One moment of unsolicited advice from a doctor: Do not use deodorant products with aluminum, and the doctor claimed all brands use aluminum, except some have offered one natural deodorant product to satisfy the market. The doctor reminds us that our skin is the largest organ and he couldnt see any benefit to having it absorb aluminum.
In the November 24th issue of Financial Week on page 9 is an article titled Change we cant believe in. As the opinion in the article states, its anything but comforting to see some of the familiar faces on President-elect Obamas economic team. The nation may not recover for a long time because the confidence of the people in government leadership is severely lacking. The article reviews the potential conflict of interest and it does appear that due to the history of the economic team members it would be better to select a new team that has a proven background in competency and integrity. The article states, “We are in a crisis of confidence in American capitalism. These arent the right people to re-instill its sense of honor. Many of them should be getting subpoenas as material witnesses right about now ”What I would add is that the greatest threat facing the nation is the greed, carelessness, and corruption of our own system. Things didnt get worse by chance, anything significantly damaging could have been prevented, but when officials and the economic elite serve themselves rather than the people there must be a counterbalance to aid the public. The nation could easily recover if you put what may be roughly five thousand people in prison. Who are those people? Those responsible for fraud, negligence, and corruption, which includes lawyers, businessmen and elected officials, and while five thousand people is just a guess, its enough to immediately restore national and global confidence. But since leadership is lacking, no one has the guts to do it.
The beauty of Buddhism is being repackaged and sold. Yes, it takes practice to stay in the moment of now to experience life and heal ourselves, but there is no substitute for practice, and buying books and audio material isnt going to get you further along on the path. The sellers offer is that with his personal guidance, you will learn how to break free from the illusion of separation from the outside world, and how to work with the accumulation of past suffering and remove its grip (and much more as the sales pitch goes). Ill give you the secret, and it can be found in much better works (it can be found in books that are fifty years old or older), and that secret is: The feeling of separation is the source of anxiety in life. How have great literary works and teachers/students of existence answered the concept of separation? Love but not love in the modern or popular sense; love as a state of giving to others, without limiting itself to those we know and like – love for all. Wherever this active form of love is, separation disappears or lessens. And as for dealing with the accumulation of suffering, that is nothing more than accepting that life offers us it, and so is a natural part of existence, while false suffering are the burdens that we place on ourselves that do not actually exist, other than the weight we give them in our mind. An interesting example of the futility of enhancing our presence and the joy of unraveling the simple act of being is found in the No Expert book.
The premise of the work, citing examples of Silicon Valley pioneers, is that wealth emanated from more than their extraordinary talent, it occurred due to the right opportunities at exactly the right time. I call that luck, that tells the greatest stories, and sociologists have written and spoken about this before, and anybody that understands statistics will relegate huge success to the bell curve and rightly so. But the idea presented in the book that achievement at a high level is due to attitude over aptitude is incomplete high achievers are at the end of the bell curve because they dont follow conventional wisdom, nor do they strive to be normal because realistic people do not accomplish extraordinary things. If you like that idea, the best book to read is Overachievement. Outliers simply insists that cultural heritage, timing, persistence, and setting sights on the main chance are the determinants for success, which is fine, but lacks the punch to outright say that there is very little one can do, if anything, to manifest the kind of success that people wish for. Although some intelligence is necessary, beyond a certain level intellect doesnt matter. What does make a difference is the 10,000 hours of practice it takes to get to the top in any field. If you believe 10,000 hours of practice is required to become one of the best in any field, at four hours a day of practice it will take almost seven years, and for those folks that can only devote two hours per day it will take almost fourteen years! That itself is the reason why it is almost impossible for people to achieve their great wishes of success, but even so, the book misses again because mastery doesnt necessarily trump luck, and knowing when you must cash out. The ability to sell an idea is more closely linked to wealth than the ability to generate a promising idea.
Although consumer choice has expanded greatly, marketers do not know much about why we buy. And neither do most consumers. Consumers can make decisions within two seconds, so the author conducted an experiment of scanning the brains of over two thousand people from five countries and found that buyers deceive themselves about their true motives. The author stated that rituals help form emotional connections to products better than logos do. I say: We cannot avoid the lies we tell ourselves, its only when we understand these lies can marketers become more effective.
***Update December 26th***In the article “The way the brain buys” from the December 20th issue of the Economist there is discussion of dwell time, the longer people stay in a store the more likely they will be to buy, the influence of the scent of freshly baked bread, which makes people feel hungry and encourages people to buy food, and the use of multi-sensory marketing (its still just marketing to me such labels!) to evoke subconscious forces, involving emotion and memories that may lead to increased purchases. Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans the brain for activity and when consumers are shown products or brands it may help identify positive associations and aid in determining a winning product. The article states: This is immensely valuable information because eight out of ten new consumer products usually fail, despite test marketing on people who say they would buy the item but whose subconscious may have been thinking something different. Retailers and producers alike talk a lot about the “moment of truth”, the point when people standing in the aisle decide what to buy and reach for it.
Research Buying a gift for a person within that persons field of expertise must be done carefully, read product reviews, get expert opinions from those similar to the recipient, or just ask the person what they would like.
Presentation Put up a banner. Put a message on the cake. Design a covering for a bottle of wine. Make your own card. Your creativity will make the gift more memorable.
The trip Give the gift of an experience, it could be a shared experience, or made for and to be enjoyed by the recipient alone. This is my favorite because it will be memorable for years of enjoyment, may bring the gift giver and recipient closer if it is a shared trip, and the gift itself doesnt take up any space. I got tired of years of giving mom something that she would just put on a shelf and never use.
The Joy of Now, an article in the November/December issue of Psychology Today, pg. 64 advocated six happiness practices:
1. To improve your performance, stop thinking about it (unselfconsciousness).
2. To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present (savoring).
3. If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present (breathe).
To make the most of time, lose track of it (flow).
If something is bothering you, move toward it rather than away from it (acceptance).
Know that you dont know (engagement).
I wouldnt normally consider Psychology Today for meaningful advice but I showed a friend the article and he said it helped (he was undergoing a stressful experience he still is, so perhaps the article itself didnt really help) but it really just illustrates a form of Buddhism or Taoism without mentioning religion. Mindfulness is the only intentional activity that is not about trying to improve or get anywhere else. The article did bring up an interesting approach: If you notice your mind wandering, bring yourself back by saying to yourself, “Now. Now. Now.” (Great idea Im already writing an experimental film on it)
The how of happiness can be simplified: most negative thoughts concern the past or the future; if you could savor any experience in the now it alleviates potential for depression and anxiety. Perhaps the only thing one can do at times is focus on breathing, not in an automatic sense of function, but as a series of deep breaths to break the bonds with anxiety and simplify to the moment of now. In many cases, negative feelings and situations cannot be avoided (and resisting them increases the discomfort), so simply being able to see these emotions pulling on you for attention and accept that the experience of loss is natural, attachments can produce disturbances and thoughts are just thoughts may help you accept the experience rather than involve yourself in a mental struggle. It is possible after hearing out disturbing emotions and thoughts to disbelieve them and refuse their pronouncements about what to do in the situation. The most important thing missing from the article is the concept of life itself and where undeniable strain originates but youd need to understand the power of love as a lifelong approach of practice.
***Update***
The Happiness Effect. How emotions and even behaviors can spread like an epidemic is an article that appeared in Time magazine, December 22, 2008, pg. 40. The article isnt of much value, and claims that a 20-year study showed that emotions can pass among a network of people up to three degrees of separation away, so your joy may be determined by how cheerful your friends friends friends are, even if some of the people in this chain are total strangers to you. (Im going to add that to the experimental film, although it may not be a strong link, it poses an interesting concept about a how a person fits into a larger social network) From a practical standpoint, identifying happiness levels are irrelevant, since the concept or experience of happiness is ephemeral and without suffering and stress, there cannot be the same sense of strong relief.
What are you doing the rest of your life? Without an adequate answer to this question we seem to experience difficulty waking up, although for most people it can be determined want they want or seek: perfect health, an abundance of financial resources and loving relationships. This isnt a purpose that provides meaning to our existence, and the concept of seeking happiness isnt enough. What makes living worthwhile? I can find only one answer: Love, and by that I mean an active state of giving, not to a few special people but to all individuals. So, if those seeking purpose in life follow their talents and skills, their social expectations, their egos, or even their happiness, there can still be a void. The concept of bliss, moments of aliveness that transcend financial concerns and feelings of need, perhaps can be unlocked in the process of being loving on multiple levels of family, brotherly love for all and romantic love.