Selfishly Selfless

People may act according to either themselves or in favor of others throughout their lives. But the ultimate thing we all strive for is to have a combination of both but where can this line between selfish and selfless be drawn? And how do we know when and how to achieve it? home ~ journal entry #1 ~ journal entry #2 ~ docs

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Link to Honors Calculus

Math is used and seen non stop throughout our everyday lives, maybe not calculous per say but its there. The numbers we just cannot seem to live without lay on our good old American greek backs, and there is usually never a day that goes by that the average citizen puts them to use. Money when in the hands of the right people can make a huge impact and positively affect the world but other times it may not as much good as it does evil. Many celebrities with the money they have donate to charities and foundation or create awarenesses of their own. Shakira being one uses her money for good with raising awareness of the 1GOAL global education campaign. She is also became a sister in the organization of the Barefoot Foundation and the youngest person to become a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She also started her own foundation called Pies Descalzos for the children of her home country of Columbia to provide nutrition, education and the building of new schools. This exemplifies the selflessness of using money to benefit others and not for your self. There are plenty of other wealthy people and celebrities that use their money for selfish reasons, which can change a person greatly. So being rich and famous doesn't mean you have to keep it all to yourself but moreover like Shakira it means you can be selfless and help bigger causes. It all comes in moderation; this is not to imply you should give away your every last dime but when you have money in excess it can serve you good by helping others as many celebrities do with foundations.

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Link to Honors GT Art

Being creative is one of those things everyone posses although they might not know it as the TED Talk describes. This creativeness can come out in many different forms for example, art, writing, photography and dance just to name a few. The everyday stresses of life like jobs and school can often hinder our health so with the help of creating some of this can be avoided. The article states that the link between creativity and better physical and mental health is clearly proved through research. The findings show that by being more creative can help people to be overall happier, lessen anxiety, and better someone to deal problem solving during difficult times. In relating to my own life in times of stress I always turn to a creative outlet, and I specifically love to dance and create art. In terms of being selfish and selfless dance is one of those things for me where I find so much joy in and I do not see it as a burden or stressful part of my life just because I have been doing it so long. Also I see dance as something that I can offer to other people by performing. So this creative outlet that I hold so dear to my heart has a little bit of each being selfish and selfless, ideally giving me the perfect balance. I feel the same way about creating art because it is not only fun for myself to create but it also serves a creative purpose to others by looking at it. I am also so lucky that I get to participate in a high level art class at school where I can express myself and use my artistic skills. Being creative doesn't have to be a selfish thing just to relieve stress from your own life but what comes out of it can be something selfless for others intern.

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Link to Honors College English

Many people find joy in writing, some it’s their job as an author and others just do it for fun on their own time. People have all sorts of reasons for writing like telling a story, talking about their feelings or an idea just sparks and they feel the need to get it out. Another reason people write is to relieve stress and in my source according to James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D, says that by taking some time each day to write and express your feelings can improve your mental and physical health just after three or four days. He has written a guide to healing with expressive writing and how to go about it along with results and statistics. This is an example of a selfish way to benefit your health but also for the professionals it can be something of a selfless manner. Authors are paid to create books and poems and stories of all kind which by writing them can benefit themselves but also greatly impact their audience positively. A great book can bring joy to many people. Big time authors and small ones too can find writing to be selfish because they enjoy it so much but it can also be selfless act for those that get to enjoy their work. So authors have a great medium where they can find the balance of being selfish and selfless.

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Link to AP Environmental Science

This Source touches on the facts of motherhood and how many of the things that new mothers do for their babies gets in the way of their own self care or otherwise selfishness. Mothers tend to become too focused around their child’s health and needs they forget they have needs of their own that also call for attention. The article lists some of these things as forgetting to eat breakfast or lunch during the day because they are so busy keeping up with the child’s feeding, sleeping and changing schedule. Mothers also start to neglect items of self care like their personal hygiene, and social life. There are barriers that mothers day get in the way of their self care for example limited financial resources and simply finding the time in their schedule to fit these things in. This becomes an extreme way of showing selflessness, which by the mother is intended to be for her child but by continuing to treat herself in that way by neglecting necessary things, it can start to interfere with the care of the child. Finding the balance of the mother taking just as well care of herself as her child will insure a much healthier environment to raise a child. In this case mothers need to realize they must also be selfish in some ways, by still taking care of themselves to continue to take care of their baby. This article proves the science behind mothers needing not to neglect their own health for their baby because that will not make either of their lives better.   

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journal entry #1

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In developing my question the source that most influenced it was “Should you live for your resume or eulogy?” by David Brooks. This video gave me the most ideas about philosophical themes and got me asking myself questions that look at the big picture of life. The comparisons throughout the whole video made me think about my own life personally and how this questions applies to my behavior. The overall theme about someone living by their resume or eulogy led me to thinking about people’s behavior depending on which item they live by. In the bigger scheme of things after watching this video it seemed that those who live by their resume have a one way kind of thinking which is only about themselves. On the other hand those who live by their eulogy are more conscious of what they are ultimately leaving behind. Not only are they remembered for who they were but the how they impacted others during their life, and the positive ideas and memories they left behind. So I came to the conclusion that today there are people who live by their resume and people who live by their eulogy but there must be a happy medium in there. This is one of the quests many people experience with finding the mix between living for themselves and for those around them.

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journal entry #2 and legacy

After all of my research and considering my own life experiences I have compiled an answer to finding the balance of being selfish and selfless. Because of each of my classes having to do with all different subjects this question forced me to branch out find different connections to answering the question. I found many different outlets, mediums and examples in which one can find the balance of selfish and selfless. For my AP Environmental class I have found links through motherhood and how it is seen as a selfless act but as proven by science some mothers need to start being more selfish for the sake of her and her child’s health. For Honors Calculus I related the number aspect of money to how donating to charities can be a very selfless act and as an example I used Shakira. On the other side there are many other celebrities that are much more selfish with their money and use it for too much of their own pleasure. In relation to my Honors College English class I connected how authors write for themselves because the love it but the product is something others can enjoy which is both selfish and selfless. My final class that I connected my question to is Honors GT Art and along with the research I was also able bring in more of my personal experience and find what I wanted to be my legacy. In direct relation I researched and found that making art can be a major stress reliever which can be correlated with being a selfish thing. In another way no matter how great of an artist you are, what you have created is something selfless for others to enjoy. In my further research any creative release, that could involve many different mediums, is very beneficial to the individual and in some cases just as beneficial if not more for the audience. One medium of creativity that I personally experience and have loved all my life is dance. Not only is the dancer being brought joy by doing what they love, but they deliver something special to the audience that they will appreciate. This is the theme of my legacy and it also supports my question that in this creative form of dance there is both a balance of selfishness and selflessness by the dancer performing because they want to but they also are offering the people watching what a beautiful art form dance really is.