First Blog Post of the Year Woo!

It's been over a year since I've blogged, so we're gonna see how this goes.

I made a deal with Ms. James that I could write about the independent reading I'm doing under the condition that I still answer TOMS founder, Blake Mycoskie's questions about passion. Here we go.

1. If you did not have to worry about money, what would you do with your time?
      I feel like the answer he's looking for with this question is something along the lines of "end world poverty." If I'm being completely honest, though, I would spend most of my time on Netflix. But if I'm thinking of a bigger, less lazy way to spend my time, I would want to do something to help others... maybe find ways (like random acts of kindness) to make people happy. People need more joy in their lives.

2. What kind of work would you want to do?
    I'd want to do the same type of work that I already plan on doing, psychology. I want to be a counselor, and help people find contentment in their lives. If someone needs an ear I want to be there for them. I've learned from experience that lack of opening up to people can take a serious toll on the spirit, so I want to help however I can.

3. What cause would you serve?
     I have a life philosophy: Learn to love yourself, and then go help others do the same. I'm sure this philosophy will change over time as I mature, but right now that's what I care about. It breaks my heart when I see people down, especially when it's a frequent thing. A healthy dose of confidence and acceptance will do wonders for someone! Also, and this will sound so immature, I think everyone should just be nice to each other. That's it.

Now! What you've all been waiting for...
Erica's Independent Reading

     When I'm at the library I always find myself in the Psychology section. This time I picked up a book entitled Out of Body Experiences: How to Have Them and What to Expect by Robert Peterson.
    
     Intrigued, I picked it up, found a chair, and started reading. About half an hour later it was time for me to go home, so I went ahead and checked it out (only after paying my stupid late fines, though).
    
     "Out of body experience" is pretty much self-explanatory, but if you haven't heard of it, it's basically your conscious "spirit" (assuming you have one) exiting your physical body, without dying of course. It's sometimes called astral projection. If you've seen Insidious, this is what the little boy does when he goes to bed, and then he gets trapped by that creepy red thing with the weird song and everything... yeah, you get the point.

     I'm not sure I believe the author on this whole "astral projection" thing. He describes some pretty weird stuff in the book. But then again, the whole concept is pretty bizarre. Here's an excerpt:

                "Somehow I could see through my closed eyelids. I looked up and saw a blue ring of electrical fire flying right toward my head. It was about a foot in diameter, with the energy sparks about an inch-and-a-half thick, and it was bright blue. I instinctively tried to raise my arms to protect myself from the impact, but I found myself paralyzed and unable to move my arms. The ring of blue energy started to slip over my forehead and I looked away, afraid to see what would happen next. I started fighting wildly to regain control of my body and the "vibrations" slowly smoothed down and died out. When the vibrations faded completely, I could move my body again."

     Weird, right? The first four chapters I thought he was just talking about lucid dreaming (when you know you're dreaming and can sometimes control the dreams) because the two are very similar, but apparently it's a whole different thing. Peterson said I'll learn more about that in chapters 12 and 26. I'll be sure and keep you posted.

     I read a short story once by my favorite author Neal Shusterman. It's actually my second favorite ghost story because of the way the kid died. (I'm just now realizing how awful that sounds.) Anyway, the kid was having one of these out of body experiences. He was flying around, looking down at his physical body when a jumbo jet crashes and takes the top floor of his house off. It kills his physical body, but his "astra body" is still alive. Now he's free to do whatever he wants, not bound by earthly things like gravity. He's technically dead, but his spirit is not. Having read this, it makes me wonder (assuming you can have out of body experiences) if this is possible. If so, would an experienced astral projector be able to escape their body right as they're about to die? It's kind of cool to think about.

     I am very skeptical about this Peterson guy. Some of the stuff he says is just too weird. He does have tips on how to have an out of body experience, though. I think I am going to try it. He says it took him several months to master it, and honestly I probably won't stick with it that long. I will try it and see if I can get that blue ring of fire above my head.

     I think I might actually finish this book, so you should see another blog post with more information on it soon. Thanks for reading, have a good life!

...

 Psst! Here's a video of a hedgehog and kitten meeting for the first time!