Mind: Blown

Day 14

Up: 12:10pm (:D)

Left for Nowhere!

Video: Erez Lieberman Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel - What We Learned From 5 Million Books

There are no words to express how amazing this is.  All I can say is please, look this video up! Then, head on over to Google Books, and look up the ngram viewer. Your mind will be blown too! What ineresting and relevent cultural data! Cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdhJwLJcdsU

Elaboration of Imagination

Day 13

Up: 7:13am

Left for School: 8:35am

Video: Erik Johansson - Impossible Photography

This concept is a work in progress. I couldn't do what Erik Johansson can do, combining two photos to look like one. I can, however, do that with words. :) If you combine the words from the first and the second poems, it creates a new one.  I like the concept more than I like these poems, but like I said, it's a work in progress!!!

sun shining                   
is but                         
certain happy               
times. these               
are great.                     

is it
beautiful to
peoples' thoughts?
like their
joyous feelings?

sun is shining. it
is beautiful, but to
certain peoples' happy thoughts.
times like these, there
are joyous, great feelings.

Horizontal Segmentation

Day 12

Up: 9:09am

Left for Work: 10:34am

Video: Malcolm Gladwell - What We Can Learn From Spaghetti Sauce

Young minds are clay to be molded, that is true, but the importance lay not in the capabilities of the minds to be molded; rather, it lay in the hands of the "artist" or teacher.  The ability of this teacher to shape the minds is dependant upon a learned skill set.  I'm not necessarily talking about teachers, and I'm not nevessarily talking about a degree, but they are the obvious topics of this conversation.  The ability, the choice, of the teachers to acknowlege and utilize learning types is far too often forgotten, and children are suffering as a result.  I'm not even laying blame on teachers, but there is a fundamental fault in the foundation of the education system.

Malcom Gladwell talks about his friend, Howard Moskowitz, who - and I'm aware of the superficial triviality of the topic - rovolutionized the world of pasta sauces by saying, "There is no such thing as perfect pasta sauce, only perfect pasta sauces." That next decade, Prego hit an utapped "chunky sauce" market, and increased their margin by 600 million dollars.  Moskowitz accomplished this by simply acknowleging one key concept: you cannot take a blanket approach to peoples' needs! Just by saying that there are people whose needs are not being met, Moskewitz found a while new market and significantly increased the success rate of the company that hired him.

This idea could, and indeed should, be applied on a mass scale in our education system. Perhaps, the only reason student A finds success where student B suffers is resultant of the curriculum being catered to the learner type that student A is. I went to school with some very intelligent people who had never done well in school.  Why is this? Some of them, sure, don't "apply temselves", as the teacher-favourite phrase suggests, but some of them try and cannot. This problem needs to be addressed not as a matter of intelligence (or lack thereof), but of what the contralable  contributing factors are! You cannot control certain factors such as home life, learning disabilities, or ignorance, but we can pique the interest by clustering learning types, and putting less strain and importance in the grading system and actual grade levels (grades 1,2,3,4,5, etc.). This is by no means a perfect concept, but I hope, at least, it makes people think.  Ramblings of a passionate person can hold a lot of truth. I hope... :)

The Wellness of Being

Day 11

Up: 6:30am

Left for Work: 7:08am

So I was pretty bummed about sleeping in this morning. Until I got home from work and it was beautiful and sunny and Sadie and Shreddie and I all hung out outside for about an hour and a half of goodness. No words for my walk.  Photo journal is the order of the day. Not about especially beautiful things, (or beautiful photos!) just things I noticed.

Take a Page From Your Own Book

Day 10

So this morning I woke up and looked outside, and the first thing I saw was sun shining BRIGHTLY on a little cheeseburger bird! Awesome. No TED Talk today, just the thought that I am already full of inspirational juices. Just a little jam about the weather. :)

Yesterday,

I allowed a tear to embrace my cheek,

just an afterthought

as it makes its slow descent to

the earth

and the gravity of the situation hits me!

Now I can see that there can be no tears today.

                                     Those big eyes have all dried up and been replaced

                                     by the brightest smile I've seen in a long time.

The Ease of Gratitude

Day 9

Up: 7:13am

Left for School: 8:32am

Video: Louie Schwartzberg: Gratitude

"Take each breath in as if it is your first; let each escape as if it is your last." These are some of the first words I ever heard in my meditation group, DIY Dharma.  I was new to group meditation, and these words resonated with me in my newness. The phrase asks us to savour every moment, to really be in the present time.  There was a similar point made in today's video, where Louie Schwartzberg asks an elderly man to explain how he reveals his happiness. The man says, and I'm paraphrasing, to open your eyes and really see the world for the first time. 

So what if every time we used one of our senses, we imagined that it was our first time that we have shared this experience with the world? What if every time we parted from this sensory experience, we imagined that it was the last time we would or could ever encounter it.Wouldn't we cherish it? Wouldn't we grow ever more grateful? 

It was a perfect day to see this video! The man also spoke about how we see weather as a black or white , finite distinction. It's either nice out, or not. But, he says, what we should be doing is experiencing each thing as it is and being grateful that it is am impossibility for this specific set of circumstances to ever duplicate themselves.  The clouds can never be the same. The rain will never pitter patter in the same order.

Today, when I was walking Sadie, it was drizzling. I grinned to myself.  When I left for school, it was pouring, and I could not have been more grateful.

The Freedom that Comes with Innocence

Day: 8

Up: 6:02am

Left for Work: 6:59am

Video: Marco Tempest - A magical tale (with augmented reality)

What if we could live in our own augmented reality? We hope to live in the magical, but we are forever settling for the mundane.  Whatever happened to suspending our own disbelief - to believing in the improbable, the impossible?! Here's the thing - we all know how.  Most of us have even practiced this at one point in our lives. The sad thing is, we left it behind. Probably by the swingset, or dangling hopelessly from the monkey bars for the next kid to find - someone willing and able to use it.  That's right, folks, I'm talking about your imagination! It doesn't have to be anything "crazy" like we experience as children (or, for some, adults), such as talking to animals, creating imaginary friends, etc., but could be as simple as allowing yourself to daydream, see what you choose to see in the shapes that life provides you with! That crumpled leaf is now a paper crane.  That lump  of dirt by the side of the road is a bull mastiff (for Courtenbaum ;)). This morning on my walk with Sadie, I imagined a spark of light shooting from the newly bloomed daffodils.

Why do we tell ourselves these things are silly? Because they are! Isn't that the point? Why do you think kids are so happy all of the time? We can't really begrudge them this innocent happiness if we are too pompous to experience it for ourselves! We stifle our own imaginations; tell ourselves we are above that, and then we get frustrated at our lack of happiness. I, personally, am taking a stand against it! :) I'm going to look for the colours of the rainbow in a spray of water.  I'm going to see sparks where they don't exist, and you can bet that the next appropriately shaped crumpled leaf is going to be a paper crane, or a dragon, or a griffin; it will be whatever I want it to be.

Motivation is on the Way!

Day 7

Up: 8:55am

Left for Work: 10:02

Video: Daniel Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation

If your boss came to you and said, "hey, do the work you're supposed to be doing, and if you get it done, I will give you $100 bonus," you'd think it would light a fire under you, right? You'd think it would force you to work smarter, and that your performance all around would improve, right? Wrong.  Daniel Pink tells us of several studies to suggest just the opposite.  Studies where subjects are told to complete complex problems to reap a reward show far weaker performance results than those where subjects are given free time.  That being said, in studies where the two groups were told to complete a menial task, the free group suffered, while the motivated excelled.  What does this tell us? Most obviously, this shows on a grander scale that in most white collar jobs, bonus structures do not increase productivity the way that managers think they do, but, conversely, act as a hindrance.  Now, not only are these managers squandering productivity by creating constraints, but they are shelling out unnecessary cash bonuses to those who do meet their quotas. On the other hand, when applied in workplaces where employees are given not only an expected outcome, but also a map to achieve their goal, this bonus paradigm can have an opposite, advantageous effect.  This is not to say that there should be no motivating factor in white collar work; quite the opposite.  Motivation, for higher productivity, needs to be allowed to flourish within the minds of the people.

Pink talks about three foundations to success in the modern business model as being autonomy, master, and purpose, respectively.  By these, he means to say that the most success is found in situations where employees are given complete autonomy at work, so long as their end result is achieved.  This makes nothing but sense! People are allowed to use their own methods to achieve their end result.  Who wouldn't work harder, smarter, faster, if it meant that they could go home earlier.  Autonomy leads to mastery - these people begin to fine-tune their skills, and along the way, work with more pride in their work and perfect their profession.  Why is this important? How does this apply? Well it applies more than you could ever know; it applies to everything you do! Let's just say that I'm not writing these entries because someone is compensating me.  I do what I want...if I don't do one of them (like yesterday) it's on no one but me.  I am, however, really trying.  I'm finding what works because excellence (note: not perfection) is what matters to those who are given the freedom to achieve it in their own way. 

Take Some Time - Your Future Self Will Thank You

Day 5
Awake: 6:36
Left For Work: 7:10
Video: Daniel Goldstein - The battle between your present and future self

Who is our future self? If you think about it, our future self could be constituted as even being one second beyond now, or now, or now.  If this is difficult to imagine or really personify, think of a time you made a decision, and the second you made it, you knew it was the wrong one.  The present self decided, and within one second, the future self regrets it.  This begins to present a problem if and when we stop taking our future selves into consideration.  this could consist of something as small and short term as eating 10 Big Macs on a dare, or as important and long term as not having any retirement savings. 

Goldstein talks about a "commitment device", a psychology term of creating restraints and reward/impediment-based plans to achieve goals.  this is exemplified in the story of Odysseus, wherein Odysseus asks his crew to plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast, so he could hear the songs of the sirens.  Goldstein says that it is better to develop our own self-control than to create these empediments for our future selves do not do what the present self wants.

i would have to agree with him.  There is no reason to punish the future self for the actions of the self in a different time and place. Not only is it healthier to advance the present self with an affluence of discipline, but, as Noah Levine talks about in his book, "The Heart of the Revolution", when we beat ourselves up for some wrong-doing, we are only exasperating a pre-existent  pain.  In other words, we have caused ourselves pain, and then we feel bad about doing that, and so we feel twice as bad as we should. Rather than doing that, we should - of course, first and foremost, work on our self control, but also - learn to accept out own defeats, and ponder them, learn from them, and pointedly grow from them.  Do not create pain for yourself by punishing deeds, but learn that you will be doing yourself a disservice by repeating such behaviours, and let that be enough to disuade your present self.

Just a Ponderance

Day 4

Awake: 6:10am

Left for Work: Didn't haha...too sick

Video: not going to mention

Today's video, which I'm not going to mention, was not something that I really enjoyed.  The content was interesting, but the speaker was very pretentious, and self-absorbed, and it really showed through in his talk.  I don't really have a lot to say on the matter, as each person perceives these things differently, but i will say that I have no interest in hearing a talk that is meant to be inspiring, but is just self-serving.  So all I have is this:


That about sums it up.  End game.  Goodnight all!

A Series of Very Small Victories

Day 3

Awake: 7:44am

Left for School: 8:31am

What is vulnerability? If you ask this, most people would respond in any or all of the following ways: "weakness, failure, defeat." This is how I felt until this morning.  Brene Brown has devoted her research to a group of people whom she has collectively dubbed, "the whole hearted". As an aspiring human being, that sounds like bliss to me! The interesting thing is, Brene Brown found very unexpected but attainable results.  She speaks of these people being authentic, of being the most courageous, the mose compassionate people of her research.  The difference that she found was their utter surrender to and acceptance of vulnerability. 

Now here's the interesting part where I'm concerned.  Brown says that these people who take risks and put themselves in less than ideal circumstances - situations that scare them - re not absent of fear, but rather acutely aware of it to the point that they gain joy as a result of their risks. 

Great! Because that is how i live my life! I can be whole hearted too! This is true for me in all areas of my life, save one - love. In the last five years, I have taken many risks that scare me, but the one risk that i am continually afraid to take is in the realm of love.  Why? Because putting yourself out there will lead to weakness, failure, and defeat.  This is what i thought.  I told myself that I just didn't want that.  I told myself that was not how I want my life to unfold - settling down, being still, having a constant in my life, but what Brown says is that THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE DO NOT CONSTRAIN THEMSELVES WITH PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS OF WHO THEY WANT TO BE, but are free in who they are.  For years, I confused my shackles with goals, aspirations, and the like, but just the opposite was what mattered.  Where I was finding the most joy in my life was in the areas where I took the most risks.  Numbing the pain will numb the joy as well.  Logically, I've known this for years.  Why could I not practice it?

It took four months and one boy to unravel me.  What a perfect time to see this video.  I feel secure in my emotions.  They are not weak of a sign of failure!  They make me brave! Willingness to be the authentic me in ALL aspects of my life is the ticket to having a whole heart. Is it terrifying to put myself out there right now? T let all you lovely people see my self-perceived inadequacies and imperfections? In a word, absolutely. But I can be brave just this once.  And just once next time.  And one more time, still.  Because what is success, really, if not a series of very small victories?

Realization of Potential

Day 2

Awake: 7:35am

Left for School: 8:33am

Video: Donald Sadoway - The missing link to renewable energy

Have you ever given any thought to the energy crisis? Of course you have.  It's an important issue; one that is all emcompassing.  Everyone is affected whether they see it or not.  Danald Sadoway sees it in great and original ways.  The MIT proffessor, along with one of his students, has created a containable, sustainable energy source - a battery - out of antimony and magnesium, two extremely abundant resourses. 

Now, I don't know a blasted thing about the procurement of energies other than what this guy just told me, so I have to take it all at face value.  That being said, these ideas - his ideas - are very exciting.  These men can create a cell large enough to supply 200 households with power.  Why wouldn't that be great? But what really struck me; the thing I noticed the most, was actually only his sidenote.  He said something to the effect of, "yes, I'm inventing things, but there's more.  As a mentor [(to his student/partner)], I am inventing inventors!"

Of course this is what I would pick out of a fifteen minute conversation about batteries, energy, and heavy metals!  This concept was what captivated me on my walk this morning.  What is this concept? And then it happened! :-o A man riding his bike smiled at me and I thought insantly, "I should ride my bike soon!"  This guy didn't even know that he just shaped a thought in my brain. 

Then, there was the slow, sad man that walked by,

the smiling poodle,

and the bitter a.m. neighbour.

These people's mere presence gave rise to the realization of the potential that lives within each of us as we encounter anyone or anything in a given day.  A transfer of energy takes place, wherther is affects our day or our though process alone.  With this in mind, I set out for the day thinking about the only sustainable energy I can speak at any length about - POSITIVE ENERGY!

Off to a Great Start! Getting What You Want Out of Each Day

Day 1

Awake: 6:12am

Left for Work: 7:03

Video: TEDxTalks - Billy Collins - Everyday moments, caught in time

Creativity is a blossom. You can take its seed when you see it, or you can depend on a windy day for it to blow into your lap.  A burgeoning idea, though, can act as a force for creating your own seeds. People get stuck on the notion of inspiration as a means to achieve creativity, but here's what struck me: if creativity "came" to people, as they say it does, it would not be called creating, but perhaps mediating, for the idea, the inspiration, couldnt really be yours in the first place. Now one could say that in this age, few ideas are really original, or even personal, but the point of the matter remains that if we are to work towards the inspiration with which to create, and find it within ourselves, we are more likely to be authentic.

I have a habit of taking the things that inspire me and running with them - for a day or two, but never longer.  For ages, I tried to daw them out, to drag one tiny idea over a million days. Today, i truly realized that, though this may work for some people, it cannot work for me.  It is up to me to find a new inspiration each and every day, and to float upon that notion as it takes me anywhere I want to go.  NO FORCED IDEAS. NO CONSTRAINTS. JUST THE SIMPLE THOUGHT THAT I AM FREE TO CREATE IN ANY WAY THAT I INSPIRE WITHIN MYSELF.

For myself, I must make my own creativity. It is neccessary that I inspire myself. External encounters may be seeds from time to time, but if I create my own blossoms, soon I will have enough of them to harvest my own seeds.

:)

Each day is a ditch
filled with rocks -
some are smooth;
most
are sharp.

If you step on enough
of the sharp rocks,
isn't it true
that you don't feel
their bites?

Some may say
that's logic.
I say:
that's life.

Many sharp rocks
may give me calloused feet,
but those who step
on a single sharp rock
are likely going to
bleed.