Prompt 12

I think the word I, is essentially just you. We use the word “I” in many instances usually talking about ourselves, using I-statements. I think we ultimately have many personalities, so the “I” saying I like dancing, might not be the same “I” saying I hate chicken. Since there are so many versions of the word “I,” there is no clear definition. One can say “I” and never know which “I” they are speaking from. I, I, I, I, we are always saying I. maybe we are just too selfish to create a different way to express how we feel, so we say I. One of the simplest words because it uses only one letter. But at the same time, it describes everything, me. It shows what I am and how it relates to me. Going back and forth using both “I” and “me” shows the two are very relatable the same almost but they have different spellings. However, I am me, but me is not I. 


image from:https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1y8ih8Xk4VEmzKM2YkOqNoV0dH86MKrEx5IVJCZsf7YQHFOJkpK1oGYqR7orWIq_dXt_m8rAcy7OpsF459urw74J7bC8ovN5utxmYnX-TMzUZM5LOZwgaZ8FnOmTaUMrUI9yWj5ma-78/s320/I_Am_Me.jpg

Prompt 11

My Samskaras
Behavioral Samskaras

• Every morning, I reach to my window-seat for my glasses
• When I come home from my school, I always change into a t-shirt and sweatpants and leave my clothes on the floor
• I re-paint my nails as soon as they chip
• I always take off my shoes because I hate socks
• I put on the same jewelry every morning, my ring from MV, I Love London bracelet, and iBelieve bracelet
• I can never go a day without earrings
• I check MediaTakeOut, a gossip website, every day
• I drink Ginger tea anytime I feel a cold coming 
• I brush my teeth before I get in the shower, to wait for the water to warm up
• When I download a CD, I listen to it on repeat for about a week, to become familiar with the songs
• When I drink anything, I take long gulps, instead of sips
• I always put my hands in between my thighs, because its warm
• When I can't find any food in my house, I put together random things

Thoughts Samskaras

• I love the summertime when the sun shines on my skin
• I can do this
• I love myself
• I need help sometimes lol
• I know, but I can always do better
• WOW
• I really wish ___________

Prompt 10

Like we said in class, “comparisons lead to unhappiness,” so I’m not going to compare “Indonesia” to “India” because I think Gilbert was at two very different places in her life and if I were to compare them, I would be comparing her progress in both sections, which are different, so I wont. But I will say that in “India,” Gilbert was going through a time if self-discovery. She was trying to find prayer and what that meant for her. In “Indonesia,” Gilbert eventually found love in Felipe from Brazil. I will say that in “India,” Gilbert was not spiritually and mentally there, but not psychologically. In “India,” it was Richard from Texas who guided her on the straight path and gave Gilbert words of wisdom along the way. “Taake the time you need to heal, but don’t forget to eventually share your heart with someone. Don’t make your life a monument to David or to your ex-husband” (189). “Forget about sight-seeing – you got the rest of your life for that. You’re on a spiritual journey, baby. Don’t cop out and only go halfway to your potential. You got a personal invitation from God here – you really gonna turn that away?” (171). I think his words helped her get through a lot in this chapter and even though this was about self-discovery, Richard helped her a lot along the road. In “Indonesia,” Gilbert started out questioning herself a lot, but in the end I feel that she truly understands happiness. In this section, Gilbert finally realized the key to her happiness: no words. “ The yogic sages say that all pain of a human life is caused by the words, as is all the joy. We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash…To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras” (325). I truly think, at this point, Gilbert is done searching for what she has been looking for the entire book – happiness. It took her a long time, but I think she had to go through all of those trials and tribulations to finally find her destiny.  

Notes from 9/23

9/23/10

During class today we touched on topics such as karma, Heaven and Hell, reincarnation, happiness, helping people, and embracing struggles. We started the class, reading our favorite passage from the beginning of the reading from last night. Talks about Heaven and Hell led to the question, how can Heaven and Hell be love at the same time? Well according to yoga/meditation getting to Heaven and Hell take seven steps each and when you reach Heaven and Hell there is a point where you find that you were meant to be there, which is love. However, there is reincarnation, which means you come back to the earth brand new and you start the whole process over again. We then transitioned into the talk of karma and how Gilbert explains that with karma, you must fix the current problems in your life, or you’ll suffer later on in life. We talked about how Gilbert embraces her struggles and takes one step forward only to take two steps back. For example, she told the big male monkey she had her brothers with her so they couldn’t do anything to her, but the next morning she was hit by a bus. But if she wasn’t hit by the bus, she would have never met Wayan and learned of her tragic story, which compelled Gilbert to help Wayan. During this part of the book, Gilbert struggles with happiness, often becoming happy then thinking about her life back home and worrying about the unknown. But comparisons lead to unhappiness, so they key to happiness is to just be. 

Prompt 9

Although Ketut’s purpose was being a medicine man, I think he does offer up some good advice to Gilbert. I love the quote, "To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy (231). It reminds me of the whole ideal in yoga that positive thoughts lead to positive experiences and in order to have positive thoughts, you must control those thoughts. For me, I like meditating with a relaxed face, so when I read this I was a little alarmed that Ketut thinks that meditating with a smile is better than a relaxed face. Then I looked at it again and read it more figuratively, and thought that smiling with the mind doesn’t necessarily mean actually smiling but really just being happy, which will then bring positive thoughts because no one really smiles when they’re sad.

I also loved the part about age and how Ketut justifies the different ages he tells people. “When he’s really tired he’ll sigh and say, “maybe eighty-five today” but when he’s feeling more upbeat he’ll say, “I think I’m sixty today.” (239). I think it’s kind of clever to justify your age on how you’re feeling. I think its sometimes true for us, we feel older when we wear certain things or we feel younger when we do things that little kids do. Sometimes we even say, “I feel like a little kid,” which brings back old memories. I think this isn’t really “yogic” but I like that he chooses his age based on how he’s feeling. Sometimes we even say we’re older than we really are because what we’re doing makes us feel older. I know sometimes I do things that a 17 year old shouldn’t be doing. Or I sometimes feel like my parents treat me like a kid, which makes me feel a lot younger than I really am. So I think it all depends on what you’re doing and how you feel that can determine your “feeling age,” your real age.

Honors Prompt 3

I think Gilbert has a clever way of writing. I love that she uses similes and metaphors and often compares everything. I love the use of similes and metaphors because I think when Gilbert compares things, they’re end up being something we can relate to. I think she writes differently in each chapter so it’s hard to say that she has a certain writing style. In “Italy,” she is explaining her life story to the readers; so it is a lot of her own personal writing. In “India,” she is using her spiritual experience and often is explaining a lot of yoga terms to the readers so it seems more informational.

I don’t think I would really use her style of writing because I don’t think I have what it takes. I think she’s an amazing writer but in order to write about your life, a lot needs to have been experienced in life, and I don’t think I have what it takes. I think Gilbert’s style of writing is related to her experiences and I think I need to experience life a bit more. 

Prompt 8

To me, Richard from Texas was like Gilbert’s soul mate. His words guided her throughout her stay in India and showed her the right path. And this passage is no different, he tells her "if you can't master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever." This is something that Gilbert uses throughout the book and Richard from Texas just let her in on a little bit of his insight. 
“If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind.” I love this line because I believer that we as humans have total control over all of our actions whether they are good or bad but if we work on the mind, we can control everything for the better. Sometimes I think we let our actions control mind, which lead to false judgment. I think we have the power to control our actions through our positive thoughts; there could be a lot of changes made to our lives. We wouldn’t do bad things because our mind compels us to think about doing good. This is kind of like prompt #7, and how Gilbert had to tell herself to enjoy what she was doing. I feel that if we tell ourselves a certain thing over and over again, we can start to believe it. If we keep telling ourselves positive thoughts, we will be able to believe them and in the long run, be successful.

Prompt #7

There are numerous accounts in morning meeting when I wished I were somewhere else because they are just so boring. Typical announcements made by teachers, and all the while, the students have to sit there and listen to every single one of them. But a very vivid experience I had was at Interfaith Camp that my dad made me attend because he was on the board for the organization. I didn’t want to talk about religion or anything of that sort. I remember being at the check-in table, struggling to take my nametag because I really didn’t want to be there, I truly wished I were somewhere else. I had just left my job for a week for a camp that I never wanted to go to. I struggled because it was a new experience, I didn’t know anyone there, and I surely didn’t want to talk about religion. During the first day, I started to think about doing everything else besides enjoying myself. I wanted to be somewhere different. However, during that week, I found myself enjoying the camp a lot and I found that it was not just about religion, but also social justice.

I think what worked was that instead of thinking about being in other places, immerse yourself in whatever you’re doing. I think it helps you become more open in a situation and then you will be able to let loose and be yourself. I think Gilbert had a similar experience where she had to tell herself to enjoy what she’s doing instead of thinking about being somewhere else. It definitely helps to have positive thoughts as well because they help contribute to the experience.

Prompt 6

Hearing this definition if a soul mate, makes me re-think what I had previously thought about a soul mate. I had thought that a soul mate was one who I met and immediately fell in love with stayed with for the rest of my life. Also, I believed that this person was going to be someone that I fell in love with or made me fall in love with them because of their powerful attraction to me. However, after hearing Richard from Texas's perspective on soul mates, I think that soul mates are meant to come into your life, show the real you, and then leave, but hopefully not forever. If I met my soul mate and he/she left me, I would be devastated. I do not consider my soul mate to be someone that I love in an intimate way, but rather just someone that I love.

I think my boss this summer was my soul mate. Not only did she help me realize the true potential that I have, but she helped me open up and not be afraid of my true self. I truly think that she came into life to show me who I really am. She did not leave my life, she’s still there but I do not work at the magazine anymore. I don’t really think she was my mirror because she didn’t directly show me who I am through her own actions but rather led me to know the type of person I can be. 

Honors Prompt 1

"Let me first explain why I use the word God, when I could just as easily use the words, Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, or Zeus.  Alternatively, I could call God “That,” which is how the ancient Sanskrit scriptures say it, and which I think comes close to the all-inclusive and unspeakable entity I have sometimes experienced. But that “That” feels impersonal to me--a thing, not a being—and I myself cannot pray to a That. I need a proper name, in order to fully sense a personal attendance. For this same reason, when I pray, I do not address my prayers to The Universe, The Great Void, The Supreme Self, The Whole, The Creator, The Light, The Higher Power, or even the most poetic manifestation of God’s name, taken, I believe, from the Gnostic gospels: “The Shadow of the Turning” (13).

I like this passage because throughout her book, Gilbert often speaks about praying and this passage explains why she uses the word God. I think this passage creatively explains her use of the word "God" and is cleverly written. I normally don't like comparisons but I liked the metaphor she used in comparing God to the word "That." It's one of m favorite parts because she chose a word that people commonly use to replace God and gave her reasoning for why she could never use it, even though it's justified in the Sanskrit. I, personally, think it is a bit wrong to call God “that,” or even “it,” but I like that she says, “I cannot pray to a That." Even though it is very simple, it's very head-on and straight to the point. She explained that she could use it, but it's too impersonal which I agree. I also think she used it to convey that one cannot call God an object and at the same time pray to that object, because for her God is not an object but a being. In a later passage she says she refers to God as a “Him," and not something that would cause a revolution, which makes me think she's living life pre-cautiously. I think the language she uses shows her point especially when she refers to all of the names of higher powers that all start with the word “The.” I think listing all the names puts an emphasis on another reason why she doesn’t use those names and furthers her reasoning for using “God”

Prompt 5

I felt very accomplished after today's yoga experience. I found myself getting better with the breathing exercises, which made me feel better when actually performing yoga. I felt like my body was transforming as each move/motion was performed. One thing that felt good during the yoga was having the block under my butt and just breathing. I felt like the elevation helped me breathe better and relieved tension in my back. Although I had a little trouble with balance in the tree exercise, I feel that if I do it again, I can perfect my balance. Afterward, I felt relieved and although my body ached from dance two nights ago, my muscles seemed to be a little bit more relieved. The Savasana really calmed my mind and made it seem at ease. I like exercises like that, that don't require any physical activity, but more of the mind relaxing. I can say that now I love yoga and that it does release some tension in my body. 

Prompt 4

Out of all of my friends, I can say that I'm probably the last one to learn how to swim which happened a little over a year ago. It's not that I never wanted to learn, but more like I never had time. In the end, I finally learned but not really because I can swim to save my life not actual swimming. So this is in Martha's Vineyard and this wasn't just regular swimming, this was jumping off of a bridge.


Me: I can't do this, it's really high

Mind: Jump in the water, nothing bad will happen. You know how to do this

Me: Shit, no I don't 

Mind: You know how to swim and the edge is right there, just don't panic

Me: No I really can't do this

Mind: But you're friends are here helping you, they're even waiting for you down at the bottom
Me: But can they catch me when I get right down there?
Mind: Everything will be okay, you're not that far from the rocks, you know how to swim, so just it will be alright. Just put one foot up and slowly stand 

Me: I'm scared something bad will happen as I hit the water


(big guy jumps off bridge and the whole bridge shakes)


Me: Oh no, I'm not doing it anymore

Mind: It's okay, once you jump, you'll float right up like ice in water

Me: Well what if I don't come back up?

Mind: You will, I promise

Me: Well can you come with me then?

Mind: I'll be there with you the whole time

Honors Prompt 2

After the Restorative Yoga exercise today, my body felt replenished almost. I felt like I lost my body in the exercise almost and after a while, I felt like I had been laying on the floor for forever. I think the exercise really relaxed my mind and even though random thoughts popped into my head, they were all positive thoughts. As my arms were at my sides I felt my back go deeper into the floor because my body couldn't stop it. After the next class, I felt rejuvenated and ready to get going. Although I laughed a lot in my next class, my mind felt clear and it seemed like everything was kind of easy going, and there was no stress. I kind of wish it lasted longer, but there's always next time. 

Prompt 3

Meditation Date 9/14


Since this was my first time meditating, I kind of found it a little funny at first just because I felt like my body couldn't do those kind of things, like the breathing exercises. It felt funny to actually control my breath, which for me isn't normal, so I tried my best to really get into it. I think I need more experience with that exercise because I don't think I really got something out of the exercise since it was my first one. 


However, I can say that I loved the sleeping exercise that we did (I'm blanking on the name) except we didn't really sleep. I really felt that after a while my body got so comfortable that it felt that I wasn't even there anymore. It was a nice feeling for me but I know my body wasn't used to it because every so often my arm, leg, or hand would suddenly twitch as if to bring my body back to life, but then I would fall back deeply into this "fake sleep" although it happened again five minutes later. I think I really got a lot out of that exercise and I felt new when I sat up. 

Prompt 2

I love the personal style of writing where instead of Gilbert telling a boring story, she is telling her life and makes it very personal, not just dates and times of random events. So for Eat, Pray, Love, I really love how Gilbert is just real about everything and she isn't really telling some story that people want to hear but rather real life actions and experiences that are entertaining. I think her life might have been boring up until the events in the book, but I also think it's one of those situations that could only happen to someone like her, who was just completely bored with her life up to that point and prayed for some way out of it. So far, I love the part about the pregnancy issue, especially when she said that when she got her period she wasn't like FML like every other girl in the world who wishes her period would never ever come, but instead she said thank you over and over again which I thought was kind of cool. Especially since she thought of her period as a means for not being pregnant, which was a way of saying basically that getting pregnant was the worst thing in the world. 


I loved this part, "Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit," (10). I kind of felt like her sister was referring to having a baby was a setback in life, I guess it was the wording she used, "before you commit," that made it seem like committing to having a baby was a bad thing. 

Prompt 1

I don't think that I have any expectations for this course. I think it will be a good time, especially since we get to meditate and on top of that I'm already falling in love with meditation music which is a very very very very very good thing. :)


I haven't really gotten into touch with my samskaras yet, but I hope to!