Why do you wake up in the morning?

I was -very interested- reading The Lord of the Flies some seconds ago but I HAD to stop because there is something stuck on my mind and if I do not write about it I will get really annoyed.

So, today in my Business & management lesson, Rachel (my teacher) asked me why I got up early -when it is still dark and cold- to go to school. Why? What for? What motivates you? Tricky one. Not telling you what I answered, too lame. Anyway, today's lesson was about MOTIVATION.

I introduce you to Frederick Winslow Taylor.

Once he said "Workers are lazy and are only motivated by money." Which is kinda true. People are lazy in a general way, with some exceptions, and workers are motivated by money. We work because in the end of the month we have all our bills to pay and $$$$ is necessary.

From Mayo's point of view (another writer), workers are not motivated JUST by money, but also by having their human/social need met.

Then, Abraham Maslow comes, with his freak smile. He scared me this morning.

Yeah, I know. He is a smart guy, though. This is Maslow's Hierarchy of needs:



Which I agree with. Once the basic need at the bottom are met, they go away. The remaining needs, are growth needs. Once these ones are initially fulfilled, they DO NOT go away. In fact, we will try to find new ways to satisfy these needs. It involves your potential, being the best you can be in as many areas possible. According to Maslow, only a small percentage of the population reaches the level of self-actualization.



At this stage (top), you have achieved full happiness and harmony in your life which will motivate you to accept and create challenges. He later modified his pyramid with an addition between the Esteem level and Self Actuation level that included creativity and surrounding yourself with beauty.

Certainly, there is a common sense approach to his theory, and when thought upon, you realize that if someone is consumed with the basic needs of life, then it would be difficult to move on to group activities and appreciation of the arts, much less act in the best interest of the motivator. However, once you move past the basics, the Maslow theory of motivation lends little to the notion that people are motivated by different things. Not everyone is motivated to join group activities or pursue love, but it doesn't make them any less motivated.

In a way, money is still linked to the theories, as in the beginning of the post.
One thing that makes me happy is traveling. I LOVE traveling. By plane, car, train... the second one is shopping. If you are a woman, you know what I am talking about. Shopping is relaxing, exciting, makes us feel better. Being here in England, is also interesting and a lot of money was needed. We all dream about that gorgeous apartment or the dream beach house with a fancy car in the garage. And my beautiful dog running in the yard. Mom and dad drinking tea outside by the pool... OK!

To be honest, I am one of those who will never reach the top of the pyramid. Every time I find out what makes me happy and enjoy it the most, I get bored. Then, I have to start searching for something else, and the cycle never ends. You go from the top to the previous one, to the top again then back down. I always want more, what I cannot have. Maybe this is the meaning of my life. Searching for that one thing that makes me happy! I do not know if someday I will find it and stop searching, but I hope so. Dreaming is good, makes me feel alive. We need to have something to fight for! Otherwise, life gets too boring.

What about you? What do you wake up in the morning for?

Note:

Never ever again, take medicine to sleep. Seriously, today was one of those BAD days.
I hate being moody and stressed, I get annoyed very easily. :(
BUT, I am still a good student and finished -some- of my homeworks for this week! YEEEEYYYY
See? It was worth staying in the iLab during lunch time. Also, I made a big effort to come home right after my lessons.
Im still *dreaming* about Costa's hot chocolate with whipped cream, though.
Saving money and time. Lessons here.

Homework status:
Maths - DONE
Biology experiment report - DONE
Business&management quiz - DONE
English research - DONE. Heheheheh not done yet.

P.s.: got some stuff to decorate my scrapbook! I am so excited to start writing on it!
P.s.: last Friday I went to the Harbour to take some pictures. I officially have a new addiction: photography. Plus, I need to catch up with my CAS hours. I have to say, I am very proud of myself. Thinking about selling the pictures to the Torbay Council or something. Hahahah

10 things you should know about me:

1. I am a very impatient person. I hate waiting for people and if you are more than 10 minutes late I will leave without you.

2. I am perfectionist. If i organize something I want everything to be done on time and in well order! Do not try to change my plans, you will be in trouble.

3. I am living in England now. I love it.

4. I cry when I am upset or someone annoys me.

5. I became a total clean freak!

6. I love Cardiff. I love London. I love Miami. I love Disney. Love traveling! By plane, train or car.

7. Selfish, impetuous, whimsical, perfectionist, fickle to the last degree. Do not easily forgive. I am quite changeable, quick tempered, cannot bear to be contradicted. If not permitted to do the work in my own way, I get into confusion, and very likely lose all interest in the subject. My stubbornness is more of an appearance than a reality.
I care little about the past, preferring to seek new avenues into the future, so I will always throw yourself head and body into new projects. Direct, straight-to-the-point. Energetic, enthusiastic and outgoing. Call me to go to the cinema, for a walk, parties, whatever it is, I am going to be there.

8. Love beauty, order, harmony and elegant surroundings.

9. I am extremely ambitious. I usually get what I want.

10. TOP FAVES:
shampoo - Bed Head Superstar;
perfume - XX by Hugo Boss;
colors - purple and gray;
book - Gossip Girl;
addictions - photography, reading, films, chocolate, coffee, decorating rooms, writing on my blog, twitter, orkut, facebook, music, supermarkets, medical series, shoes & bags;

Cardiff

Ok, esse post é uma dica para quem está vindo para o Reino Unido!
Essa semana é a semana chamada de "half term", e nós temos U-M-A S-E-M-A-N-A livre pra fazer o que quiser - além das tarefas, claro. heheheh
Fui com duas amigas da Noruega conhecer a capital do País de Gales, Cardiff.

Estávamos sem expectativa NENHUMA, but tudo mudou depois da primeira noite.
Chegando lá, fomos deixar as malas no hotel. Me senti super gente grande quando me perguntaram se eu queria deixar meu carro no estacionamento kkkk também ganhei um cartão de prioridades e um drink grátis no bar. Phyna. Largamos as coisas no quarto e saímos para almoçar... pizzaria? restaurante italiano? pizzaria? restaurante italiano? Me senti na Itália. Acabamos ficando no Prezzo, que é muito bom e tem em todo lugar na Europa!
À noite, descobrimos uma night club chamada Revolution. Melhor descoberta da viagem! Na terça-feira, estava tendo a noite dos estudantes, e como em Cardiff tem uma das melhores universidades do UK, o lugar estava cheio de universitários. Fiquei chocada com a quantidade de gente bonita e querida que tinha lá! Better saying, with the amount of cute guys hahahah.
No segundo dia pela manhã, fomos às compras! Next, Top Shop, River Island, New Look, H&M, até chegarmos na Lipsy. Se você precisa de um party dress, ache a Lipsy mais próxima! Os outfits deles são LINDOS e você vai querer comprar a loja inteira! Nesse dia eu comprei um vestido, porque eu precisava de algo pra usar na mesma noite, rs. No almoço descobrimos outro restaurante ÓTEMO chamado Zizzi! Super indico. Pegamos o ônibus e fomos conhecer Cardiff Bay. OK, se eu fiquei frustrada com alguma coisa na viagem foi isso KKKKK mas é bom conhecer a cidade toda, né.

Na recepção do hotel, descobrimos que na quarta-feira tem a mesma festa dos estudantes! Então nos arrumamos e fomos pro mesmo lugar da noite anterior. Tinha uma fila quilométrica mas ficamos esperando, até que surgiu um moço super querido perguntando se queríamos pulseiras VIP, pra não ter que ficar esperando na fila e poder entrar direto. Oi moço, te amo pra sempre viu. Todo mundo da fila ficou olhando com cara de -Q pra nós KKK na porta só mostramos as pulseiras e o segurança nos deixou passar, sem pedir identidade nem nada. Atoron ser VIP. Ficamos muito lokas kkk e aproveitamos muito nossa última noite na cidade. Depois da Revolution, seguimos o fluxo de pessoas e acabamos num lugar chamado Live Lounge. Sem gracinha mas ok.
- Hey, were you at REVS today?
- What?
- REVS, were you there?
- AAAAAH ok, REVS, yeah yeah.
EU AINDA NÃO SEI COMO A MINHA AMIGA ENTENDEU O QUE DIABOS ERA REVS, mas enfim.
O mais engraçado era o cara que fazia faculdade em Londres.
- Yeah, I am going to college in London.
- Really? What do you study there?
- Penguins.
Penguins, such a turn off. OK.

Depois de dançar muito e não conseguir mais pisar no chão, quando todas as baladas fecharam (4h da manhã), voltamos pro hotel. Obviamente não conseguimos acordar no dia seguinte e perdemos o café da manhã. Nice. Estava nevando muuuuito na quinta! Mas vou contar uma coisa pra vocês viu... neve é tão sem graça. E molhada. Bem chato mesmo. Almoçamos na REVS hahah porque tínhamos que voltar lá, e depois fomos pra estação pegar o trem de volta.

Então, se você está pensando em vir para o Reino unido estudar, passear, whatever.. vá até Cardiff. É super fácil pegar trens pra lá e barato também. Os universitários britânicos são lindos e você vai ficar apaixonada por todos eles. Awn, queridos. (L)
Clica em cima dos nomes dos restaurantes e das lojas e fuçem nos sites. E clicaê nas fotos pra ampliar também.

Cheers, mate! xx

I've heard that it's possible to grow up - I've just never met anyone who's actually done it. Without parents to defy, we break the rules we make for ourselves. We throw tantrums when things don't go our way, we whisper secrets with our best friends in the dark, we look for comfort where we can find it, and we hope - against all logic, against all experience. Like children, we never give up hope.

Pain. Is it real?

Ignorem esse post. Coisas da escola!

IB - Theory of Knowledge

- When pain is mentioned, we always think about broken bones, cuts, burned fingers etc. Something that reminds us of a bad or uncomfortable feeling. However, is this feeling real? Can it be created by our own minds? What about emotions? Can we forget painful moments? Let's think about it.

- I would like to start with my own experience. A few years ago, I had a surgery on my feet. The facts: I was frightened, scared, freezing. All emotional feelings. What I felt: pain. As I just had a local anesthetic, I could feel THE anesthetic. The most intense pain I've ever felt in my life.
- In December last year, I had the same surgery. But now, my interest in Medicine and surgeries is what scares me. I was looking forward to go to the hospital and see the doctors again, the O.R., the equipments... When they called me, I just said "By, mom! By dad!" and they were staring at me like who say "Do I know her?". I asked the Anesthesist to give me some sedative before the local anesthetic because I knew it would hurt. 2 seconds later I fell asleep. During the surgery, I went crazy and started speaking English with the doctor and the nurses. I don't really remember what happened, just a few words like "Am I speaking English?" "Oh, ok, sorry. I CANNOT SPEAK PORTUGUESE ANYMORE!", but that's not the point. Two days later, I went to my doctor's office and he said:
- Paula, you were in a lot of pain!
- No! I didn't feel anything this time, because of the sedative.
- Of course you did! You were screaming!
- Hmm.. how?
- You could feel the pain, you just don't remember!
Actually, IV (Intravenous Sedative) doesn't put you to sleep. You remain conscious during IV sedation. You will also be able to understand and respond to requests from your doctor. However, you may not remember much about what went on because of two factors: firstly, in most people, IV sedation induces a state of deep relaxation and a feeling of not being bothered by what's going on. Secondly, the drugs used for IV sedation can produce either partial or full memory loss (amnesia) for the period of time when the drug first kicks in until it wears off. As a result, time will appear to pass very quickly and you will not recall much, or perhaps even nothing at all, of what happened. So it may, indeed, appear as if you were "asleep" during the procedure.
Not that it will interest you, but the sedative used on me is called Propofol. The same used by Michael Jackson just before his death.

- Emotional pain X physical pain;
- "Pain caused by emotional distress is more deeply felt and longer lasting than that caused by physical injuries, according to a new study."
- Psychologists are using the old saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" to discover how people get over emotional or physical pain.
The researchers asked participants to relive their past painful experiences by writing in detail what had happened and how they had felt. Comparing the results, they discovered that both types of pain can hurt very much at the time they occur, but social pain has the unique ability to come back over and over again, while physical pain comes and goes, at one time painful.

- People literally feel pain of others.
- A brain anomaly can make the saying "I know how you feel" literally true in hyper-empathetic people who actually sense that they are being touched when they witness others being touched. This condition is known as mirror-touch synesthesia. Some people experience touch on their own body when they merely watch someone else being stroked or punched. We often flinch when we see someone knock their arm.

- EFT (emotional freedom techniques)
- Kelly Meisak: "Stress actually comes from emotions; as we experience a vast array of circumstances, we feel emotions accordingly. However, in holding negative emotions within the body we cause disruptions in our natural energy field, and these disruptions then cause physical pain and illness as the energy is unable to flow freely as it naturally would. Never before had such a prominent emotional contributor been so apparent to me in relation to a physical ailment within the body. Notice how the subconscious begins with something seemingly insignificant, and gently unfolds its protection to reveal the layers underneath."

Some people feel pain, some others don't. Are we able to control it? What are you feeling? Is it real pain or it came from your emotions? Does pain really exist?

"Maybe we like the pain...

(...) Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know; maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop."

TOK presentation coming soon...