I am going to start my blog by providing more specific background information about myself. Starting with my religion:
Religion:
I have grown up Jewish my whole life. If you're not Jewish I don't expect you to know this, but I have found that Judaism is a very accepting and open minded religion. I have enjoyed growing up in a Jewish community for nineteen years of my life. After my Bat Mitzvah I discovered Buddhism on my own and through a few family members who had already explored several aspects of it. In the middle of my junior year in high school I took a trip to Bali, Indonesia with my mom. There i discovered tea, temples, and the practice of two religions. In Bali people practice both Hiduism and Buddhism, which i found fascinating because I had never fathomed that someone could practice two religions at once. As i learned about the Balinese customs and traditions I broadened my perspective on religion and realized that i had to learn about more religions because it was possible that a different religion would suit me better! In Bali we went to many temples and traditional dances like the one below.
I then further researched about Buddhism through attending several meditation sessions and books that I read including, The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz and Buddha is as Buddha Does by Lama Surya Das. After a lot of research through books, and attending Buddhist Zen centers I decided that Buddhism was the right religion for me. However, I did not give up Judaism because I still loved all the morals and values it taught me. I found that I could practice Buddhism and Judaism through something called a "JUBU" which is explained by Kamenetz in The Jew in the Lotus as those who choose to practice a western form of Buddhism while staying true to the practices and philosophies of Judaism. I learned that I was not alone, Kamenetz reinforces that "In the past twenty years, JUBUs have played a significant and disproportionate role in the development of this second form of American Buddhism. Various surveys show Jewish Participation in such groups ranging from 6 percent to 30 percent...In the same twenty years, American Jews have founded Buddhist meditation centers and acted as administrators, publishers, translators, and interpreters. They have been particularly prominent teachers and publicizers" (Kamenetz 8). What I found most interesting about Buddhism is that it does not believe in an omnipotent "God" that everyone must believe in and has power over the whole world. This concept about a "God" differs greatly from Judaism, which believes in one God. Buddhism instead (in a basic explanation) is a way of life (a lifestyle) that believes in values, goals, and people who are "Boddhisatvas". Boddhisatvas are those who have the ability to achieve Buddha nature, to practice the four noble truths, to achieve a peaceful and enlightened mind state known as Nirvana, and to help others achieve these states of the mind.
In order to further my knowledge on Buddhism I plan on traveling to Asia for an extended period of time abroad, and I already took a class on Buddhism in college. I also take Chinese so that I can speak the native language when I decide to go abroad. 我 说 中 文。( I speak Chinese).
I really value Buddhism in my life because it has helped me deal with depression, anxiety, and tragic life events. The ways exactly my belief in Buddhism did this will be explained later on in my blog.
Education:
I went to an elementary school that was considered a "hippy" school, or at least we liked to joke that it was because we called our teachers by their first names, had a garden, and had no homework or grades. This schools primary focus was on achieving a good education where students were focused on "Giving their best effort" as my fourth grade teacher liked to put it. This teacher was my favorite teacher and his saying about "best effort" affected me positively for my whole entire life since fourth and fifth grade. I focused more on the value of my education and on learning because I wanted to learn and not because I wanted to get A's.
I then carried on to a private all girls middle school. It was quite an interesting experience going to an all girls school, and as one can imagine, really dramatic. I joined a group of friends that was called "the fruities", because we called each other by our favorite fruit names. My favorite fruit was chocolate, I knew that chocolate was not a fruit but at the time I wasn't really "into" fruit, thus my "fruity" name became Hershey. In middle school I discovered a lot about myself and who I was. My middle school years were the most pivotal years of my life. I remember my Humanities teacher asked our class to answer the questions, "Who are you, and where are you going?" I had never really thought about this before, and although I knew a few things about myself, such as that I was a Jewish, Caucasian female; other than those characteristics I had never thought deeper than that. In eighth grade I began to change a little bit and to experiment with who I thought I might be. Thus began my punk rocker phase, where I died my hair purple, pink, and blue. Later on I discovered that this was just a phase, but at the time I really thought that was who I was. I went through all the "normal" things adolescents went through, or so I thought. In reality I was going through all the wild stages of life at a somewhat accelerated pace. I always felt ahead of the game, like I was moving faster than my peers were. By the time I had reached eighth grade I had already had several boy friends while most of my friends had never even kissed a boy before in their lives. I also quit playing Viola, of which I had been playing for four years, and began playing Guitar. Guitar was my real passion. I also wrote a lot of poetry. My best friend and I kept a book of poetry that we would pass back and forth. We wrote all kinds of poems that expressed what we were going through with friends, family, romantic relationships, and all other kinds of dilemmas imaginable. I found a "poetry journal" between friends to be an amazing source to write down all the things I was feeling and going through at the time. With my skills in poetry and guitar, my friends and I started a band. The band broke up and reformed several times, but we wrote a lot of our own songs in the end. We had band practice once a month intermittently throughout the year. As I went into high school we still had a band, but as we grot older it grew apart. This leads me to my high school experience at a public co-ed school.
Attending co-ed school after three years of an all girls middle school was different, to say the least. My high school was one of those really prestigious public schools. People moved to the area I live in just to go to this school. The reason I went to this public school instead of continuing on in a private school (probably all girls) was because I wanted to save money for my parents, since I have two sisters - a twin and an older sister - and I knew that we were all going to probably go to fairly good private colleges. My high school was full of eclectic fun people. I changed a lot through out high school. I started off as a punk/goth hardcore girl, then slowly developed into a sort of hippy, environmental health nut by the end of senior year.
I did end up at a private college like I thought I would in the South - New Orleans to be exact. New Orleans was definitely culture shock since I grew up on the west coast. It was a lot different according to the food people ate and the lifestyle in general. I was not used to it. I enjoyed school for the most part. I met a lot of people and joined a sorority. The sorority was a great new experience for me because I got to increase my leadership skills and do a whole lot of social networking! I also had a job and was taking a lot of classes for my intended Psychology major. By the end of the year I decided I wanted to transfer because the south just wasn't for me, although it was a very interesting experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. I learned a lot and gained a whole new perspective on culture and lifestyle. I know where I want to be now and I think that is the most important thing. I don't think I would have figured it out quite so soon if i hadn't gone to the south and seen what it was like to be somewhere that was not "me" so to speak. Now here I am on summer vacation transitioning between colleges, and getting ready to work full time. I decided to write a blog because I just have so much to share with the world, and I like to write when I don't have anything else to do.
Hobbies and Interests:
As I mentioned earlier, since an early age, when I picked up the guitar and by ear played "When the Saints go marching in", I have always truly enjoyed playing guitar. Lately I am striving to learn how to read music and music theory. I have been teaching myself since I was about 9 years old. I have gotten to the point where I want some lessons to gain more knowledge about the guitar and to get a little kick start in the right direction. Guitar lessons will happen soon. Super exciting!
I have always been one of those deep/emotional people, but at the same time I am able to enjoy life and just laugh. I always strive to find meaning in what I do and to perfect myself. I may be a little bit of a perfectionist, but to an extent who isn't?
I was diagnosed with ADD my Sophomore year of high school, but I believe that I have the potential to focus without medication. Although, when I really need it I do take it. In the summer I enjoy relaxing without it.
I am also an extremely compassionate person with a humongous heart! I always try to help my friends no matter what time of day and under any circumstances. I try not to judge anyone, although it is hard to completely eliminate judgment, I feel that I am pretty good at giving everyone a fair chance.
I LOVE MUSIC!!!! I believe music can really change a person's mood and can inspire people. It inspires me all the time. It is also the biggest form of expression in the media. Music is coincidentally also one of my dogs names!
More of my hobbies are biking, hiking, outdoor activities, skiing, swimming, poetry, reading, writing, cooking, baking, photography, yoga, basketball, lacrosse, long boarding, Chinese, and art (mostly graffiti).
So I just finished my first post. The next posts won't be a whole lot like this one, which was more like an autobiography. The future posts will be more about events or epiphanies that go on in my life!
ENJOY!
