Thirteen, Alex (Apr.09.2016)

[Alex J Jung]

리더 알렉스 입니다.

주말에 만나요 ^^

Topic1. Does appearance really matter?

It has been a controversial issue that people with preferable appearance are more likely to be treated better than others. A lot of researches have been trying to prove this fact and some of them concluded that appearance is very closely related to achievement. Of course, appearance does not represent the person’s tendency or capability, but a number of studies already found that the first impression which is highly dependent on physical appearance has significant influence on judging one person. Here comes today’s topic. Does looking really matter to live a better life? And do you think it is right to assess a person with his/her appearance?

Q

1. What are the criteria that you have to judge one person’s appearance? Are there any particular points that you mainly focus on?

2. What are the factors that affect you to have a good/bad impression?

3. Does appearance matter when you make friends? What about when you are making a boyfriend/girlfriend?

4. Some poeple say a person should not be judged by appearance, and others say appearance also represents the person’s trait. What do you think? Do you think it is unfair for appearance to be used to assess one person?

5. Do you have any experience that you had advantage or disadvantage because of your looking?

6. Would you hire someone with good looking if you are a boss? Do you think employees with fine appearance effect on the image of a company?

7. The standard of beauty or handsome has been changing throughout human history. In ancient time, people considered obesity is an important criterion of beauty. Do you think there will be another trend judging appearance in the future? What would it be?

Topic 2. Find time to rest your mind,

Psychiatrist warns of over stimulating brain in smart era

 

 Smartphones have become a necessity in our daily life, but are they really working positively for our “wellness?” Professor Shin Dong-won at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital says that the smart devices are making overworking brain. We should try to vacate our brain, according to the psychiatrist.

“When you got on the bus in the past, many people were dozing or they were just sitting with a vacant look on their face, the brain had time for a rest,” the professor said.

Now, however, most people are looking at their smartphones in the bus or subways. She said people are becoming addicted to their cell phones, just like alcoholics are addicted. “According to a study, people check their phones every six minute on average these days. They continue checking their phones fearing that they might be missing messages.”

She explained that dopamine, a kind of chemical in the brain, makes us get addicted to something. “When you drink alcohol, dopamine is secreted to excite you. However, when you get used to a glass of alcohol, you will then need two glasses to have the same amount of dopamine. It is the same with the cell phone. You probably checked phones every few hours in the past, but now you are checking it every few minutes.”

The problem is that this “drug” in our hands is making us tired, both physically and mentally. “Our brain has two modes — resting and concentrating. It needs to take a rest to function smoothly. The digital devices, however, are depriving the brain of rest ... Consequently, the brain doesn’t function effectively when it should be working,” she said.

What’s happening in our brain during sleep reflects how rest is essential for our brain. “Some people say that they don’t want to waste time by going to sleep, but that is silly. Do you know which organ of our body consumes the most nutrition, oxygen and energy? It’s the brain. It means the brain has so much work.” Contrary to what most people believe, the brain consumes more energy when we are asleep than when we are awake. The professor says the brain is organizing the information we got through the day while we are asleep. “That’s why students who sit all night to study without sleeping aren’t A students ... You should take a good sleep to recharge the brain,” she said, explaining how rest is essential for the brain. While our brain needs to switch between two modes — resting and concentrating, the digital devices are hampering the rest mode.

Training for vacating brain

 She advises that we should control digital devices instead of being controlled by them, citing one of her cases. After talking with a person suffering from insomnia, she found out that the patient had a computer in his bedroom and puts his cell phone next to his pillow when he goes to bed. He would get Kakao Talk messages when he was about to sleep. As he replied and looked at a few other things on the phone, he immediately feels awake. “My prescription was to ban digital devices after 11pm, turn off the computer and leave the phone outside the bedroom. Now he says he’s sleeping well.”

In the case of a couple who quarreled every day, the psychiatrist found out the husband was bringing his cell phone to the dining table. The wife wanted a conversation but the husband was concentrating on the phone. After the husband quit the habit, the couple’s problem was solved.

While one should give the brain time to rest by making it vacant, one may find it difficult due to ensuing thoughts. It is not easy to not think about anything. It takes training. The professor gave some tips. The first is to read signboards while on the street. The second is to observe other people. For instance, one can try to count five people wearing glasses, or five people wearing a red scarf. “I advise that you try it when you are muddled up with thoughts. You will find your head clearing up.”

Q

1. How often do you check your smartphone in every hour? Do you feel you check it frequently or not?

2. What do you usually do with your smartphone when you are in bus or subway or street?

3. What are the advantage and disadvantage using smartphone?

4. Have you ever fought with your friend or family because of smartphone?

5. As psychiatrist's saying in above the article, vacating a brain is very important for healthy life.

what do you do for vacating your brain in daily life?

6. Do you agree to one of the fact of this article that smartphone is making us lose social skills like reading the faces of the other people. Because we spend time too much on smartphone instead of meeting people in real world.

7. it's so impressive the last sentence of this article

"What you really need is contact with people, not connection with smartphones"

 if your girl or boy friend asked you "don't check your smartphones when we get together", would you accept it?

Topic 3. The five most common misconceptions about decision-making

 Decisions give us power, about how we live our lives and even about the sort of people we are.
Yet many of us find decision making difficult or scary.
Much of this negativity is due to misunderstandings about how we make decisions.
Robbie Steinhouse outlines five of the most common misconceptions
 18 September 2014 by Psychologies

 MISCONCEPTION ONE: Decisiveness is a trait, which you either have or haven’t got.
We often admire people as being ‘decisive’, and also often bemoan the lack of this trait in ourselves.
But good decision-making is not a trait like height or eye colour, but a skill that can be learnt.
As with all skills, it’s a mixture of understanding the basics, then learning by practise – which can mean things going wrong, but as long as we learn from the mistakes, that’s fine.

 MISCONCEPTION TWO: Decisive people decide quickly.
Sometimes a decision has to be made quickly, in which case, yes, get deciding!
But most big decisions need to take time.
You have to gather information, think of options, come to a decision that feels right, then put it into practise.
Rushing this four-step process is almost always a mistake. Note that with important decisions, you usually have more time than you think.
Other people may want a decision yesterday, but that’s their agenda; you can buy time. 

MISCONCEPTION THREE: A good decision is one that is set in stone.
In a fast-changing world, new information often appears once a decision has been taken and action has started.
The best decisions leave a little ‘wiggle-room’ for adapting to changing circumstances and making what turns out to be a better decision.
There is a real art in knowing exactly how much such room to leave – again, experience will teach you what works for you. 

 

 MISCONCEPTION FOUR: Always trust your instinct.
No decision is a really good one without a final wholehearted buy-in from your emotions and your ‘gut feel’.
 But on the way to this, heart and gut sometimes need to be overridden, or at least told to back off.
The obvious example is when faced by instant gratification:
I must have that cream cake! Reason needs to step in here. We are also ‘hard-wired’ for what psychologists call loss aversion: we worry too much about what might go wrong, even if such an event is unlikely.  

As with the cream cake, reason has to step in and point this out.

 MISCONCEPTION FIVE: Decisions are for the powerful, not me.
It’s easy to feel helpless and disempowered in the modern world, and conclude that ‘someone else’ is making all the decisions. But we can use decision-making to get our power back. Start with the most simple ones and build up. The better you become at this skill, the more you realise that you can exercise it in ever more areas of your life. The art of decision making is closely aligned to the art of personal leadership:
have a vision of something truly worthwhile then take the appropriate steps to make that vision a reality. 

Q

1. When you buy something to drink or snack from the convenience store, 
   are you a kind of person who make a decision very quickly or are you not?

2. After buy something, do you often regret your decision?

3. If you didn't like the cloth that you bought yesterday, would you like to change the cloth?

4. Have you ever bet money? If you have, how much money did bet on?
   After that betting (lost or win), did you regret that decision (betting money)?

5. In your life, what was the most regrettable decision? or what was the best regrettable decision?

6. If GOD give you chance to choose 10 hundred million won or can be 10 years younger or
    being your ideal type of person, which one would you like to choose?

[Won Jeon]

참석입니다!

[Alex J Jung]

2주만이죠 ^^ 토요일에 봐요 ㅋ

[STAFF♡]

자료준비했습니다^^

[Alex J Jung]

^^

[RayProctor]

갑니다.

[Alex J Jung]

Okay

[Austin.lee]

나도 참석요 ^^ catch you guys later

[Alex J Jung]

Yab! Bro~