Sem perturbação

30 November 2008, 3:58 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Learn Something

Without confusion.

It occurred to me earlier this month that I needed to figure out how to explain what I study/do to a person who knows pretty much nothing. This became apparent when I thought I’d explained what I do to someone, and the next thing I knew they were talking about personality tests, which, in case you were wondering, is not what I do.

I am also not studying to be a principal or an administrator. As I explained to my principal once, I’m not that crazy. He laughed at that.

I am in the Educational Psychology department. And I study learning theory. I like learning about what processes happen in our brain when we learn, how do we gain new knowledge, and how does our mind organize and retrieve the knowledge we do gain. We all know we learn things, but how does that happen? And how can we maximize our learning? What are the mechanisms by which we learn?

I have a bit of a reputation in the department for being on the cognitive side of things (cognition is one of several general groups of learning theories). My main interests are metacognition and social cognition.

I think a few definitions might be helful.

Cognitive (adj): of or pertaining to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.

Cognition (n): the mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.

Metacognition (n): awareness and understanding one’s thinking and cognitive processes; thinking about thinking.

And then social cognition is the mental process of knowing through the people and tools around you.

So that’s what I study.

And now you know!

Did that make sense? You’d tell me if that didn’t make sense, right? Because if that doesn’t make sense then it means I’m still not explaining it well enough and I still need to work on it. Oh I hope that made sense.

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E confiante durmo

29 November 2008, 11:33 am by Giggles
Categories: Random

And confidently I sleep

It might seem a little strange, but I have several movies that I put in because I know I’ll sleep to them. These are movies that I know very well and that I like a lot. It’s not because they are boring that I sleep to them either. I think they are great movies. They are just movies that I have seen over and over again and that I know if I fall asleep to them I won’t miss anything.

Actually, when I do fall asleep to them, I generally keep watching the movie in my sleep. Except my mind can play the movie faster than the DVD player can. And this can cause a few problems. If I wake up slightly during the movie I’ll notice where it is at and I can be a bit confused in my half-awake state because in my head I’ve already seen that part of the movie. So my head will reset and I’ll drift off again, only to have the same confusion when I drift awake again later.

Why would I start a movie if I know I’m going to fall asleep watching it? Often that is exactly why I start it. It’ll be night time and I will want to go to sleep, but I won’t be tired or my mind won’t slow down enough for me to sleep. So I’ll put in one of my nap movies. More than once I’ve been asleep before the movie even gets through the opening credits. When I wake up after it’s over I’m sufficiently sleeping enough that I usually just push the power button on the tv and stumble in to bed to sleep out the rest of the night. I’ve successfully put myself to sleep! And I leave the DVD in the player until I’ve managed to watch it during the day without falling asleep, which can be more than a week at times.

I can fall asleep reading too, but that’s a bit more complicated because the light will stay on and I’ll worry about losing my place if I fall asleep with the book open and my mind keeps going a lot faster when I read than when I watch movies, thinking about what I’m reading. Movies are just easier.

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Minha oração

28 November 2008, 2:44 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel

My prayer

I have noticed a patterns in my “arguments” with a certain friend. They seem to be more discussions over semantics than anything. The general outline is:

Me: this term is the wrong term for it, it should be this term
Him: but they mean the same thing
Me: no they don’t, this one means this but this one has these connotations with it, so it should really be this.
Him: okay, I see your point, but really, it doesn’t make a difference.
Me: it makes a difference to me, the rest of the world is just stupid
Him: okay, maybe the rest of the world is stupid, but you aren’t going to change it.42D

One argument we had recently was over the term “prayer,” specifically “praying” versus “saying prayers.” I was arguing that praying is a much better term for it. It implies actually speaking to Heavenly Father rather than just repeating a rote prayer. And while both terms can get that idea across, the former is definitely better than the latter. If you were to compare it to other communications, I converse with my friend, I don’t say a conversation to them.

I think one of my favorite definitions of prayer comes from the dictionary at the back of the LDS edition of the King James Bible:

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings. (Bible Dictionary: Prayer)

I know in my life when I remember with whom I am speaking and I remember the purpose of prayer, to align my will to God’s not his to mine, I am more easily able to find the peace and reassurance I am seeking through prayer. Prayer truly is a great blessing in my life. I have had many instances where my own prayers have been answered, as well as when I have known that I was an answer, in some small way, to the prayers of others. My prayers are heard, and they are always answered in the way that is ultimately the best for me.

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Ao Senhor elevo

27 November 2008, 10:46 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel

To the Lord I raise.

One of my favorite hymns is “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” While I’m sure I had heard it before, my favorite memory of the song is from a zone conference while I was on my mission. A group of four elders sang it a capella as part of the meeting. They had translated it into Portuguese as well and sang it through in both languages. The simplicity of it was beautiful.

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Here I raise mine Eben-ezer.

Ebenezer is not just a character in a Dickens’ novel. Eben-ezer is a memorial stone the House of Israel raised to commemorate the help they had received from the Lord in their battles.

While the battles I have fought have not been ones of armies, we all have our battles in life. I hope the life I live can be raised in memorial to the help I have received from the Lord.

But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
Alma 26:11-12

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Graças eu darei

26 November 2008, 11:49 am by Giggles
Categories: Books, Education, Exercise, Family, Gospel, Happy Things, Health, Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting, Relationships, Science & Tech, Work

I will give thanks.

Being grateful is one of the keys to happiness. So with that, here’s a small count of some of my blessings.

  • family
  • testimony
  • gospel
  • life experiences
  • friends, those now and those from the past
  • a nice place to live with great south facing windows
  • my job – yes it’s a small job that just barely covers rent, but the benefits I get because of that job are worth it, and I can do my job in my pjs most of the time
  • my sewing machine
  • books
  • my health, even with all the injuries I’ve had, my body still works the way it’s supposed to
  • my education, both the formal and informal
  • my mission
  • music
  • elephants
  • modern appliances – fridge/freezer, washing machine, dish washer…
  • earth and all its wonders
  • my blog and website so that I can mess with the code and get that “must program” bug taken care of
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Pelo amor divino

25 November 2008, 11:30 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Family, Relationships

For the divine love.

One of the things that I’ve found interesting as I have continued with my education is that the more I learn about learning, the less I am able to define it. A dictionary may define learn as “to acquire knowledge or skill.” But that barely even scratches the surface of what it means to learn. How is that knowledge or skill acquired? What is the mechanism by which we retain knowledge for later use? What about the tools and people involved in an individual’s learning? Before working on my studies, I could’ve easily defined “learn” for you. But now, as I have learned more, I find there is so much more about learning than I think I could ever know.

I’ve noticed something else as I have lived my life. The more I live, the more I love people, the less I know about love. I really don’t think I could define love. I know there are different types of it. But how do you define that feeling? If you read a definition of love in the dictionary it sounds so dry and lifeless – to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for. Only love is so much more than that. I could’ve easily defined “love” for you years ago. But now, as I have loved more, I find there is so much more to love than I think I could ever truly express.

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Pela santa Lei

24 November 2008, 3:51 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Politics

For the holy Law

I’ve been reading an excellent book by Elder Neal A. Maxwell called Notwithstanding My Weakness. The first chapter was on the two great commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (see Matthew 22: 37-39). That chapter had several paragraphs in it that were perfectly applicable to different situations today, and the book was written in almost thirty years ago.

The next chapter was about hope and what hope is and what we should have hope in. Several paragraphs stood out to me in that chapter. One of them said:

If we have this kind of ultimate hope, there is no room for proximate despair. If the big things that really matter are finally going to work out in eternity, then the little things that go wrong mortally are not cause for desperation but perhaps only for a little frustration and irritation (p 50).

A discussion like that on hope was a perfect lead in to the next chapter which I have just finished about patience. Patience and I have been spending a lot of time together lately it seems. And Elder Maxwell’s words on this divine principle ring true to my experience.

Patience is not to be mistaken for indifference. It is to care very much, but to be willing, nevertheless, to submit both to the Lord and to what the scriptures call the “process of time.” (p 59).

Patience is, therefore, clearly not fatalistic, shoulder-shrugging resignation; it is accepting a divine rhythm to life; it is obedience prolonged. Patience stoutly resists pulling up the daisies to see how the roots are doing! (p 64).

In life, the sandpaper of circumstances often smooths our circumstances and patiently polishes our rough edges. There is nothing pleasant about it, however. And the Lord will go to great lengths in order to teach us a particular lesson and to help us to overcome a particular weakness, especially if there is no other way. In such circumstances, it is quite useless for us mortals to try to do our own sums when it comes to suffering. We can’t make it all add up because clearly we do not have all the numbers. Furthermore, none of us knows much about the algebra of affliction. The challenges that come are shaped to our needs and circumstances, sometimes in order to help our weaknesses become strengths… Our triumph here could not be complete if we merely carried our fears and doubts into the next world. (p 67-68).

I know there are people who feel that they know better than the Great Lawgiver, that the laws they would set forth are better for man. I know I could change my hope. I could alter my patience. But doing so would not bring me ultimate joy. The law has been decreed and will not change.

For those who think the Laws and commandments should change, or that they do not apply to them, Elder Maxwell states:

We are, of course, free to obey or not obey those commandments discarding the lamp noted in Proverbs. But we cannot get that lamp to make light by using a substitute fuel. We may, by legislation and regulation, vainly try to create a zone of private morality. But there is, ultimately, no such thing as private morality; there are not an indoor set and an outdoor set of Ten Commandments.

Those who disavow the existence of certain absolute truths must forever forgo disapproving of anything on moral grounds. They may try to evoke a social or political response by using the old words that went with the old values, but they will soon learn that words cannot, for long, be appropriated productively minus their moral content (p 35).

The holy Law has been given to us for a reason. And that reason is not to make us miserable, lonely, full of despair. It is to give us hope, strengthen our patience into virtue, and bring us joy. Anything else is a cheap imitation that will not last.

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