Mind-body relationship: "Who's Driving the Car?"

 

I'm not sure right away where this train of thought is going to go, but it has to do with aging and the changing relationship with the body. It's not body image in this case it's a lot more intimate than that. (Since this is a meandering thought as a try to nail it down in my own head please feel free to correct anything about this article.) Maybe the best way to start is to ask a question of anyone reading this especially if you been around for a few years on good old planet Earth.

Do you find certain parts of your body, perhaps your arms or legs disassociating from your mind a little bit? What used to be completely automatic and you never even thought about the fact that you just raised your arm to reach a can of peaches, is now something that not only you are much more conscious of because let's say got a little bit of arthritis but the connection between your mind and your arm does not feel as secure  or fluid. Especially if whatever you're doing involves a little bit of straining, a little bit of pushing a boundary physically.

Does any of the above sound familiar? It is something of dealing with on a daily basis nowadays and it really has me pondering how to move through the rest of my life. I have lots of physical support in the facility I live in, but I find myself second-guessing whether or not I should undertake certain physical challenges. For example:

For months now I've been considering getting a 3D printer and the logistics of where to put it aside, I find myself asking "Can I safely remove the 3D object off the plate once it is finished?... Can I physically threatened the filament through the printing nozzle?" If you're not familiar with 3D printers they can get rather hot and at this stage there's a lot of physical fiddling that needs to be done.

I guess what it boils down to is: That certainty that I used to have about what I could and could not do is not currently there. It's all rather tentative.

What started me on this train of thought was I'm fixing a computer for friend and getting a simple memory stick back into the machine was more than a challenge. I was actually fighting little spasms and there was that disconnect. That feeling of "Who's driving this car?" At one point I almost hit the computer over because his spasms sort of jumped out of nowhere. But that statement isn't exactly accurate..... To give you a bit of background: I have Cerebral Palsy which is a condition in which one's muscles are somewhat tense all the time and motor control can be a little tentative, shall we say. So small spasms are not uncommon but I have found, if I really examine what was going on just before the spasm more often than not there is a psychological component. Perhaps a surprise, or a little bit of fear. Whatever the particular cause having Cerebral Palsy is a little like being a live biofeedback machine. What others may miss from the subconscious people like me get a physical response sometimes. Of course this can become a psychological loop which can feed in on itself. So this can be a bit of a predicament. Although the condition has probably gifted me with great insight and better internal world. I guess that also has to do with one's early upbringing.

So this whole aging and relationship with oneself topic really is weighing on my mind today. By the way I have just discovered that the memory stick in the computer I was repairing for my friend is bad so I have to take the darn thing out again. And then order a new part. So mother nature sounds like she's going to have me revisit this topic again down the road either with this computer or with some other physical situation.

The adventure continues! Stay tuned and take care,
Patrick

Nurturing the Creative Soul

  Truly creative people are indeed a gift to the human race. 

Think of all the beautiful things and unbelievable ideas that have come down through the centuries.

These, artisans and creative thinkers should never be taken for granted however. The people that I've met that fall into this category share a few things in common, which must be acknowledged and paid attention to by the world.

1. Because they go outside of the normal everyday thinking, they are often considered "quirky or eccentric". That's because from a normal perspective they are, and more importantly I think they need to be. It is the very characteristic that helps them to be so creative in the first place. Don't ask them to conform to normal. Rather enjoyed their difference and learn from them.
   
   
2. Their life is likely to be more complicated, as they try to figure out who they are. They may come at things from a very different perspective. This "figuring out" stage may last a long time or perhaps an entire life. Again they are exploring. Give them the room to do that.There may not be as socially acceptable role model for them. They may have to blaze a new trail and create a model for themselves.
   
   

   

   Image generated by Ideogram AI.
   I had to post this 😀. It resulted from simply
   inputting he first paragraph of this article.
   Quite amazing! **  (See end of article note.)

   
   
3. They may not be politically correct (and honestly this is a trait I admire). They may say things directly or point out things that are are uncomfortable. Why?… Because they see things in a different and often broader perspective. They themselves are feeling the pressure of society asking them to be normal. They are willing to rock the boat, both politically and socially.
   
   
4. They may seem abrupt, or outwardly not care about things that the rest of us do. To some extent depending on what you're talking about this may be true but it is also likely that it is just not part of their focus. One of the things that makes a creative soul so great is they are incredibly passionate about what they do and that can mean that anything outside of that realm falls off in relevance quite quickly. For example a friend of mine who is an absolute networking and computer technology genius, but has a very limited range of interests outside of their field. Not because of underexposure but rather because they sincerely don't see the relevance to them. They will deal with other things outside of their realm when they need to but such appearances will be brief and they will hand off whatever the issue is once it is fixed to someone more acquainted with whatever the topic is.
   
   
5. Especially now days, when there is so much going on and so much feedback from everything. Creative souls may need to pull back and spend time alone or doing exclusively what they like to do. Consider this a mandatory recharge cycle, except that it may not happen on a regular basis. When you see this happen to your dear smart friend take it is a signal to pull back a bit and give them some room. Let them know that it's okay for them to do whatever they need to do.
   
   
6. There is a tendency for creative souls to get overextended. That is because they see so much, understand so much, and up helping out everywhere. Or at least can feel like that to them. They can be a prime candidate for burnout, because they really to care about what matters to them. They feel a responsibility to see things through. So they have a habit of not stopping and resting when they should. (I speak from experience.)
    
7. They may change. The very thing that makes them unique may also mean that at some point in their lives they may turn a corner and entirely embraced something new. "Standardization" is not in the vocabulary. Remember, you may love them because they are "out there", but be prepared for that definition to change. If they are a musician for example they may abruptly all of a sudden one day decides to take up pottery and put down music forever as an activity. They frequently are explorers and this is just part of their life.

Now to be clear. -- I am not saying that creative souls should be able to act or do anything absolutely they want. If you see someone who's obviously in trouble or avoiding issues they need to deal with then obviously have a talk with them. But also understand their issues may be complicated and take some time to work out.

Finally, while there are no absolutes or hard guidelines here. The rest of us need to embrace the differences the creative souls portray, because discovery is often the result of being unique. The world will always need this and so will you manage. If you have a quirky creative friend in your life count yourself lucky. Appreciate them now, and don't take them for granted.

Take care Patrick 

** NOTE: The picture "Image generated by Ideogram AI" displayed midway through 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.

Today's Challenge, getting the most out of negative things...

 

Today's challenge: Getting the most out of the things you hate to do, but have too do. 

The short answer is: Start Small. by that I mean find something that you only have a minor dislike to doing and then line that up with things you like to do in a list. Don't make the list too long, make sure it's manageable. Then begin going down the list accomplishing whatever the tasks are, but start with the task you dislike to do, and as you move on to the next task see it as a bit of a reward.

I eat my dinner's this way, if there is something on my plate that I'm not thrilled about that is the very thing I start with. This little routine has an automatic built in reward system because you have inherently something to look forward to. Do this enough times and it will become a routine. You may even find yourself looking for the classic "negative task" to put at the beginning of lists just so you can get it done and get your own little award. It sounds simplistic and kind of crazy but this kind of subtle behaviour change really does have a payoff. In short you get the crap out of the way 👍. And of course over time you can build upon the idea to get harder and harder feats accomplished. That's one thing I like about the human brain, there's part of it that is a reward junkie and it doesn't care how it gets it. It doesn't rationalize it just reacts and you can use that little human quirk to your advantage.

If there is a task that is just too negative or too overwhelming take a small, part of it something that you can manage and put it in the list. Regardless of what it is or how small it is when you successfully complete the portion of the task that you'd set out to,do, give yourself a pat on the back.

The other thing I am learning at 63 years old is don't burn yourself out. When you find your physical or mental limit, acknowledge it and take a break and by break.  I don't mean five minutes I mean something substantial. For example I normally work until 4:30 or 5 PM. Well, by 3 o'clock today I was getting pretty low on the battery level and by 4 o'clock I was done. A few years ago I would've pushed on through, but today I thought "No". I touch base with my boss and they said "No problem, we will see you in the morning." Just hearing that was an instantaneous relief. Then I realize that part of my exhaustion was me not giving myself permission. When my boss uttered those words I physiologically got the hint and relaxed. The next time I feel tired, I will speak up. There is no point in going beyond the limit when there is nothing to be gained by it. My work can be fairly technical and it really only does work out when my brain is fully alive.

So realize where you're pushing yourself too hard and give yourself that break. This is the only life you have as far as we know. Regardless of your beliefs the only thing you know for sure is, we only have the "now" to work with. Maybe there is an afterlife but that's down the road.

This by the way has nothing to do with pushing your own boundaries, enlarging your world, that is something you should always endeavour to do. Challenge and a little bit of difficulty in life is critical    when carried on in a balanced way. The key word here is balanced.

I will write more tomorrow at some point, and I plan to write much longer in-depth articles on the weekends as time permits. (See I'm listening to my own article by not overextending my brain.)

Stay tuned for more tomorrow. At this point I have no idea what I'm going to write. So both you and I will find out essentially at the same time.

Take care Patrick

There simply must be a better way to set up smart devices.

Photo by Jernej Furman on Flickr
Creative Commons CC BY 2.0  license

Like everybody else who even touches technology I have many accounts with a fair number of companies just so that all my smart devices work. I get worried though, most of the time, when I investigate the following two things:

1. Terms of service and privacy. Why the heck would a smart power plug need access to so much in my device? Some of this is really concerning because it becomes apparent that there doing something with all that data and for me this is a dealbreaker. When a product requires so much material that is unrelated to its operation a red flag really goes up
   
   
2.  Incredibly poorly written apps and overall design. I was just helping a friend and the majority of the apps interface is bright white with small bright green lettering. It doesn't even look aesthetically good, mainly because you can barely see anything.

Taken together if the company hits on the above two points, I run away had full speed because in my book it also means that the likelihood of them being around in five years is dubious. Making the very nice power bar into a "dumb" power bar with the added complication of the fact that it still transmits its Wi-Fi signal.

Pardon me but I just had the vent.

 All my friend wants to do is have a timer to turn off and on the charging on their backup electric chair. With critical equipment you don't want to leave it on charge all the time because some batteries will deteriorate even if it's a small amount of continuous charge and by the same token you don't want to leave them unplugged for too long either. Ideally you want your chair to be ready to go when you need it. 

But set ups like this are just ridiculous. And as I said I am not impressed with the app itself. It just looks janky. It will work but I expect better from companies.

Take care Patrick

Why do people tend to desire the "old days"?

I have the oddest urge to find an old school electric typewriter and just write. (I'm not masochistic enough to desire a true manual typewriter😀)

This urge just popped out of nowhere, I'm actually getting ready for work/volunteering. We will see where this blog entry of mine goes… In the next day. You will be seeing the complete entry as I'm currently writing this as a draft. But this is how I often come up with ideas. I write down a quick note. Using whatever means it's necessary.

… It's the next day and this is the first time I've had a moment to return to this article…

One of the reasons I think the reasons we look back to the old days is that it is something understandable, we knew how it fits into the fabric of our lives back then and we knew what it meant. This is an understandable reaction to the modern day when everything is kind of scattered about. I don't know about you, but I deal with a lot of interruptions and minor detours throughout my day. Sometimes I feel like the information centre for my building especially when it comes to fixing things. But even the average person has kind of the scattered lifestyle it seems unless there one of the very lucky this profession or discipline allows them to cloister themselves away… The luxury of that thought has me momentarily jealous.

Anyway in modern society we have become accustomed to taking on too much and as a result too much is expected of us overall. How many of you have at the experience of someone being furious that you didn't answer their email right away. So the simplest solution is to either pare down the number of for lack of a better word "connections" you are currently hooked up to or if that is not an option segmenting them into certain days whenever possible. A friend of mine has a very good rule: "They do not do any work on Saturday at all. They won't even talk about it." This simple and direct change makes them ingenious in my book. Because it sets not only a boundary but it sets up an anticipation that on Saturday this person is just not available and that in turn sets an example.

So what do you think is that something you could apply in your life? Even to a small degree? You might start something if you do, and that something might turn out to be awfully good for everyone. Again it's making things simpler, just like we thought the old days were. Which I kind of doubt if we were actually back there in time.

Take care Patrick

To Perceive, Unseen Personal Challenges

 

I am not so sure the old saying "Walk a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes", meaning to (if taken literally) for a short time live with someone else's life to gain their perspective is such a good idea. For the reason that I think the human race overall has underestimated just how uniquely personal and different each person's life is. Personally I don't think reality itself is uniform across people. There are just too many ways for the brain to wire and I think that's where the above statement falls very short.

What would you do if you could for a while take up residence in someone else's mind. Would their reality be shocking to you? Would you no longer be your self, but rather a product of the new mind...

This idea, underpins the philosophy that we should not assume anything when we meet someone new, but rather be as open as possible. In doing so we may find boundaries and limits within ourselves which we had previously not knowing needed addressing.… It is yet another opportunity to learn.

This whole train of thought came about when I was talking to a friend downstairs who deals with the great amount of physical pain every day. It is part of their condition and even though they are on very strong medication it is evident this is something they face alone and something that is very unique to them and their experience. But we can in contemplating their situation find boundaries within ourselves and to grow beyond them when necessary.

I suspect billions of people have those "Unseen personal challenges". It is time for humanity to start recognizing that as well as the individual. Be thankful for what you have right now.

Learning never stops and it frequently appears as an opportunity when you least expect it.

Take care Patrick

Keys to a better life: inner awareness.

Inner awareness, of one's self is so important; it cannot be overstated. First comes self-awareness, then if one pays attention, they will focus on not only the outside world but also what is going on within their own psychology or psyche. They will ask questions like "Why do I feel anxious?" And ponder what is going on to produce the feeling. They are listening to the inner dialogue of their own mind and body. This is inner awareness.

It takes time however to develop this aspect of one's life. To come to terms with the person and motivations you really are and have may not be the ones you initially assumed. Yet this is very true and becomes most obvious when a person is conflicted about something in their life.

It usually occurs because they are at odds with who they think they are as opposed to their real motivations and needs. They may see themselves in this modern world as a true professional able to tackle a multitude of things at once and just keep on going. At the same time however the body is screaming "Stop! I need some rest." If this goes on unattended then it is my personal belief that a train wreck of some kind is in the making.

I have stated many times in this blog that I live in assisted living, which means a facility where attendants are available to take care of healthcare needs around-the-clock. I had a lifelong disability and formulae due to aged 63 years old things were just becoming too difficult to do so it made sense for me to move in to a building like this. For others however who were completely able-bodied they have various ailments and physical conditions which demand they get help regularly. For some it is quite severe. Most of them share one thing in common a lack of inner awareness. Their ego drives most of their personality and up until now they have plowed through life I think for the most part with blinders on. Missing the all important messages that their bodies have been saying for a long time. I can't help wondering if they had listened to that message when it first appeared if they would be in much better physical condition. I don't know if there's any evidence for this in the literature but it sure seems intuitively true.

It's Sunday today and so I'm going to listen to that little voice, and take the rest of the day off. Take a break for yourself, the world will live on, and you just might avoid any oncoming train wrecks and at the very least will be able to relax. The world does not want you to fall apart. Listening to those gentle voices.

Take care
Patrick

Tips on Building Websites

 I've been building webpages and doing computer-related work for quite a few years now and in that time I've seen people excitedly jump on the "You Simply Must Have a Webpage." bandwagon. Of those people, the ones that decide to do it themselves, usually end up frustrated within the first month because they do not understand how people use the Internet. The scenario usually goes something like this:

Even if there website hostess provided them with guidelines and templates on design, there is a tendency to override the rules and create a webpage that is laid out much like a book or a magazine and in which the placement of photos in relation to the topic of the text is important. Then they are horrified when a friend shows them their page on a smart phone or tablet because they initially of tried to over format the content, resulting in pictures and text being out of place and generally very difficult to navigate on a smart phone or tablet. So rule number 1:

Do not over format your content. Make sure that your text and photographs make sense no matter where they are. Modern webpages are designed to be very flexible and they will automatically adapt to the device they are displaying on. When creating your page think more about the message you are conveying and less about the precise formatting.

Another pitfall people find themselves in occurs when they are choosing their colour scheme. Colour varies greatly from one screen to another. Your purple on black text might look great on your set up, but be absolutely useless to someone on a tablet.

Although modern systems will automatically download a great variety of fonts which does improve the chances of the webpage text looking the way you want, don't pick something really obscure. There is a reason why most websites stick to well-known fonts like "Arial" and "Times". These are more likely to be accessible to most devices. That is also the reason why if you are actually tinkering with webpage code itself (HTML- HyperText Markup Language ) most of the font and formatting options have been removed and are now exclusively in a language which only deals with formatting. (CSS - Cascading Style Sheets)

The other issue that is common with people designing a webpage for the first time is they don't resize their photos before uploading them to the website. To be clear I'm referring to the actual file size of the photograph or image. Modern cameras can capture a huge amount of detail that is just unnecessary for images displayed on the Internet. Not only that but large file sizes contribute to bandwidth usage on the visitor device. This can also really slow down the loading of the webpage if the device has to scale down an image. Unless you have a particular need for a high resolution photo you should make sure that all your photos and graphics are no more at most in an megabyte. Preferably one third of that. There are many services online that will resize photos for you. Also as was discussed above make sure the photo looks good across a few different devices. Extremely bright or dark photos can be problematic especially if they rely on a lot of shading. 

• A good place to start working with graphics for free is  https://www.canva.com/  Although this site focuses on the actual creation of graphics, as is often the case, the best way to learn is by doing.
• If you would rather download image editing software GIMP (GNU Imaging Manipulation Program) is excellent. Be aware though, the learning curve is quite steep. The program is free and open source.

While we are on the topics of images and photos please take the time to ensure that you have the appropriate copyright clearances. Many images can be freely reused provided that you indicate who the original author was and whether you made any modifications to the image. The Creative Commons is an excellent place to get images in this regard.

Modern websites use a variety of software. While you're keeping the content of your site up-to-date make sure that software is equally up-to-date. Many website hosts provide a "Managed Site" option which simply means they take care of the software side of things allowing you to focus on your material. This is a serious option to consider if you are not technically minded. One of the ways websites get hacked is that the software is not maintained and hackers will ultimately find flaws they can utilize to getting.

Also once your masterpiece of the website is close to finished, for the first time, because there will be and should be revisions, make sure you connected with services like "Google search console". This will not only help get you on the search engine listings, Google will also notify you of any potential problems related to the visibility of the website.

Tools like the the Google Search Console will take some homework on your part if you're not technically inclined and it by no means guarantees that your website is going to be an overnight smash. Getting your website listed in a way that will appear on search engines regularly and effectively is a whole other field in itself known as "Search Engine Optimization" and involves among other things understanding the phrases people use when they search on a particular topic, titling the individual pages and posts of your website in a meaningful way, and that's just the beginning. One thing you can do though is make sure the content of your website is up-to-date and regularly add new content. Think of what keeps drawing you back to your favourite websites. It is probably the new content they put up in a timely manner.

Finally, a website won't automatically generate traffic, rather it is where you want your traffic to end up at. One of the simplest ways to generate traffic is to make your website address part of your signature on all public posts. Then if the content on your website is engaging, over time people will come back.

To summarize:

• Don't be too concerned about the layout of the images and text. The information you are conveying should make sense regardless of the formatting.
• Keep the colour scheme simple. Check the website on a number of different devices.
• Keep your photos and file sizes small. Under no circumstances upload a photo directly from a modern camera.
• If you're using someone else's picture or artwork make sure to check the copyright and give them the required credit.
• Search engines have their own requirements for getting your content listed. This can take some ongoing work on your part.
• Keep the content of your site up-to-date.
• Keep the software which runs your website up-to-date. If you do not know how to do this ask your website host about a "managed site" option.

That's it. Wow, and to think this article started as an afterthought yesterday when I was helping someone straighten out the formatting on their webpage.

• There are several other articles on the blog dealing with various aspects of website creation and upkeep. You can simply click this link to see the most current list of documents, or at any time, use the search box on the site to search for the keyword "website" or just click here to automate the search.
  

Take care Patrick

Political Correctness

 Okay today's entry is going to be very short initially because I am under the gun with so many things right now. But I did want to post something....

There is a problem with "political correctness" and its related phrases. That is to say the wording we use in relation to a person or group automatically. Very often I find now days that the phrase used is now more important than the meaning or the intent of the message. That means that the society tends to get sensitized to the words used and ignores the message. That's can't be a good situation.

Indeed, I prefer the exact opposite. I don't care what phrasing or terminology you use in describing myself or someone else. Rather my focus is on your message and intent. 

Clarity of communication is the bottom line. If people and society are going to rely on political correct statements then need to, understand their origins, and  their context. Choose for yourself based on the situation you are in what you would like to do and what message you would like to convey.

The focus of all communication should be to remove ambiguity and inequality. It is very simple to put together a politically correct statement which still trashes the person's dignity if someone is so negatively inclined.

So don't rely on political correctness to do your work or you, and hope it keeps everything comfortable. Rather understand the context and purpose of the statement. Most of all take responsibility for what you say and do. At the end of the day you are the master of your own ship and sometimes political correct statements don't help in defining that truth.

Take care Patrick

Change the world today.

Modified, text added, photo by Marco Verch
under  Creative Commons 2.0 license.

In my world there's nothing better then creating something from scratch. Whether that something physical, like an electric circuit for a project or writing some code that does something, even if it's very simplistic. The way I look at it, they are all tiny contributions to the world and reality. Something that wasn't there before now is. This is a desire to be remembered, it's more like adding content to the great universal library and it doesn't much matter how long it exists. It's just one of those things I find pure joy in.

Sometimes there's a plan involved in the project can get quite long and consuming of resources and time. While others it's the spur of the moment "idea" and I think those are the most fun. Can you imagine if most people acted on just a fraction of the ideas that went through their head every day? For the purpose of this little text let's keep those ideas positive, because there's enough negativity floating around. Let's focus on what we can do. "Change the world today." Now that I think about it it's pretty awesome that each of us is aware enough that we can affect our existence. We can make it better, or we can leave it along, but the idea is we have the option to tinker. I would just speaking with someone and we were going down memory lane and I remembered purchasing for a night course "The CMOS Cookbook" (**If it is still in print, I will provide a link). It was basically a cornucopia of datasheets on various integrated circuits using the CMOS construction technology. Even if you didn't understand what you're looking at it was marvellous to go through. This is the one of the few books I would have to get physically in this case just something about it that makes it more real. It might cost me an arm and a leg relatively but for me it embodies the whole idea of creating.

To the best of your ability if you can you should create something, whatever that something will be as long as it has importance or relevance to you. Because one of the best things about ideas is that one can lead to another, which leads to another, which leads to another etc. Many of the fundamental features of the Internet were created that way, a block at a time. The some of those blocks have now turned into a grand algorithm (s) and here we are at the beginnings of artificial intelligence.

So take a moment…
… What will you create today?

Take care Patrick

** Sorry although there are archival copies of the book available on the Internet I was unable to determine the legal validity of linking to the sources and the latest publisher Synergetics Press,  no longer lists the book on their site.The latest copy I was able to find was the fourth edition.  You can search "WorldCat" to find copies a at your local library. (Click the ISBN number below)

FOURTH EDITION
SECOND PRINTING - 2019
ISBN: 0 672-21398-2

Other used copies of this book are available on Amazon.