Archive for May, 2009

 

ALRIGHT!

I am pumped to write this right now because this whole speed reading thing has been amazing. We learn so much faster than we give ourselves credit for.

Recently I posted about the speed reading tips that have worked best for me (check it out in the Self Development category).

With these limited tips I’ve gotten pretty comfortable reading about 900 word per minute, from my not-so-long-ago 250 word per minute.

Granted, I’m not at 100% comprehension (there is a lot of material that you should never even try at 900 word per minute because it would be impossible to process). However, through a combination of skills I’d say that my comprehension is about 25-30% most of the time, enough to get a firm grasp of the “skeleton” of the writing. 

Its surprising to me that once you get used to it, you can skip words or lines here and there and your brain still takes in the content you never even looked at – or at least it fills in the blanks with context.

Though I’ve already laid out an extended list of tips on my previous post on speed reading, I’m getting an even clearer picture of exactly what’s getting results. For me, the most important aspects of developing speed and comprehension have been these:

-Expand your peripheral vision (be able to look directly at one word, but take in the ones to the left, the right, and even the words above and below it)

-Trust your brain (understand that your brain will be able to get the big picture and even the important details even if you don’t look directly at every single word)

-Find a rhythm (become smooth with “ticking” your eyes from spot to spot across the lines, swiftly moving to the next line. On a line with 11 words, one or two direct “ticks” – or “eye stops” – should suffice)

In combination with the reading exercises I’ve been doing, I think anyone can more than double their reading speed in a month. However, I’d certainly recommend that you also get information from a lot of sources and see what sticks with you.

My goal by the end of May is to be reading at 1000 words per minute! By the end of June, I aim to crank up my comprehension and reach my goal for this life experiment (about 50% comprehension at 1000 WPM).

 

It is common for people to say that what’s most important to us becomes blatantly obvious when we are on our death bed. I believe it was Steven Covey who said “nobody on their death bed wishes they had spent more time in the office.“ 

Imagine you go to the doctor complaining of headaches, and find out that you have a bring tumor and 1 week to live. Only a single week left in your life. What runs through your mind? What is it that you want most for this last week?

I think that this type of hypothetical scenario has its place, but I do not agree with its conclusions. Such a thought experiment usually concludes with “and thats why family and loved ones are all that really matters” – or something along those lines. 

Don’t get me wrong here, blogreaders of the interweb, I certainly love my family. In fact, I have been more engaged in my close friendships and familial bonds than ever before in my life – and its a beautiful thing. 

What I am proposing, is that our careers, creative outlets, hobbies, and even wealth DO in fact hold value to us, but the situational value of these things is depleted in the deathbed scenario. Hence, I believe that it is not appropriate to say “well, people on their deathbeds don’t value all that stuff, why should you think its valuable?”

Allow me to explain.

Let us say that before this terrible brain tumor incident, you had stayed at the office late to save up for a 20 foot motor boat. You’d always wanted a boat to go exploring with or to take the kids out on. Before your deathbed experience, you might have been excited at the office, engaged in your work and eager to purchase the boat of your dreams. You thought you had so much time ahead of you to enjoy the boat in whatever way you wanted.

On your deathbed, the boat of course seems useless, you certainly cannot enjoy it now – and so its value is diminished in your eyes. Now you might curse the days you spent in the office working towards it.

Am I saying that the deathbed scenario skews the value of things for us? Not necessarily, no… but in this case, it might be so. I do believe that the impact of the deathbed situation can bring about shifts in our values that do not necessarily constitute realizations of what is genuinely best for our fulfillment. It can be a situation where fear and doubt invade our minds and make us yearn for certain things over others.

We might compare the deathbed situation to another potentially traumatic situation – a breakup. Lets say that you are happily committed and engaged with your partner, and out of the blue they break up with you. In this situation, we may come to believe that the relationship is what was really most important in life. Since we no longer have it, we might lean on our good friends and close family members and view our bonds with them as high value – while we seem to “realize” how other things like career advancement, wealth, and hobbies are rather meaningless.

In both cases, we appear to come to the genuine “truth” of our experience, we seem to find the philosopher’s stone to our fulfillment.

I argue, however, that in both cases the perception of our needs is grossly oversimplified. In both cases we are in a scarcity position – a position where something has been or will be taken from us. 

Lets conduct a thought experiment and twist up the components. 

 

 

What if you lived and worked with your entire family – parents, spouse, children all under one roof. Lets say that your relationships with your family are fantastic – you give each other perspective on life, spread joy through jokes and stories, and genuinely have positive intent towards one another. 

What if twice a week you were able to practice painting. Hypothetically you own the only set of paint brushes in existence. Lets say painting is absolutely something that you adore – it is a way for you to connect with yourself, to release tension, to experience a merger of action and awareness. It is a massively important facet of your life.

One day you awaken to realize that all of your artwork and painting supplies are mysteriously gone. Maybe they had been stolen, maybe you lost them – but either way, you know you’ll never see your artwork again and you can’t buy new painting supplies because you had the only brush set ever created. You become upset and distraught. 

If in this distressed state, someone asks you about what is important in life, do you think family would still be the first thing you’d mention? My guess is that in this case it would not.  My guess is that since you are with family all the time and art is your treat (which you have recently lost), you will mention art early on in your list of important aspects of fulfillment.

From this perspective, you have recently lost art. Recently, art is what has effected your quality of life most poignantly. Hence, you may say “when it really comes down to it, artistic expression is what matters most. Nothing else can provide us with such a rejuvenating, expressive experience, art is what makes us human.”

Does this seem like wisdom? Does it sound as profound as maybe… the “family is all that matters” proclamation?

From what I can tell, the “family” and “art” situations have one common thread: loss brings their perceived value to the forefront. They are the largest influencers of our emotion at that time, which implies that they are the largest influencers of our quality of life during that time, which means they are what will appear to “matter” most during that time.

 

 

In the case of the deathbed, we might know we will not have time to value out material possessions, and we might know we will not have time to see the fruits of our projects and productive or creative labor. Its is likely that in such a situation we would know that soon we would never see our family or friends again. In a situation filled with fear and uncertainty, the comfort of warm human contact might be the most fulfilling experience imaginable. 

We see something that we believe will fulfill our needs, and it becomes priority number one.

If you were the artist in the other example, having a loving family with enriching interactions is expected, is normal. In this case, the rare instance of painting, or artistic expression – thats what is unique – thats what has that illusive shimmer that you (and all humans) are so drawn to. 

Hence, when this creative outlet is taken from you, you deem it to be priority number one. Whatever has the illusive shimmer often has the falsely percieved quality of the “fix.” It is what will “make things better.” We might say “If I could only have *******, I know I would be fulfilled forever, I know its all that matters.” 

This, of course, is an illusion. We cannot be sustainably fulfilled by something else, by a factor added to us from the outside. Be it an outlet for art, be it romance or sex, be it material possessions, be it rank or accolades. 

Think of a peasant man from the 1700s, who never was able to go far from his small farming town. All he ever wanted to do was travel, see new people, enjoy new sights. Imagine transporting him to the present, and giving him all the money he could ever need to travel wherever he wanted and stay wherever he wanted. 

How long would his bliss last for? Would he float in a sea of bliss for the rest of his life?

Imagine a man at age 40 who has been blind since age 7, and has been depressed about his impairment ever since. What if he regained his ability to see overnight.

Would his depression dissipate, forever replaced by joy?

The answers are all “NO.”

I am not at all pessimistic about the human condition, but it is silly to believe that ANY external change could bring about infinity sustained emotion, either “good” or “bad.”

Why is this the case? I’m not sure, but it seems likely that evolution designed us so that external changes would not be capable of permanently emotionally shifting us.

Short possible explaination as to why this is:

There was a caveman who became lastingly depressed after not catching a rabbit – he wasn’t motivated at act and to catch other rabbits because he was sad and mopey all the time and so he starved and died.

There was another caveman who became lastingly joyous and content after successfully catching a rabbit – he wasn’t motivated to act and to catch other rabbits because he just sat around and smiled in glee and so he starved and died.

 

 

 

 

This has to do with the mechanism of “becoming normal” that occurs in our experience all the time. We get used to EVERYTHING. If you don’t believe me read “Man’s Search for Meaning.” For more on this topic, check out my article called “Things Get Old” under the “Inquiry” category. 

So, where are we going with all of this?

So… what matters?

What matters to us at any time is what impacts our emotional experience – and so the experience of our quality of life – at any given time. This might be familial love, this might be romantic love, this might be curing a debilitating disease, etc… The fact of the matter is that “what matters” is not static at all – and so to call anything “what matters” seems tremendously inaccurate. We have many facets of needs, none of which are more important than the others until we focus on them and depend on them.

To the depressed and blind man, the beautiful realm of sight might be “what matters” (assuming his familial / creative / romantic love are satisfactory… or at least assuming that the idea of these factors do not effect his emotional states more than the idea of blindness). However, if he gained his sight back, something else would probably become “what matters.”

We don’t magically gain a profound insight into what matters for our lives by being on our deathbed or having something taken from us. For some people, these instances might spur insightful thought processes about what we associate pleasure and value to – or what we associate pain to. 

What these extraordinary situations do is they change what we believe most effects our emotional state – and so this causes a change in “what matters” of us, sometimes in the short term and sometimes in the long term.

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To wrap up, I believe that having an idea of our core values is very useful. However, it would be foolish to believe that any one factor is sufficient for our holistic fulfillment in life.

The illusive shimmer is so very appealing, and its so easy to believe that one facet of our lives – one person, one event, one award, one accomplishment or series of accomplishments - can bring lifelong satisfaction. 

However, we must keep in mind that no external event can ever create lifelong emotional states. It is entirely dependant on the value we associate to it and how much weight we allow it to hold in our minds.

 

• Understand that there is no concrete label on what is meaningful (this goes for ourselves, never mind the entirety of our rare).
• Do not be convinced by the illusive shimmer.
• Develop in your entirety, taking into account all the important facets of your life.

 

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Imagery can be described as a mental conception and experience designed by the mind (not an intentional rhyme). The fact of the matter is, each of us is “imaging” every hour of every day. Sometimes what we’re experiencing is what we believe to be in front of us already (such as when we are fully alert and participating in our day to day lives), while other times we are experiencing events from our past or future (when we are trying to remember where we put our keys, for instance, or when we are imagining a future conversation or meeting). 

Here I’ll explore 3 unique and useful “types” of visualization, as well as their potential place and purpose:

Results/Process Imagery - If there is one important distinction between types of imagery, I believe it is between Results Imagery and Process Imagery. Knowing what you want to do and how you want to do it would be seem almost pointless if we did not know what we wanted to accomplish in the first place. For instance, one famous golfer imagines the ball flying on a perfect course and landing precisely where he wants it – then and only then does he imagine himself striking the ball perfectly and making that perfect trajectory happen. 

• Results Imagery – Involves imagining how you’d feel and what you’d experience after your accomplishment. That accomplishment might be a change in your world (IE: making more money) or a change in your character/responses (IE: being more confident speaking in public). The idea of identity is repeatedly brought up here. If we regularly image ourselves in the place we want to be, it will be easier and easier for us to bring about those behaviors in our lives. The fact is, we are always conditioning ourselves. While before we may have conditioned ourselves to fear public speaking, we are now sending a different, more adaptive message. If we change the way we think about ourselves, we are able to enact change much more easily. Results imagery ties into David Allen’s idea of imagining “wild success” before engaging in an activity.
• Process Imagery, then, involves visualization of how we will get to our objective. Again this might involve something physical (the individual steps we take to get a project completed at work), or within our character (which involves imagining how we would develop manifest the qualities we want to cultivate). Once we understand our desired results (and have compelling reasons why we want to get there), Process Imagery will help to align our minds with how to get there, and will acclimate us to the behaviors necessary.

Remembering Success – When we imagine a task or activity, we are often simultaneously guaging our own efficacy in regards to that task. If we experience feelings out doubt and fear in the face of certain important objectives, then we will have access to the resources of “doubt” and “fear” when we attempt to move forward with that objective. 

• Remembering Past Success involves gaining an empowering perspective on our own efficacy, and bringing joy and power to an activity, instead of doubt and fear. The process involves bringing to mind other challenges (possibly ones that are similar to our current challenges) that we have overcome, or times when we felt powerful and achieved what we desired. It is an important point that when we are involved in process / results imaging, we should infuse a remembrance of past success so that our goals are channelled to the strength of our most efficacious, capable mental states. This gives us reasons to believe that we will achieve our objectives – not in a state of anxiety – but in one of enthusiasm.

Using these basic tools of imagery can prove immensely helpful in applying the kind of focus appropriate to your task – and also managing your state within the situations at hand. 

See if you can’t find particular contexts where each (or all) of these techniques can be particularly useful!

 

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It has come this far…

I almost wasn’t expecting it – I’ve now been doing this 4 to 5 hour per night sleeping experiment for exactly a month. The experience itself has changed the way I think about and value sleep. It has also completely changed a lot of my sleeping habits – for better or for worse. 

I must admit, I have taken 2 naps throughout this Life Experiment. However, both were under an hour in length.

In addition, I slipped up on setting my alarm and had two nights were I accidently slept in, once for 6 hours, once for 7 hours. To redeem my pattern, however, I slept for only 2.5 hours the night after these slip-ups (I was so tired I set the alarm for “pm” not “am”).

I’m proud to say that I’m not a coffee addict either. I drink coffee only about half the time, and though it certainly does seem to have a noticeable effect – I do not guzzle it. One cup every other day, thats my creed and I’ve stuck to it.

I can definitely say that the experiment has its pros and its cons, so with thirty days experience in sleeping an average of 4.5 hours per night, here’s what I have to say:

Consequences of Less Sleep:

• I often find that by about 10 or 11 pm, my body wants to shut down – plain and simple. It usually cannot deal with sustained activity for more than 20 hours when it is running on only 4 hours of sleep. On more that one occasion this is prevented me from going out at night because I knew I didn’t even feel safe driving.
• When I’ve been awake for 20 or more hours, my nose gets stuffy. It seems odd, but I frequently get the sniffles after these long days. I’ll be up reading or writing and all of a sudden I’ll feel like I’m coming down with a cold. This might also have to do with allergies, though it seems odd that they would all of a sudden effect me at midnight…
• Spending too much time alone in the wee morning hours sometimes doesn’t feel right. Though the time is productive, I’m usually pretty eager to hop up and see my friends when I’ve spent the first 4 or 5 dark morning hours by myself (nobody else is up!).

Benefits of a Sleepless Lifestyle:

• The mornings are free for whatever I please. Waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning gives me plenty of time before any other part of my day begins. Even when I teach private lessons at 6 in the morning, I still have some reading or planning time while I hear the birds trying to chirp the sun over the horizon. If I don’t have any plans until noon, this time provides me with half a day for whatever productive activities I choose – which usually involves reading, writing, planning, and exercise (jogging is awesome right at daybreak).
• A little bit of time makes a difference. Right now I’m working on my reading speed and my typing speed. Getting up ridiculously early allows me to practice these skills on a daily basis. Imagine if you could pick any skill and work at it for 2 hours every single day. Be it stock trading, painting, a foreign language, etc… – you could become FAR more proficient with only a few months of 2 hour-per-day training. With the way I sleep now, I have an extra 3 or 4 hours per day – without feeling traumatic consequences in other areas of my life. Thats a lot of practice time.
• I’m getting used to waking up swiftly. This is a combination of having compelling things to do each morning, and also because my body doesn’t seem to go into full-blown hibernation mode when I only sleep for a few hours at a time.

Overall I’d call this habit of 4.5 hours of sleep per night FULLY IMPLEMENTED. I’m excited to see where else this project takes me, and if I alter it over time.

Here are some bits of wisdom I’ve picked up through living sleeplessly. These ideas might be of use to those of you looking to taper down your sleep, or those of you who just want to be more alert in the early morning:

Sleepless Wisdom:

• Having plans for the early morning hours makes waking up so much easier - I find that when I give myself some fun an exciting tasks for the morning (which I do regularly), getting up swiftly is easy
• Move around after waking up – Getting up and stumbling over to the computer to check emails or turning over to read a book is usually a ticket to slumbersville all over again. When you get up and focus on those things you’re eager to do during the day, take some deep breaths and walk like you do when you’re awake (the pre-coffee “zombie shuffle” only puts you back into Zzzzz-mode).
• More on body language - This is huge for me in this sleepless experiment. I notice that when I slouch on the couch or lay down to write or otherwise put myself into relaxed positions, my body takes the hint and my eyelids get heavy. When I sit up strait and walk with my head up high, its as though my body and mind associate this with alertness, and they respond accordingly.

If this gets too easy I might do an entire week on only 3 hours of sleep per night.

I’ll be updating this Life Experiment in another month’s time. Maybe I’ll have bags under my eyes by then… 

 

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I’m finding that TIME is becoming a more an more talked-about topic. Even my friends who aren’t directly into personal development are claiming the profundity of “the present is all we have.” 

Authors like Eckhart Tolle preach that we must honor “the Now” and leave other imagined “times” which exist in our minds. If the present is all that we have, then what value aught we place in our ideas of the imagined past and future?

In this series, I will discuss the potential place and purpose of “time” in our lives, and I’ll bring to the table some ideas of positive psychology than may allow our experiences and imaginations of time to be enriching forces in our lives. This first installment will focus on the past.

The Past

Practical Purpose:

So what value does the past have in our lives? We often hear phrases like “forget the past,” or “the past does not equal the future,” and in the right context I think these phrases can be useful.

But obviously I need to be able to have some mental conception of the past in order to do some very basic things – including fun ones like: finding my keys, remembering my friends’ names, remembering how to type blog posts so you guys can read my stuff, etc… 

So, we might say that the past serves us in the regard that we have experience to draw from – including our deeper conditioning (such as how to respond to certain things – like fire), as well as memory to use and to learn from (such as where I left my cell phone or what elementary school I went to). 

These practical applications are certainly useful – and the past is undoubtably a huge contributer to our learning. Drawing on memories of past events (such as relationships, work-related events, etc…) allows us the opportunity to break them down and gain the practical wisdom from them that is required to make even better choices in the future.

Beyond a Practical Purpose:

The past, however, might also be used to compel us to action, or to enhance our experience in a positive way.

One example of this kind of experience is that of gratitude. Gratitude implies a kind of thankfulness and appreciation for that which has occurred. For instance, we might be thankful for the kind of care our parents provided for us, or we might be grateful for the fact that we were able to buy our car for a good price.

However, we needn’t even find distinct events or things in our lives to feel grateful for. We could be grateful for the fact that we are alive, for the fact that we have the ability to pursue certain dreams, etc…

Its important to note that thinking about what you appreciate in your past isn’t necessarily enriching in and of itself. It is enriching because it brings our focus to the good which we have experienced, and possibly how that good has brought us to learn and grow in our own lives. In this way, we frame the past in a positive light and focus upon those experiences which we are grateful for.

This gives us access to empowering resources within us – and hence we may feel better and have a more adaptive mind-frame when actively engaged in the present. 

I think about it this way: If we’re going to refer to the past to draw upon information and to apply that information to better ourselves now, why not at the same time draw upon a positive state? Why would we frame things any other way?

Another important way to utilize our past in a positive fashion is by benefit finding. In this process, we determine ways in which certain events or situations – be they traumatic or otherwise – have brought about some kind of beneficial effect i our lives. 

For instance: A stolen wallet may bring about new habits for keeping one’s property safe. Stress might provide insight into how our thought processes affect us. 

Our experience will be mostly determined by our focus. Any event might have a thousand negative or a thousand positive consequences. We tend to focus on one or the other. I believe that we can understand the ramifications of the event, yet at the same time accept these ramifications and find something about the event we chose to hone in on – something that will bring about those higher resources.

Lets be Realistic:

I do not believe that self-deceit is healthy or adaptive, and in terms of the non-practical benefits of the past, self-deceit aught not be needed.

We can look at the past honestly – taking into account painful situations and events that we deemed to be undesirable around the time of their occurrence. 

However, the entirety of these past events can be viewed in the practical light – with big, Coke bottle “learning-lenses” on. It might be very important to learn from these experiences and use the insight that we acquire to better our lives now.

For example, if I was hit by a drunk driver on the way home from school, and my car was totaled, I certainly would not aim to take all the potentially “negative” ramifications of this event and “sweep them under the rug.” I would, however, strive to accept my new condition and find some empowering, exciting area to focus on. 

Looking back on the hypothetical accident, and maybe on time I spent in the hospital – I could seek to realize what I gained from the experience as a person. Maybe I was able to do a lot more reading, maybe my time in bed rest provided me with some reflection that I may not have done otherwise.

I don’t think that I need to say “I’m glad that this event happened” in order to realize the benefits, but I certainly must view it in a way that empowers me and propels me to joy and even enthusiasm in the present.

The point here is that we make these reflections not only growth-oriented, but enjoyment-oriented – by framing them properly and bringing about empowering states within us.

Some people might point out that mental time travel for the sake of positive emotional experiences might not be a healthy practice in principal. There is certainly an extent to which I would not condone such reflection. I believe that it is best to spend the majority of my mental focus on the present (and so channel my faculties into what I’m actually doing).

I obviously don’t believe that we aught to rely on memories for positive states, but if we recollect at all – it might as well be a positive force on our emotional state (rather than a negative or neutral one)!

 

 

Have you ever signed into an old program or email address, and realized that you had no idea of your password or login name? Happened to me from time to time. Right now I have 40 accounts on a 40 different sites, many of which have different names and passwords, and memorization would just be illogical.

Can you think of a bit of information that you have to hash up on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis? I used to re-type these every single time I needed them.

Here I’m going to go into a little bit of detail on keeping an “Important Info” log. This idea ties into the idea of recording “keepers,” which I’ve gone over a bit before. I’m a bit of a “listmonger”, however and I this specific list gets pulled up on a daily basis for me.

 

      Here’s an idea of unique information to put in an “Info Log”:

• Passwords / usernames - Very important to remember. Some sites or programs involve passwords and usernames that you don’t even get to choose. Keep track.
• Reusable information - I currently run a small Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy in Rhode Island. I get emails constantly about schedule information or details on location. I used to type up this same information to each person. Now I just copy and paste it from my log. The same goes for my blog tags. I don’t brainstorm a new bunch of tags for each post (though I add a few new ones relevant specifically to the post), I copy and paste most of them.
• Technical procedures - You might use an electronic or internet gadget once after reading 15 minutes of manual information… then completely forget how to do it the next time! Now for technical procedures that you do often (tasks involving uploading images, using widgets on the web, hooking up a sound system, editing videos, or whatever it is that you do), you could simply refer to the good old Info Log.

 

I’m hoping that while you read this you realize something you’ve forgotten already. Not that I wish ill upon you, but because you might be prompted to keep it all in order.

Maybe it’ll save you from having to look through the manual for the DVD player for half an hour. That would be worth it. 

(NOTE: If you do have such a log saved on your computer or in written on paper in your house, its probably not a good idea to make it easy to find.)

 

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Eagerly spinning through web content one Sunday (my day for research) I came across a site called “Productive Flourishing.” Though the entire site is filled with interesting ideas and insight, a particular article drew me in.

It was called “How Heatmapping Your Productivity Can Make You More Productive.” 

In this article the author (Charles) goes into detail on how to we might draw out our levels of productivity on a diagram signifying all 24 hours of a day. Each hour is represented by a color signifying its intensity in terms of the productive experience (more on this in a bit).

I became pumped about following my own productivity and decided to make it a 2 week Life Project out of it. I knew that it would provide me with some insight into my experience of “flow” and of “feeling productive.” I turned out to be right, but that’ll be the last post of the series.

Grey signifies sleep or its equivalent.

Green signifies unproductive time.

Yellow signifies some kind of productive striving and seems to be taking ground.

Orange involves a hightened level of productivity and eager drive, “flow.”

Red is the highest productive experience, a mental / emotional tornado of enthusiastiasbm.

For the sake of my own heat map, “productivity” implies alignment between my values and my action in a fashion that brings me closer to meaningful objectives or ends. It implies my full capacities engaged in activities that I deem best in terms of my ideals and my projects.

In this series of posts, I’m going to post articles covering a series of 3 to 4 days during my experiment. Since my project lasted 14 days, this will take about 4 total posts to get all of my days up on this site in the form of articles.

Its very interesting to find the common threads and themes in terms of my level of activity and my energy / focus. Again, after the entire 2 week long life experiment has been posted, I’m going to write up a massive article on all that I’ve learned in terms of personal insight about PRODUCTIVITY and how we might apply it to our own lives.

Keep a lookout, I know you’ll enjoy it!

 

 

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Have you ever made a point to alter a behavior or a habit, but found yourself forgetting about it? Maybe once in a while you say to yourself “I don’t think this is doing me any good, I’ve got to stop doing this” or “I should replace this with something else.”

Its a bit of a shame that these points sometimes don’t sink in, and we do not hone ourselves to what we see as best (or as I might say when I’m feeling philosophical: ”what we deem to be highest”).

      *Forge a Concrete List of Habits*

Hear me out here, this sounds so simple but it was profound and enriching in my life. I’m going to let you in on my life a bit and go into some of the examples I have in my list:

      1) Find certain habits that you simply don’t want to continue, and make a point not to do them anymore.

In my life, this involved:

• Not taking long showers – I used to hang out in the shower for 20 or 30 minutes at a time. Sure it was momentarily pleasureable, but it was a waste of water and a waste of time. Now I’m in and out in 5 minutes of less – significant change.
• Not juggling numerous tasks – I used to be writing inquiry, checking email, looking at other blog posts, and texting friends at the same time. Woo hoo multitasking! Not really. Now I focus on a single task and designate a certain amount of time to it exclusively, and I consequently make better progress faster.
• Not eating sweets – I’m no junk food junkie, and I consider myself to be in very good physical condition. However, as a general principal, I want to eat that which is nutrient-dense – foods that I know I will be comfortable eating for a lifetime. Its not like I turn down a slice of birthday cake, but otherwise I don’t touch sweets and junk, and I’m pumped about having these adaptive diet habits.

      2) Next, come to understand some habits that you do every now and again that you’d like to continue, or habits that you want to start.

Here’s a glance at some of my own “do’s”:

• Appreciate 3 positive things about my day before sleep – This habit was something that I did on and off, and decided to make a pattern in my life. I review 3 great things that happened in my day (could be new info learned, a fun moment with friends, an breakthrough in my comfort zone), and then visualize some future goals.
• Wake up with the alarm – I used to be a bit of a snooze button guy, and I used to be a late sleeper. Now I wake up with ideas on how to have an awesome day and progress with my most meaningful objectives, and I literally can’t help myself from leaping our of bed.
• Protect my possessions – I used to leave my car keys in the car, and leave my iPod in there. I used to bring my wallet with me and feel fine with leaving it somewhere for a little while. Niave. After experiencing the consequences of theft, I now always lock my car and always ensure that my wallet and valuables are safe.

It is important to note that these new habits needn’t necessarily be framed in the negative or the positive (my “don’t take long showers” could be replaced with “take short, efficient showers”), its really just about what is most compelling for you.

This simple idea changed my life. It is empowering to define a habit, make note of it, and completely align with it because you know its best. So often we make note of these behaviours but do nothing about it in terms of real change in action and thought – in the way we go about living.

      *Ideas on Designing Your List*

Now on to some practical advice on coming to create your own inspiring, beneficial habit list:

       Understand your values – This is a prerequisite to forming compelling changes for your future behavior. If you are unaware of what holds meaning for you, then you will not be driven to alter or create any habit.

      For instance, I value my day to day emotional experience, and I value the ability to take an adaptive perspective and appreciate the fulness of life. This strongly compels me to review 3 positive things about my day before going to bed.

      Run behavior checks – Right now you might be thinking “I honestly can’t think of any habits I want to change or create.” I thought that as well. Review your actions throughout the day and see if they are in line – or at times directly against – your highest values, that which you live by.

      For instance, while in the shower one day, I wondered why I had been there for 25 minutes. I came to understand that the pleasure of warmth was not worth the waste of water and productivity that short showers would provide. I value my environment, and I value my productivity – so my behavior check helped my make a new habit!

 

      With these ideas I am confident that you can compose a Habit List. You might not make it too long at first, focus on a few key distinctions, a few diferent ways to respond to the same old scenario that will in fact be better for you overall.

      In time, some of these habits won’t even need to be reviewed because they will be integrated smoothly, and you will have molded your responsive behavior – so you’ll be ready to create some more habits!

 

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What does Philosophy FEEL like? How vague can I possibly be? 

I know its a strange, but after hours and hours of inquiry today, I came up with a fitting analogy of what the process of inquiry feel like for me. Its a unique feeling for a unique activity.

Thought begins to consolidate, new inquiries spring off to other ideas, the order is altered, the arguments vary – the process is genuinely moving in its own way.

 

For me, developing inquiry is like the formation of clouds. Ideas start to combine and something that was mist begins to take shape from the ether. Blurry and vague, but visable high in the air – beginning as a mist ant getting more and more opaque. 

New shapes begin to form, mostly expanding, some contracting, a storm is developing. A poignant perspective is being realized, and idea is being refined and expanded.

Some clouds break away and fade off into the mist while others begin new turbulent storm clouds. Thoughts are discarded, thoughts are put aside, and new ideas and concepts build off at their own inquiry, or as a major contributer to the flourishing of the first inquiry.

When the conditions are just right, the storm comes together and it finally happens – lightning. A breakthrough, with the formulating of ideas comes a blast of 

The clouds shimmer and boom and the rain begins to fall. Usually it begins with a trickle but sometimes it starts off in torrents. That which previously was so high above finally returns and brings its effects below.

The storm will keep expanding, the rain will cease and persist, the shapes will toil, spin, and grow. The ideas will continue to build indeffinitely, more and more poignant realizations or ways of thinking are being produced. Sometimes there are dry spells, but the base ideas in general will keep evolving and storming.

It is at this point that I usually have to bring myself to stop the inquiry, at least for the moment. There are always too many storms, too many ideas and processes – and it is impossible to find an end.

The benefit is, there is always new lightning – new excitement and realization, and there is always the rain – the tangible application of these ideas, where they come down from high above affect the world below.

 Inquiry is like this for me… thats what Philosophy feels like to me.

 

Its a beautiful thing, I’m actually going to write more as soon as I am awake tomorrow. Time to brave the storms!

 

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Ah, the first article of the Highest Faculties series. What better philosopher to honor in our original article than the man argued to be the origin of Western philosophy; Socrates.

Despite his often being celebrated as the greatest of the ancient Greek philosophers, little is known of Socrates himself, and partially because he left no personal records. What is known, is that he was born in 469 B.C. in Athens. Other than being the son of a sculptor, and a foot-soldier, few facts remain of his life before philosophy. In the middle portion of his life, Socrates devoted himself completely to the philosophical practice he is best known for, which for him did not involve opening up a school – but open, philosophical conversation and inquiry.

Not known for being a handsome or particularly hygienic man, he would stroll through Athens, speaking with absolutely everyone about absolutely everything. His quest was as much to learn as to teach, and though he frequently brought people to realize the ignorance in their assumptions, he was not one to claim the answers to the infinite and important questions of life. In the year 400 B.C., he was convicted of corrupting the minds of the youth with his antics, and was sentenced to death by hemlock poison. As a testament to his own virtues, Socrates drank the poison without fear, consoling his friends before his own eminent death. As the teacher of Plato, an educator of his entire community, and an inspiration for great thinkers to this day, his impact was certainly not cut off as quickly as his life.

Socrates is revered for his wisdom and his dedication to philosophy as a mode of examining our lives. Many of his recorded quotes deal with admirably living our daily lives, I found this one to be particularly interesting:

 

”The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

 

The statement that the wise Greek puts forth here has to do with our will, our ideals, and our intent. Socrates seems to point out the fact that we often convey what we believe to be our best self, or the most noble form of ourselves. Its not uncommon, for example, for a glory-seeking individual to describe themselves as a true altruist, or for an impulsive spender to consider their shopping to be frugal. Often, the descriptions that we ascribe to ourselves not only serve the purpose of conveying our idea of positive traits to others, but also to convince ourselves or our own virtues – which if we would look closely, we might realize are not actually there.

To follow Socrates’ advice would require a degree of introspection – understanding in terms of what we value and what we are conveying to others and what we would like to convey to ourselves ABOUT ourselves. In this way we can gain an understanding of our own ideals, or the traits, characteristics, and practices that we hold to be valuable. What follows is action we take and the will we use to steer ourselves in the direction of the virtues we deem best. For instance, an impulsive spender might notice his habit, and also notice that he holds other behaviors to be more valuable, and possibly more beneficial as general practices for his life. From here it is his own responsibility to mold himself to become his own ideal of virtue.

The essence of this quote might lie in aligning our conveyed intention and character – which is often given in the impression of what we actually believe to be best or highest – to our ACTUAL intention and character. This involves self awareness and diligence, but it Socrates likely believed that it was integral in the process of living honorably. Knowing that he lived a life in congruence with his own highest values may have been what allowed Socrates himself to face his cup of hemlock boldly – without tears of fear or of remorse.

 

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