This week I started the Coursera course on the Science of Wellbeing. As homework, this course has suggested practices I should implement into my weekly routine to build up my character strengths. After taking multiple surveys, I learned my four most prominent character strengths are Love, Curiosity, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence and Love of Learning. Some of these things I did not initially know were character strengths but throughout this project I will be exploring how I can build up these aspects of myself and observe how this impacts my wellness as a whole.

I also read and finished Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Throughout this project I will be reading a wide variety of books: novels, memoirs, non-fiction, to not only build my curiosity, but implement a source of learning and exploration of ideas into my project. I think understanding different stories and perspectives, even if this comes indirectly from a novel will give me a new perspective on how wellness plays into the lives of others.

I watched an episode of Ugly Delicious, which is a tv show about food, culture and ideas. I am watching this show to not only gain inspiration for my own cooking but to examine how food plays into wellness. In the BBQ episode I watched, David Chang has a moment in a chicken place in Tokyo when he is tearing up and hugs the chef. This made me think of all of the time food has made me feel deep emotions of contentment, happiness and love. This made me wonder how food has the power to make you feel deep emotions. Does this food have to be attached to a memory or community or experience for it to be this emotional or could you eat it in any way for it to be good – obviously a good environment would enhance the experience but I would like to explore this further because this episode made it clear to me how much food can change the wellness of a person’s life.