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Mindfulness

30 posts under this tag.

gotta have Faith 2
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6
 Sep
07

Speaking of human possibilitiesELZR, I have found my personal slogan. No need to be jelous of Andrea’sELZR anymore.

In a book aptly called New Bottles for New Wine, Julian HuxleyWP quotes his grandfather, the great nineteenth-century scientist Thomas HuxleyWP, on the subject of belief: ”Everyone should be able to give a reason for the faith that is in him. My faith is in human possibilities.”
Ellen J. Langer, MindfulnessAM, p195
tagged announces, aphorisms, epiphanies, future, identity, mindfulness, philosophy, quote collages, technolyricism, the singularity

Star
What could be 2
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6
 Sep
07

Ellen J. Langer’s Mindfulness was a personal landmark: a wondrous book on human possibilities, their promise, and their everyday annihilation. I’ve already sprinkled several quotes from it in previous postsELZR (and will continue to do so) but there is one quote that deserves all the highlighting I can give it—this may rank as the most provocative thing I’ve ever read:

Teaching can be done in a much more conditional way.. Children are usually taught “this is a pen,” “this is a rose,” “this is a car.” It is assumed that the pen must be recognized as a pen so that a person can get on with the business of writing. It is also considered useful for the child to form the category “pen.” But consider an alternative: What happens if we instruct the child that “this could be a pen”? This conditional statement, simple as it seems, is a radical departure from telling the child “this is a pen.” What if a number of ordinary household objects were introduced to a child in a conditional way: “This could be a screwdriver, a fork, a sheet, a magnifying glass”? Would that child be more fit for survival on a desert island (when the fork and screwdriver could double as tent pegs for the sheet, near a fire made by the magnifying glass)? Or imagine the impact of a divorce on a child initially taught “a family’ is, a mother, a father, and a child” versus “a family could be…”

Ellen J. Langer, MindfulnessAM, p124

To the jaded eye, most of the paragraph can be easily dismissed as an extravagant, pie-in-the-sky rambling, and I dismissed it so when I first read it—so what if kiddos would make better Robinson CrusoesWP? Should we realign our education for that?—but then the last lightning sentence comes and in its flash we glimpse the world that could be. Do you see?

tagged cognition, epiphanies, favorites, ideas, learning, mindfulness, psychology, quote collages, scifi, surprises, things I've learned, what could be

Starsea 2
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6
 Sep
07

A dolphin’s ability to invent novel behaviours was put to the test in a famous experiment by the renowned dolphin expert Karen Pryor. Two rough-toothed dolphins were rewarded whenever they came up with a new behaviour. It took just a few trials for both dolphins to realise what was required. A similar trial was set up with humans. The humans took about as long to realise what they were being trained to do as did the dolphins. For both the dolphins and the humans, there was a period of frustration (even anger, in the humans) before they “caught on”. Once they figured it out, the humans expressed great relief, whereas the dolphins raced around the tank excitedly, displaying more and more novel behaviours.
Anuschka de Rohan, Deep thinkers (via reddit)
tagged droll, inspiration, mindfulness, psychology, quote collages, readings, science, surprises, what could be

Effortless 2
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6
 Aug
31

Bach also spoke of the effortless flow of musical ideas. Asked how he found his melodies, he said, “The problem is not finding them, it’s—when getting up in the morning and getting out of bed—not stepping on them.”
Ellen J. Langer, Mindfulness, p118
tagged droll, inspiration, mindfulness, music, psychology, quote collages, quotes

Kevin! 2
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6
 Aug
29

I enjoyed a birriaWP orgy this Sunday at El Chololo, a popular restaurant near ChapalaWP, and just as I was entering the bathroom two brown, impossibly small indian kids were chasing each other out of it. The (slightly) bigger one yelled to his mate: ”Kevin, ‘perame!” (“Kevin, wait for me!”).

I think it was a moment to amber, because surprised as I was of the Irish name having found its way into this beautiful brown boy, beacon of a brown new world, my surprise was really at how Mexican it sounded, how accustomed I had become to hearing such Anglo-Saxon names (Celtic Brian is very popular too) in young Mexican children.

tagged english, formist, future, globalization, guadalajara, identity, languages, local, memes, mexico, migration, mindfulness, mongrels, spanish, translations, words | 2 Comments

Same thing, two opinions 2
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6
 Aug
20

The contrast’s interesting ain’t it? Joel On Software’s Joel Spolsky sees Dell’s homepage as a textbook case of heavy-handed, rapacious marketing. A List Apart’s Nick Usborne, on the other hand, sees it as one of computer industry’s best examples of self-effacing design, respectful of its users and the now-fashionable right to self-identificationWP.



Dell doesn’t think like their users think. When you go to their website, the first question they ask is what kind of buyer you are: home, small business, large business, etc. I don’t know what I am! I guess I’m a small business, but home systems are usually cheaper, and I usually like to buy top of the line PCs, so maybe I need the Big Business section. This distinction is completely lost on me.

I want a PC. What difference does it make whether I’m a home buyer or a small business buyer? I suspect that they are asking me this because they want to charge businesses more than homes, and large businesses even more. To defeat their system, I choose “home.”

Joel Spolsky, Dell And Usability, November 14, 2000
(Dell’s homepage around that date)



Dell has what is probably the most visitor-centric site of all the computer manufacturers. For years now they have built a homepage that holds back on saying, “Look at us, we’re great.” Instead they devote a significant part of the page to an area where visitor can self-select.

The design and text on the page immediately recognizes that some people are looking for home computers, while others are looking for networks for local government offices. Both audiences and more are addressed. The Dell.com page says, in effect, “Yes, you’re
in the right place. Yes, we can help you. Yes, self-identify and please click here so we can help you find exactly what you need.”

Nick Usborne, Helping Your Visitors: a State of Mind, February 20, 2004 (Dell’s homepage around that date)
tagged algorithms, computers, droll, marketing, mindfulness, psychology, surprises, things I've learned, web, web design

"Ya sabiendo... 2
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6
 Aug
02

...es facil.”

Suele decir mi papa a cada rato y tiene razon. Olvidamos demasiado pronto todo lo que nos costo aprender algo.

tagged en espanhol, mindfulness, original content, overheard, papa, transcriptions, wisdom

More than one view 2
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6
 Jul
28

As observers, we judge behavior according to whether, as actors, we could or would do the same thing. If I take a basketball shot from the outer key (and make it), I am looked at as though I took a risk. What that means is that my perceived competence exceeded someone else’s estimates of her own competence. It does not mean that I took more of a risk than someone else would have, had she felt as confident as I. I took the shot because I believed I could make it. However, since the observer would not have risked the shot and does not know my perceived level of competence, she presumes that I’m a risk taker. Enjoying the compliment, I do not argue. But being aware of all these elements is in the nature of mindfulness.
Ellen J. Langer, Mindfulness (boldface added)

Langer’s little book is chock-full of such luminous insights.

tagged books, mindfulness, psychology, quotes, things I've learned, tips, wisdom

They put process first and product second 2
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6
 Jul
27

Ellen J. Langer’s excellent Mindfulness talks a lot about how “a preoccupation with outcome [over process] can make us mindless”. But the opposite is just as true: an overpreoccupation with process over outcome can make us equally mindless.

[Jason Fried:] “Big business loves mediocrity: They put process first and product second. As long as you go through this process and all these objectives are met along the way, then what comes out at the end is considered successful, no matter what. It doesn’t up set anyone,but doesn’t make them happy, either. It’s safe. I can’t deal with that.”
Jason Fried, The Next Small Thing

Mindlessness lurks everywhere.

tagged inspiration, mindfulness, process, psychology, quotes

Bookworm 2
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6
 Jul
16

A week ago I learned two friends are coming from the US this July 21: that means empty cases. Two happy days later and hundreds of dollars less: 38 books on shipping parcels from Amazon. Book shopping is a pleasure in and of itself (I’m rarely this happy!), and hereforward’s my list (which is quite an intimate thing to share—it’s the perfect psychological text, if you know how to read it).

I’ve been fiction-starved long enough now.
Erasmo wants to kill the man, I want to do him (I fell in love the moment I read his “The free market is the only mechanism that has ever been discovered for achieving participatory democracy.”).
Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff, Mark Johnson
A formist classic long postponed.
I only needed to read Mind Performance Hack #51—Learn an Artificial Language—to know this book was going to be worthwhile.
A pet training book that doubles up as a “life-changing” self-control primer. I’m intrigued (and desperate). Confused? Go read this great NYT article: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage.
On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins, Sandra Blakeslee
Wondrous book. Truly. I’m buying these 3 extra copies just to pester friends (and family) with.
The only Ender book I’m missing.
Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken
I’d read Mencken’s quotes before, of course. But I just became aware of him a couple of weeks ago through, of all places, a Gilmore Girls episode. I couldn’t be more ashamed of my tardiness.
I’m diving into economics these next couple of months.
“This is a book in favor of doing—self-directed, purposeful, meaningful life and work—and against ‘education’—learning cut off from active life and done under pressure of bribe or threat, greed and fear.” I’m fascinated with education these days.
Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan
I dig the Austrian School of Economics (or rather, I think I will, when I know more about it).
Frankly, that Edward Tufte’s wife mother wrote this was enough for me, but just think about it: a syntactic critique of 1000 exemplary sentences. This promises to be a jewel.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Dylan Thomas). For those late deathnights…
“[Oliver Sacks’s writings] has done as much as anyone to make nonspecialists aware of how much diversity gets lumped under the heading of ‘the human mind.’” (Amazon.com review)
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman
I want to be a libertarian.
Swimming Across: A Memoir by Andrew S. Grove
I’ve been a fan of Andy Grove ever since that Fortune feature on him.
The Buddha in the Robot by Masahiro Mori
A wildcard.
Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track: The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman by Richard Phillips Feynman, Michelle Feynman, Timothy Ferris
I love Richard Feynman. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! is way high on my all-time favorite books.
Just how would a society organized by private property, individual rights, and voluntary co-operation, with little or no government, look?
I guess this is just book gluttony, but I skimmed this book in the New York Public library one rainy afternoon and it’s a happy memory.
Foreign aid debunked. I somewhy feel I need to read this now. I need to know this stuff. I guess a happy byproduct of feverishly reading The Economist is to think of yourself as someone with vast geopolitical and economical impact ;).
5 Rituals of Wealth by Tod Barnhart
Kevin Kelly vouches for it in Cool Tools.
The Little Schemer by Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen
I started a library copy of the Little Lisper and was hooked.
Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm
His Art of Loving became an instant personal classic some months ago.
Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse
“There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”
George Soros, long known as “the world’s only private citizen with a foreign policy,” is a most interesting man.
Mindfulness by Ellen J. Langer
Mindfulness. The title alone was almost enough to buy the book. What a beautiful word.
How Children Fail by John Holt
Yup, I know these children education books are a weird choice but I have a hunch they’ll have much to tell me.
I haven’t read much science lately. The science spark needs some help.
Eat the Rich was a lot of fun.
“What would happen if children who can’t do math grew up in Mathland, a place that is to math what France is to French?”
I admire Starbucks.
”Buffet has the strangest of powers in that he comes across as a homespun billionaire. Now that’s different from just being homespun, the way Sam Walton was, or just being a billionaire, like Bill Gates. Buffet flaunts his wealth and his professional love of money, all the while expressing essential, eternal truths in simple, earthy phrases. When I saw Buffet speak at business school he tapped on the microphone to test it and said ‘testing, testing, one-million, two-million, three-million.’” (Marc Cenedella, Amazon review)
“The need for endless learning and trying is a way of living, a way of thinking, a way of being awake and ready. Life isn’t a train ride where you choose your destination, pay your fare and settle back for a nap. It’s a cycle ride over uncertain terrain, with you in the driver’s seat, constantly correcting your balance and determining the direction of progress. It’s difficult, sometimes profoundly painful. But it’s better than napping through life.”
Replay by Ken Grimwood
“Without a single gesture toward an explanation, this novel recounts the story of a man and a woman mysteriously given the ability to live their lives over. Each dies in 1988 only to awaken as a teenager in 1963 with adult knowledge and wisdom intact and the ability to make a new set of choices. Different spouses, lovers, children, careers, await them in each go-round of the past 25 years, as well as slightly altered versions of world events. Their deep commitment to one another continues through the centuries of their many lifetimes.” (Library Journal review) I haven’t read this book and I love it already.
Believe you me, I’ll be the first to distrust this bluntly titled book, but I’m floored by who and how many people recommend it.
tagged books, criticism, education, edward tufte, learning, libertarianism, lists, mindfulness, personal, readings, recommendations, semantic bulletpoints, tests, tips | 2 Comments