Klinsman Hinjaya's Blog: Q&A

Showing posts with label Q&A. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Q&A (Q-Man and Answers) #4: How can we embrace continual sadness?

Question from Azer: How can we embrace continual sadness?

Q-Man's answer:

Disclaimer: I'm not a psychologist, nor a psychiatrist. Should one experience such a feeling and need help, the best person to seek out is certainly such a mental health professional, which I am not. However, I will try my best to, hopefully, help the asker through my knowledge and experience.

I believe in order to get rid of a problem, the root of it has to be pinpointed and then obliterated, by any means necessary. Everything in this world has a cause, so it's only a matter of time and effort before it can be dealt with. What caused the continual sadness? What underlies it? It all comes down to the answer to these questions.

The best thing that I can offer (and one having the issue could try) is something I discovered pretty recently: Stoicism. This ancient school of philosophy will rectify the paths that many people's minds have wrongly taken. The depression may be merely due to our mind naughtily and stubbornly seeing life in a deceptively mistaken light. As Stoic philosopher Seneca said, "[W]e suffer more often in imagination than in reality." Is your sadness "justifiable" or has your mind banefully exaggerated the severity of the situation? Probably the solution to this mental health problem is simply plucking up the courage to change your mind.

Q&A (Q-Man and Answers) is a section where I answer questions from my readers. Feel free to send me any question through one of my social media channels. Note that you may choose to remain anonymous.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Q&A (Q-Man and Answers) #3: Of all your passions, which will you do until you are old and why?

Question from Isma Swastiningrum: Of all your passions, which will you do until you are old and why?

Q-Man's answer:

If you are a loyal reader of my blog, you must know that I am deeply passionate about three things: English, dinosaurs, and Jay Chou. (the description on my Blogger profile also very clearly shows this) My life has revolved around this trio for ages and they account for a huge chunk of my existence on this planet: I teach (and learn) English for a living, I read lots of dinosaur books (both fiction and nonfiction), and I listen to (and sing) Jay Chou's songs all the time. These three are an extricable part of my life. I have loved English for about as long as I have been fascinated with dinosaurs. The two interests influence each other in a beautiful way: learning English enhances my knowledge and understanding of dinosaurs as many great dinosaurian learning materials are delivered in the language, while consuming them inevitably increases my English proficiency as I get exposed to more vocabulary and become more aware of the grammatical patterns and behavior of the language. As for Jay Chou, it is how I reach nirvana: his music so magically melodious that simply no words can describe its sheer beauty. I think I have no reason not to devote myself to all of them until my death.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Q&A (Q-Man and Answers) #2: What's your least favorite dino and why?

Question from Christela Cindy: What's your least favorite dino and why?

Q-Man's answer:

Let me tell you the truth. Cindy, who is another English enthusiast and a fellow poet, actually (and kindly) sent me two questions, the first one being "Why are you so fond of dinosaurs?". This question can simply be answered by an article I wrote many years ago entitled Why Dinosaurs? and this is the reason why I decided to feature the second inquiry for Q&A #2 instead.

So, what dinosaur is actually my least favorite and why? Posing this question is akin to asking what my most favorite dinosaur is and what the reason is. As I've stated on Facebook, to say what my favorite dinosaur is is indeed exceptionally difficult, but I would not feel very "sinful" if I utter the name of the most popular dinosaur on the planet: Tyrannosaurus rex. This massive predator would have tipped the scales at between 5 and 7 metric tons and was capable of crunching the bone of its unfortunate victims with its bone-chilling teeth (see what I did there?). T. rex was definitely a dinosaurian badass. What about my least favorite dino then? Well, I would not take a much, if any, different approach: Asked this remarkably tough question, I would probably point to a dino that is sort of plain in appearance, like Dryosaurus or any of its close relatives. Despite these, in my book all dinosaurs are special and unique in their own ways.

Sunday, February 14, 2021

Q&A (Q-Man and Answers) #1: How does it feel when you can help other people improve their English speaking skills?

Question from Dewi Kania Saputra: How does it feel when you can help other people improve their English speaking skills?

Q-Man's answer:

It is no exaggeration to say that being able to use English properly is a primary need in the current era. Although, according to an article by EF blogger Isabelle, it is not the most widely spoken language in the world (the honor goes to Mandarin Chinese, with more than 955 million native speakers, including the one and only Jay Chou), it is undoubtedly a crucially important language to learn and proficiency in this sexy medium of communication means access to a multitude of opportunities which can literally change one's life. When I am successful in teaching my students (or anyone, really) such that they can use English better than they used to, I feel deeply grateful for being able to take part in their unique journeys to reaching their own dreams. It is infinitely rewarding to help someone take a step, however small it is, towards a brighter future.