The Mind's General Health

Have you ever noticed, that negativity seems to come in groups. Often, I find that when I am having a bad day, I continue to have a bad day. When I am short tempered, my mood often deteriorates further before it improves. We tend to reflect what we feel, putting off whatever emotions we may be feeling right out into the universe. This wallowing in self importance seems to result in similar thoughts, feelings, or events, taking place in our lives.

As a basic example, nine times out of ten a person who walks into a room and begins verbally abuse a peer will often receive similar retaliation. In essence, I'm talking about Karma, but this is no folklore or legend, this is a real, tangible thing, to be used and taken advantage of on a daily basis. I see people who fully grasp the meaning and significance of the theory of Karma, and these people are either too stubborn, or undisciplined to practice it.

People become convinced they are meant to have a bad day, week, a month, or any other obscurely relevant length of time, and they create the circumstances necessary to make that believe come true. Many do this unconsciously, simply by putting negative attitudes, thoughts, words, and actions, out into the world. Other see some abstract correlation to the fact that every time they treat their friends badly they seem to get very lonely very fast. Even so, many refuse to change their line of thinking and general behavior in order to benefit their own lives.

I experience these correlations, and I make attempts to manipulate this beautiful fact of life. The fact that negativity is generally returned with negativity, the same is true off happiness, positivity, lightness. Refusing to be beaten down by the great taunts of life means keeping your head held high in the midst of drowning in the sea of life without a paddle, and this refusal to be bent into submission creates happiness, wealth, and general goodness.

I believe this can be done as simply as maintaining a happy, charitable, and caring attitude every day. It is about approaching each day with nothing but the best of intentions. Putting goodness into this world is rewarded with surprising amounts of goodness in return. It is not a science, it is not exact, and it is not every single time. But it is a real, tangible thing.

If you were told you had the choice between relinquishing your control of your life to higher forces, or commanding the reigns of your own life, why refuse the latter?

Looking in the Mirror

Life is truly a fragile existence, throughout which we push the limits of acceptability, morality, and truth.

I recognize my youth, and place a value on that simple reality alone unlike anything else in my life. I have found that I have a natural tendency to abuse this beautiful fact. Unconsciously, I've created a mindset in which I believe that I can make mistakes, do the unthinkable, push down the wrong path at  a million miles an hour, all the while knowing that this is not the path for me and that I am taking strides in a direction that I am likely to regret. Yet I have concluded that subconsciously I had convinced myself that I have ample time to recover and completely revive myself from the misery I may or may not cause myself, as well as those around me who are to be effected by my actions.

I have recognized the fault in this line of thinking, and I am lucky to have done so.

The thing about life is that we only get one. As I write that I think perhaps we may not have only one life, yet who knows more than this life? If there are lives beyond the one we live now, we will not know any better until we are no longer living this one. So we are forced to live life bearing the belief that this is our one and only existence, at least on this earth.

Why then, I ask, should we abuse this life? Should we not cherish this beautiful, vast, limitless state of being with which we have been given?

Yet I see a paradox in the midst of all of these cold truths and ideas. Throughout my seventeen years, I've heard echoes of a single concept which I took little heed of until recently. Some version of the statement, "Some people have to learn the hard way".

So essentially, in this life which is limited only by time, which we strive to make the absolute most of, is doomed by the fact that we as a human race are too stubborn to heed the warnings of others and avoid our own hardships. When I look back upon my life, as I'm sure you reading this can as well, I can quickly discern my failures and dissapointments, and I can easily distinguish a line of reasoning and choices that would've efficiently avoided the hardships I've dealt myself. Despite the fact that I have been able to recognize this fact my whole life through, I've continued to make mistakes, I have continued to deal my emotional and physical self devastating blows. The reasons behind each mistake vary, and each failure has been unique to itself. Whether I did something wrong with all of the possible consequences and results in mind, or I made a terrible mistake out of ignorance, there is a persistence of failures throughout my life.

I propose that this is life's greatest tragedy, and at the same time I believe it is at the core of what makes our lives beautiful. I firmly believe that hardship is the one and only forge of greatness. Only through mistakes, bad decisions, wrongdoing and heartache, are we able to gain the strength necessary to achieve greatness. Men of strength rarely hail from pampered, sheltered lives.

I also believe it necessary to accept your own faults in this journey to success. You will intentionally make bad decisions, varying in degree, with the thought that you can succeed in life while doing these wrong things. You will fail. When you fail it is of the utmost importance to recognize, and accept that you have done wrong, and that you have failed miserably in the pursuit of whatever it may be that you were pursuing. Come to an understanding with yourself that you are a flawed being, and that you are the only one in this vast universe that can and will improve upon your faults. No one on this earth will push you to greatness. Nobody is going to come into your life, come to terms and dominate your demons for you. Your fate rests alone on your shoulders, and the story of your life, good or bad, is up to you.

Consider, and accept, exactly who you are. Then, ask yourself if you are proud of the person you have determined that you are. From there the decision is yours. Do you strive to improve upon your faults? Or do you ride the current of ease and continue on in this singular life accepting that you could be better than you are, and you are the one stopping that reality from coming to beautiful fruition.

Fine China

Due to recent events in my personal life, I've found myself spending some serious time considering how fragile our lives are. 

My meaning is this:

Our daily lives are quite similar to a balancing act. We are on the verge of losing our personal rights, freedoms, possessions, even our lives in the blink of an eye. The human body itself has numerous vulnerabilities that leave us prey to everyday accidents. 

A woman with thin blood may cut herself while preparing dinner and bleed out too quickly for medical attention to save her. A young man out to dinner with his date can suffocate from choking on the steak he ordered with his daddy's credit card. An athlete can fall during training and damage their leg to the point of paralyzation.

I see these simple accidents for all of the lethal potential they have, but what is more is that these seemingly mundane and simple things can be applied to virtually anything. Men of immaculate moral character are falsely accused of rape, murder, kidnapping, the list goes on. These men and women are torn out of their lives for the crimes of another. Teens test the limits of what they can get away with nationwide, and yet one bad situation could land them a criminal record that could ruin any opportunities they may have had at a successful career.

I ask you to take just a second of your day, and ponder how sensitive our lives are. Many of us, myself included, never even think about how disaster is lurking in the decisions and situations that go on every single day of our lives. Awareness is vital to safety. I present this information with no intentions of scaring my readers or creating anxiety for anyone. I simply see a need for people to consider this thought. Life is beautiful, but as fine china, beauty can be fragile. I only urge caution and awareness in all of your decisions. live life in the edge, push yourself, set records and blow minds, but remember that you are not invincible, and one simple decision can be life altering.

"2K16"

Now nine weeks stand between millions of young adults and high school graduation. I am one of that mass, and I believe that this is  one of the most profound periods of time in a persons life.
There is a certain feeling of living in a fictional reality that I've found this chapter of my life to contain; my peers seem to agree with this.any of the seniors in my shoes have a greed that they are experiencing an all consuming wave of emotions recently. Stress, anger, worry, disappointment, dismay, as well as joy, excitement, and anticipation. There seems to be a communal sense of the unknown that defines our daily thoughts and actions. This eagerness yet fear to become adults and step into what adults seem to be calling "the real world". This step into so much responsibility is a huge leap for many kids. It's truly daunting almost regardless of how prepared we think we may be.
There is truly something magical about this time in a persons life, if for no other reason than because every single person goes through it, and it defines people. The way a person handles the reigns of adulthood is in a sense a representation of who they are and can show how successful they can and will be in life.
I walk the halls of my high school an see the thoughts of hundreds of seniors etched on their faces and I laugh, because I can completely relate to their struggle and their worries yet at the same time I understand that I have absolutely no clue what they are going through. It is perplexing to think about. How two people from entirely different backgrounds and of incredibly diverse personalities and moral values can be thrown into the same challenge. Only this is on an inconceivably massive scale. I picture it as life's game. "Alright boys and girls now go write you're own history", with whatever odd collection of knowledge and skills we've aquired. I think this is beautiful, despite it's immeasurable diversity, this period of growth and opportunity in a young adults life presents an insanely large world of opportunity and gives us the chance to go change the world; to better ourselves, the lives of others, or our world in it's entirety.

The young adult population is quite literally the future, and we are on the verge of unleashing a mass of graduates into this world that have all the power any group of people ever will to make a difference in this world, to become something great and be the people stories are written about. I feel incredibly blessed and honored to be a part of this indescribably beautiful community of people. I truly cannot comprehend or put into words the majesty of the chapter of my life I live, but I can tell you that it is a beautiful world of potential which will undeniably produce the some of the most amazing people this world has ever seen. Until next time. 

Why is professionalism dissapearing?

   Growing up, I was taugh that there's a time for seriousness and there's a time to play. Seeing as how my childhood was extremely diverse, I believe that it's safe for me to assume that the majority of us are taught this lesson throughout our childhood.

  These lessons come to mind as I'm watching the process of this presidential election, which honestly, is disheartening. I've spoken to countless adults on the subject of this election, and all seem to agree with me when I relate that the manner in which our potential nominees (republican nominees) are behaving is childish.

        Now isn't that something to step back and think about for a second? The men that are asking us for the keys to our country seem to be incapable of holding a professional, and polite conversation with each other, while on national television. Donald Trump, "The man who made the election famous", has just last week defended the size of his " " on National TV. Why? Because a fellow nominee mocked the size of Donald's hands, and hinted that this spoke to the size of his genetalia. 

         I tend to compare the election process to a job interview. An interview requires professionalism, confidence, and well informed answers. It also requires self control under pressure, and quick thinking. So why do we see candidates talking over one another on the debate stage, childish mockery, name calling, and lies made in an attempt to demean competing candidates. These men are asking the American people for their vote, in order to obtain the top position of power in the most respected and powerful country in the world. On top of that, all of these men come from backgrounds that require extreme professional behavior.

    Then why have the top three candidates chosen to throw this experience out the window? The years of failures and lessons that taught these men how to behave in a position of power, squashed like it is no longer important to present oneself as a careful, and respectful, human being. 

    Now I must admit that I have no intentions of voting democratic, regardless of these shenanigans the republican candidates have been displaying; But why is this even an issue, why have these men chosen to embarrass themselves in such a powerful position, and one with intense media coverage at that.

    I ask my readers to respond to this question. Why is this lack of fundamental behaviors required for such a position dissapearing? What would spark this ignorance into existence? Thank you all, until next time.

In the beginning..... He had no idea what he was doing :D

Hello, my name is Jesse and I am here to discuss today's culture with you. It's my hope that what I leave you with here is something that makes you think. I hope my words leave you considering, and asking yourself why our world is as it is. I hope to make you wonder how things happen, why they effect our culture and responses in the way they do, and if these effects should be considered good or bad. 

Today we're going to discuss the Internet. Recently in my English class, our textbook had a section titled "is google making us stupid?" This chapter addressed the idea that the Internet is effecting the way we interpret and remember information. Today is a time of immediate satisfaction. Any question you may have, be it about science, technology, electronics, math, or pop culture, the answer to an infinite array of questions is a mere keystroke away. Now I don't generally think much about anything that goes on in English class outside of my English class, but this concept stuck with me. Throughout this chapter in our textbook multiple scholars, scientists, and journalists were asked how this instant access to the questions of the world had changed the way they thought. Every single one of them had noticed changes in their behaviors and responses. Some had a harder time reading long passages, some found their minds wandering at the strangest of times, and others noted that they had a harder time retaining and remembering information. All of the people who wrote passages and commented in this section noted that all of these struggles began with the birth of the Internet. Now I'm no expert on the matter,  but when I read that people with Phd's and Doctorates are having the same problems with retaining material and paying attention that I struggle with, it catches my attention! This.. Hypothesis, has occupied my thoughts over the last few months, and has prompted me to make an effort to change the way I think, write, and research. Instead of allowing my mind to wander while reading a long passage for school, I bear down and focus on the piece. I find myself being able to recall the information afterwards much better than before. Now, instead of running to google when I have a quote or passage to look up, I go to the text and look for the section I'm looking for. I've noticed that this extra time and effort spent looking for the material forces my brain to stay focused, and when I've found the section I've been searching for, I find that I pay much more attention to what the quote or passage actually says. 

Now I named this blog artificial intelligence with the idea of this first post in mind. I believe that this world of immediate satisfaction, where a bank of artificial knowledge and intelligence is just a few clicks away, has greatly influenced our culture, in so many small ways over so many years that 99% of people have taken no real notice of the change. I believe that we have shorter attention spans, that we have an over reliance on external resources for information, and that this has resulted in less brain excercise, a strong decrease in self reliance, creativity, and risk taking. I mean this not only in a literal sense. Yes I believe we are less willing to put our idea out into the open and try new things, for risk of judgement and embarrassment, but I believe that this timid nature goes farther. I believe that instant access to virtual worlds, images and pictures from around the world, video and documentation of things that the risk takers of this world are doing, I think all of that exposure to the world has hindered our willingness and desire to go do those things ourselves. Why go skydiving and risk your life and safety when you can watch people do it in first person? Why spend the money to go see rio when your can virtually hang glide around the city? Now I understand that plenty of people are actually inspired to go experience the world by this exposure, but is it possible that there are just as many people that are discouraged by this? I don't have the answer to these questions I ask, only the ability to ask myself. What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with me? How do you think these changes have effected us, the way we think, interact, and live? Try as I did to counteract your struggles with attention and your ability to remember material, and let me know if you notice any changes in the comments. Thank you, all of you, for taking the time to read this and I hope that I've been able to make you all ponder some questions about life. Until next time.