Learning Challenge: Sharing Health and Happiness Tips

(Two children holding hands)

For this final week, I wanted to reflect on how I have worked this semester to be happier and healthier and share what I have done in order to achieve those goals. This semester, I have done my best to focus on taking care of me. That has entailed watching what I eat and exercising in order to take care of my physical health and opting to spend more time doing the things I love with my friends in order to bolster my mental and emotional health.

One specific aspect of taking care of me that I have come to notice is that people don't generally begrudge you the time you ask to spend with them. Honestly, I could have done a somewhat better job of balancing that time with time to do homework this semester, but I realized that I'm much happier for just taking the time to be around people who tend to make me happy.

Essentially, my tip for this week is to take time for you by making time for the people you love. You'll be happier and, as a result, healthier. Maybe you can even find a friend who's interested in cooking dinner or exercising with you on a regular basis. It isn't too hard to find a friend who's more than willing to spend time with you, and I think you'll find that you're both better off having done it.

Wikipedia Trail: Baalbek to Deep Diving

(Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek)

This week, I'll be trying out a Wikipedia trail. I started with Baalbek, which was mentioned in the class twitter feed in a tweet about the temple of Jupiter in Baalbek. Baalbek is a city in Lebanon near Beirut. The area in which the city is located shows almost continuous habitation for 8 or 9 thousand years. During the era of Alexander the Great, the city's temple was used for worship of the Greek sun God Helios, which leads us to our second page.

Helios is the godly embodiment of the sun in Greek mythology. His siblings are Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn. In fact, Helios was actually a titan, not a god. Because Helios is associated with the sun, he ended up with an element named after him.

Scientist Edward Frankland named an element 'Helium' after the sun titan Helios when its signature was noted on a spectrum examined from the sun. Helium is a very commonly known element used for a wide variety of purposes from balloons to rocket fuel coolant to aiding in deep diving air production. Helium is added to this mixture to lower the density of the air which  compresses at lower depths.

Recreational deep diving includes anything below 30 meters (98 ft). In professional diving, a diver must be 200 ft or deeper for the dive to be considered a deep dive. Swimming that deep requires special equipment and outfits so that the pressure doesn't cause permanent damage to the diver. Additionally air at those levels is toxic. It's interesting to read about the special requirements for diving so deep. It's also interesting to consider the connections between a temple in Lebanon and deep diving.

(US Navy Deep Sea Diver)

Bibliography:
Baalbek
Helios
Helium
Deep Diving

Reading Notes: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art Part D

(Image of the Goddess)

Shiva's Secret

Withdrawal leads to destruction. In many cases, Hindu lore seems to focus on the role of the wife as drawing her husband to partake in the most important aspects of the physical world. This is especially true in the case of gods and goddesses because it seems that certain Hindu gods are more inclined to remove themselves entirely from existence when their doing so could spell disaster.

There is an interesting division drawn between the power of desire to draw Shiva to the world and the power of devotion to draw him to it. Both can serve well, but only one can persuade him to continually protect and safeguard the world.

Shiva doesn't discriminate. The soul does not discriminate. Shankara does because he is bound by social customs and the laws of the people. I love the idea that Shiva's control of Ganga is symbolic of his control of desire for all things worldly.

Marriage can be considered a metaphor for material reality. Shiva's son, Kartikeya's, wives are the sky and the earth.

Shiva's stories tend to focus on the ever-changing relationship between spiritual and material reality.

Devi's Secret

Desire and destiny create life. Kanyakumari, the virgin goddess, wanted to marry Shiva. Marriage is supposed to channel or focus the raw, unchecked power of the the goddess. It's interesting to me that the two roles people associate with the goddess are mother/provider and warrior.

The nature of relationships is an integral part of these stories. In this episode, we have begun exploring specifically the relationship between man and nature. People crave the mother goddess because she will provide for him rather than attacking or killing him.

I like the idea that two separate goddesses exist within the same goddess. One of them is wild and violent and punishes those who seek to exploit her. The other is gentle and compassionate and provides for those who come to her meekly.

There is a pointed distinction between unfettered natural wealth and the wealth man has laid claim to.

Sugar cane and lotuses are symbols of love. Kama is the god of desire. The goddess creates the rules for the god's engagement with her. The axe is separating while the noose is binding. Yama keeps the book of deeds that denotes man's debts in regards to karma.

Durga is the combination of power and love. She is called the mother. Lakshmi and Sarasvati are her daughters - wealth and knowledge. Durga means the one who cannot be conquered. Hanuman is considered the guardian of the goddess.

There is a prominent theme of transformation throughout Hindu mythology. Mahavidyas are embodiments of wisdom. Hari-Haru = Shiva-Vishnu.

Bibliography: Seven Secrets from Hindu Calendar Art

Possible Class Improvements

Changing Review Weeks to Planning Weeks:

I feel that changing the review week in the middle of the semester would be a good idea because it would help to keep students focused on the future of the class and the work that still needs to be done; however, I feel that changing the final review week to a regular continuing week would take away from the benefit of the class because the review week provides students an opportunity to examine how their perspective and skills have developed as the semester has progressed.

Expand the Story Planning Option:

I really appreciated having the story planning option. Originally, I didn't think that I would take advantage of it, but around halfway through the class, I gave it a try and discovered that it could be highly beneficial to take a week to outline how I want my story to progress. This option helped refine my writing.

Create More Audio Recordings

I found the audio recordings very helpful and agree that expanding them could be good for future students.

Create Writing Tutorial Videos:

While tutorial videos can be a useful tool, I feel that you would be going through more trouble than necessary by creating full writing tutorial videos. I think that students could benefit equally if you simply provided links to useful sites that explain grammar tools and tips.

Create Thematic Writing Units:

This is an excellent suggestion. For me, at least, it was a little overwhelming to try and select one piece from among the hundreds and hundreds I had to choose from. Narrowing my choices down by theme each week could reduce the stressful nature of picking out what to read.

I don't have any additional suggestions. I really enjoyed this course, and I felt like it was a great experience. Thank you!