I found that my sense of happiness comes from a sense of purpose, a sense of community, and my health. I always feel a stronger sense of contentment when I have a purpose in my life. This can exist through various different avenues. For example, a career which provides a valuable service to society can provide a great sense of satisfaction. Hobbies which promote personal growth and development also can make me feel happy. Belief systems and cultural traditions also add purpose to my life. Through these different mechanisms, I find myself having a greater appreciation for life. Community also encourages a sense of happiness to me. Community can include my neighbors, coworkers, friends, family, and more. When I have the chance to interact with and share time with people in my life, I find myself much happier. Finally, good health keeps me happy. I can achieve this through a healthy diet, exercise, sleep, and low stress. My keeping my body in sync with my mind, I have found myself in a better place in life.

I piece of art which inspires me is "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. This is a 1940s oil painting by an American painter, which shows an outside view of an intersection, with the inside of a diner clearly visible through a street side window. Four people sit inside the diner. One is the employee behind the counter, one is a customer sitting closer to the viewer, and two are a couple sitting further from the viewer. There are a couple reasons I find this art inspiring. First, it symbolizes the richness of the lives of complete strangers. Every day, we all walk past dozens, or even hundreds of people in passing. We don't think much about these strangers, but this truth is that every one of them has a rich and complicated life story. The painting's perspective of looking through a window helps provide this perspective (of seeing strangers in passing). Second, the painting symbolizes the importance of simple everyday activities. Oftentimes, people spend their days daydreaming about the future, or about hypothetical situations, or about abstract ideas. However, most of our time is spent in day to day activities, and it is a shame to not witness and appreciate these events. The painting shows a simple but profound moment; a couple spending time together, a man getting an hour or so to himself, and an employee earning his wage. Appreciation for the simple everyday can make for a more fulfilling life.

The most inspiring book I read was "Grant" by Ron Chernow. This was a biography about the life of Ulysses Grant, the famous Civil War general and US president. I found this book inspiring because of how much is shed light on the human nature of such a historical figure. In fact, when the Civil War began, Grant was working as an employee at his father in law's convenience store. Once war broke out, he used his former Army experience as a foot in the door to a return to the military. He quickly shot up from being a mid-level officer to becoming the highest ranking general in the Army. This made me realize that people's ability to achieve greatness is context dependent. Someone who has a middling career and is achieving very little could in fact simply not be in the right place. After reading this book, I spent some time thinking about what kind of career and life context would maximize my own role in society.

Out of all the hobbies which I have, the one which is probably my favorite is rock climbing. I became introduced to rock climbing while living in Los Angeles several years ago. A friend and former roommate of mine recommended I take up the sport, after I said that I wanted to find a way to meet new people in the city. Ever since then, I've been going climbing two or three times a week, even after moving to multiple cities. Every time I move to a new place, I make sure I know where the closest climbing gym is. The first reason I enjoy rock climbing is because of the social aspect of the hobby. Although it is technically a solo sport, climbing gyms are built in a way which facilitates social interaction. Between the climbing walls are spaces where climbers can spend their time waiting to climb, talking to friends, talking to strangers, giving each other advice, etc. Through this open communal space, I have had the opportunity to meet all sorts of interesting people. The second reason I enjoy rock climbing is because of the physical nature of the sport. Rock climbing strengthens the arms, especially the forearms, via muscular endurance. It also helps with flexibility as climbers need to contort their bodies in different way to make their way up a climbing wall. The third reason I like the hobby is because of mental aspect of it. Climbing a wall is like solving a puzzle. You need to look at the different holds and the different ways you can manipulate the climbing surface to figure out how to scale at the top. Because of this, many engineers are known to enjoy rock climbing as a sport. Rock climbing holds an important place in my heart as a hobby which has changed my life. Through rock climbing, I have been able to meet new people, improve my physical fitness, and solve interesting mental puzzles. I look forward to rock climbing for the remaining years of my life.

There are four areas which fuel my life: my relationships, a sense of purpose, a feeling of growth, and my health and physical fitness. By striving to improve in these four areas, I find the inspiration I need to forge a path forwarding in life. I believe meaningful relationships are critical for all people to live fulfilling lives. I also believe meaningful relationships need to be maintained and curated, through check in phone calls, meetings with old friends, and more. Through these practices, I strive to strengthen the relationships I have with my friends, classmates, family members, and more. Finding purpose in what I do gives me the fuel to push through adversity. By understanding the greater reason why I am doing something, and by discovering what really matters in my life, I am able to find ways to strengthen my resolve to follow through on my commitments in life. Striving to grow in all areas is another way I fuel my life. By gradually improving in all areas, I'm able to maintain a moment that translates across the board to my activities. Reading podcasts, listening to audiobooks, learning new hobbies, listening to others' opinions, finding ways to optimize my activities, and taking retrospective looks at my habits are ways in which I improve on my habits. Finally, I am fueled by the quest to become a healthier and fitter person. I believe health and fitness are force multipliers which make everything else in life more enjoyable. To that end, I strive to eat healthy, go on runs, engage in cardio, reduce my stress levels, meditate, and find ways to make both my mind and body as healthy as possible.

I look back on three phases of my life - my education, my work experience in Los Angeles, and my experience teaching at my alma mater, and realize that my future hopes are a product of what I have experienced. I spent my undergraduate years studying engineering at the US Air Force Academy. I had a dynamic and intense experience, filled with rigorous academics, strict military activities, and friendships with all sorts of interesting people. This made me realize I wanted my future life to be filled with purpose and meaningful relationships with others. Several years ago, I spent several years working in Los Angeles. During this time, I had the opportunity to meet a wide range of diverse people, experience life in the city, and take part in various outdoor activities. Through these experience, I realized I wanted to spend my future interacting with people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds. I also developed a love for the outdoors, as my visits to nearby National Parks and mountain ranges gave me exposure to the beaty of nature. This made me realize I wanted to spent the rest of my life experiencing the outdoors wherever I went. In 2019, I had the opportunity to return to my alma mater to teach foreign language. During my two years there, I learned the importance of paying it forward. By mentoring people whose shoes I once filled, I realized the importance of helping others. Without an other-focused life, one is bound to chasing various ultimately meaningless pursuits. However, by helping and mentoring others, one is able to contribute to society in a meaningful way. My hope is that my future activities will focus on helping others and promoting pro-social activities.

Living a brave life is essential in order to accomplish anything else in life. As Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality that guarantees all the others". Through a few simple daily practices, I have been able to take steps to try to learn how to live more bravely. First, I ensure to focus on principle, rather than self-interest, when looking at situations. There's nothing inherently wrong with looking after one's own self-interest. However, when this self-interest is chosen at the expense of the well-being of others, or at the expense of higher principles, this leads to a problematic society, both locally and globally. By focusing on "what is the right thing to do" rather than "what will be the least painful for me", I do what I can to focus on making decisions that are the right thing to do, even if it causes short term inconvenience to myself. Second, I work to have an action-oriented decision making process. When all else is equal, I work towards making proactive decisions, rather than passive decisions. This helps me gain practice in being assertive and taking risks, which comes in handy for situations which require bravely. By biasing myself towards proactivity, I've been able to train to live more boldly. Bravery is arguably the most important trait to have, as little else can be guaranteed without a courageous disposition. By focusing on higher principles and living a more proactive life, I've been able to do what I can to live a bolder lifestyle.

Encouraging others is critical in life, as we are all more likely to be happy in life if we share our success and happiness with others. I engage in a few basic practices to ensure I encourage others in my community. Firstly, I make sure to give words of encouragement to others. Although it might seem a bit simplistic, there is great power in affirming others, and having positive words to say about them. By sharing positive feelings in others, I believe I can play a small part in encouraging them to succeed in what they are working towards. Second, I ensure to listen to others. I want to be there as someone who will listen to what they have to say, and empathize with their feelings. By listening and being available to others, I can show that I am genuinely interested in them as people, and interested in helping them in life.

Creativity is an important tool to create new possibilities in life. Whether you are trying to come up with artistic creations, come up with new ideas for solutions at work, or thinking about ways to change your lifestyle, having a creative mindset is a critical part of succeeding in life. There are various practices I use to apply creativity in my life. Firstly, I make sure I vacillate between "idea generation mode" and "idea pruning mode". In the idea generation phase, I focus on coming up with as many possible solutions to a problem, or ideas with respect to a reference point. Nothing is off the table, and the crazier an idea is, the better. After spending time coming up with ideas, I then spent time separately "pruning" the less applicable ideas, until I come up with a good set of ideas to explore further. By dividing up time between idea generation and idea pruning, I give myself permission to put in as much effort as possible in each phase of the creative process. Second, I ask myself the question "why" when it comes to the way things are currently done. Why is the current convention the way we do things? Why haven't we changed to a different method. This questioning enables me to dig deeper into why convention exists, which might give room for loosening it in favor of more creative solutions.

A few years ago, a coworker of mine in another group in my office was going through a difficult situation in the workplace. Although I wasn't in an official position in his group, I decided to help him out by telling him I saw the situation he was going through, and that it was something he could muster through. Through this experience, I realized the importance of treating others with empathy, and the simply steps I could take to help others. First, I began asking myself the question "How would I feel if I was in her or his shoes". It's easy to not focus on what other people are going through on life, and focus instead on one's owns concerns and issues. However, by putting yourself in the other person's shoes, you better understand the difficulties they may be going through, which is the first step to helping the other person. Second, I ask myself the question "What can I do". Sometimes, there isn't much you can do to help someone in a specific situation. However, even simple things, like kind words, acknowledgement of someone else's situation, or listening, can make a huge difference. By always asking myself what I could do to help others, rather than what I could do for myself, I've learned to treat others with more empathy. Finally, I learned to give people the benefit of the doubt when people are acting in less pleasant ways. If someone cuts me off in traffic, it might be good to assume the person is rushing to get to the hospital. Or if someone is being particularly irate, it may be because they are trying to cope with a difficult home life. Giving the benefit of the doubt prevents me from making haste judgments about others.

To take care of my mental health, I try to take care of my mind, body, and social life. By keeping the different parts of my life in balance, I'm able to become better at dealing with the stresses which happen in day to day life. First, I try to take part in practices which keep my mind in a good place. This includes mindfulness practices. I try to take part in five to ten minutes of meditation a day. On top of this, I try to keep my brain engaged by listening to interesting podcasts and books throughout the week. Second, I make sure I keep my body healthy by eating well and exercising. I believe the mind and body are strongly linked, and taking care of the body helps ensure the mind is also taken care of. I focus on eating natural and nutritious food, and enjoy going to the gym, running, and going on walks to keep myself physically fit. Finally, I make sure I maintain a healthy social life. The connections we have with others are ultimately what matters the most in life. With that in mind, I try to maintain connections with family, friends, and classmates through activities, phone calls, and more. The above activities help me relax and keep my mental health in order. By focusing on balancing the different aspects of my life, I am able to maintain a resilient and health mind.

Giving back is an important way to make society a better place and to help people exercise empathy. Paying it forward has an effective "multiplier" effect. When people act out of pure selfishness, they tend to benefit at the expense of other people, which hurts society as a whole. In the long term, this even hurts the psyches of selfish people, who can't find permanent happiness through their self-centered actions. By giving back, people help spread goodness and productivity through society, and even help their own minds find gratitude and inner peace. There are several activities I take part in to give back to society. For several years, I have volunteered at animal shelters. Taking dogs on walks, cleaning cages, feeding animals, and providing enrichment activities to cats has provided me a way to help the creatures which are often neglected the most in society. Unfortunately, many people either abandon their pets, breed animals they are unable to take care of, or abuse their pets who have to be impounded for their own safety. Because animals are not people, it is very easy for society to neglect the plight of these creatures who suffer through no fault of their own. I think that taking care of such animals is an effective way to give back to those creatures who show the most unconditional love to us people.

The simplest pleasure in my life is hanging out at coffee shops. There are a few reasons this simple daily activity makes me happy. First, it lets me spend time around members of my community. Whether I speak to them or not, the other people who live near me and who spend time at my local coffee shop are members of the community. The simple ritual of visiting the coffee shop lets me be make that daily connection with others. Second, it provides an environment for me to be productive without any unnecessary distractions. When I'm at home, the temptations of TV and other activities can make it difficult to get things done. On the other hand, the coffee shop lets me get what I need to get done as efficiently as possible. The more productive I am, the more leftover time I have to devote to the things that matter, like hobbies and interests. Third, its an environment where I can listen to interesting podcasts and audiobooks. I enjoy listening to podcasts related to all sorts of topics, such as history, news, self help, technology, and more. While working in a coffee shop, I can take in all this information over extended periods of time. Finally, coffee shops are a great place to enjoy the simple taste of coffee. In the morning or early afternoon, nothing beats a good cup of coffee as a simple beverage to enjoy. Overall, I think life is better when simple pleasures are enjoyed more. To focus on the good, and to express gratitude over simple things, is a good way to keep myself grounded.