The Study Game 👾

 Besides how crazy last semester was and the current pandemic of things, I honestly didn't want to try anymore. I had created too many walls to even start. I spent majority of my time rediscovering myself. I missed who I was before this pandemic started. One setback I wanted to let people know about was that this was my first time not going home for Christmas and spending the holidays alone in my college dorm room. The rest of this post will elaborate on the events that took place. I felt like I became Batman. Stuck in my hole without anyone. I turned to anime specifically very dark anime. I stopped majority of my habits I had developed last school year including blogging or making Youtube videos. I stuck mainly with working on my art drawings that I had created the past school year. I slept late and ate junk food especially McDonalds. At one point, I felt like I had essentially fallen into a rut. However, this was only the hard parts of the story. I saw myself grow. Social media s...

 I actually do believe poetry can have a sort of healing power for people. Similar to art, it is a form of self-expression where the poet creates based on his thoughts and feelings. One thing I noticed is that with any type of art form there can be a profound decrease in stress. Some people even create poetry as a hobby or as a form of escape from the real world. When we were asked to create haikus recently for this class, I did feel a sense of stress due to time constraints, but besides that I actually enjoyed the activity because it allowed me to talk about how I feel about a topic specifically one that was making me fatigued at the time. Expressing my thoughts towards the IT exam through poetry made me add a sense of comic relief to a very serious subject which I think is invaluable. Based on this experience, I do believe that poetry can also be used as a way to vent out feelings of anger, fatigue, or frustration. Poetry is like a different language where we speak with a differe...

 Not everyone is gifted with photographic memory or logs through the rest of their day running on multiple shots of coffee. Therefore, I stand on a different area of the learning spectrum. I learned that it is difficult for me to care about a topic if it is forced on me on an assigned schedule as with all regular school classes. My interest and desire to learn more about a topic happens on my own time as I go through class material. I find areas that I would say, "hurt my brain" because I had never been exposed to the word or never grasped the concept. This is where knowing your learning style comes in handy because those moments that "hurt my brain" allowed my mind and subconscious to slowly ruminate on the topic and come up with its own solutions otherwise it would stimulate my body to go full gear into an actual google search. I learn better with questions being thrown at me on a topic that's why I personally rely on flashcards specifically Anki. Although, it...

 Many may see meditation as sort of a waste of time or complain that they're too busy but the reality is that it's much more simpler than it sounds. When I started meditating I was very skeptical and gave up multiple times, however, I finally decided to make a change after joining a meditation group on the Vibely app. Youtuber Lavendaire was doing a meditation challenge and many people especially females were taking part in the challenge and monitoring their progress. I wanted to give it a try by doing her guided meditation. I never expected that this was the push I needed to build a much needed habit of meditation. The app required you to log your progress publicly which added more incentive and with its interface I'm not surprised why this was extremely important to building the habit because we received likes on our post from others who were also trying to learn how to build a habit of meditating. It is one thing to try meditation and it is another to build a habit of do...

 One of my biggest challenges lately has been focusing for a long period of time. An interesting aspect I've been learning about myself lately is that my endurance and tolerance for discomfort tends to increase when I'm listening to music. I wanted to try and optimize for this characteristic by thinking about how I can use music to improve my exam performance. Today, I found myself listening to music as I was going over flashcards to study for a therapeutics exam that I have coming up next week. I found myself getting very tired in the late afternoon, but after throwing on my noise cancelling headphones and my favorite study music, the work felt like a breeze or at least I felt like I could go on for hours regardless of how much work I would need to put in. I'm even experimenting with music as I type out this blogpost. Hopefully you enjoy the rest of it! Mid-week Update:  I made a bit more progress as I spent time creating flashcards for my exam while listening to music and...

 It definitely is a lot different during these times of many online classes but that hasn't stopped medical/health related exams from being in person for me. In fact, they have actually offered a new challenge for me to try to be more efficient during my study time to get as much done as possible in such a short period of time. During these times for graduate students, I would definitely say that the level of independence and the high amount of stress placed on finding the sweet spot for focus, discipline, and adaptability has become of the utmost importance. As weeks have gone by since school started, I decided to run experiments to find how I truly study and memorize or at least optimize for studying better when I'm on my own. It can sometimes feel difficult to write out so much information by hand or create so many flashcards but I've found these challenging moments to honestly be of the most value. When I study, I do it with the intent of learning more about myself and ...

 As I have been working towards preserving my mental and physical energy, I soon realized just how difficult this can be especially when the school year and monotonous job duties seem to be slowly piling up. A lot of these mental challenges can be caused by the opinions of others. Believe it or not just about everyone has struggled with the fear of what others opinions are of them at some point. It is part of what makes us human and has also played a critical role in our survival. When you recognize that you're having a negative thought, you have essentially flipped a switch in your brain. A switch of realizing that you haven't been present with yourself and you've been essentially present somewhere else in a time and place that is non-existent. It is a place that contains all your fears and worries, you've been stuck in your own head for too long. Staying in that giant crainum all day can easily lead to not always the most positive but more often than not the most nega...

 An experiment I've been working on lately is nightly meditation before bed to reduce anxiety and allow for calm and relaxing dream states. I noticed that over the past few days I was finding myself waking up in the middle of the night due to anxieties and fear. I wanted to think of a way to mitigate these unhealthy moments because the number of hours we spend asleep are extremely valuable in order to optimize for morning productivity. I've found my level of workflow at night not as efficient as it is in the morning so getting better sleep is definitely a key towards success in order to truly have enough mind space for more worth while work. An important aspect of this method I noticed is already having a set morning routine that you find productive already in order to further increase your chances of success. If you need more information on that, please check one of my previous blog posts on morning routines. Meditation is extremely valuable. It is used by some of the top perf...

 An interesting twist definitely. I remember when I was a kid we use to do these things called "Elocutions" for poetry where we would act them out and I can recall one of my performances involved acting out how humans always wear masks. These ideas of humans being someone else at different times of the day or around different people and scenarios show just how adaptable humans truly are. Fast forward to the year 2020. We find humans now wearing masks as part of their daily attire. Never in my childhood would I have been ever able to fathom a time like this. Imagine someone teleporting to the future to find out that they had to wear a mask when going out and that social distancing was required everywhere that is public and gatherings are discouraged. They would probably want to leave asap. However, imagine how did the human race grow through that time. Imagine what will be written in history books of our people in overcoming these challenges. Not many people may want to believ...

  From the documentary, I learned that elderly native Hawaiians truly value preserving their culture which is shown through their land, children, music, and language. Although many are now mixed, I understand that elderly Hawaiians may still take pride in many of the traditional practices of their ancestors including the use of traditional healing or herbal medicines.   One of my peers proposed that it is important to analyze the old treatment (Hawaiian traditional medicine) and compare them with current medicines to ensure there wouldn’t be any interactions. An understanding of this can ensure the best quality of care for elderly Hawaiian patients. Another colleague of mine, Rebecca also proposed a fear of possible conflicts of care, since some elderly Hawaiians may not be very accustomed to modernization or may have negative views towards healthcare providers. I believe that it is still important to treat all patients with empathy and respect, regardless if a situation like ...

 The reality is that nothing in life is permanent. The friends you have, your home, your job. Situations and events will always arise pushing you out of your comfort zone to perform at a higher level than you were originally. What matters the most in these moments is how you allow these events to affect you. You may not like change but one thing I've learned after experiencing so much change especially with COVID is that at the end of the day. We will be okay and it's more important than ever to recognize the good things that are actually happening in our lives. Don't worry about tomorrow and letting that keep you up at night. Be present with yourself and your current environment. Don't fear change, face it head on. We can do our best to place our efforts towards change and even if that may fail that doesn't mean that our efforts were futile. Surprisingly, with effort comes learning and kudos to failure too because that is probably where most of it is born. Why fear...

 Here we are, the year 2020, a year full of the craziest moments in history and probably one of the most memorable parts of it would be the huge shift to online learning. The whole in-person to online learning occurred last year in March of 2019 for me. I still remember the semester was almost over and we were all enjoying spring break. I recall catching that new Sonic movie that came out with my friends for my birthday. The next thing I knew everything began closing heavily. Now, after another event filled summer, we are back to another new school year. A year many of the younger generation are calling "Zoom University." Reflecting on all of this, I feel like this may be they way things are going to be for a while now. Surprisingly this is my last school year for didactic lectures before I begin rounds in the hospital and retail setting so I'm trying to enjoy every moment of this and create as much random Zoom memes as possible to keep myself and others positive. Benefit...

I came into this book with an open mind not expecting anything. After reading it, I can definitely say that I have a much stronger appreciation for how challenging the life of a doctor can be. The book did a great job at portraying the life of Paul who transitioned through many phases in life from student to doctor and eventually patient. An interesting aspect about Paul is that he was always striving towards a big goal for him and his wife; this is especially shown by his persistence to finish school and become a great neurosurgeon. I found Paul’s struggle with cancer the most moving. He goes into detail describing the mental and physical effects the disease had on his body which was really eye opening to read about firsthand. I was especially humbled when he was switched to chemotherapy and could no longer experience the tastes of certain foods and found himself vomiting more often. The book is a reminder to appreciate time spent with family too because Paul never had the chance to w...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, begin! These are the countdowns towards probably one of the most profound moments in life pushing us to achieve our greatest goals. Lately, I've been listening to the audiobook for Mel Robbin's "The 5 Second Rule." I've also heard a couple famous Youtubers recommend this book and even Mel's famous motivational speeches were enough for me to check out this book. She's probably as motivating as Tony Robbinson, the moment you hear or read the body of this book you can immediately pick up how strong and confident Mel truly is. I recently wanted to try and apply some of the methodology behind the book by first pushing myself to start by beating my alarm clock. Let me elaborate, in the book, Mel describes one of the biggest reasons for her failures towards success starting out was always hitting the snooze button on her alarm and going back to bed beginning a sleep cycle. For me, I personally don't hit the snooze and just enter another sleep c...

Lately, life has felt like a constant search for trying to find hope in everything. Looking at the news and social media can easily place me in a hopeless mood. It seems like every day the corona virus outbreaks are getting worse. People in the community are uncomfortable being near one another and are forcing themselves to find reasons to stay home and quarantine. I find myself reminiscing on times when life was normal, and we had no reason to wear face masks. I have not seen my family in almost a year now. Online communication and video calls don’t bring about the same type of connection that physical presence and touch has in life. Even if it may take a long time for things to return to normal, I have chosen to see the hope in this situation and take time to appreciate nature and the fragility of this life. During these times, there truly is no point in dwelling on the negative because it is literally everywhere now.

Recently, I started testing out a new study method now that we're all stuck at home for online classes I've started looking into the study art of writing out material and slides during study periods. Normally, I would just stick to using flashcards but since its a new semester and probably the last semester of taking regular classes for me before graduation I thought I'd give this method a try and see if I benefit from it, gain new insights, and improve my exam grades. Here is how I'm implementing this method: Plan : Obviously, during the writing sessions I'll eventually grow disengaged with the material so I plan on throwing on something interesting in the background such as music, podcast, or audiobook to keep myself engaged. Quantify:  During study sessions, I will be using Pomodoro timers to keep account of how much hours I'm logging into this practice and reward myself accordingly. Knowing how much hours to dedicate to this practice is essential so I plan o...

 Lately, I've been listening to the audiobook for "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle and it has absolutely been addressing majority of mine and probably also mainstream society's fears and worries. The reason why we become anxious or uncomfortable is because our mind is outside of the now. Our minds aren't focused on accepting who we are and where we are right now and that is what is truly holding us back from becoming great. One night, I couldn't sleep and decided to throw on this audiobook and soon realized the reason I couldn't sleep was because I was anxious about the future, specifically anxious about online classes and online exams this school year. I didn't quite get comfortable with the fact that these things are outside of my control and sphere of influence. If we try to control and change the future without identifying and recognizing our state in the present we cannot produce valuable change. It is in the recognition of ourself and our curr...

 Welcome back to this life of a graduate student blog. Today, I just finished climbing one of the heaviest and deadliest metaphorical mountains that is my email inbox. Since school started literally today, I've been fighting to stay on top of my work and also trying to make time for myself. My mind is still in summer vacation mode it seems and is more willing to take numerous breaks or lying hours than focus on looming over imminent exams. As these school hours have begun, I realized I become jealous very easily of my classmates. It seems like everyone else is on top of things and has it all together in school making me feel like a complete wasteman despite my continuous efforts to stay on top of my work. The school year, they say, is when we drop a lot of our free time and hobbies. However, I beg to differ. I prioritize my health this semester. This is my last school year of regular didactic work so I'm hoping to make this the most productive and rejuvenating of them all. A fi...

 Today, I'm trying something new utilizing my hearing to try out audiobooks to see if it helps me to work on my productivity. Lately, I noticed that listening to audiobooks is a trending aspect online for learning. Books are full of large amounts of knowledge so easily available to us. I wanted to give it a try and surprisingly it did not turn out as well as I had expected. Usually, when I listen to voice audio such as a podcast I'm very much engaged, however, I found it a bit difficult to stay focused for certain audiobooks. Maybe this takes getting used to so I will update with any new insights I discover in the near future. Today, I tried out an audiobook and found myself asleep in my bed. I'm going to try and experiment with listening to audiobooks outside of my bedroom in the near future. I do see the appeal. These books full of vast knowledge are now being consumed using a different sense which is sound. I did experience the benefits of being to multitask and found my...

 With all of the changes that have been going on with COVID-19, many are returning to classes this school year socially distant from home but that doesn't mean we can't do it in style or in the most fun way possible! One of the difficult parts about in-person classes is driving or commuting long distances to your school location. Online classes removes this time barrier giving students more time for just about anything whether it be preparing for a class or logging more hours of sleep. This is definitely time to be taken advantage of. Although many of us enjoy face to face interaction, not many of us are essentially tech savy, so being able to master establishing online connections and communicating our ideas clearly through text is a skill in itself. A skill that many can master in the course of one year. Taking breaks would probably be one of the biggest benefits of online classes. Feeling overwhelmed in lecture? Take a breather, use the bathroom, have a snack, and immediatel...