Snowball Paper #1 – My Experiences

Chunk #1: Normal Alienation from Experiences Summary
According to Laing, the average human is only a fragment of what a human should be. One only lives daily life just to exist, but does not challenge one's self beyond what is necessary. People only use the five senses: touch, sight, hearing and taste but does not further the knowledge of their own body. "We retain-just sufficient proprioceptive sensations to coordinate our movements and to ensure the minimal requirements for biosocial survival to register fatigue, signals for food, sex, defecation, sleep; beyond that, little or nothing." Most people do not remember their dreams or childhood. Since people are not actively thinking about the dreams they had or think about their childhood or past, it gets pushed to the back of our mind. The thoughts and memories that are not visited often soon become forgotten. When something tragically happens, a person might push the moment out of their mind, refuse to believe what had happened. It is important to remember you past because events/moments in your past shaped you to become who you are today and will continue to influence your life in the future. For example, it is possible that someone could devoted their future from something that had happened in their past. A daughter of a man that had pasted away from cancer could choose to devote her life into becoming an Oncologist. Remembering dreams is also important. Many people from different ethnicities believe that your dreams are a message to you; it may be from your body, or from your conscious.
Our behavior is based on our experience. We perceive things to be only the way they are. We learn to trust what we see as it is happening to be the truth leaving no room for the paranormal or phenomenon. Individuals are taught to behave through their experiences. Therefore our experiences define who we are.

Chunk #2: Normal Alienation from Experiences Personal Reaction
When I first read Laing's argument I vaguely understood what he meant by "the ordinary person is a shriveled, desiccated fragment of what a person could be". As I read the article, I began to understand what Laing meant. It’s true that we do not experience our being. Not being aware of ourselves’ is the way we have been nurtured and raised. It is easier to be distracted by the things that surround us, rather than sit around and wait to die. We all know it’s going to happen at one point or another. No living organism is immortal, but that does not mean that you should not live life the best you can just because you will die some day. In my opinion it should not be distractment or full awareness, its good to balance them out. If you are completely focused on your body and physical being, then you will miss out on the wondrous adventures life has to offer. Sometimes it’s good to distract yourself as long as you acknowledge your physical being too.

Chunk #3: Embodiment and Disembodiment: Sensory Awareness
While doing the sensory awareness exercises, I found myself always getting distracted. Most of the time I would get distracted unknowingly. Then I would try to get myself focused on the activity again. Instead I would begin to focus on staying focused. Other times, like when we did the ‘Stand’ exercise, I would focus on my body and feel how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can very easily get distracted when I am trying to focus, but when I distract myself from my surroundings it is easier for me to focus. For example, while I am doing this assignment I am listening to music, sitting in an okay but not comfortable position. I think it’s all in our heads whether we stay focused or not. I chose to distract myself at times. Why I do that, I don’t know but I hope to find out as the semester goes on.