Feedback Thoughts

Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt

I have quite a bit of self-doubt when it comes to a lot of things. However, most of the time it is related to academics, where I set goals for myself but quickly get demotivated due to my lack of confidence to be able to complete them. This greatly affects my future, as I begin to set less challenging goals that could positively change my life, and I feel that is is important for me to get around this. The most productive feedback I have gotten was to not compare myself to other people, as it just sets you back more. Thankfully - I have not been really given very much bad feedback, so I cannot really remember the "worst" feedback I have received. Overall, receiving feedback allows me to view my attempts at anything in life from an outsider's perspective, and see how I can better my methods at whatever I am doing.

Silence the Critical Voices in Your Head

I really enjoy the thought mentioned in the article that stockpiling positive comments and believing more in the positive comments as a whole can fuel you throughout life. The author refers to this stockpile of positive comments as a "full tank," and being able to utilize this full tank throughout your journey at any point, in any aspect of life is crucial to having a good journey. Although it is easier said than done, it is a friendly reminder that there is always a good side to things when completing your goals and going throughout life as a whole. I have learned that, in order to treat dissatisfaction, having gratitude is the best way to do it, and this article provides a good foundation for that thought.

Receiving Feedback

Topic Brainstorm

1. Food

I am interested in researching Indian food as I personally love it myself. I am Pakistani, and a lot of our dishes are similar to Indian dishes, but I would like to know more about the similarities, and of course, the differences, while researching this topic. I could possibly pick up some new recipes and cook them for myself and my friends and family! I would probably tell stories of them being cooked and invented,

Possible source

2. Jataka Tales

For one of our previous assignments, we had read Jataka tales, and I really appreciated the metaphors and meanings behind them. My personal favorite was Them Foolish, Timid Rabbit; I would probably choose another from the extensive list, but just reading through them while doing the assignment really kept me interested and it was my favorite assignment thus far - as well as when we made our own story based off a Jataka tale. I would retell a Jataka tale in about the same manner as I did for our previous anthology assignment.

Possible source

3. Reincarnation

I have always been very interested in the concept of reincarnation and its relations to religion as a whole. I am Muslim, and although the majority of Muslims do not believe directly in the idea of reincarnation, Hindus do, and I would like to learn more about the topic of reincarnation at hand, as well as the religion of Hinduism, while taking notes of similarities and differences between Islam and Hinduism. I would retell a story with the topic of reincarnation in a dramatic way like used in context of a hero being reborn to avenge so-and-so.

Possible source

4. Weapons of the Gods

I find the topic of weapons in any context quite interesting, but I have never fully considered weapons within a topic such as Indian epics. Because of this, I would like to learn more about the usage and importance of weapons in Indian literature and to see how that compares and contrasts with weapons used in other contexts in literature as a whole. I would try to retell the story in a way that it both grazes the topic of violence or peace, or both in one story.

Possible source

Indian Worship

Week 2 Story: The Citizens of Campus

There is a posted version on my site!

One boring day in class at the University of Oklahoma, a student was daydreaming about the possibilities of the world ending due to nuclear warfare. The thought scared him - he has so many plans for the future - and the thought of it all just suddenly ending due to a conflict between two countries, per se, made the thought unfair. Suddenly, there was a crash, a flash, and a shake.

"Oh no, there's been a nuclear attack This can't be happening now, I still need to graduate, to get married, and have kids!" screamed the now fully awake student. The first thought that came to his mind following his cry was to run, to run as far away as he could away from campus, a place where he dreaded being, and to get back home to say a final goodbye to his family and friends.

"What are you running from?" exclaimed another student on south oval as he ran past.  "There's a nuclear attack happening, we have to get out of here!" he yelled back at him.

The now frightened student followed - he, too, needed to say a final goodbye to all who he loved, and began running behind him. This lead to another student asking a similar question, then another, and another, until there were so many students running off campus that not even Dale 211 could fit them in to be counted. This alerted a tour group full of parents and their aspiring children.

"What is going on? What is the matter?" yelled the tour guide. "We have to run, there's been a nuclear attack!" said one of the plethora of students

The crowd of people grew - as the entire tour joined the group to get off campus. In the blink of an eye, faculty members, residents of Norman, and even the squirrels on campus followed the group. The thought of dying on campus scared them more than the thought of dying at all, they had to get home to say their finals goodbyes.

"Stop!" yelled a professor. "Why is everyone trying to leave campus, what happened?" interrogated the erudite professor. He knew understood a lot of things: nuclear physics, organic chemistry, how to start his own business, the cure to cancer; his graduate program had taught him everything, everything except why these students were running off campus.

"One of the faculty members said there was a nuclear bomb that hit campus," said a squirrel. "Don't look at me," said a faculty member, "a tour guide told me it happened," said the faculty member. "Don't look at me either, a student told me we were under nuclear threat," replied the tour guide.

After pinpointing the original, daydreaming student for starting the chaos, the professor asked: "What in the world makes you think there is a nuclear threat on campus right now? How is that even possible?" asked the professor. The student explained he had heard a loud crash back in his lecture hall. The professor asked to take him to the area at which it happened.

It was pouring as they arrived, and lightning filled the air. "Oh... it must have just been some thunder, but I had heard we were under threat for World War III in light of recent news, I read it on Twitter!" the student remarked, in an attempt to defend himself. "Just because it was posted on social media, does not mean it is true; the chances of that happening are much lower than you think", said the professor.

And the professor continued on to his staff meeting to tell the great tale of what had just happened. If he had not fallen into the misinformation like the crowd - they may have still been running.

---- Author's Note ----

This story is based on The Foolish, Timid Rabbit which has essentially the same plot - but a rabbit runs from a coconut after thinking the world is ending, where several animals begin to follow the rabbit after hearing of what was happening. They were eventually stopped by the King Lion who, like the professor, demanded to know why the rabbit thought what he did, which he then resolved.

I chose to target a very important topic that his prevalent today: misinformation. Anyone can fall into the pit of misinformation by using poor sources, or just being easily influenced. I took this to campus as it could possible relate to the students, as false information can spread easily in places such as a college campus.

Bibliography. "The Foolish, Timid Rabbit" from Jataka Tales by Ellen. C. Babbitt. Web Source.

After running around for so long, the people of campus realized the sound was just thunder

Reading Notes Week 2: The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

Author: Ellen C. Babbitt
The Foolish, Timid Rabbit
Link

The piece of literature is a silly, yet thought provoking tale of a rabbit who jumps (or rather hops) to conclusions extremely quickly, all based on the fears he holds prior. The rabbit has seemingly an existential crisis one day, and being in the timid state as implied, begins to think the world is ending simply by hearing a sound, which the readers know to be the sound of a falling coconut. Without investigating the sound, the rabbit does not know this, and believes the world is coming to an end.

This all leads to the rabbit's panic alerting other rabbits, which ultimately alerts deer, and so on and so forth with a multitude of other animals until the King Lion is notified of the commotion, who then quickly resolves the matter by asking the rabbit to take him to the location at which he heard the noise of the "world breaking up." After realizing it was simply a following coconut, the conflict is resolved and put to rest.

The moral of the story seems to be that it is very easily to be not only influenced by your own fears, but by others' as well. The rabbit was existentially sensitive at a sudden thought, and his surroundings subsequently prompted him into reacting in an unnecessary way. However, more importantly, the rabbit's own fears worried other animals in the kingdom who easily fell victim to such a silly fear just due to noticing another individual being worried.

I would retell this story possibly at a college campus and relate it possible to the spread of misinformation in relation to the academic setting the students are located in. It is important to note, as well, that until an authoritative figure in the story, the king lion, mentioned anything, the inferior animals were easily lead to fall into the fears of an even more inferior animal, the rabbit. This could be retold in a manner that shows that sometimes a false alarm is taken too far before it is resolved, and only specific, higher-up people can resolve it.

The Animals Were Alerted to the Sound of the Rabbit

Reading Notes Week 2 Anthology; Rama: Retold from the Ramayana

Title: Rama: Retold from the Ramayana
Author: Anant Pai
Link

Begins in the city of Ayodha on the Sarayu River. The characters are introduced: the sons Rama, who is the son of the Queen Kaushalya, and Bharata, son of the Queen Kaikeyi, as well as both sons Lakshmana and Shatrugha, sons of Queen Sumitra.

Conflict begins immediately as there is a slight argument about exiling Rama and having Bharata being the king. Since the story title includes Rama, it seems unlikely that something like this will occur, however it occurs anyways but through grief. This sets up conflict immediately at the beginning and stirs the plot.

Bharata eventually seeks out for Rama in the forest, as Bharata learned that his own father died, and Bharata wanted Rama to return to home; however - he refused to come back and listens to the exiling commands of remaining in exile for the time period.

Shurpanakha approaches the exiled sons, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana. She is a described to be a beautiful woman and this subsequently falls into love with Rama However, Rama is married and refused to fall in love with her, and tells her to speak to Lakshmana instead, which causes Shurpanakha to transform into her true form, a demon, out of anger. Lakshmana eventually cuts off her nose and ears and runs to her cousins

Eventually, Khara summons a demon army onto Lakshmana and Rama, but both the demons and Khara are defeated, and the plot progresses forward once again.


From this, once again, there is a lot of detail into conflict starting already. Although this is potentially a continuation of a previous part, there is already an interesting plot build up and makes for an interesting read. The current plot and subjects forebode future conflict between the parties involved and leaves a cliffhanging feel to the storyline itself.

The Story of Rama

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology; Homer's Odyssey

Author: Homer

Title: Odyssey: The Land of the Cyclopes

Link

This part of the story is a continuation, or scene, from the epic Homer. It is specifically when the cyclopes is encountered during the journey in the story. Odysseus and his men arrived at an island that was home to the cyclopes while they were traveling back to the their homeland Ithaca

It is important to note, also, that both Odysseus and his men had drank wine before, which possibly changes the mode and the visuals of the writing in a way that matches the tone of someone drunk. Although the storyline does not progress in this section of The Land of the Cyclopes into when Odysseus and his men see the cyclopes, but its presence is known as the cave is described, as well as the island on which the cave and the men are on.

The drunk men and Odysseus are not too sure about it all, either, which creates the suspense for the next part, the Prisoners of the Cyclopes to begin, as it is not sure what they will get into.

In terms of the writing itself, both the tone in which it is written as well as the descriptive words used, it is slightly difficult to completely visualize the situation especially since the syntax of the passage is seemingly old English and not as easy to read as modern day literature, for example. Overall, however, the plot and setting can be easily perceive due to Homer's descriptive storytelling, as the reader can firmly understand what is happening even without an expertise in the seemingly "fancier" language that the storyline is embedded in.

Reading Homer's The Odyssey

Week 2 Reading Overview (Part 2)

I have chosen option two: Public Domain Edition: Ramayana

The main factors that influenced me were that it reads less like a novel, and draws more on different version on the book, which I believe will allow me to gather different perspectives on the storytelling. I also really appreciate that there is an available audio recording.

Two comic books:
Retold From the Ramayana
The Sons of Rama: Luv and Kush - The Invincible Twins

Two videos:
Harry Potter Meets Hindu Mythology
Stages of Life

Epics of India

Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Adam & Eve
Week 4: Homer's Odyssey

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: The Lion & The Crane
Week 6: The Origin of Rubies

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: The Fortunate Fish Hook

Week 9: The Clever Husband & His Wife

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: The Moon & The Thunders
Week 11: The Rolling rock

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Nursery Rhymes: Games
Week 13: The Young Beowolf

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Jason & The Demons
Week 15: Mice

I am excited to read most of these literary works, but most specifically from that of European and Middle Eastern as those seem the most interesting to me due to my past experience in reading from those criteria.

Folklore