This past couple of weeks, I continued improving my reading skills with the book called “Magic” translated into Korean. My favorite exercise this month was day 5. This exercise was about gratitude for health. It had short excerpts explaining how health may seem very simple and unimportant in our daily lives. But it is the main root to how we function and do our daily tasks. Staying healthy is very important and we should be grateful for it instead of taking it for granted. The book describes how there are so many people who were born with a disease or deal with health issues throughout their lives. Reading the list of possibilities that could have happened to me, made me realize how I also took my health for granted. This made me very grateful and started changing my routines to a more healthier lifestyle.
Another exercise that I thought was fun was on day 3. The book instructed you to find a rock from outside and place it by your bed. Before you go to bed you would be thankful for finishing the day and reflect on what happened. When you wake up in the morning and see the rock you could be thankful for being able to start the day in a positive mood.
I couldn’t find a rock on campus that was pretty so I used a heart stress ball that I got from the dean and carried it around with me. There were times throughout the week where I just wanted to complain and stay in the negative mindset. But the heart ball in my pocket helped me switch my thoughts. It was hard but I tried to stay positive.
I continued to write daily the ten things I am grateful for in korean. I think writing in the language daily helped me practice a lot and get more comfortable with it. However, there were vocabs that I still was not sure how to translate yet so I had to look them up. I think to improve my writing skills even more I would have to try writing different prompts. I noticed that the list of ten sentences I write every day were very similar and used the same words. I asked my language partner to give me some prompts I could write about and enhance my thinking skills.
Instead of doing diaries and reading books, I wanted to try something new and be able to think in the language to improve my writing and reading skills. I believe I could truly advance in the language when I can deeply think in the language and be able to come up with my own answers and thoughts that are different from the usual answers to prompts.
I spent a lot of time with Vivian and also went to a korean church to keep practicing my speaking skills. Even though my goal is to improve my reading and writing skills, I thought it was important to not forget how to speak in the language.
Comments
Rachel,
I completely agree with you that health is definitely wealth, and when it is taken away, our entire lives crumble down. I think living a life of gratitude (especially practicing daily gratitude) can help us a lot with living more mindfully and making better decisions. Anyways, thanks for an insightful post!