I was recently in Nepal and before that in Indonesia and other parts of Asia and Europe. I have witnessed many different cultures and learned what they value, in comparison to myself. In Nepal, they value modesty and so when I went swimming I had to cover up. This felt odd for me because in the US we don't have to do that, in fact, we feel comfortable not. I think it is important for everyone to expand their cultural horizons and gain a greater understanding of what other parts of the world value in stead of living a narrow-minded life. It is important to use that schemata to interpret different aspects of your life.

I feel like internal attributions have made a huge impact in mine and other's lives, especially in school. I can say that I have definitely not taken credit for my lack of motivation and procrastination in many classes. It's not a healthy way of thinking about it, but sometimes it can make you feel better about a grade if it's blamed on someone else. But, then this becomes a recurrent problem of not taking responsibility for your own actions and can take place in other aspects of your life, including relationships.

I have had and have many friends with different values and political views than I do. I have had times where I seriously contemplated whether or not I could handle being in the friendship, but I learned to interpret their values to an extent. I will never fully agree but I can now understand why they believe some things and can have a mature conversation about our differences. Some times, though, it is important to avoid the topic so that arguments aren't created and friendships are lost.

I work in the restaurant industry where we have counter service. I have said this exact thing to multiple customers in the past week. Our restaurant is always busy, so it becomes a pattern of seeing people talking to one another and standing near each other. Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me and I'll assume two people were having a friendly conversation, but instead they may have just been engaged in small talk. This is when I assume they know each other and they are sitting together.

Aural stimulation has always been a struggle for me. I have incredible hearing to the point where it can be very distracting for me at times. When I am trying to study, it is hard for me to go to a coffee shop because I need almost complete silence. Any slight noise will take me off track from what I was reading or working on. I also get very overwhelmed when the noise it too loud, for example, playing music too loud in a car or people yelling.

This is a statement almost everyone can probably agree with. You could be having a completely fun and normal conversation with friends, until someone you find attractive walks up and suddenly, all you know how to speak is gibberish. I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me or I have witnessed this happen to someone else. On the other side of this though, you may not see those social cues that someone who isn't "love struck" sees. This can be detrimental in the future and you might not see the signs for months. I call this "love blind" and it is extremely difficult to take off those blinders.

One aspect of communication that I have always found intriguing is visual communication. It is usually found among those who have a close relationship with one another when one person looks at the other and you just know exactly what they are thinking. I have encountered this among my friends and I a number of times and it is honestly a fantastic feeling. You are so close with that person that all you have to do it look at each other and you know exactly what they're thinking, just by visual contact.

Ever since I was young, my mom always talked to herself and I thought it was so odd of her. As I grew older, I noticed myself doing the same thing and understood why she was doing this. She talks out loud to keep her mind from losing track of what she's doing in the moment, and I tend to do the same. Mom's are always thinking about a million things at once so it's understandable why this can be such a helpful way of staying on track. I talk to myself when I'm making a list of what I need to do or remember to grab as I am walking out of the house, for example, making sure I have all of my snowboard gear so I don't show up without my boots.

Being a strong public speaker makes one seem educated and powerful. When I listen to some of my friends speak, they use powerful words and it makes you interested in what they have to say. They bring such power and emphasis to what they are saying that makes me see that they are a successful public speaker and bring confidence with what they say. Being able to have this characteristic can increase your chance of success and power because people want to listen to you if you're confident with your speech and know how to keep other's engaged. I've never seen a politician who was a bad public speaker...

From the early ages, this being the least studied of the five canons is ironic because of how much people struggle with this concept today. Retaining large amounts of information or even memorizing a sentence is something I struggle with. Not just me, but tons of people around the world. Understanding that memory was the least studied makes a lot of sense in why it is so stressful and difficult to be asked to memorize something for school, work, etc. today.