Let’s talk about flow in the assembly.  By “flow” I mean the perceived, or at least subconsciously experienced, connectedness of one activity to the next.  I take as a given that meaning and depth are enhanced when there is flow in the assembly activities.

(Aside:  as I wrote these thoughts, I realized how recently I had been impressed with the importance of this topic, based on a very positive Sunday morning experience.  When flow is not attended to as well, we hardly notice, because we subconsciously expect the normal, and we are lulled into a stupor by the habitual.  But when the flow from activity to activity, from song to prayer to song, etc., have been spiritually considered, the effects can be so inspiring!)

It helps the human heart (and, for you who are more Campbellites than Stoneites, the brain) to sense meaningful connections.  Not all of the activities in your assemblies will be worship, nor should they be, but you can help to connect one thing to the next.  It does sometimes take advance thought, especially if your church is among the few who have graduated to a state of not being slave to a “sanctified order” of activities.

Someone . . . how about you? . . . can take the lead in coordinating among all those involved in leading.  Don’t let Jim, who has the closing prayer assigned to him, be uninformed that there will be an immersion that day.  Just think how the activities might fit together, when everyone is “in the know” . . .

The “call to worship” uses Ephesians 1:3 as a springboard, inviting the gathered saints to join their hearts in praising the Source of every spiritual blessing in Christ.

The first two songs praise a) the Father for sending the Son, and b) the Son.

Someone leads a prayer that draws attention to specific spiritual blessings, such as relief from guilt, the freedom to love as God loves, forgiveness, grace, and joy.

The church sings “For all that You’ve done I will thank You . . . for all that You’re going to do. . . .” (with one chorus only).

Two people—the one spiritually closest to the one about to be reborn, and a spiritual shepherd who also knows him well—take microphones and share something of the person’s recent spiritual walk, emphasizing a need or two from the past, and focusing on the implications of the new life about to be birthed.

The immersion is witnessed by all in attendance.

A couple of songs—”Buried with Christ” and “Firm Foundation,” for instance—and spontaneous comments remind everyone of new identity in Jesus and of the solid relationships in the Christian family.

The sensitive preacher who had planned a sermon on the life of Joshua, makes mention during the lesson of the similarity of the names of Joshua and Jesus—they both mean “deliverer,” and he also takes time to comment personally on the decision just made for the side of the Lord, i.e., “choose ye this day whom you will serve.”

Following the sermon, an announcement about a birthday in the church is also tied to the new spiritual birth that just occurred.

The closing prayer—again, led by Jim, who knew in advance that the immersion was to occur—takes all this in, revisiting the concept of spiritual blessing, thanking God for the relationship we all have with Him and with each other, asking for guidance for the newly committed life that represents a choice to serve the Lord, praising our Deliverer, and honoring both the spiritual and earthly birthday.

(to be continued)

“my hair still wet from yesterday,

the ocean calls me back to play”

“to the oceanside return,

there’s always more to learn”

“inside you there’s an ocean

of movement and of motion”

“if you want to teach

your name should be the beach”

“at the beach we are excused

from the norm the world views”

“surfers beware the rocks,

the school of hard knocks”

Click on < or > for other categories.

Please visit again as hundreds of other sayings will be posted to this and other categories.

(c)  2009  Unknown Heartist

Unknownheartist@gmail.com

I read an article once where an established career artist advised aspiring artists not to get married or have a family because the art must come first and families will suffer.  That sounds a bit extreme — I managed to raise a family on the fruits of my art career — but it’s still a point well taken. Many artists, myself included, are driven to create by an obsession, a compulsion, an irresistible urge to feed the angelic choir we feel in our souls when we get into the flow. It’s an urge that can cause us to resist the encroaching humdrum of normal life and it’s one that partners and family don’t always understand — spouse needs to talk about their day; lawn is overdue to be mowed; kids need a bath; all that becomes secondary to the obsession to create. Take it from my experience, this obsession can become as destructive as it is creative if you aren’t careful. But taken in healthy measure, it can also help us to push our skills to new levels.

For most of the first 40 years of my life, I focused on painting and drawing. Since my time as a young child, I had drawn, sketched or doodled constantly. I drew in school, I drew at home, and when I wasn’t drawing on paper, I actually practiced drawing in my mind. I have a vivid memory of sitting on the sofa as a boy, watching The Flintstones on television, and mentally tracing the lines of Fred Flintstone’s head over and over. I imagined my hand making those lines. It was my own form of visualization.

When I went to art museums, unlike others who would stand back observing a masterpiece, possibly enjoying the brilliance of the finished piece, or its significance in art history, or maybe its place in the oeuvre of the artists career, I would stand as close as possible to the art to study how the master handled brushstrokes, paint texture, or layers of wash. I read about art and artists incessantly, trying to improve my knowledge, my skills, my technique, or my instincts. I would ask myself, “What makes this great art?”

Then in 2006, purely by accident and almost instantly, my obsession switched from drawing/painting to photography. I stopped carrying a sketchbook every where I went, and instead started carrying a camera. I researched photographers and their art. I wrote to photographers whose work I admired (rarely did they write back). I studied Web sites and joined photography groups. I packed away my watercolor brushes and Arches watercolor blocks. But I brought forward with me the sense of line, composition, texture and tone, and the intense work ethic I had developed over the previous decades. I wanted to be good, and I wanted to be good quickly.

Today I see photographs everywhere I look. Often on car trips I battle with my urge to slam the breaks and pull to the road side to snap a photograph of something that presented itself in a flash of inspiration, as a fully formed composition, complete with a framed edge. A companion once complained that I was so busy taking photographs that I wasn’t really enjoying the beauty of the place around me. On the contrary, photography gives me a heightened awareness of all the beauty around me every day, no matter where I go.

If you’d like to see the results of my photography obsession, you can see my black and white photographs on my Web site at www.keithdotson.com.

Thanks for reading.

The nervousness is hard to shake off.

My hands are shaking. The needle tip shakes so much so that I find it hard to hook the skin with it.

No matter how much my mind wants to control my body, the shaking gets worse. The epinephrine drive is too strong.

I was sewing a live human body.

You see, when I realized that I am actually putting a sharp object through another human being – despite our good intentions – the stress was too much.

I just wanted to forfeit the instrument, stop and leave the OR. I did not want to be under that bright light. I did not like the fact that I was a failure. All the practice I did sawing pig feet together was useless.

But I held on.

I continued despite the fear. My hands never did stop shaking. I finished closing the skin.

My senior surgeon told me I did a good job and walked out of the room.

It was not pretty, and I was not proud of my work. My scrub was soaking with sweat under the gown.

–

The shakes, they are hard to fight. The harder I fight them, the harder they come back. The jitters, I felt from my toes to my ears.

We all experience that in life. Having something big on the line and being asked to perform at our best. Maybe a big exam. Asking for a promotion. Under the bright light. Every single intentional and unintentional movement obvious.

When the self-doubt sets in, that is the precise moment to pause instead of pushing on. Breath in. Close the eyes. Stop thinking.

When I don’t think I can do it, I stop what I’m doing. I feel my body. I no longer resist the unease and self-distrust.

Then I find my rhythm again.

Shrug my shoulders once, loosen my back muscles and my knees. Start singing a Marley in my head and start bobbing slightly.

Remember all the trials I’ve been through. Despite the challenges, I am standing here with the privilege of cutting open and closing the human body.

It was after a few months of my surgical internship, when I realized I was no longer shaking. I flourished in the challenge of becoming a good surgeon.

How do I close this incision in the cleanest manner? Is this the right amount of tension on the suture? Do I like how that skin everts? How would I minimize infection?

Can I do it faster than the next guy?

I still made mistakes. I still wasn’t happy with my closures.

But I was getting faster. My closures were getting neater, cleaner under less tension.

My hands obeyed my intentions.

–

Now, I look forward to the each opportunity to close the skin. To make a better closure in a shorter time. To meet the challenge with eagerness and prove myself one of the best hands for a time to come.

Yes, it’s mountains beyond mountains. I’m a 5 month-old surgery baby with a long way to go.

But I will tell you, I can close the skin without breaking a sweat.

Graphique tiré du site www.gamasutra.com

Rob Bridgett, Directeur Sonore chez Radical Entertainment, a écrit récemment un article sur l’importance du Sound Design dans la structure narrative d’un jeu vidéo (vous trouverez cet article sur le site www.gamasutra.com). Il me semble important de vous faire part de ce que dit Rob Bridgett, d’autant plus que cela fait suite à l’article que j’ai publié hier sur l’intensité scénaristique.

L‘environnement sonore d’un jeu vidéo doit être cohérent à l’univers créé par le Game designer. “The sound designer needs to sit down, over the course of many planning meetings, with game designers and plot out and map the intended experience from start to finish” explique Rob Bridgett avant de poursuivre, “it will dictate where music, fx and dialogue all need to work together with the game flow“. Encore une fois, nous retrouvons les principes de Flow, de narration et d’immersion. L’environnement sonore améliore grandement l’immersion d’un joueur au sein d’un jeu ou même d’une action et c’est pourquoi, le Sound Design doit être parti intégrante de la conception d’un jeu.

Selon Rob Bridgett, les designers sonore peuvent s’inspirer des films d’horreurs des années 80. Les mécanismes utilisés dans ce genre de film montrent bien les possibilités offertes afin d’immerger le joueur (ou le spectateur) dans une ambiance particulière. “A lone teenager creeps through a creaky house at night, high pitched strings in the musical score build, a creaky sound is heard, phew it was only a cat, the strings stop and for a brief moment there is the silence of relief, then, in that moment where the audience is catching it’s breath with relief, then the enemy strikes.” donne-t-il comme exemple.

Enfin, le sound designer doit jouer entre les moments de silence (qui doivent faire partie du sound design) et les moments de forte intensité sonore afin de créer une dynamique. “Something with no dynamic range cannot be experienced for very long before the viewer, or listener, becomes fatigued and reaches for the off-switch” explique Rob Bridgett.

Me running in 2004, Helsinki City Run

My running background

Some background info first. I’ve been running now for about 10 years now, I started when I realized that my back was failing me from all the sitting in front of the computer. So I’m not a professional runner, but I’ve accumulated a few kilometers over the years. I started by running to the closest foodstore to get my 1 liter bottle of Classic Cola (sidenote: best cola drink ever, too bad Olvi poisoned it at some point with artificial sweeteners) and back. This was about 6 kilometers in total, going through a forest route and ending to a really steep uphill path of about 300 meters. I still remember that steep path upwards through the forest, it really took the last drops out of me. Sometimes I failed at midway, but usually I managed to get it up at one go.

At some point I started doing longer routes (8-15 km), usually going the same route, sometimes running it backwards now and then. This got boring at some point and I started to variate my route based on my intuition. I would go jumping over fences, climb buildings, run through peoples yards and generally just go where ever I felt like. I found that this kind of intuitive running was very rewarding and fun. If the route seems boring, just take the next path you haven’t taken before and see where it takes you. I guess you could call it freerunning or parkour with a long route, but I hadn’t heard of these things back then.

Discovering The Flow

I’ve kept this formula until this day. I have a certain nice route that takes me about 40-50 minutes to get through if I manage to stay on it. Usually I don’t When I go where my instincts take me, I get in The Flow. The Flow is a state of

This tells something about my style of running

mind where I start to lose my conscious thoughts and I just become this machine that moves through the obstacles that are in front of me. My actions are pure reactions, no thinking, no pondering, no wondering .. just action and re-action. After the Flow, I usually find myself wondering “Wow, what just happened?”.

Now, it is hard to tell when you are getting to the zone of being in the Flow, but I know if I follow my inner voice, I will get there. Listening to good trance music with a steady beat helps me achieve this. I have a lot of different ~1 hour mixes by different DJs, some of my favorites for running are Dj Irish, Dj LilJo and Armin Van Buuren for example. A steady beat that is not too fast or too slow and a good mix of progressive tunes is usually what I look for. Btw, you can get Dj Irish’s “Assorted Trance” mixes from here: AssortedTrance.com. My favorite one is “Assorted Trance vol 17”, you might want to start from that one

Running as a form of meditation

The steady pumping of the trance beat can be related to the shaman drumming and syncronizing himself into an alternative state of consciousness. This combined with demanding physical activity takes it to a whole new level. Although I’ve done this for a long time now, I didn’t realize until while ago that running is the best meditation that I’ve done! And I didn’t even know I was doing meditation This realization comes through the fact that I started doing Chi Kung and a bit later also Kundalini Yoga, and through those activies I’ve realized what is the goal of meditation.

This reminds me of a question my friend and ex-roommate Janne asked me while we were still studying and living together: “What is your motivation for running?” Which I then replied “I would go insane if I didn’t”. Little did I then know that it was the meditative and healing properties of running that kept me doing it and made me feel good afterwards. The feeling I sometimes get after I come back from the Flow is total clarity. Sometimes I don’t even remember how I got from the point A to B because I was so in the zone while doing it. Almost everytime after this my mind is filled with good ideas coming from a totally new perspective, like from a dream or if I was closer to the original source of ideas. Inspiration through perspiration

I’ve pondered on this many times, and my theory is that through this becoming the Flow, you get closer to the collective consciousness of all living things and you are allowed to grab ideas from this stream of consciousness. Many times I have struggled on some problem and through running I’ve found the answer. I’m not still sure what happens during this process, so any views on this are welcome.

This is what running means for me. I’ve pondered it for a while and gained some insights during this time. I will now share some tips and pointers that hopefully are useful for other people too:

Free your mind and your ass will follow ..

.. Or my five tips to a fellow runner/parkour/human

The original quote “Free your mind and your ass will follow” is usually credited to George Clinton, so I’m not taking credit for that. The idea to write these tips came during a long run in the cold, wet darkness that is Finland in October. I thought about the basic stuff that might be hard to realize and how long it did for me to realize even these following basic things about running & overcoming obstacles/parkouring:

My choice of shoes for running .. they've taken quite a beating

Note: Traditional running shoes might hinder your performance, natural movements and connection with your body. I suggest trying to run barefeet or use more natural shoes like the Vibram Fivefingers if you really want to get your technique better.

Leg movement starts from the hips

When running, try not to think about your legs moving and getting you somewhere, instead try to focus on your hips being the source of movement. When you do this, you get into a much more natural way of running than when just keeping your hips static and moving your legs. Try to kinda “roll” the movement through your hips all the way down to your feet. If you do this properly, you wont have to even think about the running or your legs, just concentrate on your hips swaying back and forwards.

Avoid landing on the heels

Instead, try to make your feet roll smoothly over the ground so that the contact with the ground starts from the outer side of your feet’s heel, progresses towards the toes from the outer side still and when you finally push yourself towards, your whole body is connected to the ground through your center of balance point. This center of balance point is located about 2-3 inches between your first (thumb) and second toe, towards the heel and kinda buried inside. You can find this point by gently trying to massage this point with your fingers, when it hurts you’ve found it

This nerve point is also our connection to the energies of the ground. This is something I’ve learned through doing Chi Kung. If you want to stay balanced, try to walk so that you are focusing on these points on your feet and keeping them as connected to the ground as possible.

Be confident and careful

When overcoming obstacles, remember to practice everytime you are doing something new. When practicising jumps, landings or whatever, first try at levels that you are confident with.

When I’m doing something I haven’t done before, like going over a new kind of fence or jumping at an odd angle that I havent tried before, I first try the movement at a smaller scale. When I know what muscle and leg movements are required for me to perform, I focus on the big picture:

Visualize your goal, not the way to get there

Try to visualize your goal, not the movements that will get you there. This is especially important when jumping over obstacles or doing any kind of movement where there is the possibility of injury through failure. If you doubt your goal, you will fail. This is where being confident about your skills comes into play too. Don’t try to do something you are not sure about.

Quoting the words of Jedi Master Yoda: “Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’ “. Visualizing your actions helps your body to do all the different steps it was trained to do. First train your body to perform the movement on a smaller scale, then just go for it and let your body do what it was trained for. Trying to think how to move your legs during a jump will take your focus away from the goal.

A good example of this is walking. If you walk and think about walking, you will probably start to alter you walking or even fail to walk like you normally do. But if you just walk and not think about (like we usually do), you will get where you were planning on going. Apply this same to every action you do and you will succeed. Of course you will first have to learn how to walk

You can also think your body as a collection of independent machines or forms of life. You train your hand to do a movement, and then you just do it without thinking about it. The human body is an incredible collection of autonomous forms of life, seemingly connected and controlled by a central nervous system that is connected to a central CPU called your brain. A hand or a leg can move without a brain, and a brain can operate without a hand attached to it.

Shaman running, visualization practice for uphill running

This is something I’m still learning. I got the tip from some book I read concerning shamans, but I can’t really remember which one. Anyway, in the book there was instructions for running uphill without getting really tired at the same time. Apparently Native Americans and indigenous people around the world use this technique to travel long distances or go uphill easily. I’ve tried it for some time now and was kinda surprised that it actually works.

Here’s what you do: when running uphill or any steep path, rocks or cliffs, try to visualize a string  coming from just below your naval point. Imagine that this string is attached to some tree, rock or other object that is along your path. When you have made the connection, feel the object pulling you towards itself with this string. Keep focusing on this string and the feeling of being pulled. Turn your hands  so that your palms are facing downwards towards the ground and imagine that beams of energy or light are coming from the center of your hands. Visualize that this beam of energy is supporting you and helping you to run, much like your legs are doing. Focus on these two points and keep your breathing steady at the same time.

I usually use trees, as they are living objects and I can feel their energy flowing. Again, this is something I’ve learned by doing Chi Kung.

1. Things happen when you least expect them to.

2. Patience is being hopeful.

3. Time away always helps.

4. Daydreaming is as essential as reading.

5. Choices will always be there for you to make.

6. Go with the flow.

7. Live in the present.

8. It’s better to be preoccupied than to have nothing to do.

9. Lie in the sun sometimes.

10. Admit things.

No lyrics this time. My mind is in a brain twisting mode. Hidden puzzle, puzzle me. It’s not bugging me, because I feel I am in the flow. I just have to play with it. I will tell you when I figure it out. This could mean I will take a little time-out…………………..

I’m sitting in front of the white canvas. I kinda feel happiness. I really don’t understand it and try to focus. Wow in a second I see a lotus. I already lost it. This is just the surface.

(Hmmm, I guess I am still lyrical.)

N’importe quelle scénarisation tente d’immerger l’utilisateur. Pour ce faire, le scénariste doit osciller entre des périodes de tension et des périodes de calme. Lorsque qu’un utilisateur-joueur est totalement immergé dans la tâche qu’il est en train d’effectuer, on parle de Flow (pour en savoir plus sur le concept de Flow je vous invite à voir le blog www.howdoyoufeel.fr).

Certains romans commencent directement par un moment de tension, plongeant ainsi le lecteur directement dans le récit, sans lui laisser le temps de prendre connaissance de l’univers. Dans un jeu vidéo, ce type d’entrée scénaristique est compliquée car l’utilisateur-joueur doit commencer par prendre en main le jeu (par un didacticiel par exemple) et également prendre connaissance de l’univers et des règles qui le régissent. Ainsi, généralement, les premières minutes de jeu commencent par une période de calme. Une fois le jeu pris en main, le joueur prend connaissance de l’intrigue principale, la quête qui retiendra son attention tout au long du jeu. C’est à ce moment que la tension monte.

Dans une scénarisation en trois actes, chaque acte débute par une période de calme, permettant au joueur de se reposer mentalement de la tension subie précédemment. Malgré tout, la quête principale ne doit pas tombé dans l’oubli et la future phase de tension reprendra au même niveau d’intensité qu’elle a été laissée par le joueur. Ainsi, a la fin de l’acte 3, on arrive au climax de l’histoire, là où la tension est à son comble. C’est après ce passage que la résolution de l’histoire se fera mais pas nécessairement entièrement afin de laisse une ouverture possible.

Pour que le joueur reste immergé dans le jeu, les passages de tensions et de calme doivent être équilibrés. Si il y a trop de tension, le joueur se fatiguera et si il n’y a pas assez de tension, le joueur se lassera. A vous donc d’imaginer votre monde selon ces principes et de trouver le bon équilibre afin de garder le joueur le plus longtemps possible dans votre univers!

This is a collage I made based on words that I think are part of what it means to be an artist. The ten words I came up with after silent pondering were beauty, vision, meaning, composition, flow, feeling, creativity, fresh, inspiration and reflection. I used images representing beauty, vision, meaning, feeling, creativity, flow and inspiration to make this collage.

We all have two choices in life: change our perception or change our procedure

“Wu-Wei” is the concept of creative quietude, an important concept in Taoism. In the western world it is more commonly referred to as the concept of “Flow” – the state of peak performance whereas one achieves results without effort. It is most commonly felt as that moment when the conscious concept of time disappears. Oneness with your “work”. Oneness with all.

This is where I’m striving to be at all times. Good luck on your own personal travels and recognize how far you’ve already come.

“Some feel the rain, others get wet”.

Thank you for connecting,

Cooper

This is the fourth installment in a series of posts on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. You might also want to take a look at the previous posts (first, second, third & fourth).

Without interest in the world, a desire to be actively related to it, a person becomes isolated into himself. (Csikszentmihalyi 2002: 93.)

Csikszentmihalyi talks about the importance of having or developing an autotelic personality. This is a difficult one for me. On the one hand, I’ve always recognised the significance of being somehow self-sufficient in developing interest in the world around me. I admire people who devote themselves to varying causes or simply seem to care about what is going on with other people, in the world, in their area(s) of interest. On the other hand, my behaviour is mostly less than autonomous. I’m introverted, which may play some part in my finding it hard to engage fully with my environment. And yet I know I should, that being actively involved affects positively my level of happiness.

I’ll set myself a task. Every time I notice my mood dropping or that I’m overly occupied with myself, I must

• ask someone how they are or
• take note of anything in my immediate surroundings that has changed recently or that is simply pleasant to the eye or
• get up and find a position/location that I’ve never experienced before (e.g. how many times have you sat on the floor at work) or
• take other available measures to divert my attention away from myself.

Might work. Might happen that I completely forget about this exercise by tomorrow. Worth a shot, anyway.

I promised myself that I would actually make something at Music Hack Day Boston, not just hang out while other people made stuff. So I signed up for circuit bender Jimmie Rodgers’s newbie workshop on making an Atari Punk Console, a simple synthesizer that Jimmie designed and has made available as a kit. It uses a two-up timing chip to drive a speaker which, when tweaked with a pair of potentiometers, makes some very fun electronic squeals. The whole circuit fits into an Altoids tin.

So, while all the real hackers got going on their projects, I settled myself down with a kit and a soldering iron, surrounded by a tableful of kindred spirits. Three of the fastest hours of my life later, I found myself delightedly pushing buttons and turning knobs to  make weird noises come out of my circuit. It was fantastic to reconnect with the pleasure of actually building something and having it work (that’s my handmade synth in the picture above).

I also discovered a new measure of awesomeness in teaching, one that’s so much better than the standard end-of-course evaluations: a whole bunch of Jimmie’s students (myself included) bought him drinks that night at the Echo Nestival.

You can look through a photo gallery, listen to Jimmie talk about circuit bending, and hear some of the great sounds in this piece for NHPR.

 Rafael Oliveira em um dia no CKP.

por: perereka!

It’s hard to get a handle on all the issues of clean water– why we’re in our current situation, who is responsible for it, and what we can do about it.   Finding and sorting through all the information to amalgamate into one opinion or action is the first step in really understanding the issue of clean water, both in the United States and around the world.

One of my favorite ways to get information, and one I think is most powerful, is through film.  Luckily for all of us clean water activists out there, there have been several films made about clean water issues.  Tapped is film that aims to inform the public on the truth of the bottled water industry, based on the belief that water is the one resource that should never become a commodity to be bought and sold.

If you’re interested in the battle between public health and private interests, check out FLOW, a documentary on the condition of our water and the people behind the privatization of water.  And yep, it names names:

One film that is currently in production calls attention to the world water crisis by telling one city’s story– New Delhi, India.  The goal of the Groundwater Up Project is to untangle the issues of one city in terms you can relate to, and to share the small scale solutions that are taking place.   By focusing on the local methods of water management, people from all over the world can share ideas about how to take action around the water issues in their area, and find ways to incorporate traditional knowledge in an age of multinational corporations and rapid globalization.  Interested?  You can learn more by checking out their website and donating to the project.

Once you’ve checked out these documentaries, there are plenty of ways to get involved.  If you believe that water is a basic right, sign the petition to add it as article to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, first established in 1948.  Or make the pledge to give up bottled water.  Or, our favorite, add the replyforall signature to drive donations for our clean water partners, Student Movement for Real Change and Partners In Health.  In one month, you can provide a month of clean water for 54 people, just by using the replyforall signature when you send emails.

Fight the Good Fight,

Johanna Hudgens

			sponsored by
	It takes between 250 and 650 gallons of water to grow just one pound of rice. By using this email signature, Johanna provided an hour of clean water for 805 people.

Here is a page covering the effect of the floods of November 2009 on the old Limerick Navigation from Plassey downstream. (This page complements another about the upper reaches of the navigation.)

This page covers:

• Plassey, including the Black Bridge and the towing-path
• the regulating weir at Corbally
• the upper lock on the Park Canal, the lady’s hole and the 2.4m increase in depth above the lock
• the lower lock and its patented mechanism
• the current in the Abbey River and under Mathew Bridge.

• Avslappthet er en form for selvsikkerhet.
• Avslappete mennesker virker suverene, trygge og selvsikre.
• Avslappete mennesker er i stand til å handle proaktivt og lar seg ikke så lett irritere.
• Med denne testen kan du kontrollere graden av avslappthet i yrkessituasjonen din.
• Sett deg selv mentalt (og emosjonalt) i de situasjone som er beskrevet lengre nede og skriv ned den graden av avslappethet  som du vil føle i en slik situasjon.

Graden av din avslappethet i følgende situasjoner: (1, 2,3,4 og 5, der 1=lav og 5=høy)

Nå teller du sammen dine avslappethtspoeng og les nedenfor resultatet ditt

Resultater:

• 10 poeng. Personer med dette resultatet tar altfor mye alvorlig. Du bør arbeide med å få følelsesmessig distanse og avstand til situasjonene. Her er stresset uunngåelig. Du bør ta godt vare på deg selv og vurdere dine tanker og meninger kritisk.
• 11 til 24 poeng. Personer med dette resultatet klarer  som regel å opprette en viss grad av avstand og distanse. Jo lavere poengtalle ditt er, desto vanskeligere har du for å være avslappet. Påførte fornærmelser virker over lengre tid og påvirker selvtilliten din. Ofte reagerer slike folk med tilbaketrekning og begrenser  kommunikasjonen.
• 25 til 36 poeng. Personer med dette resultatet klarer i de fleste situasjoner å reagerer rolig og samlet. Du vil være i stand til å kontrollere dine følelser og tanker. Du klarer å slippe taket og konsentrerer deg relativt raskt mot tilfredsstillende mål.
• 37 til 50 poeng. Personer med dette resultatet mestrer som regel yrkesmessig stress suverent og selvsikkert. Immidlertid under en forutsetning: Det må være autentisk. Det bør ikke være skjult noe internt forbud eller kommando bak beslutningene. (F.eks “Jeg må ikke vise noe svakhet.” “Jeg må være i stand til å takle det.” “Jeg kan ikke oppføre meg slik.” “Jeg tilhører ikke vinnerne.”)

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As she runs down stairs

It billows magestically

All her folds of skirt

Mechanism of Mind, by Edward de Bono

The Mechanism of Mind, by Edward de Bono

“Freddie was designed as a space age pet for modern living. He is a small black sphere which is completely smooth on the outside. When Freddie is kicked he starts to roll about. To stop him you kick him again. Whenever he comes up against an obstacle he just backs away, moves along it or just changes direction as he feels inclined. The purpose of Freddie is to provide intelligent animation without the owner having to feed him, look after him or take him round the lampposts every evening.”

Freddie’s image is so intriguing that we find ourselves smiling, but not at the implication that our lives might well be similar to his own. When it comes to our mind, to our way of thinking, we resent being told that our mental processes are mechanical, and that there is no separate self or agent initiating or directing our thoughts.

Though Dr. de Bono is a physician and is currently working in the Department of Investigative Medicine at Cambridge University, England, he uses no monkeys, rabbits, rats or electronic brain probes to make his case. He seeks to convince us with models made from pins, lights, switches, blocks, jelly, water and other equally familiar materials.

Put some table jelly in a shallow dish; now spoon some hot water onto the jelly and then pour the water off: as the water melts the jelly, it creates channels. As more water is spooned onto the jelly, the patterns become more diverse and intricate. But soon, no matter where you pour it, most of the water will flow through the channels already created, thereby making these channels deeper and ensuring that any additional water will flow through them. Think of the jelly as the memory surface of the brain, and the channels as memories or associations. The flow of water through these channels is the “interpretation and recording of incoming information. . . the main point is that there is flow, and that the flow is dictated by the contours of the surface.”

In other words, the past shapes the present. But what about new ideas and perceptions? Can we receive them without their being processed by the various patterns which have accumulated through suggestion and repetition, or are we doomed to a constant repetition of past thoughts and perceptions (as the jelly model indicates)? The answer seems to demand a more precise study of the mechanics of the human mind, of the way it is “kicked” in and out of action by influences from outside as well as from within.

Dr. de Bono distinguishes between several different kinds of thought, all of which are equally mechanical, but which nevertheless differ in the results they bring. The most “primitive” form of thought is “natural thinking.” This is the passive associative flow along the contours of the memory surface. It is totally dependent on whatever happens to be accumulated at the moment. There is a momentum from cliché to cliché. “Natural thinking makes use of absolutes and extremes since these patterns become more easily established than intermediate ones.” In de Bono’s words:

“The lack of proportion in natural thinking in some ways resembles the contents of newspapers. The odd, the unusual, the emotional, all get as much emphasis as ordinary events, or more, even though the latter are much more important in real-life terms. Labels and categories are much used in natural thinking since they provide quick interpretation and firm direction of flow. There is little vagueness or indecision in natural thinking since even a slight degree of dominance in one area is sufficient to attract the flow.”

“Logical thinking” differs from natural thinking only as a result of the experience of “non-identity,” or “no.” No conveys an awareness of more than one alternative; it implies a “mismatch,” a conflict between patterns. As a result of no, one pattern or pathway is selected and another is blocked from our attention. “The effect of logical thinking is like that obtained by a farmer who directs the water to his fields by careful blocking of some irrigation channels in order to get the water to flow through the others.” The difficulty is that what may have been useful in the past may be the exact opposite of what is necessary now. Once no has blocked a particular pathway it is likely to continue doing so even when the conditions have changed. “The more emotion that was infused into the no label by upbringing, the more powerful would be its use and its effect.”

With “mathematical thinking” we come to what is supposedly the least subjective form of sequential thought. This kind of thinking, for de Bono, is based on the use of “ready-made recipes,” or “algorithms.” “An algorithm is any fixed pattern which is not derived from presented information but serves to control and sort out that information. Algorithms may be mathematical techniques but they may also be word patterns or any other type of preset pattern.” Instead of the incoming information finding its own path along the contours of the surface, specific channels are pre-cut and the information flows through them. If the “preset pattern” actually represents the given situation then mathematical thinking can avoid many of the errors of natural and logical thinking. Unfortunately, in most cases, neither the algorithm nor the choice of what it processes is itself the result of mathematical thinking.

Dr. de Bono makes it clear that none of these forms of thought can get beyond the limitations imposed by the nature of the memory surface. He therefore offers a fourth classification which he calls “lateral thinking.” This type of thinking is based on the disruption of the sequential flow of our ordinary thought:

“Lateral thinking has nothing to do with chaos for the sake of chaos. Disruption of a pattern in lateral thinking is only in order to let a better pattern form. Later the process can be repeated again. For this reason those chemical methods of disruption which work by upsetting the smooth co-ordination of the mind are useless since the smooth co-ordination of the mind is required to snap the new patterns into coherence. The art of lateral thinking is to bring about the disruption while still retaining the ability to benefit from it in terms of coherent ideas.”

How does one achieve this kind of thinking? Dr. de Bono offers a number of different methods, all of which are dependent on the ability to allow one’s thought to organize itself in a “new” way. But whether this new organization be the result of shocks coming from without, the intentional effort of turning an idea upside down, or the effort of a slight shift in attention, it is always necessary to confront what de Bono calls the “main information sin”–arrogance. “Arrogance appears in many forms. Just as one particular fixed way of looking at things leads to the arrogance of pride so another fixed way of looking at things leads to the arrogance of despair.”

How can we escape this “sin”? Dr. de Bono tells us that one way is through a “realization of the arbitrary nature and historical development. . .” of our attitudes:

“It is not suggested that the realization of the arbitrariness of patterns should lead to a loss of drive and direction. On the contrary, one realizes that patterns are useful no matter how arbitrary, and so one uses them. But uses them without arrogance, with an inquiry about better patterns, and with the willingness to change to better patterns if they should seem more useful.”

But is the interest in “better patterns” sufficient motivation to see and accept the mechanicality of one’s mind? If arrogance is not simply an information sin, if its effects are scattered through our entire being, then perhaps we do need to experience a “loss of drive and direction.” Perhaps freed for a moment from our cerebral manipulations, we will feel the need for a totally new quality of thought–one which could bring us to a wider, more fundamental sense of our existence.

This review first appeared in the journal Material for Thought, Spring 1971 (issue #3), published by Far West Editions. Far West Editions “was begun in 1968 by John Pentland, a direct pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff and president of the Gurdjieff Foundations of New York and California until his death in 1984. Its original purpose was to discover if a more impartial quality of spiritual thought can emerge when a small group of people work at writing while at the same time trying to see themselves as they are.”  Though I am “the author” of this review, it was working in these special conditions that made it possible. You can click on the above link to see what issues of Material for Thought are currently available.

Hvis du føler deg stresset i ditt indre, svak eller usikker, så virker heller ikke de beste samtaleteknikkene for å kommunisere med hell. Du kan fremdeles være så godt forberedt du vil, men du vil trolig mangle styrken som du trenger for å gjennomføre det hdu ar fore på en målrettet og overbevisende måte.

Hvis du en eller  annen gang har beskjeftiget deg med (selv-) påvirkning, (selv-) hypnose eller NLP (Neuro Lingvistisk Programmering), vil du enkelt kunne utføre følgende øvelse. Hvis du ennå ikke har engasjert i selvprogrammering, bør du ha litt tålmodighet med deg selv,til  øvelsen virker. Det virker – vær du sikker.

Den grunnleggende ideen bak denne øvelsen er at vi i NLP starter  utifra det faktum at en følelse av sikkerhet, styrke og glede(ressurser) allerede er tilstede hos oss mennesker. Det gjelder å anerkjenne denne kilden til styrke, forankre ressursene og gjøre de tilgjengelige. Du har således verdifulle ressurser som du alltid kan gripe tilbake till for å forbli proaktiv og reagere avslappet og suverent.

Øvelse

Trinn 1: Sitt komfortabelt, legg hendene dine på lårene og pust dypt og rolig inn og ut. Fjern all spenningen i kroppen din ved hvert åndedrag og føl freden og roen som sprer seg gjennom kroppen din. Tenk på en situasjon der du følte deg  sterk, trygg og sikker på deg selv. Skap visuelt og følelsesmessig dette minnet igjen. Føl igjen denne følelsen av trygghet og glede, så intens som om det ville vært  i den daværende situasjon.

Nå forankrer du med det neste trinnet denne følelsen, slik at du kan gjenkalle den til enhver tid, når du føler deg trett og stresset.

Trinn 2: Forstill deg foran deg en sirkel, så stor at du passer inn. Hvis du ser denne sirkelen rett foran øynene dine, og du virkelig intenst føler denne sterke, trygge og gode følelsen, så puster du dypt inn og ut og i tankene dine stiger du inn i denne sirkelen. Du føler hvordan denne følelsen av styrke, selvtillit og glede ligger fast forankret i sirkelen og sprer velvære, glede og fred i ditt indre.

Hvis du har gjort denne øvelsen riktig, og denne følelsen faktisk er forankret med sirkelen, så kan du alltid se denne indre kraftkilde n(ressursen). I alle situasjoner der du føler deg anspent, stresset eller usikker, kan du gi deg selv sikkerhet, ro og en følelse av styrke og selvtillit. Du visualiserer da alltid i ditt indre  sirkelen, puster dypt inn og ut og stiger mentalt inn i sirkelen og føler (med den faktiske forankringen) raskt ro, avsslappethet og styrke i ditt indre.

Bøker og CD’er om NLP

Alder, Harry & Heather Beryl, NLP in 21 Days, A complete Introduction and Training Program To Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Andreas, Steve, Praxiskurs NLP
Bandler, Richard, Get the Life You Want: The Secrets to Quick and Lasting Life Change with Neuro-Linguistic Programming
Baviare, Steve,  Teach yourself  NLP
Dilts, Robert, Professionelles Coaching mit NL
Knight, Sue, NLP at Work, Neuro Linguistic Programming, The Difference that Makes a Difference in Business
Lerøy,Eva Løkeland, Du bestemmer!
O’conner, Joseph, Coaching with NLP
O’Connor, Joseph, Seymour, John, Training with NLP(Neuro-Limguistic Programming, Skills for Managers, Trainers and Communicators
Ready, Romilla, Neuro-linguistic Programming for Dummies
Ready, Romilla, Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Workbook for Dummies
Robbins, Anthoney, The Edge: The Power to Change Your Life Now
Robbins, Anthony, Lessons in mastery
Robbins, Anthony, Live with Passion! : Stategies for Creating a Compelling Future
Sawinski, Egon, NLP im Alltag
Stubsjøen, Sigurd, Tenk deg til suksess
Swarz, Aljoscha A., Praxisbuch NLP: Denk dich nach vorn!
Torbergsen, Turid, Coaching
Åldstedt ,Trine,  Alt sitter i hodet

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[intro] G D Em D 4x

G
Pusingku jadinya saat harus memilih
siapa antara kamu dan juga dirinya
C
Bingung jadi bingung
Cm D G
kuharus pilih yang mana (mana mana mana)

G
Semakin mejadi lama lama aku bisa gila
karena kamu dan juga dirinya
C
Bingung jadi bingung
Cm D
kuharus pilih yang manaaaaaaaa

[chorus]
C G
Kutinggalkan saja kamu dan juga dia
Am D G
daripada aku pusing 7 keliling
C G Em
Kucari yang lain saja agar ku bisa
Am D G
hidup dan tidur nyenyak malam ini

G
Semakin mejadi lama lama aku bisa gila
karena kamu dan juga dirinya
C
Bingung jadi bingung
Cm D
kuharus pilih yang mana

[chorus]
C G
Kutinggalkan saja kamu dan juga dia
Am D G
daripada aku pusing 7 keliling
C G Em
Kucari yang lain saja agar ku bisa
Am D
hidup dan tidur nyenyak malam ini

[interlude] C Bm Am D G 2x

[chorus]
C G
Kutinggalkan saja kamu dan juga dia
Am D G
daripada aku pusing 7 keliling
C G Em
Kucari yang lain saja agar ku bisa
Am D
hidup dan tidur nyenyak malam ini
C G
Kutinggalkan saja kamu dan juga dia
Am D G
daripada aku pusing 7 keliling
C G Em
Kucari yang lain saja agar ku bisa
Am D G
hidup dan tidur nyenyak malam ini