It's Origami Time With Matthew

Nearing the end of the semester, I don't feel like I have serious plans to continue origami on as consistent of a basis as I have done throughout this semester. However, I feel that it could be very useful still in certain circumstances. I have 3 nephews and a niece, so I could definitely see myself doing it with them sometime for an activity. I benefitted from the involvement of this activity in several ways. One of the most impactful, perhaps, was how I realized that I could change my fixed mindset about arts and crafts. Growing up, I never believed that I could improve my skills in crafting. Performing origami was especially difficult for me at first, but my experience taught me that I can improve in areas where I didn't believe I could, and that hopefully I can teach that concept to future patients too. A topic that we have studied that has genuinely stood out in my mind is the concept of flow as illustrated by Nakamura & Csikszentmichalyi (2002). I've thought about...

  This week, I attempted the most difficult origami design I ever have. I started to feel totally lost a couple of times in the making process, but some patience and the rewind button made it possible. I wasn't sure a couple times if I could finish it, but I pushed through and I think it still turned out fairly well! I also noticed that my skills in following the folds has become much quicker than it used to be. I'm proud that I don't have to stop the video every two seconds anymore. I'm proud of my fighter jet this week. Storytelling or story making as described by Clark, Ennevor, and Richardson (1996) relates to my participation in origami because every time that I've made a new design, there is a new narrative that accompanies it. Perhaps there is new progress or a new technique that I've tried. I may even have had unique struggles that I haven't encountered yet. This week, I could tell a brief story about how I overcame the most difficult design that I...

This is the first time I have used two different pieces of paper for an origami design. It was fun to make separate parts and then put them together to make something that looks nice. I actually made one mistake though on the yellow flower "petals," which was cutting too large of a hole for the stem. This kept it from being able to connect snugly. However, I think it was still beneficial for me to branch out a bit more and try something different with origami! The Deci and Ryan (2008) article related to my experience with infusing origami into my life by letting me have the autonomous choice to choose this occupation. All we had to do was choose something different that we've never experienced, so I felt like I became responsible for my experience in origami. this helped me to commit to it. I've certainly felt more autonomous in this occupation because of our freedom in choosing what the new occupation could be. There are so many different choices that we could have m...

I had a whaley good time this week with origami!😏 I wanted to try a design that can stand on its own. I felt like this week, especially compared to the first two weeks, origami has gotten considerably easier and more enjoyable. I still probably couldn't invent a new design by myself on-demand, but it feels less stressful to follow the precise and intricate folds. Something that origami has taught me, as well as other difficult challenges in life, is that much of how learning how to do something new is learning how to learn it.  Something that came to mind during the "Flowers on the Wall" song was that perhaps meaningful occupations can be very different for different people. They suggested through the song that perhaps their everyday occupations seemed boring to onlookers. However, their chorus sang "I'm having lots of fun countin' flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all." They sounded completely content with the simple things in life that ...