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

How Do You Make Decisions?

 Have you ever considered the nuances that make up your decision-making process? Particularly the subtler influences, mood, personal biases, and perhaps the time available to make the decision.

This idea occurred to me while I was working on some course material for of all things in computer science class. Some of the exercises I would solve an entirely different way and what was given as the official answer. This really got me thinking about all the factors that go into the thousands of decisions everyone makes each day. We all have our own. Background routines at run almost unconsciously as we approach each situation. Most of the time we are blissfully unaware of the machinery it gets us to the answer.

On those days when one feels exceptionally focused and together the quality of the decision-making process also improves. It is surprising that more emphasis on what goes in to a person's process isn't talked about early in school. Because after all one's decisions are the fundamental building blocks of one's life.

Being aware of what makes up your own decision-making processes is a very powerful thing indeed. Especially if you take control of the subtle emotions and biases. Fiat the next time you find yourself faced with a decision. Look at what is really being brought together in your mind. Have you ever had this happen to you:

You are put in a situation abruptly (usually something new and unexpected) and for whatever reason you feel that you cannot deal with it successfully and therefore a mental block is produced. It becomes a self-fulfilling situation. But if a similar circumstance occurs at a moment when you're feeling really good about the day somehow a solution is arrived at or at the very least you are not so negatively impacted by an unsuccessful outcome.

What are the differences in those two situations? I think basically the answer to it is understanding the influences particularly emotional ones. I do know that the more present you are in any given situation the better the outcome is. The other step to take is turning off your personal autopilot with familiar situations. Just because a particular situation is very familiar to you doesn't mean that you shouldn't review and be aware of your emotions and actions for that circumstance.

Just food for thought. As always let me know what you think in the comments.
Patrick

In 12 months time what would you like to achieve?

 

In 12 months time what would you like to achieve, that is by the year 2026?

Many, many people and an equal number of articles are written every year in January regarding New Year's Eve resolutions, but have you ever thought of sitting a goal and a timeline to assist in achieving the objective? As well as a backup plan should something get in your way.

I learned many years ago that when something is difficult it is actually a good sign because it means that transformation of one sort or another is being achieved. Human beings I absolutely hate changing preferring to stay in their default mode no matter what it is. Even if that default situation is very unpleasant for them. So as you progress through 2025, if you find things uncomfortable recognize that there may be something from the event. Modify your plans as needed but do not give up, and if you have to put something on hold, then do that but do not see it as a defeat. Simply make a promise to yourself to revisit it when you can.

For myself I just started an introductory computer science course and my ongoing goal is to slowly learn a variety of languages. I am not holding myself to a strict schedule but deliberately keeping things very pliable only promising to myself that I will return to the course as many times as necessary in order to achieve success. Because as I have learned in the last few years and overly strict schedule simply does not work when one's life is complicated and very susceptible to interruptions. Therefore my approach is to literally say "The interruptions are not a negative. They simply need to be where they're occurring. I have a commitment to myself to move on when ever possible." I shall alter whatever needs to be altered in order to achieve this goal.

I think a great deal of life can be approached in a similar fashion and by that I mean, not to overly critique your self in pursuit of the goal. But do keep a timeline and a commitment adjusting things as necessary.

That's it for this very short post. It's the first one of 2025. Many more articles and ideas to come in the upcoming days. Stay tuned in 2025 and make your own adventurers be fruitful.

Patrick

Promoting optimism: The Glass Is Half Full!😀

This article is about optimism of the individual, but the ideas can be applied to groups.

Have you ever considered that the way you feel at any given moment is the way you think you should feel in that situation?

Think about this situation: Unexpectedly a dear friend who you haven't seen in many years calls you up. Instantly there is a feeling of joy and excitement. Now when you think about it, that feeling of happiness is not occurring due, to the fact that your dear friend is calling you up. It has to do with the decision you made when you realized who it was on the phone. You decided it was a good time to feel joy. On the other hand, if a bill collector calls, you may feel the exact opposite and again it is not the bill collector's call, it's your decision on how to feel in that context. 

It is amazing when one begins to realize how much control you really have over emotions. But we are not taught to think of it that way. Most people behave as though the reaction it's outside of their control. But the reaction and indeed the interpretation of any given situation is fully within your control. So why not promote optimism as you go through your daily life. It not only will improve your well-being, it will also deepen your understanding of other people and indeed society.

 

"The reaction and indeed the interpretation of any given situation is fully within your control."

You are the decision-maker of interpretations.

Consider "political correctness" movement and its variants, it is not the words that are the issue, it is the value and interpretation you give to the situation. So you might as well put a positive spin on it or simply ignore whatever words are used and look for the intent of the message. Society can either choose to promote positiveness or it can go down the other road. The choice is really up to the individual and the group they are involved with.

Promoting a state of being positive it's really about taking the time to get involved with your self on an intimate level. Turn off the autopilots and consider what attracts you or repels you in any given situation. Once you figure that out you might as well start selling an optimistic outlook to your self and others. I live in an assisted living building and many people here lament that they were once able-bodied and are no longer. I remind them that rather than focusing on what they lost they should when possible look at your new situation and embrace it. They may have lost mobility but they have gained support (Our building actually has a doctor who makes house calls) The staff here would do almost anything in support of the people they work with. I know this because they have moved heaven and earth when it comes to enabling me to do various projects like repair a computer. Physically I'm slow and my coordination is in great. One day I had a computer here the needed a new Bluetooth card. I was able to direct the staff on how to put the cart in the machine and everything turned out wonderfully.

The point is, you can choose your outlook and interpretation of almost everything. Promoting optimism seems like a very useful thing to do. In the next few moments it will probably be an opportunity for you to choose how to interpret a situation. Analyse the reaction or the decision made and decide with you can put a positive spin on it. These opportunities occur many times each day and often we are barely aware of them. Treat these events as opportunities to see the glass half full rather than half empty. It is an amazing and ongoing journey.

Don't you agree?… Let me know in the comments.

Patrick

N.B. Due to technical issues, this post was written literally live online between December 29 to the 31st 2024 inclusive. The text was subject to change between those dates. 

People addicted to anger.

 

Basic Image generated by Ideogram AI.
Text added by me.

Thought I done an article on this topic before but it's not in my database, so here we go…

I am continually surprised by how many apparently angry people there are when I look around me where I live, which happens to be Surrey British Columbia. Individuals and what apparently appears to be a perpetual "bad mood" who when you ask them actually want to stay angry. They may put it in different words, but at the end of the day you can see by how they are framing things that they really want to stay upset.

Why the heck would people want to do that? It stalls any hope of personal growth or being able to benefit from life. They also apparently want to complicate everything. Small seemingly insignificant events become full one multiperson debates. I have seen arguments over the availability of coffee and/or its strength get to the point where of their staff in my assisted living building have to get advice from the administrator. To me that's just ridiculous. I'm not talking about big changes to the coffee situation it's more about things like 6 (178 ml) ounces versus 8 (236 ml) ounce cups. The results will want to projecting going on in these arguments and they all seem to like it in a very negative way.

To be honest, I live in a facility which is far above most others that I have seen. The staff here are kind, enthusiastic and just a bit quirky 💗. It's not perfect of course because the healthcare environment is just full of rules and regulation. Sometimes that can put a damper on things, but overall the staff does an excellent job of keeping the quality of life going.

Yet for a lot of the tenants there is a malaise. Yet when ideas are brought forward to break the pattern people are stuck in there is tremendous rationalization as to "why they can't" to whatever is being suggested. ...I just don't get it. There is so much opportunity to do what ever you want and the time to do it. That's a lot free most of the world doesn't have. Yes the cost of staying here is 70% of one's income but that covers everything aside from Internet and a landline if you want it. (the land line is only $20 a month). One cannot get kicked out unless something really insane happens. Essentially people have the time to take courses if they want; we have a few libraries nearby. Because everyone here is disabled in one way or another they all qualify for discount Internet plans. I get 150 Mb per month for $30 unlimited. I mean it's insane the amount of opportunity that you just sitting there for anyone to grasp.

So what is this negative hold over people? What are they getting out of it? There must be something. I really do find it fascinating and I admit I also find it very unsettling because it is wasted potential. Now I'm not perfect and I have my own issues that I deal with, but at 65 years old I am doing pretty darn well. Most people in this building are much younger than I am. One of the things I do to balance out the negativity and stay connected with the world at large it's write this very blog. I also volunteer five days a week via a remote connection to the office of the organization. Occasionally I going to Vancouver to attend meetings but 90% of my work and duties is done right from my very desk. Still it keeps me connected with people and events and drawing value from my life.

The place where I live could be a hive of activity. There actually is an organization in Vancouver British Columbia called "HiVE Vancouver Society". They rent out space and hardware for those needing to set up a small office for their entrepreneurial grassroots business. I've never been there but I heard it's quite something. I can see the place where I live doing something similar if only the tenants would avail themselves of the opportunities that exist. Yes many of them have been through accidents which brought them here but "here" is not a bad place at all. As I said earlier this particular facility is far ahead of others I have seen. The apartments by the way are huge, I intuitively want to say about 600 ft.² (55 m²). Far larger than other organizations provide.and like I say the staff is very, very "groovy"! 😀.

I think I just figured this topic out…  Why people can be addicted to anger:

As long as you are angry, especially if it's your preferred state, the responsibility for everything tends to be placed on other things or people. -- It's a short term get out of jail free card! And it's easy. One gets to ignore everything else. The trouble is of course, you don't get anywhere. There was no benefit because you handed over mentally the responsibility for everything. In that mental state, you can't even change your self. Yikes!… The person's stuck until they break the routine.

Conversely, taking advantage of an opportunity frequently involves work and commitment. The benefits however are legion. First off, the opportunity allows the person to evolve and of course the evolution takes one in uncertain but often times incredibly beneficial directions. Speaking from personal experience, I think by getting to know your self and the opportunities around you, one's health overall is much better. Because you are looking at the various things in your life. Even though I have Cerebral Palsy and am 65 years old I take absolutely no drugs. Not because I'm a Puritan, because I don't have to. (I think I may be the only person in my building who can make that claim.)

This ties into something else, I wonder if society is making things a little too easy. (See Difficulty Has Its Advantages on this blog.) In order for people to grow they need challenge that is meaningful and they need to learn the skills to benefit from such situations.

With that I think I will end this positive rant and put together a quick video for it.

Have a great day everyone. Patrick. Thanks for stopping by.

 

** NOTE: The picture "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.

Perception throughout the Ages. Part 2.

 

Basic Image generated by Ideogram AI.
Text added by me.

Yesterday I had my second person visit with the elderly client in Vancouver who is trying to learn Windows 10 on their laptop. If you will recall, during the first visit it became apparent that the laptops trackpad would not work for them. He kept putting two fingers on the pad no matter what. I would correct him and for a few moments he would be fine but ultimately his hand would relax a bit and the other figure would get close enough to the trackpad that the on-screen pointer began to do all sorts of things. If you want to know more you can read the first article in this series here and it has its own accompanying video.

I thought about this for a while and it is suggested that we try a mouse the next time I visited. I really didn't feel certain that this would solve the problem. We weren't that lucky... A couple of interesting issues arose. Have you ever considered how smooth and uniform a modern physical computer mouse is, not to mention how little haptic feedback there is? Yes, I know that the user should be focused on the screen and and therefore be able to connect the actions of the hand what is happening in front of them. But if it is a new device or for whatever reason a person is focused on in this case a physical mouse they may not see the small changes. Or hear the soft click. This was the case so I try to make things a little more obvious by putting a little bit of tape on the left mouse button just to make the texture feel a little different. That did help a bit. He was able to click on a few items on the Windows desktop. I could tell however it was taking most of his concentration. The other thing was he would often try too hard and in the process either move the mouse off the target on the screen or accidentally touch the scroll wheel.

We kept that this for about an hour. Patiently trying to do various things like closing a window, opening a window, maximizing it, etc. . They are very determined to learn this computer and I really commend them for that. Just going through this very repetitive right and left clicking of objects over and over again is a testament to their patientce.

Up until doing this yesterday I never really thought about how social the movements are when using modern devices. Think about it, when you tap something on a screen it's a very gentle quick movement and there is very little physical feedback. Personally one of the things that drives me crazy on a phone is that for me I have to look at the numbers otherwise my own fingers stray off. This is actually quite new. 20 years ago, everything was for the most part mechanical in some fashion. The first cell phones, which weighed a ton by the way, and physical pushbuttons . I had one of the early Motorola "grey bricks" (The Motorola DynaTAC) after 20 minutes of holding that to your ear, your arm would begin to ache. It was also very expensive I think around $0.60-$0.75 a minute. But the bizarre thing was if you made a long-distance call those prices were governed by agreements outside of your carrier. It was actually cheaper for me in Vancouver to phone Toronto and it was to make a local call...

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I have been racking my brain on how to best proceed. Then a friend of mine told me that they have seen people in care facilities using mice that are especially designed with the buttons a few centimetres apart so you have to use your whole hand. I'm going to try to track one down and either borrow it or at least find out more.

 If we can get around the mouse problem I think my elderly friend will actually be able to benefit from the laptop. Right now the plan is to go out every weekend and I will print up some posters indicating some of the stuff we've covered. He says that would be very helpful and so that is what I'm going to do.

So stay tuned for next weekend and part three of our adventure!
Take care Patrick

** NOTE: The picture "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.

 

Perception throughout the Ages. Part 1.

 

Altered image licensed under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Original photo by Dave Bezaire.

I want to get this article out rapidly, mainly because this is a fleeting thought and as most of you know sometimes you just have to grab the idea before it flies off into the ether, never to return.

I just spent the afternoon with someone who has a different way of looking at things due to their age and background. Needless to say they've been around for quite a while and they are trying to learn Windows 11 and indeed everything about the fundamentals of a computer we take for granted.

We are starting from the very beginning of cursor control, using the touchpad and what the various keys on the keyboard do. The challenging part is becoming clear to me and that is that the problem is not intellectual, it is rather out fundamentally different way of working with the world.It is physical involving three-dimensional actions. One pulls a lever and sees the spring the fulcrum acts on. It is very visual and clear not at all abstract. A modern graphical user interface on a computer is the exact opposite. Mere images are referred to as physical things "The Taskbar" for example, it is treated in discussions and books the same way of physical item is in the real world. The same holds true for "DragBars". Even the action of "clicking and dragging" is often treated in speech the same way as if it were a physical item. To this person however the computer screen is an image composed up of rectangles squares and circles. When I use the term Drag bar it took quite a bit of explaining and I think at that point they were just humoring me when they said "I understand…"

People build up mental models of their world as they proceed through life but these become structured and limiting if one is not careful. For example when I was growing up every car had a key that you physically put in to start the car. I still find it somewhat odd when I am in the vehicle and instead of a physical key they use a small electronic device or fob or even a fingerprint. I am sure they would find the world equally odd and it audits with their perceptions if they were to go back to 1960. Everyone's mental model in that era out was much more physical and just plain different. You would have to explain to a modern person just exactly how to use a rotary phone and why the heck the dial had the letters of the alphabet printed on it in such a ridiculous matter. (If I can find a good video explanation online I will put a link here of a rotary phone in action.NOTE: This link is to a 37 minute YouTube video on the rotary telephone by the channel "Our Own Devices" . It is a thorough overview and well worth the watching.)

Build Your Own Television Receiver
Science & Invention magazine cover art,
November 1928. Volume 16 Number 7
In the public domain. (Get Archive)

This is something that happens to everyone, the time you are born, the technology around you and other factors form on a very deep level how you interact with the world. I go into it in a little more detail in the short video included with this article, but suffice it to say that "not only are we, star stuff. We are products of the very time the star was made."

I for my part am so thankful that I get to experience and understand all these subtleties in life. Every time I think I've got a handle on them, reality and mother nature come along and say "There's more to this story…"

Why exactly do people stop adapting their mental models? The initial obvious answer is that it is easy to just rely on what has worked in the past and stick to it. But I think there is more going on. Many articles go on this blog I wrote a short piece entitled "They Have Never Been Taught To Think" and that may be a partial answer. As I see it diversity and challenge are what keeps you going and indeed growing. Maybe we have "overdone it" when it comes to certain types of automation and convenience. Do you really know what is going on behind the scenes when you click that icon on your phone to open any particular app? The probable answer is "No", but you do expect to work". But if that was the singular answer in this elderly person would have adapted to their new laptop quickly. For the simple reason that through most of their lives they've had to work things through. A light didn't just come on when they walked into a room, they had to turn it on. Further, they had to understand at least partially the number of things that had to occur for things to work. If the light didn't turn on when they flipped the switch may be the fuse, which was a precursor to the modern circuit breaker, needed replacing. Their mental model had to be adaptable. That again brings me full-circle back to the initial question at the beginning of this paragraph.

I will be filling this article out more as we go a long.

August 28 update:

 Perhaps the best way to move forward in situations like this is to find out what their, for lack of a better word, baseline is. For example I remember a few years ago working with someone who in their mid-adult years used Microsoft MS-DOS extensively. As a matter of fact when I was working with them they still had a computer running that operating system and had it online using a dial-up modem service in conjunction with the program called "Telix". This meant that they can only connect to the Internet via a strictly text interface. There were no embedded graphics at all.

Over the course of months we attempted to move them to a "Windows 7" machine which they absolutely hated. Ultimately to he did decide to go back to their old machine with the dial-up modem. Even though the new computer functioned quite well.

So on my next visit to our current user I'm going to ask them what using a computer was like originally for them and try to put everything in a similar context.

Take care Patrick.

Too Used to Feeling Comfortable

 

The debating team

Have you noticed in the last 10 years or so that people are becoming very uncomfortable with being "Uncomfortable"? I mean people seem to want no controversy in their life at all. While this sounds good from a philosophical point of view, I believe it has a very negative impact in the long run.

It is through conflicts and uncomfortable situations that we often have a chance to learn about ourselves. People get to ask those questions "Why do I feel this way?" That simple short question can lead to a lot of self-discovery. When you deal with the feeling or uncomfortable situation you get to confront and no the deeper aspects of the self.

It is human nature to want to feel comfortable and safe. But taken to extremes we are robbing ourselves of the opportunities to grow and mature. When I was very young I remember hearing my parents talk about debating teams. (The "debating teams" link will take you to https://debatingmatters.com/ a website where you can find all the information you need about setting up your own team. This was just some quick research I have not fully reviewed the destination site but it looks very informative.) These would be groups of people that would get together and they would deliberately take opposing views on any issue. Then they would spend the night trying to win the debate. Sometimes it would get quite heated. But always in the spirit of exploration and understanding. Regardless of who won the debate.

People and indeed society seemed to therefore be going backward. Rather than embracing challenge and being uncomfortable when necessary we seem to be demanding that we are never made to feel awkward or to go outside of what is considered politically correct. This is a great disservice to our mental health and growth in the long run because we are not preparing ourselves for change, the natural evolution of things.

This is going to be a very short post simply because the point of this text is so straightforward and clear. Challenge is needed in everyone's life, and let's face it, no one can really escape feeling uncomfortable all the time. What bothers me is that we have made being comfortable and politically correct and end goal he knew of deeper consideration and thoughtfulness.

Let me know what you think
Patrick

FYI: In the title of this post I use the verb " Used to". I've always wondered about the use and spelling of this phrase. Well, if you too, have been confused here is the answer about how and when it should be applied

** 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.

The Art of Being Happy.

There are of course many articles written on the art of being happy. This text however will be different it is a much more personal journey as I attempt to look at what happiness is for me and perhaps for you. There will of course be a video at some point. (It'll probably be just below this paragraph as Google loves videos to peer near the beginning of a piece so that users don't have to scroll very far😁

Step 1: Get Real, Stop the Mental Autopilot

I did an article and video almost exactly a year ago dealing with just this.-The article is called "Presence of Mind". To summarize the article you have to pay attention to what you are doing mentally. When everything is done by routine we almost immediately stop listening to the internal dialogue but we don't stop listening to the overall message. If that messages negative or in other ways untrue we still accepted as fact on an emotional level and that of course impacts everything.

Step 2: Stop Saying "Yes." To Every Task; Pair down Your To Do List.

I have a tendency to say "Certainly, I can do that.", because I like to accomplish things and help people in the process, or at least that's what I like to tell myself. But I think the truth is closer to something like this is how we validate ourselves or temporarily make ourselves happy. Well, the second step is to stop doing just that. A single person can only do so much and even though you and I may love to be involved in everything. In order to accomplish anything the tasks must be manageable. They must allow you to have breathing room. So since the goal is to be happy, let's say for today you must have the room and time to do it. If you look at very creative people they guarded their time jealously. (See the article "Intuition and the Curious Mind" )

 Step 3: Happiness Is Not External, it's internal And You Have To Own It.

This one a big one, which must be clearly understood. Happiness does not come to you. It is something you'll create by being involved and taking responsibility for how you feel. Yep, you have to work at it and it is only temporary. Which means you have to keep working at it and be willing to put in the effort. The details of this sobering paragraph are that you have to figure out your own personal mechanism to find happiness. Start with identifying why you may be unhappy. Separate the things you cannot change from the things you can. It may be necessary to change your self. Many people think they can attain something without changing themselves. Humanity was literally built on the idea of constant change. If you are unhappy at this very moment and then you manage to make your self happy you will not be the same person.

Click picture to view/download full
resolution printable copy.

This artwork is hereby placed in the
public domain and is based upon material
in the public domain. Patrick Clark

So happiness is really a voyage of discovery and effort. It has very little to do with external things. You definitely cannot buy happiness; you could only buy distraction at the end of the day you must deal with your self. Therefore embrace change and effort.

Step 4: The Discovery

So happiness is really a voyage of discovery and effort. It has very little to do with external things. You definitely cannot buy happiness; you could only buy distraction, and  at the end of the day you must deal with your self. Therefore embrace change and effort.

Very often as you get closer to feeling happier, and you find with some astonishment that there is resistance. Human beings don't fundamentally like to change regardless of how miserable or positive there are normal is. The key thing to remember is that you are not trying to win an achievement. There is no plateau. More accurately, what you are doing is making minor alterations to your outlook one step at a time. Be prepared to practice and be very honest with yourself during this ongoing journey. At some point you will be astonished how happy you are.

Step 4.5: Keep Track of Your Discoveries

Most often a "lack of happiness" can be defined as a lack of knowing one's self. The more you understand about the person you are, the more you can address and make changes. Following the above steps will literally make you a happier person. Because you understand more about your self and it is an ongoing journey. It is not a simple task to be happy it is much easier for some people to be miserable because all they have to do is ignore the things that would make them happy. Which is to change what they are doing in some way.

So start digging around and considering the particular situation you find yourself in. You may not feel the change a lot of things but at the very least you can change how you interpret and react to any given event.

Take care have a great day Patrick

Learning and knowledge in the shadow of AI

Graduation cap image based on
"Student graduation cap with gold tassel and ribbon"
by upklyak under the Freepik license.

Since the advent of the public Internet the way we learn, and indeed what is acceptable as knowledge, has been evolving. Along with that, is the idea that the very processes by way we think and perceive information is changing. Now along comes something which will really alter the game, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Consider the following points:

Deep Understanding

In the last 30 years or so, the need to work on a problem or go through the process of "thinking" has become somewhat optional. If you don't know the answer to something you can simply Google it. Still though with Google and other search engines you have to know a little bit about the topic and a bit about how best to phrase it in text. And you still have to filter out many of the results. But the deep contemplation/understanding of the issue that you're working on has in many cases has become optional.

We don't look very far in the past to be truly astounded by people who undertook very complex problems and thought them through using only their brains, and I'm not talking about geniuses like Stephen Hawking or other exceptional people. It is the ordinary person of the past that understood algebra, chemistry or history. They truly understood the processes and relationships of the work because it was a necessity.. They could tell you why something appeared to be true and how they arrived at the conclusion. Even more importantly go and actually done the work mentally or physically to get the answer. Another way to put it is to a greater or lesser extent they learned the discipline of how to figure things out.

Just a Compendium of Information

Today with search engines and the Internet, we more or less just compiled information, at least the casual user does. Regardless of our chosen source be it Wikipedia, Google Scholar or some other tool, we essentially just bring together the facts. The depth of knowledge and understanding we have is beginning to change. I say "change" because I fundamentally believe that our brains are rewiring to store more facts at the expense of true understanding. It is an optimization. Because at no other time in the world's history as the average person ever had to deal with more input every day.

So this really has me wondering how the next steps will affect us. Will AI mean that we no longer have to "know" anything (this is obviously taking things too extreme, to make the point)? And again, how will this affect the very processes by which we think. Which in turn will affect how people construct their own personal realities.

Mental Effort

This is my own supposition, that the brain has evolved to give us the ability to truly understand and think. Look at all the great artworks and music over the past centuries. The subtleties involved in such undertakings. This took a great deal of effort, but it was an effort which was expected in many cases and it was through that very undertaking that greater mental and emotional skills evolved.

If we look at the world today we see one thing that is very obvious across certain aspects of the modern world. Look at the amount of repetition for example in the media. (If I see one more reboot of an old program or series I may go insane 😀 ). If we use 30 years as a timescale it is obvious that in the last 15 years there have been more and more duplications of things that were successful in the past. Where is the creativity and knowledge which spawned the original?  Yes, it is true that big media outlets will always try to reproduce a winning streak with something that worked before. But it really has me questioning the state of true creativity.

Have we inadvertently made things a little too easy and in doing so allowed the brain to prune a little too much in the understanding-circuitry department? With the beginnings of AI what will happen in this situation?

This is just one example of losing the benefits of  "mental effort" and it happens pretty quickly. But the answer is not to make things blindly more difficult again. Making things difficult without a purpose, a tangible outcome, never works.

I think the solution here is that we must remain aware of how society and AI are interacting and evolving.

I am a technologist at heart and a true heat so I do love all the intricacies involved and the potential positive outcomes. I have at last count seven computers in my apartment with a network of over 47 devices. (If you're worried about my power consumption by the way they are all single board Raspberry Pi computers aside from two.)

In summary, let's not make things too easy on ourselves

The trip to benefiting from AI and future advances, is to be involved as much as possible with all of the industries and results. Not just be a consumer of knowledge, even if we reach the point where the artificial intelligence knows more than we do. We must remain engaged in the effort and indeed in life itself. In other words there is no room for complacency. The world will change remarkably in the next hundred years. Probably outside of our current perceptions. I must admit part of me would love to be around to see this evolution or should I call it a dance between the various participants biological and technical alike.

Who knows, we may reach a point where there is no difference between AI and us. But that's another story, and there are many other factors to consider.

Stay engaged in life everyone and have a great day. There will of course be a companion video I think as I write this I will put them up both together at the same time.

Take care Patrick

What if there are different levels of sentience?

 

The immediate answer for most people is probably "Yes, there are a variety of levels…" But I bet you never considered that there might be something above the human's experience of sentience. --And at this point you know I will be talking again about artificial intelligence. Who's to say AI needs to stop at our level. What if it discovers awareness well beyond what we perceive? It is an interesting question to start with.

Human beings have never faced the possibility of something totally tangible; in the room with them so to speak which may have an enhanced version of sentience. Think of the avenues that would open up for all concerned. Personally I get a little excited at the thought and in a very positive way. It would be like going from black and white TV to full living colour. But that colour may in itself have levels above it. I find this all very humbling to contemplate as I sit here on a Friday night. I am sitting here comfortably in my chair and yet at the same time I wonder what I am not perceiving or to be more precise what I am "dumbing down" to fit into my own awareness.

I guess one way to look at this would be to consider some of the other animals on earth and asking the question: "Just where on the scale of sentience does this fit in?"I don't think it can be simply a binary choice that being that something is either aware of itself or it isn't. It is more likely to be far more nuanced and it is in those nuances I find itself pondering this question.

As a society I wonder if we are really ready to explore these nuances, big and small. To my way of thinking now days it doesn't take much for people to get offended or drop battle lines based on differences of opinion. The art of negotiation and debate seem to be fading... Maybe this will wake things up again.

When one debates in a healthy manner you can have differences of opinion and Outlook and yes even in the way you think. That could turn out to be really important in the coming years. The key here is that ass we discover more and more about the very process of being sentient, the more I think we will have to learn to be valuable and hopefully deepen our understanding. The best politicians and negotiators really comprehend the skills. They can be on opposite ends of the spectrum and yet still see the value in each other. Okay that Outlook is a bit perhaps a little too naïve sounding but I do like occasionally to put on the rose coloured glasses and strive to see the best in humanity. Because I don't think were going to be alone much longer on this little blue marble. There's going to be a new kid on the block. Regardless of what we end up calling them, they are indeed going to be fellow roommates of planet Earth.

This short article is being put together over a few days on a very busy weekend and it's the same situation for the accompanying video. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on this.

Have a great day Patrick

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

If You Do Not Change, You Will Not Find.

 

Start by Turning on the Light.

"If you do not seek, you will not find." sounds quite self evident, but in my experience, some people  subconsciously expect and behave as though the opposite is true. That is, "If I wait here and to do nothing, change will occur."

The more remarkable thing is they will do exactly that. People will maintain their negative habits, complained bitterly and expect a positive outcome. Moreover, they will expect a positive outcome without any alteration to their current behaviour. (Boy, have I got news for them.) There are a few examples that come to mind, they all manifest indirectly and maybe that's why they keep reoccurring:

A friend, keeps complaining about their laptop getting old and they need to do something about it. For two years now, with a small computer store just down the street, they have said they need to drop in and see what is available. Almost daily they complain about something not working right with the machine and yet they do not visit this store. They look online through page after page of devices and sales. I have offered to back up the machine so they don't lose any other content. The money to purchase a new laptop is available or could be arranged quite easily from what they've said. Yet they don't do it. What's worse is that eventually the machine will malfunction and then they will be in trouble, because that will result in a panic buy. They get to take me up on the backup offer. Both of us can see the train wreck coming… Yet why don't they step out of the way and get a new laptop up?

Does this sound familiar to anyone reading this? I bet it does.

Or how about this: Someone complains about, being stuck in a rut and not having anything new to do. So you make some suggestions which are all summarily rejected for one reason or another. Usually the rejections are pretty lame: "I don't want to do that." Or "No, that's too much work..."

If you do not change, you will not find what you were looking for. These are some simple tips and there's only 3 of them.😀

• Light Bulb Moment # 1: Change Takes Work. You can't expect a different outcome without putting any effort into it. In a way a person must be willing to embrace change and understand that in some aspect they will alter themselves. If they do not accept this and they are really stuck. What is probably happening when someone does not want to undertake changing is that they have not acknowledged something positive. Getting out of there current situation. There's always a payoff somewhere.
  
  
• Light Bulb Moment # 2: "People love to stay safe." In this context "safe" is taken in very basic terms. It could be "Am I familiar with my own situation?". If the answer is "yes" for that person then they are going to fight any change. Even if they don't like where they are in life. If their surroundings are familiar to them they are going to tend to keep them in a state of status quo. The solution to this then is to start small. Don't try to tackle the whole problem at once. But be consistent in whatever changes you do succeed in implementing. It may be necessary to restart the endeavour several times. Because creative people find creative ways of avoiding change. If you do find this a requirement that each time a restart is necessary alter the way you do it. Avoid getting stuck in mindless repetition.
  
  
• Light Bulb Moment # 3: Don't discount success. Society is now conditioned to focus on the negative. Indeed it is an evolutionary human trait. In the past it help to keep one alive. Now that behaviour is frankly a pain in the ass for the human species. The successes you have will give you further insight into what needs to be done and you may find it surprising.

These two steps are what is needed for ongoing growth in everyone's life. Give them a try and leave a comment down below.

Have a great day everyone.
Patrick

Which came first, "The Word" or the "Message" it conveys?

Image based on photo by  Lauren Mcalary
under CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed license.

This is a very spontaneous, and probably very short article. It is so off-the-cuff that I really don't know how long it will end up being.

Over the last few years I have noticed people becoming more and more for lack of a better term "Phrase Sensitive". I had been involved with a few meetings lasting several hours each debating which terms are more appropriate for a given situation. Now before I go any further please do not misunderstand this is not the standard rebuttal about being overly politically correct. However, I do want to question why people seem to be so transfixed and often uncomfortable about terminology.

To my way of thinking the totality of the message you are conveying is much more important than the words you used to convey that information. In other words, it's the message that is important and not the phrasing. When I think about it by making things completely acceptable we are in danger of creating a society which does not know how to deal with diversity. Diversity is the very engine which drives evolution and change. People should not be afraid of this aspect of life. Indeed they should embrace it, because that is where new things are found out.

Do not pay attention to the individual words and phrases used in any monologue; rather look at the greater message. That is what you hold society and people accountable to.

I have a challenge for you. 

Spend a day saying exactly what you mean. Of course you can tell your friends and colleagues ahead of time that this is an experiment. You don't want to freak them out, but you do want to get them to pay attention to the complete meaning behind your words. Being blindly politically correct only serves to introduce ambiguity into communication. While saying specifically what you mean not only clarifies it for those around you but makes you pay attention to the message itself.

This could also have a very beneficial effect on everyone who engages with you, because it tends to lay bare routines we have for communicating quickly which are not very effective. It is an opportunity to really look at meetings and words.

Taking this a step further you could record your conversations and dialogue throughout the day. When listening to it back, pay particular attention to how you phrase things and the words you used. Did they match the idea you were trying to convey? Did you feel an emotional impact?

We are all so busy. The art of conversation and really conveying I thought is getting lost to some extent, because of two things essentially: 1. We tend nowadays to use the word that is appropriate but not accurate. 2. We make assumptions that are definition of the word is the same as the other persons. This is especially true when we deal with politically correct phrases. Have you ever been in a meeting and heard a phrase used over and over again which has never been truly explained to you. You have a "general idea"… And if that's the case other people may be in the same boat. This is not a good situation for clear communication and cooperation.

So which did come first, "The Word" or the "message" it conveys?

Take care 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