First Blog

Back To Basics

My first blog ... Here goes nothing ...

This We Know

This we know. We exist.

We think, feel and live.

Some Are still Asking

We have so many questions that need answers. We have so many strange feelings. Now that ... many others are still working on.

We search for our identity. We are humans surrounded by the energy of nature's planets and stars, plants and animals .

We try to find our purpose and meaning. We are discovering bigger and bigger units of things or matter as well as its smaller and smaller units. We partially feel the unseen energies and laws.

We are different from each other yet we are a family.

The moment we distance ourselves from anyone, we begin to see imbalance, chaos, death and destruction.

The apparent distance creates the differences and opposing qualities. We cling to pleasure and detach from pain. We try to escape loneliness through isolation and tend to destroy pain ... unconsciously using pain. We even isolate, repel or push away anything that causes pain... Never realizing that pain is a friend that signals learning and maintains balance.

But again we are certain that we think, feel and live throughout our lives.

We Need Each Other

Living involves dynamic processes. Like we may need to breath. We take in something then we release another  thing out. We transform and create with each other. We need each other. We need teamwork and cooperation to survive.  Yet many do not walk the talk.

We need sustainability in things that we see or not. To live, we need food that we see and ideas we do not see among many others.

Hindsight

The person with good hindsight must have mastered being a keen observer and the other attention skills discussed in the blog. Unfortunately just a  few of which has entered my limited attention at the moment. The person must learn how to use or apply presently existing resources and/or past experiences to improve methods and other systems to work around similar or new problems.

Infants and young children must learn many other alternative uses of everyday things. Play games with your child to illustrate this. With a simple stick for example, show her its many possible uses. Show her different but similar-appearing objects that may be used in the same way.

Adolescents must become interested in findings more efficient ways of solving problems or of implementing projects. He must dig deep into his past experiences or the experiences of others and use what works. Rise above the fear of discussing your failures, discuss and try to understand the reasons or causes of failure and how to avoid them. Maybe put this into a game where different teams will try to solve a similar problem as different groups who will race to brainstorm and take advantage of each members experiences. Discuss how the winning team got the upper hand.

When confronted by a problem not solved by the usual available methods, adults must learn to leverage from past experiences or experiment with new ideas.  We must have enough contingencies as well as enough awareness to work around every obstacles we encounter that keeps us from reaching our goal. We must embrace error and failures as necessary components to learning. If we have to, we must fail our way to success. Once success is obtained, you may want to make some effort to understand why the chosen method/strategy worked. And exploration as to other possible future applications of the same utilized method may be undertaken. If only people use this everyday, we would notice more and more people learn genuinely and less people will believe that common sense is not common nowadays. Let us bring common sense back to our work places. Do you agree? Start with your kid. Spend quality simple and productive time with them. They will learn faster than us adults. In fact we could teach better than we could learn because of our bad habits that would get in the way. Our kids do not have those bad habits. It is our kids who will be able to solve the mess we leave them in this crazy world of ours.

Evaluation

I have discussed in moderate detail a few of several faces of attention control that included bias, option filter, foresight, hindsight among other things. Again whether you realize it or not, these attention control skills are actually products of Values such as Love. They are the things that successful people develop and use to make their lives wonderful. A lot of these successful people however do not have the skill to identify these details and link them to how they become what they are. Successful people are usually here to DO stuff rather than TEACH stuff. They parrot the catch phrases "positive thinking", "Love is Love", etc  but could not explain what it is they mean by all that in more and more detail. While they do what they do best, other less successful people see the benefits but are not fully aware of how those other people  do it. These attention controls can help everyone communicate. I could help partly by pointing to this fact. I do not have the necessary teaching skills myself but hopefully others who would pick up on what I say so they can either use it in their lives or teach it to others in better ways.

Aside from the other skills discussed, we must learn to master evaluation if we want to improve ourselves or our organization(s). It will help us decide if we did a good job or not or if the solutions we implemented are appropriate or not. Good periodic evaluation or assessment skills will help us accomplish what must be done.

Learn to how to evaluate projects. Learn how to quantify gains or losses. Learn how to gauge if the chosen solution was effective in answering any obstacle that was identified. Know what parameters to examine or monitor. You would have to identify the parameter to measure or quantify or count yourself. And you would have to find a way to count it periodically to monitor your progress. Without it, you might miss your goals or preferred outcome or dream. Without good evaluation skills, you can hardly keep yourself on track because you are again not paying careful attention. Perhaps you are not that serious in the pure longings of your heart. Do not let complacency again derail you. Get more serious in getting your wants, needs and purpose all aligned.

Infants must attain object permanence. He must learn to recognize his parents soon. He must learn to feel if he is facing danger. Pain assessment must be appropriate. Must be able to count or tell if something is big or small, high or low, light or dark, fast or slow. Play games that can teach all or some of these.

Adolescent must know what things, ideas, concepts can be beneficial for him or not. He must be able to evaluate which contemporary or adult has more influence which he can tap to his advantage. He must be able to identify which friends are good for him and which are not. Complementary traits as well as similar traits may work for him as he masters the intricacies of social life.

Play pattern recognition and error detection games. Indulge in periodic self evaluation and peer evaluation activities. Ask the kids what areas they would rather be  evaluated for.

Adults must know how they are doing and how they can improve himself or his organization under many situations. We must re-learn what and how to count (we must also count the intangible stuff for these are Real Assets as well)  and how often we should count (maybe at least three times before the project/stage ends) to gauge our progress. Many of us can not even use our talent in counting to know how much we are spending on basic necessities every month. We can not tell how much we are spending on things that can wait. Those things that are not necessary for a full life we have been describing in each and every posted blog message here. No one has really ever taught us how to count those so we can re-align our goals and re-direct our trajectory through the path of Life full of Love.

Adults must determine possible parameters to quantify that can be used as basis to measure performance. If we Love something so much, we will know what we need to know about this.

We must make regular rapid and accurate assessments of available resources within our disposal. If we Love to get something, we will not surrender. We will have to stand up every time we fall short of our expectations.

Evaluations may help signal if we need to re-adjust our goals and strategies. It can tell us if we need new resources or newer strategies, preview better and more realistic goals or boost our hindsight to discover what is more achievable. Learning to minimize errors are not a daily concern of complacent people. Detect and try to correct your errors using better ways. Teach yourselves to make more sound judgments.

Problem-Solution Filter

This is one of the most commonly encountered stumbling blocks. There is unrecognized abundance of solutions to every type of problem imagined. The real task is not finding a solution from scarcity but finding the best solution(s) from a seemingly unlimited choice deeply seated within us. Remember that any problem and their appropriate answers have been in us all this time. We do not act alone but we act as a collective unit. More heads are better than one on condition that they all have the appropriate tools and have the proper mindset.

Since a given problem can be solved in so many different ways, we can start by listing as many solutions as we can think of. Try to find out if you'll use one solution or a combination of solutions.

Never jump in and use the first thing that comes to your mind with very few exceptions such as emergencies. Anyway, our response to such scenarios have actually been anticipated and already studied before it ever happens. Thus even emergency situations are confronted with solutions that have been well thought of in advance.

Among the growing list, take note of the most obvious solution to your problem and place it aside. The brainstorming group must try to understand the problematic thing or process in question and theoretically divide the process into about three stages- if that is possible. I call this as simple deconstruction phase. Study each process and find parallel occurrences from nature or from everyday life. Play around the currently accepted concepts and list any ideas that may be placed on the table regardless if it sounds so absurd at that moment. We can find parallel ideas from nature, we can oppose, or we can exaggerate the ideas and see what will come of it. I call that phase as simple brainsuperstorming phase. Attempt to integrate the seemingly absurd ideas with the specific problematic process under scrutiny/study. I call this phase as simple integration. If you are very interested to understand this by taking an example to illustrate how it is done, write a comment and identify a problem (I will not guarantee that we will be able to solve the problem, but I can guarantee one of the best experience in problem solving you may have yet encountered).

Summarize any potential solution that may come out. Discuss what you think about it, what you feel about it and what you believe should be taken into consideration.

Discuss potential obstacles by checking what is currently available. Then shift the group's focus to determine the solution's doability or feasibility also by checking what is currently available.

Repeat the above process by picking a few more ideas from your solution list with apparent potential.

Be decisive and choose the best option for serious implementation.

Expose the infant early to the concept that there are many solutions to one problem through simple games. Expose to sounds and color of nature.

Do the same for the older child. Let her understand how nature has arranged the dynamics, behavior and structure of living and non living things to maintain harmony. Let her develop a good sense of humor which may be of great help in advanced  problem solving. Talk with her about the obstacles that he encounters. Let her solve the problem herself if she has the motivation. You may demonstrate how it is done initially but be careful not to over do it such that she becomes dependent on you every time she faces a problem.

Adolescence is a time when higher centers of the brain are actively developing. Let her always take time out before implementing an obvious solution. Let her think of the many other possible alternatives and choose what is best by elimination of the weaker solutions. Demonstrate how she can deconstruct, brainsuperstorm and integrate ideas and form solutions. Initially move at the same pace with her slow development but later add speed and urgency as she enters adulthood.

For adults, do the same. Let them learn about critical or analytical thinking, lateral thinking and creative thinking. It is not a one-man show so it is not bad idea to get help in finding alternative solutions to problems. Life is not an exam or test where people should not collaborate on the best answers to question. Work in a group and actively participate in problem solving activities. Merge your minds and move as a unit at one time building ideas or at another time quality testing them. Grab every opportunity by practicing at work or in your extracurricular activities. But be ready to develop the capacity to orchestrate the problem solving activity as leader or moderator in a group. Be serious in taking advantage of such opportunities to learn since you will need it in the future where you may need to put up your own projects. Impulsive problem solving habits are hard to break in the adult, so prepare those fancy tools such as your thoughts and concepts (icons or images), feelings, beliefs, Values, etc.

We therefore should not spring to action impulsively. We need to think and feel with our Hearts, choose the best solution before we shift into ACTION.

ADDENDUM:
As an example of the brainstorming process I described above, I picked the simple example of an ordinary tool we use on the office table-the paper staple remover. A few days ago, I tried to again demonstrate how Superbrainstorming or Creative thinking or Conceptual thinking or Lateral thinking produces solutions. We all know that sometimes the staples are hard to remove and sometimes they can injure skin when not careful. In 10 minutes, I was successful in try to come up with alternative futuristic solutions to this simple gadget by just going through the process I described above. Highlight of the result was that we have a choice not to settle with the old clamping device. I was able to find doable alternatives as simple as using sticky material in the corners of papers (which is almost in existence in the form of sticky pads) to the more elaborate concepts of producing papers with corner cut out slit-like designs that will allow easy attachment and detachment using twisting or sliding motions on the paper edge to more high-tech alternatives of mixing very thin magnetic materials in the corner or edges of papers that will allow the same maneuver even without touching the papers. So this concept will then be forwarded to designers and engineers. There is more of those ideas waiting for minds that are ready to understand how superbrainstorming works.

Foresight

"among the many animals in Nature, Man is among the few given the natural skill to foresee or project into the future using our highly evolved brains."

After discussing Perspectives, let us discuss foresight- another seemingly ordinary word. But among the many animals in Nature, Man is among the few given the natural skill to foresee or project into the future using our highly evolved brains. We may call this ability as foresight. It is related to dreams plus a little help from our experiences with the causal relationships of situations, events or  phenomena in nature. If you are filled with living Hope, you can actually make that dream or carefully calculated foresight become reality.

 Hope is Living and it requires action!

Many of us feel hopeless because we never taught ourselves about true Hope. We are usually exposed or surrounded by people who lost Hope. Hope is a product of the Heart especially the kind of Heart that wants to make things better. The person who has real Hope forms his ideas in thought form. Breathes positive emotions into the idea and transforms it into Images. Images may symbolize a detailed plan(s). Plans can be transformed into action. This plan starts with dreams and foresight. It requires subsequent brainstorming for many alternative solutions, prioritization and identifying best methods to implement, resource collection, scheduling, evaluation and innovation which will be individually discussed. If these are not part of your daily activities yet, that is probably the reason why you feel you can't accomplish anything.

Do not let anyone rob you of your ability to Hope and foresee an image or abstract idea you want to concretely experience in the future.  Develop your fioresight and your other related skills to make plans and dreams come true.

Let infants, children, adolescents dream, guide them to the next first few steps to realize that dream in their lifetime. Let them be in charge of their attention controls as they grow into school age. Guide them through the next stages of Attention control which I consider as precursor skills to eventually  become competencies that will create global accomplishments.

But be reminded that accomplishments are not required to be competent. Certificates of accomplishments only mark that you have Competence. As long as you hold on to your dream and as long as you try everyday to move closer to it no matter what the pace, you are fine and well. Hope is dynamic. It is more alive than a passive wish. Hope acts to make your Dream come true.

Adults must lead people to better and better lives. Adults must learn to connect foresight or previewing abilities along with the other attention control abilities with Hope. Those other essential abilities are discussed later.

Time Allocation Control

We really never had any similar occasion in history where people enjoy spending a lot of hours with their addictions. It was different when early humans spent time out with Nature. At least the natural messenger was benevolent. Mother Nature's interest has always been to teach us to live in harmony with the rest of Creation. Nowadays, our attention (hours and hours and hours of it)  are captured for longer and longer periods of time by a questionable influence that have interests far different from our individual interests. This is done though our current high technology media that markets the ideas of a few people. We have been buying all their popular ideas.

So what can we do about it?

For infants, go back to basics and start with numbers.

For young children, introduce time telling and time management in terms of establishing schedules for school, homework, play, meals, sleep, etc. Present time and tasks in list or table format. If you have to use hi-tech media, make sure you provide more time on learning Values, good relationships, academic education, games and entertainment in decreasing if not equal amounts.

For adults, re-learn how you can use simple counting to work for your welfare. Adults must become completely and totally aware of how much they spend each day for sleeping, resting their eyes and minds during work, time working for another person, time working to pay government taxes, time working on your own projects if you have any, time working on your physical health.  It may be time to re-balance your schedule. Reset the time schedule to make it work for you if really necessary. I understand that it  will be a little tricky at first. But you may do the re scheduling now and delay the implementation when it is more feasible. It is better late than never. Your own lives really depend on it!

Expect that no one else might do this for you except you. So it's about time to teach your brain some simple time allocation skills. If you think your brain is not naturally wired for it, then recruit more brain cells to make it possible. Your adult brain still has the property of neuroplasticity or malleability. Use a journal if you must. Time to get organized. Do it at work or in your extracurricular activities. Be serious of taking advantage of such opportunities for you will need it in the future where you may need to put up your own projects.

Focus

"Sharply focused adults may be effective in doing the job fast and efficiently. It may also be a trap by itself keeping the person inside a boring non dynamic scene. However, the roaming thinkers may provide out of the box and creative ideas that may be overlooked by the other group. They both need each other. But of course, the person who is able to master both kinds of minds may be in a better position to work under any circumstance and with any kind of partner available at that instant. This balanced kind of person may be the  type that may notice that a huge part of the human family is suffering, can temporarily put his personal interest on hold, understand the problems, contribute to the solutions by alerting other busy people to work on those ignored global problems."

With poor control of the roaming mind, a person's thoughts tend to wander into other things not so related to the topic at hand. There may even be too many external distractions. If there are no distractions and this still happens. It is either that individual really needs to rest or sleep to help re-organize his thoughts or he has a serious attention deficit.

In contrast a mind that is extremely focused can almost never be distracted.

We can help the normal child by giving them subtle cues to return to the topic or maybe ask the same question in a different way that his type of mind can understand. Some kids will understand abstract concepts if you use pictures to illustrate what is being discussed. The kinetic type of thinker probably would understand ideas if it is demonstrated with their physical involvement. Get her or someone in front of the class to demonstrate the idea. Games such as "Charades" may be helpful. Highlighting methods may help. Teach the kid a simple gesture of maybe temporarily using her hands (only when needed and highly distracted) to cover the sides of her vision to help her redirect focus while paying attention. Closing windows and doors to avoid distracting lights and sounds may also do the trick if really necessary. A spot light in a dark room could really help direct anyone's attention.  Use positive reinforcements. You may use short and consistent or regular schedules. Minimize time with the television for entertainment but go watch if those are educational programs.

Stages and screens are like windows. Make sure you are only looking out those windows if your attention in the real world is not needed at that moment. Your focus may not roam within the day, but it may roam around within the span of years. So you can also be gradually distracted especially if you do not have long term goals or deep foresight. Foresight is also discussed somewhere in the blog.

Do the same for older children and adults. Do not allow your thoughts and attention to roam back to dwell on your enslaving biases and addictions.

Sharply focused adults may be effective in doing the job fast and efficiently. It may also be a trap by itself keeping the person inside a boring non dynamic scene. However, the roaming thinkers may provide out of the box and creative ideas that may be overlooked by the other group. They both need each other. But of course, the person who is able to master both kinds of minds may be in a better position to work under any circumstance and with any kind of partner available at that instant. This balanced kind of person may be the  type that may notice that a huge part of the human family is suffering, can temporarily put his personal interest on hold, understand the problems, contribute to the solutions by alerting other busy people to work on those ignored global problems. Once the attentions of ordinary people are directed to where they should be, then we can prioritize and work on one problem at a time collectively while making sure that all the possible solutions are considered and implemented as necessary until the problem is contained. If we can do that as a specie, then we are well on our way to humanity's bold and bright future. Maybe there is also a way to change our limited focus to a near 360 degree type of situational awareness. If that is too much, then maybe at least the examples for activities for the child mentioned above may be a good starting point. Regardless we are always open to brighter ideas.