Friday 31 August 2012

#177 Inspiration : Perspiration ratio

     Doesn't work often feel as if we were shoveling a huge pile of sand from one place to another, and then right back again! A large proportion of our time seems to be spent doing more or less brainless drudgery - mostly perspiration, with little creativity or inspiration. We often think that we'd love to be more creative, more in control, less constrained!
     However, the other extreme, where one's work is entirely creative, with little or no structure, such as a mystery writer, could be equally if not more stressful. Authors often have to bring strict structure into their lives in order to create. Without the structure, they'd get nothing accomplished. We've all been there.
     So the old saying about work being 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration may actually be optimal. Often times, if one does one's work mindfully, even the most common, routine work will reveal subtle patterns that are interesting and perhaps inspire innovation. Such patterns are too easily missed by those whose primary occupation, sadly, is telling themselves how bored they are, how much they hate their jobs, and when they will retire.
     Sitting meditation is an amazing practice in that it trains one to transcend conventional boredom, to discover what the silence on the other side has to teach.

"Agassiz Ice" by Gordon Reeve, Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg http://www.winnipegarts.ca

Thursday 30 August 2012

#176 Ideas, Concepts, Limitations

     While sitting in meditation, but of course also at other times, we have the opportunity to observe our self-talk. Much of this mental chatter is judgmental - "I like this", "I don't like that", "This tastes delicious", "I hate that dress." This is our (reptilian) brain stem's approach-avoidance reflex at work - useful at the subconscious level, but tedious as far as conversations go.
     We also tell ourselves "I've always been good at sports", "I've never been good at spelling", "I can't eat mushrooms - they always give me indigestion", "I could never do that - I can't handle stress."
     If we heard someone else say these things about us, we'd be upset for being unfairly categorized into a box, a prison. We'd feel like a caricature, an exaggeration of our foibles. It would be a form of prejudice. Yet, we take such self-talk seriously. Can we question our life-long assumptions? Can we at least hold them more lightly?

     "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."           Henry Ford

Canadian Museum for Human Rights, Winnipeg

Wednesday 22 August 2012

#175 Promoting (vs postponing) Transformational Learning?


     “the closeness of death brought about an awakening and a disclosure of life and its value among the women (with breast cancer). Life suddenly becomes more beautiful, valuable and worth fighting for. The transformation of one’s life perspective seemed to encourage introspection, resulting in an increased awareness of personal needs and desires as well as of the meaning of life. But it also places greater demands on a person to make certain resolutions, accept greater responsibility for his/her life and to be true to oneself. The struggle to adopt a new and less limited life paradigm based on desires and values requires creativity, courage, and creative forces and could be seen as a sign of the person’s ability to live in health. Supportive relationships are of decisive importance in the individual’s struggle for a new life. When one’s previous life style and habits or lack of support prevented the realization of one’s new resolves, suffering resulted and the patient felt as if she was stuck in a rut. To be in the flood of renewed openness and awareness of existence truly challenges the person’s expansive and creative forces.
         Arman M, Rehnsfeldt A. Living with breast cancer - a challenge to expansive and creative forces. Eur J Cancer Care 2002; 11(4): 290-6.

Photo: Jan_N   www.dpreview.com

Tuesday 21 August 2012

#174 Stuck? There IS a way out AND someone CAN help you!

     We've all seen overviews of individuals hopelessly lost, stuck in a maze. Because of our vantage point - the big picture - the way out or desired destination is clearly possible.
     It's sadly common for people to get stuck on life's journey. Many live 'lives of quiet desperation.' Yet there are far greater possibilities than Freud's neurosis or 'ordinary unhappiness'! Unfortunately, adhering dogmatically to ANY worldview - even "clever nihilism" - gives one a highly addictive sense of pseudo-control. Like all addictions, the control is fake, benefits short-lived, yet hard to outgrow.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."                    Hamlet, William Shakespeare


     Isn't life all about taking turns being stuck in a maze and finding one's way out, then having learned the overview, the bigger picture, we can help others out? Sometimes we require the help of therapists to extricate ourselves from the maze. But therapists themselves may suffer from, and require outside help for, the very conditions they treat in others.

     "When we accept the possibility of all things, ... then all things become possible. Trust builds a bridge between the known and the unknown and then allows us to temporarily cross into the other world. Faith does not manifest itself as acceptance of some dogma; instead it involves a willingness to go past the current limits of our knowing. The new world (ie that yielded by transformation) may not be revealed or reached without surrender and faith.”

       Hart T. "From information to transformation. Education for the evolution of consciousness." Peter Lang Publishing, NY, 2009.

     SEE ALSO: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/03/87-approach-embrace-challenges.html
     AND: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/03/85-phoenix-process.html



Sunday 19 August 2012

#173 Wisdom - a realistic goal

     “Some strengths … are relatively less common among youth than adults: authenticity, open-mindedness, perspective, leadership, forgiveness, and spirituality. These strengths may simply require cognitive and emotional maturation in order to appear, but the relevant processes might be speeded along by deliberate intervention.
     Other character strengths … are relatively more common among youth than among adults: creativity, teamwork, hope, persistence, zest, and modesty. They seem to be eroded during the journey to adulthood, and perhaps these strengths are worthy targets for intervention, although the general strategy here would be to keep them from decreasing rather than building them from scratch.
     Rather than trusting to the passage of time and the occurrence of chance to produce a handful of wise people, our society should do all it can to make happiness, good character, and eventually wisdom a realistic legacy for all.”
         Ferrari M, Potworowski G, eds. “Teaching for Wisdom: Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Fostering Wisdom.” Heidelberg: Springer. 2008. 

Photo: Bill Robinson   www.dpreview.com

Saturday 18 August 2012

#172 Adapt & Flourish ... or perish

     Our current situation globally is being described as an actual or imminent crisis. This is not CNN's 'newsentertainment' drivel, nor 'end of the world - repent!' ravings. A wide variety of intelligent, thoughtful, caring people are voicing an urgent call to profoundly shift human behavior. This of course depends entirely on an equally profound shift in each individual's consciousness.
        Ramo JC. "The Age of the Unthinkable. Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us and What We Can Do About It." Little Brown & Co, NY, 2009.
     There was a previous global crises of this magnitude - for dinosaurs, which had dominated the earth for 135 million years. Dinosaurs failed the challenge of adapting to changing environment - "Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event" 65.5 million years ago. (Wikipedia) 

     Humans are intelligent, but too often behave in stunningly foolish ways - hence the current crises. A very good example: the intelligence, ingenuity and hard collaborative work required to build the Titanic AND the hubris and bewildering foolishness to ignore massive icebergs. Great intelligence sabotaged by stunningly foolish behavior is the history of mankind. 
       Sternberg RJ et al. Teaching for wisdom: what matters is not just what students know, but how they use it. London Review of Education 2007; 5(2): 143-58.      

     It seems that humans must experience a "disorienting dilemma", even a total "shipwreck", before seriously considering a new way of thinking and acting - transforming. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Our current world view (framework for living) has to collapse - we have to hit rock bottom - before we wake up and consciously attempt to adapt to new realities.
     Fortunately, we have several bodies of literature documenting how humans CAN & DO FLOURISH under the most extreme circumstances. Not all humans adapt - some react dysfunctionally: pretend nothing's happening, become nihilistic, cynical etc. But those who can adapt, do so regardless of how challenging the circumstance. They learn, and literally transform themselves.

     Transformative learning - the process whereby individuals engage in critical reflection to develop new perspectives, skills, & behaviors:
      1) disorienting dilemma experienced - a life event causes the learner to pause & question underlying beliefs & assumptions
      2) critically reflect on the disorienting dilemma to expose the learner’s limitations & areas for improvement
      3) address these limitations by acquiring new knowledge, skills, or attitudes.
      4) become transformed - have fresh perspectives & powerful means for enacting improvement.

     Wittich CM et al. Perspective: Transformative learning: a framework using critical reflection to link the improvement competencies in graduate medical education. Acad Med 2010; 85(11): 1790-3.

Photo: Engberg   www.dpreview.com

Friday 17 August 2012

#171 Adults Continue to Learn & Grow

     “the primary purpose of adult learning is transformative learning that leads to growth and empowerment”
     While we might see ourselves as being 'perfectly rational', we are in fact 'perfectly human' ie primarily motivated by emotions. 
     Left unchallenged, or not fully understood, our attitudes and beliefs are major barriers to appropriate decision-making and behavior.
        Matthew-Maich N et al. Transformative learning and research utilization in nursing practice: a missing link? Worldviews Evid Based Nurs 2010; 7(1): 25-35. 

“transformative learning is a process whereby individuals engage in critical reflection to develop new perspectives, skills, and behaviors.
the process begins with experiencing a disorienting dilemma, which is a life event that causes the learner to pause and question underlying beliefs and assumptions.
The next and perhaps the most important phase is critically reflecting on the disorienting dilemma to expose the learner’s limitations and areas for improvement.
The learner then addresses these limitations by acquiring new knowledge, skills, or attitudes.
Ultimately, these newly developed skills will transform the learner by providing him or her with fresh perspectives and powerful means for enacting improvement.” 
         Wittich CM et al. Perspective: Transformative learning: a framework using critical reflection to link the improvement competencies in graduate medical education. Acad Med 2010; 85(11): 1790-3.

Photo: David Boston   www.dpreview.com


 

Thursday 16 August 2012

#170 Winners & Losers ??

     Seeing Usain Bolt's behavior at the recent summer olympics made me fear for his future. This was the high-point in this self-proclaimed legend's life - and now what? All I could think of was Bruce Springsteen's song "Glory Days" (below).
     On the other hand, when Jared Connaughton took ownership of causing his Canadian team's loss of the bronze medal in the 4x100 meter run, I felt that this may be a temporary low-point, but that he has what it takes to continue maturing into a progressively finer human being over a lifetime.
     If one is fixated on the hope that "if only I can have X, then I'm guaranteed happiness", then of course Bolt is a "winner", Connaughton a "loser", end of story. This type of rigid, goal-oriented, perfectionistic, black-or-white mindset aims to control life - but of course can't.
     Externals are impossible to fully control, may not be obtainable regardless of one's efforts, lose their appeal sooner or later even when we do manage to obtain them, etc. Putting all of one's hopes on externals is sadly deluded and a terrible burden on everyone.
     One's character or quality of being is the only thing that one has good control over and that can progressively grow or mature. 
     Mindfulness is about embracing and working with reality as it really is, not as we desperately wish it were.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

#169 Time for wisdom, conscience, ethics ...


     "Omar Bradley, an American World War II field commander and later chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, lamented in a 1948 Armistice Day speech: 'The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.'"
        Frimer JA et al. The integration of agency and communion in moral personality: Evidence of enlightened self-interest. J Pers Soc Psychol 2011; 101(1): 149-63.

Photo: David Lazar   www.smithsonianmag.org

Monday 13 August 2012

#168 Effort in Moderation - Right Effort

     "Following your breath is not effortful. When you find yourself making an effort, you are adding to something that is already complete. Try giving your focused, alert awareness 50 percent less effort. The effort is brought simply to the intention and action of becoming still, so that the silt may begin naturally to settle in the stillness of the mind, like water becoming clear. Coming home is letting go, allowing resistance to drop away as it softens in the mind of breathing. Is it effortful to let go? Letting go is already dropping effort." 

        Murphy S. Upside-down zen. Finding the marvelous in the ordinary. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006.    - a truly wonderful book - highly recommended


     “Remember, this is not a mental struggle – it is not about thinking differently; rather it comes from getting out of our heads and into our bodies – that is, into the physical experience of the present moment.”                  Ezra Bayda


Photo: Alessandra Meniconzi    www.smithsonianmag.com

Sunday 12 August 2012

#167 Agency, Maturation, Communion

     "Agency entails motives to advance the self within a social hierarchy: achievement, social power, or material wealth. ... Communion is expressed as benevolence to familiar others, or a more universalized concern for the well-being of disadvantaged, distant others, or the ecological well-being of the planet.
     ... dualism between self-interest and the dictates of one’s moral code may be typical for most persons; however, ... (moral) exemplars are an exception to this rule. ... they defy this dualism by integrating their personal ambitions with their moral convictions, yielding a state of 'enlightened self-interest'
     ... enlightened self-interest underlies virtuous behavior, wherein the best way to promote one’s own interests is by advancing the interests of others, and vice versa. ..."
        Frimer JA et al. The integration of agency and communion in moral personality: Evidence of enlightened self-interest. J Pers Soc Psychol 2011; 101(1): 149-63.

     As we mature psychosocially our ego boundaries become increasingly more porous; our frame of reference shifts. We increasingly identify with and care more about humanity and the universe (becoming allocentric & ecocentric); and are naturally less & less egocentric. See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2012/08/adult-psychosocial-development.html


     “When self-concern is quiet, heaven and earth lie open in complete generosity. That is the mind of abundance, the mind of flowing. When self-concern is noisy, the world is narrow and risky, and resources for the anxious self appear perennially scarce.”


        Murphy S. Upside-down zen. Finding the marvelous in the ordinary. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 2006.


     Intentions to meditate shift from self-regulation, to self-exploration, and finally self-liberation.
See:

Photo: Blake Shaw   www.smithsonianmag.com

Saturday 11 August 2012

#166 Implicit understanding


     “Even though humans are more committed to language than other animals, we use more than words in every aspect of engagement with our lives. We are intricately and intimately connected with others and with the world, and most of these connections happen alongside, beneath, and in other spheres than the words we say and the propositions we formulate. We know how to say some things, and how to make claims and test them. This sort of knowledge – propositional knowledge – has been often understood as the only form of knowledge worth thinking about. We also know otherwise – we understand things that cannot be or are not spoken, and we may suspect that this form of understanding is important. In this book, I attend to this second form of knowing, which I call ‘implicit understanding.’ I argue that various forms of knowing otherwise than propositionally are vital to current possibilities for flourishing, expressing dignity, and acting.
     I have two main aims: first to delineate the differences and the connections among four sorts of implicit understanding, and second to show how they are crucial to personal and political transformation. Indeed, it is often at points of transition that the work of implicit understanding is most palpable – when people shift their gender enactment, when they take up new political orientations, when they aim to create new social relations.”
       Shotwell A. Knowing otherwise. Race, gender, and implicit understandings. The Pensylvania University Press, PA, 2011.   http://alexisshotwell.com/


Photo: Petrus I   www.dpreview.com

Friday 10 August 2012

#165 Concepts, State of being, and Teaching

     In egalitarian societies, if one thinks s/he understands a concept, such as mindfulness, and has perhaps read a book on the subject or has sat in meditation a few times, then s/he assumes that s/he should be able to teach mindfulness. Perhaps it's the "see one, do one, teach one" idea from medicine.

     In reality, there are qualitative changes that occur in the state of being of a person who's spent quality time in meditation retreats and decades of continuous mindfulness practice, on and off the cushion. The guidance such an individual can provide should be significantly more grounded than from one who really only has a beginner's enthusiasm.

Photo: TClair   www.dpreview.com

Thursday 9 August 2012

#164 Shifts in State of being

     Canada and the US have egalitarian (vs hierarchical) societies. We assume that most folks are in the same IQ range as us, and therefore apprehend information in much the same manner as ourselves. This is well-meaning, but unrealistic.
     Each person is born at different levels of actual and potential psycho-social-spiritual levels, from sociopaths to enlightened beings, but mostly in-between. So we start out with a certain genetic inheritance (DNA, nature, karma), then the effects of "nurture" (environment) kick in - parents, relatives, teachers, food, shelter, media, work, marriage, illnesses, pollution, aging, etc.
     A ten year old who's experienced years of chemo for cancer may be "an old soul" - more advanced psycho-social-spiritually than the average 30-year-old. An adult who's undergone several major life events eg death of loved ones, personal life-threatening illness / accident, etc and has come out of it grounded, loving and open is fundamentally different from the person s/he was before these events - s/he's now had several post-traumatic growth spurts. These are qualitative, fundamental changes in state of being.

     Longstanding meditation practice elicits similar quantitative as well as qualitative shifts in consciousness. Over time, as one's practice matures, so does the ability to understand at deeper and deeper levels, and to behave with increasing appropriateness.

Photo: Werli Francois   www.dpreview.com


Tuesday 7 August 2012

#163 Paradigms - useful until we outgrow them

     While life is going well for us, we're generally grateful - certainly not inclined to change anything. However, when life is rough, we tend to have second thoughts about who we are (self-concept), and even what life's all about (worldview). Indeed, one's self-concept and worldview are interdependent means of making sense of life - keys to our happiness. 
     Periodically, devastating things happen to all of us - death of loved ones, loss of relationships, loss of jobs or homes. During such "shipwrecks" our old paradigms of reality no longer hold, so we have to come up with a brand new self-concept / worldview combo to make sense of life and seek happiness. So life as it is now again makes sense according to this new self-concept / worldview, but this too is temporary, this too is but a provisional simple static model of an infinitely-complex, constantly-changing universe.

Reading and reflecting at the Harvard Coop, Cambridge MA

Friday 3 August 2012

#162 Cheating to "win"

     Yesterday, two badminton teams were kicked out of the Olympics for blatantly 'throwing' matches so as to gain advantage in later games. Today, many spoke up about the fact that such tactics have been going on for a long time, so yesterday's punishment seems to have been for poor acting skills.
     Civilized societies have explicit and implicit rules of behavior. Society works harmoniously, like one big living organism (which it basically is), when members (like individual cells in the organism's body) communicate and collaborate openly and fairly with each other, following the same single set of (physiological) rules. Rogue individuals, whether cheating on taxes or spraying people with bullets, are equivalent to cancer cells in an organism. The justice (immune) system is designed to find, rehabilitate or eliminate those who can't play by the rules.
     It's scary and sad how much drive, effort, and energy there is behind individuals who cause mayhem. Even after they're caught and convicted, their blame-shifting continues (Lance Armstrong). Imagine if all the energy from hackers, Wall Street embezzlers, arms dealers, 0%-mortgage criminals, pick-pockets, and other predators could be channeled into civilized human activities ...
     No individual's drive towards personal wealth and fame, no matter how fervent or even rabid, can be allowed to trump civilized society's collective welfare. Moral outrage alone is insufficient. If one can't play the game according to civilized rules, s/he must be removed from the game until s/he's ready to play fair. Loopholes must be scrupulously eliminated, perpetrators caught and re-educated. Primitive self-centered antisocial acting out is a cancer to perpetrators and society alike. Justice means restitution and rehabilitation.

Photo: dozo0   www.dpreview.com

Thursday 2 August 2012

#161 Externalizing vs Integrating

     "externalization is an unconscious defense mechanism, where an individual 'projects' his own internal characteristics onto the outside world, particularly onto other people. ... [an] overly argumentative [person] might instead perceive others as argumentative and himself as blameless."

     Don't we also externalize moral authority? When we do something that goes against our own long-term interests, don't we tend to pretend that we're disobeying, cheating or otherwise offending someone else? Isn't this just a way of trying to avoid responsibility for behaving irrationally?

     Mindfulness is about becoming CONTINUOUSLY conscious. Even when we're about to do something that goes against our own long-term interests, we should try to do so consciously, with eyes wide open. In this way, we will be conscious of the 'short-term gain, long-term pain' chain of events that we're initiating, and thus will clearly learn to make more reasonable choices in the future. 
     Consciously-examined, mature core values based on decreasing suffering, and increasing happiness for all, are essential to uphold, not because of some potential future punishment vs reward by an external agent, but because it's rational, observable.
     The universe is like one single living creature. An individual living according to the above values is akin to a healthy cell functioning physiologically, harmoniously, while an individual who ignores these values is akin to a cancer cell causing destruction.
     Being conscious and mature is living physiologically in the universe - its laws ie simply the way things work - organically integrated with how we live our lives.

Photo: gptan   www.dpreview.com