tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37042505469768584262023-11-16T11:08:25.406+00:00Passive ObserversOdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-7227241848470457252016-04-08T23:15:00.000+01:002016-04-08T23:15:09.772+01:00Speech: Tomislav Perko - How to travel the world with almost no money <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R7vmHGAshi8" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />Many people daydream about traveling the world, but all of them have the same excuse - lack of money. Tomislav, after traveling the world for years with almost no money, shows how it is possible for everyone to do the same, if they really want to.<br /><br />Tomislav Perko, 29, is a travel writer from Croatia. After a career of a stockbroker, broke because of the financial crisis, he hits the road and turns it into his home. He uses alternative ways of traveling – hitchhiking, couchsurfing, working/volunteering, and manages to wander around the world with just a little bit of money in his pocket, meeting the most amazing people on the way.<br /><br />Five years later, he publishes a book “1000 Days of Spring” and goes around giving lectures about what it means to live on the road. Find out more on his website: <a href="http://tomislavperko.com/en/">http://tomislavperko.com/en/</a>.<div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-71511554959085504472016-03-24T16:56:00.000+00:002016-03-24T16:56:13.900+00:00Video: Reasons to Remain Single<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/350qUmbcAZU" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />The pressure to be in a relationship, and the suggestion that anyone who isn’t in one is weird and pitiable, has very bad consequences for us all, forcing people into choices they shouldn’t necessarily have to make. <div>
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<a href="http://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/all/">http://www.theschooloflife.com/</a></div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-40611417252927232592016-01-05T05:35:00.001+00:002016-01-05T05:35:37.821+00:00Video: Carl Sagan - Who speaks for Earth?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WnAQQ4StnEg" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-79792806927248306252015-12-05T17:13:00.000+00:002015-12-05T17:13:15.773+00:00Video: Hans Rosling - The Overpopulation Myth<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eA5BM7CE5-8" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Hans Rosling is a Swedish medical doctor, academic, statistician and public speaker. He is Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute and co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software system.<br /><br />In this talk 'Don't Panic - The Truth About Population' he comprehensively dispels the Human overpopulation myth which has been introduced into the subconscious mind of viewers of mainstream broadcasted media communications over the past thirty years.<br /><br />Whilst the information in this video is credible, remain vigilant with respect to individuals because other viewpoints held by them might not be.<br /><br />Hans Rosling:<br /><br />Wiki - <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Rosling">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Ro...</a><br />Gapminder - <a href="http://www.gapminder.org/">http://www.gapminder.org/</a><br />Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/HansRosling">https://twitter.com/HansRosling</a><br />LinkedIn - <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/hans-rosling/5/4a6/b90">https://www.linkedin.com/pub/hans-ros...</a><br />IMDb - <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2617375/">http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2617375/</a><br />Amazon - <a href="http://alturl.com/ept6w">http://alturl.com/ept6w</a><div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-4095585330684145392015-12-02T18:00:00.000+00:002015-12-02T18:00:50.026+00:00Speech: Paul Gilding - The Earth is full<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DZT6YpCsapg" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Paul Gilding suggests we have, and the possibility of devastating consequences, in a talk that's equal parts terrifying and, oddly, hopeful.<br />
<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-72610202079895978182015-11-20T02:14:00.000+00:002015-11-20T02:14:22.634+00:00Speech: Stuart Firestein - The pursuit of ignorance<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nq0_zGzSc8g" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />What does real scientific work look like? As neuroscientist Stuart Firestein jokes: It looks a lot less like the scientific method and a lot more like "farting around ... in the dark." In this witty talk, Firestein gets to the heart of science as it is really practiced and suggests that we should value what we don't know -- or "high-quality ignorance" -- just as much as what we know.Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-43887776961757532202015-09-27T13:51:00.000+01:002015-09-27T13:53:34.636+01:00Article: Optimistic People All Have One Thing In Common, They’re Always Late<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/optimistic-people-have-one-thing-common-always-late/1097735/" target="_blank">Original Article</a> by <a href="http://elitedaily.com/users/jhaltiwanger/" target="_blank">John Haltiwanger</a> for <a href="http://elitedaily.com/" target="_blank">Elite Daily</a> - Sunday 19, September 2010</span><br />
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I woke up at 6 am this morning, three hours before I’m supposed to be in the office, and was still 10 minutes late to work.</div>
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This is pretty standard for me. I’m almost always a few minutes late. I don’t mean anything by it, and I certainly don’t think I deserve a different set of rules than everyone else — it’s just the way I am.<br />
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I wake up early and try to fill the time before I leave for the office with as many activities as possible: a short workout, breakfast, catching up on the news, daydreaming while struggling to put my socks on, etc.<br />
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I’ll look at the clock and think, “Oh, I still have plenty of time.” One or two tasks later, I’ve only got 40 minutes to get to work and a 45 minute commute.<br />
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This has been the case with every single job I’ve ever had and is typically true when it comes to social meetings as well. I’m habitually unpunctual, and apparently I’m not alone.</div>
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As management consultant Diana DeLonzor <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03career.html?_r=0">states</a>:<br />
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<i>Most late people have been late all their life, and they are late for every type of activity — good or bad.<br />Surprisingly little scientific research has been done on tardiness, but some experts subscribe to the theory that certain people are hardwired to be late and that part of the problem may be embedded deep in the lobes of the brain.</i></blockquote>
So if you’re chronically late, I feel for you and sympathize with the onslaught of criticism you likely receive on a consistent basis.</div>
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I know you’re not a lazy, unproductive, inconsiderate or entitled person. I know you’re not attempting to insult anyone by your tardiness.<br />
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Your lateness is simply a consequence of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/psychology-lateness_n_4229057.html">your psychology and personality</a> — nothing more, nothing less.<br />
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With that said, while those of us who are continuously tardy should work to overcome this trait, there are also hidden benefits.<br />
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<b>Chronically late people aren’t hopeless, they’re hopeful.</b><br />
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People who are continuously late are actually just <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/business/yourmoney/03career.html?_r=0">more optimistic</a>. They believe they can fit more tasks into a limited amount of time more than other people and thrive when they’re <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/we-know-why-youre-always-late-1422900180">multitasking</a>. Simply put, they’re fundamentally hopeful.<br />
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While this makes them unrealistic and bad at estimating time, it also pays off in the long-run in other ways.<br />
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Researchers have found optimism has a myriad of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/optimism-health-benefits_n_3230715.html">physical health benefits</a>, from reducing stress and diminishing the risk of cardiovascular disease to strengthening your immune system.<br />
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Indeed, happiness and positivity have been linked to a <a href="http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/05/29/optimism-laughter-may-bring-long-life">longer life in general</a>.<br />
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Maintaining a positive outlook is also vital to achieving personal success. <a href="http://elitedaily.com/money/choosing-happiness-greater-productivity-success/958954/">Research shows</a> happiness increases overall productivity, creativity and teamwork in the workplace.<br />
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All of this makes a great deal of sense, as a study conducted at <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/publication/247502552_Individual_Differences_in_Attentional_Strategies_in_Multitasking_Situations">San Diego State University</a> has also connected lateness with Type B personalities, or people who tend to be more laid-back and easygoing.<br />
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In other words, people who are habitually late don’t sweat over the small stuff, they concentrate on the big picture and see the future as full of infinite possibilities.</div>
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<b>Time is relative, learn to live in the moment.</b><br />
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We should also note punctuality is a relative concept. Time and lateness mean different things in different cultures and contexts.<br />
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In the United States, we often interpret lateness as an insult or a sign of a poor work ethic.<br />
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When people are late, it’s assumed they feel their time is more important or valuable. Americans believe time is money and money is time.<br />
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But if you head over to Europe, it’s almost as if the notion of time magically mutates each time you enter a new country.<br />
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In Germany, the land of perpetual efficiency, punctuality is of the utmost importance.<br />
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When Russian President Vladimir Putin was late to a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for example, she left because <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/21/germans_on_time_punctuality_or_punktlich_really_is_important_in_germany.html">that’s how Germans roll</a>.<br />
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If you venture over to Spain, however, you’ll find time has taken a completely different character. The Spanish run by their own clock and are famous for eating dinner at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/world/europe/spain-land-of-10-pm-dinners-ponders-a-more-standard-time.html">10 pm</a>.<br />
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Sail on down to Latin America, and you’ll discover punctuality bears<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/11/travel/tr-insider11">little to no importance</a>.<br />
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The point here being, we all do things our own way.<br />
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It’s fair to contend unpunctuality is bad for economic growth and that schedules are vital to maintaining efficiency.<br />
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But when we look at the fact Americans work extensive hours yet exhibit <a href="http://elitedaily.com/money/why-americans-need-to-go-on-vacation-more/902582/">low levels of productivity</a>, this argument feels somewhat empty and void.<br />
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As both societies and individuals, we all need to find the healthy balance between punctuality and lateness. Schedules are important, but breaking them isn’t the end of the world.<br />
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People with a tendency for tardiness like to stop and smell the roses, and those with a propensity for punctuality could learn a thing or two from them (and vice versa).<br />
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Life was never meant to be planned down to the last detail. Remaining excessively attached to timetables signifies an inability to enjoy the moment.<br />
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Living in the present is vital to our sanity. Sometimes it’s much more beneficial to <a href="http://elitedaily.com/money/entrepreneurship/science-winging-successful-people-go-flow/901660/">go with the flow</a>.<br />
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We can’t spend all of our time dwelling on the past or dreaming of the future, or we end up missing out on the wonderful things occurring around us.</div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-32812176796972410262015-06-12T17:23:00.000+01:002015-06-12T17:23:45.954+01:00Speech: Christopher Ryan - Are we designed to be sexual omnivores?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LJhklPJz9U8" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />An idea permeates our modern view of relationships: that men and women have always paired off in sexually exclusive relationships. But before the dawn of agriculture, humans may actually have been quite promiscuous. Author Christopher Ryan walks us through the controversial evidence that human beings are sexual omnivores by nature, in hopes that a more nuanced understanding may put an end to discrimination, shame and the kind of unrealistic expectations that kill relationships.<div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-9159704123092581312015-01-20T17:18:00.000+00:002015-01-20T17:18:45.545+00:00Interview: Jean Leidloff - The Continuum Concept<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yff0eL74tGE" width="420"></iframe><br />
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<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-86949370682340095842014-10-31T14:17:00.000+00:002014-10-31T14:17:47.151+00:00Speech: Alan Watts - Q&A Session<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sgAC0zyGnrg" width="420"></iframe>Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-65344536216696609052014-10-22T01:20:00.000+01:002014-10-22T01:21:37.514+01:00Interview: Edward Snowden - The New Yorker Festival<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fidq3jow8bc" width="560"></iframe>
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The New Yorker Festival presents Edward Snowden in conversation with Jane Mayer.Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-30711661019295678442014-10-10T18:10:00.000+01:002014-10-10T18:10:04.992+01:00Speech: Glenn Greenwald - Why privacy matters<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pcSlowAhvUk" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />Glenn Greenwald was one of the first reporters to see — and write about — the Edward Snowden files, with their revelations about the United States' extensive surveillance of private citizens. In this searing talk, Greenwald makes the case for why you need to care about privacy, even if you’re “not doing anything you need to hide."<br /><br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-67178264961300855572014-07-09T17:53:00.000+01:002014-07-09T17:53:27.304+01:00Speech: Peter Lovatt - Dance, thinking, hormones<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-kCZZp3u_xE" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />Dr Peter Lovatt is an academic Psychologist and a Dancer.<br /><br />Dr Peter Lovatt is a Reader in Psychology and a Principal lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, where he heads the Dance Psychology Lab. Before starting on an academic career Peter was a professional dancer.<br /><br />Peter studied Theatre and Creative Arts at East Herts College before training in dance and musical theatre at the Guildford School of Acting. Peter was trained in Cecchetti ballet (Angela Hardcastle) and National dance and Pas de Deux (Robert Harold). Peter also studied jazz, tap, historical and contemporary dance. After graduating Peter worked in most of the UK's number 1 theatres and on the international dance circuit. He was a member of George Mitchell's Minstrel Show, worked with choreographer Ray Cornell, and performed in panto at Richmond Theatre.<br /><br />Peter left full time theatre to study Psychology and English at Roehampton Institute, and graduated from the University of Surrey. He then took an MSc in Neural Computation from the Centre for Cognitive and Computational Neurosciences at the University of Stirling (funded by a SERC scholarship), and did his doctoral research in the department of Psychology at Essex University (funded by a University Teaching Fellowship). In 1998 Peter joined the Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics, at Cambridge University, as a Senior Research Psychologist. After a spell in industry, as a Principal Research Scientist for a speech-based R&D company, he joined Kingston University, where he was the co-ordinator of the Psychology Research Unit and Deputy Head of the School of Social Sciences. Peter joined the School of Psychology at Hertfordshire in September 2004.<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-17759246467869111862014-06-05T13:09:00.001+01:002014-06-05T13:09:25.001+01:00Speech: Dan Gilbert - The psychology of your future self<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XNbaR54Gpj4" width="560"></iframe><br />
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"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished." Dan Gilbert shares recent research on a phenomenon he calls the "end of history illusion," where we somehow imagine that the person we are right now is the person we'll be for the rest of time. Hint: that's not the case.<br />
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-43610036542716278572014-05-24T12:55:00.000+01:002014-05-24T12:55:31.643+01:00Speech: Brené Brown - Listening to shame<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/psN1DORYYV0" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown, whose earlier talk on vulnerability became a viral hit, explores what can happen when people confront their shame head-on. Her own humor, humanity and vulnerability shine through every word. (TED)<div>
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A truly inspiring, touching talk!</div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-70624708383235632262014-05-21T16:54:00.000+01:002014-05-21T16:56:41.719+01:00Article: The Creative Space of Play (D.W. Winnicott)<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://onluminousgrounds.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/the-creative-space-of-play/">Original Article</a> for <a href="http://onluminousgrounds.wordpress.com/">On Luminous Grounds</a> - Sunday 19, September 2010</span><br />
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The great British psychologist D.W. Winnicott believed playing serves as the basis for creativity and the discovery of the self. All human culture, including not only the arts, but science and religion as well, are not diminished but more fruitfully understood and cherished and cultivated when understood as what they are: highly developed forms of playing.</div>
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What is playing? Playing, says Winnicott, is first of all something that happens in the interface between our inner world and external reality. Taking place neither strictly in our imagination, nor in the truly external world (ie. all that is out of our control), playing happens in that space where our imagination is able to shape the external world without the experience of compliance, climax, or too much anxiety. (He points out how a high degree of anxiety can accompany play and yet it will remain “essentially satisfying”: however, “there is a degree of anxiety that is unbearable and this destroys playing” [Playing and Reality, 70].)<br />
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Examples of what playing is not:<br />
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<b>Playing is not compliant.</b> Playing cannot happen when a person feels acute pressure to perform in some mandated way, or to live up to any standard, or to be consistent, or to make sense, or anything else. (Playing by definition allows for the bringing out of the self into the outside world some “sample” of inner or personal reality, in order to shape portions of external reality set according to these “samples”.)<br />
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<b>Playing has nothing to do with any climax of instinctual arousal.</b> Rather, “playing can be said to reach its own saturation point, which refers to the capacity to contain experience” (70). Playing is not the climactic satisfaction of any instinctual drive, but a freely creative activity within which the one playing has the capacity to remain in this state of freedom.<br />
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<b>Playing cannot involve too much anxiety – ie. fear.</b> Playing can be very frightening, and contain a great deal of anxiety, but at a certain point the level of fear/anxiety destroys the playing.<br />
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What does playing do? At the most rudimentary level, playing offers the experience of a “non-purposive state” (74). It opens up a space of trust and relaxation in which the need to make sense — to defend oneself — is absent, so that genuinely free association can happen. It is out of this state alone, Winnicott claimed, that “a creative reaching-out can take place” (75, emphasis his). Therefore, though creative adults (in whatever space they occupy) are cultivating their world in very sophisticated ways compared to an infant, it should be acknowledged, said Winnicott, that there are times when adults, too, need to rediscover this “formlessness”, and that in any case, all of our creative engagement with the world has this safe space — in which one can form all variety of nonsense* without fear of judgment — as its foundation.<br />
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The “creative reaching-out” of playing, which Winnicott understands also as the search for self — creative activity as the search for self — does not result in an integrated sense of self, however, without the “reflecting back” or “summation” of one’s reaching-out, one’s play, by another: for instance, a friend. Only when our nonsense is accepted — “reflected-back” — can we begin, says Winnicott, to be found, or to be.<br />
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Winnicott uses as an example an infant who was having many daily fits for most of its first year of life. When the mother brought it to him, on successive occasions he held the infant in his lap and allowed her to pull his tie and bite his knuckle and throw spatulas on the floor, all the while crying. On the last occasion the baby cried at first, as usual, but then bit my knuckle very severely, this time without showing any guilt feelings, and then played the game of biting and throwing away spatulas; while on my knee she became able to enjoy play. After awhile she began to finger her toes, and so I had her socks and shoes removed. The result of this was a period of experimentation which absorbed her whole interest. It looked as if she was discovering and proving over and over again, to her great satisfaction, that whereas spatulas can be put to the mouth, thrown away, and lost, toes cannot be pulled off. […] Four days later the mother came and said that… the baby was ‘ a different child’. She had had no fits. […] I visited this child one year later and found that since the last consultation she had had no symptom whatever. I found an entirely healthy, happy, intelligent and friendly child, fond of play, and free from the common anxieties (66-67).<br />
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This example illustrates the kind of (frightening!) nonsense which it is necessary to allow and to “reflect back” without judgment if a creative life is to become possible.<br />
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It illustrates also the beginning of playful discovery, which is the creative association of those samples of inner/personal reality with pieces of the external world. In other words, if I am right,play, reflected back by a friend, is the creation, and validation, of a triadic — that is, a meaningful–relationship with the world. In reaction against this, compliance, and climax, and uncontainable fear or anxiety, are violently dyadic, annihilating of the creative person and the space of play both.<br />
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In the triadic relationship with the world — of self, samples of inner reality, and pieces of external reality, united in a relaxed and trustworthy environment where one’s play is accepted and reflected-back by a friend — “the individual can come together and exist as a unit [that is, as one whole], not as a defense against anxiety but as an expression of I AM, I am alive, I am myself. From this position everything is creative”<br />
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*…keeping in mind that “organized nonsense is already a defense, and organized chaos is a denial of chaos” (75).<br />
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Hypothesis: At its most sophisticated, playing becomes our vision of the whole universe.<br />
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-F-LoIzUYpsI%2FU3zKkmB1eII%2FAAAAAAAAAks%2F0jGYdOn5xjY%2Fs1600%2Fwinnicott.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxAdPsE7DeB-WBvs_2DH4VuYojUzngIh9asBUO_tFkub86M9rh89uc_8yfiKODs8fKAvbbRnZIwvXJswZMpAHNBH7VR8n9SxdYpJ9ORF_jNMvi_cMG3T_Dqb2pg73B4UMa0PNcsz3P/s1600/winnicott.jpg" -->Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-6918449387779884292014-05-16T18:05:00.000+01:002014-05-16T18:05:15.073+01:00Speech: Iain McGilchrist - What Happened to the Soul? (RSA)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-ryt_dCHt5o" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Part of <a href="http://www.thersa.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RSA</a>'s series on spirituality in the 21st century, psychiatrist and writer <a href="http://passive-observers.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Iain+McGilchrist" target="_blank">Iain McGilchrist</a> considers the status of the soul. Once considered the most important part, indeed the whole purpose, of a human life - has science now rendered the idea of the soul irretrievably redundant? If so, what have we lost?<br /><br />For more information about the event go to the RSA event <a href="http://www.thersa.org/events/our-events/what-happened-to-the-soul">page</a>.Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-70904857546780387872014-05-14T12:50:00.000+01:002014-05-14T12:51:55.920+01:00Speech/Article: Shawn Achor - The happy secret to better work (and why are some people stuck in their ways)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fLJsdqxnZb0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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“We think we have to be successful, then we’ll be happier. But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order,” said Shawn Achor in his charming, immensely popular TED Talk from TEDxBloomington, “<a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html">The happy secret to better work</a>.” Achor is the CEO of consulting firm Good Think, which conducts research on positive psychology and helps people apply it to be happier and more effective at work.<br />
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His 2011 talk drew on the research from his bestselling book on positive psychology, The Happiness Advantage, and since then he’s had a new question on his mind: Why are some people able to make positive changes in their lives, while others remain stuck in their ways? His latest book, Before Happiness, published last week by Random House, addresses just this question. In it, Achor describes the five essential elements that are needed to develop a positive mindset for change. We caught up with Achor recently to find out more.<br />
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<b>What inspired you to write Before Happiness?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>Before somebody can make a change to their health and their happiness, their brain has already constructed a picture of reality in which change is possible or not. Basically, this predicts whether or not they’ll be able to make that change. Some people see a world in which they’re only their genes and their environment; so they can watch a ton of TED Talks, they can read a ton of books, but they won’t actually incorporate any of those new changes into their lives. So the book started out with: “How do we get people to change the way that they view their world?”<br />
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<b>You argue that if you think positively you can be more productive. Is there a danger of trying to speed too quickly toward an end goal of perceived success?</b><br />
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Yes. A lot of frustration comes from us being irrationally optimistic about either the goal that we’re creating or the speed and the time it will take to get there. I have a great little cartoon that someone sent me on Twitter: A rhinoceros is on a treadmill, and it’s sweating and running as fast as it possibly can, and it’s looking up at this poster of this beautiful unicorn. So it’s trying to run as fast as it can to be a unicorn, and inherently it’s creating greater levels of frustration, because it’s not a unicorn, it’s a rhinoceros, and it should be the best rhinoceros that it can be.<br />
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In Before Happiness I tell the story of how I talked to the CEO of a software company in California, and I got into the car with him, and he drove me to the airport to talk about how we could change his company. He didn’t put on a seatbelt, and I asked him why. He said he was an optimist. Which is crazy! Optimism, while it’s good for a lot of things, doesn’t stop cars from hitting us. It won’t stop reality from hitting us. We don’t want to turn a blind eye to the negative. If we sugarcoat the present, we make bad decisions in the future.<br />
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<b>So is there a wrong way to set goals for yourself? </b><br />
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Part of the frustration that can oftentimes come from trying to speed towards certain goals is that sometimes those goals are irrational. Let’s start with a realistic assessment of where we are, but maintain the belief that our behavior matters in the present: Can I work out today? Can I keep practicing math? Can I keep practicing this musical instrument?<br />
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The other side of it is the time required to get there. People often get frustrated because they pick huge goals which are way off in the future. But the human brain needs to record victories. Otherwise it gets exhausted. One of the chapters in the book is on the research on the “X-spot.” What we found was that rats run much faster at the end of a maze. We found that marathon runners run faster at 26.1 miles. They actually speed up.<br />
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<b>Can anyone make a change for the better? Does positive psychology apply to everyone? </b><br />
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Universally we found that people, cross culture, cross industry, cross country, have actually been able to make these changes at any point in their life, from four years old up to 84 years of age.<br />
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<b>Your talk and your books rely on a lot of anecdotes and analogy alongside your research. Why do you prefer this style of writing?</b><br />
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Research is useless unless it’s lived, so not only do I do the research but then I see if it actually works within the messiness of life. In the midst of the economy collapsing, I tried to take the research we were doing in laboratories at places like Harvard and UPenn and see if it also applied for farmers in Zimbabwe or bankers in Zurich. The goal of that was twofold: First of all, we want to impress upon people that there is a science to this, and I think as soon as you have the science there, as long as it’s good science, it gets past the defenses of people who have intellectual barriers to making changes. But then you want to move quickly to the practical solutions so that people know how to implement it in their lives. I’ve read books about incredible research about how the human brain works and had no idea how to apply it in my life.<br />
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And we found that if you can provide humor and connect at an emotional level, people will remember information much longer. One of my favorite professors at Harvard was a man named Brian Little who was in the psychology department. He would tell these stories, and the stories would take forever, and I remember taking notes and I would be like, I don’t know what he could possibly ask on the exam, because it’s just long, humorous stories. But I can tell you those stories today, and I can tell you the psychological importance of them and the lesson that we were learning. So I think if it’s practical, if it’s emotional or humorous, and if it’s science-based, I think you’ve got the best chance of creating an educational revolution.<br />
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<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-70312107838882035702014-05-05T14:31:00.000+01:002014-05-05T14:38:57.962+01:00Speech: Pam Warhurst - How we can eat our landscapes<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4KmKoj4RSZw" width="560"></iframe>
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What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community.<br />
<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-73222941347264512692014-03-20T14:37:00.000+00:002014-03-20T14:37:45.392+00:00Speech: Michael Pollan - How Cooking Can Change Your Life<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/TX7kwfE3cJQ" width="560"></iframe>
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<br />Renowned activist and author Michael Pollan argues that cooking is one of the simplest and most important steps people can take to improve their family's health, build communities, fix our broken food system, and break our growing dependence on corporations. The event was chaired by Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at City University London.<br /><br />To find out more about this talk, visit the event page on the RSA website: <div>
<a href="http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2013/how-cooking-can-change-your-life">http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-an...</a><br /><br />Listen to the podcast of the full event including audience Q&A: <div>
<a href="http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/file/0003/1523802/20130530MichaelPollan.mp3">http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/f...</a><br /></div>
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-19709232343689639802014-03-20T14:14:00.000+00:002014-03-20T14:14:00.224+00:00Speech: Ken Robinson - How to escape education's death valley<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wX78iKhInsc" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Sir Ken Robinson outlines 3 principles crucial for the human mind to flourish -- and how current education culture works against them. In a funny, stirring talk he tells us how to get out of the educational "death valley" we now face, and how to nurture our youngest generations with a climate of possibility.Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-25615254031310929342014-03-04T10:24:00.000+00:002014-06-05T13:13:57.662+01:00Speech: Charmian Gooch - Meet global corruption's hidden players<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Nhx1_yXMwCg" width="560"></iframe><br />
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When the son of the president of a desperately poor country starts buying mansions and sportscars on an official monthly salary of $7,000, Charmian Gooch suggests, corruption is probably somewhere in the picture. In a blistering, eye-opening talk (and through several specific examples), she details how global corruption trackers follow the money -- to some surprisingly familiar faces.<br />
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-26246508731907344502014-02-24T12:44:00.000+00:002014-02-24T12:50:12.375+00:00Speech: Carl Hart - HIGH PRICE: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/PdsN_vYZ3w8" width="560"></iframe><br />
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High Price is the harrowing and inspiring memoir of neuroscientist Carl Hart, a man who grew up in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods and, determined to make a difference as an adult, tirelessly applies his scientific training to help save real lives.<br />
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In this provocative and eye-opening memoir, Dr. Carl Hart recalls his journey of self-discovery, how he escaped a life of crime and drugs and avoided becoming one of the crack addicts he now studies. Interweaving past and present, Hart goes beyond the hype as he examines the relationship between drugs and pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs, and explain why current policies are failing.<br />
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Dr. Hart is an Associate Professor of Psychology in both the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at Columbia University, and Director of the Residential Studies and Methamphetamine Research Laboratories at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. A major focus of Dr. Hart's research is to understand complex interactions between drugs of abuse and the neurobiology and environmental factors that mediate human behavior and physiology. <br />
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He is the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles in the area of neuropsychopharmacology, co-author of the textbook, Drugs, Society, and Human Behavior, and a member of a NIH review group. Dr. Hart was recently elected to Fellow status by the American Psychological Association (Division 28) for his outstanding contribution to the field of psychology, specifically psychopharmacology and substance abuse.<br />
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Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-80372132821281504522014-02-21T16:41:00.000+00:002014-02-21T16:41:47.099+00:00Speech: Esther Perel - The secret to desire in a long-term relationship<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sa0RUmGTCYY" width="560"></iframe>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span><br /> In long-term relationships, we often expect our beloved to be both best friend and erotic partner. But as Esther Perel argues, good and committed sex draws on two conflicting needs: our need for security and our need for surprise. So how do you sustain desire? With wit and eloquence, Perel lets us in on the mystery of erotic intelligence.Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3704250546976858426.post-10881809111484465972014-02-20T14:19:00.000+00:002014-06-05T13:13:28.362+01:00Speech: Benjamin Bratton - What's Wrong with TED Talks?<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Yo5cKRmJaf0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Benjamin Bratton, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at UCSD and Director of The Center for Design and Geopoltics at CALIT2, asks: Why don't the bright futures promised in TED talks come true? Professor Bratton attacks the intellectual viability of TED, calling it placebo politics, middlebrow megachurch infotainment, and the equivalent of right-wing media channels. Does TED falsely present problems as simply puzzles to be solved by rearranging the pieces?<br />
<br />Odhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10758172728621118909noreply@blogger.com0