Back to Basics

1. Handing in a paper feels really good.
2. Doing laundry is a very good thing.
3. Perks of Being a Wallflower is a fantastic book.
4. Sometimes you have to go back to the basics to understand the bigger concept.

Today I printed off an assignment for my writing class. It was an academic article entitled "What Is a Paragraph?" I wasn't sure if I should be slightly offended or simply intrigued. I thought I should be offended because I am 18 and I know what a paragraph is and dang it, I know how to write. But then I thought I should be intrigued because maybe I do need to know what a paragraph is. Maybe I need to go back to the basics.

The past few weeks has been stuffed full of information: first orientation, then the first few days of class that freaked some of us out, and now the first papers and exams. Most of the time, I don't know what to do with all this information. So, the information is stored in the back of my brain or cast to the side.

And the information is not simple. The concepts are getting more complicated and more in-depth than ever before. We don't review past information; we just pick off right where we should have left off. Oftentimes, without realizing it, I am wishing to go back to the basics.

I am currently taking a class on Buddhism and mindfulness. The main concept we are learning about is simplicity and not thinking... basically, going back to the basics. There, we re-learn the basis for everything: how to treat people, how to care for the planet, and even what a paragraph is. We often complicate our minds with difficult concepts, which are fantastic and sometimes they change the world we live in. But that's just it: we complicate it. If we get back to the basics, we understand why we started in the first place. And if we don't understand that, then why are we doing it?

So maybe I should be intrigued on what a paragraph is...

Peace!

-Nicole

PS I just wrote a few paragraphs right there!