http://Zo.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/241525
Who is Phil Hansen? It is hard to explain and fathom, as in the wide field of the art anything and anyone can go as the art and artist today, but here we see a man with the vision that is grasping far and wide into the world of human explorations and see how is he becoming (from one episode of creation to the other) a “vision accomplished” hero: a man with the artist’s eye and hand ready to follow and deliver the rules of any newly created games, however bizarre or touching, hard or intelligent, hilarious or even silly they may appear. Someone commented how seeing him playing with the Rubik’s cube would be interesting to imagine. Surely, this artist is the one who knows how to turn visions from his rich imagination into artistic reality using system of creating and performing his creative games and filling into his own rules of each of them the tissue of the nature, thoughts, feelings, imagination, objects and technologies that are at hand or somewhere around the corner. Each game has its story, and the story is visually recorded, and shared accompanied with the music so good that it hardly can be neglected. This is also a tribute to all who are being happy to play this way and leave a record or a note to the global audience of inquiring minds so to speak.

One of the most important things for me was his ability for fruitful and totally unpretentious collaboration inside and outside the “institutional frames” of what are is and isn't and where its place can be, making the most out of what is given at present in this confusingly abundant world of all rules made to keep us inside strict borders. This artist is crossing these borders and going through the walls of convention (and institutional art) with an ease of a good ghost Casper or imagination of a child that is not making any notice of any borders, dissolving them all in his play except the frame of his own game, but also with mastery of the experienced wizard of pointillism, where we always stay amazed both by the process and artistic vision embodied in the final outcome.

Phil Hansen, we may say is born to be a great painter and he is that all over his body, spirit and mind and he dares to display it by painting with his arms and hands and elbows and feet and also demonstrating to us his thought process and shows us by recording steps of his work how we may feel friendly with our (mostly alienated, trivial, boring or scary) environment playing with the fragments of it, be that pinecones, sand, x-rays and machines that devour all artistic effort into the pieces of grinded trash or be that our own prejudices or images of famous celebrities and political figures and what impact they can have on our mind.

His artistic endeavor and message of his art may seem so touchingly caring, so universally deep and personally moving, but also, for some it can be unbelievably light and playful, spontaneous and easy, cool and seemingly superficial like the finest wrap of invisible irony, as you like it. So take it as you like, if you purchase his paintings you will surely contribute by that gesture to the humanitarian cause, if you observe that idea of being attributed to some cause having a big picture on your mind, you are facing the area of your own freedom and facing the fact how mind liberation is each moment of human life, or life of civilization triggered with the great works of art that are simply born around us.

Some ideas for the exploration of that kind could be: deserts and oceans, words and verses, streets and cities, human and animal’s eyes, and many more that come to mind thanks to this artist whose work we'd spontaneously like to follow sometimes like a child going after the circus leaving the town and sometimes like a serious art connoisseur who wonders about the future of the art and the role of the artist in the world today, putting everything under the magnifying glass.

In the end, without wishing to put his work into any categories and so much refreshed by the overwhelming experience of meeting his art recorded the way (I must compliment too) I wish to give to Phil Hansen, the artist of the boundless imagination, restless spirit, inspiring vision and hardworking limbs a truly big hand!

*
See his art at http://www.philinthecircle.com
More about his art at POTW article http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/23115/strokes-of-genius
Type Phil Hansen in Youtube.com to see his videos

]]> Mon, 13 Aug 2007 13:09:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/241525 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/166691
When the Royal Opera House in London presented Thomas Adès's The Tempest in 2004, it was one of the most successful world premieres of an opera in years. The entire run sold out; the reviews ranged from respectful and encouraging (at their worst) to downright thrilled; audience reaction was ecstatic. Now the Royal Opera is presenting a revival of The Tempest.

The Tempest's encore run opened on Monday night (March 12); there are further performances tomorrow evening and on March 17, 20, 23 and 26. Details are available at www.royaloperahouse.org.
www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6160.html

* * *

No reading of The Tempest can do it justice: Shakespeare's tale of Prospero's Island is inherently theatrical, unfolding in a series of spectacles that involve exotic, supra-human, and sometimes invisible characters that the audience can see but other characters cannot. The play was composed by Shakespeare as a multi-sensory theater experience, with sound, and especially music, used to complement the sights of the play, and all of it interwoven by the author with lyrical textual passages that overflow with exotic images, trifling sounds, and a palpable lushness.

The richness of The Tempest as theater is matched by the extraordinary thematic complexity of its text. Recognizing that all of the themes and accompanying figurative strands of the play cannot be discussed here, the play's topical highlights can still be approached by first noting the salience of two themes that arise from the very theatricality of the play: the opposition between reality and illusion and the tandem subject of the theater itself. The play challenges our senses and is self-consciously a performance orchestrated by Shakespeare's effigy in the master illusionist Prospero. There are, in addition, numerous interpenetrating polarities in the play, most notably between nature and civilization or Art. These thematic strands come together at multiple points of intersection.

Nevertheless, from one angle on the text, The Tempest asks a single question, one that Shakespeare had posed in many and divers of his other plays: What is a human being? (or, in Elizabethan terms: What is man?)

http://www.enotes.com/tempest/

]]> Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:10:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/166691 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/66137
In a nutshell everyone can say that it is about having a vision and finding the best way of its accomplishment. But the process doesn't stop there. Even more important part is sharing it with the others and enjoying benefits of exchange, becoming through it a true leader, moving the others to the course of becoming aware of their own value and potentials and following their path to self-actualization and success.

If you wish to see young entrepreneurs that might inspire your work take a look at:
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/bestunder25/source/27.htm

Sheena Lindahl and Michael Simmons from Extreme Entrepreneurship Education Corporation are my pick for no other reason of many said about them than this: I believe that the main issue of "How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Prosperity" is the eternal search of humankind. And that is exactly the titleline of their Student's Success Manifesto.

http://successmanifesto.com

]]> Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:54:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/66137 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/42782
What is it that holds the relationships between people, friends, partners, men and women, thousands of them? Why is there often a feeling that someone is "using" the other, or at the best that they are "equally using each other" for their interests? Something similar can happen with friendships. The connection becomes the line of exchange and then it broaden, but in most cases it becomes the highway or a railway with so huge traffic on it that the noise is making you leave, loosing the point of what was it for at the first place, and search for the "greener pastures" as we say But the question is why and have we wasted all grass like that already?

Harmony with nature, what is more natural for any being than to achieve that? But at the same time what is more missing in our culture than that? Harmony with true human nature is subject of cultural diversity of the ways how life should be lived. And sometimes some values or false values seem to stand in opposition. Why so, when all the values of each culture are there to support one value, core value, that is human Life? Survival and growth.

Doesn't that value imply the pact of nonviolence with the cause, not because we fear something might happen to us too, but for the good cause? To support Life. To make foundation for the future that is to come. Why do we mostly fear of future when it is the best thing we have, and maybe the only thing we might have - the future ahead? Why do we tend to contaminate everything with our doubts and fears of the past? Why in the end we come to the point of doubt in the primary value - human life?

Imagine a field where two people or many people meet, and stroll together and after some time they build a path and then they can still rest by it, or cultivate their garden together, spreading it, making new paths... having some sense in caring and following what's going on, but then one day you open your eyes and see that there's just too much of wasted ground under your feet. What has happened to the garden?

If too many people come to that place it is more likely that they will not contribute but on the contrary, the whole field will look like a stadium after the football match, the grass wasted after the concert in the open air. What has happened? Too much emotions? Or too much of neglecting the true sense or the meaning of that gathering. If it was just to pass some time, the time will pass after and the ground will heal, it will be ready for the new gardeners.

The same way people are building and destroying their culture and civilizations that have collapsed were overstepped by the feet of those who are numerous, uncaring, ignorant or just too impatient to wait and see, those who want everything and want that now, those who haven't felt that responsibility for building something that is in their hands, along the timeline, during their life time and to be continued afterwards.

The repression from one hand is making the release of uncontrolled energy from the other side. Who is setting up and who is following the rules? Can we say that we can commit and from that from there we feel we are getting the power, not the power of the other one nor even the power of God, which is omnipresent, but feel the power of that commitment made to each other and to our selves, for if we, humans are not being of commitment we still may be any of the animals that struggle to survive. Commitment vs. survival? No, but the commitment as a form of survival of humanity.

Who can commit to something that he or she will do like that no matter what? If the faith is backboned with commitment and the commitment backed up with faith, there is no stronger bond. At the same time it is not enough to have a will, nor passion only, nor talent nor desire only, the plan or thought, The commitment is the action of a whole being, and it should be learned. Maybe the highest wisdom and the highest art is knowing how to commit to something and in doing so realizing yourself as a human being? Whatever it may happen to be.

Sometimes our best commitment is made to the unknown, to the future and unpredictability, to life as we may grasp its meaning and value, and produce a new quality of truth out of it. Thus we sometimes might not know or fully articulate our true commitment because it is not just what we said by words. Nor even deeds. It spans over whole lifetime, just in the end we will know, and maybe not even then, but that doesn’t minimize the truth and quality of our commitment.

Being committed and knowing it, working on it and not necesserily even naming it, is making the center of our being whole, holy and respected, respectful for the others, patient to wait for the time to show its forms and grateful for each revelation on that way.
]]> Sat, 02 Sep 2006 15:43:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/42782 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/34930
- The system of visceral brain in our stomach uses the same neurotransmitters as our brain

- Our visceral brain has its own memory, often not pertaining to conscious self

- It’s in constant touch with our central neural system using thousands neuron links to brain

- It sends 4 times more signals/messages to our head than it receives from the brain


So what are these messages? What is the function of this intelligent creation in our inner organ that regulate extremely complex processes of digestion, extracting nutritive ingredients and nourishing our body by integrating it in our cells, absorbing and rejecting?

It is often said “I need some time to digest that” for the things that we are not ready to consciously face, accept or refuse – the events and impressions that touch us and move us, the contacts with people who arise certain emotions in us, the intensity of our emotions, all that is measured and judged by stomach, being processed and incorporated or ignored by our head.

It is getting like this – by means of sensations, feelings and foresight our visceral brain in stomach informs central neural system about its activity of spiritual and physical “digestion” and about all learning that happens connected to that.

Disgust and repulsion are messages that stomach send in case of both huge and small danger perceived. When there is a message of content and satisfaction, feelings of trust and confidence then we are moved and motivated to activities of some kind. Sometimes it sends to us just the message “Something is wrong here”.

Feelings from your stomach participate in the most rational decision making processes. “Feelings drive our complete existence and they do it in a form of complete but condensed life experience” – says Damasio. It is like that in playing football, composing music, giving the interview for a new job, buying a new house or even – purchasing detergent at the store. Feelings everywhere move us, no matter if that is on the level of new world order design of our state leaders and key business players or our individual choice between two jobs, two places, two restaurants to dine. There is always the stomach which has already made its decisions while head is still thinking.

Only milliseconds are enough for visceral brain to communicate to our head its opinion about the alternative it has already chosen and it does it in a very simple way. No abstract thoughts, no complex explanations. For instance, how modern physicists recognize in the myriads of calculations when their formula is true? “By its elegance” - Einstein said. By the intense feeling of satisfaction and happiness.
There are other intelligent reactive spots in our organism as Indian philosophy of Ayurveda is teaching us. It is about chakras located vertically on 7 body points and not only in our head and stomach. Newest research in a multidisciplinary field of pseudo-neuro-cardio-imunology show that neural cells are present in the tissue of the heart that is also soaked in neurotransmitters similar to those that make our brain function. So we may say that we feel at home everywhere inside our body.

If you test your intuition you may get into following groups by the level of use and trust to your inner voice in your life.

Having a super-intuition you live highly intuitive, spontaneous and creative way. You have good insight in what is happening to you and you let yourself being led by your inner voice. You easily understand human relations and handle the most complicated situation easily. You often see things before the other people, but you might have problems in persuading the others in your visions and foresights. In that case you may help yourself by developing better coordination between your stomach and your head. That will help you not just to lean on your intuition, but also to learn how to interpret your wishes and foresights into the possibilities of communication to the others.

In cases that you don’t rely so much on your inner voice you may find that your body IQ is not fully in use. You may find that you have capabilities but they often put you in situations where your brain and stomach get in clash. Your intuition can not break through the frame of rational thinking because whenever you need to make an important decision you tend to lean on facts only. If you don’t wish to feel torn apart like that do train yourself to listen to your intuition more often, starting from the small matters. Learn how to decide spontaneously from your stomach, starting from the choice of the book you are going to buy or choosing a meal in the restaurant or making any other small choices. Doing like that you will learn to trust your intuition to lean on it on more and more complex and important matters in your life.

In some cases of rigid behavior some may experience that your inner voice gets suffocated. We all have our strong points, and the strong point of some persons may be their rational thinking. If you find yourself in this group you are likely to hear your intuition’s messages, but then again you might feel very unpleasant if you allow yourself to make decisions based on spontaneous inner feeling. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed by that, but rather should listen to your hunch more often. It may start in being aware of the very first impression that some persons or situations have left upon you and then comparing it to the facts that you have later gathered about that person or situation. Counting more on your spontaneous first impressions can make your life more versatile and exciting and make you capable for developing some new qualities in life, experiencing it and accepting it new way.
]]> Sat, 04 Feb 2006 16:52:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/34930 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/34929
Stendhal syndrome has diagnosed and named in 1979 by Italian psychologist Dr. Graziella Magherini upon the symptoms of hundreds of patients hospitalized in Florence because of this psychosomatic disorders hitting them as tourists over a few years. The syndrome is featured by rapid heartbeat, nausea, confusion, dizziness and even hallucinations that were noticed at some patients as the result of "overdose" of beauty in consuming the art, the beauty of sculptures, paintings and architecture in this cradle of Renaissance that drags art lovers and tourists from all over the world. But Florence hospital statistics prove that the most of them were from foreigners, mainly from West Europe, and not any of them was ever an Italian. "It is like they got used to art and beauty, they even call their own country 'bella Italia' meaning beautiful Italy"

At his time it was Stendhal who wrote about his travel to Naples and Florence in 19th century, describing his feelings as he became overcome with emotions:

"I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty ... I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations ... Everything spoke so vividly to my soul. Ah, if I could only forget. I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves.' Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.''

According to the statistics of Dr Magherini this syndrome hits sensitive and creative individuals that travel alone or in pairs, never those ones who travel in tourist groups.

If you wish to read more: http://www.wordspy.com/words/Stendhalssyndrome.asp
]]> Sat, 04 Feb 2006 15:31:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/34929 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33121
Where does the empathy begin?

There may be a scientific explanation like this one found in the article from the Boston Globe.

But where the true empathy may take us further?

As a special introduction to the season of giving, courage and creativity here are two stories that became ONE story. About Ryan and about his friend and brother Jimmy!

They made me think, made me cry and made me feel grateful for living in this beautiful world, the world that good and inspiring people MAKE BEAUTIFUL.

Share these with your friends and family if you wish:

http://www.pnyv.org/index.php?id=34tx_ttnews[tt_news]=12tx_ttnews[backPid]=8cHash=725ab9a834

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2005/02/jimmy_escape_freedom.html

]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2005 10:15:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33121 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33116
From one hand there are multinationals with complete business methodologies patterns that are transfering (translating) their rules and roles with very slight modifications according to local markets (customization, localization) - these are companies like automotive industry leaders, sportware leaders, software and hardware leaders, foodbeverage leaders, hospitality leaders, etc (to name few : BMW, Nike, Microsoft, Compaq, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Hyatt Hotel, etc)

From the other hand there are small enterpreneureal investments for which we never know when will become giants. Good example is that dot com business revolution that has created millions of companies and also billions of profit lately has been very stimulating for development of some industry leading countries in the area of software development - Ireland emerged as well as India, Romania and Vietnam - as excellent outsourcing partners (not naming companies, here the locations were more important to speak about the quality of solutions)

To conclude, there will always be areas of emergent growing markets (technology wise) where the opinion of ''who you are, who your family is and who are you known to'' will be of the utmost importance not for any tradition but simply because any other rules and roles are still not established (business wise) On that path is also the individual enterpreneureal investment - to make it different from multinational investment in spreading globally.

The only thing that we can not tell is how likely enterpreneureal investments are to become multinational itself one day and maybe another case study of company like Microsoft is today. ]]> Thu, 15 Dec 2005 05:05:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33116 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33051
http://sanskrit.gde.to/articles/GuideToSanskrit.pdf

The Spiritual Seeker's Essential Guide to Sanskrit
By Denis Waite

Besides, the various tools for learning Sanskrit such as the Online Sanskrit Dictionary, Sanskrit Tutorials, Sanskrit Pronunciation guides, and software for learning Sanskrit and producing documents in Devanagari Roman formats, and much more are available on this website http://sanskrit.gde.to/

I liked the initial quote that matches my views and experience. Here it is:

"It cannot be stolen by thieves,
Nor can it be taken away by kings.
It cannot be divided among brothers
It does not cause a load on your shoulders.
If spent...
It indeed always keeps growing.
The wealth of knowledge...
Is the most superior wealth of all!"

Indeed the knowledge is an unbeatable asset, weapon and tool which only can be surmounted by treasure of human emotions, respect and love.

Let's get to learning with the prayer:

"OM! May that Brahman protect us both (Teacher Disciple);
May that Brahman nourish us both;
May we work in harmony with great vigor;
May our study be illuminating and fruitful;
May we not hate each other.
Om..
Peace, Peace..."

shaa.ntiH || Peace

]]> Tue, 13 Dec 2005 07:46:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/33051 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/32942
And I recently found this in the news:

"The first edition of the International Santa Clause Festival began on 3 December in Demre, Turkey -- noted as the birthplace of St. Nicholas in the 4th century AD. The festivities continue through 8 December."

St. Nicholas by Susan Seals:

"The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in Patara, a village close to Myra (Demre) in what is now Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young.

Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals—murderers, thieves and robbers.

After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called "myro", formed in his grave. This liquid substance was said to have healing powers which fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day.

Through the centuries many stories and legends have been told of St. Nicholas' life and deeds. These accounts help us understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need."

To read more visit:
http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

]]> Fri, 09 Dec 2005 04:40:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/32942 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/32387
Homeless, panhandlers, street musicians, passengers and world of human pain, suffering and alienation elevated by the tremendous energy of the painter to communicate life and love in what our world is, or has turned to be, seen by the eyes of a stranger who can’t help but getting involved. The figures of humans hanging and exceeding or reaching to the edges of the frames of paintings, mysterious figures, obvious figures, poetic or distant figures centered or set on the stage of triptych-like compositions are simple in the essence, and that simplicity is underlining the clear message of complexity and value of human life.

I could see it only on photographs taken from the show but in details of each painting shown I found the world of true life and life meaningful to the fullest extent, even in portraying some ordinary or meaningless ambient where one may dwell or stray. In these fifteen paintings that are resembling the trees from the primordial garden although each of them may stand as a jungle of vibrant emotions echoing with music, noise, tremor and sometimes, even deeper than that, with a silence one may see the art from the cave abreast with the urban pictorial definition of humanity today.

One may experience the shamanic dance of healing or leaving the wounds speak for themselves. One may hear music from the instruments that seem lively and yet unanchored in any particular corner of the street, like coming from everywhere, from any spot of the globe to get poured into our senses. One may hear the comments on the art that is shocking or inappropriate, provoking or straying from the mainstreams of artistic expression or composition. These paintings do not carry any special experiment, but as a whole they appear to be a huge experiment in life, sometimes as simple as a human touch. They are all extensively involving, as someone said, stirring all our senses at the same time.

Similar way the artist appears mysterious as a child of a naïve soul of creation or a master of the wise vision and depth. There are things obviously incorporated to draw our attention to some detail, as fragments of reality caught on the spot and served on the plate or stuck to the body of the painting itself, but upon all these captivating details scattered on the paintings, some of them be coins, train tickets, playing cards, cigarettes or else we find it, a painting as a whole. There is a feeling of reliability and canon in this art, its solidity, style of painter to easily fill large formats of heavy boards or doors (?) wood panels which all together make the appearance of a cathedral with the icons of life and pain or warning and on its walls, voice and music filling it, pertaining not to past, history and death and not to future, but to the present moment brimming with life, any timeline being captured in that.

This art is powerful and strikingly persuasive in bringing its point. Humanity. Whatever connotation that word may have for anyone. Humanity as a whole, as an individual who could never be known but also never forgotten once after seeing him or her, humanity as emotional expression of faith, hopelessness and belief at the same time. Humanity as love for other human beings, way of pulling them out of anonymity of suffering.

This art might be seen as the engaged and applied in a way of having its loud message and clear voice of urge for all the people to turn one to another, to reach and touch the hands with each other and tie with emotions in some endeavor that takes all of humanity to get performed to the full, but nonetheless this art radiates the hope that it is not an impossible task.
]]> Sat, 26 Nov 2005 11:56:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/32387 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/31081
"A lively, enjoyable and informative tour of a topic that's only going to become more important."

--David Weinberger, Author, Small Pieces Loosely Joined and The Cluetrain Manifesto

"Information that's hard to find will remain information that's hardly found--from one of the fathers of the discipline of information architecture, and one of its most experienced practitioners, come penetrating observations on why findability is elusive and how the act of seeking changes us."

--Steve Papa, Founder and Chairman, Endeca

Take a look at the author's pages!

http://semanticstudios.com/about/
http://findability.org/

When you get the chance to buy this book do it. Or at least, make a photo of it and send the link to the author!

http://www.findability.org/archives/000064.php

]]> Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:21:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/31081 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/31072
Today I watched a TV show about an outstanding person Prof. Hugh Miller Herr from MIT and his life, his free climbing talent and practice before he lost both his legs in his youth due to the snow storm and his afterwards his work on artificial limbs development at MIT

http://biomech.media.mit.edu/people/herr.htm

I was so inspired and impressed by the idea and the attitude of having used your current “weakness and loss” as the foundation for overcoming problems and obstacles in life in general and adopting a positive attitude for even more prosperous achievements in life, helping others and making one’s life so much more worth and even – more amusing, more liberated learning to notice in technology development not only what is already available, but even more what isn’t there yet. So I searched more about him and found interesting links on his work http://www.pbs.org/saf/transcripts/transcript405.htm

and family life, and also pages of his wife

http://www.patricia-ellis-herr.info/pages/4/index.htm

and her interesting research in the domain of biology and anthropology

noticing that she belongs to Human Behavior and Evolution Society I have searched for more of their scope of work

The Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) is an interdisciplinary, international society of researchers, primarily from the social and biological sciences, who use modern evolutionary theory to help to discover human nature - including evolved emotional, cognitive and sexual adaptations.

At HBES they have interesting online courses
http://www.hbes.com/Hbes/online-courses.htm

Towards a Literacy of Cooperation
http://shl.stanford.edu/hum202_classnotes.html

Where I found Howard Rheingold
Howard is author of a number of amazing books including Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Howard has tapped his network of friends to put bring this list of amazing speakers to Stanford.

http://www.rheingold.com/index.html
intensely creative man who even paint his own shoes!

http://www.rheingold.com/cooperation/Technology_of_cooperation.pdf

Then I came to Smart Mobs

http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2003/12/11/the_battle_for_.html

and finally ended reading about domestic marketing scene. I need to work on Branding Belgrade project.

http://www.b92.net/info/emisije/timofejev.php?nav_id=159646yyyy=2005mm=01
]]> Tue, 25 Oct 2005 09:49:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/31072 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/24905 Fri, 27 May 2005 04:14:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/24905 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/21862 "Entangled photons could provide deep insights into our world that nobody, not even physicists, expected.

AFTER battling the strangeness of time and space, it must have taken a lot to freak out Albert Einstein. Yet there was one aspect of quantum physics that brought him out in a cold sweat: entanglement.

Take two photons, for instance, tie them together with an unbreakable quantum bridge and their link becomes so close it is almost telepathic.

Einstein described this apparently supernatural behaviour as "spooky". It seems, for instance, that performing an experiment on one photon of an entangled pair instantaneously affects its partner, whether they're in the same lab, or at different ends of the Universe. No surprise, then, that researchers in Austria have recently used this bizarre trick in quantum teleportation experiments (New Scientist, 14 March 1998, p 26).

But these may be nothing compared to the bombshell that Caslav Brukner of the University of Vienna has just dropped. As if our current understanding of entanglement between widely separated particles were not sketchy enough, Brukner, working with Vedral and two other Imperial College researchers, has uncovered a radical twist. They have shown that moments of time can become entangled too (www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0402127).


http://www.ap.univie.ac.at/users/Caslav.Brukner/media/New%20Scientists%202004%20Quantum%20Entanglement/article.jsp.html

http://www.ap.univie.ac.at/users/Caslav.Brukner/media.html



The weirdest link

New Scientist vol 181 issue 2440 - 27 March 2004, page 32

That spooky connection between tiny particles is appearing everywhere, and its consequences are even affecting the world that we experience. It seems to unravel the past, and may be what keeps us alive. Quantum entanglement just got a whole lot weirder, says Michael Brooks


ENTANGLEMENT. Erwin Schrödinger called this phenomenon the defining trait of quantum theory. Einstein famously dubbed it spukhafte Fernwirkungen: "spooky action at a distance". It is not hard to understand why. Set things up correctly, and you can instantaneously affect the physical properties of a particle on the other side of the universe simply by prodding its entangled twin.

]]> Sat, 22 Jan 2005 03:16:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/21862 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/21279
It surely is a form of self-actualization and agreeable social behavior from one hand. We were all raised to give and to share from our earliest childhood in our families. Those forms of giving could be sometimes regarded as broad or restricted being socially, culturally or anthropologically shaped, specified, defined to some particular form, season or even the sense and immediate purpose of giving or its more transcendent reflection. In this way giving is considered to be more than simple sharing and it rises among the first human actions reflecting the awareness of the God, as giving known as the sacrifice of food, animal or even other human for the sake of other projected entities, values and things – the future, the crops, success in war or some area of life or as a whole. It may be said that the broadest connotation of giving include the act of giving as the expression of humble service or, what’s the most important, keeping through the generations the continuity of the recognizable pattern of the ritual alive, even if keeping at the same time reasons for it mystically hidden from any further explanations to human mind.

In our individual and more ordinary observations of the act of giving, if it is not matter just of politeness and mere affectionless duty, it is always connected with the personal feeling of joy and happiness of those ones to whom our gifts are dedicated spreading on ourselves through the anticipation connecting us to that moment in time when the gifts will be received, the packages opened and communication that was temped inside the gift revealed to flow freely and directly between the two who are exchanging gifts. The joy of the others, of those ones that we want to make feel happy and loved, at least for that moment, is what makes us so happy in searching, creating, preparing and even in packaging our gifts, the joy that we share with them in advance, feeling it as our personal or mutually shared. It’s making us not only think of those ones who we love and want to surprise by a gift, but also to experience in our minds fully all the other moments of sharing for so many times before in all their sweetness, feeling of happiness, fulfillment and completion of some very important deed, which is in fact very simple. Maybe that is why the “art of giving” is so rewarding in any place of the world, any epoch, any age?

Thinking of giving as the form of the art and about the art as one of the forms of eternal giving I can’t help feeling that all art started from, and might still be considered as driven by, some form of transcending or obvious but in any case intensely deep dedication, the dedication to give and share something with someone, and to show something to someone, in most cases that “something” is revealed to the eye of its own creator only after the work is accomplished, but all the time giving to its creator, in each of the phases of its completion, the strong impression of living being having been created to give or witness life itself. If individual giving we could mostly associate with sharing the feeling of Love in its richest variations, the artistic way of giving could possibly be described as the sharing of Life in its most exciting, calming, abstract or realistic, but in any case versatile meaning. The form of pro-creation of life by each artistic act is that giving, and that’s what it gives to its author in return.

The nature has its cycles of giving at least those we have learned t recognize so far, being the youngest species on our planet, still behaving as the babies in the dawn of civilization we adore so easily as we misuse, despise or even sometimes are disguised with not much understanding of those what we usually name as “the gifts of the nature”. The old rituals civilizations celebrating the season of the ripe fruit, or harvest time, the traditional poetry speaking of the beauty of the cherries in full bloom trough some form of human expression are getting so ephemeral and unrecognized today. Mostly they can appear in the form of the action, ecology movement or individual artistic inclination, only surviving in forms of traditional holidays as Thanksgiving in America and some others known in other cultures. Nonetheless, the nature teaches us about giving and sharing, about the inevitability of the cycles of growth and decline following the laws of mutual exchange, co-dependency and fight for survival. But what have we learnt so far?

Finally, there is a form of giving which is associated to or derived from the feeling of mercy and which is mostly related with the spirit of Christmas, when growing activities of charities become hectic highlighting the impossibility of putting all our humanitarian impulses in one season, so we often find to ask ourselves could the gifts for poor would be distributed equally through the course of the year? In those moments, separating from the things that we loved, we can’t help feeling sentimental ourselves and thinking how much joy those toys or clothes or books gave to us when we got them first and I believe that our joy travels to the recipient, even unknown one, attached in some form of subtle energy or explicit message to those things that have besides the humanitarian, also high emotional and sentimental value for us. Knowing that somewhere, someone will take and feel it, we give gladly feeling that it is good thing to do from the bottom of our hearts.
]]> Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:09:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/21279 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20932
"Burning Leaf is a literary website featuring original fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, critical essays, photography and art."

http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/parrasj/BurningLeaf/BurningLeafMain.html

"John Parras received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction Writing in 2004. He studied Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University and received his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University with the dissertation Modern Poetic Prose: Lyricism, Narrative, and the Social Implications of Genre. He has been the recipient of a Columbia University President's Fellowship, the Pauline B. Adamson Award for Fiction, and the Maurice Robinson Award for Professional Writing.


His critical work has appeared in the Literary Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, the Virginia Woolf Miscellany, the Filipino Reporter and other publications. Stories and poems of his were published in Salt Hill, CrossConnect, Oasis, the Dominion Review, Fuel, Hanging Loose, Gulf Stream and other literary journals. His novel, Fire on Mount Maggiore, is represented by International Creative Management.


Currently Dr. Parras is an Associate Professor of Critical and Creative Writing in the English Department at William Paterson University, where he helps coordinate the annual Spring Writer's Conference. He can be reached at parrasj@wpunj.edu. "
]]> Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:50:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20932 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20931
"Burning Leaf is a literary website featuring original fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, critical essays, photography and art."

http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/faculty/parrasj/BurningLeaf/BurningLeafMain.html

"John Parras received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction Writing in 2004. He studied Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University and received his Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University with the dissertation Modern Poetic Prose: Lyricism, Narrative, and the Social Implications of Genre. He has been the recipient of a Columbia University President's Fellowship, the Pauline B. Adamson Award for Fiction, and the Maurice Robinson Award for Professional Writing.


His critical work has appeared in the Literary Encyclopedia, the Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, the Virginia Woolf Miscellany, the Filipino Reporter and other publications. Stories and poems of his were published in Salt Hill, CrossConnect, Oasis, the Dominion Review, Fuel, Hanging Loose, Gulf Stream and other literary journals. His novel, Fire on Mount Maggiore, is represented by International Creative Management.


Currently Dr. Parras is an Associate Professor of Critical and Creative Writing in the English Department at William Paterson University, where he helps coordinate the annual Spring Writer's Conference. He can be reached at parrasj@wpunj.edu. "]]> Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:50:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20931 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20747
*

The only successful marketing strategy is conquering market in human minds.

*

Lost in love is like lost in life – anyone can find you, but even then you never know where you are nor what you are at when it happens.

*
Love can be given and taken, exchanged on so many various ways that its value often varies, increases or decreases, creating occasionally times of emotional inflation and deflation.

*

The magic of coincidence is that there is no coincidence! Only magic.

*

Literature and Art can enrich our lives, but not more than we can enrich literature and the art by our own contribution, even if it would be just reading or observing the works of art.

*

The world is re-gaining its power each time when a child is born. Be (s)he a new dictator or liberator, creator, leader or just another humble servant.

*

Local knowledge is always far better than the global one. Only it trades for less. Maybe that’s why total dominance in the world will never be possible. Somehow, the labels of value and recognition are mistaken and thus working in conquering the world one is losing it, losing even one’s local rating as well.

*

Wondering about life has never been a habit of any living creature after it gets mature. Why us, the humans, are the only ones that get more curious and amazed by life as our life approaches the end?

*
Pondering life and the art – what could have more value for you?

*

When all hopes and beliefs are lost, dead and gone, there’s still one more left.
A new chance.

*

If you could have a chance to create a new world, a new life – what would you do? Try this - just wake up into a new DaY and begin in any moment of it!

*

Meditation on the stone far away, hidden in the mountain or by the ocean shore can be useful. You can have a good sleep on it if it’s warm.

*

Missing your childhood, dear persons or feeling homesick has its advantages – you realize that you can love strangers and recognize yourself and your memories in their eyes and in unknown, beautiful landscapes.

*

Whenever I sat to write a novel the paper was lacking.

*

Lie is the truth too much polished.

*

Words are all we have.
(but it’s only the case in the dictionaries.)

*
Too many words can ruin any friendship! All words after reaching the peak of understanding after necessary minimum are belonging to endless and useless disputes or flawless echoes of erosion of flattering or devotion.

*

The road is too long to be traveled alone, yet there is no one who can endure it all along. Sometimes life, family, friendly teamwork and feeling of unity and belonging depends on a simple almost mathematical issues of time management or even – routine.


*

Poetry is the most complicated way to communicate emotional or metaphysical truth that colors and shapes or music and dance have already expressed. But sometimes we just can not help torturing our mind and soul and exercising our brain and spirit not to sing, paint, sculpt or dance but to write and weep our hearts on the thorn instead.

*

Talking about life – it has been given to us on short-medium-long term contract to use, but it isn’t always clear to us what should we give in return? I recon this because the majority of people is wandering around searching what more should they take, have, possess or at least experience.

*


Talking about creativity – Writing on the journey or simply sitting and writing by the road has power to transform a talkative novelist into a sharp and luminous author of the quotes from the novels not yet (or ever) written.

*

Whenever clouds darken the sun you can say
one point is won against spreading of skin cancer!

*

There is a saying that Gipsies are crying in the sun knowing that rain will come, but they are laughing and dancing in the rain expecting it to end and skies to clear up again. It’s the old saying, but I have never seen them do so. Moreover, I am sure that anyone among them doing so would be considered either drunk or insane. So much for the practical use of proverbial wisdom.

*

Wisdom is something that we can not buy in the malls, but we can always borrow it or even steal at the market of life among the other people or sometimes simply find it in the middle of nowhere in the open mine of nature and wilderness.

*

Blue, ever-changing sky is protecting us of seeing the dark, black, yet glorious emptiness (or fulfillment) of the Universe the same way as the sound of human voice and the meaning of the words spoken are protecting us of getting the real messages from the people talking to us, or around us.

*

Patriotism is a form of a social plant. Its roots are more or less deeply grown in the soil of History, enriched by fertilizing Tradition. It’s trunk or a stem is more or less successfully communicating between the Glorious Past, Proud Present and Bright Future. And it’s obvious manifestations are multiply varied, individually fragile and yet typical like the leaves and flowers in the full bloom. There are seasons when it blossoms and the other ones when it sleeps by deadly winter dream, but in any case the fruit and the seeds as well as the jam and juice of patriotism are produced, sweetened and consumed or strategically distributed, even sold widely, by political leaders of the nation.


*

The advantage of all old civilizations is that they are too old to be alive, so they are perfected and thus perfect comparing to ours, still enduring one.

*

The secret of old cultures is not in their understanding and achievements, no matter how unbelievable they might appear to us, but in their quests and questions not answered but somehow passed to our times.

*

the long history of human struggle for better life, for building peaceful, loving and safe place under the sun can be only measured in timelines by as long and absolutely parallel history of human suffering, loss, pain, war and all kinds of humiliating and dehumanizing destruction.

*

The initiation of a primitive tribe member is usually an important event in respect of the individual growth which is supported, cherished and monitored by the whole tribe in expectation of the success – promotion of a child into an adult, be it a warrior or a woman. The initiation of individuals in our society (besides mass social birth of generation after generation defined through their birthdates, classes, music, language and fashion as the sub-cultural artifacts) is usually a painful, lonely, often misguided or hidden and by all external views mainly disapproved, even unwanted process of individuation, including self-birth, self-creation and self-actualization.

*

Ah, the unexpected in life! What more could we expect?

*

When the task is given and formulated in frames of its requirements and resources it’s easier to accomplish it. The similar way those who have been told how much of their life is left are the ones who know what they are doing in their lives more precisely than the rest, so that proves that there is some joy in ignorance and unexpectedness for all! The question is: Who should be pitied and who is to be estimated fortunate? Those knowledgeable or the ignorant ones?

*

Good thing about the unexpected is that your intuition always knows but enjoys not telling you until you happen to discover the rest of unexpectedness – it’s expected outcome.

*

Dreams are the way to find reality.
To find it more beautiful, more scary or more real.

*

Sitting on the top of the mountain the only way of going either back or forward, no matter which path you choose is the same – descending! Except if you fly.

*

Flying is one of the most powerful symbols for humans although we do not fly at all and there’s no track of earlier loss of wings in our anatomy. However, in the anatomy of our minds our brain still believes that even dying is better when flying. Like both flying and dying are opposites of the Life, somehow, but from two different sides.

*

Birds have the most perfect way of life that we, humans, for ages dream to achieve as the ideal. Birds can live in high populated communities without need of serving their infrastructure most of their time, like we do. They live their full lives, managing to organize themselves and all their actions freely, without phones, energy pollution, traffic lights, providing all necessary needs, hunting fish together and easily finding their nests and family among millions of other birds on the shore.

The courting is what all human females would embrace – from changing feathers, lovely dancing romancing, never bullfighting but building their nests of beauty and craft for her eyes to inspect and agree, to often enviable habit of couples to stay together for life raising the generations of children provided by equal nourishing and care of both parents until they teach them how to fly.

Not only that we both envy and favor birds for their flying skills, their love for family and life. The easiness and the precision of their instinctively guided migrations is absolutely killing all our tourist resort dreams! Whenever we may even think to get away – they are already there, for centuries and generations enjoying with the same ease the beauties of nature and changes of the season without tourist guides and hotel fees.

*

The best thing about money is that you can buy almost anything with it but at the same time nothing that you really feeds your deepest needs, so you must live, look for, learn and create and search further to find it.

*

The worst thing about money is that you may find one day that in all the big game and noise of trade around you, you have been bought, sold and recycled even more than once, and still you haven’t been informed for which value. Besides, the true values are so hard to define using money that only big enthusiasts of trade still try to do it.

*

Money is worthless. It’s the process of buying and selling and the excitement of price and conditions negotiation that make the illusion of value that could be quantitatively expressed so tangible, at least for the moment of contracting.

*

Marketing is a multidisciplinary and multilayered activity but at least we can define it as a twofold process of trying to sell what you surely know that people would need for the value that would at the same time make them choose between your offer and the other need that should be covered from some other side. The sweet joy of competition not only inside one type of products and branch of services, but inside human brain that is struggling to set and keep up with its priorities is the living force and blood of marketing. Something that is unique and valuable and truly needed is not needed to be offered like that and since – not marketable at all. It becomes the issue of the higher laws of the Trade. Unfortunately, we are witnessing the epoch where marketing becomes mere political weapon in trading priorities like freedom, individual opinion and free will for the value of civil rights, public judgment and conformist attitude.

*

Talking about sales - Van Gogh is still the best salesman in this century! Being invisible in his new life, not reincarnated in person, he is performing his selling skills settled firmly by each of his works by simply adding to them his authorship value as we speak. He is selling for better and better price no matter who is tge owner, who is buying or receiving the money, and it seems that this time he just likes it to be this way. Like he has to prove that his passion shown on his canvases during his life as a painter, can be expressed in figures in his new life of the salesman. Still artistic in his sales he proves again and again who is the best.

*

Poor spirit – would it be a grammatical form of the “spirit of the poor ones”? In that case what would it mean? It’s obvious, yet hidden from many because of the lack of personal experience of living the life of the poor, since many of us live in material abundance we can not easily get read of. Who knows the spirit of the poor except God and those who are poor? Besides, if everything material is taken from you and you still, that “something” that no one can take away from you, the quality of being human, no matter what, in any form of the humanity that can still hold the spirit in yourself – you’ve got everything you need. But we are witnessing the cases of those who have lost just that what makes us humans.

*

There is the example of the kings and noblemen of Medieval Serbian dynasty Nemanic’s (meaning “those who don’t possess”) who were introducing the habit of leaving their throne and going to the monk’s life in the monastery which was known both for men and women spending there the end of their lives serving and praising God. Medieval monasteries were the source of spirit of Christianity, culture and education of that time and many noble men and ladies in their most productive years of the governing had their spiritual advisers in some of the monks or pilgrims who were preparing them how to practice good, merciful and best judged leadership in ruling their lands and when to leave all of their material possessions to those who don’t have and the church and retreat to monasteries in the older age.

Written on the rock in Arizona,
One sunny November DaY]]> Mon, 22 Nov 2004 16:36:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20747 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20744
"hi, I have a question in mind, could you tell me how this TIG is helping in your socioprofessional life."

So, I asked if that's the opinion questionnaire... but got the answer:

"no this is not a questionnaire? I just wanted to know how a person like you (doctor) is getting benifit from an website like TIG which actually promotes people and their moto of living and inspires by providing space to portray ideas, to show case hidden talents. How this activities can come to a doctor as a worthy? this is to understand, OUT OF CURIOSITY"

This was very inspirational, so I tried to reply WHY TIG

"Dear friend,

I understand your curiosity and would like to provide the answer. In fact the question is fantastic and inspirational and I suggest you to post the question on the TIG discussion board. This could be the subject for some of us to write essays! Really! A very good question, that's why I thought that someone is making the questionnaire for all TIG members (that are active).

So, I've read about you on your page and think you could have more active participation publishing your articles, opinions and being involved in discussion boards with clever questions like this one, and with many clever answers to the questions of the others.

I really can confirm say that TIG community inspires, informs and involves, besides doing it on such a high technological level and completely free for all the members and open to so many visitors (guests) to share is one of the best things for me on the web. Compare it with Google and other search engines - what would we do if it wouldn't be a search engine on the internet? I can't imagine the internet without search engine, but also can not accept the future of internet without having FREE content that is so inspirational and stimulative as in TIG.

Rare are the communities like this one but this really fulfills my needs and requirements for communication with clever people all over the world, for having my own space and my voice heard and having the open opportunity for fantastic personal expression in so many forms and professional experience and knowledge sharing and at the same time feeling safe, important, welcomed and yet having preserved the quality of unexpectedness in all of that.

For my personal example is that I have a friendships made through TIG that I estimate as the highest personal ideal and dream, and also professional ties which made me make some of my dreams true, regarding traveling to other continents, visiting lectures and counseling. That all make me feel so much better about myself and about the world and is making me so much more confident and happy, yes happy! daily about the future to come.

There's more to it... but I got to stop somewhere... and let the others speak up! You, for instance? Thanks again, I think I'm going to put this on my updates and encourage you to post the most of what you have to say to this world and people, especially to the TIG community that is broadening as we speak.

Regards,

Zo]]> Mon, 22 Nov 2004 16:15:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20744 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20601 Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind."

Bob Dylan, © 1962
]]> Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:48:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20601 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20600 You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead"

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Copyright © 1963;]]> Sat, 13 Nov 2004 20:47:00 EST http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20600 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20031 Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:41:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20031 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20030
*

Life is a unique gift and we should use our time wisely! Hear everyone's point of view but learn how to listen to your own innner voice - first, foremost and always! Just because everyone is doing it - it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. To conform is to lose identity."

]]> Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:29:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20030 http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20029
Because some people want to be "nice" and "not cause trouble," they "suffer in silence," "turn the other cheek," and assume nothing can be done to change their situation or "it is our cross to bear." The rest of us appreciate pleasant, accommodating people but whenever a "nice" person permits a greedy, dominant person to take advantage of him/her, the passive person is not only cheating him/herself but also reinforcing unfair, self-centered behavior in the aggressive person. That's how chauvinists are created.

Purposes? Assertiveness is an antidote to fear, shyness, passivity, and even anger, so there is an astonishingly wide range of situations in which this training is appropriate.
Factor analysis of several assertiveness scales (Schimmel, 1976) has suggested several kinds of behavior are involved.
• To speak up, make requests, ask for favors and generally insist that your rights be respected as a significant, equal human being. To overcome the fears and self-depreciation that keep you from doing these things.
• To express negative emotions (complaints, resentment, criticism, disagreement, intimidation, the desire to be left alone) and to refuse requests.
• To show positive emotions (joy, pride, liking someone, attraction) and to give compliments. Accept compliments with "Thank you."
• To ask why and question authority or tradition, not to rebel but to assume responsibility for asserting your share of control of the situation--and to make things better. You are no one's slave.
• To initiate, carry on, change and terminate conversations comfortably. Share your feelings, opinions and experiences with others.
• To deal with minor irritations before your anger builds into intense resentment and explosive aggression.
]]> Tue, 19 Oct 2004 19:12:00 EDT http://Zo.tigblog.org/post/20029