate yourself to write these papers even though they seem uninteresting? Well, one thing you can do is ask yourself why is it that you are not interested. Is it because it’s boring, there is a lack of information, or is it because it’s just too time consuming to write about that specific topic. After you answer those questions, then you should attempt too find ways to not think about getting a good grade. Rather, you should think of the research paper as something beneficial for you because you are learning something that you did not know before.

This should motivate you enough to at least finish the report and perhaps even go more in-depth into that topic. I admit that this can be a challenge, but if you try hard, you should be able to succeed in motivating yourself. There were times when I was in high school where I had to write research papers about 19th century English writers and poets for my English class. I found this to be extremely difficult because it was something that did not interest me. However, after asking myself the questions in the previous paragraph, I managed too write out the reports and even get a decent grade on them. With practice, I eventually got use to writing out research papers with topics that did not interest me in the beginning; but by the end of the report, I found myself learning even more about them. Motivation is a powerful force and once you learn to master it, you will succeed in goals in which you thought were impossible.

Being Angry

Have you ever felt angry for no apparent reason at least once a week? Sometimes when you are angry, it's because you remember a past mistake you did and you can't seem too let it go and move on. No matter how hard you try too forget what had happened, it just doesn't always work especially if you are all alone and you think about things like your past. Other times you are angry is because you are not satisfied with something. For example, you may think that you are not skilled or good enough to succeed in life, that you want something in which you really can't have, or we are not happy with who we are and we desperately try to change ceratin things in our personality, but too no avail. Sometimes we tend to become angry because we are paranoid about certain things. Our mind sometimes creates negative images and we may get the wrong idea about something. For example, if you have a close friend who recently doesn't seem to call you anymore, our mind may convince us that something is wrong and he isn't your friend anymore. But in reality, he or she was just really busy with his life and didn't have time for a social call. There is nothing wrong with that, but a person may feel that he or she doesn't care about him or her anymore and thus we get angry. These are some reasons why some people might feel angry even though there is nothing to be angry about.

So, how do we combat these feelings of anger. Well, one simple physical way is too simply control your breathing. When you first get that feeling of anger, close your eyes and breathe slowely, your exhale should take longer than your inhale. This allows more CO2 to be released and as a result, your mind thinks more clearly. When you think clearly, you are less likely too create negative images in your mind. Another ways is too write in a journal or blog like this one. This allows you to express your anger more productively and you also practice your writing skills at the same time. If these methods fail, then you can go the gym and blow off some steam. Working out at he gym is my personally favorite method too combat any feelings of anger I may have. You get stronger at the gym while your feelings of anger decrease because you get exhausted.

Never let your anger get the best of you nor let it control you because if it does than as the old saying goes, "you will not be punished for your anger, you will be punishd by your anger".

Bugatti Veyron

The Bugatti Veyron is the most expensive and most powerful car out there today. These cars cost about a million dollars each and there are currently only about five hundred made so far. They can also travel at a maximum speed of 250 mph, which beats the previous record by at least 15 miles. These are some reasons why the Bugatti Veyron is my favorite car and why I want to buy one sometime in the future.

They Bugatti Veyron is also uniquely designed, as it has an engine called W-16 that is specifically designed only for this car. The engine is huge, about the size of a small plane engine and it is placed into the back of the car. There are four turbochargers placed on the engine and it produces a total of 1001 horsepower. When the car goes over 200 miles per hour, special aerodynamics in the car make it easier for the driver to control it. When the car reaches 230 mph, it consumes 10,000 gallons of air per minute; that's about how much an average person inhales every four days. The Bugatti Veyron is the world's second supercar, after the Cizeta Moroder V16T. Both cars were produced in Italy.

Confronting your fears

Fear.........that is a powerful feeling which I'm sure all of us have experienced. It is often said that fear prevents success, I believe this is true in all aspects of life. For example, back in high school I always had this fear in me that I was not liked by other people and that they always talked behind my back. Even though I had no proof and the other kids seemed to like me. However, the feeling still remained. As a result, I was always quiet and didn't say much even in class. Towards the end of my senior year, I decided that I wasn't going to live like this anymore. I decided to confront my fear and just act like myself around everyone else. It paid off and that feeling went away just like that.

I was more comfortable around everyone else and more importantly myself. I finally realized that this was all an illusion, all created by my own mind. In a way, I'm glad this happened because it taught me an important lesson, that sometimes if we want to defeat our fears, we just have to jump in and take action. We can also talk about our fears with a trusted friend or relative and that will also reduce the effects of fear. Our friend's support can be a big ally in confronting our fears and it also gives you the feeling that you are not alone and there are people who want to help you. Once we do that, we will realize that fear is often exagerrated by our own mind and that they are in fact, very weak. Too face fear can be hard, but the payoff is big and it will feel good. When we succeed despite fear, it means we accomplished something we couldn't do before and that is true success.

Martial Arts

I am a big fan of martial arts. Its one of my favorite sports and it has many benefits for a person. Besides the fact that it teaches you self-defense moves, it also teaches you discipline, honor, and increases your focus. I want to learn all of the world's different martial arts like jujitsu, taekwondo, judo, jeet-kun-do, aikido, shinkendo, brazilian jujitsu, etc. Most styles orginate from Asia, however there are a few that orginate in Latin-America like Brazil. Mastering martial arts vary and could take years to master. It requires alot of practice and you need to stay in shape in order to continue. However, the payoff is tremendous and you feel stronger, better, and more focused than before. Some martial arts require weapons training like the nunchucks, sword, and various stick weapons. I've watched numerous videos of famous martial artists like Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.

Still, even if you mastered martial arts it doesn't mean you should use it to show off or get revenge on your 6th grade bully. In order to be a true martial artist, you have to have honor and discipline and realize that you should take all necessary steps to avoid confrontation in the first place.

Balance

In life, we have to learn how to balance things. I believe that balance is one of the most crucial skills for survival. For example, we have to balance our social life with our responsibilities. When we go to parties, we should make sure that we took care of all of our school work, paying the bills, etc. This way we can enjoy the party without having to worry about any of that stuff. Another example is, we have to learn how to balance our money. Most people are not billionaires and I find it funny that people still go to the mall and spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on their credit cards knowing that they cannot pay it back. Why is it that expensive material items cloud our better judgement when we shop at a store? We should be more alert to these things and not go over our limits in terms of spending money. We should only purchase things only when we know it fits into our budget. Sometimes balancing can be hard, for example if we have three thousand dollars in spending money and we need both a brand new computer and a new television, we could only purchase one and in this case it's not possible to balance this so we have to make a sacrifice. Either we get the T.V. or Computer. Once we learn to master the art of balance, we become more cautious and as a result we make fewer mistakes in life.

Trying to be the best

Ever since I was little, I believed that everything in life was a competition. A competition in which I was trying to prove myself to my friends, family, rivals, etc. I always strived to be the best in everything I did whether it was math, basketball, chess, or a simple race with someone. Although I did manage to be very good at everything I did, there was always someone who was better than me. I used to try so hard to beat those people however, I did not prevail. In a way, I was disappointed even though my teachers and friends were impressed at everything I did (ex. getting high grades, playing good basketball, etc.). But then as I thought about it one day back in 9th grade, I realized that if I want to get rid of my obsession of trying to be "the best" I have to stop trying to be "the best" and just accept myself for who I am. It's a reality in life that no matter how good you are at something, there is usually someone who is better. I convinced myself that in order to keep my sanity and my health, I have to stop trying to beat everyone else and just do my best at everything I do in life. I shouldn't let other people tell me how good I am at something and what I can and can't do in life. After all, I know myself better than anyone else. Maybe that's one thing I'm the best at, that I know myself more than anyone else even my parents. Now that I'm in college, I get the impression here that everyone's in a competition with the next guy. Everywhere I go I hear people say, "what you get? B, ha I got an A". I'm not saying competiton is a bad thing, it helps you become better and gives you a reason to strive. But you shouldn't be obsessed with trying to beat the next guy, instead if someone get's higher than you, congratulate them and tell them good job. It's not just academics, it's also in life in general. Some people tell me "my house is bigger than yours or my car is more expensive than yours", all I can do is sigh and say that's nice. I know that everyone is different and we all are unique at the things we do and some are better than others, but we should have a little bit of modesty once in a while and try not to bring someone else's self esteem down.

Movies and Life

Watching movies are one of my favorite forms of entertainment. Sometimes when you are really into a movie, you tend to forget that you are watching a movie and you believe that this is happening in real life. Sometimes movies are really creative like SAW or Minority Report, while other times they can be dull or boring. But the latter depends on the person and what type of movies he/she generally watches. When I really admire a character in a movie, sometimes I try to acquire that character’s personality and incorporated it or blend it with my own. For instance, I recently saw the movie 300 and the main character Leonidas, showed a tremendous amount of courage when he and his men decided to stand and fight the Persian army of one million soldiers. He fought even though he knew that odds were highly stacked against him and that he was in all likely hood going to die. That courage and determination he demonstrated throughout the movie was something I personally admired; I had this sort of temptation to try to be just like that and not complain about the daily hassles of life and its problems. Rather than mope around about problems with school work, stress, etc. I strive to fight all of these issues with everything in my disposal and even though I may not always accomplish my goal, I can at least tell myself that “hey you gave it your best shot and at least you didn’t just sit there and complain.” It's movies like these that sometimes motivate us to strive to be better in every aspect of our life and they may even bring out the best in us.

Empire State Building

I saw an interesting clip of a documentary yesterday in my DNY class about the construction of the Empire State Building. It showed workers walking on steel beams with incredible balance and skill. The majority of the workers were Mohawk Indian. I was shocked when I found out that these workers were not wearing any type of safety equipment and there was no net to catch them if they fell. The workers worked together in small groups on different parts of the building. They trusted each other tremendously and in fact if one of the workers got sick one day and couldn't make it to work, then the entire group would not show up to work that day. I was also surprised that out of the hundreds of workers, there were only 5 fatalities. The entire building took about 14 months to build which is shocking considering that some ancient buildings like the Great Pyramids of Egypt took perhaps a century. I admire those workers because they had no fear of working up there even though they knew the dangers of their job. I guess that if you are really determined to accomplish a goal like constructing the world's tallest building, then any fear or doubt you might of had leaves you. Too me this is a valuable lesson about confronting your fears and I hope I remeber this. One of the workers that is still alive today said that not one person didn't want to work on the Empire State Building. They considered it a privilege and honor to take part in constructing this exquiste building. I believe that we have come a long way in terms of human technological development and we are improving everyday.

VQ: What does "intelligent self-direction" mean to you?

What "intelligent self-direction" means to me is that we as students and human beings need to find our own method and path in life to learn new things. We should find ways to eventually teach ourselves once we get through high school, college, etc. Otherwise if just follow what others tell us to do, we will be boring and have no creativity in our life. And who know, if we find a new creative method to learn, other people might find that path intersting too and would want to take the same path. I learned in life that there is no one successful way of learning and that we all eventually learn things even if it means you have to learn it painfully or smoothly. Even people with no "education" learn things in their own way. That's because they found that path that teaches them. Once we go through "intelligent self-direction" we eventually learn about ourselves and all the things that interest us.

Riddle

I have a riddle for you.........

What can you lick but not eat?
It travels all over the world, but it stays in a corner?



If you think you know the answer......leave it as a comment.

Why I workout?

I go to the gym usually about 3 times a week, sometimes more and sometimes less. There are many reasons why I workout. Besides the fact that it is fun for me and gives me something to do, it also relieves my stress and anxiety. The gym helps me blow off some steam whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed with things in my life. It also helps me focus on something besides all the worries and problems I might be facing these days. I've been working out for a year now and it has really paid off for me. I go to this small gym in my town called Valencia and it is probably the cheapest gym in all of New York. Sometimes when I go with my friends and they lift heavier weights than me, I may get tempted to try to exceed them and lift even heavier weights. Althought I know that I can't be the strongest man in the world, its just one of those guy things. Working out has also improved my health because I now tend to eat more healthier and more often than before. Of course, I can't deny the fact that I do have a desire to get more muscular and stronger, but I try not to obsess over that. Besides that, going to the gym is an activity for me that I enjoy doing for fun. Instead of watching t.v. all day when I'm bored I hit the gym.

My Greatest Struggle

Sometimes when I sit alone in my room with nothing to do and nothing to watch on T.V (like right now)........I start thinking about things. I start thinking about where my life is headed?, what kind of career I should pursue?, how to improve myself?, etc. Although I hate asking myself these questions because it gives me quite a headache, it is good for me that I do because then I can prepare myself with the answers I give to myself. By that I mean I can reflect on what I want and what I am interested in. This pops another question in too my mind (which I hate but can't stop) and that is how do I know what I want? How do I know that what I want right now is what I will want 10 or 20 years from now? Back in 5th grade I loved collecting pokemon cards and spent perhaps hundreds of dollars on them and after a couple of years have passed, I hated pokemon and threw away my entire collection. It's funny because my father always told me that eventually I'll lose interest in them but he still gave me money to buy them anyway. Although I may not know right now what will interest me throughout my life, I am still exploring and introducing myself to new ideas which may change my perspective someday and help me find new interests in life. Maybe one day I'll look back at this and thank my mind for asking me all of those questions. Perhaps you can relate to, but to me I consider this to be one of my greatest struggles.

What I learned from VQ?

There were a few things I learned from reading the VQ book. One thing was that it is true that writing, research, and reading are social activities that allow us to gain insight into another person's perspective of the world and it's realities. So in this way, we tend to learn socially rather than individually. By reading what other people write, we tend to change our own perspective of certain things and situations in life. Sometimes, we may take only a portion of what someone else wrote and sort of blend it with our own ideas.

Nature's Art

I have collected an article from Life magazine that I found interesting. It shows many photographs of nature's art and the author explains how nature creates "order from chaos". In one photograph it shows a river in the south coast of Iceland that looks like a tree branch from the sky. In another photograph that was shot 1,800 feet above Arizona's Little Colorado riverbed, it shows what appears to be a serpent between the gap of the mountains. Finally, in my favorite photograph, it shows a lake in the middle of Germany's Black Forest that is crystal clear and from the sky looks exactly like an eye that is staring at you. You can also see a reflection of the sky from the water. This eye looks very similar to a painting I saw in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhatten. In that painting you can also see clouds in the eye. Too me, all these photographs symbolize something important like your looking into the spirit of nature and how it too can be artistic. From a religous point, I believe that God made these natural wonders for us too ponder and reflect on them as we continue to live our lives.

The Chains We Wear

"We get used to the chains we wear, and we miss them when removed", is a very symbolic quoted from John Dewey in the novel The Child and The Curriculum. An example of this is that when I was in elementary school, I hated it and found it to be just a big jail to hold us. I always used too pretend that I was a secret agent and that I was being held captive in this big jail. I tried too find escape routes from boring classes which I did by asking to go the bathroom and not come back for 20 minutes.. However, I didn't realize that the time I spent there was limited and during this time I formed many friendships with alot of people. I also didn't realize that elementary school was going too be the most enjoyable time in my life. After I graduated, I realized that I was never going too see my friends again because they were all going there separate ways. Well after the "chains were removed", I did miss them and I still do.

VQ Question

What does the vision quest metaphor mean to you?

The "vision quest" metaphor is something like a spiritual journey that I have to go through in order to discover who I really am. I believe that this journey is something every intelligent being goes through at one point in their lives in search of answers to their questions. All of us have questions like Who am I?, What should I do in my life?, etc. So in my view, this is what the vision quest metaphor means.