The Exploration Afforded by Learning

This is most definitely going to be an opinion piece, but I just have to articulate how much joy I get out of real understanding. Or even not understanding and learning in the process that I have to open up another way of looking at things. It is a real joy, and in a strange way I like it when it is most difficult.

It is not the challenge that drives me, it is knowing at the end of the day I will be a little different and I won't be able to say what that difference is until I get there. There is also a distinct feeling of building something. Not in the physical sense but in the sense of growth. The potential however for creating something real down the road based on the knowledge I have gained is most certainly there however. The barn door has just got a little more open 😀.

When I was younger the prevailing perception of getting older was that you slow down. Imagine my surprise then in the present day when I have discovered that things get faster and although sometimes I can't keep up I enjoyed the chase. Like "Wile E. Coyote" chasing after the Road Runner.

Obviously due to my current age, 65, I learned the skill of manually gaining knowledge a very long time ago. So it is more than challenging for me to understand the thinking and perceptions inherent in a "new model year brain". Do people today process reality in the same way and do they clean as much information as I think I do. Consider this there are adults out in the world right now who may have had not only the Internet available to them for their entire lives but to technology that goes along with it. So for example let's say they have always used a search engine for their research. Imagine if that wasn't available. The challenge of not only finding physical material but knowing where to look and how to piece things together, these activities might be completely new to them. I am intrigued as to how the problem would be approached by different people.

 

One of my memories when I was 12 or 13 was receiving for Christmas the hardcover version of "The Radio Amateur's HANDBOOK' which I absolutely adored and wore it out by the time I was 15.yes, I was an absolute nerd, quite content to spend hours with the book or work on a project. Guess what, I still am. Recently I found an original 1970s addition of the exact book online and in so attempted to spend $100 Canadian just for the sake of memorabilia. I fondly remember going through Ohm's law with my father while we discussed the latest chapter. I don't know whether I will get the book or not, but finding the exact copy online and available in good condition, sure makes it tempting.[Note: There were two completely different books published under the exact same name. The one I refer to is the one from the publisher Crowell, New York ]

The Radio Amateur's Handbook
by:A. Frederick Collins,
Robert Edward Hertzberg

WorldCat.org listing:
The radio amateur's handbook

Authors: A. Frederick Collins, Robert Edward Hertzberg
Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0690667736  

ISBN 13: 9780690667738

Year: 1970
Edition:12th rev. ed.
Publisher: Crowell, New York
Physical Description: vi, 374 pages illustrations 22 cm

Here's an idea: resolve for one day, or longer if you like, to find solutions to anything that comes up in your life without using the Internet. Even though the idea is simple do most people now days have the skill set to so the problem, by lack of a better phrase by doing it "the old-fashioned way of physical research"? This could be a lot of fun if taken in small steps. You could pose a question to a friend and go on an adventure to find the resolution. If you're going to play the game I would suggest keeping it simple at first, but not so simple in that it is boring. The question must be enticing enough to make you and your friend want to find the answer. Then you could pick another topic to solve. It could be a lot of fun and I would really be interested in knowing if it made any changes in your life or outlook.

The idea could be expanded upon for example: How would people in the 1960s find the answer. You could then set limits to use only the tools and technology that were available then. This could actually be very exciting. Debating teams used to be very popular in high schools and colleges. While this thought is not exactly on topic the idea of explaining your point of view is again an adventure in learning. Sometimes will explaining something you inadvertently learned something about yourself. Debating teams by the way are when a group of people ticket topic and have to group takes one point of view and the other usually takes the opposite. Then they begin to develop their rationales as to why their point of view is the better one. They debate this until one of the teams wins. Of course frequently when you do this you find out things you never considered. Which is one of the great payoffs to really learning something. It is usually not the end goal where most of the learning and experience a curse it is the trip toward the end goal that provides the benefits. Sometimes you might even completely change your mind on an idea.

Now days ideas tend to be polarized. Take a look at any set of videos on YouTube, pretty much on any issue. There won't be discussion between the various groups, there will be sensationalism and polarization of the topic. This is not a good way to learn about knowledge because it mixes far too much extreme emotion into the issues. To really consider the pros and cons of anything you must at least be willing to keep your emotions from overwhelming the issue and becoming more important than anything else. Many times I have set on this blog "Don't take anything personally." I would like to add to that statement "Frst consider what the issue is based on the information you have available to you" and then don't take anything personally." In this way you learn to think before you feel and that gives you the ability to make choices when the emotions do come into play.

 If you would like to download the original untouched full-size photo, just click on the following image. 

Original full-size photo of a close-up Hydrangea macrophylla bloom with shades of violet and white. Three flowers from a Crocosmia are poking right out of the Hydrangea macrophylla. The protruding Crocosmia flowers are a brilliant orange. Set against a background of naturally occurring large green leaves. This photo is completely untouched and natural. I ran across these flowers by accident. Clicking on this image will download the full resolution photograph. It is the same image as the one at the top of the article minus that headline embedded in the graphic.

 

IMG_2189.jpg

Date	2012-07-25 6:11:50 pm
Model	Canon PowerShot SX120 IS
Width	3648
Height	2736
ISO Rating	100
Shutter Speed	1/50 sec
Aperture	f/4.3
Focal Length	60 mm
Exposure Bias	0 EV
Metering Mode	Multi-Segment

Consider the tremendous benefit over once lifetime understanding how to acquire knowledge (learning) as well as apply it in new and interesting ways. The development of that skill has brought us creative people throughout the centuries. People who think, and feel, and then apply what they understand to the world and society. What a gift! The human race can simply not forget how to learn new things through effort and challenge. Not only does the person grow in spirit and ability ultimately the greater society benefits. The very technology we use every day is a clear demonstration of this. Information is now simpler to access than ever before, but in order for it to be fully used we must develop the skills only achieved by true understanding and learning.

So make a commitment to regularly put down the easy way of doing things and revisit some of the learning traditions that have helped humanity evolve.
 

This has been a very short but hopefully inspiring and thoughtful article.
Take care and as always leave comments.

Patrick

 

My Magic Potion for Success

 

**Used under provisions:
"Fair Dealing" Canada and
"Fair Use" United States.

 

It has taken a long time for me to realize that I have a "magic potion for success". What follows is a list of ingredients:

⭐Act on the idea in some way immediately. This can be jotting down the concept or making a quick recording, but to make a permanent record of your inspiration. In enough detail so that you can fully remember the train of thought leader. This does not mean you have to write the entire book now but so many great ideas get lost in our busy world.

⭐Recognize that this will take time to fully evolve and make plans for ways to get back on track should life throw you a curve ball. The best ideas can take a long time to fully flush out. So be realistic and be prepared to reevaluate things as you go along. Very often an idea can evolve to include many more aspects. If necessary rather than trying to create an all-encompassing project, limit it to an achievable outcome. It may be the first of many versions and that's fine.

⭐Sometimes along the way of your journey you find that the idea has completely changed. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. Take a look at your expectations and if the new version fits within those boundaries, continue the project.

⭐If it is a long undertaking deliberately insert appropriate breaks. Even with the best big ideas it is healthy to step away for a while. Nothing hampers creativity like burnout. Burnout can best be avoided by diversifying the activities you undertake. It doesn't matter how much you like your project, if it becomes all-consuming for too long the quality will suffer and probably so will you. Everybody has an activity they become very enthusiastic about and spend many hours at it but please watch out for burnout and take appropriate action. Usually your friends or loved ones will start sending you signals ahead of time that you need to come out for a breath of fresh air. So keep your options open.

⭐⭐Bonus point: Expect to change. All major events change you. One of the things people forget when we are planning for success is that, they will fundamentally be different if they succeed. Perhaps and only a small way but you will have changed. So plan for it. It's analogous to going from childhood, to adolescence and then finally to adulthood. At each step of the way you were different. Success in your endeavour will change you.

There you have it. My short recipe for success in almost any undertaking. Like all good ideas it need not be long or complex to express.

As usual leave comments and take care.
Patrick

NOTE:
**Source of image at the top of this article. This image has been very stylized by myself using Corel Paint Shop Pro. I was browsing through Google image search when this photo from an eBay auction appeared. I remembered almost the exact model sitting in my grandmother's kitchen. When the idea for this short article occurred to me this seemed like a perfect image. No copyright or rights infringement is intended.

To benefit from Challenge, Is the Meaning of Life.

 To benefit from Challenge, Is the Meaning of Life

In the last two days I have had several people sitting me things like "oh this is too hard..." or "this was supposed to be easy." and "I hate ' XYZ' because it is hard." (Implying that they won't even try doing the task because they perceive it to be difficult.)

Challenge and difficulty are essential components of life. Without them, a person over time will in some sense literally de-evolve, they will lose basic skills. This is a self evident statement. People were much better doing basic mathematics before the calculator as an obvious example. But we are now entering a time in society where people expect things to be easy all the time. This has me worried and honestly surprised.

Now, I understand the natural desire to take the simpler road, especially if it makes your life smoother, but just not all the time. The default choice must not be the path of least resistance. Difficulty has its benefits and they are usually long term. It keeps you engaged with the idea of growing, whether the perceived difficulty is undertaking a new field of study or doing something that is different and perhaps slightly uncomfortable, as most new things are.

It is not so much what you learn or experience, it is the tools you discover along the way which can be used in different contexts to solve other challenges. One can only be a good problem solver if they have run into a few problems in the first place. Personally I love a good challenge and my boss knows this 😀. Sometimes he will just give me a task and let me dig through it. I am very lucky to have a volunteer job which has the latitude built in to do this. That does not mean there are deadlines, it  means there is the breathing room to explore. 

I totally admit that, I like difficulty, with the qualification that said difficulty has to be meaningful and have a goal. At the very least there needs to be a possibility of resolution. The process as always is a learning process and that is what I really personally enjoy. I'm taking a computer science and Python course on Brilliant.org and I must admit I'm having a blast. It is nice to feel the brain cells "stretching" and hopefully multiplying in the process.

What I don't understand is why people now seem to be averse to learning and working through the process of gaining new knowledge. But some people really are reticent on this point. I have seen people get very angry and I honestly don't get their reaction. The human brain is ment to learn, but we appeared will learned a weird lesson, that the act of learning itself is not good… "What is going on?! " is my usual reaction. Where is this behaviour coming from? More importantly how can we turn people back on to learning and undertaking challenge?

Here are some answers that have occurred to me and of course, the list is incomplete and I may be totally wrong. Let me know in the comments.

• People need to take some time to get to know their reflexive behaviours. To question why they are having said reaction. In short get to know themselves a little bit better. This does not mean they have to become a Buddhist monk or undertake some grand therapy. Just not be so externalized. Stop reacting instantaneously to everything around themselves and ask is the reaction doing anything positive for themselves. Then they can understand why they are resistant to undertaking a challenge.
  
  
• Think about what the end goal is. If it is too vague like "I want to make money easily." Then it would be impossible to start because there is no central idea and thereby no way to know when you're at the end of the goal. Keeping a task vague guarantees to keep it difficult. If you find yourself in this situation take a look at why you are being so big in the first place about the idea. This point relates to other points in this list but it cannot be understated.
  
  
• Getting over their biases against difficulty. Yes, some things are just difficult and rather than complaining about it being difficult one just has to undertake what ever the activity is. Sometimes to discover that once started the perceived challenge is not such a big deal. But they do have to start the process.
  
  
• Things take time to accomplish. Especially if it involves changing preconceptions, and one may have to start with very small steps. The trick here is to keep one's eye on the goal. If the goal is to vague then I suggest putting it down to something definable.
  
  
• Lastly make a plan on what to do if something interrupts this process. 

 

Often it's as simple as making a promise to yourself that should something get in the way temporarily that you will just pick up where you left off. It may take a few tries before you see progress toward resolving the challenge. All good things are worth fighting for.😀

 

I had a friend who for many years wanted to write a science fiction story and had aspirations of selling thousands of copies of their literary masterpiece. The trouble less than ever sat down and went through the above list, rather they always spoke about the ultimate outcome. This went on for years until eventually they just gave up. When I reflected on this memory it was obvious that they never told me what the story was about, and I didn't realize it at the time because of all the enthusiasm they showed.

So if I had to boil all this down to one point, I would say: "Embrace the Difficulty!"

 

 

I have made the following 21.6 x 27.94cm (8.5 x 11 inch) poster which prints nicely on a standard sheet of paper. Feel free to download and print it. Clicking on the image will download the 9 MB JPEG image file from my Google Drive. It is detailed enough to enlarge well beyond that paper size as well

Okay that about does it for this article. Feel free to watch the included video it covers essentially the same thing.

Take care Patrick

Is difficulty what keeps you going?

Image generated by Ideogram AI.

 This is going to be a very short post because it is essentially just a question which hints at an answer.

Literally, if you can appreciate it, is difficulty in itself the thing that keeps people going and engaged with the life?

It seems that whenever people make their lives easier or more convenient there is ultimately a long term loss either physically, mentally, or emotionally. On the other hand whenever healthy challenge is present the human being tends to stay engaged and be more resilient. To give you an example:

Before voice dictation existed I would happily spend days at the typewriter. However I made a decision at some point that in order to increase my output voice dictation would be a good idea so when it finally matured sufficiently to be useful I switched. Now I find myself being very uncomfortable whenever I have to physically write something even if it is typing. It feels like a rusty skill. The same goes with basic mathematics, we all use calculators of one sort or another now. As I look at the modern world I begin to wonder if in making things to easy we have lost much more than is apparent. I have also discovered that climbing back up the proverbial mountain is much harder once you let go of the skill.

I challenge you to spend the day doing math manually, or pick a skill of your choosing. I would really like to hear your thoughts on this. I don't know if I'll do a video for this because I think at this point the text says it all.

Feel free to write some comments on this one. I have a feeling we are about to find out that it is indeed worth keeping some difficulty in your life.

Patrick

** NOTE: The pictures "Image generated by Ideogram AI" displayed at the top of this article is from the service Ideogram AI.  As a layperson, I have read their relevant "terms of service" and determined, to the best of my ability, that the image may be viewed by the public.  However before any reuse, please review fully their terms and if necessary contact the company for more information.

The use of said image does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

 

Disability from an optimist's point of view

 

 "Don't seek comfort and conformity in your world. Seek to engage  the world."

Most people spend a fair bit of time and indeed their life, trying to differentiate themselves from what they perceive as "The Rest of Us". Sometimes this effort works out and sometimes it does not.

Now if you're born "disabled", and feel free to insert whatever terminology you want to put in there for whatever condition or situation you are in. We are different from the get go. "A limited run", "A one-of-a-kind… The descriptions and labels could go on and on.

But for me, and I really mean this,  disability is an opportunity in disguise. I look at the normal world and I see most people not taking advantage of the great options that are right there in front of them. I speculate, and this is only my speculation, that they never had to think outside of the box. They never had to become good problem solvers. Whereas being different, and having challenges forces you to engage with the world as it is. The world is not going to adjust to me for being different. So one must be very creative, and stretch whatever boundaries exist.

As I have grown older I have become very aware of the benefits inherent in challenges.

I don't want things simple and I don't want things easy. However I despise meaningless effort. If something is going to be difficult and it darn well better be difficult with a good goal. This is an important point because as long is there is a positive goal inherent in the challenge then the individual will be given an opportunity to grow. Whether they take advantage of that opportunity is another matter entirely and probably an additional article on the blog at some point.

Now, I know there's an infinite range in regards to disability, from the minor to the utterly devastating. I don't want to reduce any condition or state of life to an overly simplified point of view. But that being said, if you are different or see yourself as disenfranchised in any way, rather than falling down the stereotypical black hole of disadvantage and/or despair. 

Take your differences and work with them. This is where ideas truly come from and thereby so does opportunity.

At almost 65 years of age, I can say unequivocally that I would never want to be normal and that is especially true in the 21st century. People who are born now, may not have the early exposure to the effort needed to expand their horizons. Young minds who simply go online to find a predigested answer to a question. They may never get a chance to really explore and find out why something is the way it is. That puts them at a great disadvantage because a person must learn to think at a fairly early age in order to really take advantage of life. Yes, one can do it at any age but it is so much more effective the earlier one undertakes these challenges. Same goes for the amount of time invested in some undertaking. I myself have to fight my own shrinking attention span. Yet look back less than 100 years and you find people undertaking complex disciplines and working of the answers using only their minds and paper. That means that they truly understood the concepts they were evolving and in that process they gained resilience and depth in their understanding.

Use the gift of technology and the coming artificial intelligence revolution in the best way possible. If automation has make your life easier then use that freedom to continue to explore other avenues. Do not just stay a consumer of technology and or the environment. Seek a little difficulty. Make it something slightly uncomfortable, so that you have to work at it. This will help keep you alive on so many levels...

In short:

"Don't seek comfort and conformity in your world. Seek to engage  the world."

One of the things that really surprised me when I moved into my assisted living facility was the lack of motivation of all the tenants. I on the other hand treated as a godsend, rather than being tied down with the various energy sapping necessities which are required to make it through the day, the staff greatly reduce my physical strain. Leaving me with a lot of free time to explore all sorts of avenues. Which is what I've done and will continue to do till the very last day of my life. So apparently I'm a bit of an outlier because I thought that everyone who has their burdens of life reduced would naturally explore what ever interested them. However are stuck in a rut of their own making. Bizarrely they use their own intellect to maintain the status quo. This is something I really do not understand…

Well I will keep trying to motivate everyone around me because life is just too short to waste. Hopefully the articles that I now post will leave some of my audience thinking and the other us smiling. I would like to publish more articles however time and energy just do not permit at this moment of my life. My ultimate goal is to increase the quality of these articles a great deal. That however takes time which is why I am not publishing is much as I used to compared to early last year.

There will be a video with this post but I can't tell you exactly what it will be because I am just about created it and at this very moment there are lots of ideas along the vein of "Disability from an Optimistic Point of View." So let's see if I can surprise myself.

Thank you for stopping by my blog. And come back to this article in the next day or two because I will be adding or reediting parts. It's just that kind of weekend. (In other words I'm running out of time.)

Take care Patrick

** NOTE: Some of pictures in this article were generated by Ideogram AI.  As a layperson, I have read their relevant "terms of service" and determined, to the best of my ability, that the image may be viewed by the public.  However before any reuse, please review fully their terms and if necessary contact the company for more information.

The use of said image does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

Do you notice the times when you're happy?

Some of my father's wood carvings.
Circa 1995.

My father would often cloister himself away, to work on his many art projects, be it carving, drawing, painting, creating figurines of the Plaster of Paris etc.… He definitely knew when he was happy.

We often go through out our day noticing when things are not going right and usually are very aware of the impact it has. How often are you aware when you're happy throughout the day? Do you actually noticed the moments when you are happy as much as those times when you are negatively impacted? If the world is so busy counting the negatives, perhaps it is time to take pause and count the positives.

I am guilty of this as well. Although I do my darndest to catch these darker moments and events and balance them out with a clear perspective. Here's an example:

When I bought a bottle of wine, even if it's a screwtop, I am very aware that usually getting it open takes a little bit of planning. This is due to a disability I have, Cerebral Palsy, usually I put on rubber gloves to increase my grip and give the bottle a few tries before the lead cracks open. But occasionally the bottle opens without effort and I am instantaneously very pleased. But how long do I hold onto that memory?-This is the question. So today I'm going to make a conscious effort to notice the things that go right. At the end of the day I will look back and see what I feel about things. It is also very appropriate that it's Friday. That in itself always brings a smile to my face. This particular file goes way back to when I was a child and it meant the end of the school week was near. Even though I liked school, the weekend was always much better. Full of adventure 😌.

So, that's it then, let's all take some time to notice when we are happy and then reflect on that at the end of the day and see how we feel. The video with this incredibly short article goes into more detail and I can tell you that by the end of it I was feeling pretty darn good 😁!

There may be a follow-up video because I intend to keep this positive idea of being aware of my own positive events going for at least a week and then I will report back. So this article will get longer.

For now take care and enjoy the video. May it bring something nice to your day.
Patrick Clark

Mindfulness of the Self.

 

The  Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines Mindfulness as follows:
 

"A mental state achieved by concentrating on the present moment, while calmly accepting the feelings and thoughts that come to you, used as a technique to help you relax."

This is a good starting point. After one does this on a regular basis for a while you may begin to notice patterns in your thoughts that you did not expect and these can tell you a great deal about the more subtle aspects to your self and personality."Take mindfulness to the next step." Is how I stated in the short video on this page.

Everyone as a public persona and everyone also has a private persona where they might tell themselves, "This is who I really am." Surprise, with regular mindfulness training you might discover that there is another layer which may be in contrast to who you think you really are. Most of the time it's much more subtle, but no less tremendously important to pay attention to, providing insights most often to feelings and states of mind you tend to automatically accept throughout the day.

It is a good idea to keep a journal of some kind listing these insights and other related thoughts. You will discover that you don't know yourself is much as you think you do. Then armed with this information you can form a plan on what you would like to change or just accept. 

This is very important in today's ultra distracted and fast-paced world. You will begin to be able to choose when you are letting things in which have an emotional impact on you. This knowledge will also provide one the ability to separate out the stuff that is unwanted before it really gets integrated into emotional or mental routines.

Years ago I read an article which stated that the average person is exposed to more information in one day then someone born in the late 1800s would receive in the one year. At first this sounded ludicrous, but then I began to think about it. Just look at the number of notifications you probably received in an hour on your phone. Then you can add in the number of interruptions and diversions etc. (If you're one of those lucky individuals who been able to will the door shut to give yourself some breathing room, congratulations. You will probably like another short article I wrote Intuition and the Curious Mind. )

The best part I have found is that it is never too late to have an insight and act on it. You may find that you have done something for years… Well now that you know about it you can modify your reaction moving forward and that is always a good thing.

 It is possible to even incorporate a response to what you discover in your mindfulness journey. Let's say during sessions you find yourself having a reaction to a recurring thought and although you've accepted it there's nothing stopping you from adding in a response to that thought. You can literally adjust the brains "volume knobs" if you'll pardon the really bad analogy, to whatever it is. There is no appropriate way to do it and there's no inappropriate way to do it. Whatever works for you. If during our journeys you discover you need some outside assistance seek out a good friend or professional. That's part of life and I am myself talk to a psychologist on a regular basis just to get an alternate viewpoint.

The mind is a great flexible tool at your disposal, go ahead and polish it up :-)

Intuition and the Curious Mind.

This is got to be one of the most important aspects in doing well with life. By doing "well with life"I mean your own personal satisfaction from your own unique point of view.

The curious mind is a brain in which you are consciously engaged with. It is almost a discussion, a positive feedback loop. Sometimes it can be very quick following a train of thought rapidly down the tracks, while at other times, it can be deep pondering perhaps only one aspect of a greater thought. It can become quite euphoric. Especially if one experiences some insight. The classic "Ah Ha!" moment. It makes you feel like a kid again. Einstein said it best and I'm paraphrasing here "Genius is childhood rediscovered.".

So how do we cultivate this; what are some of the things we need to ensure are in place so that the curious mind and intuition flourish?

 

The following ideas are strictly for my own perspective.

• You must be free from the burden. That is you must have a place both physically and mentally where you are not distracted or thinking about other responsibilities. It is actually a healthy requirement that you set aside a period of time or days when the rest of the world does not need your attention. No answering the cell phone or checking anything online unless it has to do with whatever project or idea you are delving into. Preferably this free space is a long enough that you can really indulge.
  
  
• No distractions. This one is very important, there can be no interruptions. Interruptions break the train of thought and can seriously derail inspiration. Inspiration occurs when you give it space.
  
  
• Ensure that your environment is comfortable and stimulating to your way of thinking and feeling. It is not easy to get into the flow of creativity if you are in a dark cave ( unless that is what you're into).

Follow these three steps and I have a feeling you will not only find inspiration. Your brain and body will be also in better health. Simply because you will allow yourself to be your self. For me it kind of synchronizes things. It changes my hold state of mind and mood. It definitely brings back any lost energy. Almost by definition intuition will tend to spontaneously occur if you can create the right environment.

Have a great day! Patrick

What are some of the things that help create and foster a positive outlook?

Ever notice that some people have an ability to get something positive out of almost any situation? These people also are fountains of ideas. They don't get stuck very often on a problem and when they do, even if they are unsuccessful, they will tell you most sincerely that they received some benefit from it.

I consider myself one of these people. As a matter of fact my whole family has at their core the "problem solving gene". What is it that gives some people this outlook on life?.

Creative, Positive, Actions:

There are several factors I believe but for most I think the nurturing of curiosity is the thing that enables everything else. I fondly remember sitting on the floor of my parent's bedroom with my sister watching my father build a simple electromagnet out of some wire, I nail, and a battery. While he was obviously trying to inspire us and we couldn't have been more than four or five years old respectively. Was how happy he was to be building something simple having fun and see his children get inspired. I think dad knew, that his lesson was so important and he was overjoyed that his children were getting it.

The other big factor which became obvious when we were teenagers was to appreciate and enjoy hard work. It always feels wonderful when you have put effort and focus into something. As long as you can understand the reasons behind the difficulties you will gain something. Life was meant to be understood so that you can see your way through the challenges.

The third lesson in fostering a positive outlook is to be responsible for undertaking actions. In other words, don't look for someone else to do the work. Whenever possible do it your self. This will build up so much not only in self-esteem but it will strengthen your entire sense of being.

And now here is the companion video to this short article:(Updated: Oct 9, 2023)

 This is a little addendum:

As I was reciting the video for this article I ended up really inspiring myself and came up with a plethora of ideas. This proves to me that encouraging the creative and curious spirit is one of the major aspects of developing a positive outlook. Also very important is the willingness to understand that when life is working correctly, you are for ever changing. Don't hold onto who you are, I think you'll find that impossible to do anyway.

It is also far better to try something and fail at it if need be, and yet pull something useful out of the experience. This may be the real lesson here: "Find the Silver Lining" in any experience. It always exists. Even in the most difficult of situations. Sometimes what you learn now may not be immediately apparent and may not be useful for years but I'm willing to bet my very life that down the road somewhere some little bit of knowledge will put you and an advantage. Giving you just a little bit more insight than if you had not had all the experiences you've had thus far.

 The inspiration just keeps on going…

As mentioned in the video, I accidentally came up with a bit of spontaneous artwork which started as a simple sunburst. Below are the full size still images.

• To save an image, first click on it so that it enlarges. Then right click and choose "save image as" or "save link as". The terminology varies a little bit between different devices. If you have any trouble, leave a comment. Or use the feedback box available on most devices. On some smaller phones and tablets this feedback box is not available. But it is clearly visible when using a laptop on every page.

I hereby place following images in this post in the public domain. No attribution required.

The still photographs.

As usual, clicking on any image, then right clicking will allow you to download it.

 The stills, were done using "Particle Shop" for the starburst, and Paintshoppro Ultimate for the kaleidoscopic effect.

The animated versions will follow shortly, in a day or two. (The animations are now posted below. Keep scrolling you will see them at the end of the post.)They pose a small problem because they are so short which makes them unsuitable for posting to YouTube. So the best idea is to convert them to GIF, but I have to keep the size small as not to overload mobile devices.

The Animations

The animations are now on a separate page. Click here to access it. Be aware these are large files. While most phones and other mobile devices can handle them they will take some time to load.

This is why they have been moved to a separate page.

As always feel free to leave comments or suggestions. Take care Patrick

What if some people actually don't like to think?

"You can't have motivation without the effort of thought."

At first, I thought it was such an oddthought: "What if some people actually don't like to think." Well, the more I thought about it, the more I began to consider the idea seriously. 40 years ago it would've been truly preposterous. If you wanted to know something you had to put effort into either finding the information and then drawing conclusions from it based on whatever criteria you had in mind.

But consider for a moment how easy it is now days to find out something almost immediately, and based on previous activity on the Internet it is likely to be tailored to their viewpoint., Literally, "No Thinking Required." They receive a minor endorphin it from the brain and then move on to the next stimulating thumbnail on YouTube. I know people like this, quite a few and across a wide range of ages. Not only do they usually have difficulty in going outside of their mental comfort zone to solve a problem, they usually have no idea how to start. This topic has come up several times on this blog, and I think it's because of at least two reasons:

1. I find the idea of not liking the effort involved in thinking and considering something very foreign. It is almost confusing to me.
   
   
2. I always feel a great sense of achievement when I come to the solution or the conclusion. Especially if it's been a truly challenging one. (Right now I have such a case. Implementing voice dictation on a raspberry pi in such a way that it will be useful to a blind person. In other words I have to make it straightforward to turn off and on.  So far I have spent several weeks at this endeavour but I know I will get it solved. Progress is slowly revealing itself.)

Yet many people really do dislike the effort of figuring something out. This is a very dangerous way to go through life from my perspective.--- I mean, what is life without understanding? Not to mention you miss a great deal of the whole point of being alive, because the joy and growth are found in the details of something. Society itself is built on the idea of details. An understanding that the community has agreed on something and the knowledge of why that brings you together. This all takes effort and indeed a fair bit of thought.

Maybe that's why I find people losing their social skills. People that are focused on just a very narrow outlook and stay within their comfort zone can possibly really socialize and make those marvellous connections. Not to mention the insights that come from working with society.

Yet I think it's very easy to turn this situation around; it entails however slowing down and breaking away from the perceived need to move from one thing to another quickly. In other words no marathon surfing on your device. That is a good starting point. The other of course is turning off the autopilots in your behaviours and being present in the moment. Start to notice things around you. Indeed pay attention to how you feel at any given moment you choose.

At first, I'm sure it will feel uncomfortable. This is understandable because your reawakening skills. At first they will be cumbersome and you will be overly aware of them. But within a few days I am sure you will see the benefits. This does not mean you have to swear off technology or routines that give you pleasure. Just become more aware of who and where you are. Add that dimension back into your life.

Then you will find with the human race has globally known for a long time: "Fulfilment, Awareness, Thinking and Effort are key ingredients to a great life."

Take care and as always feel free to leave comments. I will most likely at a short video to this article within the next week or so. Stay tuned 😀

Patrick

 

Things that get in the way of efficient use of your time.

Photo © by Mark Cartwright, Text added by Patrick Clark.
Copyright holder has published this content under the license:
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.

Before I moved in to my current supported living residence, which is actually great in terms of the physical and emotional supports, I took something for granted. When I was living on my own I didn't acknowledge or really appreciate what a grand gift large blocks of uninterrupted time were. Enough time and quiet environment to fully indulge in whatever activity the creative mind was drawn to.

Now my day is segmented into relatively short blocks, at the most three hours long. What a difference those divisions make especially when you're researching something or problem-solving. Which is in my book the number one thing that can get in the way of productive use of your time. So if you have such an asset, don't squander it. Rather appreciate just how powerful such a serene environment can be. Every once in a while, usually by accident I get a larger than normal block of time and it definitely brings back memories of sitting at my desk building a project at four in the morning. I may have started it in the early evening but I knew then that I could just go fulltilt at whatever my goal was. That knowledge was liberating.

The second thing that can get in your way is having too much on your mind. To be truly creative and "in the zone" one has to be able to let go of the other aspects of their life for a while. As much as I would love to be able to do 10 things at once, in order to be effective and produce quality results I must not try to do everything. So number three on the list is that you have to choose your goals and commitments carefully. If you try to do everything, nothing will get done, and most definitely not to a good standard even if you manage to succeed in all your undertakings. This is probably going to be a new lesson for the next generation as well. Nothing can replace the investment of time, mind and energy. So recognizing that fact, in itself, can free up more of your creative mind.

As one gets older, you realize that your time is not infinite so that anything you apply time and investment to needs to be of real value, either to you or the society at large. You must get something out of it. I watched a brief video in which Neil DeGrasse Tyson was being interviewed about his early educational experiences and although some might consider him a polymath it was very clear that he made choices and considered the weight of each with respect to his ultimate goals.

This does not mean you have to miss an opportunity. But what it does indicate is that you must have each opportunity in acceptable proportions in your life. You can't do it all, but you can definitely sample and decide how much of your finite energy and effort you want to apply to that particular aspect of experience.

Getting to know a little bit about your own personal psychology is also very useful. Many people never take the time to really look at their own personality and the way they actually deal with themselves. In North America, at least the society tends to be very reactive or very introspective. The extreme in either direction is not useful ultimately, you need both to anchor each other. One of the best things I ever did was take a year-long cognitive therapy course in which the group met once a week. Just learning to pay attention to oneself and what is going on within you and the external environment. Taking that perspective and bouncing it off others tends to give one a far greater understanding of society and humanity in general. This cannot be overstated and developing this awareness is one of the most powerful and rewarding tools you can ever undertake to learn.

I find it rather amazing that the educational system does not have this built into every child's curriculum at some point. If you take one thing away from this short article this last paragraph about cognitive therapy, outward and inward perspectives is the most important in making an efficient use of your time and life. Because it will allow you to identify ultimately the inefficiencies and things in your way which you might not have otherwise understood or seen.

Take care Patrick

Life Is Short; Don't Rush through It

Click to enlarge.

At least in the industrialized developed parts of the world, the modern human experience it's a funny thing.

We are all so busy filling our lives with everything. Even when we take time off there is a tendency to fill those days up with an official activity or vacation and we plan these events out. It is my impression that more and more people are effectively rushing through their days. By doing so I think a major point of existence is being missed and that is taking the time to appreciate all of the unique and wonderful things as well as some of the more complex or not so wonderful things.

To do this effectively one must learn to Stop. Put down the plan. Take some time to let go of the technology or other distractions and deliberately do without for a while. You will be amazed at what you're missing and that tends to be your very life in its finer points. The realization may hit you that life is not infinite so why are you rushing it? Every one of us will reach the inevitable and and regardless of what you believe it will be the end of what you know as existence now. You may live forever perhaps but it will be in a different form and in a different way. The point is that you cannot come back to the way you are now. So appreciate things by getting out of the routine and occasionally deliberately stopping for a day or two if you can.

Every second that passes you by cannot be renewed or redone. Stopping every once in a while will increase your appreciation of your very existence and those around you. It will definitely deepen your appreciation of everything, so when you do go back to your full speed you may see things differently and really understand the tremendous uniqueness of where you are at.

It's pretty straightforward stuff and yet so profound.

PS: The photo of the roses at the top of this page I hereby place in the public domain. The full-size image has been uploaded simply click on the picture.

If you have difficulty downloading picture click on this link to open the image in an alternate way which will give some browsers the ability to save the file. If that still does not work for you please send me a note via the contact us form.

Take care Patrick

Do we all live in our own abridged reality?

 

The short answer is: "Yes, absolutely."

But I don't think many of us realize just how "abridged" our reality and sensations are. Think about it, if once reality and sense of their surroundings were indeed accurate would it be so easy to change one's perspective on any given situation? And indeed how easily we accommodate any new perspective.

Ever had one of those mornings when you wake up and you are just in a grumpy or slow frame of mind? Thoughts meander through your head that are the most optimistic… Then you have a good strong cup of coffee and within a few minutes have all but forgotten the beginnings of your day. You feel engaged and ready to take on the world. How could your perception change that much if they weren't a construct of your own making in the first place?  It really is a powerful question because it means you can adjust a great many things related to not only perception but your own internal processes of thought.

The scenario I just described above is almost my daily ritual in the last few years, and conversely at the end of the day I don't want to stop doing whatever I'm doing. Especially if I'm in a project state of mind where I'm either building something, writing code or creating artwork. I always think of " If onlyI had another hour…"  Each morning though I have to go through the process of getting the lead out of my mind. Slowly but surely I have come to the conclusion that I will not worry about the mornings state of affairs. If my brain insists on being a crocodile and having to warm up in the sun, so be it.

Many people tell me that as they age their mind slows down and their world becomes smaller. For me the opposite seems to be true. I am gearing up and if I have any regrets it is only that I didn't understand all of this stuff when I was 25. It had to wait until now at almost 64 years of age. The malleability of one's mind is tremendous, but that same malleability characteristic can also mean that we accept our mental states without critiquing them. We just kind of go along with the flow. This is most likely a bad habit brought on by not enough time to pay attention to one's inner world. I recently reacquainted myself with an excellent book.

Using Your Brain--For a Change:
Neuro-Linguistic Programming
By Richard Bandler

Publisher: Real People Press
Year : 1985
ISBN numbers: 9780911226263, 9780911226270, 0911226265, 0911226273

• Listing on WorldCat Library index
•  Listing on Google Books

Don't let the title of the book scare you off, the term "programming" only refers to changing your reactions to a memory, image or state of mind. In other words, this book is all about paying attention to your own program. The routines you have built up and automatic reactions to them. Then it goes into ways you can alter that behaviour. The book is written in a very lighthearted and playful manner and is a quick read. You will however return to it many times as it is one of those good books whose insights may not immediately be totally apparent. As far as I know the book itself is been out of print for many years and it was a friend of mine who founded through AbeBooks. 

As I progress through life, it is become very apparent to me that most people do not pay attention to their own inner workings either physically or mentally. As a result they tend to become their own "victims", for lack of a better word. There is a real tendency to only take action once a situation has escalated to the point where they have too, and I can't help wondering: If they had been more self-aware and more involved with their own will being would they have reached the same state they are in now? Which from my perspective frequently is a negative situation. Whereas, here I am almost 64 years of age I don't do drugs except for the occasional glass of wine and mentally and physically am in pretty good shape. Indeed I think my physical disability Cerebral Palsy has been a benefit because at a young age it forced me to pay attention to my own inner workings, and later on seek input from counsellors and other people with different perspectives. It wasn't exactly a smooth trip through adolescence but at the end of the day I think it was necessary one.

Reality 101: The Course

We do indeed live in our own abridged reality and that means get to construct it, piece by piece and rearrange it in whatever way we see appropriate.  I have reached the point where I think these kind of insights mentioned in the above book and the practice of being aware of what motivates an individual should be taught in school. We should not just take our own mental states and react to them after the fact. We should to gain the most benefit of our existence be the architect of our reality in the first place. How else can one discover, truly, their talents, and by the same token, know the things they are not well suited to. You want to take deliberate action to know your self and construct whatever reality you want. There is great freedom in this because it places you firmly in the conductor's seat. 

 People seem to like these kind of ideas presented in a visual format. So I put together a short eight minute video. The key thing to remember is that no matter what you are always the orchestrator of your reality. 

Even if your hands are tied up and you cannot move you would still be able to interpret that situation. You might find yourself saying: "I can't move and so I might as well will relax… Why waste energy." By the same token if you become aware of your habitual habits, you can alter them. The change does not need to be you, and as a matter of fact, that's one of the keys to success. Make small doable changes. Just realizing that the change can be made is often in itself very liberating.

If for some reason you find that you are stuck in a certain frame of mind then realize that it will change and then you might be able to revisit the issue.

Your life is the orchestra and it is you who ultimately create the music. Even more so, you get to pick the instruments which ultimately make up the entire piece! Think of the freedom in that.

Have a great day
Patrick

Appreciating accomplishments.

Very often, when I speak the people who are going through a negative period In their life, one of the things that started the downward trip was that they stopped acknowledging their daily accomplishments.

Every single one of us accomplishes something every day. We often miss acknowledging this because in the modern fast-paced world achievements must be big and profound. Popular culture would have us all believe that we must launch a rocket to Mars, or something effectively preposterous every day, otherwise somehow it is not worth acknowledging. I had a personal example of this just the other day.

I had just uploaded my very first long format video (Article and Video Windows 10 basics part one) to YouTube and I instantly began to judge it against out plethora of professional and pseudo-professional offerings. For a while I felt like I had wasted almost 2 weeks worth of free time on this first project. Then I thought: "Wait a Minute!… I am learning as I go and in making pretty darn good use of the resources I have. It's not meant to be perfect… It was more important to get this first instalment posted." Indeed I am lucky because I realized to appreciate my achievement.

We are all learning as we go along in life and it is so critical for one's self-esteem to see and appreciate that in various forms. I watch a video the other day of a professor describing how to make the substance Graphene and was really struck by the time and patience he took in testing the substance he made. In doing so he got the maximum enjoyment out of the experience, not to mention the tremendous insights. Someone else might watch part of this video and get bored because at the point where he is verifying the results it's by slow repetitive measurements. But I think that's where he had the most fun, truly demonstrating that he created the substance and that it was tremendously strong. So by acknowledging the small achievements in this hour-long video he gained a tremendous boost emotionally and intellectually. All because what is important is acknowledging the small steps.

When you think about it we are all "Getting There" one step at a time. Take a moment to acknowledge those achievements.

Take care Patrick

Actually, "Disability" is pretty normal now days.

Think about it, 30 years ago if you have some form of disability especially if it was obvious, you were still kind of "odd" or dare I say "special". ("Them's fighting words." Some of my friends might say.) But now I think it is quite true that overall society has really begun to accept and expect disabled persons to be part of the larger society and, when possible, contribute fully.

From my perspective this is an astounding and welcome occurrence as the world and societies move forward. To be fair this "movement" isn't uniform, but we are I think as a whole evolving. I remember when the fight for curb cuts aka."curb side ramps" began in the city of Vancouver in the 1980s along with the remarkable people I met some of which are still as active as ever in the advocacy groups and planning departments. Now I must state for the record that my perspective is a little skewed. You see, my father had polio and he was one of the first, if not the first anaesthesiologist in Canada to practice his profession. This meant of course growing up I couldn't play the same "poor disabled me" routine on him.

Yet, I can't but wonder what life would be like had I been born into it average family structure. I have met people at my assisted living building who have a real sense of helplessness. Not because they are physically or mentally any more unfit than I but because I think their family went into shock and guilt at their birth or whenever the physical affliction manifested. They rushed in to do, what they perceived the child could not do and removed all obstacles which might pose a challenge. Accidentally in the process depriving the child of the very thing they need to get through life. To face a challenge, one must spend some time understanding it and then formulate a way to overcome it. Or if it cannot be overcome, be involved with those that help you deal with it.

The result of a far too easy life is that you stop growing and there is a tendency to habitually play the victim role. It gets you short-term attention but completely disempowers you and perpetuates inequality on multiple levels. By the time the family figures this out, the child or semi adult is still entrenched in these negative patterns that it really is a challenge to begin breaking the door down so to speak.

Appropriate challenges in life are what allow us to grow and expand giving us a far, far more enriched life. I treat my disability as a gift because it gives me something that all the "normals" seek that is to be unique. The challenges have given my brain food to expand on. It's like living on Mars without having to pay a ticket for the adventure. It's not a piece of cake but I bet you it's helped keep me an interesting character. And I love other interesting characters :-). True sometimes it does get nasty and difficult when dealing with political or physical issues. But that is part of the challenge it is all an opportunity to grow. And that's what people are here to do, Grow.

Being disabled may the end of the day may be the best kind of "normal" there is!
Just a thought.

Take care Patrick