Last week watching The Arrival was eye opening for me. In understanding how aliens were talking using circular references for times instead of the linear, structure time measurement that humans use, this really allowed me to question the linearity of the world. Why is it that when we do certain things, we expect other things to happen. For example, we correlate getting a job with getting happiness as we will get paid an live independent lives. Similarly, we correlate good health with making us feel empowered to do everything we desire. In living in a world where each action, has a supposed negative and positive action, we lose sight of the continuous flow of events that shape our lives. I’d prefer the alien’s concept of representing time in a circle, and would extend that to representing all life events as a circle since a circle has no sharp ends and twists and has a constant influx of certain scenarios which lead to others and which then revert back to the original. In this sense, a circular way of life allows for a life that is more fluid and dynamic but repetitive and consistent in that every path of the circle is continually repeated. I feel that the circle is a proper metaphor for life since we do encounter similar situations and repeat aspects of our lives consistently, however we are often times bombarded with obstacles and difference events which in the end still allow us to complete our continuous cycle instead of viewing our paths as strictly regressive or progressive.

I was also impressed at the assimilation of communication skills that took place when trying to understand the language of the aliens. I believe that this action showed how language is more than words, language is so dependent on the context, the way the words are said, the emotions, etc. I believe this relates to my interactions with people since I am more focused at times regarding people’s body language, facial expression,etc rather than what they are actually saying which shows how everything besides words itself can be powerful communication tools. I also thought it was interesting to imagine a world time is uniform. As a person that spends a lot of time worrying about the future,and feeling guilty over my past, I would wonder what it would be like if all those time periods were to merge together and I could truly live in the moment and take life situations as they go simply because I would have no other choice. In this regard, I learned to appreciate the non-linear structured way of life because at times I feel that societal structures and expectations have made me more unhappy.