Comments for Fellowships in the Annex

Comment on Week Six by Soroush Ghafari

Soroush Ghafari — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Kathy’s story of her life really opened my mind and made me appreciate what I have in my life. I realized that I actually didn’t know the real meaning of being happy and what it takes to achieve happiness! I think Rabbi Mitch truly explained to spend a few minutes everyday, thinking and writing down the things that make us happy. These few minutes will give us the opportunity to focus on the positive things in our life and will lead us to continued happiness and appreciate what we have.

Although, it’s everyone’s dream to have the best and loaded life, but money doesn’t always bring happiness for us! However, money sometimes causes people to make more mistakes in their life, which could be never be solved! Still, this doesn’t mean that we stop having our goals in life and just be happy about what we have now, No! My perspective is to make plans and put effort for attaining goals that I believe will make me happy. My mood will very likely increase as I pursue my goal because I’ll feel better about myself for going after something I value.

Comment on Week Six by Daniel Zilberay

Daniel Zilberay — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:25:01 +0000

I think Kathy’s achievements are remarkable, everything she accomplished while facing her own struggles without knowing the language and being new to
Canada is admirable. Her organization is very inspiring on how they touch these young adults lives by simply treating them like everybody else. One of my frat brothers is mildly autistic and since he joined he was treated no different than anybody else and how much this improved his life is remarkable. He communicates a lot better with everybody and works along everyone else to achieve common goals. Also we should be happy with what he have because happiness is within ourselves. We all need to stop looking at what we don’t have and appreciate what we do have in our lives which we most of the time take for granted. Take 20 minutes and write down everything you’ve accomplished and you’ll feel a lot happier than before. People often remind you of what you did wrong but not what you do right. You probably do more things right than wrong , be happy.

Comment on Week Six by Sharon Levy

Sharon Levy — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:12:28 +0000

I think both Kathy’s and Rabbi Mitch’s lectures tied well together. Kathy spoke about her life and her remarkable work with special needs people while Rabbi Mitch spoke to us about happiness.
I think the key ingredient to being happy is appreciating what you have. If you aren’t happy with who you are and what you have today, then you never will be happy with who you become and the things you achieve. I think all of us to some degree are guilty of comparing ourselves and our possessions to the people around us. While it can sometimes motivate us to do better, we risk the fact that we may lose out on the ability to enjoy what we’ve accomplished.

Comment on Week Six by Anna Rubin

Anna Rubin — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:41:42 +0000

Proof that one person really can make a difference, our guest speaker Kathy has humbly achieved more milestones in her life then most people… combined. One individual struggled through immigration, humility, with three children on her hands and one with special needs. How can a women achieve all of this? Through perserverance and taking the harder option at every fork in life. How can a person be happy and appreciative when they have two degrees while cleaning toilets for a living, or looked down upon when knowing approximately 5 other languages with the exception of english? Her attitude is amazing and that is what got her to where she is today. What can I learn from this? Appreciate what you have now, otherwise you will never be happy. Rochelle had actually posted on my facebook wall before this class with a cute poster that said.. “happiness is a way of travel not destination”. If you don’t appreciate what you have now then when you concur the next milestone (be it losing weight, graduating school, getting a mustang, having your first child…) you will still not be happy.

Just a little picture to sum up the week
http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=happiness&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1222&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=_7Y0PRa81boJjM:&imgrefurl=http://sayingimages.com/happiness-quotes-best-images-with-quotes-about-happiness/&docid=BXwIUFp-hBTSRM&imgurl=http://www.atbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/The-Happiest-people-dont-have-the-best-of-everything.jpg&w=500&h=375&ei=BUF3T46cMeHj0QGMjYHADQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=141&vpy=198&dur=363&hovh=147&hovw=196&tx=140&ty=63&sig=103949857612724213724&page=3&tbnh=145&tbnw=193&start=42&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:42

Comment on Week Six by Ephraim Machtinger

Ephraim Machtinger — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:33:33 +0000

Having worked directly with some of the special needs people that Kathy mentioned, I know a small bit of the challenges she and her team face. I also got to experience the rewarding feeling that comes from knowing that you helped to make a positive difference in their lives. Everyone has a place in this world, and a contribution to make. So it is up to those who can to help those who are less fortunate and unable to get their foot in the door because of their condition. Yes it takes a lot of hard work and time, but just imagine if you were in the shoes of these people. You would hope that someone is there to offer their support. This is almost an obligation. I found the story of Kathy’s life to be admirable, especially her account of how she stood up to Daniel’s school to reinstate the special needs program, and it’s great to see how happy she is. I can tell that this is genuine happiness.

This tied in well with Mitch’s discussion of how we can achieve happiness in our lives as well. I admit that I have been battling with the false image of happiness as having a nice house, an expensive car, fame and other material things. I realized that I have achieved a lot to date, but it was never enough. I have since taken Mitch’s advice on making note of what you appreciate and showing gratitude even in rough situations; it has helped me a lot to relax and be content with what I have.

Comment on Week 5 by Ephraim Machtinger

Ephraim Machtinger — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:05:11 +0000

I think this week was the most influential one of the Maimonides program to date. Chana’s description of the five levels of pleasure and Justin’s scientific investigation into free will answered a lot of questions that I thought would take me a life time to figure out. I struggled at first with understanding the concept of a Higgs Boson as apparent proof that we are in a predetermined world, but it made sense that there is also an element of free will in this world. How can we explain all of the massive feats of humankind and life changing initiatives with a random elementary particle?

It is true that we cannot know which of the two worlds we belong to, but I thought it was great when Justin said that we should act as if we are in a world with free will, because if we are wrong, then we didn’t lose out on our decision, and if we are right, then a person can do amazing things. Being conscious of the idea that free will can exist if you have a connection to something outside the physical laws that govern the world is empowering. Because if you can realize that you have free will, then you are being empowered to change the world. I was never one to believe that life was all up to chance, but I also didn’t know what the other side of the story was; that each person actually has the ability to make a noticeable difference.

Then came the five levels of pleasure, which clarified a lot about instinctive human behaviors. For example, we often desire and can obtain the relatively short-term and less powerful effect of low level pleasure such as physical gratification. But we all yearn to achieve meaning in our lives and connection to something greater than the sum of its parts (Example of the Stephen King novels); this so happens to be the highest level of pleasure. Few people get to this point, but now that I am aware of its significance relative to some of the other levels, such as love or creative power, I can concentrate on actually getting there. These levels of pleasure manifest themselves in my every day life. As I near graduation, I am becoming more worried about how I will carry forward with my life (Level 4). What impact will I make? Where? How will I lead a career founded on passion that makes the greatest positive change? I never had this problem before. Maybe that explains why I felt so at ease a few years ago. Now, friends and family are there for support and reassurance (Level 2), and small things like going out for drinks or parties (Level 1) all work together to keep me in check in the short term. But I feel like finding this purpose is still the most important. This is where the five levels of pleasure start to show.

The concept of counterfeit also explained my love for trance music. It’s true that I always visualize myself in some surreal Utopian world and build up this almost uncontrollable energy when I listen to trance or go to huge trance parties. Being in unison with thousands of other people felt awesome, but little did I know that this was a counterfeit feeling for having a connection to a movement, or something greater. That’s why so many people embrace trance. With this knowledge in mind, it has become clear that I need to take responsibility and actually change the world in order to attain the real feeling of being connected to a bigger picture. I don’t want to live a counterfeit life like so many others.

Comment on Week 5 by Daniel Zilberay

Daniel Zilberay — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:23:20 +0000

Last week it was very interesting to hear about free will, I thought it did not exist but I was convinced otherwise by our speaker who flew in all the way from Israel. Even though not every single decision we make isn’t based on free will it still exists in this universe. And our luck is not predetermined but based on a chain of decissions we make.

Chana’s talk on the five levels of pleasure was I think one of the best talks yet. How pleasure at work or anywhere will enhance someone’s performance is very true. I have experienced it myself in various places, during my short time in Hillel my performance was extremely low compared to AEPi where I enjoy myself all the time. Apple vs Microsoft was a very good example of this as everybody wants to work for them and they have done extremely better than Microsoft lately. Google is another example as they have playrooms in all their offices their employee performance and loyalty is one of the highest in the planet.

Comment on Week 5 by Sharon Levy

Sharon Levy — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:37:42 +0000

Free will is something that each of us possess, it is the ability to pursue your interests, passions, motivations and desires. We all have free will and are fortunate enough to be in a place and country that puts few parameters on it. The only thing stopping us from going after what we want is our self-esteem and determination. In order for us to be great leaders we must realize that we have the ability to do anything that we want. We need to strategize the best way to go forward and see obstacles as learning experiences and keep working towards our goals.

Chana’s class was on Five Levels of Pleasure. There’s no doubt that we would all benefit from applying these concepts to ourselves but just imagine how great our teams could be if we used these concepts within in them. I think if we want to be effective leaders we should try our best to utilize these concepts within our groups. Not only will our teams be stronger but it will be a much more pleasant working environment.
I think the levels go as follows: 5. Physical/Material Pleasure 4. Friends, Family, Love 3. Having a Purpose 2. Creative Power (Knowing/Understanding) 1. Gratitude (Connecting to G-d).

Comment on Week 5 by Soroush Ghafari

Soroush Ghafari — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 19:07:51 +0000

Last week’s guest Speaker talked about one of the world’s biggest controversial theories about if free will does exist in the universe or is life pre-determined! He truly proved that, if humans do not have free will or the ability to choose, then actions are ethically and religiously unimportant. Jewish tradition assumes that our actions are significant. For me to make sense is to humans must have free will.

Khannah’s class was about the importance of pleasure in workspace and how enjoyment can affect the workers of a company. Why does every computer engineer or programmer or designer love to work in Google? What kind of workplace does Google provide for their employees? The answer is, Google is one the world’s most creative, innovative, and productive place to work. At Google, life is beautiful; Appreciation between personnel is the best motivation and they love and support their staff in the best way possible. That’s how a company grows their business globally and absorbs best-educated people around the world to work for them.
On the other hand, talking about who’s winning in the market and the business of sells, Khannah came up with the comparison statement between Mac and Microsoft. Mac is COOL, why? Because everything about it show awesome ideas of creativity and design. But, Microsoft thinks of being more productive! Who’s winning the market? Mac. Why? Because people nowadays prefer to buy something more creative than productive!

Comment on Week 2 by Rochelle Derlick

Rochelle Derlick — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 03:57:59 +0000

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/3355118_460s.jpg

FOUND THIS JUST NOW! TOTALLY RELATES!
Instructions on Life, purpose of a PC!