About

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 resources

If you’re looking for more online support or information about grad school, I highly recommend checking out the archives or recent posts.

Books and resources that have been essential to my success in finding balance in graduate school:

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 … artworkThis 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: