I love this video of Louis C.K. on the Conan O'Brien show. Somewhat reminds me of my "It's amazing what all works in our society" post a couple of months ago...
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The importance of boredom in our lives, OR, "Why I returned my iPad" - by Peter Bregman
For several weeks now, I've been meaning to write a post here about the important role that boredom plays in our lives, but couldn't find the right way to express the ideas I wanted to say. Then yesterday a friend of mine posted a blog post from the Harvard Business Review on Facebook, and voila, everything was expressed absolutely perfectly right in the article called "Why I returned my iPad". Here's a little snippet:
Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that's where creativity arises.
My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These "wasted" moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital.
They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They're the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.
To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What's worse is that we don't just lose them. We actively throw them away
To read the full article by Peter Bregman, click here.
And in the meantime I wish everyone a little bit of boredom in their lives too!
Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that's where creativity arises.
My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These "wasted" moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital.
They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They're the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.
To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What's worse is that we don't just lose them. We actively throw them away
To read the full article by Peter Bregman, click here.
And in the meantime I wish everyone a little bit of boredom in their lives too!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Secret Powers of Time - a very interesting 10 minute presentation
I thoroughly enjoyed this video presentation by Professor Philip Zombardo on how different perspectives of time influence our work, health and well-being. And I would add happiness as well. Enjoy:
Monday, May 17, 2010
It's amazing what all works in our society
Every day we are bombarded by the media with bad news, but have you ever stopped to think about everything that's working as it should, at least most of the time?
If it's cold outside, we can turn on the heat in our home or car just at the touch of a button. When we need water, we just turn a tap and it's there -- we can even choose if we prefer hot, warm or cold. Electricity to power all of our appliances comes to our homes, as do signals carrying telephone and/or Internet services. We can even access those almost anywhere we want. I am not even mentioning television or radio broadcasting signals - well, actually I am :-)
When we need to get from A to B, we can take a bicycle, car or public transportation. If we need to cross the ocean, we can take an airplane or a ship. When our car starts running out of gas, we drive to the nearest refuelling station and we fill up. If the gas station runs out of gas, a big truck comes and delivers more gas. If there is a problem with our car, we go to the nearest service and they can usually fix the problem pretty quickly.
When we get hungry, we can go to the store -- which is usually pretty well stocked -- and buy whatever we crave and cook ourselves a delicious meal. Or we can go to a restaurant and let ourselves be served. If we don't feel well, we can go to a doctor. If we have any kind of problem, odds are pretty good that there is someone specializing in that particular problem who can help us. If...
I could go on and on, but I think you get my point - sometimes it's very useful to stop and think about everything that is working well around us. Because most of the time most of the things are working so well that we don't even notice them. And noticing them can go a long way towards increasing joy and happiness in our lives...
If it's cold outside, we can turn on the heat in our home or car just at the touch of a button. When we need water, we just turn a tap and it's there -- we can even choose if we prefer hot, warm or cold. Electricity to power all of our appliances comes to our homes, as do signals carrying telephone and/or Internet services. We can even access those almost anywhere we want. I am not even mentioning television or radio broadcasting signals - well, actually I am :-)
When we need to get from A to B, we can take a bicycle, car or public transportation. If we need to cross the ocean, we can take an airplane or a ship. When our car starts running out of gas, we drive to the nearest refuelling station and we fill up. If the gas station runs out of gas, a big truck comes and delivers more gas. If there is a problem with our car, we go to the nearest service and they can usually fix the problem pretty quickly.
When we get hungry, we can go to the store -- which is usually pretty well stocked -- and buy whatever we crave and cook ourselves a delicious meal. Or we can go to a restaurant and let ourselves be served. If we don't feel well, we can go to a doctor. If we have any kind of problem, odds are pretty good that there is someone specializing in that particular problem who can help us. If...
I could go on and on, but I think you get my point - sometimes it's very useful to stop and think about everything that is working well around us. Because most of the time most of the things are working so well that we don't even notice them. And noticing them can go a long way towards increasing joy and happiness in our lives...
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Let's learn from the things we do well!
Most of us have heard that we need to learn from our mistakes. Which is of course true, although one could debate what a mistake really is (I've heard there are some aboriginal tribes that don't have a word for "mistake" and the closest word they have means something like "opportunity" - I like that line of thinking!)
But what I wanted to write about today is that we should also make the conscious effort to learn from the things we do well, from our successes! Because our minds are so conditioned toward negative thinking (which is simply because hundreds of thousands of years ago negative thinking equalled survival - it was better to see that roaring bear as something negative and run away rather than try to look for the positives in it - a general mind set that is still predominant today, even though it's no longer so necessary), we need to make the conscious effort to really notice the things we do well (even small things) and learn from them.
So the next time you do something well, take the time to reflect on it, pat yourself on the back, and make a list of some of the lessons you learned. Not only will you get to know yourself better (think Aristotle and "know thyself"), but you'll also start conditioning your mind to focus less on the negative and more on the positive - a very useful strategy on the path to putting more joy and happiness into your life!
But what I wanted to write about today is that we should also make the conscious effort to learn from the things we do well, from our successes! Because our minds are so conditioned toward negative thinking (which is simply because hundreds of thousands of years ago negative thinking equalled survival - it was better to see that roaring bear as something negative and run away rather than try to look for the positives in it - a general mind set that is still predominant today, even though it's no longer so necessary), we need to make the conscious effort to really notice the things we do well (even small things) and learn from them.
So the next time you do something well, take the time to reflect on it, pat yourself on the back, and make a list of some of the lessons you learned. Not only will you get to know yourself better (think Aristotle and "know thyself"), but you'll also start conditioning your mind to focus less on the negative and more on the positive - a very useful strategy on the path to putting more joy and happiness into your life!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Average Time Spent Being Happy Drops To 13 Seconds Per Day
Interesting article on The Onion today:
April 16, 2010 | ISSUE 46•15
BERKELEY, CA—A study published in the latest issue of the Journal Of Social Sciences revealed that the amount of time spent being happy has dropped to an all-time low of 13 nonconsecutive seconds per day. "According to our data, the average American experiences a 0.8-second window of happiness upon awakening, before remembering that they're conscious beings in a relentlessly bleak and numbing world," said Dr. Derek Moore, lead author of the paper. "Other periods of happiness include 1.9 seconds after a good meal; 0.6 seconds upon receiving a paycheck; 1.1 seconds following completion of a scientific study; and the 2.5 seconds approaching orgasm, just before the guilt sets in." Researchers also recorded the smallest period of contentment yet, a 3.7-millisecond interval preceding the realization that one was experiencing happiness and that it could not possibly last.
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Btw, just in case you don't know, The Onion is an online "newspaper" specializing in satire. But I find that there is a little bit of truth in every bit of humour...
April 16, 2010 | ISSUE 46•15
BERKELEY, CA—A study published in the latest issue of the Journal Of Social Sciences revealed that the amount of time spent being happy has dropped to an all-time low of 13 nonconsecutive seconds per day. "According to our data, the average American experiences a 0.8-second window of happiness upon awakening, before remembering that they're conscious beings in a relentlessly bleak and numbing world," said Dr. Derek Moore, lead author of the paper. "Other periods of happiness include 1.9 seconds after a good meal; 0.6 seconds upon receiving a paycheck; 1.1 seconds following completion of a scientific study; and the 2.5 seconds approaching orgasm, just before the guilt sets in." Researchers also recorded the smallest period of contentment yet, a 3.7-millisecond interval preceding the realization that one was experiencing happiness and that it could not possibly last.
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Btw, just in case you don't know, The Onion is an online "newspaper" specializing in satire. But I find that there is a little bit of truth in every bit of humour...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
If you want to sing out, sing out
Cool classic tune by the legendary Cat Stevens that fits in well here...
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