Speaker's Corner: February 3, 2008

From us to you: A moment of perplexity
How can one describe human emotion? Whether it's that elated feeling every time we see someone we love and cherish or the anxiety that fills our hearts the first time we may be exposed to something new.

It can also be that adrenaline rush we experience from simple experiences like riding a roller coaster or falling in love. There are also the dark sides to human emotion — the knot stuck at the bottom of your throat when you wake up some mornings and you don't know why, or that sinking feeling you get in times of disappointment or dismay. It could also be anger or resentment towards a family member, a friend or even yourself.

It's strange to think that human emotion is just the result of chemistry ... whether or not your serotonin levels happen to be high that day. It's external stimuli that trigger these chemicals. Fail an exam and down your 'happy chemicals' go; meanwhile Thursday afternoon approaches and suddenly you're flying high.

Of course, our emotions are much more complex than a simple test score, but it's scary that human content is constantly dependent on external factors. Perhaps that's why it has become so much more difficult to feel the true essence of happiness or simple satisfaction.

Our constant search for the extraordinary has brought humanity to a sudden realisation that life may not be all it seems. This moment of "epiphany" may have some people running in the wrong direction for the rush. Some may resort to more dangerous, life-threatening habits to get their adrenaline pumping — whether it's driving quickly or addiction. Materialism and excessive value given to consumerism have placed our expectations far beyond our reach.

Or have they? What we often fail to recognise is that the simplest pleasures in life are probably those that could give us the adrenaline rush we're longing for. It could be your passion for art, music or writing. It could be a feeling you get in the gym, or the moment you score a basket. It could also be the butterflies in your stomach when you see a familiar, loving face.

Whatever it is, when you discover it, hang onto it as tightly as you can. Getting a high on life is not just a clichéd phrase, it is, in fact, an acquirable state of mind.
Manal Ismail
Notes Staff Reporter
education@gulfnews.com

Events that happened on February 3

2005
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili takes temporary charge of the government following the death of the Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. Zhvania died from poison emitted by a faulty heater.

1998
A low flying Nato aircraft kills 20 people at an Italian ski-resort by severing their cable car line.

1994
President Clinton lifts America's trade embargo on Vietnam.

1988
Iran-Contra Affair: The United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to aid Nicaraguan Contras.

1986
Pope John Paul II meets Mother Teresa in Kolkata, India.

1970
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee opens hearings on the conduct of the war by the Nixon administration.

1969
William Henry Pratt, better known as horror actor Boris Karloff, dies at 81.

1966
The Soviet Union makes the first controlled landing of a spacecraft, Luna 9, on the Moon.

1960
British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan addresses the South African Houses of Parliament, speaking of a "wind of change" blowing through the continent of Africa.

1959
Musicians Buddy Holly, Jiles Richardson (the Big Bopper) and Ritchie Valens die when their plane crashes in Iowa, USA.

1953
French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau publishes his most famous and lasting work, The Silent World.

While in the French navy, he and engineer Émile Gagnan invented the Aqua-Lung, the world's first self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba). In 1953, he published The Silent World, written with Frédéric Dumas, and began work on a film version of the book with director Louis Malle. Three years later, The Silent World was released to world acclaim.

The film, which revealed to the public the hidden universe of tropical fish, whales and walruses, won best documentary at the Academy Awards and the Palme d'or at the Cannes Film Festival. Cousteau later led numerous excursions to the world's great bodies of water — from the Red Sea to the Amazon River.

In addition to many books, he also produced several more award-winning films and scores of television documentaries about the ocean.

1950
Klaus Fuchs, a German-born British scientist who helped develop the atomic bomb, is arrested in Great Britain for passing top-secret information about the bomb to the Soviet Union.

1945
World War II: American forces invade and take control of the Marshall Islands, long occupied by the Japanese.

1924
Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President (1912-1920) dies.

1917
President Wilson announces that the United States is breaking diplomatic relations with Germany.

1914
Actress Doris Speed — 'Mrs Walker' in the British TV serial 'Coronation Street' is born.

1901
English novelist Rosamund Lehmann is born. Novels include Dusty Answer (1927) and Invitation To The Waltz (1932).

1867
Prince Mutsuhito becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan.

1821
Elizabeth Blackwell, physician and co-founder of the London School of Medicine for Women and first doctor in England is born.

1809
Composer Felix Mendelsson born in Hamburg.

1509
In India, the Battle of Diu takes place between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire.

–Source:http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk

Editor's pick

A part-time job is important to me as it enhances my confidence and helps me contribute to my parent's daily expenses. I have been part-timing with a food chain as service crew.
— Rey Manuel Lopez

The Three P's of success
By Ali Abbas

Dreams can come true only if you want them to. But three small P's can take you right where you want to be.

We all visualise ourselves in some place or as a person, a few years from the present. But with a vast majority of students, a predicted scene soon turns into an illusion.

The demand to deliver weighs heavily on today's student and in the marathon to the top there can only be but few who survive unscathed through projects, presentations and assignments. The idea of you as a Gates or a Trump can often fade. Many students across the globe have fallen victim to the growing demands of modern-day education and it is truly a craft to carve out of yourself the idea of success you started off with.

Perhaps a librarian, perhaps a physical education teacher — whatever you see yourself as becoming is not quite the same once you join university. There is a lot that goes into achieving your goals and by losing yourself in illusions you are not doing yourself any favours.

To a vision into reality it takes planning, perseverance and patience.

I believe I can ...

How would it feel to see a full 100 score in calculus? Or how about the thrill of speeding across the finish line? Many people would shrug at your ambitions and warn you with harsh tidings of reality.

But to dream and imagine is not quite the same as having a clear vision of what is considered impossible. Having a vision of success can actually work to your benefit if you get that perfect punch of motivation.

Once you have an idea, you begin to build around it. It is the success mantra a few have lived by — a dream was seen and a plan was made.

Operational P's

Before undertaking any task, see yourself accomplishing it. And then come back to earth and plan your way to actualise your vision.

Psychologists speak of such planning as cognitive visualisation — a process by which the mind is influenced with the prospect of success making the ideal easier to achieve. Once you envision a thing, you carefully plan to bring your dream into fruition.

With a plan in place, now comes action. No plan is ever going to completely ensure success and though we are brilliant planners most of the time you can fall short. The key to executing a perfect plan is to accept that there can be flaws.

What this means to students like you and I is that the odd low grade does not actually bellow the trumpet of the end (of course, it is different if you score in single digits every other period). In any case though, it is criminal to lose hope — you just cannot give up. You must perseverance.

And then, the greatest virtue of them all, patience. Any plan that you make and follow may not always manifest instant results. It is a great ability to be patient. By rushing for results you are likely to go some distance only to collide with failure.

The P's to prosperity and success offer life-changing guidance. Put your adherence to the test and you will be part of the few who symbolise success.

A lesson untold

With a whirlwind of ideas swirling in our teeming brains, it is little surprise that many of us actually do not achieve as much as we could have. If Midas had any lesson for us, then it is that too much of glittering things is not quite so good — and too many ideas and visions in our heads have the same negative prospects.

For today's student the onus is on achieving and acceleration to the top. The magnitude of this expectation exceeds the capacity of feeble minds and it is only the thoughtful student who can stand eye to eye with his expectations. The rocky road to the top is not suitable for a run and with so many observing proxy to the invaluable P's it is not surprising to see only a few at the peak.

If you aspire to achieve then indeed a conscientiously carved approach can get you to feats unimaginable.
Digest the P's-Power Bar and feel the difference!
— The writer is a student of York University in Canada

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