Starman
I really love movies especially those with memorable, quotable lines. Do you remember Starman with Jeff Bridges? At the end of the movie he tells the Karen Allen and Charles Martin Smith characters something I never forgot.
It had to do with human beings and what is good about us...."when things are at their worst, you are at your best".
After 9/11 the country was cohesive and ready to be mobilized to take on whatever challenges were to follow. We were afraid and we were pissed. We waited for the government to do something to use this huge potential energy. And what did we get? Nothing.
Oh, we got war, we got the patriot act, we got hours waiting in lines at airports....but no direction from Washington about how to use this enormous energy to make our country better and safer. And so it dissipated virtually untapped.
The same thing may be happening now. Every newscaster in this country and abroad is talking about the crisis and coming calamity. So is the President.
One of the purposes of fear is to move us to action. Except we don't have a sense of direction...where to go, what to do. Lots of fear, lots of potential energy, no direction for its positive use. Not a recipe for a successful outcome.
Y2K (oh no!)
Let me take you back a very short time to the late 1990's when everyone was concerned about Y2K. There was considerable concern and even fear in many quarters. And those feelings were held by credible people who created the programs.
What was done with that fear and all that potential energy? It was turned into action.
Companies formed teams to understand and remediate the problems and build contingency plans. So did organizations of every kind including towns and cities. Local groups sprang up all over the country to consider the impact on their local communities and to set up contingency and continuity plans including how to help senior citizens or the disabled if electricity was lost, how to get food for everyone and how to keep order, etc. etc.
The point is: No one sat back and waited the Federal Government to direct them. People actually thought about how to build resilient organizations and communities. Most of these were grass roots efforts and partnering between local businesses and the communities.
Useful lessons were learned. Including that many disparate groups could come together for the common good without having to have a program from Washington.
Today, there are ideas for solutions coming from lots of places. I consider ideas from non-legislators or govt. officials to be grass roots. For example, check out Jim Cramer's ideas for solving the mortgage crisis on CNBC or his website www.thestreet.com. I am not espousing his solution only providing this as an example of ideas coming from 'grassroots'.
And we are waiting for....
After 9/11 we waited for the government. And now we are waiting again. Wrong decisions.
Just as with Y2K, we have to come up with our own 'local' solutions. There is a role for government just as there is a need at times for antibiotics. But government is neither the savior nor the solution...we are. So we need to stop looking exclusively to them and start looking closer to home.
"When things are at their worst, we are at our best."
What can we do, individually, collectively to help ourselves and others in this situation?
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Few Ways to Deal with the Fear's Discomfort
Fear, real or imagined, can cause us to become inhibited. Think of it like the "flight or fight response" that is a natural part of our instinctive behavior.But there is an additional response....do nothing. An inhibition causes us to be constrained, blocked, held back, in other words, similar to the deer in the headlights...stand still, don't move, play dead....
We all have a smorgasbord of inhibitions and fears that are so much a part of our lives that we don't even consciously pay attention to them, except when we want or have to do something that bumps against them. For example, we go along on our merry way each day until lay offs begin...and we begin to fear losing our job, and we fear looking for another one, we don't want to do the search, or the interviews or have to get to know new routines and people. And what might we be feeling? We feel like running. We feel like hiding. We might even feel like taking a swing at someone. But we don't do any of those things. We "stand still". We have 'inhibited' certain behavior but all of the physical reactions are still churning in our body and because they have not been released they continue to churn. At this point we really don't know if we will lose our job. Our thoughts are creating the fear and these physical reactions.
We have all seen on PBS the scene of an animal who escapes death. What you may not have noticed is the "shake off" when the animal is safe. It is literally shaking its whole body. It is dispelling some of that 'flight or fight' energy.
We have to do something like that too or the anxiety builds and continues to build over time. It is there in every muscle and organ of our body.And it affects, to one degree or another, all the areas of our life.
3 techniques to deal with the discomfort related to fear?
Many if not most of these inhibitions and fears are learned over time. We need to use our marvelous brains to unlearn the old 'mistaken programming'.
Techniques for Dealing with the discomfort--
1. warm-ups...singers do this all the time before a performance; so do musicians, athletes and others; What kind of 'warm-up' would help to calm you down while at the same time pump you up?
2. exercise...anxiety causes lots of 'energy' and it helps to dissipate the anxiety energy by exercising... What kinds of exercises would you like to do that would help to transform this energy?
3. practice/practice/practice...depending on what the fear/inhibition is, e.g., if a person has to give a presentation and they are fearful, practicing the presentation many times, with huge gusto, way 'over-correcting', being excessive in expression, will not only dissipate the anxiety energy but turn it into performance energy (notice that I avoided the use of negative and positive energy...) and will increase confidence related to this activity.
We all have a smorgasbord of inhibitions and fears that are so much a part of our lives that we don't even consciously pay attention to them, except when we want or have to do something that bumps against them. For example, we go along on our merry way each day until lay offs begin...and we begin to fear losing our job, and we fear looking for another one, we don't want to do the search, or the interviews or have to get to know new routines and people. And what might we be feeling? We feel like running. We feel like hiding. We might even feel like taking a swing at someone. But we don't do any of those things. We "stand still". We have 'inhibited' certain behavior but all of the physical reactions are still churning in our body and because they have not been released they continue to churn. At this point we really don't know if we will lose our job. Our thoughts are creating the fear and these physical reactions.
We have all seen on PBS the scene of an animal who escapes death. What you may not have noticed is the "shake off" when the animal is safe. It is literally shaking its whole body. It is dispelling some of that 'flight or fight' energy.
We have to do something like that too or the anxiety builds and continues to build over time. It is there in every muscle and organ of our body.And it affects, to one degree or another, all the areas of our life.
3 techniques to deal with the discomfort related to fear?
Many if not most of these inhibitions and fears are learned over time. We need to use our marvelous brains to unlearn the old 'mistaken programming'.
Techniques for Dealing with the discomfort--
1. warm-ups...singers do this all the time before a performance; so do musicians, athletes and others; What kind of 'warm-up' would help to calm you down while at the same time pump you up?
2. exercise...anxiety causes lots of 'energy' and it helps to dissipate the anxiety energy by exercising... What kinds of exercises would you like to do that would help to transform this energy?
3. practice/practice/practice...depending on what the fear/inhibition is, e.g., if a person has to give a presentation and they are fearful, practicing the presentation many times, with huge gusto, way 'over-correcting', being excessive in expression, will not only dissipate the anxiety energy but turn it into performance energy (notice that I avoided the use of negative and positive energy...) and will increase confidence related to this activity.
Friday, September 5, 2008
The Greatest Grassroots Outcome in the History of the World
What do Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc. have in common???
One of the best things they have in common are that they grow based on the 'grassroots' interest of friends, family, kindred spirits and in some cases foes, as well.
But what does "grassroots" really mean?
I like to think of it as bubbling up from the ground...all those zillions of grassy blades with their roots twiggling and in unison growing together to fill a field or a countryside.....or a country. Some growing a little faster than others but all joined in to make the field.
What was the greatest grassroots outcome in the history of the World???
The United States of America.
It is the greatest outcome. And the greatest grassroots effort that allowed
it to unfold was the American Revolution.
Imagine what George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Jefferson, etc. would have done with Twitter? Or Myspace?
Our world is changing and we are right in the thick of it. How exciting and how humbling.
Good and strong voices, like those who are part of Barbara Sher's programs ( http://scanneratplay.blogspot.com ) and others need to part of grassroots efforts that improve our country and our world.
We are the grassroots and when we speak our message from our hearts....others of like mind will join in the conversations....and our roots will grow.
Grassroots, as the name implies, is about cooperation. Lots of points of view, many differing, lots of conversation.
Bruce Lipton, in his book, the Biology of Belief, describes that the real message of evolution is not competition for survival but cooperation! And those organisms that cooperate effectively survive.
Our bodies (which includes our brains) are made of 50 Trillion wonderfully cooperative cells. All twiggling away, without our intervention, to make it all work.
I love it.
So let's bring our 'groovy brains' so filled with wonder and our 50 trillion cooperative cells into this brave new grassroots world. Let's add to the 'happening' that is unfolding in joyous addition.
What do you say?
One of the best things they have in common are that they grow based on the 'grassroots' interest of friends, family, kindred spirits and in some cases foes, as well.
But what does "grassroots" really mean?
I like to think of it as bubbling up from the ground...all those zillions of grassy blades with their roots twiggling and in unison growing together to fill a field or a countryside.....or a country. Some growing a little faster than others but all joined in to make the field.
What was the greatest grassroots outcome in the history of the World???
The United States of America.
It is the greatest outcome. And the greatest grassroots effort that allowed
it to unfold was the American Revolution.
Imagine what George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Jefferson, etc. would have done with Twitter? Or Myspace?
Our world is changing and we are right in the thick of it. How exciting and how humbling.
Good and strong voices, like those who are part of Barbara Sher's programs ( http://scanneratplay.blogspot.com ) and others need to part of grassroots efforts that improve our country and our world.
We are the grassroots and when we speak our message from our hearts....others of like mind will join in the conversations....and our roots will grow.
Grassroots, as the name implies, is about cooperation. Lots of points of view, many differing, lots of conversation.
Bruce Lipton, in his book, the Biology of Belief, describes that the real message of evolution is not competition for survival but cooperation! And those organisms that cooperate effectively survive.
Our bodies (which includes our brains) are made of 50 Trillion wonderfully cooperative cells. All twiggling away, without our intervention, to make it all work.
I love it.
So let's bring our 'groovy brains' so filled with wonder and our 50 trillion cooperative cells into this brave new grassroots world. Let's add to the 'happening' that is unfolding in joyous addition.
What do you say?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Once I was Abled....
Inspired by Rachel...
Please read the following in your very best RAP voice....you've got to get the rhythm going...Ready?
Once I was Abled but now I am Dis,
My Mo used to Jo when I was a kid,
Got to unlearn all dis bad jive,
And let the Best in me come Alive!!!
My friend, Rachel, has a little trouble seeing....with her eyes, that is. Her heart is wide open and 'sees' like an Eagle soaring overhead. And to help her to walk, she has a white cane she has named "Able".
Most of us have trouble seeing in other ways. The 'head' ways. Why is that? Well, we got programmed at a very, very young age....Have you heard any of these phrases?
"NO. I said No. You can't do that. You can't have that. You are not being responsible. Stop it! (Repeat that one 10,000 times) You never listen."
"You don't....."
"You shouldn't ...."
"You never ...."
"You always.....
"Why do you have to be that way?"
"Why can't you be like..."
List goes on and on.
Look, our parents job when we were toddlers was to feed us and keep us alive. And hopefully, help us to walk and talk someday. (Notice, I did not say 'teach' us...we taught ourselves.) And, speaking for myself, I did not make those tasks easy for my parents.
I was busy doing what any toddler is Born to Do!!! And what is that?
LEARN !
Be a sponge and soak up learning. Be curious, be tenacious and persistent....every hour of every day. 24/7 and occasionally sleep. And did we learn? We learned to walk, eventually....didn't that take 50 Million tons of persistence? and to Talk and to hold things and to recognize faces and then the names that go with the faces. We were learning machines. Just as God and nature intended us to be.
We were busy 'grooving' our brain...building those neural networks...making connections...collecting and 'filing' inputs from every source in our vicinity. When you really think about how much a baby/toddler learns in just 24 months, it is truly miraculous. And that is us. Everyone of us.
And what about our poor parents?
Our parents job was to keep us alive while we learned. To occasionally get some of the food that we found so fascinating and interesting and quite an excellent artistic medium, into our stomachs....getting it into our mouths was not a guarantee of the reaching the 'stomach' goal.
In all this glorious learning....we picked up some things that, after that early critical 'keep the kid alive' stage...didn't serve us as well.
Remember that list?
All the nos and the can'ts and the you better nots? And then there were the really bad ones...the "I can't believe a child of mine could be so dumb...or irresponsible...or uncoordinated or what will people think" or whatever the words were.
And so, over time, all of these words, spoken with lots of emotion in the moment, became deeply embedded...because we were nothing if not awesome learning machines with brain power that absorbed everything. Including the meanings of those words, phrases and emotions directed toward us. Every negative, inhibiting one.
But here is the thing....when we were learning all of the good things...the walking and talking and speaking; we were ABLED.
And it all came from within!
That is the glorious thing!! The persistence it took to learn to walk? Think how many times a toddler falls down in that learning process. That is inborn. And that look of Joy when they are successful? From right inside. And the clapping the hands together in Glee when they do something they like? Yep, you got it. Right inside.
Our parents Never said "oh, Johnny, you should have more persistence in learning to walk." Would that have mattered? No.
And as toddlers, we didn't say, "Heck, forget this walking stuff. I have tried standing and I keep falling down so forget it. I am done. Walking is just not for me." Please... The motivation came from within not without.
And our parents helped to ABLE us and also to Dis-Able us. NOT intentionally but to keep us alive.
But here is the MOST important thing.....WE WERE ALREADY ABLED !!!
We came into the world that way. With all the persistence, determination, joi d'vivre, confidence, excitement, desire...you name it and it was there. AND Brain Power to learn all the things that we needed to learn.
So now it is our job to ABLE OURSELVES!
to unlearn the negatives. And to re-learn those EN-Abling Attitudes. To let them out, basically. To uncover them, dust them off and maybe dance a little with them. Doesn't that sound fun? Like when we were kids and danced ring around the rosy...although I am up for a good cha cha or jidder bug these days. And maybe sing a song with them. Get to know them. They have been there all along. They know us better than we know ourselves. Ask them..."so exuberance what shall we do today to make us happy?"
Look, I know it sounds kind of goofy, (um, ok, not kind of....) but let's try it...what do we have to lose but years of baggage and inhibitions that have kept us from expressing all the, honest to gosh, Joy that exists every single day within.
And I promise you it can work...because our Brains are Plastic, malleable, Able....able to be re-programmed...
So I am now going to turn on some music....I don't have Mozart handy so Jimmy Buffett will have to do...and I will work on some Abling.
And every day that my friend, Rachel, reaches for her cane, I know she is ABLING herself too, because she has been Abled right from the start...
How have you been Abled? How have you been Dis-Abled? How can we stop being active in our own Dis-Ablement and be active in our own Abling?
What do you think? And...
This subject and more is what my friend, Rachel, is exploring in her blog. Check it out at: http://whynotrachel.wordpress.com
Please read the following in your very best RAP voice....you've got to get the rhythm going...Ready?
Once I was Abled but now I am Dis,
My Mo used to Jo when I was a kid,
Got to unlearn all dis bad jive,
And let the Best in me come Alive!!!
My friend, Rachel, has a little trouble seeing....with her eyes, that is. Her heart is wide open and 'sees' like an Eagle soaring overhead. And to help her to walk, she has a white cane she has named "Able".
Most of us have trouble seeing in other ways. The 'head' ways. Why is that? Well, we got programmed at a very, very young age....Have you heard any of these phrases?
"NO. I said No. You can't do that. You can't have that. You are not being responsible. Stop it! (Repeat that one 10,000 times) You never listen."
"You don't....."
"You shouldn't ...."
"You never ...."
"You always.....
"Why do you have to be that way?"
"Why can't you be like..."
List goes on and on.
Look, our parents job when we were toddlers was to feed us and keep us alive. And hopefully, help us to walk and talk someday. (Notice, I did not say 'teach' us...we taught ourselves.) And, speaking for myself, I did not make those tasks easy for my parents.
I was busy doing what any toddler is Born to Do!!! And what is that?
LEARN !
Be a sponge and soak up learning. Be curious, be tenacious and persistent....every hour of every day. 24/7 and occasionally sleep. And did we learn? We learned to walk, eventually....didn't that take 50 Million tons of persistence? and to Talk and to hold things and to recognize faces and then the names that go with the faces. We were learning machines. Just as God and nature intended us to be.
We were busy 'grooving' our brain...building those neural networks...making connections...collecting and 'filing' inputs from every source in our vicinity. When you really think about how much a baby/toddler learns in just 24 months, it is truly miraculous. And that is us. Everyone of us.
And what about our poor parents?
Our parents job was to keep us alive while we learned. To occasionally get some of the food that we found so fascinating and interesting and quite an excellent artistic medium, into our stomachs....getting it into our mouths was not a guarantee of the reaching the 'stomach' goal.
In all this glorious learning....we picked up some things that, after that early critical 'keep the kid alive' stage...didn't serve us as well.
Remember that list?
All the nos and the can'ts and the you better nots? And then there were the really bad ones...the "I can't believe a child of mine could be so dumb...or irresponsible...or uncoordinated or what will people think" or whatever the words were.
And so, over time, all of these words, spoken with lots of emotion in the moment, became deeply embedded...because we were nothing if not awesome learning machines with brain power that absorbed everything. Including the meanings of those words, phrases and emotions directed toward us. Every negative, inhibiting one.
But here is the thing....when we were learning all of the good things...the walking and talking and speaking; we were ABLED.
And it all came from within!
That is the glorious thing!! The persistence it took to learn to walk? Think how many times a toddler falls down in that learning process. That is inborn. And that look of Joy when they are successful? From right inside. And the clapping the hands together in Glee when they do something they like? Yep, you got it. Right inside.
Our parents Never said "oh, Johnny, you should have more persistence in learning to walk." Would that have mattered? No.
And as toddlers, we didn't say, "Heck, forget this walking stuff. I have tried standing and I keep falling down so forget it. I am done. Walking is just not for me." Please... The motivation came from within not without.
And our parents helped to ABLE us and also to Dis-Able us. NOT intentionally but to keep us alive.
But here is the MOST important thing.....WE WERE ALREADY ABLED !!!
We came into the world that way. With all the persistence, determination, joi d'vivre, confidence, excitement, desire...you name it and it was there. AND Brain Power to learn all the things that we needed to learn.
So now it is our job to ABLE OURSELVES!
to unlearn the negatives. And to re-learn those EN-Abling Attitudes. To let them out, basically. To uncover them, dust them off and maybe dance a little with them. Doesn't that sound fun? Like when we were kids and danced ring around the rosy...although I am up for a good cha cha or jidder bug these days. And maybe sing a song with them. Get to know them. They have been there all along. They know us better than we know ourselves. Ask them..."so exuberance what shall we do today to make us happy?"
Look, I know it sounds kind of goofy, (um, ok, not kind of....) but let's try it...what do we have to lose but years of baggage and inhibitions that have kept us from expressing all the, honest to gosh, Joy that exists every single day within.
And I promise you it can work...because our Brains are Plastic, malleable, Able....able to be re-programmed...
So I am now going to turn on some music....I don't have Mozart handy so Jimmy Buffett will have to do...and I will work on some Abling.
And every day that my friend, Rachel, reaches for her cane, I know she is ABLING herself too, because she has been Abled right from the start...
How have you been Abled? How have you been Dis-Abled? How can we stop being active in our own Dis-Ablement and be active in our own Abling?
What do you think? And...
This subject and more is what my friend, Rachel, is exploring in her blog. Check it out at: http://whynotrachel.wordpress.com
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
What are Goals for?
The real question is "How do Goals Align with our Brain/Mind?"
Are our Brains natural goal seekers? Perhaps from our hunter/gatherer roots?
And if it is in our "natural programming", how can we tap into this 'naturally' to achieve those things we would like to accomplish in our lives?
Do 'goal seeking' and 'resistance' balance each other?
If so, How do they get out of sync such that people are so afraid that they won't seek most goals beyond sustenance?
When you think of something that you would like...let's make it simple...not a huge goal...how about lunch. Now think about the lunch you would like. Here is what I am thinking.....hmmm, how about a nice juicy burger with sharp cheddar cheese, crunchy lettuce and ripe tomato, fresh onion, a dash of garlic powder, ketsup and mustard on a hot toasted bun...YUM. ok, a cold beer might be nice too.
Could you picture that burger in your 'mind's eye'? could you almost smell it sizzling? did you notice your mouth watering???
When we think of something we would like...our body changes. Our imagination created all kinds of great pictures and our body responds 'just as though it were real'....what a great capability! As far as we know,no other creature on earth has this ability. We picture something and see how we 'feel' about it before exerting the effort to achieve it. If we don't like what we 'see' we can modify the picture.
And try it out for size.
Being able to imagine what we would like can create motivation and putting a plan in place to make it happen.....achieving the goal.
Just one of the many great features we humans come pre-packaged with!!
What do you think?
Are our Brains natural goal seekers? Perhaps from our hunter/gatherer roots?
And if it is in our "natural programming", how can we tap into this 'naturally' to achieve those things we would like to accomplish in our lives?
Do 'goal seeking' and 'resistance' balance each other?
If so, How do they get out of sync such that people are so afraid that they won't seek most goals beyond sustenance?
When you think of something that you would like...let's make it simple...not a huge goal...how about lunch. Now think about the lunch you would like. Here is what I am thinking.....hmmm, how about a nice juicy burger with sharp cheddar cheese, crunchy lettuce and ripe tomato, fresh onion, a dash of garlic powder, ketsup and mustard on a hot toasted bun...YUM. ok, a cold beer might be nice too.
Could you picture that burger in your 'mind's eye'? could you almost smell it sizzling? did you notice your mouth watering???
When we think of something we would like...our body changes. Our imagination created all kinds of great pictures and our body responds 'just as though it were real'....what a great capability! As far as we know,no other creature on earth has this ability. We picture something and see how we 'feel' about it before exerting the effort to achieve it. If we don't like what we 'see' we can modify the picture.
And try it out for size.
Being able to imagine what we would like can create motivation and putting a plan in place to make it happen.....achieving the goal.
Just one of the many great features we humans come pre-packaged with!!
What do you think?
What If....Our Mind had a Body?
We typically think of our Body having a Brain which we equate with Mind.
But if Mind is an Energy Field that intermingles with...entangles with...engages with the Brain, the physical engine,
in order to simultaneously influence and experience the physical world within and
around us.....
then it is not a very big leap to the concept that it is the Mind which exists and has a Body rather than the other way 'round.
What a combo! Mind utilizing Brain and Body. What a force to be reckoned with! This is not something for us to try to 'control' but to consciously learn to 'work with'....to understand its enormity and power AND it is us!
We live on top of a mighty mountain and don't know it....because we have never seen the mountain from a distance. We have been so close like ants walking on the leaves of a gorgeous garden but never really seeing the garden
But if Mind is an Energy Field that intermingles with...entangles with...engages with the Brain, the physical engine,
in order to simultaneously influence and experience the physical world within and
around us.....
then it is not a very big leap to the concept that it is the Mind which exists and has a Body rather than the other way 'round.
What a combo! Mind utilizing Brain and Body. What a force to be reckoned with! This is not something for us to try to 'control' but to consciously learn to 'work with'....to understand its enormity and power AND it is us!
We live on top of a mighty mountain and don't know it....because we have never seen the mountain from a distance. We have been so close like ants walking on the leaves of a gorgeous garden but never really seeing the garden
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Mind? Brain? which is which?
Are the Mind and Brain different words for the same thing??
This is a great subject and should generate lots of ideas and opinions...and more posts!
My opinion is: I don't think so.
The glorious Brain with all of its amazing circuitry and neuropeptids and networks is kind of like the Hardware and the Mind is kind of like the Software. Ok, I know it is not a good analogy. But it's the best I've got at the moment.
For example, The Mind utilizes the capabilities of the Brain to create things that never existed....to see the end result 'in the Mind's Eye'...to imagine something that is not there and make it so. There were no 'neural networks' for that particular creation until the Mind began the process.
But here is part of the problem.
We have such a 'separatist' mentality that we want two very separate and distinct entities. I don't think that is how Mind/Brain is. They are very interwined. If you think of the Brain as an Energy machine and the Mind as an Energy Field and that they 'overlap' and interwine and even share energy, perhaps that is closer to what I am thinking.
What do you think??
This is a great subject and should generate lots of ideas and opinions...and more posts!
My opinion is: I don't think so.
The glorious Brain with all of its amazing circuitry and neuropeptids and networks is kind of like the Hardware and the Mind is kind of like the Software. Ok, I know it is not a good analogy. But it's the best I've got at the moment.
For example, The Mind utilizes the capabilities of the Brain to create things that never existed....to see the end result 'in the Mind's Eye'...to imagine something that is not there and make it so. There were no 'neural networks' for that particular creation until the Mind began the process.
But here is part of the problem.
We have such a 'separatist' mentality that we want two very separate and distinct entities. I don't think that is how Mind/Brain is. They are very interwined. If you think of the Brain as an Energy machine and the Mind as an Energy Field and that they 'overlap' and interwine and even share energy, perhaps that is closer to what I am thinking.
What do you think??
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