Thoughts of a Psychology Student

So this week I've been a bit crap with doing all my lent things because I've been so damn busy. But here are the ones I have done: "Pick up any litter you spot today and drop it into a bin. (You might want to wear latex gloves or use a litter-picker!) Not going out? Sort out your kitchen so that you can get into the habit of recycling easily." - I did both picking up litter and cleaning up the kitchen this week. (And tried not to complain about the latter....) "It doesn't take much to make someone feel special. A treat through their letterbox or on their desk, or an unexpected compliment, can go a long way." - Weirdly I kinda did this without being prompted to, but I wrote a thank you letter to a particular friend who is just pretty damn great. And it made me feel good too (Y) "Buy Fairtrade today when you stop at the shops for that drink or bar of chocolate. Even better, buy two and give one to a friend." ...

This is just going to be a very short post about what I'm going to be doing this lent I wondered about giving something up; chocolate (too difficult), make up (too risky), facebook (impractical), but nothing really jumped out at me. This morning I spotted something called "40Acts 2015" on Facebook (good job I didn't give it up). Its a collation of 40 reflections and 40 acts of generosity over lent. So I figured I'd follow this.  Each day has either a 5 minute, 10 minute or hour option, depending on how much you want to challenge yourself.  I'm going to try to blog about what I do each day, very short and sweet blogs. I might post every day, but I might do a weekly blog where I write about 7 days worth of generosity instead. I'll play it by ear. So here it is... Day 1: Start a Journal (10 minutes) "Start a journal. Keep a list of all the people you want to bless this lent, and use it to document all the things you lea...

Warning, this blog post is gonna be fairly God focussed - if it's not your cup of tea then I apologise! My blog has plenty of other non-christiany blog posts though so feel free to read those instead... ;) So i'd been worrying recently that my irrational feelings of anxiety that sometimes creep up on me in random social situations were closing doors of opportunity and hindering my experiences. I hated the idea that by talking myself out of going to a meeting, or making the effort to get to know someone i'd only recently met, I may be missing out on an opportunity that arises from engaging in that situation. So I decided to pray about it. (Instinct I suppose) So the first Sunday back after ISB me and Imogen were going to go to church. That morning, I received a text saying she was ill and was going to give it a miss. Considering I'd already said to another friend I'd be there, combined with the late notice, I couldn't very easily talk myself out of g...

Lying in my bed after having laboriously unpacked my two crammed suitcases into my uni room, I am missing inter-semester break already. Whilst many adventures took place during the holiday after exams, one particular highlight was seeing Matilda in the West End in London. Each day, the Cambridge Theatre release 16 £5 tickets per performance for 16 to 25 year olds at 10am. Knowing there would be other students queueing for this brilliant deal, we woke up at 6.30am, got the tube into central London and were queueing outside the box office by 8am. The 2 hours before ticket release were spent doing killer sudokus and making multiple coffee runs. The production was fantastic and it got me thinking about growing up. Roald Dahl's children's books played a huge part in my childhood. The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine and Matilda were my favourites. It struck me that a recurring theme throughout Dahl's stories is the triumph of children over adults. As a child w...

Apparently yesterday was 'Blue Monday'.  The concept of 'Blue Monday' derives mainly from a pseudoscientific equation that states the 19th of January 2015 is the most depressing day of the year because of things like the realisation of Christmas weight gain and overall debt levels. Another of these factors is the realisation that New Years Resolutions have most certainly not been kept. The pledge you made to yourself to cut back on carbs and get on the treadmill went out the window when you realised all the left over chocolate from christmas wasn't going to eat itself... This got me thinking about the amount of times I've said to myself I'm going to do something and then not done it... If I had followed through with everything I wanted to do so far in my life, by now I'd probably be a prominent social activist, an author, a well-travelled adventurer, a lot fitter, a lot healthier, and maybe even have become prime minister. The point is...

Wow. So it's been a while. This blog was set up as a cunning ploy to embellish my personal statement in the hope that admissions tutors would think I was a conscientious student who had their shit togoether and deserved a place at university. In case anyone's missed the past 5 or so months, update: I made it to university.  Bath university to be precise.  Studying psychology... I am a psychology student ... and these are my thoughts... looks like we've come full circle. In light of a wondrous christmas holiday in which many a winter walk were taken, the regular dustings of frost got me reflecting on, well, life... Despite only starting a little over 4 months ago, so much has happened in my first term at university I can barely begin to describe the plethora of shenanigans that have taken place. It would appear that I've taken up lacrosse, though I am about as good as lacrosse as I am budgeting for my living expenses. Turns out sainsbury's ba...

It's odd how different two english speaking countries can be culturally. This summer I went to Canada (specifically British Columbia) and was taken aback by how different the lifestyle and culture was despite the same mother tongue.  Vancouver is an incredible city. Some call it the city of glass because of its glossy skyscrapers that reflect the often blue skies overhead.  It's urban architecture is juxtaposed beautifully by the majestic mountains that surround the downtown area. And I suppose, given its idyllic postcard-perfect appearance, it should have been no surprise to me that the Canadian culture is, well, altogether more ' friendly ' than British culture. Whilst us Brits boast of medieval castles and Roman baths, (and don't get me wrong, there's a lot to be said about British history), you only have to endure one morning commute across London to understand what I'm alluding to when I say that British people (generally) are such s...