#707 Choosing To Change

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#494 We Know We're Heading the Wrong Way When ...

     How many times have we been upset, and someone gives us what on one hand sounds like reasonable advice, yet it feels really irritating? How many times have we seen a little kid upset, and the parent tries to reason with the kid, which, instead of soothing, makes the kid hopping mad? We absolutely HATE it when the (blind) momentum of our emotions is not supported - when our ego is not stroked. Emotions are like grease fires, and reason is like water - the two don't mix well. One has to take responsibility for one's own grease fire. Getting mad at the person bringing the water is called externalizing. Getting mad just adds grease to the fire & adds to subsequent embarrassment.

     It's very useful & practical to remember that when we're upset, we tend to be unreasonable, and prone to do things we'll regret later. So if a friend's advice feels really irritating, it's probably GOOD, reasonable advice!
     If the advice sounds like music to your ears ie ego-boosting, your adviser is likely also emotionally-involved, & equally unreasonable! Hitler, Lenin, Bernie Madoff, and other such characters likely had all sorts of advisers - which ones did they listen to - those who upset them with reason OR who boosted their egos by telling them they're on the right track, go for it? "And how did that work for them"?

     Wise advice about "Coping with a Career Crisis" from Robert J. Sternberg PhD: http://chronicle.com/article/Coping-With-a-Career-Crisis/144191/

didge_mack   www.dpreview.com

#475 Mindfulness Research - Not So Simple

     The therapeutic alliance hangs on the patient's firm belief in the healer's intention & ability to heal and that her method is reasonable & effective. The ideal healer's every thought, word & action intentionally nurtures this relationship.

     This critical psychosocial component of all healing modalities should be intentionally maximized, not eliminated. Mindfulness can be seen as a healing modality - a path out of suffering towards wholeness. From a less medical and more developmental point of view, mindfulness can be seen as a way of consciously nurturing the maturation of one's own consciousness.
     Many researchers would like to use a scientific / medical model for studying mindfulness. Yet, unlike drugs & surgeries, which have significant "material" components, mindfulness has almost none. The "active ingredient" of mindfulness CANNOT be reduced to some molecule. It is NOT a simple cause & effect (nor is anything that simple in medicine). The actual process of engaging with mindfulness practices IS what brings about transformation & healing. So the advice below may not apply at all to mindfulness research.

     "Observational studies have a high risk of bias owing to problems such as self-selection of interventions (people who believe in the benefits of meditation or who have prior experience with meditation are more likely to enroll in a meditation program & report that they benefited from one) & use of outcome measures that can be easily biased by participants’ beliefs in the benefits of meditation. Clinicians need to know whether meditation training has beneficial effects beyond self-selection biases & the nonspecific effects of time, attention & expectations for improvement."

       Goyal M et al. Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being. A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Intern Med. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018 Published online January 6, 2014.

Mystical Boat by Odilon Redon

#466 Timelessness?

     Linear time may seem quite rational. Timelessness may be something you experience as equally if not more reasonable, in time. Yes, both time and timelessness.

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/