Scope- 11/30 to 12/6

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)
Drama and love don't have to go hand-in-hand. While some obstacles are unavoidable, be prudent with what you are buying as excuses. Sure, it takes work to be in a relationship, but sacrificing your pride and testing your patience don't qualify as such. Draw the line between abuse and understanding and get a leg up on your love life immediately. 

Wow...well I guess I have already taken the necessary actions to get it under control..geesh, why is this so relevant? Until Next Time...

Enthusiasm

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

So I'm back in STL...and I am trying not to wallow in my misery too much...The sun is not shining at all, and i was definitely a stark difference as soon as my plane was come down below the clouds. However now that I am back I am trying to motivate myself to get resume the crazy study grind until Winter Break. I know it is going to be hard, but I am going to live by the above quote. There is no need to be down and out about school...yeah it sucks, but hopefully it will get better. So I will have lots of Enthusiasm these next 3 weeks!!! *mark my word.... (ok at least I will try)!

Oh and I added a "Daily Quotes Widget"...hopefully that will keep me motivated and will be something interesting to read. This is a random sidenote, but who is Ralph Waldo Emerson anyways...he seems to have a lot of quotes...maybe I'll look him up..in Wikipedia of course. Ok I am going to get back to studying for my exam on Wednesday...Until Next Time...

Scope - 11/23 to 11/29

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21)

Remember, you've been screwed over enough times when someone has pitched love on an installment plan. The truth is the debt never gets paid and you are typically left with an overly idealistic hope for a miracle to save the day -- giving more to compensate and wasting precious time all the while. Sure, it'd be beautiful if it ever worked out, but most of the time it doesn't. 

This horoscope is eerily true...I subscribe to " Weekly Friskyscopes" and they always seem to be right on target for the week. I guess I'll continue to share them each week, if I remember. Until Next Time...

Giving Thanks

I have so much to be thankful for...I was initially going to list out things that I am thankful for, but honestly that would take too long! I would honestly say I am happy right now, which I am thankful for it in itself. I am surrounded by amazing people that I love and inspire me everyday (even if they don't know it). I hope everyone enjoys the time with their loved ones. Somehow I got suckered into making "sides" this thanksgiving. That should be interesting...lol. I know everyone eats and enjoys turkey, but honestly the first thing I reach for/get is ham! Yes...I like ham more than turkey, hence the pic! Oh and I usually don't send out mass texts on thanksgiving...but I felt compelled to this year so I did. I think it was important to tell my friends that I was thinking of them, often people underestimate the value of friends.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  ~Melody Beattie

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.  ~William Arthur Ward

Until Next Time...

Burnout is real...

So people often use the statement that they feel burntout...I used to find myself saying that, but I truly had no idea what that really meant...Until this week. I am so ready to go leave STL and school, but I still have 3 exams left. :( I found some information on Burnout...the signs, symptoms, and what you can do about it. This is probably more therapeautic than complaining/whining/crying on the phone to my mom/friends (even though that has helped)...

What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.
Burnout reduces your productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give.

Stress vs. Burnout
Stress				Burnout
Characterized by overengagement				Characterized by disengagement
Emotions are overreactive				Emotions are blunted
Produces urgency and hyperactivity				Produces helplessness and hopelessness
Loss of energy				Loss of motivation, ideals, and hope
Leads to anxiety disorders				Leads to detachment and depression
Primary damage is physical				Primary damage is emotional

Dealing with Burnout: The "Three R" Approach

• Recognize – Watch for the warning signs of burnout
• Reverse – Undo the damage by managing stress and seeking support
• Resilience – Build your resilience to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health

Burnout prevention tips

• Start the day with a relaxing ritual. Rather jumping out of bed as soon as you wake up, spend at least fifteen minutes meditating, writing in your journal, doing gentle stretches, or reading something that inspires you.
• Adopt healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits. When you eat right, engage in regular physical activity, and get plenty of rest, you have the energy and resilience to deal with life’s hassles and demands. 
• Set boundaries. Don’t overextend yourself. Learn how to say “no” to requests on your time. If you find this difficult, remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say “yes” to the things that you truly want to do.
• Take a daily break from technology. Set a time each day when you completely disconnect. Put away your laptop, turn off your phone, and stop checking email.
• Nourish your creative side. Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun project, or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that have nothing to do with work.
• Learn how to manage stress. When you’re on the road to burnout, you may feel helpless. But you have a lot more control over stress than you may think. Learning how to manage stress can help you regain your balance. 

Like I said earlier, there are times in undergrad when I may have felt burntout...but I really wasn't, that was nothing compared to how I feel now. I hope I never feel this way again. I just need to take a break, relax, rejuvenate, and get back to it. :sigh: Until Next Time...

Happy Birthday...to ME!

Today I purpose to live My life will shine As the morning sings I walk in liberty Bound in true dreams Manifested promises Chase my forward motion A covered path before me The fruits of my hoping The fruits of my living Today I purpose to love My love will speak With the sound of grace Merciful within mercy The works of my faith Smiles of overflowing Inspire my giving Abundance of joy as rain The fruits of my living

michael john faciane

Until Next Time...

Praise Song for the Day

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.

Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

Praise song for walking forward in that light. 

-Elizabeth Alexander (Inaugural Poet)

I meant to write this post a few days ago on Election Day, but I just didn't have time. Most people recognize this poem because it was the "inaugural poem" read by Elizabeth Alexander at President Obama's inauguration. When I first heard it, at Emory's cozy "Harland Cinema" it instantly captivated me and I thought it was so appropriate for the occasion at hand. But everytime I read it...it seems to get even more powerful and take on a new meaning of that particular day that I read it.

Today I am definitely exhaling "praise songs for the day." Honestly, it has been rather difficult to give "praises" for the day, when I feel as though I am barely staying afloat with all the "material" and what not. But even though I have a really big exam coming up tomorrow (Anatomy and Physiology), I am so grateful that I am blessed enough to be in my current situation. My decision is validated even more when we do anything remotely related to the eyes. Just two days ago I ordered my first/second year's equipment. Even though it came up to over $1700 (which I'm using loan money to pay for). It made me really happy.

The fact that I have this opportunity is amazing. It is easy to forget the struggle/plight of others when you are in this academic bubble that is focused more on learn, study, take test...As of last year, it is estimated that ONLY 3% of current practicing optometrists are African American. Did you catch that? 3% that is sooo crazy. However it makes sense since my roommate and I are the only two black people in my class (c/o 2013). I just know that I am doing my very best, while trying to retain some sense of sanity.

In all, I am definitely giving praise songs for the day. Until Next Time...

Schools Stifling Creativity...

So...as CNN as my home page, I saw link that asked whether schools/academia was stifling creativity. Actually is a talk that is part of a lecture series TED Talks Tuesdays:
TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a conference and series of talks which brings together some of the world's best speakers and innovative ideas. It will be featured on CNN every Tuesday.


Wow! SO the talk talk was really profound. I ended up taking notes because he said so many things that really stuck with me and I wanted to share. However I just decided to copy and paste part of the article that summed up the talk (if you don't want to watch the video).

What is the argument? In a nutshell, it's that we're all born with immense natural talents but our institutions, especially education, tend to stifle many of them and as a result we are fomenting a human and an economic disaster.

In education, this vast waste of talent involves a combination of factors. They include a narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work; the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs from schools; arid approaches to teaching math and sciences; an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests.

The result is a disastrous waste of talent among students and their teachers. To sense the scale of this disaster, you only have to look at the alarming rates of turnover among faculty and the levels of drop out, disaffection, stress and prescription drug use among students. Even for students who stay the course and do well in education, the rules of success have changed irrevocably. Just look at the plummeting value of college degrees.

Reforming these systems is not enough. The truth is that we are caught up in a cultural and economic revolution. This revolution is that is global in scale and unpredictable in nature. To meet it, we need a revolution in the culture of education.

This new culture has to emerge from a richer sense of human ability. To shape it, I believe we have to leave behind the manufacturing principles of industrialism and embrace the organic principles of ecology.

Education is about developing human beings, and human development is not mechanical or linear. It is organic and dynamic.

Like all living forms, we flourish in certain conditions and shrivel in others. Great teachers, great parents and great leaders understand those conditions intuitively; poor ones don't. The answer is not to standardize education, but to personalize and customize it to the needs of each child and community. There is no alternative. There never was.

- Sir Ken Robinson

I found this talk applicable and profound in so many ways. Whew! Well first, since I am in professional school I have found myself leaving behind most things that I "enjoy" in order to learn, retain, and study information for my classes. Currently it is week 11...and I feel like I am coming up against a wall. Not necessarily a crossroads, but I feel like I am struggling in my classes and also struggling with my current lifestyle. I know that most people say you need to sacrifice your time, money and most things now so it can pay off later, but is that how people should live life? Is that how I should live life? What if my time on earth was counting down and I didn't know it...will I want to say the last few things that I did was study for 7 hours for a neuroanatomy exam? Or memorize the arteries/veins in the heart? Or learn where an image is formed when object is placed a certain distance from a mirror? No... I would want to have walked outside and looked at the trees as they turn different shades...or read a really good book..or spent time with my loved ones. 

Well such is life...I really need to get back to studying, but before I go..I want to share a random narrative/dream. So first semester my freshman year at Emory...I decided to take a Modern Dance class. I am not sure what attracted me to it, but I really fell in love with Modern. There was so much that was really freeing about it. I planned on being a dance major/minor, but when it came down to it, I never was...why? Mostly because I could barely handle my first major and try and get into professional school...so I pretty much put something that I really loved and valued to the side. I think that is what the "speaker" was getting at...how we give up so much in order to fit into "mainstream" society.

Often people say follow your passion, but I'm not sure if people really mean it..or is it just a phrase that sounds good? Until Next Time...