Rational thoughts

Well, I don't know if it was any interesting reading but I will admit, I like the blogging thing. I am ADD and my mind always is running 90 to nothing. Here is a place to let some of the thoughts out. For instances, I read today the top 10 smartest animals are:
1. Human (well I hope so!)
2. Chimp (98% like the human)
3. Dolphins
4. Elephants
5. Cephalopods (Octopi, Squids, Cuttlefish)
6. Crows
7. Squirrels
8. Dogs
9. Cats
10. Pigs (who do not have sweat glands which is why they roll in the mud)
Betcha did not pick some of those animals as smartest! I know I sure did not.

As I wrote about yesterday, I observe all kinds of things, I am very very visual. Well today's latest odd observation: I was at a school visiting one of my kiddos and in the restroom was a trashcan made of a cat liter tub. Very inventive I would say!

So some movies I am really looking forward to seeing . . . if not some that I am becoming totally obsessed about:
Made of Honor (definitely one that Jason will not be going to!)
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (loved the first one)
The Dark Knight (the movie I am obsessed with seeing! I LOVE psychological movies and Ledger's performance looks FANTASTIC. I am so sad that he is not here to hear all of the praise about his performance. Definitely am planning on seeing this the day it comes out.)

So I finished school a week ago but something that I learned towards the end of the semester that really stuck with me was in my Assessment class. It was based on Ellis' theory of irrational and rational thoughts. How it began was my professor asked for a female volunteer so stupidly, I raised my hand. He walked over and asked for my hand. Again, stupidly I gave it to him. He then preceded to squeeze the muscle in between the thumb and first finger. You know which one i am talking about that hurts really bad when it hits the correct tendon. Anyways, sure enough he hit it just right and it hurt like crap. I pulled my hand back. Well actually, I pushed his hand away from mind (forget the professor title, it hurt!), screamed out "ouch that hurt!" and probably had a horrible expression on my face. Well, he then precedes to ask me why I was upset. Well duh, that hurt. He goes on to explain that people learn from negative experiences. It got me to thinking, why is that? Why can't human beings choose the right things to do, eat, and live by? Why do we have to do it wrong? So anyways, professor goes on to explain that Ellis' irrational thoughts includes words as "should, ought, must, have to" and when we use these words, we are setting ourselves up to fail. And with his example of squeezing my hand he asked me why I got so upset with him. (I am thinking because my hand is throbbing moron!) Then he says to me, why should believe that professors should not inflict pain on students? Why is that my irrational belief? If we use what Ellis calls "rational thoughts", which include words as "prefer, wish, want", such as we "prefer" something to happen, and it doesn't, well we are not disappointed. Back to the example, if I had just "preferred" that professors not inflict pain, I would not have gotten so upset when it happened. It got me thinking about my kids from work. I get so upset, disappointed really, with them when they do something that in my opinion is bad. It is because I believe they should or should not do something or they ought out to do things a certain way and when they do not do it, I get upset. Setting myself up to fail really. Where if I changed my thoughts to where I preferred they did things certain ways, if it does not happen, I am not let down because it is just a preference. Anyways, it just really clicked with me (like I went home from class that night charged and comprehending the class's discussion, not totally bored and ready for bed like usual) and since then, there have been several occasions where I remembered this lesson due to a situation. Anyways, just food for thought. Well, food for rational and irrational thought I guess.

I guess this lesson will be all for the day. Although, while my kids were doing activities today, I was brain storming about all the oodles of things that I could make you read about . . . . more later!