Moreau Integration The Root of Me 1. I believe that I can always improve 2. I believe that there is no higher power 3. I believe that I pursue truth by seeing all parts of the equation 4. I believe that I am responsible for my successes and my failures 5. I believe that I have my friends’ backs, and they have mine My first root belief is my most important root belief, and it is the one that I think of most often. In the last couple years, I have developed a strong focus on self-improvement. I try to always push myself to do better, and it has helped me focus on growth, instead of failures. With personal growth, it is much easier to find success. In the words of Carla Harris, “Your authenticity is your distinct competitive advantage.” (Notre Dame Commencement Speech - Moreau Week Five). This root belief also ties in a focus on hope for the future. “Hope is the confidence that we are moving toward light, not darkness; joy, not sorrow; life, not death.” (Faith Brings Light to a Dark World by David Fagerberg - Moreau FYE Week Three) With my eyes forward, I’ve been able to overcome challenges more easily knowing that there is always more to come so I can improve. If you only look towards the negatives, you will eventually find yourself focusing on the negatives instead of your destination. This is a belief that I put into action as much as I possibly can, and it directly influences my decisions often. My second root belief represents my lack of membership in a faith community. I was born and raised into a strong Catholic family, with both sides of my family being fairly religious. Although the Catholic faith was heavily present throughout my life, I never felt interested in the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjSwjn-SyB4 https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/belief/faith-brings-light-to-dark-world/?utm_source=fall_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau https://grottonetwork.com/keep-the-faith/belief/faith-brings-light-to-dark-world/?utm_source=fall_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau beliefs I was being taught. Today, I’m solidly not religious, although I have ended up at a Catholic university anyway. Although I do not believe in any religion, I have no problem with others that do, and I’m actually impressed with Notre Dame’s efforts. Catholicism is offered and available, but it is not forced in any matter, which I greatly appreciate. This root belief is definitely not the strongest belief listed, but it does define part of the base of my beliefs. As such, it doesn’t directly influence my actions very often, but I find it to be an important piece of my foundation. My third root belief focuses on a characteristic of mine that I greatly value, judgement and decision-making. My strengths survey (VIA Institute Survey - Moreau FYE Week Two) even gave my two greatest strengths as Fairness and Judgement. I will tend to act as a moderator in any debates/discussions between my friends, and they will look to me at times for judgement calls. I always want to see all sides of a debate/issue, just so that I can get a more unbiased view. For example, my boss at my summer job is very conservative, and we would have some debates over political issues, and it was interesting to see the different points we would bring up. I would always try to see his view, then compare it to my relatively more progressive views to find a middle ground between our beliefs. Also, this example helped me see some issues with my judgement and improve upon it. There were a couple hot topics we talked about that challenged my thought processes, and it helped me realize that “many of us are more biased than we realize.” (How to Think about ‘Implicit Bias’ by Keith Payne, Laura Niemi - Moreau Week Seven). Linking #3 to #1, I want to continually improve upon my biases, and I’m happy to be corrected in order to develop myself. From my experience at Notre Dame so far, I’m glad to find that many traditional biases are not generally present, and I hope to use this environment to continue to challenge my own biases. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-think-about-implicit-bias/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/keith-payne/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/laura-niemi/ My fourth root belief is focused on my sense of personal responsibility, which is fairly strong. When I have something that I have to do or am responsible for, I feel very strongly about it and will be dedicated to whatever task is involved. For example, I have a group project in my Engineering Design class right now, and I have been on top of my section of the project. At times, I wish others had more of this characteristic, because at times it feels like “There’s no discourse anymore, there’s no conversation. There’s just blame.” (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One). I take pride in my work and the product of said work, and this correlates to my sense of responsibility for my successes and failures. My fifth root belief focuses on my friendships. As I’ve talked about in earlier QQCs, my friends and I trust each other and communicate well. I will always do whatever I can do for them, because I know they will do the same for me. I’ve always liked having deeper, more meaningful relationships, and I feel that I maintain these relationships well. “The best kind of friendships are the ones where you leave with a smile on your face, knowing you’re both growing to be better people and that you’re helping each other get there” (5 Signs You’re in a Toxic Friendship by Olivia Taylor - Moreau FYE Week Four). Now that I’m here at Notre Dame, I want to continue to build those kinds of friendships. During our Week 6 discussion of the Where I’m From poems, I noted that it was interesting to see how some people’s stories were instantly recognizable to me, while others were completely alien to me. I want to create friendships with a wider range of people, now that I’m in an environment with a more diverse range of people, in comparison to where I’ve lived in the past, which has been mostly homogeneous midwestern towns. I feel like I’ve already developed some strong relationships here in just half a semester, and I have a feeling they will only improve. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ I think that my root beliefs do well in describing a lot of what I believe and therefore who am I, or believe I am. Within the last couple years, I’ve given a concentrated effort to improve myself, as discussed with root belief #1, and that has helped me greatly in nailing down these few beliefs to represent me. A couple years ago, I probably would not have been able to write a comparable set of beliefs, but today I can identify traits and beliefs in myself much more easily.