Do what is right, for yourself and for others.

People spend too much time finding other people to blame, too much energy finding excuses for not being what they are capable of being, and not enough energy putting themselves on the line, growing out of the past, and getting on with their lives.
-J. Michael Straczynski

As I was reading through the "Finding Your Power," article, it became clear to me that the way I rise above excuse making is to recognize the importance and value of getting involved with that specific situation.  That way, there is no valid reason to make a poor excuse to, for example, attend a certain event or meet up with a couple of friends that I haven't seen in a while. I keep an open mind to everything I do and am involved in. 

Also, I ask myself, "How will this experience benefit my beliefs and my life decisions in the future?". In order to help others break out of there shell of always blaming others and making excuses for various situations, it is important to push them out of their comfort zone in small steps. It is also important to create a sense of trust between you and the other person. This allows them to begin to see that you are doing these things only for the better, and not to make their lives miserable.  If I witness another person blaming someone else or constantly making excuses, I confront them by asking questions, such as "Why do you feel that this person is to be blamed for ___?" or "Is there a bigger/different reason why you don't want to go to ____?". Asking them questions that actually require them to think deeper into their primary decision might spark the thought and questioning of why they are in this avoiding and blaming mindset and making the decisions they have continuously chose. 

I feel that this will also force them to look at the situation from a broader perspective, realizing for themselves, the unhealthy and closed-minded approach they have towards new experiences and other people.

It isn't until you begin to fight in your own cause that you become really committed to winning and become a genuine ally of other people struggling for their freedom.

-Robert Morgan

During The People's Institute Retreat that I attended last weekend, the whole group had a very engaging discussion about being an ally to various identity and culture groups. We talked about the differences between being an ally for self-interest, an ally for altruism, and an ally for social justice. I feel like, as an ally, one needs to focus less on their personal interests, a specific targeted group, or a specific victim of oppression, and focus more on being an ally for the issue. It is important to work with the members of the targeted group to help empower every single person and to, together, get rid of the discrimination against these identities as a whole. I completely agree with karynthia, in "The Do's and Don'ts of Being an Ally", as she mentions that in being an ally, one has to realize that it's not about you and your feelings about the oppression. Being an ally is all about showing support, empathy, and extending grace for the social group and the difficulties they are facing. In the TPI retreat, we went around asking what people expect from their allies, and came up with various characteristics: loving, caring, confident, brave, strong, empathetic, respectful, genuine, decisive, honest, articulate, knowledgeable, consistent and a couple of others. An area of improvement for me to become a better ally to others is to show more support. And by that, I don't mean just simply being their friend and hearing them out, I mean attending various events, dialogues, and meetings to show that I am actively supporting and fighting for their rights for social justice. In being an ally, one of my strengths is definitely being empathetic towards the situation someone is experience. I try to put myself in the shoes of the other people and understand what they are going through. It is very important to me to be a strong, supporting, and empathetic ally for another person/group. I understand, and can imagine, what it is like to be treated unfairly within society and believe that no one deserves to be treated this way. Also, I believe that in moments of weakness and difference situations, everyone needs someone there to support them and help them back on their feet if they fall.

I attended both the Scholarship Junkies presentation for college students on Thursday and the Scholarship Junkies presentation for High School students during our S.T.A.R.S. Leads meeting on Friday. Both presentations were phenomenal and definitely gave me a greater insight of how valuable scholarships are and how important it is to take advantage of all application opportunities. There are various ways, that Sam presented to us, to enhance our scholarship applications and essays. One important factor, is to make your essays unique and personal. You have to show that you stand out from the other 100's of applications for that scholarship.

In need of change.

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. "

-M. Scott  Peck. 

I wasn't able to make it to our STARS Lead meetings this Friday because I received the opportunity to attend the first annual The People's Institute Retreat at LUREC. A couple of other STARS Lead members also attended this retreat, making it a greater experience and allowing us to make a stronger connection between what we discovered this weekend and our STARS Lead project. Throughout this retreat, we learned a lot about being conscious of ourselves and our identities and how we can connect these discoveries to the leadership aspects of our lives. Being able to explore myself and my life experiences, I found a true connection in using my unique identities and struggling past experiences to strengthen my role as a leader in expanding and promoting social justice within my community. If you couldn't already tell, this retreat shared A LOT in common with what the STARS and the STARS Leads programs tend to focus on. 

I was happy after hearing that they watched "Waiting for Superman" during Friday's meeting. I have seen this documentary, and I definitely have a lot of feelings toward it. After watching it, it  makes me feel sad that this issue of not giving a child the simple opportunity to get a good education is actually happening in America. What ever happened to being the land of freedom, chance, and opportunity? It surprises me that with so many documentaries, articles, and news broadcasts presented to society, showing the truth behind these so called "smart" decisions of authoritative figures, things still aren't being changed, and more and more children are still losing their chances for a greater future. Seeing the willingness and intelligence in these child in the documentary, all they really need is the chance to be able to attend an institution with a great quality of education. From there, they'll take the lead, and will not disappoint you. 

Most of the time, I am the type of person that will look at the glass half full, instead of looking at it as half empty. I love being happy and making others feel great. Most of the time, I am also the type of person that has this voice in the back of my  mind that tells lies and negative remarks, forcing me to seeing the glass mostly empty when it is really half full. There has always been this shadowing lack of confidence in my heart that has never really faded away no matter how well I succeed at something. Reading the "12 Lies to Stop Telling Yourself" article, I have realized that I need to stop constantly telling myself this negative narrative of my life and actually looking at the facts of the things I have accomplished and committed to. This ties into the blog we had to write about happiness. If you constantly keep telling yourself that you are not happy, you'll just keep digging a bigger whole for yourself and will never be able to see the truth of what you have in front of your eyes. All you need to do is remind yourself to turn the lights back on and to see the reality and truth of your life, not the lies that are leading you towards the darker path. 

Happyness.

As easy as some people make it seem, being happy is very difficult. It's interesting because, referring to all of the points listed in the article, I knew all of that. I know that, in order to be happy and choose happiness, you must follow your heart, try your best in everything you do, surround yourself with wonderful people, take care of yourself, and so on. The thing is, it's not that simple. From a broader outlook, I have lived (and am living) a great life. I have been given unbelievable opportunities, especially while attending Loyola. I have wonderful and supporting friends, family members, teachers, mentors, and advisers. My grades are good and I have received a generous amount of aid financially with scholarships and federal funding. I have a boyfriend that loves me for who I am and what I believe in. There's no reason for me to NOT be happy, right? Wrong. For quite a while, I have been having this internal battle within myself, and I just couldn't figure out the solution for my problem, let alone the problem itself. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't truly happy. I've finally realized that, in being truly happy, all of those external factors in my life don't matter. Yeah, I knew that I have to follow my dreams and my heart in order to live a happy life, and that I have to try my best and take care of myself to choose happiness in my lifestyle. But did I reeally ever do those things? I thought I did. But I have come to realize that I really haven't been doing that. Well... I have been doing those things.. but for the people and things around me. Not for myself. That was my problem. I forgot to turn the lights on with how to genuinely be happy. I was focusing too much on helping and satisfying others, putting myself in the dark. Don't get me wrong, helping others is not bad, the 8th way to be happier is to help others. I need to remember the things that I know to start living a happy life with things that truly and genuinely make me happy. 

"Just love what you have, and you'll always have what you love."

My mom always said this to me as I was growing up, and it has stuck with me ever since.

Each of those 10 ways are amazing ways to choose happiness. One of my most favorite lines from that article is, "You can hold on to the past, or you can create your own happiness today. Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart." Letting success get to your head only makes you set higher and higher standards for yourself, making it more difficult to reach them, letting you become more vulnerable to disappointment and anger. Also, let's say you didn't beat your time during your swim race, or you didn't get the grade you wanted on a test or quiz, allowing the thought of failure get to your heart makes it harder for you to believe in yourself for next time, making you more vulnerable to feeling insecure and disappointed with yourself. This is how I have started to appreciate my life more and why I am a much happier person today. If something during the day or week goes wrong, or not according to plans, I make sure to not get so let down about it. I remind myself that what ever happened happened for a reason. I also try to think of something positive that came out of the situation, so I know that not one second of my time has been wasted. I have also started to smile a lot more. I find it very important to, not only smile for yourself, but to smile to others. Walking in the city I make sure to keep my head up and smile to the strangers around me. You never know whose day, week, year, or even life is going to be made, or saved, just because of doing something so simple. 

Over spring break,

I spent a lot of my time at home with my family, at work, and with old friends. Even though I didn't even accomplish half of what I had on my to-do list, my time spent with friends, family, and co-workers was definitely worthwhile. It allowed me to remember what truly makes me  happy (and what doesn't make me so happy :P). Spending quality time with my mom and watching my younger sister's water polo games was probably one of my most cherished and favorite moments during my break. 

For the summer, 

one of the things that I have planned is to have a couple of jobs, working towards my goal of traveling around the world. I plan to have one of the most amazing summers ever, taking chances and spending time with the people that I love. 

"If you never did, you should. These things are fun, and fun is good." 

Dr. Seuss

With my E-portfolio, 

things have been going a little slow. :/ It's just that with so many other things to focus on, that has been one of a couple that were,  unfortunately pushed aside. Within the next two to three weeks, I barely have any tests and quizzes to study for, so I'm definitely planning on getting a move on with  my portfolio. :) 

Alright. Let me give you some background about this video. When I was in about 7th/8th grade, there was this website called funnyjunk.com (I don't think it exists anymore, and if it does, it's not as cool as it used to be). My sister and I came upon this video and, when we watched it, we couldn't stop watching it for like 10 minutes straight. We were cracking up till we were bawling our eyes out and peeing our pants (probably were, I don't remember lol). It was one of those moments where you don't know why something is so funny, but you just can't stop cracking up. I feel like those moments are one of the best moments in your lifetime. :) This is probably one of the stupidest videos I have ever seen, but, to this day, I still can't stop laughing my butt of while i watch it. Try to watch it for about a minute or two, I hope you find it as funny as I do... or at least get a smile on your face. :) 

"Don't Worry, Be Happy."

Angee:)