Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "Thankful".So this post was written slightly later than most due to late night studying and paper writing, so I apologize ahead of time if any of this post may seem unfocused or not as well written. 

On Wednesday, during the normal weekly staff meeting, I had my RAs do an activity and I want to share this activity with you. First, you start with a piece of paper and a pen/pencil. Draw a rectangle (any size you want) and place however number of circles around the shape that you want. You have now created your own personal table for your life's board of directors. Take some time to consider who you are really thankful for and who you would place within each chair. The sky is the limit on who you can invite to the table, they can be people you know, people you wish you knew, fictional characters, or even animals or other things that are not human at all!

When it comes to my table, I actually cheated a bit and had each of my 4 chairs represent a different part in my life. The first chair represents my family. This is my mom, dad, sister, dog and extended family. I am truly thankful for the kind of relationship I have with them. They are the wind in my sails, and the song in my heart. I hold a very deep love for them and could't imagine a life without them. The second chair represents my friends. This has to be a big chair in order to accommodate everyone, but special mention goes out to the friends you can find on my speed-dial: Tim, Matt, Brittany, Stelly and Kelsey! These are the people who keep me sane, have created a home away from home and are huge support systems for me. The third chair represents my work. These are all of my bosses (Laura, Brian M, Brian B, Josh, Miles, Amy, Cindy, Marvette and Dan) as well as my RA staff and my work mentors who have helped me become who I am today (especially Jud and Jess, I love you both!) The final seat is reserved for the people who I will probably never meet, but act as role models in my life. Although they easily hold the "celeb status", I have always seen them as people who represent so much more in life and promote love, joy and maybe even a bit of magic to the world around us. These people include Walt Disney, David Tennant, Ellen Degeneres, George Feeney, Mr. Rogers, Ms. Frizzle, and Patch Adams. Although they all hold different importances to me, all of them look to the future, see the good in people, and in many cases are far beyond their time. I'm thankful I have so many great seats filled in my boardroom, and I look forward to filling many more spots in the future!

Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "Give".

When it comes to giving, a lot of people think of giving time, treasure or talent to a cause of your choosing. I wanted to take this idea a step further and talk about the concept of giving yourself and never giving up who you are as a person. Earlier this evening, I was talking about always being the "nice guy". My friend assured me she was sure I had a "bad boy" side and she looked forward to seeing it sometime. Throughout my college experience, I have always had people trying to see a different side of me. This has happened when they want to see me drunk, acting as a "badass", or even scenarios where I find myself questioning my personal morals. I feel like it is a goal for some people to crack me open like a bird cracks open a clam to see what lies inside. I know it is simply curiosity and many times it is harmless, but consider what happens when you do show that side. 

Take a second to imagine what would happen if one day Charlie Brown didn't go and try to kick the football. Although you may not have even thought about it, I have personally always seen Charlie Brown as someone who is dedicated, believes the best in people, and has crazy levels of persistence. If one day he decided to walk away, I'm not sure I would think the same way of him. People keep challenging you to take a different road in life and although it may be the road you should go down, you have to ask yourself if it is a road you are even willing to go down in the first place. Many times there is no going back. 

In Robert Frost's famous poem, he ends his story with "I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." I always thought this was the best way to end the poem, so many people question if the road less traveled is a "good road" or a "bad road", but I personally just see it as "his road". Yes, I do consider myself a nice guy and I understand this may not mean that I will "have girls everywhere trying to get my attention", but in the end, these aren't the girls I was trying to attract in the first place. Moral of the story: Surround yourself with people who like you for you and the right relationships will come through. It won't be easy, but by never giving up who you are as a person, that will make all the difference down your path.         

Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "Secret".

Almost a week has gone since my first blog post and I could not be more proud of myself. I have had multiple people come up to me and say "daily is too much, you won't have anything to say, you'll get tired of writing!" Although this may be true, I have found that everyday there is now something to look forward to and it further shows how much I really want to continue this journey. When I saw that today's word was "secret" I was having a hard time figuring out where I wanted to take this topic. I feel like secret has always had a bad rep because it insinuates that you are hiding something from the world. This may not necessarily be true, I firmly believe there are plenty of things that I don't broadcast to the world and yes, there are some things that are bad, but there are also just as much, if not more things that are good. So here is my challenge for the day, try to list off as many things as you can that people don't know about you and could be considered your own personal secrets. Since this blog was originally designed to get me out of my comfort zone, I will share my list with you. 

1. I secretly created this website hoping a future employer would see this and want to hire me.
2. After working on this site, I have discovered it has become so much more than a "virtual resume".       (more like a piece of me and what I stand for.) 
3. I just signed a contact with Piedmont College to be their Director of Residential Education! 
4. One of my biggest regrets in life is not kissing a girl on New Years (you know who you are).
5. I have a blonde birthmark under my hair, I keep it secret just to freak out new hair-cutters.
6. I won't be invested in a book if someone doesn't die within the first two chapters. 
7. I secretly root for the villain sometimes more than the hero (Go team Phantom!)
8. Yes, the pizza I'm taking out of the oven is just for me. 
9. I secretly question my religious beliefs on a normal basis. 
10. I intentionally broke up two relationships so I could date the girl, I'm not proud of that one.
11. I secretly sabotage my own relationships after 3-6 months of dating..
      (I don't do it on purpose and I don't know why I do it.)
12. I secretly wrote a novel for a good number of years, I never got more than 5 chapters into it.
13. I only keep games in my apartment that I'm good at. I'm secretly very competitive!
14. I think my sister is one of the best people in the world, don't tell her I said that. 
15. I keep two Christmas wreaths up in my apartment because they make me happy.
16. I secretly like hugs.
17. I secretly hate football.
18. I trust others very easily, but when you break my trust, I will hold a huge grudge.
19. I honestly don't know anything about politics and like it that way.
20. Most of the time I feel like I understand women more often than men.
21. Friend's weddings put me on edge, one more step toward being alone.
22. I'm afraid of being alone.
23. It worries me I recently chose work over a social life. 
24. When done eating, I fidget with things in front of me...this means I'm ready to go do something. 
25. I secretly look forward to playing chess on a weekly basis! 
26. I'm secretly a hopeless romantic, but am also one of the pickiest people you will ever meet.   
27. I secretly worry about my mom and her feeling alone.   
28. I get paranoid about what my staff thinks of me.
29.  I secretly hold my dad at one of the highest levels of respect and admiration, I should tell him.
30. I secretly tried (and failed) to kill my fish, goldfish can survive anything!     
31. I secretly want to take the Luminstruct site and make it an online web-series on Youtube.
32. I say I'm a big baker, but I only know how to make a couple of cookies and some brownies.
33. I secretly want to get a dog, however number 30 worries me.
34. I secretly hate driving.
35. I secretly love being the passenger.
36. I gave advice to Band of Brothers students for things that I struggle with as well.
37. I secretly feel like depression might run in our family.
38. I'm secretly trying to come up with three more things to say to have this list end on 40
39. I feel like most people don't see me for who I am, but act like they do.
40. I sing the Frozen soundtrack all the time in my apartment. I'm comfortable with my identity!

Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "Imagination".

I was actually very excited about this word because there is so much you could do with it! Ironically, I want to start with one of the least imaginative concepts and write the definition. According to the dictionary, imagination (n) is a "faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses." Other words that can be used are creative power, fancy, vision, and the "informal mind's eye." Yesterday I discussed the power we have on each other and how ideas are planted in our minds to grow into something big! This huge outcome can only happen, however, with a little imagination. It is the ability to look at something simple and picture what it could be turned into! 

Let's start with a simple exercise, look around your room and pick a random inanimate object. Now, for the next minute, take some time and think of all the possible futures this object could have for you. For instance, the single sock next to my laundry basket with a big hole in the toe could be used to keep my foot (partially) warm in this cold weather, I could throw it away, or throw it in my hamper for the next laundry day. These responses are the normal "motions" we go through every single day. It all becomes a schedule, list, or "definition" of things and the spark of life and even the fun in what we do is lost. Now look at the inanimate object again and begin to stretch the boundaries of this object. My holey sock could now be tied in a knot and given to the family dog as a chew toy, it could be further ripped and act as an arm band (or head band if you're a bit more daring), or it could be somehow created into an odd mitten. Finally I want you to throw all limits out of the window and come up with the craziest thing you could come up with for this item. My holey sock is now not even a sock, it is an evil puppet named Carl who has vowed vengeance upon the residents of "Bedroom" and has begun building his army to take over any open floor space his eye can see! 

So besides the fact that I'm showing you how weird I am, what does this exercise prove? For beginners, it shows you the process needed to train your brain and potentially restore parts of your childhood imagination and sense of creativity. It also shows that all things have a possibility for greatness, it just takes a little hard work and a new angle of looking at things. I started with a quote from Walt Disney because I think he is the perfect example of this. Remember that "it was all started with a mouse." 

Now let's take this activity a step further and bring in multiple people to all look at the same item and come up with different outcomes. What if they then shared their ideas and tried to come up with a final product they all liked? I can guarantee you it would be a different final product with different groups of people. All of them are taking from things they know from their past and working together in order to create something new! If you want to be known for your creativity or your mind, it is important to become a dreamer and know that anything is possible. Always strive for new ideas and experience new things in life to further build you imagination "factory", these will only add up to make better things! I wanted to end this post with a cover of one of the best "dreamer" songs out there. Although it may not be as powerful as the original, I decided to use the cover done by the group, "Playing for Change". It will only further show that once you get a set of dreamers together and have them work together on a common interest, their imagination will turn their dreams into a reality. 

Hello world! For those of you who are new, welcome to the Luminstruct blog! I am currently working on a "365 Word Project" where everyday I will be posting a reflection on a word and today's word is "Garden".

First let me start with a story. The first year I was a Resident Assistant, I had one of the best supervisors a person could ask for. Amy always saw the good in people and especially saw the inner potential I had before I even saw it in myself. Some of my favorite items in her office were a collection of plants that sat next to the front door. Being the quirky person Amy was, all of them had names and some kind of special significance to her. At the end of the year, Amy gave me two flower pots and told me a leaf from two of her plants were in each one. It was my job to take care of them and help them grow. Four years later, both plants have grown significantly and have been moved to bigger and bigger pots. They now rest on my apartment sill, waiting to have a leaf cut off and handed off to another student. 

Although it may seem like a nice parting gift for a Biology student, these two plants meant so much more to me. In many ways you could say she gave me three seeds; two seeds were found within the potting soil and the last one could be found in the garden of my mind. It may sound corny, but our minds are some of the most important gardens. As part of the take away for this posting, I have included a remix of a lesson taught by one of the wisest people TV has ever known. In the video, Mister Rogers explains how it's good to be curious about things, when we have people help us learn, we can grow ideas in the garden of our minds. All we need to do is think, and they'll grow. It is so easy to plant ideas that will grow and define a person to be who they are today. I think it is easy to just say I have seen the movie "Inception" a few too many times, but we really make such a lasting impact on others around us. Regardless of these interactions being made on purpose or not, no one is an island. 

As humans it is our job to meet as many people as we can, get to know their stories and allow them to plant their ideas in your head. This must be done with caution, although two heads are better than one, a mind is an awful thing to waste if you rely on the wrong people. I challenge you to find the people in your life that hold a similar role Amy held for me. Find that solid support system. These people can see you for the person you are and they will plant a seed that will lead you down so many new and exciting paths. As time passes, you will be given the opportunity to pass your knowledge along to someone else and the cycle will continue. All you got to do is think, and that path will grow.