Mens sana in corpore sano

Juvenal, almost two thousand years ago, said mens sana in corpore sano, that is a latin aphorism, usually translated as a sound mind in a sound body. However, he wanted to say something a little different because the whole sentence is orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano, that is you should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body. Nowadays it’s only the second part that we use and it’s perhaps a good beginning for well-being.

Beyond this, each person has his own idea about the meaning of well-being. Some people think well-being is to have a lot of money, but this is only to have economic welfare that doesn’t assure happiness. Other people think the most important thing for being happy is to have a good job, but, if they haven’t any good friends or relatives, they’ll not be happy. Other people think friends or love is the most important thing for being happy, but it isn’t possible to live only with love or friends.

The best indeed would be to have a very good health, to be a good person, to have a lot of money, to have a good job or hobby, to have some good friends and to share life with a lovely person. But it’s difficult to have all that, so I think the real well-being is to have mens sana in corpore sano, that is, in my opinion, taking care of them and not desiring a lot of things but enjoying what you have.

Have you got a problem? Solve it!

Frequently, we’ve a lot of challenges and problems in our life. Some of them are easy problems and we solve them quickly. But others are very difficult problems, problems that when they appear on our life, we say: “It’s impossible”. I want to talk about these problems.

These quandaries can be of multiple kinds; maybe they’re related with an exam, with a relationship...
But it doesn’t matter about what the problem is, we only have to do one simple thing, try to solve it. The only problem that we can't solve is the one that we don't try.
Don’t worry if you fail one time, another, and another… It’s normal. After a new fail, we have to try again until we get it. There aren’t any stone that you can’t use for your own growth.

And don’t mind if the problem seems difficult. Do you think that Gutenberg thought that it would be easy to make a machine that allowed to copy books 6 centuries ago? Or what do you think that Tesla thought about electricity? Or Edison about bulbs? They invented that things because, although it seemed that it was really difficult, they tried.

So, an important as simple advice for your life, always, ALWAYS, try it!

“It always seems impossible until it is done.” – Nelson Mandela

HOW TO BE HAPPY ... WITH YOURSELF!

As Carrie Bradshaw asserts in the popular series Sex and the City, "the most important relationship in your life is the one you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself". There are two simples steps in which not only can you find out how to get on well with yourself but also how to be happy with yourself. Do you dare to discover how get it?

First of all, you must love yourself before you can be loved. Have you ever tried looking yourself in yours bedroom´s mirror every morning before leaving home and drawing a smile on your face? I guess if you do it and you check your body having in mind it´s one of the greatest gifts the life has given you, you are sure to feel really happy of inhabit it.

Secondly, but not less important, you have to overcome yourself every day. Obviously, it´s nice to have idols. Nevertheless, it´s better to forget about comparisons with others and set your own goals due to the fact win is to overcome others, victory is to overcome yourself. Setting a viable challenge every month and reaching it will make you improve yourself and feel more confident. So, remember, it is important to stop comparing yourself with others because, this way, you will discover your own strengths.

Do you dare to try it? Do you dare to be happy with yourself? To be your best friend?

WELL BEING

After long hours of work and the daily routine each of us need some relaxation or at least some recreation activities.

Every person should pay a little attention and grant themselves with a little free time doing something that they love, and doing so they will feel better psychologically and physically. 

All you have to do, it is to organize very well your time.
In my opinion, group activities are the best as they offer you the oportunity to spend a pleasant time, as well as,to make new friends,solialize and at the same time to develop certain skills doing something new.

Dance clases , it is for me, the most enjoable of all the activities.Not only to keep you fit but also to have fun. I love dancing, I enjoy it, I find it amazing .I can't help dancing as soon as the songs or beats start . I feel that I have to dance.I hear the music and I just want to move.I don't care who is watching me.
I put my emotions away and the only thing that gets my mind away from other things.

Dancing burns more calories than most sports and it is not as boring as the Gym.
Try it and you will likely feel the well being in you.-

We are getting some really good pieces of writng on here now....

...and I'd like to encourage you to read what your classmates have written, and to comment on their pieces.

There are good reasons for this: one is the theory of the Zone of Proximal Development in language learning theory. Essentially this means that you can only learn what you are ready to learn, which is to say things that are a little beyond your current level. Whether or not this is exactly true, like most things in education, hasn't been conclusively proved, but I know from my experience as a language learner and teacher that it's often easier to learn from other foreign speakers than from native speakers.

By reading your classmates' work you are going to a) see some interesting uses of language in terms of interesting words and expressions, ways of organising a piece of writing and uses of grammatical structures that you can use for yourself in future

and b) spot some mistakes that you probably make in your own writing, but don't always notice when you make them yourself.

So, read, and react- not just because your classmates are interesting people who write interesting things, but also to boost your learning this year!

Jane Austen At The The Golden Globe Awards

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD_9RyiRe_o

This is Emma Thompson at the Golden Globe Awards in 1996 when she received her Golden Globe award for the best writing screenplay based on material previously produced or published in the film Sense & Sensibility. She spoke as she were Jane Austen for expressing her gratitude. She, Jane Austen, described the ceremony as excessively crowded and warm, she saw a lot of libertine people, the clothes were acceptable, the film director, Ang Lee, of foreign extraction, who seemed to know her better than herself, Miss Kate Winslet as a lovely person, the producer as someone that owed her a great deal of money and a woman named Emma Thompson as the person to whom she didn’t want to meet because she had stolen her novel and added some new things.

The Bag of Excuses

Have you ever missed the bus minutes before your most important exam? Maybe you are so used to first-date-slap relationships that you don’t even try to arrive on time. Maybe you just love to stare at the front car, stuck in a traffic jam.

Guys, here I bring you the answer to your prayers: The ETYSAEPHOTO!

Every Time You See An Excuse PHOTO!, better known as The Bag of Excuses. No matter the day, nor the time, as soon as you see a good excuse take a picture (PHOTO!) with your mobile phone. Even if you are kissing your girlfriend in a lovely park, if you see a car crash: stop immediately and take a good picture of it (PHOTO!), even a close video if possible. Trust me, there might be other girlfriends but you may never see another car crash.  

Anytime you need an excuse, you just need to pick up your phone and choose the one you think it’s better for the place and time. It’s a piece of cake.

Jesús Javier Rey Samper

Homework: watch TV (on the internet)

As we talked about in class I'd like you to find a video, film or TV programme (of at least ten minutes duration), in English, that you are interested in watching, watch it, post a link to it on here with a brief description of what it is, and be prepared to tell your classmates about it tomorrow.

Simple!

I mentioned these in class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbwvhDtjOWo (American Ninja Warrior- a competition where people try to complete an insanely difficult assault course)

https://www.youtube.com/user/scamschool (A show about the way con-artists use psychological tricks, and how to use those tricks in a fun way)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysIzx_wtrFw (Brain Games- a fun look at various brain-related phenomena)

Some alternative sources of English-language news:

http://www.france24.com/en/ - they have an interesting series of environmental documentaries here: http://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/down-earth/

http://www.aljazeera.com/

Science and Engineering related stuff: http://www.insidescience.org/


Enjoy watching.

Don´t say it, do it!

“Be positive, be positive…”

Probably, each one´s reaction when opening a newspaper these days is very different, but I may not be wrong saying that at least once, we all have had the same thought: What the hell is wrong with the world??!

It seems increasingly hard to be positive these days; we look around and we only fancy going to bed and not getting up. It´s not weird that there have never been so many adverts and recommendations about how profitable positivism is than now; almost every week we can read a scientific article that tells us about the effects of positivism and negativism on our working output, our relationships or even our physical health. And it´s true! Many studies have proved that our emotional state or the way we see ourselves and our life can affect us more than our diet or the place we live in. We can even increase our problems just by having a negative point of view to them.

We live in a society that worries so much about eating healthy, doing exercise and being well-prepared to face the incredible competitiveness; we want to be happy and get as much as we can. But none of these matter if we don´t have the attitude to do it. It´s very easy to complain and say “I would love to do that”, but the hard thing is not to start it –as you can think-, but falling down and trying again. And that´s only possible with a positive and decisive personality... today more than ever.

Contradictorily, some of the humanity´s biggest achievements were got in the hardest moments and with the fewest facilities, but it´s been proved that, the more difficult it is, the better we do, because it is then when we realize how strong we really are. Maybe it´s not so contradictory after all…  

Like someone said once, “life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain”. Now, more than ever, do it!

Second Progress Test

We will be doing a second progress test on Wednesday March 11. Please make sure you can attend on that day. If you know that you will not be able to, let me know as soon as possible so as to try to find an alternative time with one of the other groups at this level.

“Be strong!” … And be happy

No. I'm not talking about Rajoy and Bárcenas relationship. I'm talking about healthier habits for overall health than corruption.

I have to start by saying that, for a healthy life, not only you need hours of gym and a Mediterranean diet, but also you need to rest from those unbearable routines and, why not, give you some ‘little whim’.

With this in mind, it is clear that the secret of life is in our hands: "Don’t worry, be happy!" as Bobby McFerrin said on his song. In life we have some troubles, but when we worry we make it double. Don´t do that! It is just another stone on your way.

Friendship would be another of the key points in all this; if you have good friends, you will find happiness. Be healthy with your body and your spirit too, and you will take the results that we all demand.

Cheers to that!

HOW TO BE HAPPY ... WITH YOURSELF!

        As Carrie Bradshaw asserts in the popular serie Sex and the City, "the most important relationship in your life is the one you have with yourself. Because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself".

In these two simple steps, not only can you find out how to get on well with yourself but also how to be happy with yourself:

First: Love yourself

Every morning before leaving home, I often look myself in my bedroom´s mirror, check my body and feel really happy of inhabit it. It´s one of the greatest gifts the life has given me. Therefore, you should pamper and love carefully every part of it. You only have one and, regardless of how it is, it´s perfect. So, remember, first love yourself before you can be loved.

Second: Overcome yourself

I like to forget the others -just for a moment, please you should not misunderstand me as if I were an egocentric-. Obviously, it´s nice to have idols, but I´ve always liked to compete against myself. I propose you that, every month, you set yourself a viable challenge and try to reach it. There isn´t a greater reward than complacency: to win is to overcome others, victory is to overcome yourself.

Do you dare to try it? Do you dare to be happy with yourself? To be your best friend?

The Destructors

The story unfolds in the mid-50s, in a poor suburb of London, when UK is recovering from the negative effects of the Second World War. There are many buildings destroyed by bombs, and people lack of many basic things.

The characters of the story are a gang of boys who tray to amuse themselves by playing mischief like taking the bus without paying for the tickets. This gang use to meet on a building site used as a car-park. They decide what to do by voting the ideas presented by their leader, Blackie. It’s interesting this way of deciding what to do. I think that democracy was very appreciated at those days, even by the boys, after a War that, if lost, could have ended with this political system.

It’s interesting to see as new ideas can change the leader. So the new recruit, Trevor, known as T. (Trevor is a name used by high class and sounds funny in that poor suburb) replaced the ancient leader, Blackie, by proposing a new and attractive activity: to destroy the house leant on one side of the car-park. The house is owned by Mr Thomas, known as Old Misery, and is an old house built by the same architect that built Saint Paul Cathedral in the eighteenth century. Old Misery is a constructor, but he doesn’t want to spend anything for conserving his house. So he hasn’t current water in the house because he hasn’t abilities as a plumber. So he has to use a loo situated in a corner of the garden, perhaps it is a septic tank.

T. knows that Old Misery is going away for two days during the August Bank Holiday, and they will have enough time for destroying the old house. As T.’s father was an architect, he has some notions of architecture, and otherwise he has visited the house and knows it well. They need some tools and each of them will take some. They work very hard and the house is destroyed at the end.

Which is the reason for destroying the house? I think the boys are bored, they haven’t anything to do. No money, no cinema, no sports, nothing to do. To destroy the house will be a big action. They will reach the fame, they will be important, known in their suburb. As the author says, destruction after all is a form of creation. They are looking for their self-affirmation, finding themselves, by doing an important thing.
I’ve liked the story because is an interesting point of view about the boyhood and the needing of doing something important as a way of auto affirmation in a world that offers so limited possibilities to people. The boys don’t want to do crimes (they think to destroy a house isn’t forbidden), so they don’t want to pinch anything because they’re not criminals.

I knew the meaning of loo before as an informal way of saying toilet or bathroom. I didn’t know the word “pinch”, but I could deduce it by the sense. The down platform is the platform of the underground, where people went down during the aerial attacks. The Blue Boar is perhaps the name of a pub. I think The Wormsley Common Empire was the humoristic name of the poor suburb. Bomb-sites was the place where felt bombs during last war. Incendiaries are bombs that produce fire. The blitz is an aerial attack. Southend is a town on the cost on the estuary of the Thames, not far from London, used as a holiday village. Nowadays there is there one of the airports of London.

The problem of the "stereotypes' war"

 Pi... pi... pi... Can you hear it? It's your alarm clock wishing you good morning at six o' clock in the morning and, what comes next? A quick and stressed breakfast, but surely it's not a tasty complete breakfast, actually you are having a diet food, with no sugars, no fats and possibly with nothing. Afterwards here comes a stressful workday and a long evening at the gym finished with a 'healthy' diet dinner. STOP, It's time to take time of think about what are we doing, we are killing ourselves by steps.

Nowadays society is focused on something that I've decided to call "stereotypes' war". Not only do we have to have the thinnest figure, the most perfect smile and the most successful job, we also have to know about fashion, popular sports and it's important to have the last technology. On the other hand it's the social life. People of today should have friends of a specific thinking way and very rarely do we socialize with other people. We are becoming robots serial facts.

This situation is getting out of hand. Under no circumstances should we forget where is the stop. Above all we are humans and we have to enjoy life, in my case I've not finished my exams when I start thinking about the next semester projects and this mixed with my healthy plan of food and gym, of course I'm not apart on the "stereotypes' war".

Despite of this I have an advice for you, It's easy to follow and It takes a few time from the week routine. First of all you have to propose to take a day for you, we'll call it 'my own special day'. Well, during all 'my own special day' you only have to dress yourself like you want, eat whatever you want (reading the ingredients of the food is not the right way) and after this you change the gym evening by a long walk around a village, a park or wherever open air place. Having done this once every one or two weeks you'll feel better with yourself. I wish this would be useful to you and good luck fighting against the 'stereotypes' war'.

THE DESTRUCTORS

All of us are "destructors” in some period of our lives. When we are adolescents and we don’t have our own "identity", we tend to look for this in our friends , in the gang, in people with the same feelings.

  Not only identity, but also some element of protest in every form of vandalism or destruction.  

Some of the reasons for this behaviour may be:

- Neglect or lack of recognition in the parent’s home.

- Lack of self-awareness and the need to be recognised: "The fame of Wormley Common car-park gang would surely reach around London".

- Unfair treatment by institutions, and the need of taking  ‘revenge on:" There would be headlines in the newspapers"

- Identification problems and the need to draw attention to one's protest or action:"Driven by the pure, simple and altruistic ambition of fame for the gang".  

The influence of the group is huge in this period, teenagers are caught in the transition between child and adult status. Under no circumstances are they expected to behave as children. They denied the full responsibilities of adults but at the same time they are brave enough to dare with everything in the new life.

The group can provide some support for identity and independent status, along  with the need of new experiences, and why not, some fun.

Nowadays we have a lot of destructors: graffiti gangs, sloppy tagging, scratching car, breaking car windows...and in the same way, they just want attention, recognition of our community, that's all. 

Vandalism gives a voice to those who challenge institutional norms.

My question is: Is destruction a necessary component of society as long as we are humans or not? Is it after all, a form of creation?

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