K S LO ENGLISH

Have you ever heard of mindfulness (aka. Mindful Breathing)? Mindfulness means that we can purposefully focus on the present and be non-judgmental about things happening around us. During mindful breathing, we can be aware of our emotions, thoughts, and body movements. Mindful breathing is easy to acquire, and it is a good way to reduce our stress.

Practicing mindful breathing is easy. First, we choose an ideal location which can avoid any disturbances. Then, we close our eyes and relax our body. Meanwhile, we notice the air entering our noses, traveling in our lungs, and expanding our chests. We may hear other noises or have other thoughts in our minds. Instead of thinking about them, we should accept them and think that they are disappearing. Next, we focus on our necks and shoulders. When our shoulders have relaxed, we can bring our attention to our chests and other body parts. In the end, we focus on our past, present, and future and bring our attention to our body again. As you can see, mindful breathing does not need any tool. All you need is a quiet place to practice it.

In conclusion, mindfulness is an easy and interesting way for you to relax. Whenever we feel stressed, we can relax by practicing mindfulness. If you find difficulties practicing mindfulness, you can refer to the following websites, which guide you to practice mindfulness.

Useful links:

Cantonese version: Newlife 330

Putonghua version: MBSR

English version: Great Meditation

Have you ever heard of happiness? You don’t have to be happy all the time, but being happy is important for your mental health because happiness can enhance your level of well-being. In the past, scholars have conducted research on happiness. Do you know what scholars think about happiness? 

The sources of happiness are divided into two types (i.e., hedonism and eudaemonism). Hedonism suggests that happiness is based on our sensations. For example, if you are a dog lover, you will be happy immediately when you are stroking a dog. Hedonism emphasizes maximizing pleasure and minimizing displeasure. However, this kind of happiness cannot last for a long time. Then, people start to focus on eudaemonism to find out long-lasting happiness. Eudaemonism suggests that happiness is based on our values. We are happy when we do what is worth doing. These activities have meaning and purposes. Also, they can fulfill our potential. For example, your goal is to get the highest mark in your Chinese tests. When you achieve it, you have greater life satisfaction. However, your goal may involve considerable personal hardship and effort over the long term. You may feel frustrated in the process. Some scholars believe that hedonism and eudaemonism could not effectively explain all the factors of happiness. Then, they developed other models of happiness. 

Martin Seligman has a “PERMA” model to explain more about happiness. “P” means positive emotions (e.g., hope, interest, joy, and love). “E” means engagement. We can learn, grow and nurture our happiness. We will be happy when we engage in something we love. “R” means relationship. We are happy because we have harmonious relationships with our family, friends, and even our teachers! “M” means meaning. We are happy because we believe that we have purposes, which give us a sense of direction in life! For example, you want to achieve your aspirations in your future career, or you want to realize a dream! These are your purposes in life. “A” means accomplishment. It is similar to eudaemonism. We are happy because we can reach our goals and master our endeavors to progress towards goals and competence. “PERMA model” provides us a direction to be happy, which fosters our well-being! 

In conclusion, scholars believe that happiness can be explained by hedonism, eudaemonism, as well as “PERMA” model. Although the concepts may be a bit challenging for you, you can still find that being happy is easy!  

Have you ever heard about depression? How much do you know about it? Last week, I attended a mental health first aid standard course offered by Mental Health First Aid International to learn more about different mental health diseases. In this article, I will share with you more about depression. 

What is depression? 

Depression is a mental disorder which affects patients’ lives and their interpersonal relationships. Patients usually have depressed moods which last for at least two consecutive weeks. They usually are not interested in any activities or hobbies because they do not have the motivation to engage in the activities. Sometimes, they even feel guilty when they believe that they are useless. Some patients who suffer from serious depression may think of committing suicide. 

What should I do if I have a friend who has some depression symptoms? 

You should remember that you are not a doctor who can offer medicines to your friends. However, you should introduce some resources to them. The Hospital Authority has a website which includes all the psychiatric day hospitals (website: click here). Apart from telling them to visit the psychiatric day hospitals, you can also provide a list of clinical psychologists offered by the Hong Kong Psychological Society for them (website: click here). 

What should I do if my friends are unwilling to see a psychiatrist? 

It is understandable that your friends may be unwilling to see a psychiatrist, especially when people have prejudice over some depression patients. However, the earlier the intervention takes place, the higher the chance of recovery. You can convince them to seek professional help with the right attitude. First, you should be less judgmental and accept your friends’ depression symptoms. When you persuade them, you should let them talk about their feelings first. Then, it would help if you were genuine and empathetic. Instead of expressing your opinion, you should let your friends understand that you are trying to step into their shoes. When they feel your sincerity, they are encouraged to seek professional help. 

How can I help my friends apart from providing some resources to them? 

The treatment of depression is a long journey. Unlike infectious diseases, which you can recover quickly, depression takes a lot of time to recover. You can encourage them when they feel depressed and hopeless. You can also remind them that life is full of hope and they can finish the whole treatment. 

My friends tell me that they want to commit suicide due to depression; what should I do? 

You should stay calm first. Then, you should ask them if they have any planning to commit suicide. For example, you can ask them when and where they are going to commit suicide. Also, you should ask them if they have any past experiences of committing suicide. The more details they tell you about their suicide plans, the higher risk for them to commit suicide. When you know the time and places where they are going to commit suicide, you can call the police and get to the places as soon as possible. When you approach them, you should let them express their feelings and thoughts. Meanwhile, you should not say something like “Be positive!” and “Everything will be all right.” Those sentences allow them to have more negative thoughts in their minds. You should keep accompanying them before the police officers arrive. 

In conclusion, depression is a mental disorder which affects patients’ daily lives. When your friends have some depression symptoms, you should offer some resources for them to seek professional help and encourage them to finish the whole treatment. If they want to commit suicide, you should accompany them and call the police. Now, you know what to do when your friends have depression, right? 

Have you ever come across the term “counseling” in school? How much do you know about peer counseling? I have participated in a two-days peer counseling workshop. In this article, I will tell you more about peer counseling. 

 1. What is peer counseling? 

Peer counseling emphasizes using helping skills with a non-judgmental attitude, along with knowledge about human growth and mental health, to counsel people who are our equals- peers in age, status, and knowledge (e.g., our classmates). Instead of solving peoples’ problems, peer counseling tries to help them find their solutions and encourage people to take action. To be straightforward, peer counselors help people to help themselves. They could help people clarify their thoughts and feelings and explore various options and solutions. 

2. What are the basic qualities of being a counselor? 

Some of you may ask if you are suitable to be a counselor. To be a counselor, you need to have skills, knowledge, and attitude. It is easy for you to acquire skills if you practice more. You also need to know about human development and counseling. Even if you have gained professional knowledge, you need to have a positive attitude (e.g., having a high EQ, sensitive to feeling, caring, patient, curious, and having the capacity to tolerate pains, uncertainty, and boredom).  

3. How does a counselor think about clients? 

Counselors meet different clients every day. They believe that people from different family backgrounds and experiences have different stories. Instead of only focusing on what they say, they also have to lead the clients to think differently. Some clients believe that their experiences (i.e., their stories) are bad, so they often think negatively. Peer counselors talk to them and help them find another perspective to see their whole stories. Eventually, people can find solutions to their problems when they come up with a new perspective. 

4. Can we use those helping skills under any condition? 

We should use helping skills under three core conditions: empathy, respect, and genuineness. We need to respect people from different backgrounds. To achieve empathy, we should make the people feel that they have been understood. To respect them, we should listen to others’ problems attentively without imposing our own opinions. If we are not able to do so, we should kindly refer the person to someone who can. To show our genuineness, we should build trust with others by being authentic, truthful, sincere, open, and clear. 

5. How to deal with silence during counseling? 

Sometimes people are unwilling to talk about themselves during counseling. In that case, we need to use non-verbal skills such as observation skills. First, we need to focus on kinesics (e.g., body movements, gestures, facial expressions, eye behavior, and posture) and paralinguistics (e.g., the ‘how’ of the message, voice level, pitch, and fluency of speech). Then, we need to concentrate on the cause of silence and their feeling. After that, we have to use other skills to reopen the verbal interaction (e.g., paraphrasing, questioning, and reflection on feelings). 

In conclusion, being a counselor does not mean that you need to help people solve problems directly. Instead, a counselor has to help people to help themselves by thinking about their stories from a new perspective. A counselor should be respectful, genuine, and empathetic. During counseling, it is important to break the silence by observing, focusing on the cause of silence, and reopening the verbal interactions. 

Have you ever participated in any volunteering activities? I have been a volunteer since year one at the university. Although volunteering seems boring in some students’ eyes, it is a pretty meaningful event in reality! Have you ever wondered about the advantages of being a volunteer? I will further talk about them in this article.

1. Getting satisfaction

Volunteering is satisfying. I remember that when I was teaching children to experiment, they smiled when they succeeded. Apart from children, I also visited the elderly home on Zoom and talked to the elderly. I spoke to them in front of the camera and showed them what I had done recently. They grinned when they saw some interesting things in my photos. Do you know that real happiness comes from helping others? All their pleasant faces are ingrained in my mind. When I am sad, I immediately think of their lovely faces and try to move on!

2. Being empathetic

Volunteering allows me to step into others’ shoes and design suitable activities for the needy. When preparing for every volunteering activity, I have to consider more about their needs. For instance, children are interested in funny games, so I need to design some exciting games for them to engage in the activities. If the participants are the elderly, I may offer simple entertainment such as basic calculations and guessing animals because of declining cognitive ability. When speaking to them, I should talk slowly so that they can understand and respond quickly.

3. Developing problem-solving skills

Being a volunteer encounters many problems. First, some children were not concentrated on the activity. When I made handicrafts with kids on Zoom, some went away in front of the camera because they found the exercise boring. Then, I tried to call their names and ask whether they could catch up with the steps. Second, the elderly got irritated when they could not get food immediately. On 13 June, I engaged in a food recycling tour which helped collect raw fruits and vegetables and distribute them to underprivileged people. The elderly arrived earlier and asked for the food. We told them we would distribute the food later, and then they were angry. They thought it was unfair for them because they got to the destination much earlier than others. We had to arrange for them to take the food properly without dispute. In short, not all the activities are plain sailing, so you must be well-prepared every time!

To sum up, being a volunteer is beneficial to us because you will be satisfied and empathetic. Your problem-solving skills will be sharpened when you get involved in every activity. If you want to be a volunteer, act now!

Ways to be a volunteer:

• Join the school volunteer team
• Register at https://yvn.hkfyg.org.hk/ to be a member of the HKFYG
• Visit other NGOs’ websites and see the details of being a volunteer

Have you ever tried to demonstrate an experiment with children on Zoom? In April, I participated in a community engagement program about doing an experiment with children. I designed two experiments about static electricity and free fall with other volunteers for a month. I have learned a lot in the program.

In March, I designed experiments with other volunteers on Zoom. Our leader Chris was friendly. He shared his past experiences about doing experiments with children and even helped us revise the PowerPoint. Our target group was students from K1 to P3, so we had to look for simple experiments for them to conduct on YouTube. Although I shared many videos about doing experiments with little kids, most of them were not suitable at all because I did not consider safety problems. For instance, if I carried out an experiment about a solution and chemical reaction, they might drink the dangerous chemicals. Suddenly, I found a fascinating experiment video about static electricity. When children rubbed a straw, some shredded paper was stuck to the straw. I immediately shared it with my group members because I thought it was safe and easy for kids to conduct. They all agreed with my ideas, and they also added that we could provide them with rulers, which was an alternative to straws. We also designed an experiment about free fall, apart from static electricity. We chose a template of a little parachute. After that, we tried to demonstrate these experiments to other volunteers.

Apart from designing the experiments, we also had to prepare questions for children to learn more about the daily application of static electricity and free fall. If I were asked to choose the most challenging part of the activity, I would say “asking children some questions” was the most challenging. We did not know whether children could thoroughly understand the two concepts, so it was difficult for us to think of some questions. When we had done all the preparation, we were confident that the activity would go smoothly. We had planned the rundown of the activity. First, we would introduce ourselves to the children and tell them to follow some rules. Then, children would do experiments by themselves with the help of our demonstrations. After the experiments, we would say to them the concepts (static electricity and free fall) applied in the experiments. In the end, we would ask them questions about the concepts.

On 9 April, I demonstrated the experiments on Zoom with my partner Mary. Some children could not catch up with some steps, so I had to re-do those steps patiently and ensure that all eight children could see the results. It was a bit hard for me to see the children’s progress because some did not set up their cameras properly. Some even turned off their cameras due to unstable Internet connections. Fortunately, most of them were accompanied by their family so they could ask for immediate help easily. When it came to the question parts, I found them excited. Some even shouted out the answers when Mary was reading out the questions.

I felt a huge sense of accomplishment after this volunteering activity. I realized that carrying out activity was always easier said than done. We had to step into children’s shoes and design the experiments. We needed to act as a teacher to teach them how to carry out the experiments during the activity. I had never been a teacher before, so this volunteering activity was an excellent opportunity for me to gain hands-on teaching experience. The most satisfying thing about teaching was the children’s smiles. When they succeeded in doing the experiments, they could not stop grinning. I believed that the activity did not only help children understand some scientific concepts and helped me understand how to design an activity for children.

Have you ever wondered about social sciences? You have science lessons in school. But what about social science? You may come across this subject when you visit the university websites. As a social science student this semester, I would like to share some facts about social science with you. Are you suitable for studying social science in the future? Read this article to find out more.

1. What is social science? Is it related to something that we have learned in the science lesson?

Social science is the field of human knowledge that deals with all aspects of the group life of human beings. Social scientists believe that understanding society is learning the conditions that limit our lives and the opportunities open to us for improving the human condition. They think that much of the laws and understanding of international relations and government facilitate our knowledge of current world events. It relates to science to a certain extent. Have you remembered that you learned scientific investigations in form one? The rationale of the social science experiments is almost the same as scientific investigations. Both emphasize the use of scientific approaches and research methods to study and understand social issues and problems, making social science knowledge more generalizable and objective.

2. Why do people study social sciences?

Social science helps people better understand themselves and the social world objectively and comprehensively. It facilitates them to look beyond their personal experiences and gain insights about society and the social world in an integrative and systematic view. Also, it enables them to develop a greater awareness of the connection between their personal opinions and others’ opinions of the world.

3. What are the major disciplines of social sciences?

Doubtless, to say, social sciences are a vast subject. It mainly involves four subjects: Sociology, Social Work, Criminology, and Psychology. Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior, its origins, development, organizations, and institutions. Social work is a professional and academic discipline. The aim is to improve the quality of life of individuals, groups, and communities. Criminology is the scientific study of nature extent, management control, consequences, and prevention of criminal behaviors on individual and social levels. Psychology is the study of mental functions and behaviors.

4. Is there any limitation of social sciences?

Yes. Sometimes, it is hard for us to conduct a social science experiment. Unlike the experiments in which the independent variables are measurable in your science lessons, something in social sciences is unmeasurable. Satisfaction and democracy are examples. It is difficult and impossible to find and evaluate all the causes of a given situation in this complex society. There is the human element in every social condition, except in routine cases, we can seldom predict individual behavior with complete certainty. If the social scientists succeed in finding uniformities or “laws” of social behavior and setting up hypotheses to explain them, investigators seldom employ controlled experiments to test their ideas. Social scientists must substitute careful observation and the mental process of abstraction for investigations.

5. Who is suitable for studying Social Sciences?

If you want to study Social Sciences at the university, you have to be observant because you must design a thorough experiment. Apart from that, you have to be curious about everything to be more motivated to conduct the experiments and write a report. More importantly, you have to be perseverant because the experiments may be unsuccessful. Then, you have to try again!

To sum up, studying social sciences is fun because we can explore a society in detail. Are you interested in Social Sciences? If you are interested, you may read books about Social Sciences to gain detailed knowledge! If you want to further your study, you may choose Social Sciences at the university!

Reference:

Hunt, E. F., & Colander, D. C. (2011). Social science: an introduction to the study of society
(14th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 1: Social
Science and Its Methods, pp.1-24
Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction. In
Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 279-298). Springer, Dordrecht.
Seligman, M. E., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology
progress: empirical validation of interventions. American psychologist, 60(5), 410.
Park, N., Peterson, C., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2004). Strengths of character and well-being,
Journal Social and Clinical Psychology, 23 (5), 603-619