Rethinking Childrearing

Most people believe that raising a child is a labour of love, though the dopamine bond that evolution evolved to keep a newborn alive long enough to survive in the wild usually dissapate when they reach the age of five. It is prudent to mention that in the case of a girl child, the male parent caring for her may need an intervention to restore his objectivity and regain independent autonomy over his agency. Let's face it, the older they get the creepier it gets for everyone else.

Whereas the majority of people I know think that they have a sworn duty towards their progeny or see raising them as a solmn duty or worse, think that they are responsible to instill in them a solid foundation that is rooted in tradition and good (Christian) values. The opposite is regrettably a reality that we can't deny, but since this article is about how we repair our delinquency I won't spend more time on the signs and symptoms but rather on how we can prevent the them from happening by raising them better.

Some people are under the impression that a child needs a good education. Some even think that a tertiary qualification is the only way they will ever find gainful employment without any regard for the wishes of young adults, and while college life was by far the best time in mine and millions of other young, irresponsible, hormone fuelled, cognitive impaired and impulse driven individuals together without supervision is a recipe for disaster, and a travesty given the wasted resources intended for providence but often only entrench prepuberty anomalies, or worse ends with termination of their studies due to unwanted pregnancies, bad habits, debt and responsibilities that they never would have agreed to, qualifications that is of little to no    avail, or in the majority of students enrolling for study amount to the first major failure they have to carry for the rest of their life. Setting them up for failure is probably not the intention of wards, but common sense and statiscal analysis show that young adults are impulsive, and high risk behaviour, substance abuse, and unwanted pregnancies are evaded by avoiding prepuberty pressure to choose a career and enrolling for studies well past neurocognitive maturity, or on avarage after the age 21.For all intents and purposes the opposite of our convention of supervision is called for with less growing up and more as they grow older, and the best way to counter the loss of rational ability, and contain the fallout of potential prodigies is to tire them out, keep them occupied, and wait for the rush of of puberty to pass. Giving them a licence and ample opportunity to mess up is inconsiderate, cruel and looking for trouble and ill considered.

As much as parents are complicit in the foibles, folly and misfortune of their brood growing up, so does peer pressure, expectations and social happenstance. Contrary to common knowledge healthy competition is a fallacy, success is invariably ill concieved, and happiness no more than a wish we all want, but none of us know how, why or where we may find some for our self, never mind our children. To make matter worse parents are often deluded by fads and trends, or convinced that proprietary methods and private tuition, or heaven forbid remedial or corrective behaviour interventions will remedy delinquency or bestow advantage, when their efforts are much better served by means that are age appropriate, foster age appropriate activity and encourage participation and freedom of association.  

While restructuring the education system to embrace the physical, cognitive, emotional and developmental changes that normal growth and development stages offer it is still up to us their parents to make the social changes that would afford the them best advantages possible. To thrive, prosper and procreate is taken care of curtsey of our evolutionary heratige. We are by our nature designed to adapt and prosper without providence, provided with a entity equipped with the latest upgrades, modcons and innovations available at the time our design specifications were encoded onto our genetic predecessors building on the successes and adaptations over countless of eons, uniquely equipped to make the most with the biosphere we share, to the benefit of everyone we share it with regardless of our lifestyle, circumstance, conviction culture creed or cast. It is for all intents and purpose counter productive to try and give our brood advantage above others as our nature is to find sense in mutual relevance. Pampering our progeny and spoiling our children is likely to do more harm than good, a fickle habit of convenience we choose not because it serves our needs, but to satisfy our proprietary urges and live up to expectation. Living life well is subject to the terms and conditions we can afford, vying for advantage and searching for reason and finding a vantage is seen as a means to be happy or feel sated and satisfied, we hoard treasure as proof, seek recognition and due reward, respect and trust what we have been told, we live our lives to appease our belief when we are much better of taking a leap of faith, satisfy our curiosity and follow a hunch or your nose in the persuit of fun, and would be much better off being present than planning for success, vying for advantage, searching for meaning or living up to someones else's idea of what to do to feel good.

And if that isn't reason enough for a rethink of traditional parenting styles and reconsidering our conventions about education, Anna privilege, heratidge and providence, then the evidence that show conclusive proof of interventions that can afford significant developmental advantage may be beyond belief but none the less real.

Genius vs Flow

 

The difference is obvious 

Tired of feeling down?

"Happiness is a work ethic... It's something that requires our brains to train just like an athlete has to train."

Shawn Achor 

In a groundbreaking article on happiness, Walter Chen from Lifehacker gives us the first training programme that I have seen to ever be awarded the 101aware stamp of appease. Just like awareness, it's free! Similar to perception its easy-peasy, and just like perspective it is something that needs daily practice:

- Scan for the 3 daily positives.
- Give one shout-out to someone.
- Do something nice.
- Mind your mind.

If you forget one or two don't fret about it either, try to practice at least two a day. Put them on the fridge or something. All 4 and you'll be in the swing of it in a week!

Happiness, like any potential worth isn't in the doing so much as it is in the resonance. Resonance that only occurs when there is harmony found. Harmony that only exist when there's genuine around.

Genuine is of course something that is sometimes hard to find in the world that we're living but don't let that put you off trying. Research confirm that our mind will believe anything we tell it. It's called belief, and it's the reason we put up with most of the crap that society tends to feed us in the interest of self-preservation.

If you liked the article you should try my take on serendipity.

Nine better ways to wake up!

Scientific research has shown that different people take different times to wake up, and that there are even people who only really wake up in the afternoon when most of us are getting tired and thinking of going home. But for those people who have difficulty getting out of the bed in the morning there may be hope. 

Various studies have confirmed that there are many things that we can do to make sure that we wake up in the morning.

As a bonus many of these also enhance your mood, give you more energy and lower your stress.

So if you have difficulty in waking up in the morning, and even if you don't, why not try some of the following 9 things, you have nothing to lose and it may just change your life for good!

• ensure that there are no unresolved issues of the day before you go to bed. Waking up with the knowledge that there are problems to be faced could be enough reason to stay in bed.

• change your alarm ringtone. Most people believe that they will only wake up with the loudest, worst sounding tone imaginable. While this may be true for some, most other people will wake up much better with something bright and happy.

• get up as soon as you hear the alarm. There is a reason why we do not hear people lament the woe's of getting up immediately. Just as the previous sentence is difficult to make sense of, it is difficult to understand why anyone would press snooze just once.

• sing a happy tune first thing in the morning. A simple song like "Bare nesessities" from Jungle Book can put a smile on your face and a skip in your step before any of the days worries can weigh you down. And once you are going it takes much more to slow you down.

• stretch in the morning, even before you get out of bed. Scientists have found that people who stretch are less stressed, more relaxed and more awake then those who do not.

• change your routine, or get one. Eat serial before you drink coffee or brush your teeth first thing after you get up.

• take 10 minutes of the morning and spend them outside. There is nothing that can beat the crisp morning air to clear away the fog of a nights sleep.

• tune in to your senses. Our modern day morning routines provide us with ample opportunity to stimulate all of our senses and it makes good sense. Research even proved that the smell of coffee can stimulate the brain to a wakened state in he same way as caffeine.

• do a 10 minute exercise routine each morning. Science tell us that any morning exercise that cause us to break a sweat increase our metabolism significantly for the rest of the day, and a higher metabolism means you are more awake.

Knowledge is only the key, it is up to us to turn it!

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!

What is your perception about perspective?

The entertainment and media industry would have you believe that perspective is a lot like perception, and you’d think that they should know. In the world we find ourselves today, the media hold sway over much of our collective opinion.

If you think about it, you may be guile to believe the two are similar. At face value both the words have the same structure. They have the same phonetic quality and grammatically they are both nouns.
They share a common understanding as far as intention, application and result is concerned. Both of them require us to make a choice, and together they have  same level of commitment and honesty in their use, but what sets the media apart is the fact that they use the collective mind to weave a web of truth.

Both are impossible to recognize when we have the blues, and acts or actions that lift our mood and make us laugh are rewarded with the opportunity to change our perception and find a new perspective. As sapient hominids we are one of only a handful of species that has the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, and just like all the other species of such kind we see that emotion changes our individual reality.

Interestingly enough we find that neither happy nor sad people choose to change their point of view. Sad people fail to believe that such a choice exist, and happy people do not care. Even so, the existence of these two nouns are testament to the awesome power of our mind. To be aware, to change our point of view and with it the ability to change reality.

‘Tis the season – A special Christmas message

It is the 23^rd of December and if you haven’t done so yet, your time is running out to buy that special gift. You know, that one gift you know will be perfect, if you could only find, or had the money for it?

And have you noticed how expensive everything has become, you wouldn’t think that we were recently on the brink of a global financial meltdown if you look at how much everything cost.

Then again I suppose it is just fitting that the festive season turn our focus to worth and value, almost in the same way it has throughout human history. Looking back in time there are plenty of examples, but none that come with a price tag quite as big as the feast of Saint Nick. And you can bet your bottom dollar that next year it will be worse.

So, if you find yourself caught up in the spending whirlwind that  rages at this time of the year, perhaps it is time to pause and reflect on what it is that you find valuable in your own life. What would your answer be if someone asked you what is your most valuable possession?

Nine out of ten people will say they think their life is the most important, while the remaining 10 percent will probably suggest something about love. Which is quite sad if you consider that life is cheap these days, but then again it really is not worth very much. On its own, without the freedom of a soul that know to live is life, and that life is so much more than just a single person, to be alive alone is literally worth nothing.

To be part of life we need to explore our world with innocent abandon, without the fear of change. To truly live we need to know that we are in control of everything that matter, like attitude, the ability to connect in honesty with our environment, our expectation and our ability to learn and grow. Things like resonance, peace, love and happiness are all waiting just beyond the grasp of choice.

If it was me to answer what would be the single thing I treasure most, I would have to say the moment I get to choose, and every glorious moment hence. I cannot think what anybody would want more than a moment to be, in harmony with life in all its abundance, diversity, opportunity and wonder. And what a bonus to be blessed with more!

‘Tis the season to be jolly, tra-la-la-la-la, tra-la-la-la, and in the spirit of the season my gift to you is nothing less. I’d love to hear what you’ll be doing with yours?

Calling for a revolution

When the French call for a revolution you would think that people would stop and listen. After all they have been at the centre of one of the most well known revolutions in history, and who has not heard those famous words “… let them eat cake” which started it all!

This is exactly what French President Sarkozy recently announced at the launch of a report he commissioned into the measurement of economic progress, when he called for world leaders to join in a revolution. According to the report the “Gross National Product” or GDP that is currently used to measure the health and growth of world economies is flawed, and it recommends looking at household income, consumption and wealth rather than national production for a better reflection of material living standards.

“For years, people said that finance was a formidable creator of wealth, only to discover one day that it accumulated so many risks that the world almost plunged into darkness.” Sarkozy said. “The crisis doesn't only make us free to imagine other models, another future, another world? It obliges us to do so!”

According to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz who co-authored the report, Governments’ addiction to inflating the GDP of their economies has endangered the planet by encouraging risky behavior that has led to overconsumption. And it is overconsumption that is at the root of the large scale environmental damage that is causing alarm bells to go off all over the world.

The report further advises that more prominence be given to non-market activities such as house cleaning, crime statistics, the distribution of income and wealth, as well as access to education and health. According to Stiglitz, France’s ranking would rise in comparison to the US because of better access to health care, and because it has a lower percentage of people in jail.

So far it does not look as if the rest of the world is very impressed by this “second” French revolution, but the French President is unperturbed and will be implementing measures to change the way it measures progress. It seems as if the lessons of history has not been lost on the French.

“Vive la révolution"!”

Feeling good

Have you ever been in a situation where you were having a good time and found yourself asking “Why are we having a party?” According to recent scientific research we don’t need a reason! It seems as if feeling good does not need a reason.
I do not know if you remember the very popular song “Celebrate!” by Kool and the Gang, but it reminds me of “I’ve got a feeling” by Black Eyed Peas. Both of these songs illustrate that we don’t need any reason to have a party, or to feel good.

Also have a listen to “Good Time” by Brazilian Girls.

How are you feeling today?

What are you planning for the end?

We’re going to have a party. And if you think 2012 is still far away, then may I remind you that something like a holiday cruise or religious recluse takes planning, time and money, and while time may be easy to find between now and the end of it, I can assure you that in a couple of months it’s value is going to shoot through the roof. If you haven’t heard the news then let my shortly fill you in. It’s over. The end.

Newton, a man that is perhaps a little more known for his discovery of gravity, also predicted the end of the world, but he said it would come in 2060. And since that is a little far away to start my own planning now, I’m going to go with the end as it is popularly foretold by the Mayan Calendar, and that would be 2012. At the same time it would be the perfect dry-run for the really BIG party that I am planning for 2060, if the Mayan’s got it wrong.

Considering the open-market principle that the availability of something also determine it’s value, and the law of economics that says that a commodity will get more expensive as it get’s less, then the market-worth of time is set to skyrocket any one of these day’s. Can you begin to imagine the bargains we’ll be getting at closing down sales!

Time is ticking, and the world is nervously getting ready for a market boom. Nobody is exactly sure where the strike will be, and speculation is already starting to stir? Will it come from stocks and bonds, equity or the property market, or perhaps the market share will turn to commodities or information as many would believe? Your guess is as good as mine, but I would like to think it depends more on what you value, than what it’s worth. Which bring me straight to the second thing that’s on my mind.

Money. From my point of view “You need’a the moola to get’a the groova”, and trying to cash in before the markets close for good is not going to be of much value. Then again you have to ask yourself what the value of anything would be, when tomorrow may be not .

And then there is always the possibility that everybody could be wrong, and that tomorrow breaks just like it did the day before, and like it will until it runs out of gas or we break it in a cock-up attempt to use it’s energy.

Weighing in the odd’s I think the best advice would be to throw a lavish Bon Voyage Shebang. That means venue, music, drink and entertainment, all of it to be booked and paid before the rush. And even if I get it COD, which makes perfect sense considering, just in case there is another day, I’d prefer to be in a financial position to pay my due. And then live my life in harmony and love, and peace and happiness just the way I have.

What’s your plan?

Lies, lies, lies

Take for instance the book of revelation. A book that was written by a spirit that had been preaching a message of peace and of love, and when he was banned by the authorities he retreated to a cave. It was the only shelter he could find, but then again the only shelter he would need to tell us of the things to come.

The author of the book of Revelation was John, but not the Baptist, although they did share a common bond. John was a spiritual teacher, much like many you would find in a man of his time. And to his fold and followers he spoke the word of God, interpreted it for those who were lost and searching for their soul.

And the word of John would bring peace. He would answer people’s questions about God and good and evil and forgiveness and salvation, for you see John was a man of God. A man that had, either by luck or suffering, been given a glance beyond the horizon of perspective to see the full plane of our existence. John was a man that had seen God, and with that been blessed to understand that we are much more than this, much more than we could ever understand. And that the reason for our existence would be pain and suffering if we would choose it such, or beautiful and bliss if that be what we worth. And low behold, it was.

If he was giving the people things that work, or things that made sense; if John was professing a word that’s true and pure and good, then chances are that he’d survive and even thrive. As well he should for giving people what they need. But then again, this is exactly the reason he was removed and banned from his own town.

John was only telling the truth, and giving people what they asked of him. And if people receive more good from a man like John than what they get for their taxes, you can see the reason why he was removed. Why, he was starting to cause unrest in the neighborhood and people were starting to refuse to pay their legal due. In a sense the man called John had inadvertently reached the delicate tipping point where the spirit comes face to face with establishment and people start to choose. Spirit always comes up trump.

In the face of such a show-off the establishment always get nasty and vindictive, and the spirit goes on doing what it always does in happiness and bliss. And such was the case with John, who moved into a cave and lived a hermits live of contentment and serenity. But such is the nature of the light, that once you meet the vantage point of life and what there is beyond, your life and everything makes sense. And in that sensibility there is nothing left but for you to tell of what you find.  And tell he did, the book we all know as Revelation.

My question now, and considering this, is do you think the Book of Revelation is anything but true? I think that we would all have to agree it is, at least to John it is. And John was a man who spoke of things that the people of his time considered more valuable than taxes.

Then lastly this: “Do you think the Book of Revelation is a prophesy of the end?” Do you think that he was sitting there in all his joy and love and kind, and thinking to find something that he could do in the happiness of the enlightened world he lived. And then in a flash of inspiration, and with all the creativity that tend to flow from being in a place as this, he then decides to write the horrors of apocalypse?

In time before time it was known that the truth shall set you free. Thank you for reading me, and do spend some time to make up your own mind. It is something I could highly recommend.

Rewards, rewards, rewards

(Eulogy to a man I never new, but greatly admire)

I recently heard of a man that lamented the loss of his soul, not that he had you see, but then neither did he. He thought that life was void of reward, and as a result he was ever depressed and always grumpy and pessimistic. So pessimistic in fact, that he became known as the biggest pessimist the world had ever seen.

He died alone, not because he thought he lost his soul, but because he was such a foul mouth sourpuss. No woman who deemed herself respective, indeed no person who had any drop of self respect would ever want to be seen near the old geezer. Of course there was a couple of friends, but they where the lucky souls that knew of him, before they knew him. The rest of the people never got a chance before he ignored, insulted, harassed or pissed them off so badly that they were at pains to make sure that their paths never crossed. That is, if they didn’t go to the police and demand that charges be laid.

In fact, somebody did in his early years. a woman he had harassed went to the police and opened a criminal case of assault against him. Assault against her personage and dignity was the charge, and she won the case. The court awarded her damages that the acclaimed philosopher had to pay for the rest of his life.

He was a pessimist because he believed that humanity will never be satisfied, no matter what the reward. In his eyes you see, life was not worth the effort it took to be alive. In fact, he was often heard to comment that the he could never understand why he continued to live himself. It was secretly guessed that he only did so to piss off a few more people before he died.

Even in the halls of higher learning, where much may be tolerated and offered before the altar of thinking and learning and human advancement did he find himself an outcast. After completing his thesis, a brilliant piece of work about the corruption and power of man’s will, only 5 students enrolled in the course he offered at the University of Berlin. He promptly refused to continue the class and cancelled the course in his signature style, ending the matter with a lengthy and public and pompous discourse on the knowledge and wisdom that accused the whole of the student body, in fact, the whole of the faculty, and indeed the institute of higher learning itself of corruption and sloth. He then added that he had walked through these hallowed halls long enough to see the fester that rots in this institution!” He made ‘institution’ sound dirty when he said it.

His public protest did fire the belly of some very bright and young upstarts, and not by his want or his will, but by divine intervention he became 'friends’ with some very talented people.

People like the quiet and demure scientist that struggled to get a tenure in academia, and ended up working in a patent office as an assistant examiner. He was passed over for promotion because he had not fully mastered ‘machine technology’, but ten years after his diploma he had produced such a body of knowledge that he was appointed “Professor Extraordinaire” for his theory of relativity. A theory that reconciled the laws of mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field, and introduced us to the field of quantum physics. In doing so he unleashed our own curiosity on itself, allowing us to peek into the hart of the universe, and some to venture all the way to our very soul.

People like the flamboyant composer that changed the face of music forever by abandoning the ‘happy tune’ that was then in vogue and brought to our hearts and our ear a new sound. A harmony that is richer and deeper and fuller and bigger and overwhelmingly loader than anyone could ever imagine. A symphony that reaches deep within our soul, and drags it kicking and screaming from the misery and evil that it hides, and exults it to to glorious heights of divinity where it belongs.

People who, even today are still known and revered for their contributions to the worlds of art and science and humanity. People who challenged the status quo of our existence and permanently altered the course of history. People like Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Albert Einstein, and Sigmund Freud.

And so the man who is known as the greatest pessimist in the history of human thought, the man who searched for 72 years but could not find a single reason to live left behind a legacy that bared our collective soul to our very own eyes, and then showed it to us in all it’s glorious magnificence.

That man was Arthur Schopenhauer, a grumpy old geezer who spent his whole life searching for reward and who was answered through the life’s and the work of the people he tolerated in his life.

Wherever you are old man, I would like you to thank you and let you know that you did good. And I guess since you died you already know the reason for life, but just in case you’re still out there searching for reward, I’d like to invite you to take a look at the legacy you left through your word. And if you’re still wandering somewhere alone in the misery of your own existence, then may I suggest you try a little love? It is after all the quality most often attributed to spirit, the very last of mysteries still left to man and the heart and soul of the legacy you left to us.

The pursuit of happiness

It struck me as odd when I first found scientific confirmation that we remember bad things better. If the design of the universe was based on a positive principle, and my experience constantly reaffirms me that it is, then why would we forget the happy things?

But if you take a moment and think about it, it actually makes perfect sense. The reason that we have such difficulty in remembering the joy of our journey is that fun is something you have. It implies participation, and it only makes sense at the time.

Quite the opposite is true when you look at the bad and the ugly, they exist in the past. In fact, without them our past would probably be somewhat uneventful. Not that it would matter of course! If the argument holds true we will most likely be having too much fun to care.

It is therefore no real surprise that scientific evidence has shown that the relation between fun and care is inversely proportionate to each other. This means that if you have more of the one, you will by equation, have less of the other.

So how can we get more? Mingyur Rinpoche is a Buddhist monk and the author of the book "Joyful Wisdom". He carries the distinction of being dubbed "The happiest man alive" after he participated in research aimed at showing how mindfulness meditation could increase our happiness coefficient.

Previous research had shown that there is a shift in activity from the right to the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain in subjects who were happy, and the experiment wanted to determine if purposeful meditation could achieve such a change.

It turned out to be a huge success, and after eight weeks some of the participants showed an increase of up to 800 percent in left sided brain activity by following a 30 minute a day program of mindfulness meditation.

But meditation is only one of the ways that we can increase happiness. Various other experiments has shown that anyone can put a smile on their face just by focusing on happy things, proving the age old wisdom that energy flows where the mind goes.

Those who actively pursue happiness get it, and there is at least one Tibetan Lama that can vouch for it!

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 end

At the end of a movie it is stated that there is now, at this bloated stage of our world population, enough resources for everyone's need. But not greed.

I find it an interesting concept to play with. Imagine if you will what it would be to have enough, minus the stuff we need for others to see. Enough to live a life of kings, at least as much as kings were thought by Huckleberry Finn. Enough to make life worth the toil in happiness in deed and exhilarated discovery. To live a life enough to tell your story at the nightly feast where stories shared are a source of awe to those who stayed behind to cook the meal we eat.

Have you ever thought what it would be like to live that way each day. And have you given thought to what would have to go if you should live in such a world. And what you gain, should that be what you live. Have you ever thought of what you leave behind to live your life like this. Gone the guilt and shame, gone the pain and blame. All of it gone in the blink of an eye. Have you ever thought what it would be like to leave behind such stuff?

To hear that others say there is enough right now is something that makes me smile. Just say when.

Wake up and smell the roses

If you are like me, chances are that the first time you take notice of your sense of smell is when you get home in the evening and start preparing your evening meal, although in my own case I have to admit that even then I sometimes have to be reminded before I take any notice.

The reason why we do not engage our sense of smell is that our modern day environment leaves us with very little to enjoy nose wise. Most of us are challenged since our early morning drive to work by smelly exhaust fumes and general suburban smog.
Scientific discoveries however indicate that our sense of smell is probably one of the senses that have the strongest links to memory, and that smell, together with hearing, touch and taste are important components of our ability to recall events or information.

According to an article in ScienceDaily, Dr Jay Gottfried explained that: "...rather than clumping together the sights, sounds and smells of a memory into one bit of the brain, the memory is distributed across different areas and can be re-awakened through just one of our sensory channels. This mechanism would allow human beings more flexibility in retrieving their memories."

By waking up our senses we are in fact gearing our memory and increasing our brain activity. Fortunately our daily morning routines provide ample opportunity to wake up in the true sense, and a simple way is to choose any of the activities we automatically go through every morning before starting our day. A practice like shaving gives a man a lot of opportunity for indulgent sensory delight, from the smell of the shaving cream to the bite of his after shave, and women have an even wider choice of wake-up routines to choose from.

Just a 10 minute indulgence of our senses can make a world of difference in how we start our day. Once we start our day with our senses in high gear we will find that our minds generally follow the trend set by our senses and we start to see the world much clearer. As if by magic we notice more color and feel more alive. By waking up our senses we open a whole new world of discovery, and all it takes is notice.

In a sense this kind of awakening is a lot like life itself where everything tends to go by pretty much without any excitement until we actually start to notice. When we do we suddenly find answers to questions that have haunted us for months, and solutions to problems we thought were impossible to solve. With the latest scientific research supporting the value of our senses we can no longer ignore that fact that our senses are more than just vestiges of our evolutionary past, they actually make sense!

Let it shine

If you can share the bandwith you will be glad you did. But before looking at it here, why not get the full impact of this video clip over at vimeo.

Honda Insight - Let It Shine from Honda on Vimeo.

Positive pop

This summer, join researchers, practitioners, and other interested individuals for an online exploration of the Foundations of Positive Psychology taught by leading positive psychology expert Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar through the University of Pennsylvania's College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS). This new, non-credit course will examine the history and scientific underpinnings of this intriguing field and show you how its principles have been used to enhance work and home life.

In this course, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar's weekly video lectures will explore the academic research underlying this new science. Class assignments and online interaction with Dr. Ben-Shahar and fellow students will help you formulate action steps for incorporating positive psychology into your daily routine.

Now you have three choices to guess what is being advertised:

a. A course on positive psychology? (Way too obvious of course.)

b. A exploratory journey to harmony and enlightenment? (Too floral, but probably worth exploring!)

c. Discovering your chackras' core? (Perhaps a bit technical?)

d. Learn to apply the science of happiness.

Really

Wanting what we have

Science has shown us that our brains are very good at making predictions, even to the extent that most of our daily lives are spent executing actions that are based on a predicted reality. This reality is orchestrated by a specific area in the brain that is strongly connected to our ego and our primitive instinct for survival, and with the aid of modern technology we are able to track the neural pathways that are activated through this process.

Research now tell us that our brains are uniquely adapted to adjust in response to our environment, in effect "tuning" our anticipated actions to achieve the maximum desired result. This result can be anything we want, and we have the conscious ability to program the outcome of our actions towards survival, procreation, social advancement, our any version of success, fame or fortune we have in mind. Any thing that our ego may consider would make us feel good. Anything, including feeling good.

It is interesting to note that different neural pathways are activated depending on the nature of our desired outcome, and that these pathways are the same in all of us. With the use of flow magnetic resonance imaging researchers are discovering which areas of our brain are responsible for every type of human behavior you can imagine, and by generating this "map" of brain function we are now even able to "read minds" based only on the measured activity in specific parts of the brain. But when we focus on using our senses the brain changes the way it works.

When we focus on experiencing our environment the brain has a totally different way of operating which is currently not well understood, and which involves the activation of various parts simultaneously. And according to scientific reports these synchronized flares of activity are totally different from the fixed neural pathways discussed earlier. The neural activity observed when we use our senses involve different parts of the brain that are seemingly disconnected from each other, resulting in recognizable patterns rather than pathways. This is also the pattern of thinking we see when we choose to feel good.

When we consciously choose to feel good our brains stop predicting and start working, and according to the latest research the outcomes experienced by subjects are much more positive than those where the brain is in predictive mode. Examples of the advantages observed when our brains operate in feel-good mode are numerous and includes decreased stress and anxiety, higher learning capacity and greater satisfaction.

With the scientific evidence to back, perhaps it is time that we stop trying to make sense of where we are going, and start to sense where we are. If we can believe the research we will all be much happier if we change the way we think, but first we must have the courage that change what we want.

Trippy, isn't it?

In search of joy

In search of joy.

Nirvana, or heaven as some would call it is an interesting concept. Have you ever asked yourself to imagine such a place. For many I do believe it is described as a place of absence. A place where there is no more pain and suffering. Where there are no bosses or beggars, no credit or taxes, and certainly no worries and fears.

In the mind of another the concept may be expressed by abundance. where there is lots of money and love, children by the dozen or peace, and even wisdom and happiness.

For the purpose of this discussion I want you practice a skill we often attempt but would never admit publicly. Try your hand at assumption and try to assume what it would be like to live in a state of nirvana. After you have carefully stripped your current reality of everything that is making you unhappy, and anything that frustrate or scare you, or things that may anger you or cause self doubt, add everything that you would consider to be necessary to achieve such a state of being. Then imagine what it will be like to live such a life.

Now imagine the value of what you have gained should you never have had the things you took away. With the exception of wisdom and happines, I bet the life you have imagined loses much of the appeal that you imagined nirvana would hold. Even wisdom loses value if we find a place of total bliss.

And thus it seems there is only one quality that truly define a state of nirvana, the one called joy.