Missy in Japan

My gut response to this prompt was, "connection" and the accompanying side effects of being connected to that which surrounds me. After I did some contemplation, I felt that "impermanence" was a better descriptive word for what I love most about life. That which I'm connected to I love, but when I hold impermanence in my field of awareness, I love it even more. The clock ticking is a beautiful sound.

I also enjoyed the book. I felt it was a really easy read, but there were some insights to be found. For example, I became conscious of the techniques that I was already unconsciously using when interacting with people. We all win friends and influence various people throughout our lives, but whether or not we are conscious of doing so is another story.

If you want an accurate, standardized test then it won't be free. The MAT exam used for some graduate schools is a widely accepted and legitimate standardized way to test for IQ, but it is around 100 USD and only available in select locations.

When I first came to Japan as a high school foreign exchange student I felt like I was a kid again, and I know a lot of others here did as well. Everything was new and exciting, and we had limited language skills. I've been here long enough now that the initial excitement has worn off, so it doesn't last if you engage enough to assimilate into the culture. You could replicate this childlike feeling with almost any new experience that moves you, but I've seen incredible inner growth among members of the expat community here. Just be careful not to fall into any "grass is greener" situations

I did a foreign exchange in Japan during high school, and I loved it so much that I moved back permanently over a year ago as a college transfer student. Lifestyle factors paired with wanting to be bilingual motivated me to take the leap, and I go to a university here full-time so I'm planning on getting a job right after I graduate.

Just a personal experience - my two cents I was vegan on and off for about three years with my longest stretch lasting 9 months. When I was a "unhealthy vegan" eating junk food, I felt like trash or similar to a junk food standard animal product diet. When I was a "healthy vegan" I felt incredible, and I lost over 100 pounds in a long-term sustainable way. I'm no longer vegan, and I eat a lot of seafood now, but eating "clean" with minimal animal products I feel better than eating vegan junk food. Best to worst state of health---> clean vegan>clean omnivore>junk food vegan>junk food omnivore I think the best I've ever felt was eating raw vegan and supplementing, but that lifestyle was difficult/expensive for me to maintain. (no comment on morality or ethics, just personal health experience)

Just a personal experience - I was extremely overweight/obese in my entire waking memory from age 5 or so to age 15/16. At 15/16 I started taking bike rides and eating a vegan/plant based diet. In about one year I lost over 100 pounds and now at age 22 I've successfully kept that weight off with HIIT and intermittent fasting and general clean eating (not vegan anymore). I've seen a lot of people try to lose weight and when they fail they usually lacked consistency. I had some bounce back from a lower resting basal metabolic rate post-weight loss, but that eventually evened itself out. I never did any one crazy thing to lose weight, I did hundreds of thousands of small things, every day, for over a year. Interestingly enough maintaining my weight loss has been even more challenging than losing it initially, but I'm finally feeling pretty stable and good with my weight fluctuation just in the past few months.