History of Math Made Appealing: There's an App for That

Doesn't this make learning about math appealing? This clip, made by the IBMSocialMedia group, sure put together a good product. Here is what they had to say about it:

Inspired by the 1960's-era World's Fair exhibit, IBM today announced an iPad app, Minds of Modern Mathematics, available for free at the App Store. The app is a vintage-meets-digital interactive recreation of a massive 50-foot-long timeline from IBM's World's Fair exhibit -- detailing hundreds of artifacts, milestones and giants of math from 1000 AD to 1960.

The original exhibit, Mathematica: A world of numbers....and beyond, was created for IBM by famed husband--and-wife design team Charles and Ray Eames, and the app is being released during the centennial year of Ray Eames' birth. The app includes the "IBM Mathematics Peep Show, " a series of playful two-minute animated lessons by the Eameses on mathematical concepts, from exponents to how ancient Greeks measured the earth.

If you want the app you can download it here.

Whip It: A Flow Chart

On Orientations, Preferences, and Mother Monster

Born this way? Chose this way? Why does it matter and do we really  know?

I woke up singing Lady Gaga this morning. Never a good sign.

And of course, don't be a drag. Just be a queen. Right? Baby you were born this way. Right? But now that implies a choice now doesn't it? What a minute. Your Lebanese or Orient? Did you have a choice where you were born. Wait a minute. What's going on here.

...and have I lost my mind quoting Lady Gaga?

Nature versus nurture. Essentialist vs. social constructionist. Much ink has been spilt about this very topic. Are we a product of our genes? Do we have choice and free will? How do our genes and choice intersect.

Why does it matter? Why are pop icons like Lady Gaga and political figures like Michelle Bachmann entering into the fray and discussing this. More importantly, why are we having a dialogue about any of this in the absence of reasoned scholarship--or at least without some reference to reasoned scholarship?

It matters because it's political. Born this way arguments are used as a political tool to justify the need for human rights. "I'm okay because I was born this way" can make a powerful political argument. Likewise, the political forces represented by Michelle Bachmann and others use the choice argument as an equally as powerful political argument. "You are marking a choice to do something we consider bad, something that we don't approve of."

Both sides, left and right, progressive and conservative, present powerful arguments that have virtually no connection to reasoned, thoughtful scholarship and scientific evidence. The simple answer here is that there is no strong, clear, and convincing evidence that supports the conclusion that identity is something that is a thing that is "born this way." There isn't any evidence that suggests identity is only a choice. Identity is infinitely more complex than that.

We are a product of genetics, environment, experiences, and choices. It's demeaning to suggest complex human behaviors are only be genetics. It's also ridiculous to think that the range of our behaviors are not somewhat rooted in our genetics. It's both: born this way and choice.

If we rewind the clock of history a bit it gets even more interested. Gay and Lesbian rights were birthed within the context of the liberation movement of the 60s and 70s. At that time many brave people stood up and declared their choice: they chose to be gay. It was political. It was disruptive. It was enlivening and liberating.

Fast forward a few decades and the political polarities of left and right have twisted that message of liberation. Rather than a strong statement of liberation, choice has become and argument that the right attacks the left with. Choice is an argument that the left attacks its own with. Have you ever tried talking about choice within the context of some queer communities? You'd be run out of town with pitch forks and burning torches.

To borrow a line from Lady Gaga, the pendulum of choice began its dance. It began its dance a long time ago. It's important to know that it's a dance, and to know why there is a dance.

It's important to question why we even ask these questions. Why does it matter if someone is gay, lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, or something else? Is there something wrong with any category of sexual experience?

___

Lady Gaga got something right though, and it is what has made her video so hot that it caught on fire and has been redone hundreds of times by fans on YouTube. It's why Google Chrome picked it up and made a white hot commercial out of it.

The song validates. You are beautiful. You are on the right track. Rejoice and love yourself today. You are all superstars. There is nothing wrong with who you are.

I will always fall on the side of validation. Remember, validation does not imply agreement or "rightness." Validation is the simple act of recognizing the experiences of another. Said another way, to validate is to acknowledge and accept the unique identity and individuality of another.

It costs me nothing to recognize your experience. In the end, that's what will move our culture and society forward. Try it. Try to recognize the experience of another without disagreement, without modification, without opinion. Take in and recognize the experience of someone you don't agree with. You will be transformed. They will have the potential to transform.

It'll be just like magic. I promise. You can immediately transform a situation into one of possibility rather than one that forecloses potential.

...and as for me having lost my mind. That happened a long time ago.

I'm on the right track baby. Wanna join me?

Middle School Lunch Room, Take Two: Build Relationships, Don't Destroy Them

Yesterday I wrote a blog piece talking about the general dismal state of political discourse. A day doesn't go by without at least one public mention of an "us versus them" statement that breaks relationships rather than builds relationships. I've been squirreled away at home most of this weekend reading various original narratives about nonviolence. This quote is yet another to serve as a good reminder of the importance of building relationships and unifying people. So much of our discourse (any side of the political spectrum, and topic) is locked in an us versus them mentality. Let this serve as a call to action

And so I plead with you this afternoon as we go ahead: remain committed to nonviolence. Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding. We must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience. And that will be a day not of the white man, not of the black man. That will be the day of man as man. 

--Martin Luther King, Jr.
--Our God is Marching on!
--March 25, 1965
Montgomery Alabama

The next time you find yourself in a polarized discussion and locked in a battle to determine who's right, think of this quote. How might you chart another way and build relationships rather than destroy them. When you hear our political leaders speaking relationship destroying words, think for a moment on how they  might do it another way.

Five Finger Mindfulness

When I first started running I got fitted for a proper pair of running shoes. Every six months or so I return to the store, have a discussion with one of the staff, and without exception depart with another pair of the same shoes. Six years, twelve pairs of shoes. They work for me. In fact, they work so well for me that I've not really thought about my feet at all.

These strange little shoes pictured on my feet have caused me to pay very close attention to my feet. At first I was paying close attention because I was terribly concerned my little toes would get sucked into the belt of the treadmill. As soon as I realized that was a ridiculous thought I went about the business of logging in my time running for the day.

Running, for the most part, is generally an experience of mindfulness for me. After I pass through the first few miles my mind gets (mostly) swept clear of thoughts and gets filled with an ongoing process of noticing what's around me and in me. It's a nice meditation.

These strange toe-slippers (actually called Vibram Five Fingers) changed it up. For the first time in I don't know how long I paid attention to my feet. Who knew how much information our feet provide us about the world around us. It all started with my first step on the treadmill. I could feel the rollers under the belt. As I turned up the speed I became even more fascinated. For example, my left foot strikes the ground in a totally different way than the right. The left has a way of rolling slightly out and with each strike comes a wobble that transmits all the way up my body. When I alter my foot strike my body becomes more stable.

Another thing I noticed was my toes. When my feet strike my toes slightly curl and grip the ground. When my foot comes back up my toes spread open a bit. Each step provides a bit of a stretch. Comforting--and relaxing.

As I got more comfortable and less concerned about breaking my toes I turned the speed up on the treadmill. The faster I went, the more I noticed there was a natural rhythm that ran from my toes up to my head. I could feel different adjustments through my spine depending on if it was the right or or the left foot striking.

A discussion of shoes (or my feet) isn't really my point here. This is a post about mindfulness. Most of you probably don't think about running as mindfulness. Maybe you think of someone sitting in the lotus posture on a meditation cushion or perhaps a room full of yoga students chanting. Our popular culture certainly works hard to promulgate this image of mindfulness = peacefulness.

Mindfulness, however, isn't really any of these things. It's simply paying close attention to whatever is on hand to be experienced. You can be mindful on the subway, in the dentist's chair, or on the corner of a crowded intersection. You can be mindful in the real world--try it out--while it's nice and all to find a peaceful moment on a meditation cushion it's even better to be present with all your senses wherever you might be.

I think sitting on a cushion is a great way to be mindful--it's different from what we usually do so it makes us notice things in a different way. The problem is that we've come to expect a certain experience from cushion sitting: we are supposed to be "mindful" or "peaceful." Rather than noticing we end up trying to do something. That's not meditation. Try to do something new--something that you haven't done before. If you put yourself in a position where you are doing something that you don't have a reference for you can be more mindful. You can be more aware of what your are doing and notice the experience rather than fit the experience into something that you think it should be.

That's mindfulness.

Should Philosophers Contribute to Social Life?

I've recently started listening to a series called "Philosophy Bites," which is a podcast of top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics. This morning I was listening to a brief conversation with Mary Warnock. She is a philosopher, a member of the House of Lords in the UK, and an advocate for euthanasia.

I was struck by several things she said in the brief interview. Of particular interest was this segment where she talked about  the role of religion in  moral decision making around issues of euthanasia. In this time of "culture wars" in the United States her voice was a refreshing new and challenging look at what is happening.

I certainly wouldn't want to deny that religion has it's place. The trouble is that some people don't like them and don't feel any need for them. And therefore it seems to me absolutely and totally wrong that legislation which has to bind everybody and the rule of law seems to me something that is far more important than any particular religious dogma. It is completely wrong that religion should be given an enormous part in producing legislation. But anyone who says that human life is a gift from God is just simply talking irreverently because not everybody believes that. And so how could their particular believe possibly be brought in to justify blocking any attempt at legalizing assisted suicide. I mean obviously people who are religious very often have very good an acceptable moral views, but they have no special access to what would be a good and sound basis of legislation in a matter like that which is a moral matter.

There are a number of hot-button issues facing our world today. Gay marriage, equality, war, abortion, education,  the environment, the budget... all topics that we have opinions about in part based on moral judgments. As played out in the epic struggle between the left and right, these struggles seem deeply rooted in our sense of morals--morals that are (nearly) inextricably intertwined with religious teachings.

Turn on the television recently? Check out Twitter, Facebook, or comments made about articles online? Dismayed at how we seem to be talking (or yelling) at each other rather than engaging in meaningful dialogue? I know I'm dismayed.

This is what got me so interested in Warnock's interview. I hadn't fully noticed that at the heart of our public discourse is the divide between the moral reasoning of (some) religious folk and the moral reasoning of (some) secular folk. That divide is brought to life in our public discourse through the constant chatter of one side trying to prove the other side is wrong. In her interview, Warnock showed me how easy it is to lose sight of how one particular set of beliefs does not have any "special access to what would be a good and sound" in any of these situations. Neither religion nor political believe, nor intellectual tradition provide any one group with access to a particular truth.

So what's a concerned person to do? For starters, know your own epistemology (what is knowledge, how is it obtained, and what constitutes acceptable criteria for knowledge) and ontology (what do people consider reality). Also be open to understanding how another person goes about making meaning in the world.

In an article in the New Statesman Warnock offers this:

I believe morality comes from our common human nature and that we live in a society that is precarious and difficult. To take morals seriously is to take the view that we've got to collaborate and taken one another seriously.

I like that. It is a challenge to really be open to listening and understanding someone with a radically different viewpoint than our own. I think it's worth it. In fact, our very survival might depend on it. Who are you going to take seriously today? 

A message from Earth

"You matter."

"I do?"

"To me you do."

Person to Person Narratives

There has been significant talk in the media about immigration over the last year. The leading narrative in the news is that American's want to keep immigrants out. Undocumented persons from other countries are stealing jobs from hard working Americans is what I often read. The undercurrent is that these persons from other countries are out to alter the fabric of society.

Here is one viewpoint about the "dark side of illegal immigration."  It's taken from a press release from Rep. Steve King of the 5th district of Iowa. 

• The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise would die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day.
• Another 13 Americans would survive who are otherwise killed each day by uninsured drunk driving illegals.
• There would be no one to smuggle across our southern border the heroin, marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamines, which plague the United States, reducing the U.S. supply of methamphetamines that day, by 80%.
• Our hospital emergency rooms would not be flooded with everything from gunshot wounds, to anchor babies, to imported diseases, to hangnails, giving American citizens the day off from standing in line behind illegals.
• Eight American children would not suffer the horror as victims of sex crimes.

Of course, King's comments are written without any supporting facts. If one digs a bit deeper to understand how he came to these statements you'd see a blatant manipulation of statistics. Let's say for example that 1% of Bassett Hounds viciously lick people on their faces. If I lock up 100% of all Bassett Hounds I will prevent 100% of vicious licking attacks by happy hounds.  This is essentially King's reasoning.

My point today isn't about statistics or  my distaste for people saying ridiculous things. 

My point is that we have forgotten to put a human face onto the issues that are polarizing our society. Both my friends on the right and my friends on the left run further in their respective directions in order to prove a point. Lost is the story of real human tragedy. We are forgetting about the people.

This past week I sat with an individual who is seeking asylum in the United States. They endured brutal torture   for publicly stating that they hoped two opposing groups could sit down at a table and work toward a peaceful solution. This person had to flee their country. They left behind a home they loved along with their child and spouse. 

This is one story of the very real tragedy that some people endured prior to entering into the United States. It's the very real human face of immigration (legal or illegal). It is the story that is lost in our polarized public discussions that are more about protecting a view point than about protecting human beings.

I'd like to write more here. I'd like to put a human face on this particular tragedy. I'd like to tell you about the deep sorrow of this individual and how, at the depth of this sorrow, I found an unquenchable sense of hope.

I of course cannot. I'm bound to protect this individuals privacy and confidentiality. I hope you each find ways to make a person-to-person encounter when you think about immigration. In fact, I hope you all find ways to make a person-to-person encounter when you are thinking about any issue that is polarizing. Thinking about an issue in context--in relation to another--is transformational. You'll change--and everyone around you will change too.

Leaving the Bubble: A Brief Observation from the Road

I packed up the car over the Christmas holiday and did my annual migration back to northeast Ohio. The route was familiar. I-90 west, for endless miles, through Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and finally Ohio. I've driven the road so many times I hardly have to look. I know just where to stop for the cleanest gas stations and the best road food. I know just where to look from the highway for the holiday lights that are displayed in a public park right outside Syracuse New York. I know just when to slow down close to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge outside of Seneca Falls New York. I always hope to spot an animal and never have. Even the detours are not new--I took "new" way to get home that I've taken many times when I couldn't stand the New York Thruway anymore. This trip was a little difference because now I'm armed with a smart phone. I spent the majority of the trip learning interesting facts from Wikipedia. Take for example this helpful trivia filled entry about the Southern Tier Expressway.

Along the road this year--and deep within the city of Cleveland--things seems a lot different this year. It was a good trip for me because it helped me burst the increasingly sheltered bubble I've been living in in New England. There is a recession out there. Did you know that? I read newspaper articles about there being hard economic times but looking around the places I frequent in New England it would be hard to tell. Houses are being sold, store parking lots are filled, and store fronts are filled with enticing displays.

On the road to Cleveland, I saw a whole lot of grey. Stores were empty. Places that I once saw filled with people on the 19 years I've spent driving back and forth across New York State are empty an abandoned. In my own home town, a city that was vibrant and filled with life, has constricted down to a small alley of chain restaurants and bars. Business Corridors that were once filled with the promise of continued vibrancy are mostly abandoned and desolate.

I found myself a bit short on hope. I'm usually not the person with a short supply of hope. This was different after being confronted with so many scenes of empty desperation, signs of aging and collapse, and the general contrast from the vibrant memories I have from 20 years ago and the rude bursting of my bubble (both in memory, and my New England bubble). This may explain why the only images I captured from my trip was at the Lakeview Cemetery.

So what's my point here? I'm back in my New England and I'm again filled with my usual hope and optimism. Am I delusional? I don't think so. I found a few important things. First off, it's so important to get out of that which we find familiar and seek out a new vantage point to view the world. It makes us more whole to look at the world from many different viewpoints. To this end I've left my familiar echo chamber of NPR and am spending more time reading other sources of news and commentary (news papers from other cities and countries and *gasp* conservative papers).

It's interesting what I see from these other perches. When I separate the rhetoric and look closely, I'm seeing examples of people building new and creative things out of the ashes of what has been destroyed. My old neighborhood of Ohio City offers one small example. It's a neighborhood that has been decimated by foreclosures. Abandoned houses have been knocked down an in their place urban farms have sprouted--farms that sell to the local West Side Market, restaurants, and grocery stores.

What do you see when you look at things in a new way?

The Decline of Empathy: How You Can Help

A study from the University of Michigan offered a disturbing glimpse into the pro-social behaviors of young adults in America. Sarah Konrath, along with students Edward O'Brian and Courtney Hsing conducted a meta-analysis of 72 different studies conducted between 1979 and 2009. The studies all looked at college students levels of empathy as measured by paper-and-pencil tests.

Here's the shocking part:

We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000," said Sara Konrath, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research. "College kids today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait."

What does this mean in the real world? If there is transfer between how people act and what they reported on the measures, it means that young adults are 40% less likely to be able to put themselves in someone else's shoes. 40% less likely to be willing to consider another's perspective. 40% less likely to be impacted by the suffering of another's suffering.

Compared to college students of the late 1970s, the study found, college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective" and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."

Curious how you compare on empathy? the University of Michigan has a survey up online. It will give you a score that you can compare yourself to the 14,000 college students that make up this study. Before heading off to the study on the following link, keep in mind that no information is provided if the university is recording your input. There is no mention of an Institutional Review Board approving of research, nor is there mention if this is for research gathering purposes (do they save your data) or is it for your own information (is data not saved). They don't ask for any identifying information. At any rate, here is the link to the survey.

How did you do? I know I was surprised. Before I started the survey I thought I'd score off the charts on empathy. While I was well above average as compared to the sample, I was surprised to see that college students in the 70s were much more empathetic than me.

Not to be overly nerdy here, but as an adult who has been out of college (and graduate school now) for a long time I can't use a sample of college students to compare myself too. It may be possible that college students are more idealistic. It may also be possible that college students tend to be more prone to black and white thinking (here, it would be "I'm always considering someone else's perspective" vs. a more nuanced perspective that comes with life experience).

And of course, there is likely to be a gap between how people identify themselves on paper and how they actually behave in the real world. There could be all sorts of interesting things that happen there.

Still--commentary on research aside--this is a disturbing trend. Inside special education circles it is often common practice to teach children empathy and perspective taking. I wonder if that happens in mainstream classrooms and within the contexts of families? I sure hope it does.

Here are a few tips for teaching empathy taken from the website Parenting Science. They are evidenced based tools to help teach empathy in children. Try them out with your own kids--or adapt them and try them out with your husbands, wifes, partners, and friends. You could make the world a little more friendly.

• Teaching empathy tip #1: Address your child’s own needs, and teach him how to “bounce back” from distress

• Teaching empathy tip #2: Be a “mind-minded” parent. Treat your child as an individual with a mind of her own, and talk to her about the ways that our feelings influence our behavior

• Teaching empathy tip #3: Seize everyday opportunities to model—and induce—sympathetic feelings for other people

• Teaching empathy tip #4: Help kids discover what they have in common with other people

• Teaching empathy tip #5: Teach kids about the hot-cold empathy gap

• Teaching empathy tip #6: Help kids explore other roles and perspectives

• Teaching empathy tip #7: Show kids how to “make a face” while they try to imagine how someone else feels. Experiments show that simply “going through the motions” of making a facial expression can make us experience the associated emotion.

• Teaching empathy tip #8: Help kids develop a sense of morality that depends on internal self-control, not on rewards or punishments

• Teaching empathy tip #9: Teach (older) kids about mechanisms of moral disengagement

• Teaching empathy tip #10: Inspire good feelings (and boost oxytocin levels) through pleasant social interactions and physical affection

The Day After

As was the case at Wellesley college, the academic year had just begun and my schedule was already full. I had been on campus for about a week as a doctoral level practicum student at the Stone Center Counseling Service. I had an 8:30, 9:30, and 10:30 client scheduled.

I had gotten my first appointment of the day, sat down with her, and went about the business of doing therapy. I walked her to the office, scheduled her next appointment, and heard from the secretary that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that was sad, got my next client, and went back to the business of doing therapy. The thought of the plane crash was pushed far out of my mind. I repeated the previous process and walked my second patient to the office. I scheduled her appointment and said goodbye. Only then did I notice the ashen faces of those gathered in the office. "They are gone," she said. I asked "what is gone?". She said the buildings, the buildings are gone. I walked and got my 10:30 client and again put everything out of my mind.

It wasn't until 11:30, when I finally had a break, that my attention went back to the conversations held in the office and what meaning was held in those words.

That was nine years and one day ago. In some respects, and enormous amount of time has passed. Yet in other ways, the world has stayed exactly the same.

I was struck yesterday by a quote in the Boston Globe. A person protesting the Islamic Center that is to be built in a former Burlington Coat Factory Store carried a sign that said "It stops here" and "Never forgive, never forget, no WTC mosque."

Never forgive. Simple words really--simple words that are brimming over with unexpressed anger. Simple words that will forever prevent one protester, a country, and a world from moving forward. Without forgiveness, hate continues to reside in the heart. The day after never comes and one is forever trapped in a moment of pain and anguish.

The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget--Thomas Szaz

Why is this? The forgiving isn't for the other--it's for us. Once we find a way to release ourselves through forgiveness, we can continue move forward with our life rather than being trapped in the past. The past becomes a memory--in it's proper place. Without forgiveness, the past remains trapped in our present and it is never the day after.

The Sparrow and the Hawk

A couple of days ago Maggie and I were out walking and we encountered two hawks. The two of us must have spent an hour watching them dive, swoop, and otherwise go about their hawk-like business. What really captured my interest (a mixture of curiosity, horror, and awe) was when the hawk settled in high up on a telephone pole. 

First I noticed the chatter of other birds. Then I saw a sparrow. One lone sparrow came swooping in on the hawk, fluttering around, then flying away. This process repeated over and over for twenty minutes. Sometimes the bird would flutter in the air. Sometimes the bird would get so close I was fairly sure it was pecking the hawk. 

For the most part the hawk stood still. Finally the hawk caught a gust of rising warm air and soared away, high up into the air.

It got me thinking about a quote that I've posted on Facebook and tweeted about in recent weeks. When the Temple Grandin bio-pic first came out I stopped it at a particular point to write down a quote. At various times I've tweeted that quote and posted it on facebook. I got to thinking about this quote while I was watching the sparrow and the hawk

Nature is cruel, but we don't have to be. -- Temple Grandin

I like this quote. I like it because it serves as a reminder that we have choices about our actions. Watching the sparrow and hawk I realized Temple got this a little wrong (assuming it was Temple who said this and not a script writer).

We often imbue nature with person-like qualities. Nature as mother, for example--or nature as cruel sadist, as another example. Nature however isn't a person--it just is. Neither the sparrow or the hawk were engaged in the very human activity of cruelty. Neither were seeking to harm the other for pleasure, or engaged in behavior devoid of humane emotions. The hawk and sparrow were doing what hawks and sparrows do: the hawk was looking for food, the sparrow was trying to keep the flock from being food. I have no evidence to suggest that either animal has the capacity to make another choice.

We humans--well that's a different story. That's the part Temple got right. By the nature of our cognitive abilities we have been afforded a certain amount of choices. We can choose to be cruel. We can choose not to be. The choices we humans have available to us are seemingly endless. 

This choice can lead to such freedom. History is replete with examples of how easy it is for us to make choices that lead away from freedom.

What kind of choices are you making today?

Is Your Life Folding or Unfolding?

The other day I became fascinated by a comment that someone made in passing. They were talking about how a particular situation was unfolding. What fascinated me wasn't really about the content about what was unfolding (though, that was interesting too). I became transfixed by the image that appeared in my mind of a life unfolding and reveling itself from birth to death.

A nice image. Not anything particularly life-altering. This notion of a something unfolding is a pretty common figure of speech. A Google search of "unfolding experience" results in about 11,800 items. The first three search results:

• A blog entitled "The Unfolding Experience" that opens with this Kahil Gibran quote: "The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. 

• A book for sale entitled Homeopathic Education: The Unfolding of Experience

• A sample of the book "Becoming a Reflexive Practitioner" that says that "The narrative intends to capture the unfolding experience of working or journeying alongside a patient through their health-wellness experience. 

This still isn't what caught my interest. What really distracted me that hour--and for the last couple of weeks--is that generally we don't have lives that unfold. Overtime our lives become folded and compressed. Possibilities of what might be shrink. Our emotional ranges are limited. We become smaller rather than expansive. The world of opportunity that youth and innocence offer us becomes replaced by cynicism and regret.

Whoops.

This might not be the right direction to be moving in, no? I'm becoming much  more aware of how we use language that limits the possibility of what might be--and inviting those I work with to find ways to open their language up more and unfold into something larger. 

Try it out.

365 Days of Mindfulness

This summer I've been thinking about travel. Vacations are a wonderful opportunity to travel together with family and friends, share an experience, create common experiences that can last a lifetime, and deepen and nourish relationships. Vacations can be about learning something new (traveling to historic spots, visiting museums, or learning a new hobby) or about play (getting away from it all at the beach, unplugging from the electronic devices and sleeping under the open sky, or sitting under in a comfortable chair reading a good book).

Vacations can be long or short. They can be far or close to home. Sometimes a vacation might even take the form of a mini-mental vacation. In DBT, one set of skills that are taught are those that IMPROVE the  moment. Improve is an acronym, and the v is for a mini vacation.

Overwhelmed by feelings? At the end of your rope? Try taking a mini-vacation. Close your eyes, use your imagination to fantasize what an ideal peaceful place would be. Perhaps it's a beach, a mountain top, or your favorite comfortable chair. Whatever the case is, a few moments spent on a mini-vacation there helps us slow down and think before we react rather than reacting without thinking.

There is a place near where I live which is an ideal place for me to think about when I take a mini-mental vacation. The local reservoir is a generally peaceful place. Neighbors walk their dogs there. A group of dedicated men and women tend to an ever-growing butterfly garden. Despite being in the middle of an urban environment, birds flock, deer roam, and I can let the natural environment nourish and recharge me when I'm tired, crabby, or down.

I've decided a few days ago that I'm going to start a little project for myself. It's a cross between a mini-vacation, a mindfulness practice, and a photography project. Maggie and I generally go for a walk every morning. Rain or shine, cold or hot, we'll start our day with a few trips around the local reservoir. We've done this for a year now. It's been enjoyable for both of us. I've met lots of neighbors, learned all the local gossip, watched flowers blossom and wither, and seen the seasons change.

I got to thinking that it would be interesting to spend a moment in the same spot every day for a year. What would it be to stand and watch the seasons change? What would I learn from taking a moment to observe every day?

Off to the right I'm adding a slide show widget where I'll upload the pictures as I go along. It's apparently going to take awhile for the slideshow to work: I'm having a few technical difficulties here on Blogger. The images will all be as I see them: no photoshopping, cropping, or editing. In the meantime, while we are waiting for my difficulties to be solved, here is day one of the 365 Days of Mindfulness project. I took the image on July 12, 2010.

What do you notice as the images change? Perhaps you are inspired to do something similar. If you are, make a comment here or send me an e-mail and share what you discover.

The Techno-Psychologist

A few months back I was innocently opening a package of gum and noticed a fancy barcode that was in color and consisted of a variety of different colored triangles. I did a little research and discovered that Microsoft developed a tag system so businesses and other individuals could tag materials (places, products, etc.) with a readable barcode that could direct the individual to online information via their mobile phone. I thought that was kind of a cool idea.

I am running low on business cards and have been working on tweaking the design. I remembered the Microsoft tag and wondered about adding it to the back of the business cards. I'm still not sure about that. I however am sure that I have spent the better part of the last hour fooling around with different technologies.

This first tag, which uses Microsoft's technology, will provide you with my professional contact information. I could get carried away here and make different tags. One, for example, might direct the individual to this blog. Another could deliver a text message or email containing information that I might find helpful. 

The other service that people use are the more "standard" 3d black and white bar codes. These QR codes were invented in Japan in 1994 to assist with information being read at high speeds--particularly in the manufacturing industry. 

Here are a few examples of these codes. If you scan them they will direct your mobile phone to this blog, Maggie's blog, and Maggie's Facebook page. What do you think? Useful? Not useful? I find myself wishing that one tag or bar code could contain all this information.

Need a Break? 15 Minute Mindfulness Walk

The sun was out this morning and rather than run the errands that I've been meaning to run, I did something far more enjoyable: take Maggie for a walk. If you haven't noticed spring has arrived and everything is blooming. It makes for a great mindfulness walk.

Overwhelmed? Get up from your desk and go for a walk. Set an alarm for 15 minutes and focus your attention on counting how many different kinds of flowers you see in bloom. You could also just count the number of flowers you see (though I'd suggest a smaller amount of time, like 60 seconds). If a stray thought comes into your mind, just let it pass by and focus on counting flowers.

In 15 minutes I counted 23. Maggie got in on the action and tried to eat a particular variety of daffodil that I counted. I needed to interrupt my mindfulness practice to retrieve it from her mouth.

Here are four different kinds of flowers that I found. What did you find?

East Boston Camps

Apparently I'm developing a thing for abandoned and/or repurposed places. First I spend the better part of a morning researching the Varnum School. Now, after a long walk with Maggie, I'm interested in the old East Boston Camps in Westford Massachusetts.

The camps reside on 286 acres of land. The western portion of the camps is the Stony Brook River and the eastern portion is bordered by Keyes Brook. The middle of the camps is Burge's Pond. There is a lot of different wildlife and plants: birds and mammals, wildflowers and towering pine trees. I was there once last summer: the mosquitos are something fierce.

The camps were founded in 1937, funded by Isabel and Sarah Hyams. Their brother, Godfrey Hyams, grew up in Boston and attended Harvard. He was a metallurgist, engineer and financier. His career included the development of the Anaconda Mining Company and the Virginia Railway. Active in social work in Boston, the sisters used money that they had from a charitable trust their brother had set up.

The sisters founded the camp to provider inner-city children a "Fresh Air Camp" which was something popular in the 1930s when tuberculosis was particularly deadly. Interested a a more complete history? Check out this PDF file.

The camps are now a public area to be enjoyed by residents of Westford as well as those from surrounding communities.  The East Boston Social Centers are still in existence, though no longer offering "Fresh Air Camps." You can check them out on the web here.

What a great re-use of land.

Gone adventuring yourself? Find anything interesting? It's a great way to engage in some distress tolerance skills. A long walk spent thinking about the place + time spent at home researching your discovery = time well spent engaged in a productive, healthy activity. Try it, especially when you are focused on something negative, stressful, or painful.

Nostalgia Workout

Now here is a workout that you probably won't be able to get at your local gym: a nostalgia workout. A recent BBC News article said that "nostalgia can give meaning to our seemingly dull lives."

Why do we care about our first car, kiss, or visit to the ocean? Some psychologists have pointed out that we care because nostalgia makes us feel good. Once considered a sickness (the word comes from the Greek "nostos"--return--and "algos" --pain). Modern day researchers have found that remembering past times improves mood, increases self-esteem, strengthens social bonds, and imbues life with meaning. 

"Nostalgia," says a researcher from London, "is a way for us to tap into the past experiences that we have that are quite meaningful--to remind us that our lives are worthwhile, that we are people of value, that we have good relationships, that we are happy and that life has some sense of purpose or meaning." 

A lot of times clients come to me with painful nostalgia. Negative feelings from the past--perhaps times they were bullied, painful relationships, or abandonment by others. This isn't the nostalgia I'm writing about here. This nostalgia is about positive life changing experiences.

Here's the workout. Routledge, the researcher from England, says that people who practice this Nostalgia workout for five minutes a day have a significant increase in psychological well-being, feel more alive and energetic, and see there life as more worthwhile.

So, rather than practicing negative nostalgia today, how about trying a different practice?

• list cherished memories
• find photos or mementos from happy times
• close your eyes and think about what is outside the "picture frame" to conjure subtle details
• reminiscing with people from your past strengthens relationships
• take mental snapshots and save mementos of happy times for future nostalgia