This blog is mainly about coaching my own dream; that is to be living a meaningful life day by day and doing the things I dream of. Therefore, this blog is a collection of things that inspire and motivate me; my habitual meditation for a life indicated by my own internal voice without the noise of disorientating environments and unnecessary conventions; and hopefully, the gradual conquest of the concept that life is simple and beautiful.
Study of brain activity shows it struggling to process complex urban landscapes
Humans may be hard-wired to feel at peace in the countryside and confused in cities – even if they were born and raised in an urban area.
According to preliminary results of a study by scientists at Exeter University, an area of the brain associated with being in a calm, meditative state lit up when people were shown pictures of rural settings. But images of urban environments resulted in a significant delay in reaction, before a part of the brain involved in processing visual complexity swung into action as the viewer tried to work out what they were seeing.
The study, which used an MRI scanner to monitor brain activity, adds to a growing body of evidence that natural environments are good for humans, affecting mental and physical health and even levels of aggression.
Dr Ian Frampton, an Exeter University psychologist, stressed the researchers still had more work to do, but said they may have hit upon something significant.
“When looking at urban environments the brain is doing a lot of processing because it doesn’t know what this environment is,” he said. “The brain doesn’t have an immediate natural response to it, so it has to get busy. Part of the brain that deals with visual complexity lights up: ‘What is this that I’m looking at?’ Even if you have lived in a city all your life, it seems your brain doesn’t quite know what to do with this information and has to do visual processing,” he said.
Rural images produced a “much quieter” response in a “completely different part of the brain”, he added. “There’s much less activity. It seems to be in the limbic system, a much older, evolutionarily, part of the brain that we share with monkeys and primates.”
The effect does not appear to be aesthetic as it was found even when beautiful urban and “very dull” pictures of the countryside were used.
Cityscapes activate the part of the brain that processes visual complexity (PA)
Professor Michael Depledge of Exeter University, a former Environment Agency chief scientist, said urban dwellers could be suffering in the same way as animals kept in captivity. He said the move to the cities had been accompanied by an “incredible rise in depression and behavioural abnormalities”.
“I think we have neglected the relationship that human beings have with their environment and we are strongly connected to it,” he said. “If you don’t get the conditions right in zoos, the animals start behaving in a wacky way. There have been studies done with laboratory animals showing their feeding is abnormal. Sometimes they stop eating and sometimes they eat excessively. How far we can draw that parallel, I don’t know.”
The study was part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund Programme and European Social Fund Convergence Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Dr Frampton was one of the coordinators of the research, which was carried out by Marie-Claire Reville and Shanker Venkatasubramanian, of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health at Exeter University.
source: doghousediaries
source: loveisall
The Right Brain
According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks. Some of the abilities that are popularly associated with the right side of the brain include:
The left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking. The left-brain is often described as being better at:
source: sommer-sommer.com and psychology.about.com
Hal Lasko may be 98 years old, but while many of his peers devote their leisure time to shuffleboard and bridge, he has a very different passion: creating huge works of art pixel by pixel in Microsoft Paint.
While most people have long since abandoned MS Paint as an outdated graphics application, Lasko has spent the last 13 years using the program to digitally create works of art, spending up to 10 hours a day on his work. Originally a traditional painter, he switched to MS Paint full-time in 2005 when his vision was impaired by wet macular degeneration, an eye disease that causes blindness in the center of his vision. He has since created more than 150 digital works, though his blindness means he will never be able to view them in their totality.
I just bumped into this picture and message on the web and I could not help posting it
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.
If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month, get married.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody else.
Chinese proverb
Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see ourslidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it.
I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.
You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all.
Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me. Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels to begin with, the follow up assessments proved to be radically different:
The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent!
You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. It can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don’t lose any weight.
A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies, even when they saw no physical changes:
Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before.
We’ve explored exercise in depth before, and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier, as you can see in the image below.
‘Never ever give up’: US grandmother Diana Nyad, 64, swims into the record books as she becomes first person to complete mammoth 103-MILE swim from Cuba to Florida WITHOUT a shark cage
Diana Nyad completed the swim in 52 hours, 54 minutes and 18 seconds
She was put on a stretcher and given an IV as soon as she got to the beach
The swimmer achieved her life-long dream on her fifth attempt
Endurance swimmer paused to thank her team two miles from Florida
The grandmother said she is looking forward to ‘a whopping party’
President Obama tweeted: ‘Congratulations to @DianaNyad. Never give up on your dreams’
See more on Daily Mail and Diana Nyad’s personal site
My interest in the science of talent has a personal backstory. By the age of three, I’d had 21 ear infections and after an operation to remove fluid from my ears, it took me an extra step to process speech. To help me catch up with my peers, I was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder. I repeated third grade. I was sent to a special school for children with learning disabilities. I was fed a steady stream of low expectations
One day, when I was 14, everything changed. A new teacher took me aside and asked me why I was still in special education. With no prior expectations – seeing only the child in front of her – she took notice of my boredom and frustration. I remember that moment vividly, because for the first time in my life, my mind was suddenly brimming with possibility as I wondered: what am I actually capable of achieving?
As a first step, I decided to take up the cello. I approached my grandfather – an accomplished cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra – and we immediately got to work on my goal to join the high school orchestra. Right away, I became immersed in practising. Something about the cello, and the structure of classical music, seemed to gel with my brain. After just a few months of focused practice, I successfully joined the orchestra and even beat out players who had been playing years earlier.
Years later, here I am, a psychologist on the faculty at New York University, with books and scientific papers about intelligence and creativity, an MPhil from Cambridge and a PhD from Yale. Were my talents always present but unrecognised or was I just a late bloomer? Society and education tend to hold the view that talent is innate, or at the very least has to be developed while young. While my personal experiences suggest otherwise, I must admit, I’m just a single anecdote. Perhaps I’m just an outlier. So what is the evidence? What does the science actually tell us about talent?
One thing that has emerged clearly from the research is that talent and practice are far more intertwined than originally thought. A wealth of research conducted by cognitive psychologist K Anders Ericsson and colleagues has demonstrated that a deep, well-connected database of domain-specific expertise makes a significant contribution to elite performance. They have found that the breadth and depth of expertise is typically acquired through 10 years of deliberate practice, where a motivated individual constantly strives to learn from feedback, and engages in targeted exercises provided by a supportive, knowledgable mentor to push beyond his or her limits. Expert performance researchers have investigated this “10-year rule” of expertise acquisition in a wide range of fields, including medicine, professional writing, music, art, maths, physics and sports.
While deliberate practice is a large part of the story of success, it is unlikely to be the entire story. After all, what contributes to the motivation to practise in the first place? Why do some people seem to learn particular material faster than others? How come even when we take two people with the same amount of deliberate practice, there are still differences in their performance? In a recent study, David Z Hambrick and colleagues found that deliberate practice only explained 30% of the differences in performance ratings in chess and music, leaving most of the variation unexplained by other factors.
In recent years it has become clear that the 10-year rule is not actually a rule, but an average, with substantial variation around the mean. Exceptions to the 10-year rule have been found across the arts, sciences, sports and leadership. Some people take much longer than 10 years to become an expert, whereas others get to the same point in far less time. For instance, four-time Ironman triathlete world championChrissie Wellington didn’t compete professionally until the age of 30, but won her first world championship less than a year later.
These findings suggest that a concept such as talent may be required to help explain the development of high performance. But what is talent? Psychologist Dean Keith Simonton argues that talent is best thought of as any package of personal characteristics that accelerates the acquisition of expertise, or enhances performance given a certain amount of expertise. In other words, talent allows a person to “get better faster” or “get more bang for the buck” out of a given amount of expertise.
Of course, whether a unique package of personal characteristics counts as a talent depends on the domain. But even talent within a single domain can be individualised. People can mix and match their own unique package of characteristics in various ways to express the same talent. For instance, consider that the person with extremely high levels of perseverance and motivation can offset other characteristics that may be less than stellar by comparison, such as a poor memory. What’s important is the total package, not the precise mix of personal characteristics.
But how does talent develop? Unfortunately, many people have an overly simplistic understanding of talent. They view talent as innate, ready to spring forth given the right conditions. But this is not how talent operates. Gareth Bale wasn’t born with the ability to score memorable goals. Talents aren’t prepackaged at birth, but take time to develop.
Yet it’s also well known that none of these personal characteristics – from mathematical ability to courage – are completely determined by genes. Genetically influenced doesn’t mean genetically determined. Although genes code for proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of everything we do, they are far removed from anything we would recognise as talents. One of the most important discoveries in recent years is that the environment triggers gene expression. Every step we take alters the configuration of all the cells in our body. As Matt Ridley notes: “Genes are the mechanisms of experience.” Talent develops through the interaction of genes and the environment. Talent and practice are complementary, not at odds.
One key to this mystery is recognising that tiny genetic and environmental advantages multiply over the years. The kid who is slightly taller than the others, or who can read just a bit better than others, will get picked first for the basketball team, or put into a slightly more advanced reading group. Over time, the ability level of the kid who was selected for advanced instruction and the kid who wasn’t will widen. Of course, the other side of the coin is also possible, where a slight genetic or environmental disadvantage can lead a person to avoid situations where that difficulty would be revealed. Yet those are precisely the situations that would allow the person to learn how to compensate, and learn and grow. These “multiplier effects” have been investigated from a number of vantage points, including Urie Bronfenbrenner and Stephen Ceci’s bio-ecological model of abilities and chaos models in which tiny differences can lead to large differences at a later state in development.
Also frequently unrecognised, some characteristics may not even appear until a growth spurt in adolescence. So one characteristic, such as extraversion, can develop early, while another characteristic, such as speech production, may lag – which may appear awkward until the two come into harmony. The uneven development of personal characteristics ca n delay the onset of a talent, making it eventually appear to come out of nowhere.
As an analogy, think of genes like players in an orchestra. There has to be a lot of syncing for the overall symphony to sound beautiful. The players have to be in sync not only with one another in their own instrumental section, but all the different sections have to coordinate with one another. Not only that, but if the orchestra plays in a totally unresponsive environment – for example, an audience of Justin Bieber fans – the players will be discouraged from further practising and playing. Finally, the conductor is essential to this syncing up process, helping to nurture, support, and coordinate the various sections so that the overall symphony sounds beautiful.
Of course, we aren’t just passive recipients of our environment. All of us actively make choices, and these choices add up over the years. According to “experience producing drive theory”, genes indirectly influence the development of talent by motivating us to seek out experiences that in turn will develop the neural brain structures and physiology that supports even higher levels of talent. In Wendy Johnson’s formulation of the theory, this applies to all areas of individual differences, including motivation, interest, attentional focus, personality, attitude, values and quirky characteristics unique to each person. Genes indirectly pull our attention in certain directions and take us away from processing other information in the environment. We all differ in what captivates our attention, and that is determined by a lifetime of mutually reinforcing experiences as nature dances with nurture.
This more nuanced understanding of the development of talent has striking implications for our attempts to nurture talent. For one, a much wider range of personal characteristics, including conative and volitional characteristics have to be taken into consideration when judging whether a person will benefit from a particular training regime. At any moment in time, it’s possible for a talent to be absent because the person lacks interest, is feeling uninspired, or is not willing to put in the work necessary to develop the talent.
Also, since it takes time for genes to sync with one another and with the environment, some talents will be overlooked at any one moment. The talent a child displays may even transform into another talent as he or she develops and different genes become active. As Dean Keith Simonton points out, a talented artist may become a talented scientist, as different personal characteristics “kick in” at different times throughout development.
Of course, early bloomers do exist, and should be nurtured. Prodigies dazzle us with their virtuoso piano performances, quick and efficient chess moves, and imaginative paintings. While their performance would surely be impressive at the age of 40, prodigies typically reach adult levels of performance before the age of 10. These early bloomers become attracted to a domain early, and learning then accelerates rapidly. When engaged in their domain of interest, prodigies tend to focus like a laser beam, entering a state of “flow”, in which the task is effortless and enjoyable, and time recedes in the background.
Take academic prodigy Michael Kearney. Michael started talking at age four months and reading at eight months. He soaked up the elementary curriculum by the age of four, entered college at the age of six, and graduated at 10. His father, Kevin Kearney, observed that it was as though his son had a “rage to learn”. Psychologist Martha J Morelock, who has worked with prodigies including Michael, argues: “The kind of intense engagement these children exhibit is a reflection of a brain-based need to learn – a craving for intellectual stimulation matching their cognitive requirements in the same way that the physical body craves food and oxygen.”
While this is certainly part of the prodigy phenomenon, other factors undoubtedly make a contribution. Based on detailed interviews with a number of prodigies and their family members, David Henry Feldman and Lynn Goldsmith concluded that the prodigy phenomenon is the result of a lucky coincidence of factors. This includes the existence of a domain matched to the prodigy’s proclivities and interests. But it also requires a willingness to put in the hours necessary to develop the talent, availability of the domain in the prodigy’s geographical location, healthy social/emotional development, family aspects (birth order and gender), education and preparation (both informal and formal), cultural support, public recognition for achievement, access to training resources, material support from family members, at least one parent completely committed to the prodigy’s development, family traditions that favour the prodigy’s development and historical forces, events, and trends.
A closer look at the development of talent allows us to put things in perspective. While early bloomers exist, we shouldn’t dismiss the seemingly untalented. Life is not a zero-sum game. Just because one person displays talent early on doesn’t mean that others can’t burst on to the scene years later. Which is why it’s an egregious error for “experts” (such as parents or teachers) to suggest limits on what people can ultimately achieve.
Instead, we should encourage everyone to make contact with as many domains as possible, and be on the lookout for domains that activate the “flow” state. We should be aware of the fact that once anyone, whatever the age, finds the domain that best matches his or her unique package of personal characteristics, the learning process can proceed extremely rapidly as the individual becomes inspired to excel. This requires keeping the door open and instituting a dynamic talent development process where the only admission criterion is readiness for engagement. The latest science suggests we are all capable of extraordinary performance in some domain of expertise; the key is finding the mode of expression that best allows your unique package of personal characteristics to shine.
THE RIGHT STUFF
THE RIGHT PARENTS
Hungarian chess expert László Polgár wrote a book entitled Bring Up Genius where he espoused his view that “geniuses are made, not born”. He has three daughters who were all home-schooled – mainly in chess. The eldest, Susan, became the top-ranked female player aged 15 and the first woman to qualify for a men’s championship. In 2005 she was overtaken by… her youngest sister Judit, who is currently the women’s world No 1. Middle sister Sofia only managed to become sixth-strongest player in the world. All three daughters speak Esperanto. QED.
THE RIGHT STREET
In this inspiring and thought-provoking book about sporting achievementBounce, Matthew Syed talks about the mixture of chance, circumstance, practice and ability that led him to become the English No1 table tennis player. His parents had a full-size table, he had a brother of similar age to play with, a top coach was a teacher at his primary school, there was a club near his home. These “powerful advantages” did not just give him a boost, Syed notes that at the time several highly ranked English players came from his Reading estate, five alone on his street.
THE RIGHT COUNTRY
Japanese children’s mathematical ability has been put down to several factors. The language doesn’t contain illogical descriptors such as “11”, instead referring to “10 plus one” etc, which makes them easier to comprehend and calculate with. Children are taught their times tables as nursery rhymes – which are easier to remember. Many Japanese children go to “abacus club” – meaning they can multiply large numbers incredibly quickly without resorting to pencil and paper. For example, top students enter “flash anzan” competitions where 15 three-digit numbers are flashed up and the competitors have to add them. It’s common for children to do this in less than two seconds, without an abacus – faster than one or two of the numbers can be read out loud. In total these factors are thought to make Japanese kids more comfortable with numbers.
source: The Guardian
Millenium Bridge
photo credit: Pavlos Kapralos
“Mom!” When a child is born, a mom is the baby’s whole world. By the time you grow up and move away, you are your mother’s whole world. Photo #1 by Alpha Coders
because…
I might be sensitive,
I might be intelligent,
I might be mourning and mourning is part of life,
I might be dreaming of a better world,
I might have so many things to communicate but they are stuck somewhere on their way out,
I might be able to sense things that other people cannot,
I am not comfortably numb,
I am real,
I am human
“I think the only thing I can say is don’t give up. Your inner voice will find its way out. Mine did”. Carly Fleischmann
Reposted from http://brandonsuyeoka.wordpress.com/
One of the world’s most amazing love stories, happened on a mountain in China.
In a country where a man’s marriageability hinges on whether he owns an apartment, and mistresses act as a status symbol for the rich and powerful, it is not surprising that Chinese have become enchanted by a story of love at its purest and most humble. How many people in contemporary China—or anywhere else—would give up everything they have to be with the one they love? More than 50 year ago, Xu Chaoqing (徐朝清) and Liu Guojiang (刘国江) chose exactly that.
Were Xu and Liu to meet today, they would face far fewer obstacles. But in 1956, Xu was a widow with four children, while Liu was ten years younger than she. Criticism and gossip drove the couple to escape their village and start a new, arduous life high up in the mountains, in what is now southwestern Chongqing.
Not until 2001 did they come to the world’s attention again. A research team on expedition discovered a series of more than 6,000 steps carved into the steep mountainside. The stairs led the researchers to the couple, wrinkled by time but still very much in love.
These 6,000 steps were Liu’s great work of love: He carved them painstakingly by hand, in an effort spanning decades, so that his wife could safely ascend and descend the mountain. The Ladder of Love (爱情天梯) has since become well-known throughout China, inspiring television and movie adaptations, even as Xu and Liu maintained their simple mountain life. He called her his “old lady”; he was still her “young man” after all these years.
Liu continued caring for his Ladder of Love until his death in 2007, at the age of 72. Xu passed away on October 30, 2012, bringing to a close a love story that began one day in June of 1942.
First and last love
Liu Guojiang was just six years old then, outside catching crickets when a wedding procession entered his village, a place called Gaotan. Local custom held that it was good luck for children who lost their baby teeth to have a bride touch the inside of their mouth, so gap-toothed Liu approached the palanquin. He was nervous, and bit the bride’s finger. The curtain lifted to reveal a beautiful, sixteen-year old girl staring at him with a trace of anger.
“Little rascal, when you grow up, you should find a pretty girl like this!” joked a nearby woman.
Later, when people asked him what kind of wife he wanted, he told them earnestly that he wanted someone like that girl.
That girl was Xu Chaoqing, who had just married into the richest family in Liu’s village. But 10 years later, her husband was dead of meningitis, and she found herself penniless with four children, the youngest just one year old. Indigent, Xu and her children survived on wild mushrooms gathered from the woods. They could not even afford salt to season them. She wove grass sandals to sell, one pair for five pennies.
Liu to the rescue
One evening, Xu went to fetch water from the village river, carrying her youngest child on her back. In the dwindling light, Xu slipped, and they plunged into the river. Liu, who lived nearby, jumped in to save them both.
Liu had been aware of the family’s poverty, but as a stranger, he had been in no place to intervene. Now, he had his chance. After rescuing Xu, Liu helped them with all the heavy chores: Fetching water, chopping firewood, planting crops.
Three years passed, and Liu’s close relationship with Xu became the target of malicious tongues. Girls came by to scold Liu, telling him not to waste time with a widow. Xu’s in-laws were not pleased either. One day in 1956, the pressure grew too intense and Xu told Liu to stop his visits. That night, he snuck into her house to propose. The next morning, Liu, Xu, and her children disappeared from Gaotan Village forever.
Mountain life
Xu and Liu started their life in the mountains in an abandoned straw hut. They caught fish, gathered wild vegetables, walnuts, and dates, and ground leaves into flour. Behind their hut, they planted sweet potatoes and corn, though hungry monkeys were always eager for a share of the harvest.
To fend off storms and wild beasts—even tigers—the couple built a sturdier shelter. It took them more than a year to retrieve enough mud and clay from a mountain pass, and another year to fire their own tiles from a homemade kiln.
Xu gave birth to four of Liu’s children high in those mountains with no medical assistance. Her youngest child from her first marriage died, but her remaining seven children—four by Liu, three by Xu’s first husband—grew up and went to school in the world below. The couple occasionally traveled to a village market to sell honey and buy goods. But they remained adamant about continuing their mountain life, even as their children settled down in the outside world.
A tiny, steep trail provided the only link between their hideout and the world below. Though the couple’s trips out into the world were rare, Liu worried about his wife’s safety and began to hand-carve a stairway in the mountain. Over 57 years, he broke 36 steel chisels as he built 6,000 steps. “I was worried for him, but he said, when the stairs are built, it will be easy for me to climb down. But in my life I’ve hardly gone down the mountain at all,” Xu said in a 2006 interview.
Whether you are concerned about an issue of yours or just because you love psychological tests, here are some easy and simple tests to help you get a more objective picture of yourself. Enjoy!
 Eating Disorders and Emotional Eating TestIs your relationship with food mentally healthy or damaging?
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 Adventurousness TestHow adventurous are you?
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 Analytical Reasoning TestAre you a good problem solver?
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 Anger Management TestHow well do you manage anger?
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 Anger Test – AbridgedIs your temper under control?
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 Arguing StyleHow your arguing style impacts your relationships.
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 AssertivenessDo you stand up for yourself?
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 Attention Span TestDo you focus on a task or zone out?
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 Bipolar Depression QuizAre your emotional highs and lows normal?
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 Blood Pressure QuizAre you one of the 65 million Americans at risk?
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 Burnout (For Non-Service Industries)Are you pushing yourself too hard?
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 Burnout (For Service Industries)Are you pushing yourself too hard?
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 Can you be an Entrepreneur?Find out if your success lies in the business world.
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 Career AdvancementDo you have the skills and attitude to move up?
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 Career Motivation TestWhat do you need at work to be fulfilled?
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 Career Personality & Aptitude TestFind a career that suits your personality.
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 CaregivingIs caregiving the job for you?
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 Commitment ReadinessAre you ready to commit?
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 Communication SkillsAre delivering your message loud and clear?
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 ConcentrationCan you focus on the task at hand?
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photo credit: Pavlos Kapralos
photo credit: Pavlos Kapralos
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photo credit: Pavlos Kapralos
Team Hoyt is a father (Dick Hoyt, born June 1, 1940) and son (Rick Hoyt, born January 10, 1962) team from Holland, Massachusetts, who have competed together in various athletic endeavors, including marathons and triathlons. Rick has cerebral palsy and during competition Dick pulls Rick in a special boat as they swim, carries him in a special seat in the front of a bicycle, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run. Team Hoyt was inducted to the Ironman Hall of Fame in 2008. (From Wikipedia)
“Rick is my motivator; he inspires me. To me he is the one out there competing and I am just loaning him my arms and my legs so that he can compete “. Dick Hoyt, Rick’s father.
Nowadays, more than ever, people are so interconnected that social networks determine most of the aspects of their lives; from ideals and love, to information sharing and the spread of diseases. This video is not only about the prediction of epidemics through social networks’ monitoring but it also illustrates vividly the importance and the mechanism behind the spread of norms , ideas and behaviours. An implication of this is that any change in our lives is important to be based in a good comprehension of our social environment and and the selection of a good one to help us flourish.
“Happiness comes from within”…What a huge deception. Happiness comes from both outside and inside us. Otherwise we would not need anyone and anything outside ourselves. However, we live in an era that the trend is that ourselves are the only responsible for our happiness or that we have the power to change everything we want in our lives, merely by working with ourselves. This trend is a convenient truth within coaching and personal development field but in reality that is only a good way to motivate and attract clients. We cannot achieve whatever we want and that realisation put us in the right place and size within the universe.
One said (apologies for not recalling his/her name and the exact quote) something like this. …Yes, if we really want something, the universe will help us achieve it. What about those starving kids in Africa…Is it that they haven’t wanted it strong enough?…
Of course filtering and experiencing all external stimuli with a healthy and positive attitude is important. As Epictetus said: “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them”. However, we cannot ignore that happiness is affected by external factors and in some cases more than we can think actually.
So, release yourself from the guilt that you are the only one to blame for any misfortune and pain in your life. Relax and enjoy the movie of your life as there is more to come. Do not give up trying but think wider: change the world you live in -not only yourself. Sometimes the environment around us is not the ideal to flourish. We have the right to change our environment -the world- as we have the right to change our room or to play like carefree kids in a playground.
Arguments on the benefits of free work and practical piece of advice on turning your career dreams to achievable steps of action.
coaching dreams 