When you find a new home..

Sometimes we have to move far from our home. We feel lonely, overwhelmed by many new things we are not able to grasp entirely. That’s when nostalgia starts.

It is not bad. It just reminds us where we are from, but it should never stop us from embracing the new life, the new experience we are living. Old is good when allows meeting a new present.

I told myself these words during these first few days in Philly. I have to confess that I had the great opportunity to stay in a family. And what a family!

I will remember them for the rest of my life (I am still in contact with them and hope to meet them again soon in the next few days). The mother is a force of nature. She is Italian and she has spent a lot of time with me teaching me how to live here. I have seen rarely such a sincere and genuine attention towards other people. Her husband is one of the most patient, authentic, passionate, and family-lover man I have ever seen. Their three kids have changed my idea of family at all. Even the 3-year old showed an independence that I guess we could never meet in our country, if considering same-aged boys. The other two girls the same. They are a team first of all. They are full of passion for what they do, and can instill enthusiasm in all people surrounding them.

THEY ARE!!!

I have always been skeptical about having a family. However, now, I see that there are many other possible models to follow. This has been my “family-diversifying experience” (i.e., an unusual experience deeply impacting on our life). It doesn’t mean I want children or related stuff right now. I can just see things from a different perspective.

I’ll let D.K. Simonton talk about what Diversifying Experiences are..

There are researchers spending their entire life to study the effecs of experiences abroad on life-change and creative ability. I am one of those, but I have never experienced what I studied. This has turned everything into a different light to me. Could it be the beginning of my diversifying experience?

Love

 

Philly is chilly today…Let my PhD thesis begin (Eng/Ita)

Hi guys,

very first days in Philly and the snow has come out…frequently I have to say.

This can be nominated as the very first day of my PhD- thesis writing, so I am a little bit disoriented but excited. I wish to begin with an brilliant and innovative introduction on what awe is, and what I have discovered about it so far.

However, I understood that the core theme of my thesis concerns the real nature of awe itself and how to study it within the boundary of contemporary science. In other words, I should start by saying what awe is supposed to be. I will open by questioning awe’s nature as an emotion, contrary to most (even not all) articles on awe.

I saw that the biggest questions is on the nature of this experience. I cannot take for granted even the fact that awe is an emotion..

Today, the Positive Psychology Center lab is closed, so I have plenty of time to write the very first draft of the theoretical chapter. It is 9.00 o’clock and I should start.

Just wish to leave you with this funny image, which my brilliant and smart colleague David B. Yaden sent to me…

It is a way to look at the bright (funny) side..

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Ciao ragazzi,

questi sono i primissimi giorni che trascorro a Filadelfia e la neve è scesa alla fine…direi anche abbastanza frequentemente.

Quindi, oggi si candida come il primo giorno dedicato alla scrittura della mia tesi di dottorato. Devo ammettere di essere un po’ disorientata anche se abbastanza eccitata all’idea di dare una forma finale ai miei sforzi e ai miei pensieri.

Vorrei iniziare con un’introduzione brillante e innovativa su cosa sia awe, e su cosa abbia scoperto finora.

Tuttavia, mi rendo contro che il tema centrale della mia tesi concerne proprio la natura stessa di questo fenomeno e come poterlo studiare in modo scientifico, pur rispettandone l’essenza più profonda. In altri termini, dovrei iniziare dicendo cosa si pensa che sia awe. Quindi, incomincerò mettendo in discussione la natura di awe in quanto emozione convenzionale, contrariamente alla maggior parte degli articoli che trttano di questo tema.

Ho capito che la questione più importante riguarda proprio la natura di questa sperienza, che non posso dare per scontata. Awe nella mia tesi non sarà più solo un’emozione.

 

Oggi il laboratorio al Positive Psychology center è chiuso, quindi ho un po’ di tempo per riflettere e scrivere il primo draft del capitolo teorico. Questo momento è frutto del sostegno di tante persone…loro sanno chi sono e a chi va questo primo ringraziamento. Ora sono le 9.00 a.m. e dovrei iniziare. Quindi vi lascio.

Vorrei soltanto salutarvi con un’immagine divertente che mi ha mandato oggi il mio brillante collega David B. Yaden per avvisarmi che causa neve il lab non sarebbe stato aperto.

Diciamo che è un modo di guardare al lato positivo della vita (sarei stata io in mezzo alla tormenta).