Journal
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Journal
Entry 1- Sexuality
I came across an article on a blog-post in the internet that expressed concern over the increasing number of homosexuals and lesbians in the country. Many young boys and girls are resulting into relationships with partners of the same sex daily, due to certain issues and needs they feel cannot be met by a partner of the opposite sex (N.a, 2001). This practice, which in the past was taboo to speak about, is now becoming a normal part of everyday reality. In my neighborhood for example, about three years ago, gays and lesbians were a story that we only used to hear about. However, in the past one year, the concept has taken root in my community due to the increasing numbers of such individuals in the streets and lanes of the neighborhood. I have a friend, who when we grew up, loved being in the company of women although he looked and acted like a boy. He is now a homosexual and freely walks around in the company of his gay partner. This has caused a lot of resentment from his family and stigmatization of his family at the same time.
Entry 2-Human Emotions
Emotions of a human being stem from the functioning of the brain, I learnt in my Physiology of Psychology class today. It made me reflect on the moods of my mother when she was pregnant with my youngest sister. Her moods shifted fast from happy to sad to angry to excited in a short time span. We as women understood the concept of mood swings, but to my brothers, mum had become a monster for the nine months of her pregnancy. My father and us, the daughters put up with her quite fine, but my brothers chose to keep off from her as much as they could. On the day my sister was born, my brothers were happier to have their mother back than have a newborn sister.
Entry 3- Major Mental Disorders
It is no wonder the famous saying goes like every village does not lack a mad man. My best friend Candy, who lived 12 miles away from my place always complained of a mentally challenged tramp that bothered the kids as they played in their neighborhood. The tramp lived on a deserted alley a few blocks away from Candy’s house. His presence instilled so much fear, because on certain occasions he would become very violent and would cause a lot of destruction wherever he was. The behaviors of this man scared not only the children of the community but the safety of the families as well. The threat to security was finally forwarded to the local police who took matters into their hands. Candy still fears speaking about the mad man who terrorized her in her childhood.
Entry 4- Minor Mental Disorders
In my younger years, I did not understand the uniqueness and queerness of my cousin Charlie. In some instances, we communicated well, played together, and understood each other quite well. However, in others, he would change his behavior and there was no platform for understanding each other (Carlson, 2010). I later came to understand that he had minor mental disorders that his family did not talk much about and it really made me empathize with him. He is now in a school for special needs and is doing just fine. I still love my cousin Charlie despite his psychological differences.
Entry 5- Sensory Systems
Our senses are controlled by the functioning of our brains. I always wondered why some of my friends reacted so vigorously to such mild stimuli while others did not react at all to harsh stimuli such as extreme heat or cold. The brain is in charge of controlling how individuals react differently even to the same stimuli. That explains my excessive reactions when my friends poke me with their fingers around my waist.
Entry 6- Eating
It is common in my school to think bigger-bodied people eat a lot while small-bodied people eat little. Eating also is a brain-controlled activity and our above notion may be false and incorrect. A person’s ability to take in a certain amount of food, and the intervals in which they ingest food, is determined by the brain. For the same reason, I realized a friend of mine, who was rather small-bodied but ate large amounts of food, still maintained her physique despite her body size.
Entry 7- Memory
I have always been the type of student who took so long to understand concepts taught in class, and had to follow up my lecturers to expound different concepts to me. My friends often thought I was a slow learner but I always surprised them, by constantly being among the honors students. My parents found this very unique and encouraged me to keep the stamina I held in my studies. I later came to understand that my brain utilized long-term memory reserve more than the short-term memory reserve (Vadanyan, 2011). I found this an important part of self-discovery.
Entry 8- Sleep
Sleep is my favorite part of my life. In sleep, I can choose to forget about all my worries and at the same time, I can dream of being whoever I want to be. I am proud of the fact that I never lack sleep and can sleep a minimum of eight hours every night. I’m often amazed when my friends complain of Insomnia, which has never been a known reality in my life. I came to learn that both insomnia and oversleeping are controlled by the brain, and manifest in these forms. Interesting facts I have learnt in this course, things I took lightly I dare not anymore.
References
Carlson, N. R. (2010). Physiology of behavior. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Physiology & behavior. (2001). New York [etc.: Pergamon Press.
Vardanyan, V. (2011). Panorama of psychology. Central Milton Keynes, [U.K.: AuthorHouse UK.