Can One Stumble On Happiness?

I found myself dusting this afternoon. Why I was dusting on hot summer's day is a mystery to me. But, I was and as I was moving a few things around I found on on my desk underneath a pile of books Stumbling on Happiness (2006).

I don’t remember when I read this book, not that long ago. I do remember is how pleasantly surprised I was with the quality of the information and moreover the delightful way it was written. It was also not what I expected it to be about.

This is not a self-help book.

Stumbling on Happiness was written by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. The author portrays current psychological research in a manner that makes it is easy for the reader to understand and follow. Right from the first page Gilbert takes the reader on an unexpected journey and presents some interesting arguments on the interplay between our mind and emotions.

He also points out the short comings of the mind. "That shortcoming is caused by a trick that your brain plays on you every minute of every hour of every day - a trick that your brain is play on you right now. Let me tell you the brain's dirty little secret. "(page 78) I will let you find out for yourself what the dirty little secret is, but it stopped me to pause and say, “opps".

What I found particularly fasinating was Dan Gilbert's presentation on the interplay between how we perceive the past, how we imagine the future having everything to do with how we feel right now.

Stumbling on Happiness is well worth the read as a matter of fact, I think I will read it again, after I finish the dusting.

Naughty Artists Express Themselves - Blog Off

Nearly five hundred years ago Michelangelo pulled a fast one.

According to Fox News.

On July 20, 2010 Wynne Parry published an article titled Did Michelangelo Paint a Brain in God? The essence of the story is that researchers theorize that artist Michelangelo embedded an image of a human brain stem in God’s throat in one of the panels of his Sistine Chapel frescos.

For a man of his time, that was really living on the edge. Good thing we have moved away from that cliff.

Since the dawn of time societies have been dependent on the artistic expression of people like Michelangelo to play a significant role in the evolution of human kind. Artists help explain the world around us. They push past current boundaries giving way for new possibilities, forcing contemplation on how the world is experienced and they help with the transition from one state of mind to another. Artists bring forth new life sometimes controversially or comfortably.

Madonna or Maya Angelou? Both women are artists. They can be controversial and at the same time comfortable. One more than the other.

Artists help build rich and vibrant communities. Those communities who invest seriously in the arts tend to be innovative and progressive. In an article published by John A. Bratton and W.F. Garret-Petts from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C. on April 22, 2005 titled Art in the Workplace: Innovation and Culture-Based Economic Development in Canadian Small Cities. Bratton and Garrett-Petts believe that the arts provide conditions for developing and validating new “crazy” ideas or “out-of-the-box” thinking; in other words, for innovation.

I love out-of-the-box thinking. One of my best times was when I decided to make metallic looking palm trees for a project at work. Cutting the palm shapes out of brown paper bags was okay. It was when I plastered them with white glue then lighting the glue on fire that things got really exciting. The palm trees looked amazing. However, they smelled bad. Really bad.

To create is to cause to exist; to bring into being, through artistic or imaginative effort. (The American Heritage Dictionary) The internet and computer technology has liberated people from around the world to express themselves as never before. Some of this may be for good, some of it not so much. Regardless boundaries are being pushed, viewpoints are being expressed and ideas are being generated. Blogging is a perfect example of a new way of creative expression. The debate is out there as to whether or not it is credible journalism.

I am more incline to believe blogging is an emerging and new art form. That for me is incredibly exciting and I am curious as to what will be brought into existance because of it. Naughty Artists expressing themselves guaranteed!

Before writing a comment, why not kick off your shoe and jiggle around your computer desk to the Queen of Controversy Madonna in Express Yourself as posted on You Tube.

Let me know what you thInQ. Post your comment and head on over to Bust-A-Blog and see what was written about the picture I sent to Busty!

Mania a la Mono

Monomania. It is actually a word.

Monomania according to The Winston Canadian Dictionary for Schools it means a madness or craze in regards to a single subject or idea.

The Catch: is monomania the same as being addicted?

According to the same dictionary an addiction is one who is given over to a habit.

Has society become at risk for developing an addiction to monomania?

This debate has been roaring around in my head for some time. It stems from noting in recent years a growing trend where products, services, and celebrities become a wild craze. The must have. The must knows. The must experiences. The we can’t live without it or I will just die madness. Then just as quick as it starts these thoughts become over marketed and over produced to the point that something we once worshiped more than anything becomes de-valued to nothingness and we as a collective group are rushing onto the next greatest craze.

The Contemplation: Are we even aware of the potential addiction? And, if one is addicted what is it doing to our brains?

Has pop culture lost its sense of quality, of being present, of knowing an emotion, knowing self? Or with all our freedoms have we become a throw away? Do we behave this way because we are afraid if we don’t get on the latest trend we will miss being part of today’s culture? What is the extent of our craze? And, moreover what are we missing?

Being engaged in pop culture is being part of a shared experience. There is value in that. And, there is value in monomania.

Tonight I watched a documentary on Live Aid in the 1980’s. Under the leadership of one rock star named Sir Bob Geldof and several journalists for the CBC and BBC taking enormous risks they brought the disaster in Ethiopia to the world's attention. The disaster they were focusing on was real. Really real. Putting fear aside and using their gifts for communication - they just did it – they communicated a call to action through music and images that ultimately prevented an utter catastrophe from become worse than it already was.

The story is much grander in its tragedy and triumph than a one paragraph highlight. I know that because I was part of that global experience - it was part of my culture.  

Two years ago I had the opportunity to hear Bob Geldof speak at a fundraising dinner where he was being honoured for his work. Should you get the opportunity to hear him tell his story. Take it. Because it is then that you will really understand the difference between monomania and an addiction to mania.

It is all about keeping it and being it: real.

thInQ About It.

What are your thoughts, let me know post a comment.

Your Rites - Blog Off

There is a little known a rite of passage that most go through as they enter into their pre-teens and it occurs the first time one stays up all night with their friends. Every parent know what it means because it is the un-official announcement of a new phase; an era of uprising in one’s household – its teen time!

I distinctly remember my first time – staying up all night. It was at the Challner’s. I have no clue what we did other than run around all night giggling, dancing under the moon, and then celebrating that we had made it when the sun rose. To this day that memory makes me smile, it was fun, youthful, and had absolutely no purpose other than just to be.

There is something mysterious about the moon. Forever changing, waning and waxing; comforting and soothing; liberating and romantic; mischievous and dangerous. She is never the same and every night is different. 

At some point in one's life we all turn to the moon to share a secret or two, say a prayer, or share a wish. It is often during this time we are thinking and dreaming under it's creative force.

However, it seems to me as we mature we spend less time with the moon. Responsibility takes us away from her nightly glow and we enter another passage of time: adulthood.

This is when we are expected to grow up and be responsible. We don't spend nearly enough time pondering under the night sky. We are too busy taking care of business.

On the May long-weekend I was reminded as to how much I had grown up.

Busty and I were camping at a local resort. On our last night a group of young men in their early twenties pulled in beside our camp site. They had stereo systems that could knock satellites from the sky. As we were leaving to go to a concert organized by the resort Busty and I both groaned, “Oh lord, these guys will be up all night partying.”

Imagine our surprise at three in morning, when we discovered these gentlemen all tucked in their tents wrapped up in their sleeping bags sawing logs.

How do I know? Because it was when we got back to our campsite driving a golf cart, honking the horn, and laughing under the moonlight. 

Take care of your business today, but don't forget your rite to play!  

Sign up as a follower to this blog, and be sure to check out Busty's response to the picture I sent her at Bust a Blog

Reading with Elizabeth Gilbert

Having received the Ophra seal of approval, recommendations from several people in my circle of friends, and a stream of near perfect reviews from the likes of the Washington Post and New York Times our book club wanted to discover what the fuss was all about.

Eat, Pray, Love is the story of Elizabeth Gilbert’s search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia following a divorce, a rebound romance, and a crushing depression.

It is thoughtfully written, charming, and delightfully witty.

Her story is also annoying and self righteous; and for the most part I find the author to be rather spoiled.

Either way you look at it she is undoubtedly human; whew - finally a celebrity who is not trying to be perfect – just real.

Eat, Pray, Love is really a tale of self love and self kindness. Gilbert makes a decision to end a lifestyle that was no longer authentic for her. She takes a risk, changes behaviour, leans on her faith, and allows for some Divine intervention resulting in new opportunities that seem more fulfilling and meaningful for her.

Through her penmanship Ms Gilbert opens up and vulnerably allows all of us to accompany her on this emotional and spiritual voyage all while trying to overcome mental health issues.

As readers some are annoyed that she would in a most ungracious and ungrateful manner throw away a lifestyle that many would love to experience. Others find the story lifting and are amazed that someone could have the courage to make such drastic changes. Many want her life - either the before or the after. But, we are not her.

It should be of no surprise why Eat, Pray, Love resonates, politely or not, with so many people. According webcache.googleuserccontent. com the divorce rate in America is more than fifty percent; 1 in 18 people in will suffer from depression; and fifty of divorcees rebound by remarrying within the first three years of divorce and length of that second marriage is less than seven years.

Right now all around the world, there are indeed people from different economic and cultural backgrounds, lying on the floor of their bathroom, bedroom, or laundry room hiding in their real pain and praying for a different life. Too afraid to take action towards changing even the smallest thing that could bring about greater quality of life.

Like it or not somewhere hidden within the text of Eat, Pray, Love there is a message that touches every reader; and that is what makes this book life changing.  Gilbert is no Pulitzer prize winning author, but she authentic. It is her genuineness that makes Eat, Pray, Love worth the read.