Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke the life from your dream. Water them with optimism and solutions and you will cultivate success. Always be on the lookout for ways to turn a problem into an opportunity for success. Always be on the lookout for ways to nurture your dream. ~ Lao Tzu
Welcome to The Tao of Grad School. I began writing this blog while pursuing a Master’s Degree in Experimental Psychology. I am currently working on my Dissertation in a Human Factors Psychology Doctoral program. I’m ABD at this stage. I do consulting work and teach college courses.
This blog
While this is my personal blog, I also write about my experiences in grad school and share the ways in which I attempt to find balance in my life. Principles of Taoism, Jungian psychology and yoga help me grow in every facet of my life. This blog is my attempt at sharing The Tao, or The Way, of Graduate School. We push ourselves, dedicate our lives to learning and ask tough questions that often times cannot be answered. While we habituate to the feeling of drowning, how do we find balance? I hope to create a place where we can have a conversation about finding balance in our lives when we are pulled in many different directions. This blog is currently featured at Student-Blogs.com.
If you’re new around here, you might want to start here:
- Grad school is where you go to suck at the one things you were always good at (i.e., school)
- Habituating to the feeling of drowning
- Healing
- Quitting vs. Moving On
- Solitude is happiness for one who is content
- The Invitation
Grad school resources
If you’re looking for more online support or information about grad school, I highly recommend checking out the archives or recent posts.
- Escape the Ivory Tower
- Life After College
- Writing to Reach You
- The Cult of Being Done
- The Illustrated guide to a PhD
- PhD Forum
- Hack College
- The Chronicle
Books and resources that have been essential to my success in finding balance in graduate school:
- Rolf Gates – Meditations from the Mat
- David Sternberg – How to Complete and Survive Your Dissertation
- Kristin Neff – Self Compassion
- Brene Brown’s work
- Steven Pressfield – Do The Work and The War of Art
- Anne Lammot – Bird by Bird
Taoism
The Tao, or The Way, the path, the principle is “the gateway to all understanding.” The calligraphy featured in the header image was created by J.E. Kensei Castro (October 5, 2006). His description of the DO … Michi … Tao … artwork: This kanji (formed by radical “movement” and “principal”) means “path“: the process by which the experience takes Zen. Koryu Karate is traditional Karate (which follows the teaching of the ancient great masters): Ko: “the wisdom of ten generations” old; Ryu: style river (flowing water with a different and unique direction); Kara (sora, ku, aku ): vacuum, empty sky; Te (shu): art.
Some resources: