fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Revelations of My Phylogeny
By: Aspen Blue
Tags: Reflections, Growth, Self, Pain, Poetry

In this year where I ceased to be

released and free

from the inconvenient confines

of my mind

I seek a space and time

a near relation to the revelation

of my phylogeny

from student to scholar

to midwife to mother

an eyeblink turned in

on itself

Every day dug deeper

another layer

preferring to percolate past

the pedasol of pain

by this decision to remain

for the duration

this archaeological excavation

of agony and ache

Exploring through the bedrock

with spade and blade and pick

fighting feinting

writing relating

through a lithosphere of broken

laid twelve lifetimes thick

praying to uncover

fossilised remains

a streak of carbon to explain

how to cling to hope

In this year where I ceased to be

I rewound me

pencil to casette

I re-met she

agile, brave

filled with wonderment and mystery

before she gave

and gave and gave

until the giving became

a cacophonous refrain of pain

an equilibrium of nothing more

remains

A concretion

settled down and hardened

around a tiny seed

called possibility

now replaced

.

recrystallised

.

erased

© Aspen Blue 2020
Nightfall
By: Bradon Matthews
Tags: Confessional Poetry, Reflections, Melancholy, Free Verse, Poetry

Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash

I spend days just digging through the

Crust of myself

And find everything within me

Sings with fluidity,

With perpetual motion

And a dripping kind of

Temporariness

That eats through itself

In waves

It’s too bright outside

But the dark feels like a

Bear trap

Hidden under the leaves of

The day’s success

I still find that subtle

Metal-toothed

Nothing

And it eats me

Just enough to

Let me

Live

And I keep walking,

My liquid soul

Dripping from my

Shins
Are You Acting Out of Fear?
By: The Dozen
Tags: Reflections, Self Improvement, Self Love, Self-awareness, Fear Of Failure

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Have you ever looked at a certain situation and thought, “why am I acting this way?”

Well, I have, and I’m not happy about it.

As children, we are molded by our parents, schools, friends, and relatives. We changed, sometimes for the worse, because we were taught “fear”.

Fear of failure.

Fear of judgment.

Fear of authority.

Fear of harmless insects.

Fear of harmless animals.

Fear of getting dirty.

Fear of “bad” people.

Even fear of not getting that gift from Santa because you were “naughty.”

The list goes on.

Most of the time, there’s no logic to what we were taught. There’s no added value from this learned fear. Most of the time, it causes unnecessary stress and anxiety.

Fear of judgment and failure top my list. I look for perfection because I’m afraid.

But it’s no way to live.

Start by reflecting on your actions, and be conscious of your why.
Don’t Get Comfortable
By: Thompson G. Lengels
Tags: Reflections

Don’t Get Comfortable

The world is moving. People are dying. And so will you! Don't get comfortable! Comfortable-ness is uselessness. That is, to be comfortable is to be blinded from true reality.

A broken chair gives not confidence to a weighty to-be carcass. And what is man but a "walking corpse?" Don't get comfortable, dear beloved.

What, then, should we do below-here, you ask? I say, fellow pilgrim, "look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10).

Don't get comfortable (in this world) if you'd be with Christ eternally.
Late at Night #1
Tags: Reflections

Do you believe in future?
Staying Indoors Can Be Fruitful.
By: Aldric Chen
Tags: Life Lessons, Reflections, Self Improvement, Thinking, Reading

Staying Indoors Can Be Fruitful.

A cup of warm coffee, a nice book, a notepad is as nice as it gets.

(Image Contributed by the Author)

This is haven when the weather outdoors is less than ideal.

We don’t always have to be out during the festive. We can be indoors, learning from the minds of the greats at the comfort of a shelter.

Have a brilliant festive,

Aldric
S T I L L N E S S
By: Upward Call
Tags: Time, Soul, Reflections, Heart, Mindfulness

There is stillness today.

After all the preparations for Christmas and having spent wonderful time with family and loved ones there is that sense of stillness.

Perhaps it is a necessary stillness that we all need.

Prior to the coming of the next year.

It could feel like void. But it is not that.

It could feel uneasy. Uncomfortable.

And that is understandable.

It is stillness perhaps brought about by the sudden dis-preoccupation from regular work, preparations for the holiday or the daily grind.

And it is necessary. Stillness is necessary.

It is Day 26 of the 12th month, year 2020.

Five days to go before we all go Round 1 of 2021.

So how do we do this? How do we go about this?

Perhaps we can start with —

P R A Y E R W O R D W O R S H I P

Nothing beats getting alone with the Lord Jesus in a quiet place —

seeking Him in prayer,

hearing Him in His word,

and responding to His divine revelation in worship.

Not in haste. Unhurried.

With Him alone as the preoccupation of our hearts and minds.

Loving and adoring Him with all that we have.

Heart. Soul. Strength. Mind.

May the LORD’s blessings of life and love be with you and your family.
Would That
By: Matthew Spira
Tags: Reflection, Poem, Love, Self, Poetry

Credit: Joyce G. on unsplash.com

I spent some time tonight

thinking about my earlier selves,

standing at each of my diverging roads,

in all the yellow woods over all the years

and pondering if I would have done anything

differently knowing what it has cost me to know

what I know now. Would it have been better

to have taken the other road at each turn

the safer road, no matter where it led?

I’m not prone to be overly reflective

about choices made and about the roads

traveled (or not) because we are the sum

of each and all of our decisions

compounding and consequated.

I have no choice but to be me.

I cannot be anyone else.

But when you strip away

lying to yourself

when you strip away

“would haves”

“could haves”

“should haves”

what do you have left?

I find myself stepping out of

a profoundly disordered life

into an ordered one; one where

everything

makes sense. Where loving

and being loved

is simple.

It takes but one person

seeing you for who you are

and loving you without condition

for “it” to suddenly make sense.

For “it” to not be complicated,

whatever “it” is. But I know “it”

is you.

I can’t promise anything

because I don’t want to lie.

Not to you.

Not about a “roving eye”

because that’s not me.

Just keeping it together

because sometimes that’s just

so fucking hard to do.

There’s a rage inside me,

anger at everything

and everyone.

I hate that I feel this way.

And usually, I hide it pretty well.

Go figure.

But love.

The way you look at me

when I look at you.

Humbles me.

Calms me.

Restores my humanity.

Gives me hope.

Has become my truth.

I don’t know how to not

want to love you

and do my best to act

in the way you need

not to love me

but so you can be you.

I know you love me

I don’t know if

that “unconditional love”

will not have “conditions”

when it comes face-to-face

with my demons.

Not today, but someday.

I just don’t know.

I’m incredulous I am allowed

to be loved…

and yet you love me.

So would that I always remember

to tell you every chance I get,

starting with this poem,

I love you.

We can go from there.

It’s not complicated.

— Matthew S. Spira © 2020
HOW TO GO INTO THE NEW YEAR
By: Yusuff Muslimah
Tags: Reflections, 2020, 2021, Positive Thinking, New Year

Thank you for having the courage to survive 2020 and while 2021 won’t be all sunshine and rainbows, let’s go into this new year buzzing with positivity because that can significantly affect our experiences as a whole.

Please take this time to rest, reflect, and reconnect with yourself.

See you in 2021.
The Way I Love My Coffee
Tags: Coffee, Brewers, Espresso, Reflections

Discover the scent of a delicious and complex cup of coffee is, in my opinion, one of the tastiest feelings in life.

If you share this small pleasure, maybe you also know that every brew method brings unique qualities to your coffee.

I’m from a not-very-coffee-fan family. For that reason, my first memories about coffee are related to that awful and insipient dust, aka instant coffee.

Despite this, by my late 17s discovered a world beyond that terrible instant brew. My first step was, of course, the espresso. If not for it, maybe I had never got into the complex variety of the coffee world.

It wasn’t my first espresso, I’m sure, but just my first good espresso: quality grains, perfect pressure, and ideal temperature.

So delightful experience made me wonder about the possibilities to discover several new flavors about coffee. Eventually, this curiosity introduced me to coffee brew methods.

For almost ten years, I’ve been searching and tasting every new brew method within my possibilities; Moka pot, pour-over coffee, vacuum coffee maker, cold brew, and the one which became my favorite: the french press.
Small
By: Matthew Klope
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Reflections, Self, Art, Poetry

A poem

Matthew Klope, 2020

I am small

weak

I am crumpled paper next to the bin,

missed, but too

much trouble for now.

I am wrong

flat

I am every mistake

and every bad thing

that ever happened.

I am cracked

crushed

by the things I think

they think

I should be.

I am lost

stuck

on a path whose pointed

barbs keep me from

returning.

I am small,

yes, and

I am here

I am here

I am here.
Solstice
By: J.D. Harms
Tags: Winter, Solstice, Reflections, Blogging, Musing

Solstice

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

I was…out of sorts, earlier. The phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season” wouldn’t leave my head. I could not stop the rising anger, blood pressure, the pure ignorance of someone co-opting ancient, ancient times of celebration and imagining that superimposing a stamp of dogma over it is just surreal to me. I can’t get over it…

I want to. I feel like I’m turning into something like a Richard Dawkins, taking aim at religion every chance I get. Why does it matter so much to me? Why experience something visceral when I’ve accepted a different explanation?

I know, at least part, of the answer: I felt so ripped off when my dad died (to wit, didn’t recover by way of a miracle), I’ve never been able to make peace with a god who’s so uninvested (?) in life; and, even should you be inclined to make the argument that the Christian god is, in fact, invested in us, it still seems like life comes up short…rationally, I know the blame doesn’t lie there: we’re mortal. We’re going to die, sometime, but still…
The Art of Unifying Broken Pieces #8
By: Brenda Mahler
Tags: Reflections, Covid 19, Faces Of Covid, Coronavirus, Poetry

The Art of Unifying Broken Pieces #8

Photo by Mohammad Ali Jafarian on Unsplash

I never realized how unempathetic

Some people can be, until

The pandemic arrived

Creating a cool chill

Stealing adventures

Smiles

Outside offered opportunities to play

Breathe the landscape’s perfume

Celebrate friends

Nature’s playroom

Cycling, yoga

Together

Now, life’s observed through broken glass

Incomplete images with severed parts

Sharp, jagged edges

Slicing my heart

Isolating our

Being

It’s time we stand and scream in unison

from atop a mountain let words hurl

“Be aware of the silent serpent

He deceives the world!”

Shield the venom

Compassion

Masks do not need to separate

They can help America heal

Like the glue that bonds,

protects — creates

Stained glass

Art

— 35, Female

Each poem in this collection stems from interviews with people affected by the pandemic. Please read more to get a glimpse of the human reactions to this insidious disease. Or visit the page Faces of COVID for access to all the poems.
Life Update — 12/25/20. What a wild year it’s been.
By: Gustavo Mendez
Tags: Reflections, Self Improvement, Journal, Life, Daily Life

At work, things are looking good. I’m growing in my role as a network engineer, I’ve started tackling new responsibilities, and I’m even getting to work on things I wouldn’t have had a chance to do at any job prior to this. It’s exciting! What I know now would have thrown off the me from last year. Diving into firewalls, SD-WAN, VOIP, seeing automation firsthand, and taking a crack at Azure… the learning never ends — and that’s a wonderful thing.

Speaking of learning…

My Wife and my sisters have continued with their studies for the CCNA. It’s awesome seeing their progress as they get through the OCG and online courses (mostly CBT Nuggets and some Udemy). My little sister picked up a new laptop and downloaded PacketTracer. It’s very cool to see them get into it.

The physical lab has made its way into my office and the other day I showed my Wife how to use Putty and console into the devices. It was really cool designing a small lab and having her work through the CLI to get everything set up and running. I couldn’t help but smile when those pings started back successfully.
2020's Memories
Tags: Growth, Pain, Passion, Reflections

As I sit reflecting on my life on the eve of my 27th year being alive, this year has got to be my most successful and most trying year to date.

I feel I’ve grown. In fact I think I have grown so much, I get this sense of pride as if I am watching my child. I’ve grown in everything from career, to knowledge, strength, and even emotions. Calling it just a trail would be a huge understatement.

I was on a roll at the start of the year. I was knocking down goal one after another even well into the covid season. I felt on top of the world. Now at the end of the year I’m still reeling from one of the biggest depressive episodes I’ve ever had.

To be honest it is hard to believe so much has happened in the same year. I feel so different from who I was months ago.

I’ve matured nicely.

I’ve gone from strictly caring about being the best and following the plan, to believing and supporting the notion that there is nothing accomplishments or achievements can do to make you feel fulfilled. Instead we should find love in what we do, and also in the person who is doing it.

I’ve gone from emotionally detached from the world, to someone who can empathize with others and shed tears for even those I don’t know.

I’ve gone from being avoidant of attachments, to someone who has experience visceral emotions only two kindred souls passing one another could experience.

I’ve gone from someone who wore a mask everyday, admiring and wishing I could be as brave as those who walk freely without one, to a person who still wears his mask but from time to time I take it off and be myself.

I’ve matured nicely.

I feel like my entire life I’ve been living reserved from being myself. This year I learned how much I hated that. I decided to be me again after all this time. It feels like I am in a new body learning to walk again. Its tuff. All I’ve been doing is stumbling. I would be lying if I said I even knew who I am. All I have is a feeling and a nagging voice inside my head.

It demands that I live a genuine life I can be proud of.

Unfortunately that means saying no to the things I think I want in order to not forsake the things my soul needs. That means stepping out of line and going the opposite direction of the world at times. All because everything in my being calls the world wrong even if I am the only one.

It’s a conflicting feeling cause I feel as if I am getting in my own way at times. Like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have to be honest with my myself and that is one of the heaviest chains you can carry.

I feel lost and confused.

So many questions. How is it that I have aged once again but I feel like a child still. I am frustrated and I can’t explain why. Its actually pretty humorous to admit.

I guess all this is to say I am evolving (I think?) and I’ll see you guys on the other side of 2020.

Merry Christmas peoples
Christmas with Purpose
By: Vedran Agovic
Tags: Reflections, Giving, Christmas, Purpose, Mindfulness

Christmas is one of the most wonderful times of the year. A day of joy and spirit, family and friends, much food and drink, all of life’s gifts and pleasures. It is about personal connections that matter. Deep and provocative conversations that are memorized. Involvements that stand the test of time. It is distinct and justifiably so.

Merry Christmas, Photo by Sean Ferigan

As a result, never miss or pass on an occasion to rejoice. People are social creatures and such settings are magical. It is imperative to stay true to this form because it has served mankind from inception. Nothing in the game of life is definite and time is never distributed proportionately. There’s no waiting for tomorrow what can be done today. Today, this very moment is all that counts. Many true pleasures are easy-going, whole. Superficial pleasures drag, occupying much time and energy. Be mindful and know the difference.

The Spirit of the Holiday, Photo by Zera Li

Make time this holiday season to celebrate Christmas by doing more for others. There’s an abundance of mankind in need this holiday season. Citizens who are struggling for basic necessities. Basic items many take for granted such as a warm meal. The year has been harsh on those who can least afford it and it is not their fault. All can try and give more. One does not have to have a lot to give a little.

This is also an ideal time of spiritual and personal reflection. Mindfulness must be on display not just today but daily. Now is the time to be selfish and devote time for oneself. Not happy with personal and or professional results from 2020, look inside the past year and deliberate. It is often said that the top predictor of the future is usually the past. Rightly so and with merit.

May the essence of the holidays find you well.

With love,

Vedran Agovic
Reflection on Amal Totkay:
Tags: Reflection, Amal Totkay

We, desis, are very different creatures, species out of the world, exceptional in their unique ways. We have specific manners and methods. We make a fixed mindset, and we usually live on it until the day we die. Our lives depend on totkays and Jugaad, but we’re content this way.

Think Different, Be unique.

But there is something that needs to be changed, and that is fixed mindsets.

Growth Mindset is important!

With a growth mindset, you can achieve whatever you want through hard work and dedication, making you resilient and passionate. There are five simple steps if you’re going to change your fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Let’s take a look at the steps quickly.

Self-Talk: It is an essential part of you; it depends on your thoughts, beliefs, questions, and ideas. So, the more positive you are, the more favorable your self-talk will be.

Get out of your Comfort Zone: The most challenging and beneficial tip is getting out of the comfort zone. It can not be easy for everyone, but they can be unbeatable once they come out of it.

Keep Trying, Accept the change!

Create New habits: Once you come out of your comfort zone, you start creating new patterns.

Don’t hesitate to try out new things.

Ask for Help: We should never feel embarrassed about asking people for help. We should always embrace constructive feedback from our dear ones.

Asking for help is not a bad thing.

Fake it till you make it: Don’t fake it till you make it; get busy making it! Be authentic, and be yourself!

Have some faith in yourself!

What I learned from all this is that a growth mindset is necessary, or else without it, you’ll always stay in your bubble with no confidence and zero and usual skills. My favorite totkays were getting out of my comfort zone and fake it till you make it, and I’ll give my best shot in implementing both in my life.
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By: Dan J. Evans
Tags: Reflections, Poem, Millenial Poets, Birthday, Poetry

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
Friday Notes #3 — Being a Full-time blogger.
By: Numeric Citizen
Tags: Experience, Writing, Blogging, Reflections

Friday Notes #3 — Being a Full-time blogger. This week was the first in a series of three where I’m on vacation, at home. Instead of doing my writing early in the morning or at night before going to bed, I did it just like a typical daytime job, during the day. And I liked it a lot; It felt like coming out of clandestinity. It was liberating. Now the question is: what if blogging was my full-time job? Would I enjoy it more or less? Is this only a part-type thing where pauses are beneficial to my writing process? When I’m retired, maybe this could become a full-time thing where my writing experience as a long time writer will take the place of the helpful breaks. Meanwhile, I do enjoy doing it with more intensity – Merry Christmas to all my readers. Take care. Be safe.
A Not So Silent Night
By: Breanna Lowman
Tags: Jesus, Reflections, Christmas, Birth, Poetry

A Not So Silent Night

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

Was the night silent?

Maybe miraculously so,

but I doubt it.

Was the night holy?

Yes, I would say so,

earthly yet divine.

I remember sitting in a Christmas church service last year listening to the band sing Silent Night, when there was a sudden interruption to the melodic sound. A cry of a baby. It was loud and echoed throughout the auditorium. A mother, clearly embarrassed, tried to calm her child. People stared, they glared, they whispered. Eventually, she rushed out of the gathering to the lobby.

I wish she had stayed. I wish I could have told her that she was welcome. That the cry of her beloved child was not an interruption. That this “house of God” is not one for perfection. I wish I had run after her and said,

“Don’t you know? You are the sound of Christmas.”

Having given birth to two children myself, I find it very hard to believe that the night Mary had Jesus was silent. God entered into the rawness of humanity in the same way we all do, through blood and water and mess. Birth pains, sweat and tears, heavy breathing and hard pushing. A sacred mess bringing unseen life into view, to be held and heard and touched and loved. A baby’s cry announcing Christmas had come.

Oh, silent night

how silent you were not.

With labor pains

and baby screams

he became

one of us.

A baby’s cry

the sound of Christmas.

Long before the first Christmas, King David wanted to build a temple for God. He sought to honor God by building him a place to live. But God said, “Should you build a house for me to dwell in? I am living in your midst.” And yet the temple was built. God put in a box. Until the day a baby’s cry broke that box open.

Temple walls,

brought down by

a baby’s cry.

God in our arms

in our midst,

nursing at her side

as close as it gets.

A baby’s cry,

the sound of Christmas.

Yes, a baby’s cry,

the sound of Christmas.
Musings When you try to control someone You have taken first step to lose someone When you try to understand someone You have taken first step to a lifelong friendship. Decision is yours…
By: Literature Learners
Tags: Reflections, Literature, Poetry

Musings



When you try to control someone



You have taken first step to lose someone



When you try to understand someone



You have taken first step to a lifelong friendship.



Decision is yours!



Decide judiciously for a meaningful life .

Pavneet Kaur
“accept” and “expect” : the two objectives I’ve been working through on the 21 Day Meditation challenge. It’s good to keep reminding ourself of this. 💜
By: Lennie Varvarides
Tags: Meditation, Reflections, Self Improvement, 21 Day Challenge, Self-awareness

“accept” and “expect” : the two objectives I’ve been working through on the 21 Day Meditation challenge. It’s good to keep reminding ourself of this. 💜
I really loved this article!
By: K.B. Hubbard
Tags: Humanity, Creativity, Reflections, Ideas, Life

I really loved this article!

When you consider that everything handmade is made by humans, it's quite inspiring to think that everything is human made.

Human made is important because you’re a human.

Its easy to get lost in the day-to-day and forget that humans made that Tesla you want. Humans made the phone you’re using. Humans created the internet and wireless communication. These are human technologies and you’re part of the race that created them.

Your personal power is limitless, just like the human species. You have all the tools around you needed to create the “smartphone of your life” just like King Tut had everything he needed to create a smartphone.

What’s the difference between you and King Tut? Nothing.

Whatever you want to achieve in life, you have the tools around you to get it. If you don’t directly have the tools, you have the tools to make the tools.

Being a human is the first and only qualification for greatness. All the ingredients are right here. It’s up to you to put them together.
step one: create a medium account ✅
Tags: Holidays 2020, Bumble, Reflections

Holidays and bumble

I’ve been on annual vacations for about a week. I’ve been procrastinating writing my blog for about 4 months. Christmas day seems like a good day to finally take that first step and create this account. Decided to go the extra step and write my first blog too.

Simple Christmas thought: holidays are a good time to prioritise and discover who I would want to be spending my time with. This ties in closely with a lesson i recently learnt- holidays are a bad time to match with people on bumble. More on that later

step two: wrote my first story ✅
Amal Totkay
By: Iqra Sattar
Tags: Amal Totkay, Reflections

Amal Academy has taught us five life-changing totkays that are essentially home-made solutions to our everyday problems. By following them, we will make amazing things happen in life.

Self Talk:

Self-talk is something that we do spontaneously during our waking hours. People are becoming more conscious that positive self-talk is a powerful tool to improve self-confidence and minimize negative emotions.

It’s really important to have clarity about stuff to talk to yourself. It helps us to see our week and the power of our points. It makes us accountable and frees us from any kind of judgment.

Get out of Comfort Zone:

It’s really important to have clarity about stuff to talk to yourself. It helps us to see our week and the power of our points. It makes us accountable and frees us from any kind of judgment.

Create New Habits:

Identify something you’re already doing and make a small, easily palatable change you can commit to that pushes you toward your target. When you’re happy with the switch, make another minor change before you actually get to the routine you want to make.

Adopting new habits every day that help us follow our aim is a vital part of a healthy life. Shift is only possible if we adopt these new behaviors.

Ask People for Help:

It’s hard for us to start something new, but if we’re going to make a team, or if we need support from others, we can ask for it. We should make things happen in that way.

Fake it till you Make it:

It’s like a rule of attraction, if I have a dream of being somebody, then I have to act like that. By adopting the day-to-day behaviors of people I like, it will help me to become like that person.

Reflections:

How did they find the 5 tips?

Well, I found these tips incredibly helpful, and if I look at them closely, these are some of the points that the fellowship has been presenting from the outset. In addition, I think that a number of people have implicitly or specifically discussed these points to me during my education.

Takeaways?

Stepping out of our comfort zone is important because it will let us live life at its fullest. It will help you mature and grow as an individual.

Favorite tips:

The favorite tip that allows me to make it appreciable is to get out of my comfort zone. At the same time, it’s the toughest thing for me.

Growth mindset

The journey of cultivating a growth mentality is a daunting one with a few patches of rugged landscape, but the only way to get through is through hard work.

Started implementing already:

By adopting all of these, I can build my GrowthMindSet. By having a development attitude, thinking out of the box and doing something creative.
Totkon ki Akasi..!
By: Syeda Ariba
Tags: Amal Fellowship, Growth Mindset, Amal Academy, Reflections

Totkon ki Akasi..!

During school days, my class teacher used to keep on repeating this line again and again and this somewhat has stuck with me till now. She used to say and I quote, “ Learning is a never ending process. You students learn from us and we learn from you. There isn’t a single day in my life even at this age that I don’t learn a small chunk everyday.”

At that time I might not have understood the depth of her words but now I surely do! And now while connecting the dots I feel like yes, everything does happen for a reason! On this note, I would like to thank Amal for making me realize it hence giving me a lollipop moment.

Honestly, I have always been a keen learner but I never recognized it. I love trying new things but never could be consistent with it. Amal’s journey up till now and especially these 5 amal totkey have made me realize that how consistency is important and just trying new things is not important but getting out of the comfort zone and doing it is the real deal.

Talking about amal totkas, I loved each and every totka! Starting with the very first tip ‘Self Talk’, there are times when I just get so unmotivated whenever I can’t make something happen and negativity just takes over me. At that time this tip helped me to get myself hyped and focus on the positives. Self reflection and then keeping a positive mindset really helped me get through the day.

Secondly, getting out of my comfort zone has always been challenging for me even when I try so there are things that just hold me back. But through this course I really have learnt the importance of not getting used to the same seat and I am a strong believer that all the opportunities lie outside my bubble hence I have tried to overcome it for this purpose I have implemented the third totka ‘Create new habits’. I try to create new habits that will actually drive me towards my goals. For starters, I have put alarms throughout the day to remind of the activities and I try to complete them on time.

The fourth tip has helped me in understanding my strengths and weaknesses, collecting feedback from my teachers, parents and colleagues has led to some major improvements in my personality. On collecting feedback, I got to know that I am too impatient duh! Now literally I am practicing to be more patient and my friends are even helping me out to do so *blessed*.

Lastly comes the pro tip ‘Fake it till you make it’, I haven’t implemented it but I would love to! Even Aristotle said: “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a certain way.” So yes, I will try to adopt this habit and hope it will contribute to my personality in a positive way.

This was all for my reflection, I loved the amal totkas and I’m really looking forward to implementing these in my personal and professional life.
AMAL TOTKAY — REFLECTION It’s not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. Here are…
By: Muneeb Ahmed
Tags: Amal Academy, Mindset Coaching, Amal Totkay, Reflections

AMAL TOTKAY — REFLECTION

Growth Mindset:

It’s not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world.

Here are summarized points to approach GROWTH MINDSET.

Five Tips Sum-up

o Keep experimenting with validating yourself.

o It’s about stretching yourself to learn something new and developing yourself.

Takeaway:

o Success is about proving you’re smart or talented.

Favorite Tip:

o Challenging yourself

o Thinking out of the box and take risk

Implementation:

o Rewire your brain by thinking creatively to a unique objective

o Implementation of such things will leads you to atomic habit (creativity).

Develop a Growth Mindset: (From Today)

o Redesigning pattern of thinking

o Improve perception of looking society and things
Thinking about 2021?
By: Aldric Chen
Tags: Life Lessons, Reflections, Self Improvement, 2021, Self-awareness

Thinking about 2021?

We all do.

I think we are sick and tired of 2020. It is time for a change. It is high time for a positive change for that matter.

(Image Contributed by the Author)

I think about 2021 quite a bit. As much as I would like 2021 is be wildly different from 2020 – In truth, it is anyone’s guess.

And “different” can mean “worse”. Am I right?

That said, it is time to put 2020 behind.

It is time to plan for a productive and positive 2021.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

Aldric
Year In Review: 2020 Reflections
By: Sebastian Stone
Tags: Year In Review, Reflections, 2020, Coronavirus, Goodbye 2020

Then the Streets Got Serious.

George Floyd happened. Protests broke out. America looked like 1968 all over again, but this time under pandemic conditions. We debated civil disobedience and the best forms of protest. People took to the streets outside our apartment and demanded much needed police reform (which should be focused on unions, not complete defunding).

Politics heated up as we neared the November elections. I had begged the Republican Party to rediscover its moral compass and soul, but unsurprisingly, nothing changed. Instead of attempting to heal the country, Trump further inflamed the culture wars and continued to convince his base to vote against their interests.

I predicted that Democrats would do well if they focused their attention on Georgia. Although Biden did not pick Stacey Abrams as his running mate, Democrats rallied around her and other Georgians and executed one of the most successful get out the vote campaigns in the country’s history. They registered some 800,000 new voters in the once deep red state. This effort undoubtedly helped turn the state in Biden’s favor.

Meanwhile, the culture wars continued to flame, and not all of it was Trump’s doing. Amy Cooper revealed her inner racist to the world, but then people took “cancel culture” to its extremes. Suddenly the term, “Karen”, was a socially acceptable moniker for a white woman behaving badly. This movement horrified me, especially considering many of the same people that were part of it were the same people calling for equality, social justice, and civil liberties for all. I stated in my article at the time:
A Letter To Myself
By: Embun Bening Diniari Sastrodinomo
Tags: Random Thoughts, Reflections, Letters, Personal Story, Lesson Learned

Credits: Freepik.

Hi, Embun.

2020 is a tough year, right? Never been easy since day one. Well, actually for you every year is not an easy, looking-forward-to-good-things, happy-go-lucky year anymore since the heartbreak, isn’t it? And oh, you’ve been ghosted too. Yea, I know. Not to mention that you face soooo many disappointments, failures, and fight with yourself. You doubt yourself many times. You cry sometimes. You don’t know what to do because it has been soooo hard for you. You try to seek help and support, and you get it. Well, you got it most of the time, but you also need to face many wow-I-don’t-expect-that-you’ll-say-that moment. It is okay. Really, it is.

As hard as it may seem, you learn a lot this year. You learn that everyone is facing their own difficulties and troubles this time. You learn that you can totally manage time and spare some time for yourself. You learn that the closest one won’t leave you. You learn that growing up is a long, long, long, journey and it has never been easy, never been. And you also figure out that being persistent is actually very….. Hurtful? But it will shape you. It is a rocky road, yes. But hey, you still manage to do your best on this journey. Wow!

I hope you stay close to good and best people in your life. I hope you are brave enough to thank them and to tell them how much they are mean to you. I hope you always pray for the best, not only for you, but also for your closest people. I hope you keep going, no matter how hard it is. I hope you follow your heart. I hope you keep trying to reach your dream, because The Universe doesn’t just throw a random dream to a random person, Mbun. That dream is being thrown at you because The Universe knows that you’ll find a way to make that dream come true, one way or another. I hope you don’t stop learning. I hope you learn to do your best, and let The Universe do the rest. I hope you believe in yourself. I hope you let go of your old baggage.

I hope you don’t worry about your pretty little mind.

I hope you don’t be so hard on yourself.

Because as impossible as it may seem, feels, thinks, something good is coming to you. Everything has its own time. And you deserve to be happy, like anyone else. Believe me.

Don’t worry, Embun. You’re doing good already. Be well.

Embun Bening Diniari Sastrodinomo, (almost) last week of 2020.
Reflection On Amal Totkay
-
By: Sadiq Hussain
Tags: Fixed Mindset, Reflections, Amalacademy, Growth Mindset, Mindset

A mindset is basically our Believe, Qualities such intelligence and Talent in term of traits.

There Is Two Types Of Mindset,

A Fixed Mindset.

People with Fixed Mindset believe that they have inborn or intrinsic characters or traits which are fixed in nature and unchangeable.

Growing Mindset.

Growth Mindset’s People believe that they when They are facing any issue, Challenge or sees failure they try to seek out the issue by changing their ideas or Solution by applying The Traits which they possess.

In my Perspective Growth Minded is Necessary For Being Successful Personal In The Community. With Fluctuations Of Environmental Problems we have to Fix the Problems With Our Changing ideas. And Changing Ideas also Help us In Jugaar.

So the Growth Mindset Have Following Five Main Attributes.

1-Self Talk

Self talking is Basically when we Organize our thoughts and prioritize our obligation. It’s basically Our internal Dialogue. It can Be Both negative or positive but main aspect is it’s always encouraging.

It’s Help us In increasing vitality, improve satisfaction and less stressed during our Kam, Kam, Kam

2- Get Out Our Comfort Zone

Comfort Zone is basically a place where we don’t face Challenges and we live in Fixed rules and regulations so we always need to Break out This Zone and Left The comfort Zone it’ll help us in More productive, Adaptable, mental Growth and More creative in skills.

3 - Create New Habits

As We leave our comfort Zone it leads us To a Zone of Challenges where we see The Actually Market Filled With The Problems. So To Overcome These issue and Making us A Successful Person We always need To Develop new skills either in Communication or Physically. But Having New techniques, Habit and Thinking makes us Affordable man In The market.

4- Ask People Help



Asking a Question is a key To Success either in Academic or Social. Having Mentor is like a Stairs. It always Leads You To A Top level. So asking Help from other is basically Ignoring Our ego. So We have To Vanish it out by Growing Mindset.

5- Fake It Until You Make It

It basically suggest that By Imitating confidence, competence and An Optimistic mindset, a Person can Realize those characters in our real life. With Our Growth Mindset we Generalize New Ideas but we don’t implement these ideas due to shyness or Less self Confidence but We Need to act Like as we are competent and Confident about this areas and will lead us Competence and Consistent.

Waiting For Responses

Thank You

~SAdii
The Good Egg: Learning About Your Year
By: The Good Egg
Tags: Learning, New Year, New Years Resolutions, Reflections

Click here to sign up for this daily newsletter!

Happy Thursday, Good Eggs! Today, we’re going to continue to talk about Step Two: “Reflections and Learnings” from “The Ultimate Annual Review” by Steve Schlafman.

Schlafman’s questions for reflecting on your year and learning about yourself are grouped into 5 categories: success and growth, falling short, people and relationships, health and wellness, lessons and themes.

These questions help you to evaluate the full picture of your year. What went well? What didn’t go well? What did you learn about yourself?

Through your answers, you discover your true priorities and your goals in life. If you want another look at the questions, check out yesterday’s newsletter.

Have fun!

-The Good Egg 🐣
Case study: Using eye-tracking in usability analytics
By: Yolanda Tian
Tags: Case Study, Usability Testing, UX, Eye Tracking, Usability

Task

Find a doctor based on insurance, symptoms, and location (check information on how to schedule a virtual video visit)

You have seasonal allergies and you want to schedule a video visit with a doctor in your neighborhood who accepts your insurance.

Participants Overview

Target Audience:

Graduate students with health insurance plans.

Participants:

3 students from Pratt Manhattan campus.

According to the pre-test questionnaire, we found that:

2 out of 3 participants think virtual doctor visits are helpful especially after COVID-19.

Pre-test questionnaire for participants

Analytics Metrics

Qualitative:

Recordings Observation User quotes

Quantitative:

Task accuracy Ease of use Average time for task completion

Data Visualization:

Gaze plot: analyze each participant individually of their eye movements Heat map: aggregated data of all participants, focusing on the home page and search results page

After we analyzed all gathered data, we created a problem list and rated the frequency and severity. Then we defined the main issues and trivial issues (and we put forward recommendations for main problems).

Main problems list
Peloton - UX Case study and redesign
Tags: UX Design, Exercise, Case Study, Workout, Peloton

I want to preface that the following UI/UX case study + redesigns are part of a design challenge at General Assembly.

photo by onepeloton

My Role - UX Researcher, Site map, Persona, Project management.

Other Team Members - Brunella Cataldi, Lynsey Cady

Time - 2 Week sprint

Tools - Figma, Adobe XD, Photoshop, Google Docs & Slides, and Monday.

We as a team worked on all the aspects of the project as well including project management, design thinking and research.

Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash

2020 was all about the online fitness gurus who took over Instagram and showed us some great home workout techniques with minimum to no gadgets. Many followed the no equipment workout while some got the best in class home equipment for a complete workout.

Context

Peloton is an American exercise equipment and media company with products including a stationary bicycle and treadmill that allow monthly subscribers to remotely participate in classes that are streamed from the company’s fitness studio. Much of the company’s popularity stems from its now-celebrity fitness instructors. It has great features including high five, live leaderboard and tags.

Challenge

In 2019 Peloton dropped its subscription prices and also released the app for Apple Watch and Fire TV. These apps enabled users to workout with celebrity fitness instructors, high five friends while working out, view recommended & other workouts and schedule workouts.

Our challenge is to add a new feature for chat and more personalization keeping in mind the existing app’s UI elements.

The goal is to create a better pre and post workout experience by giving the user tools to engage more with people on the current app. This will be achieved through strong user experience solutions based on user research and interactive testing.

C&C Analysis

First we looked at what other competitors and comparatives are doing in their applications to solve this problem.

Fitbit has the ability to make groups of people you know, challenge them and chat with them.

The Echelon and the Varis both just have the ability to challenge another member to a workout.

We explored 2 comparative companies, Meetup and Steam, that specialize in building community and discovered different successful ways members can create groups, chats, and hold events.
Case study: How I designed a +$70K revenue website menu
By: Romario Verbran
Tags: UX Research, Case Study, UX, Product Management, UI

Tree Testing our MVTree

“You want to buy new socks for a friend. Where would you go to find it?”

It seemed pretty obvious to me that all users would go to Gender/Footwear — socks cover your feet after all — but only one user did that. All the others considered socks what we call “intimate clothing”, just like bras and boxers.

This shocked me a bit, especially because the idea of a man in briefs and socks horrified all my testees (yes, I asked that!), but here’s the catch:

“If I was at a real store, I would find socks right where they keep the underwear.”

Users believe socks and underwear go together because of a mental model they’ve developed inside brick and mortar stores. They would always click “underwear” although “footwear” was equally visible on our proto-tree.

We also had a cart sorting session to broaden our project vision

Another interesting fact is that users will often try a second category if they can’t find the item in the first one. Just to puzzle me further, many of them looked for our sucks under accessories rather than footwear, so that’s when I had a new idea.

Similar categories. Some items like running shoes inevitably fit within more than one category (Home\Fitness & Men\Footwear), so you must add some redundancy to your architecture if you want to avoid frustration.

PRO Tip: Google only takes one category into consideration, so your platform should be able to assign the main category — and you must decide which one will be better for SEO.
Case Study: Archibald Sister’s Website Redesign Concept
By: Mackenzie Evangelista
Tags: Archibald Sisters, Case Study, Student Work, My Work

This project was done as a student for General Assembly. It is not anyway affiliated with Archibald Sisters.

My Role

User Researcher, Sketch & Wireframing, information Architecture and Visual Design

Client

Archibald Sisters (Student Project)

Duration

Two Weeks

Overview

Archibald Sisters is a local business in Olympia Washington that is known as “sassy, funny and quirky.”

The business itself has been around since the 1970s. Since 1991, Archibald Sisters is currently in Olympia Washington and has a second location in Portland Oregon that opened in 2012.

The Challenge

The main objective for the project was to Improve the user experience whether that be through the layout of the website or rearranging products.

My overall goal for this business was to Improve it’s website visibility for online shoppers and increase product sales. To do this, I would need to improve the Archibald Sister’s flow by improving the way fragrances are selected by users and to add images and descriptions of the products and fragrances.

Discovery and Research (Crucial Insights)

The original main website page.

User Interviews

Most users typically shop for similar products in person and would like to know what items smell like before buying the product.

Another user preferred shopping online for their products because of easability Another user said they like to support local businesses.

Familiarity with product and stores are important for users.

Affordability of the products are also an important piece.

Contextual Inquiry

All users agreed that the main issues of the site was the lack of fragrance list descriptions and images of products.

The list of fragrances were too long for a user to choose from.

There are not as many products available on Archibald sisters compared to other websites.

Card Sorting

From cards sorting the products were fine as they were but some products can be put into other categories.

The main issue with Archibald Sister’s website is how they arranged the fragrance list beside the product. With over 150 fragrances they need to be sorted in a way to make it easy for the user to scan through.