Analyzing Shel Silverstein's 'Picture Puzzle Piece'

Katlynn Dahl-Leonard Spring 2018 Mindfulness and Acceptance Therapies Mid-Term Exam 1. The inculcation of “creative hopelessness” is often the first step in an ACT intervention. Explain creative hopelessness (what it is and what is its purpose) and unpack the “three questions” sometimes used to promote it (What have you tried? How has it worked?

I leaned my head against the car window watching the leaves blowing around, just trying to distract myself from a slight feeling of emptiness inside of me. This feeling seemed all too familiar to me. My family and I had all of our possessions packed into boxes yet again. We were moving to a new state. At this point, up rooting our lives and starting over almost seemed more like a hobby than anything more significant. However, I have just now come to realize that what seemed like constant inconveniences in the past, have actually taught me how to be the best me with influences all around the country. Living in three different states and five homes may have been a challenge, but it provided me with memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything because those moments created the person I am today.

As we grow, we face new challenges, which is all part of our journey as we try to find ourselves and what we are best at. Lena Coakley takes the idea of self-realization and portrays it through the character Alice, in her story “Mirror Image”. The author Cathy Jewison brings up the concept of finding what you are good at, through the protagonist Norman, in her story “The Prospector’s Trail”. Although both stories focus on the main idea of facing new challenges while growing and changing, “The Prospector’s Trail” plot is based more on finding your passion rather than finding yourself.

Falling down while growing up has been part of everyone’s life before. It is usual that we face obstacles and sometimes we lost the battle between us and the obstacles. We often interpret mistakes as bad or as a failure, but we don’t realize that mistake or failure are what helps us learn. In the short essay named “Falling Down is Part Of Growing” by Henry Petroski, Petroski’s uses of examples from stages of our life successfully conveys the message that failure does not define who we are or what we are; instead, it is a way for us to learn, to try again and finally achieve success.

How ironic it is that some people truly do not appreciate what they have or realize a good thing until it is gone? However, many may say that some people have to travel the path of lost and despair to realize the things that are important. Others simple may just live a life of delusion so as to ignore the present and so they miss out on the important things. To be your authentic self one need to be honest with self and for some to arrive to authenticity it may require despair or lost. In this review, the narrator seemed to have an obsession with a self consuming image that is created by using a glass cleaner that creates a promising and vital false outlook that make him very happy in his home. His home has become his refuge in a sense and

Discovery of self may be a common process that can improve and deepen understanding of the individuals and the world around them. It is through these new understandings that individuals are able to both reunite with themselves and the wider society. This concept is presented clearly in the poem ‘The door’ by Miroslav Holub representing that change in self involves taking chances and opportunities and the positive consequences of change. Holub conveys change as an individual’s commitment to take new opportunities presented to them, resulting in a new perspective of life. The short story ‘Big world’ by Tim Winton reveals that self-exploration and the substantial growth and development happen through findings that contain experiences, which challenge

Before going to sleep, children often like when their parents read them a bedtime story. Usually, it becomes a nightly ritual that children become attached to. They usually become attached to a certain book that their parents read to them. As a child, I loved when my mom read me the book, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. In this book, the mouse was always wanting more than he had, wand was taking his owner for granted. A moral this book taught me is that we are constantly wanting or needing more that we have in life, but we cannot always have it. Appreciating what we have and not taking certain aspects of our lives for granted are items we need to improve on.

Today’s culture includes a melting pot of struggling people. Regardless of their background, it can be assumed that they constantly grapple with the meaning of life. With postmodern ideas stressing individualism and nonconformity, it is no wonder why so many people feel lost. The mystery is not how we came to this predicament, but how Phillip K. dick and Ridely Scott predicted these outcome decades in advance.

Thomas the Apostle once said that seeing is believing, and rightfully so. A person consciously chooses to stand firm in his beliefs until given cold, hard evidence that proves a different reality and opens his eyes. Coming to understand these new facts is a vital part of life that man must face in order to better understand the natural world. However, new knowledge can become a double-edged sword when it attributes to man's disillusionment. An individual's mindset falls into the depths of despair when introduced to a harsh reality that clashes with his previous perceptions of right and wrong.

Mae West, an American actress and screenwriter, once said that “you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough”. However, people have different philosophies of what the “right” way to live life is. Priorities and routines differ for most people and some believe that because the way that they live works for them, they should encourage other to live in a similar way, like Thomas Jefferson, Machiavelli, and Pema Chodron. While Jefferson and Machiavelli exhibit strong arguments through their use of argumentative strategies, Chodron’s document “Start Where You Are” is the most effective of the three in terms of evidence-usage, connecting to the audience, and overall

A lesson I took from the story about achieving success is that no matter what obstacle you encounter, you need to keep pushing forward to your end goal and beyond. Certain situations can cause us to pause or if they’re severe to completely give up on our goals.

This time he did not lift his face up out of the rubber grass. ‘I just can’t do it [...] Oh yes you can, Doodle,’ I said. ‘All you got to do is try. Now come on,’” (Hurst, 37). When the older brother sees how Doodle responded to him before, the older brother was given hope and decided to teach Doodle how to walk. The older brother does not give up on Doodle and he continues to strive to help him out. Even when Doodle does not believe in himself, the older brother keeps pushing Doodle to his limit. Before, the older brother did not have hope that Doodle would become a normal child, but after seeing Doodle grin, he gained hope and decided to teach Doodle how to walk. Additionally, Hurst used the characterization of the Doodle’s older brother to show how a person’s motivations can be changed negatively through the loss of hope.

People face obstacles every day: the unbearable coworker, federal income taxes, and tupperware with no matching lids. Pressing issues such as these already contribute enough stress to life as it is, but for some, the obstacle is themselves. Whether this be because of guilt, poor self esteem, or mental illness, it is important to realize the toxicity of this dynamic and prevent it, as it can lead to serious consequences even more daunting than those of plastic wares. Ralph Marston, the writer of The Daily Motivator, states that because of the pressures that many people face each day, it’s important to avoid this type of relationship with oneself. Despite how difficult it can be for some to do so and the failure some meet, Marston’s point holds extreme validity and could prove to be beneficial when implemented in one’s lifestyle.

Many people live their lives believing that their lives are driven by fate; that their hopes and dreams ultimately have no impact on how their lives will turn out. This, however, does not hold true when one considers the paths taken by those who follow their own dreams and desires. When one examines the lives of people and characters who follow their dreams, one can realize that life is not guided by fate, but by the desires of one’s heart.

As a child, I remember growing up in an area of Atlanta, Georgia called Mechanicsville. This area was very diverse with people from various socioeconomic backgrounds. Often, my mother would share valuable life lessons with my siblings and me. One, in particular, I remember even to this day is, “Life is only as challenging or motivating as you make it”. Originally, I did not quite understand the purpose of this aphorism; but as I got older, the meaning became quite clear. Although life for me has been both wholesome and unhealthy, in hindsight, it seemed better than my childhood friends. If you knew the real story, you would see that my life is not as perfect as it appears. Just to provide you with a little insight into my world, I had a