Blog #3: Meditation Makes You More Creative, Studies Show

Studies performed by cognitive psychologists show that certain types of meditation techniques can promote creative thinking. Findings of this research further back up the idea that meditation is more than simple relaxation, but actually much more. Meditation can have long lasting effects on human cognition, such as the way we experience events and how we think.

 

Byheaven / Fotolia. Untitled. Photograph. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n/d. Web. 14 February 2014.

                        <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.

 

These same types of meditation techniques are practiced to show effects on the divergent and convergent styles of thinking. Divergent thinking is what allows many ideas t be generated, such as thinking up ways a pen can be used. Testing for this type of thinking is called the Alternate Uses Task method. Convergent thinking is the process of identifying a common relation between things of a particular problem, such as finding the similarity between 'time', 'hair', and 'stretch', which is 'length'. This uses the Remote Associates Task method.

 

In the end, results show that not all types of meditation used had the same effects on creative thinking. Open Monitoring Meditation, which is when the participant doesn't focus on any particular thing, had a positive effect in the participant's outcome in the divergent thinking test method. This test didn't have much of an effect on the cognitive thinking side, though. The other meditation used, called  Focused Attention Meditation, was unsuccessful in both fields of thinking. This leads scientists to think: What meditation can trigger an acceleration in the cognitive thinking process?

 

I feel that this article on meditation connects to my day to day life because it could help me live a more productive lifestyle. Meditation may become an important part of a busy bee's life for those people who have a hard time focusing their mind constantly, such as some students at GECHS. I think that any exercising of the brain, whether it be through a game, schoolwork, or peaceful meditation, can be very beneficial for one's thinking process.

 

This article relates to my classes because many of our projects/assignments call for being creative, but some students may lack creativity. Meditating using the Open Monitoring method may help achieve better grades in school. I think that if there is any possible way of a positive outcome from meditation, its worth a try. I will probably do some further research on meditation, and start to practice it when I can.

 

 

Citations

 

Universiteit Leiden. "Meditation makes you more creative." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 April 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.

 

Byheaven / Fotolia. Untitled. Photograph. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n/d. Web. 14 February 2014.

                        <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120419102317.htm>.

Historic Freeze Brings Rare Danger Warning

Over the past few weeks, Chicago and other cities have had a record low temperature due to the artic sweep across the country. These snow storms have caused many accidents, illnesses or deaths, and other problems. Temperatures have been so cold, zoos have pulled their typical artic animals such as polar bears and penguins inside until it warms up. Chicago's record low was minus eleven, and "Nashville, Tennessee was 40 degrees colder than Albany, New York; Memphis 20 degrees colder than Anchorage, Alaska; and Atlanta colder than Moscow, Russia", according to Matt Smith and Josh Levs.

This weather effects me a lot, because even though it isn't snowing here, it is still cold and accidents can still happen. It has been raining a lot lately and the roads ice easily. I am also worried about my loved ones, because they live in the northern states and they don't handle snow well. I just hope this weather passes because I am tired of the cold and gloominess that is 'winter'.

I knew something was up with the weather, but I had no idea how severe it was. Temperatures are so backwards, and people are getting sick and dying. Wind chills in the minus forties can cause frostbite in a minutes, the National Weather Service warned. I have seen stories on the news where truckers freeze while trying to tend to their trucks, which is terrifying because my step father drives trucks. The worst thing is that  meteorologists haven't really predicted how long it will last, but its been going on long enough, in my opinion.

I am scared to know how much worse this weather can get, if that's even possible. A lot of people weren't ready for this shift in temperature and weather. Many people are unable to get to work and school, even in the more northern states, where snow is more common. Hopefully things switch up, and spring comes early this year.

How does the author support his claim? Use evidence from the selection to support your answer.
The authors use the real life situations of citizens around the country and statistics from weather reports. This article states that the "'polar vortex' pushing into much of the United States is not just another winter storm", but much more. These are some of the coldest temperatures between now and the last twenty years. The weather was so bad, the "Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton ordered the state's roughly 2,000 public schools to close, the first such order [in that region] since 1997". This weather is dangerous, so hopefully it passes soon.




http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/06/us/winter-weather/

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Literacy Blog 10

1) What are the benefits of global warming, according to the author?

Governments are benefiting from it financially, which is allowing people to have the necessary precautions for storms, drought, and disease. 


2) How will increasing wealth enable us to adapt to climate change in the future?

 "Global warming has so far cut heating bills more than it has raised cooling bills. If it resumes after its current 17-year hiatus, and if the energy efficiency of our homes improves, then at some point the cost of cooling probably will exceed the cost of heating — probably from about 2035, Prof Tol estimates."


3) Why should we care if climate change has caused a 1.4% increase in global economic output?

 Because For some people, this means the difference between survival and starvation.


4) Is it possible to compare the costs and benefits of global warming? If so, what does this tell us about what policies we should make? If not, what does this tell us about the policies we should make?

I don't think it's really possible to completely lay our the overall costs and benefits of global warming. 

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9057151/carry-on-warming/

Literacy Blog 9

I feel that this is pretty crazy, but also very believable because many people in this country are obese and this may be one of the reasons why. Many people no good and well that these kinds of foods, whether they be cakes, crackers, ice cream, candy, etc, are bad for them... but they don't stop eating them. Other people keep away freom them but see them as a reward. If i run 4 miles today, I get five oreos. That would be my grattification for acheiving that goal. Either way, these foods fill a significant place in our brains- a place that creates pleasure. The taste of sugary and fatty foods seem to create a pleasurable feeling neurologically for us. I think its because if its something that we aren't suppose to have, we want it. And the fact that our taste buds react positively to sweet things also goes along with that. This is probably why we find these foods as a reward. I thing it is slightly different from taking drugs, however, because it seems to me that drugs feel like such a need. They have to have it, or that is what their body is telling them. But food is more of a want. Food is more of a comfort thing and drugs are more of a'trip'. Drugs are used to forget pain and reality. But I feel like in extreme cases of food addiction, food can have the same effects as drugs. I know that "Even though we associate significant health hazards in taking drugs like cocaine and morphine, high-fat/high-sugar foods may present even more of a danger because of their accessibility and affordability." The risk of extreme obesity is way higher, because debbie cakes and oreos are a lot cheaper than cocain, or crystal meth. I feel that this is a serious problem.

Literacy Blog 8

http://news.yahoo.com/pills-made-poop-cure-serious-gut-infections-150405405.html#

I personally think these pills were a great idea. It sounds gross, but when you think about it, what other kinds of pills to people take? Fish oil and other things can be a part of a person's pill list. I would much rather take the pills, which I'm sure is tasteless and is a quick and easy process, rather than getting a fecal transplant. The phrase 'fecal transplant' just FEELS painful and nasty. I definitely wouldn't want to undergo something like that. I think it was very clever to design the pill with three layers of the gel like substance so that it wouldn't dissolve until it reached the intestines. This is very important because if the pill dissolved in the stomach, the fecal matter would be in your stomach and can cause further infection, I assume. And also, if you had gas while taking the fecal supplement, your burps would taste pretty much how your farts would smell... in most cases, pretty foul. I think that scientists will definitely be able to "test freezing the stool, which won't kill the bacteria, so it could be stored and shipped anywhere a patient needed it." If they have accomplished this much, they can most likely make these fecal pills shippable.

Literacy Blog 7

Evaluate the current SAT process based on evidence from this article.

Based on this article, how prepared do you feel you are to take (or retake) the SAT’s writing portion? What practice or instruction might you still need?

I feel that this writing essay is a bit unfair. Many people probably don't understand that the accurateness of their information isn't being evaluated. I feel that there should be two different writing parts, one on time and one on accurateness. I feel that testing a student while under pressure in a good thing, so that you can see how they perform under those circumstances. However, I feel that accurate information is important as well. I feel that if dates and names aren’t right, then the student has no idea what they’re saying. The whole essay is basically about improvising. The one quote that grabbed my attention the most was “There’s really no concern about factual accuracy,” says Gere. “In fact, the makers of the SAT have indicated that in scoring it really doesn’t matter if you say that the War of 1812 occurred in 1817. The complete lack of attention to any kind of accuracy of information conveys a very strange notion of what good writing might be.” I just couldn't quite believe that this is how they actually graded the tests. I also couldn't believe that they typically only spend two to three minutes reading and evaluating the essays. I honestly think that these essays may give a false sense of greatness about the students writing them, because someone with a 2.5 GPA may be more persuasive than a 5.0 GPA student. But in that twenty-five minute period, that difference in intelligence level might not be noticed. Overall, I think that the SAT is a good way to evaluate which colleges you can get into, but it may also need to be tweaked a little bit in order to become more positively affective to students and their futures.