See one, do one, teach one

A lesson from Medical School

Monkey see, monkey do

It may seem strange that one of the most valuable lessons I learned in Medical School was not how to save lives, but how to save the living. In my own point of view all life is sacred, but what's the use of saving a life when living has such a limited value?

Ethics has always been one of my favorite subjects, and the example of what do you do in the case of a suicidal emergency probably still feature as one of the classical questions that young medical students are required to answer to them self.   

The "rules" that govern conscious awareness haven't changed much over the last 3000 years, and then as now it is known that when you have to act in an emergency, ethical questions cloud your ability to think clearly, which compromise your ability to perform, and has a negative effect on the outcome.   

When your intention is clear, then saving the lives that has been placed in your care demand clear thought, a sharp mind, and sure action. Making judgement calls about quality of living, living standards or life choices make our actions inefficient, our decisions questionable, and our performance incompetent. 

Strong emotions makes people's brains 'tick together'

Human emotions are highly contagious. Seeing others' emotional expressions such as smiles triggers often the corresponding emotional response in the observer. Such synchronization of emotional states across individuals may support social interaction: When all group members share a common emotional state, their brains and bodies process the environment in a similar fashion.

Researchers at Aalto University and Turku PET Centre have now found that feeling strong emotions makes different individuals' brain activity literally synchronous.

Learn more at: Synchronized Brain

Rapid-fire Media May Confuse Your Moral Compass, Study Suggests

“For some kinds of thought, especially moral decision-making about other people’s social and psychological situations, we need to allow for adequate time and reflection,” said first author Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Rossier School of Education. Humans can sort information very quickly and can respond in fractions of seconds to signs of physical pain in others.

Admiration and compassion - two of the social emotions that define humanity - take much longer, Damasio’s group found. Their study appeared online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more at: Science Daily

Haunted by a memory?

Thinking over and over about how unsafe the world is after you’ve been victimized might ultimately do your head more harm than good. Finding something positive to think about–for example, how you were able to think and act under stress, or how people supported you afterwards–can help you fit the memory into your life in a positive way. Post-traumatic growth, they call it.

In addition, it appears that writing about the thoughts and emotions connected to an event can help post-traumatic growth. (The “thoughts” part is important. Just writing about emotions attached to it is not as helpful.)

Find out more about it: PsychCentral

Do more by talking about it!

Future perfect

Reality is quite literally what we make it, which sadly these days doesn't seem to be much. Based on the weight of evidence against people having a good time I'd venture the reality we all share in media orchestrated synchrony probably compare well with Mankind's darkest yet.

Not that it is mind you, not by a long shot, but since mood is a consequence of attitude, and nothing but a choice, then your guess is as good as mine how bad it really is. That or headline news, if you care for an opinion with colloquial value for what it's worth, evidence abound that the world as we know it is worse for the wear. 

As you will see it is not a point of view that I share, or one that I care to suffer gladly. Though the state of affairs may seem to advise to the contrary I see a future of wonder ahead, a future I share with like minded kin of conscious awareness with the same dare'n do attitude I have. Where positive mood is a token belief, and working together for the greater good is a shared intention. Where reward is nothing more than a dividend of deed, and success  nothing less than the tired satisfaction of a day we done well. 

Much like the day as it was I suppose, blessed with adventure and fun, shared in the company of friends, embracing each moment, elated by what we may find.

Pack up your troubles!

While many people believe that happiness is as easy as winning the lottery, human experience will show that happiness is much more elusive than winning, power or cash, and history hold many a legendary tale of fabulous fortune and ultimate ruin.

In the past, the only tried and tested way of finding happiness lay in monastic pursuit, but somehow the habit of monks, the vows of chastity and never ending meditation never caught on, and somehow the vow of poverty could never quite make sense.

While happiness through sacrifice may feel good while you are doing it, the pleasure quickly fade in the face of our modern day living. But thanks to the research that started this journey to sense, we now have the answer again. And were it not for the fact that the secret was hiding in sight all the time, we may never have believed that it's as easy as making up our mind.

In his article that highlight the latest revelation on nature, Dumb Little Man provides his readers with the science behind the facts that make happiness a breeze. Take for example that only 20% of our reality experience is made up by perception, be that sensory or more, while a whopping 80% is preconceived and subject to choice.

It boggles the mind when you think that happiness is a decision, and in the absence of choosing it our feelings would default to any of a number of subconscious fears, assumptions, probabilities and presumption. That our live can change miraculously if we start to choose how we feel, and that lofty and noble ideas of mindful living, of being the change we want to see, of creating our own destiny and making the most out of every single moment of life are all in within reach.

If you think about it, it almost make sense, until you start living it. By living our life as nature intend, we begin to comprehend the the answer to most of the questions in life look for value and meaning, and most of the time we'd be happy to live it just as it is, if only we were happy to get it.

Got it?

Good!

More on nature, laws and such...

It seems when looking for "laws" to help in defining nature and life that this is probably not the wisest thing to do, as the mere concept of "laws" still have some wrinkles to iron out. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, three issues are especially pressing ones.

The first concerns whether laws “govern” the universe, exactly what it means to say that they do, and how that affects our understanding of lawhood.

The second is the issue of whether there are any contingent laws of nature. Necessitarians continue to work feverishly on filling in their view, while Humeans and others pay relatively little attention to what they are up to; new work needs to explain the source of the underlying commitments that divide these camps and to figure what each group is doing right.

Finally, more attention needs to be paid to the language used to report what are the laws and the language used to express the laws themselves.

It is clear that recent disputes about generalizations in physics and the special sciences turn on precisely these matters, but exploring them may also pay dividends on central matters regarding ontology, realism vs. antirealism, and supervenience.

Getting it wrong helps us to get it right!

According to the Scientific American, research has shown that people remember things better, longer, if they are given very challenging tests on the material, tests at which they are bound to fail.

The report says that a series of experiments showed that if students make an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve information before receiving an answer, they remember the information better than in a control condition in which they simply study the information. Trying and failing to retrieve the answer is actually helpful to learning.

It’s an idea that has obvious applications for education, but could be useful for anyone who is trying to learn new material of any kind.

When did you last polish your treasure?

We are lucky to have a kitchen window that faces to the west, which means that we get the cozy afternoon sun on a sunny winter afternoon like this. Add to this golden haze of light a polished crystal that dangles on a string and you suddenly transform a warm and lazy room to something that is alive and vibrant with hundreds of dancing little rain bow spots projecting on the walls, and through the doors beyond.

We lovingly refer to this time of day as fairy time, and no-one can resist giving the crystal a little twirl to marvel at the intricate dance of light and color that results from it. It is truly a wondrous site to hold, and always manages to lift my spirit and warm the cockles of my heart.

But the daily dust of living is a constant threat to this display, and we have to remind ourselves to polish it every now and then...

The value of Buddies

I just received my latest copy of the newsletter "Outside The Lines" by Michael Bungay Stanier, renowned coach and author of various self empowerment guidelines and books. In the latest issue he discusses the value of a buddy, and provides six ways a buddy can help you out. In this article I would like to propose my own reasons why a buddy is not only desirable, but absolutely essential to everything that we do.

1. To see

We are all aware that people in general are notoriously bad at relaying events that have occurred. People see what they want to see, and no matter how hard we try to be observant we often overlook the obvious and seem to be blind to anything that do not fit our perspective.

In one of the most famous experiments that illustrate this fact, a group of subjects is asked to count the number of times a ball comes into the possession of players that are clearly distinguishable by their uniform. During the exercise, a man in a gorilla suit moves between the ball players in clear sight of everyone counting, but due to their focus on counting, most of the subjects are totally unaware of the gorilla. This "blind spot" is due to the way our brains work, and it is therefore very difficult, if not impossible, to avoid.

To have someone that looks at the world through different eyes is therefore highly desirable, if not indispensable. Buddies help us to see.

2. To share

While it is true that we learn from our experiences, it is also true that we can only find the wisdom that is hidden within those experiences by sharing them with others. By sharing our own view of reality we open ourselves to new possibilities, and by listening to the views of others we begin to explore the realm of the unknown that leads to those precious moments of "Aha!".

It is through this process of sharing that our knowledge transforms into a deeper understanding of the experiences we have, and it is this understanding that opens our minds to wisdom and growth.

Buddies are uniquely qualified in this regard, providing us with the opportunity to discover new meaning through a different perspective.

3. To feel

It is a condition of life that we feel, and as much as we sometimes feel bad, we often hide such feelings behind a facade of resilience and strength. Although most of us will probably come up with a very good reason for hiding our feelings, we need to understand that such repressed emotion does nothing for our health and well-being.

Repressed emotion is a well-known cause of stress and frustration, and in order for us to release these feelings that may become obstacles to our personal development and success, we need an environment where we can be honest to ourselves.

Buddies provide us with a safe relationship where we can let go of these negative feelings without the need for understanding, or the risk of blame.

4. To enhance

Research has shown that a group of people working together towards a common goal will always achieve more than the sum of the potential of all the individuals in the group, up to a group size of seven. The reason why this is true is not clear, but studies have demonstrated that groups larger than seven lose this enhanced achievement potential.

Be it by divine blessing, natural force or the simple principle of harmony, we will always exceed expectation when we join hands to work together for the common good of all.

Buddies therefore not only help, they make us more than we are on our own.

5. To give reason

The treason of reason is a common theme in literature, and most of us can probably remember a movie where power corrupts a character to such a degree that they are left empty and alone. Such is our nature that even with the most primitive of instincts, that of survival is nothing if it cannot be shared. Just as empty as lonely success.

Buddies give us a reason to be.

6. To love

Our journey through life begin as a personal affair towards self-acceptance, forgiveness and love. It is only when we have learned to love ourselves that we begin to understand the nature of the spirit and the powerful bond that exist in the unity of love.

And when we open our heart to beat as one with another, we are ready to discover that without love there is no reason at all, and buddies are more than enough reason to love all the rest.

If you would still like to read the article by Michael Stanier you are welcome to follow this link. In fact, I would love it if you could and let me know how you think they compare. Perhaps you could share your own point of view on the value of buddies, and people who care.