September 11th

   First blog for RW!! I`m pretty excited about this term because I personally am interested in the things that we will be covering this term such as leadership, interpersonal communications, self development and so on. I have read quite a few books on related topics in both Japanese, and English. At one point it seemed to me that the more I looked in to them though , the more confused I got about what is a good leader, or,  how we should compose oneself. So many different theories and advices, but then I came to see that it isn`t about searching for one right answer. I like being exposed to new ideas, and I think learning about these sort of topics is about processing the information to see how you can apply them to your own life.
    In the Harvard Business Review on " Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership", they stressed on good leader`s having the quality of showing positive emotions so as to influence other`s in the same way. Though I agree with what they said about good leaders fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support they need, I do not believe that what successful leaders are all open and friendly. I have seen many good leaders, my high school teacher for one, (in a sense you could say that teachers are leaders I think) and he did not necessarily have that out front positive attitude. Instead, he was quite the opposite with a hard expression on his face, a firm ground on things and always had high expectations of his students. He was hard to please but when we were successful the rare smiles we got were definitely rewarding. In that way he fostered positive emotions in us, to strive for something better, to work hard to achieve our goals.
  During class we discussed the about the spindle cells, oscillators and many argued that the cells were something un significant when dealing with good social skills. That cells were just there, and there was nothing we could do about to it to affect our  behaviour or interactions with others. Though they do have a point, I personally was just fascinated by how there were biological aspects that influences us. It`s an aspect I had never thought about and somehow it brought me comfort in knowing these particular cells that help us process the over flowing information around us. There was a lot didn`t understand about the cells because it was a brief text and it left me with many questions, especially about how they relate to experiences. I hope I can come across them again to clarify some of my questions.
  Oh, and Ken the book Steven Covey`s son wrote that I was talking to you about is called "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens". This book has a lot of good tips about self motivation, peer pressure and is easy to connect with because it is written in a really quirky, fun way. Although I know that many of us would be graduating from our teens pretty soon, I think it is a book that is worth taking a look in to (maybe for your future kids?haha)