Pages

December 21, 2010

Is the process fun?

A serious approach to an endeavor doesn’t indicate a successful outcome, whereas, a lighthearted approach does, regardless of outcome, guarantee a positive process.

I jotted that down during an intense meeting about nothing. The air was really heavy and everyone was into making their point. Outside of that, there was no real value being produced.

Sitting there, I thought, “what if we paused and acknowledged that we obviously don’t care about a successful outcome”? Would everyone still be serious or would they lighten up a bit?

Because if we all decided to have fun in the making, even if we didn’t get anything done, guess what? We still had fun!

December 2, 2010

The Golden Rule


What's the Golden Rule and how does it apply to real life? That's how I started down this road and ended up at the Golden Ratio.

Turns out the Rule is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." A classic quote and philosophy found in almost every religion.

The Ratio, described in the picture above, appears geometrically in nature, music, architecture, art, and places you don't expect, like your face. It throws you for a curve just thinking about it, but look at any straight edge in front of you (a coffee table perhaps?) and start breaking it down with your hands the way the picture describes.

The idea has been around for centuries! Fascinating stuff.

November 22, 2010

Why Can't We Walk Straight?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/11/03/131050832/a-mystery-why-can-t-we-walk-straight

Click on the link for a fun video about why we turn in circles when blindfolded and told to walk straight. We still don't know!

They didn't mention testing blind people though, which is curious. The blind are known to strengthen their other senses, so they'd probably do better.

If we can see, so be it. If we can't, we train our other senses. So it's a conundrum why we'd study this at all. Still, the style of the video is worth watching.

November 16, 2010

What to do when you're feeling stuck

Try to let go of your resistance because whenever there is something we can’t see ourselves, it’s because we don’t want to see it. Try to listen with an open mind, and remember that you are always the final judge of what you need. Anything offered to us from an outside source will need to be processed within before its wisdom can take hold.

In all this, be kind to yourself and remember that we all get stuck sometimes. Think of it as a part of your process, a necessary step on your journey, rather than as a problem that shouldn’t be happening. This can help to keep your frustration at bay and give you the space you need to take a deep breath and really figure out what’s going on.

From: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2010/26110.html

November 12, 2010

Flash Mob


Gut-wrenching but too astonishing to tear your eyes away.

I’m constantly amazed at what people enjoy and what they can do when they work together. I’ve been on top and been the base of several two man towers before when doing bhangra. Human instinct kicks in and your legs start shaking, not because of the weight, but because of the fear. It’s exhilarating working with a group of people to do a stunt like that.

What a thrill to see group work at this scale.

Casteller from Mike Randolph on Vimeo.

November 11, 2010

The Bucket List Lie

But, then make a List Of One.

A single, meaningful action you’re going to take before the end of the day to move you one step closer to a single, deeply meaningful quest.

From: http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/the-bucket-list-lie/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JonathanFields+%28Jonathan+Fields+%7C+Awake+At+The+Wheel%29

The idea of focusing on just one thing is popular for

  • Presentations - one word/image/sentence/idea per page (think Steve Jobs, Garr Reynolds)
  • Agendas - discuss one topic that everyone can get their head around (think GTD)
  • Companies - one consistent theme that every employee echoes (think customer service, bottomline, efficiency, quality, etc.)

In all the above, concentrating on one has been shown to be a measure of progress, of eventual success.

Over the years, my daily to-do list has whittled down from 10 to 5 to 3 to just 1 thing. It’s easy to think of, easy to track, easy to accomplish and functions as a self-fulfilling reward.

Great example: working out. You go in knowing you’re going to do X exercise for a certain amount of time. Once you’ve achieved it, you’re done. It’s incredibly satisfying and motivating. You want to do it again because you know you can.

Jonathan Fields’ idea of a List of One works off the same mechanism. Start with one and take it from there. Great advice.

November 10, 2010

Social Entrepreneurship


It's great to see companies like AWeber helping to keep the internet community fun and social. I assume companies at their outset are more local and friendly, and simply due to size eventually become unreachable.

Few, like Zappos, Bungie and 37signals though have kept up their customer-centric attitude throughout.

Regardless of marketing strategy, I can't help but like this Thanks-giving attitude. October till New Years is such a beautiful time of the year.

Breathing thought into existence

When we hold a thought in our mind without being distracted, we have achieved pure thought. When we have a positive emotional response to that thought, we enable it to dance and move and breathe itself into existence.
From: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2010/26028.html

Just because...

Just because that’s how it’s always been done doesn’t mean that’s how it should be done.

A Final Cocoon - Dying at Home - NYTimes.com

“He said: ‘It’s O.K., everybody has to die. I’m here with you, let’s just focus on the now,’ ” she recalled. “He also said one of the things he had to do was finish this house, to put the windows in. We talked about going to Hawaii. He said, ‘Let’s go to Hawaii and be with God.’ In Bernd’s eye, God was beauty, God was nature, God was the flowers, the mountains, the moon and the stars, so he wanted to be outside all the time. He was not one who was going to lie in bed and die, that’s for sure.”

Fascinating and articulate read. We carry a sense of home imprinted since childhood with us from apartment to studio to house, wherever we go.

How we externalize it through design is up to us, our unique touch on an old recipe that will continue to be passed on.

Home doesn't have to be filled with just material reminders. The FEEL of a place, the essence that only we can know, is much more important. Nature, buildings, colors, woodwork, noise levels, the general hum we hear when we close our eyes. These are the elements that matter.

We reproduce in more ways than through the genes perpetuating our lineage. A sense of self carries on simply because of our presence.


From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/garden/11dying.html?pagewanted=3&_r=2

April 9, 2010

Freedom from desire...

Freedom from desire for an answer is essential to the understanding of a problem.
-Krishnamurti (via blogosophia)

March 17, 2010

Jiddu Krishnamurti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

All authority of any kind, especially in the field of thought and understanding, is the most destructive, evil thing. Leaders destroy the followers and followers destroy the leaders. You have to be your own teacher and your own disciple. You have to question everything that man has accepted as valuable, as necessary.

Having realized that we can depend on no outside authority … there is the immensely greater difficulty of rejecting our own inward authority, the authority of our own particular little experiences and accumulated opinions, knowledge, ideas and ideals.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiddu_Krishnamurti

I was completely unaware that such a thorough biography of Krishnamurti was available on Wikipedia.

It’s absorbing.

Having read most of his works, I’m curious about the process that caused him to estrange himself from the people who found him. Maharshi, Nisargadatta, and so many other gurus-who-don’t-want-followers went through something similar, resulting in a series of talks and writing that lasted a lifetime.

Their message; focusing on the now, self as teacher, and lifelong curiosity is also extremely similar.

My sense, when thinking of them together, is people who served as conduits for a powerful message. Did they have personality? Only in so much as their message would be heard. It’s hard to call it devotion. It feels more like a need when you read them. They would not be without their mission to build awareness.

January 31, 2010

Impersonal Understanding

Understanding that people are driven by innumerable motivations can help you learn to see their actions as a product of their inner selves rather than taking their behavior personally. Not taking people’s words and actions personally frees you from the need to react to them. You no longer have to perceive any negativity on their part as ill treatment, nor do you have to see their responses to you as a reflection of whether or not you said or did something wrong. Other people’s behavior and reactions cease to be a benchmark of your worth. When you choose not to take the words and actions of others personally, you can feel positive today even when surrounded by negativity.