Week 8-Integration One Root Beliefs vs. Notre Dame Throughout my lifetime, I have learned to have specific beliefs. Most beliefs are created on how you personally look at certain things. Beliefs can also be influenced by close family members and friends. By having Moreau, I have been able to deepen my self-knowledge while relating it to my personal development. In the past 7 weeks, we have discussed three main topics. These topics include searching for belonging while balancing your external and internal values, forming relationships with the help of God, and pursuing the truth by learning the entire story of a person. I believe that I am searching for a sense of belonging in society knowing that there needs to be a balance between external success and internal value. The reason why I believe this is because having a sense of belonging while having a balanced life results in a feeling of being accomplished. The reason I am searching for a sense of belonging is because I want to meet new people and create great groups of friends with different backgrounds. I believe that overcoming your vulnerabilities and exposing them to others knowing not everyone will accept who you are is a great way to seek belonging in a society. In week one of the TedTalk, Dr. Brown said, “the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees”. This quote inspired me to start building up the courage to create a spot for myself at Notre Dame knowing that the spot is not guaranteed. Once a sense of belonging is established, you now have to think if you are internally happy or did you only become involved with that group because it leads to rewards. In week two, David Brooks said, “we live in perpetual self-confrontation between the external success and the internal value”. I think that we as humans only care about what is on the outside. Humans know that internal value is important to having great mental health, but it is harder to come by. My belief has been challenged at Notre Dame. A clear example would be when I joined the SIBC project group. I had a hard time overcoming my vulnerability at the first meeting because I was one of few that has never been involved in such a project. I had very little knowledge and experience. At first, I was only doing this group because it is something that I can put on a resume and it is what other people see. In the next couple meetings, I opened up and was able to have a sense of belonging within the group and realized I enjoyed that group and that I was doing it for external success and for my personal internal values. My belief has recently been affecting my actions in a positive way. I am able to overcome vulnerabilities and have a balanced social and personal life. In the future, I plan to not worry about facing failure in society, but focus more on searching for a sense of belonging in different groups around campus that results in internal and external success. I plan to build up more courage and overcome my vulnerabilities to be able to create a spot for myself in society. I believe that I forge life-giving relationships with the help of God. I believe in this statement because whenever meeting someone new I pray to God to tell him to let me know whether or not this will be a good relationship or friendship between us. I have come to this belief because all of my past experiences have dealt with God helping through the problems. In week 3, Father Pete said, “At the core of oneself is the very presence of God”. God is the reason for everything that happens in your life. God is there to guide you, look out for your mistakes, and show you the love that you deserve in your journey. God will always point you towards the right direction when you are stuck or something needs to be fixed. I believe that God gives hints as to who are considered the “good” and “bad” friends. This week's information relates to welcome week at Notre Dame. I prayed every night to be able to make long-lasting friendships. Almost three months in and I believe I have found some of my lifetime friends. In week 4, the article “5 Signs You're in a Toxic Relationship” states, “friendships should make you feel positive and like you’re investing in something long-term”. All friendships go through ups and downs, and asking God for help will help fix things. There is no reason to be in a relationship or friendship when you see no growth in the future. This belief has personally been challenged recently when I lost the connection with God. I was in a toxic relationship with a boy who made me feel unhappy and like I was being used. I did not do anything about the situation because I did not know what to do. I was not close with God. One day, I decided to say a prayer about the entire situation. He answered. To fast forward, we are no longer together and no longer in touch with each other. This belief affects my actions in a way that I am able to connect with certain people that can be lifetime friends and relationships. In the future, I will make a habit to have a closer and more open relationship with God, so that he will be able to guide me in the right direction and forge life-giving relationships. I believe that pursuing the truth involves knowing all the stories of a particular person that have been told from a reliable source and not assuming stories. I believe that this belief has been created through seeing false information on social media and hearing so many rumors at school. I have come to this belief because there are so many people that assume stories without hearing what the truth is. The truth comes from that particular person or a person that is well connected with that person. I believe that spreading false information leads to more issues than needed. Pursuing the truth about people and not creating drama leads to creating a large family. In week 5, Father Grove said, “Notre Dame is family”. This is exactly how I feel here at Notre Dame. The stories I have heard have been true stories from people who actually know what has happened. With that being said, family is created when truth is pursued. Pursuing the truth is not always easy because there are people who start drama and spread lies, but for the most part truth is easy to detect. In week 6, we wrote a “Where I'm From” poem. These poems expressed our background, who we are, and the things we encounter. In the article, “Where I’m From”, it says “that the poem can open into freewriting all the memories of an experience”. If people were to read this, they would pursue the truth about each of us individually. With these poems there is no assuming stories or guessing what the truth is. It is already in place. The topic covered in week 7 really hit home. The quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie states, “power is just not the ability to tell a story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person”. Having power allows people to share stories of others. These stories are heard from other people, the person themself, and social media. Most stories are twisted around to make yourself sound good, but in reality that is not the true story of that person. That person has a specific story and when people mix up what actually happened, it causes major misunderstandings leading to problems in the future or a picture painted that is not real. Power involves sharing a story of another person, but making sure it is true while sharing it. This belief has been challenged here at Notre Dame. One specific example is during the first couple of weeks, stories that were good and bad about certain people would be shared were not necessarily true. I fell into the trap of spreading stories that I heard from people. Some of these students did not know the entire story, including myself, would hear things that were not the exact truth. I have learned that the only way to pursue the truth is hearing the story from the direct source. In the future, I plan to be more cautious when pursuing the truth and taking even more caution when telling stories about others. Throughout these 7 weeks of Moraeu, I have learned that the beliefs that I was taught are actually put into place at Notre Dame. This involves making friends, professors teaching, and learning more about myself. Moreau has been able to make me think more indepthly about what I believe and how it connects with Notre Dame. Works Cited (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One) (“Should You Live for your resume… or your eulogy?” by David Brooks- Moreau FYE Week Two) (“The Role of Faith in Our Story” by Fr. Pete McCormick, C.S.C.- Moreau FYE Week Three) (“5 Signs You’re in a Toxic Friendship” by Olivia Taylor- Moreau FYE Week Four) (“Two Notre Dames: Your Holy Cross Education” by Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C- Moreau FYE Week Five) (“Where I’m From” by George Lyon- Moreau Week Six) (“Dangers of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Adichie- Moreau Week Seven) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlLWTeApqIM&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZMeqWWOIs https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=859bc1a8-0d0f-4eb4-a1c1-d0a45c429187 http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story