Maya Angelou & Dreaming

Maya Angelou

1.) Angelou says the reason the caged bird sings is to be free. It wants to fly in the open air and be free. Figuratively, this means that you should not let yourself be caged, and let yourself be free without any bother or worry.

2.) I believe I have the power to triumph over adversity. I've used it plenty, and I've seen it used plenty. My mother and I somewhat used it together once my grandparents passed, walking through everyday life, with a weight of sadness strapped to our ankles.

4.) I think dreams don't necessarily reveal things that we don't realize or that others don't see. More or less, I believe dreams give your subconscious the ability to communicate with your conscious self. This is where I think people often get that dreams tell us things we don't know or realize, when it is really ourselves telling ourselves that.

5.) I'm not sure I could live for 5 years without speaking. It would be very hard to recover into normal day life. I don't talk much, but I do talk. I think personal growth does come from social contact, and while I get social contact, I'm not sure if I'm getting enough of it. In terms of personal growth that could be gained, I think my social skills could be improved.

6.) Language is something that I still have interest in. I'm comfortable with French, but I think I could improve on it, considering I've never been in France. I would love to be fluent in more languages, Italian and German are some of the ones I have most interest in. I think Italian is a very pretty language when spoken correctly, and at least from what I've already learned, it's fun to speak as well. I want to visit Germany someday, and also I think German is a fun language, it's words are extremely articulate and pronounced. Also, I do think that English is good enough in America. English is not going to fade away, especially in America, and if you really need it there's always Google translate, right?

8.) "There's a world of difference between truth and fact" means that truth is that fact is fact, and nothing will ever change what is fact. Truth on the other hand, is kind of like aluminum foil. Similar to "bending the truth," truths can be changed based on the reasoning given for a certain truth. For example, it is true that the Earth is round because of this fact and that fact. However, if someone comes along with a counterargument and provides just as strong, or stronger reasoning that the Earth is actually a triangle, then the new truth is that Earth is now a triangle. The truth bends for facts. It is malleable and flexible to fit around whatever shape the facts give it, like aluminum foil. I agree with Angelou's quote, at least in my interpretation of it.

9.) To occupy my small mind, I usually go to noisli.com and pick ambient sounds to listen to while I work. These sounds include running rivers, crackling fires, roaring winds, rustling trees, bustling coffee shops, white noise, and others. You can even play them all at the same time if you want. Anyways, this is usually enough to occupy me. Distractions are extremely prevalent. My biggest distraction is my friends when I'm trying to get something done. Since I use my computer for most of my work, my friends can constantly message me and it gets pretty distracting. I like to think I deal with it well. Like to.

11.) Age definitely impacts the difficulty and challenge in learning new things. However, I don't think that it is that big of a hurdle to overcome. While it does make it harder, it is not by much. I would argue that it only marginally affects the way you learn. It may even be true that being older would make it easier. Maybe older people have new learning strategies that they never had in their youth, or less distractions.