Response Paper 1:

Maslows idea of Growing-Tip Statistic suggests that we learn the most from our own
and others best experiencesrather than from the average. For while the average
describes, the best prescribes.
Applying Maslows idea to your own life, write about a period (anywhere from a month
to a year) when you were at your happiestbe it during a summer vacation, a specific
semester in school, a job, etc. What was it about that time period that made you
especially happy? Can you derive some lessons from that time period that are relevant to
your life at Harvard, right now? How about to your future? Can you derive any general
principles from your experience concerning the conditions that lead to happiness? Feel
free to address some or all of the above questions.
Send in your response, pasted in the email (not as an attachment), to your TF by 5pm on
Sunday. It should be between 1 and 3 double-spaced pages long. While the response
papers are not graded (only pass/failif you hand it in, you pass), the more time you
spend thinking about your responses, the more benefit youll derive from the exercise.
In addition to the response paper, please do the following:
1. Identify one "pearl" from the reading for this week i.e. an interesting idea, useful tool,
insightful comment/quote, or something like that. At the end of the response paper, write
a couple of sentences about this pearl.
2. On any one day during the week/weekend, perform at least five acts of kindness,
beyond what you normally do. These do not have to be grand acts (though if you can do
something to bring about world peace that would be great). For example, help your
roomate with something, donate to a cause in which you believe, open a door for a
stranger, write a thank you note, give blood, and so on. The acts can be spontaneous or
pre-planned. At the end of your response paper, simply list the five extra things that you
did.