PRACTICAL – Interview two people …

Happiness and family are the essence of what is important for eleven-year-old Darcy Grossmann and his seventeen-year-old sister Ciara when asked “What things are most important to you?”

Darcy didn’t hesitate stating that family is the most important thing to him, “family is everything to me,” he said.

When asked to describe his important moments with his family, Darcy said, “I love walking on the beach with my family, I feel so safe and secure and happy when we are all together just having fun.”

Ciara Grossmann, a psychology student at James Cook University described her most important thing as happiness, “doing things that make me happy keeps me going in life,” she said.

When asked to describe one of the happiest moment in her life, Ciara described her recent graduation experience, “the whole family were together, all of us in one place, and also because I had worked really hard and achieved something, a goal that was important,” she said.

Family, experiences and goals were the top of the list when asked to describe their top three important moments in life.

Ciara said, “for me, being with people I care about, achieving my goals and dreams, and experiencing things that bring me joy are my top three.”

Nodding in agreement with Ciara’s ideas, Darcy talked about AFL as one of his important moments, “I love playing AFL, I love the adrenaline rush of the game and the strategy, it makes me feel amazing,” he said.

As the interviewer and Ciara and Darcy’s Dad, it was a wonderful to talk about the important things in life.  As a parent it is reminder that time with family, creating happy moments and experiences is what life is truly about.

In his TEDx talk, Robert Waldinger a psychiatrist and the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, describes the importance of relationships, “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” (Waldinger, 2015)

Filmed is November 2015, Waldinger further describes, “It turns out that people who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well connected.”

Ciara and Darcy Grossmann in depths of their answers have have hit on the core needs of all humans, the need for relationships and connection.

References:

Waldinger, Robert, 2015. TED – Robert Waldinger: What makes a good life? Lessons formt he longest study on happiness.. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness/transcript?language=en#t-364840
[Accessed 7 August 2016].

REFLECTION:

I researched how to formulate a quotations before I commenced writing the news report.  The examples provided in part B of the blog assignment were invaluable in my learning and greatly appreciated as a guide.

Whilst there is a lot of work and time going into the weekly blog, it is providing to best form of practical learning.

TWEETS:

A link to this blog was included in the following tweets, posted shortly after publishing.

TECHNICAL: Complete Quiz 4

Quiz 4 is complete – 100% achieved on the second attempt, after a shaky start and 60% achievement.  The first round I thought that I would rely upon my experience, which got me nowhere fast, so it was back to the English for Journalists text book to research and find the correct answers.

The quiz is the best way to instil the practical learnings from the text book theory.   Whilst there is a mountain of writing, the more I write the better I feel and perhaps the better I get.