Social Intelligence

One of the most important forms of intelligence to me is social intelligence. People are academically intelligent, street-wise intelligent, but something that I’m beginning to see less and less of is people who are socially intelligent. This entails good manners, good speaking skills, being polite and civil, things like that.

I think social intelligence is a learned behavior, that’s why many people don’t have it. People who are uneducated, foreign, have never had a job, people like that and I’m not saying at all that they’re stupid, I’m just saying that fitting into our society might be more of a challenge for them than for most people.

I know someone very close to me who is the perfect example of this. He’s lived here for quite some times, but since he’s been on permanent disability for a long time now, he doesn’t work. He is incredibly awkward in social situations, doesn’t know what to say when door-to-door salespeople come to our house, hangs up on telemarketers before they even finish what they’re trying to say, and doesn’t like socializing that much. He’s such a great person, but it makes me sad to see the way he is when we go to parties, or social events. The problem is is that people don’t realize how important it is to be able to carry a conversation with people and be polite. It’s not just so people will like you, it’s to help you with job interviews, if you’re trying to sell something, if you’re trying to make a point in an argument, if you want to sound like an overall intelligent person.

My sister is probably the most socially intelligent person I know. She knows everything about everything and can talk about anything. She knows how to say “no thanks, we don’t want any” to a door-seller, she doesn’t just slam the door in their face. She doesn’t argue with a cashier if they won’t give her 50% for a missing button. But a lot of people I know DO in fact act like that. What I’m trying to say is that being socially smart is a lot more important than people realize.

It’s a matter of class and when you have class, people take you seriously and want to talk to you. They don’t make fun of you or get annoyed when they have to deal with you. They’re impressed by you and by being socially intelligent, you become a good leader because you know how to act in certain situations and people are so interested in what you have to say that they want to be like you. I saw this video and thought it was interesting. It’ll give you a clearer understanding of what I’m trying to say.

What we love

First let me start off by saying how much I love the song “Fireflies” by Owl City. I love, love, LOVE it!

After laughter, music is the best medicine. When you’re down, or sad, and nothing can make you laugh, put on a good song, I promise you’ll feel better. Fireflies is a great one to listen to when you’re feeling down. So is Everbody Wants to Love by Ingrid Michaelson and I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I am saying this because it works. I have felt nauseated and yucky and then I’ll play a great song on my ipod and I immediately start to feel better. Music is food for the soul. A healthy soul is a healthy person.

I just thought I’d share this with you.

Making life easy

I don’t know about all of you, but one huge problem I have when it comes to my bed is folding the fitted sheet. I try EVERYTHING to make it flat and puff-free, but nothing works and it unnecessarily takes up space in our linen closet. No one ever taught me how to fold a fitted sheet and I’m assuming that most of us probably don’t know how to do it either, here ya go!



Thanks Jill Cooper!

Some of my favorite quotes

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. —Bill Cosby

This is really true. I think that in life, we often let ourselves down in hopes of impressing everyone but ourselves. It’s a sad, but true reality. When we come home with an F and our parents yell at us, the next time we study, it’s probably gonna be so our parents don’t yell at us again instead of feeling satisfied with ourselves, and then we end up failing. We need not forget that we exist too and we are important in too. Yes, it’s good to make people happy, but sometimes putting our own happiness before others is the best way to succeed. At work when I’m at the cash wrap, I’m ALWAYS trying to impress the managers. I’m really nice to the customers and I’m always productive during down time, but because I started over thinking so much about what others thought of, I forgot to focus on being myself and the consequence of this is that I am no longer a cashier. I made mistakes that I probably wouldn’t have had I thought about myself a little more than I actually did. I want anyone who is reading this to know how important it is to make yourself happy. The only person that can truly let you down is yourself.

Be yourself, everybody else is already taken-Oscar Wilde

No one could have said that better. This really puts things into perspective. You are you and you can’t change that. You can try to, but you can’t, so might as well embrace it and appreciate all the different people around you as well as yourself.

Women are like tea bags. You don’t know how strong they are until you put them in hot water.-Eleanore Roosevelt

Couldn’t agree more. Women are rocks.

You can never get enough of what you don’t really need.—Eric Hoffer

Why is this? After global warming, materialism is the next cause of the undoing of this planet.

There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem. —Harold Stephens

This is pretty self-explanatory, so I don’t think I need to go into great detail, but I think it’s important to know the difference.

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment. —Barry LePatner

I am a really good judge of character now because of the experiences I had in elementary school and middle school with friends. My good judgment came from experience. My experience came from bad judgment. I made lousy friends and don’t plan on making that mistake again. Be open to life and to new experiences because that’s what makes you develop as a person and you mature through them. Yeah, you’ll have to stumble a little bit, but it really is worth it because it ultimately makes you a better human being.

Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness-Kanye West

No matter who or what we are, we are all unique and beautiful people. And it’s sad that so many of us have no idea how amazing we really are. We need to believe in our worth and realize that everyone was put on this planet for a purpose and what would the point of 6 billion people be if we didn’t matter at all? Believe in how great you are and embrace it.

Winter Reading List

 

So I’m assuming that most of you will be taking classes over the winter, but for those of your who will be stuck at home, I have a great list of books you can and should read to pass your time

1. Twilight saga, of course

2. To Kill a Mockingbird (not too high of a reading level, but a great book)

3. the Kite Runner (my favorite)

4. A Thousand Splendid Sons (same author as Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini. Also an amazing book)

5. the Giggler Treatment (VERY low reading level, but HILARIOUS!!)

6. Bergdorf Blondes (it’s the ultimate rich girl novel, but has some depth and is really good)

7. Veil of Roses (being a Muslim, I was a little upset with some of the things implied about Muslim girls, but it’s still pretty good)

8. London is the Best City in America (easy read, kinda slow, but cute. Great time pass!)

9. Princess Diaries series (always a fave!)

10. Catcher in the Rye (brilliant)

11. This I Believe (not a novel. it’s a compilation of some words of wisdom from famous celebrities, politicians, authors and artists. It’s a great, great book and really gets you thinking)

12. Night (I read this my sophomore year and cried pretty much throughout the whole thing. it’s interesting reading about the holocaust from someone who was actually there)

13. Pride and Prejudice (classic!)

14. Smothering (very cute and very relatable, especially for girls since we all know what it’s like to have an overbearing mother)

15. Daisy Miller (weird, but clever novel. REALLY short too, like 60 pages. It’s cute)

 

That’s it for now, I’ll add on when I think of more. I’ve read all of these and I can honestly say that each and every one of them are unique and just really good books. Not all of them have an amazing story, but they’re all enjoyable. Have a good break!

We can’t always get what we want

Even peace may be purchased at too high a price. -Benjamin Franklin