The power of the question

The question is the most powerful thing a person has; you are dictating what a person thinks about!

Open to Being Closed

Isn't it unusual...  We live in what some would say, a closed minded world...  But more and more are becoming open minded,  and in a way forcing their open minded message on 'closed minded' people (which is only a perception from your point of view) ... So why are the 'open minded' closed to the idea of being closed...  So to be open minded is to accept others choices with sometimes the absence of understanding ... If we were truly open minded,  maybe we would stop trying to train the closed minded to think like us.

Creativity Slavery

Why do we want to control creativity?  Are we scared. I think because people don't know how or where they get their thoughts,  they fear that one day they'll lose it...  That's a real fear, Sting from the band The Police, has the fear of a blank note pad...  That fear of one day you just 'loose it'. It's interesting that kids don't have this fear...  Well not instinctively...  Its beautiful to just create and not worry about the end result,  just do it for the enjoyment of.

I think...  I think...  The worst thing you can do is have something spacific in mind and chase that...  Because you could be chasing your whole life,  chase the feeling instead!

Knowledge, Motion, Action, Avoidance.

Aristotle said, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.” 

I wonder if we put too much emphasis on learning...  Sometimes...  I feel like some people study because it's an excuse to not take any real action...  It's like preparing for a meal,  buying the food but never cooking it...  At some point,  a good quality of your investment is wasted...  Maybe...  Sometimes you just gotta start doing it,  not prepare for it...  I don't think we really ever truly feel ready for big steps forward,  so stop waiting for the feeling

Even if know one reads this,  I need to hear this for myself...  Follow my own advice.

I learnt the difference between motion and action recently.  Motion is reading that book on health,  buying those running shoes,  getting that gun membership... Action is actually following that books advice,  running in those shoes and attending that gym. 
I'm the first to admit I usually put way to much into motion and not enough into action...  However I know many people that are reverse,  they put a lot of effort taking action only to find it was a waste of time and effort,  they can spend their whole lives working their ass off and not really have much to show for it.  To put it a simpler way...  They worked harder,  not smarter.

I guess the key like so many things, is balance.
I've been thinking of doing a blog for a while,  imagining the topics,  thinking of the benefits  like having a mental history for myself and being able to reflect etc but it's only me doing it that makes it a reality,  so maybe if in doubt go for action over motion... Maybe.

"Work beats talent when talent doesn't work"

Pain, Punishment and Pleasure

Pavlok electric shock punishment

Crowd funding

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pavlok-the-habit-changing-device-that-shocks-you

Promo video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYvpvz_bzmI

I read an article today that really stood out.  I looked more into it and it's basically a company that wants to keep you accountable to yourself by punishing you when you don't do what you say you want to do.

Pain is iinevitable in life,  but I believe you can choose to a degree where when and how that pain happens. 

I like the idea,  there are two types of people,  those mainly driven by reward and those mainly driven by undesirable consequences...  'carrot or stick' philosophy. Both work,  it just depends on the type of person and the choices you make.

An explination I found:

First, you could dangle a carrot in front of the donkey, fooling the donkey into thinking that if he pulls the cart far enough, he’ll get to eat the carrot.

The second is to prod the donkey along the road by hitting him with a stick.

If the donkey is motivated by the ultimate reward of a carrot, the stick won’t be necessary,
but if he’s not really all that interested in carrots, then the stick will be employed.

Either way, through reward or through punishment, the cart driver gets what he wants.

Contributors Justin Taylor

Science says that pain and pleasure are in a lot of ways, intertwined,  a paradox where pain causes pleasure. 

http://m.livescience.com/27462-relief-makes-pain-feel-good.html

Some philosophers would say there is no pleasure without the contrast of pain.

I could go on as pain and pleasure is a passionate topic of mine,  but I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes. 

Haruki Murakami: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

Different

What is different?

adjective

1.

not alike in character or quality; differing; dissimilar:

The two are different.

2.

not identical; separate or distinct:

three different answers.

3.

various; several:

Different people told me the same story.

4.

not ordinary; unusual.

yeah yeah, but what does it mean for me, or you to be different? and if so many of us are different, doesn't that make us kind of the same?

Can two people who are very different get along? Well maybe if they appreciate their differences but that means both people have to be the same in that particular belief, and perhaps in other ways be the same... So what are the parts/beliefs/choices that we can be different with, and get along? And what are the parts that we have to be the same in order to get along, to 'fit' together?

First Impressions

"We judge books by their covers, and we can't help but do it," says Nicholas Rule of the University of Toronto. "With effort, we can overcome this to some extent, but we are continually tasked with needing to correct ourselves." The less time we have to make our judgments, the more likely we are to go with our gut, even over fact, he says

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140214111207.htm

I'm a massive fan of psychology, I've always wanted to become a psychologist, but is it possible there are just 'powers' that aren't quantifiable, other senses in play? I mean, what is 'fact' anyway? Science keeps changing the facts and all it's various data spin off genres like psych do the same.

I met 3 people last night... and I don't believe I need the 'facts' to get an idea of who they are as people... I could see in their eyes they were very kind, empathetic, aware, intelligent, strong sense of identity... maybe first impressions are so important is because all our senses are active in that moment and our 'gut' is one of them. I personally believe based on my life and interactions I have what the psych world calls 'people intelligence' (look below for explanation)... so I argue the paragraph at the top of the page... Is the 'fact' getting in the way of our gut judgement?
I get the general vibe of what they are trying to portray... 'don't judge and come to a conclusion and that's all they are and who they'll ever be' but the way both society and the science world's angle on this really have my gut feeling funny...

Some would argue... 'how do you know?, 'how do you know if they are kind and empathetic, aware, intelligent...' etc... well I don't, and I don't think often the individual residing in themselves knows for sure either, or other variables changes based on time, place, event and feeling can turn the most caring person into someone fighting for their life.
There's a wrong perception that most people 'know' they like that boy, they don't like that girl, I feel happy, I know what's wrong with my life... so many people don't know... they change their mind, they are insecure, they have fears and worries and chemical/hormonal changes and secrets and pasts.

What I will agree with completely is that we are all complex creatures, we are all capable of anything at any time, good or bad, we can and will change from moment to moment and year to year, nothing is certain... who we are in the now and who we choose to be is closest thing to 'fact' we may ever get.

People Intelligence.
People high in personal intelligence are able to understand personalities—their own and those of other people. They recognize clues about other people, form models of people that are relatively accurate, make choices taking into account their own and other people's personalities, and set reasonable goals. The key distinguishing feature of these individuals is their ability to solve problems related to understanding personality. These adept thinkers possess “abilities by definition”—and that is the key to identifying them.  

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-personality-analyst/201404/how-high-is-your-personal-intelligence

Beginners

The world I live in,  the people around me put a lot of pressure on themselves to just 'be good' but for most for most things,  it takes time and persistence to be good.

I want to take the thoughts out of my head and be good at summarising them and communicating them successfully to as many different types of people I can.

Was that a good start?

I'm just some guy who thinks a lot.