tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45941327236270796922024-02-19T17:50:05.138-08:00Unbound FutureCorey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-39114604942473050192016-09-15T15:40:00.001-07:002016-09-15T15:40:03.391-07:0013 Core Virtues Penned by Benjamin FranklinThere are many modern blog articles and magazine articles that are always attempting to provide us with sage advice. Sometimes however, it's nice to go back to the great orators and writers of long ago. They lived in slower times and they didn't have the glut of written work we do today. They had every incentive to make sure that every word they put out was of the highest quality.<br />
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One of the simplest and most succinct wisdom ever written down by one of our forefathers, Benjamin Franklin, is nothing more than a short 13-line list. It's called "Franklin's 13 Virtues."<br />
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He seems to set out with the list to educate a person on how to maintain a person' vigilance and awareness without becoming overly entangled with the affairs of mainstream humankind. He seems to set out to encourage a sort of mental and spiritual sobriety that's rooted in balance and a kind of wisdom that is able to capture some of the big-picture thinking that makes great leaders.<br />
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He starts out his list with <b>Temperance.</b><br />
<br />Temperance is defined as: <i>moderation or self-restraint.</i><div>
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Here, Franklin seems to be encouraging people harbor a kind of long-term impact vision that is propelled by a sustainable and balanced approach to living and working. It can be all too easy to become engrossed in the rat race that leads men to excess stress and, in the end, a destructive rather than productive mindset and atmosphere.</div>
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His second virtue is <b>Silence.</b></div>
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Great writers, leaders, scientists, teachers, or any kind of professional can gain great benefit through the giving of time towards momentary silence and review. A few moments of quiet "me time" in your day has the power to give the body and mind some much needed rest in our sometimes fast-paced world. When we consciously choose to take stock of our feelings and whatever's on our plate so we can refresh our perspective or drop things which aren't currently important - we are able to clear the mind and emotions of excess clutter and connect to those points within our psyche which knows better how to solve our life choices/challenges.</div>
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His next virtue is <b>Order.</b></div>
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Order can make even the most complex tasks or projects have some level of organization. One nice thing about order is it can help us manage the natural emergent properties in life. If we develop for ourselves a set of simple core habits in our daily and weekly routines, we can branch off those core habits with direct action for specific tasks. It's amazing how powerfully a simple task can carry over into multiple realms and subjects.</div>
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Consciously adding a little order to your day or to the way you engage with a project will enhance the way you view every new task. Order will build "places" in your mind where you may put new knowledge or connections. Order stems from discipline and from creating a quiet kind of inner awareness that exists beneath the challenges or work.</div>
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One buzzword of modern times which would actually be worthy of adding in this discussion of this list would be the "Flow State." This is a concept which has been studied from a scientific perspective a great deal. A Flow State is where a person is so focused and entranced in their workflow or their performance (for a sport, a musical piece, or even a workout routine) that they are integrating their subconscious mind and their behavior almost seems to bubble up from some magical place within themselves. The Flow State tends to be a state of mind where a person has become concentrated on the sequences of events and upon the beauty of these rhythms and thus the flow of time itself is almost an afterthought because it is all really wrapped up into the performance....into the sequence of events that comprises the event or project.</div>
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To harness the power of the Flow State, it helps to practice a type of meditating I have coined as "Meditation in Motion." This type of meditating is where one is purposefully noticing the feelings and thoughts within themselves and how even the seeming randomness of some of these neural or emotional events/connections can actually hint at a deeper narrative involving your integral spiritual connection with nature.</div>
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The 4th virtue penned by Franklin is <b>Resolution.</b></div>
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Resolution is defined as: <i>a firm decision to do or not to do something.</i></div>
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Resolution is in my opinion very similar to the concept of self-discipline. You would say that a procrastinator is someone who continually says they are going to complete a task or start a project and they just keep putting it off longer and longer. This person lacks the necessary self-will and determination to make sure they are following through with their vision for themselves. This person can easily become stuck in a cycle of laziness where they wonder why life isn't working out the way they desire. Discipline and Resolution are important character traits in every successful person's life. Developing Resolution is as important as higher education.</div>
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To develop resolution, it may help to review the patterns of your behavior. It's also important to be able to get into a creative flow-state and to commit your thoughts and feeling rationally and "linearly." You can do this directly for your work if you are writing. You may also do this in a meta-sense as you review your consistency and goal achievement if you track your progress with a personal journal. The important thing is to break up your tasks into reasonable chunks rather than at first giving yourself very difficult tasks and then excusing your inability to complete them. This has the problem of allowing yourself to fall into the habit of making excuses for your lack of productive output.</div>
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Number 5 on the list is <b>Frugality.</b></div>
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Frugality is one of those undeniably useful traits in business and personal life because when you make resources and finances go further, you retain more value for your shareholders or family. In keeping with a mostly personal angle, it's often very alluring to look for those productivity tools which we imagine will somehow magically enhance our project success or double or triple our output. That next big thing is sure to make our lives so much easier, right? Well, you might gain some benefits by using that high-performance, top-shelf pen or going for the most decked-out laptop, etc. But it's often the case that you can get just as much bang for your buck by going with a middle of the line solution. And, besides, if you lack the internal personal dedication and skills, then even the fanciest hardware won't make you succeed. My advice is work on the personal application by building the mental "technologies" as your primary focus and then focus secondarily on the physical hardware or resources which might make your job a little easier.</div>
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At the least, make sure that the resources you are investing in are thoroughly researched and you think critically about how you will implement the tools into you and your team's workflow. You will get the best results if you have a well-established plan for how you use any new tools you invest in.</div>
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Next on the list is <b>Industry.</b></div>
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Industry is basically a focused effort which can lead to innovation and very meaningful progress that provides solid utility. Industry combines discipline with creativity and thinking outside the box. Industry can lead a person to experiencing flow states more and more regularly. Industry is what separates leaders from the pack. Industry is gained by re-framing and by building and working consistently with mental models. By visualizing systems using mental models that work as much with the in-between connections as with the nodes, we get our minds used to the habit of seeing practical solutions for simplifying our lives or improving a system which has become overly heavy with complexity.</div>
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Number 7 is <b>Sincerity.</b></div>
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Sincerity is a way of rooting even the most sophisticated and "high-minded" mental inventions through the lens of practicality with an eye for the real effective output it will have on our business or personal lives. Sincerity also keeps a person in a state of consistent progression from week to week and month to month. With the proper integration of emotions with your consciousness, you have "skin in the game," emotional buy-in, and the proper incentives. You know your "why" for working and living the way you do.</div>
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It can be surprisingly easy to get lost in routine habits which are either wholly ineffective or performed in an efficient routine. For example, many people begin their days checking their e-mail and then they automatically start their day in a reactive manner that puts their power into the reactive state depending on whatever emails and newsletters they have received in their inbox. Many successful people have learned to deal with their e-mail at mid-morning or perhaps in the afternoon. Some people even have a schedule where they only handle their inbox once every 2 or 3 days.</div>
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Sincerity in this list is teaching us to have purpose in everything we do. Without that guiding light, we will become lost in a sense of duty that doesn't fully match our core values. When a person is always taking actions that (from the smallest details up to the highest behaviors) all form a cohesive narrative supporting their core narrative, that person will see massive success. This is how every wildly successful startup goes from 0 to exponential in short periods of time.</div>
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Distraction and Self-Delusion/Denial are the two big enemies of Sincerity. Always be true to yourself and your core purpose. Know your Why.</div>
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Number 8 on Benjamin Franklin's list is <b>Justice.</b></div>
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I think he adds justice to the list because doing right to your fellow man is almost always good business sense. It's true that sometimes cutting corners are cheating people can seem to give you a sense of success for a short while but it almost always precedes a ruined reputation that follows your business and maybe even your personal reputation. In life, few things are as coveted as a good brand or good reputation. A good reputation has the power to connect you with the higher value customers and business partners that you will want as you push your business or personal life forward. And of course once a reputation becomes damaged, it can be very hard to recover.</div>
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If you have employees, you will also see the benefits of talent retention and long-term productivity by fairly compensating your workforce and maintaining a positive and forward-thinking work environment.</div>
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Number 9 is <b>Moderation.</b></div>
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For this one, I think a good example is art. Whether you would like to use the analogy of a painting or drawing...or of a piece of writing, the thing all of these creative works have in common is that the best of the best have a knack for knowing when their work as reached its ideal state. And then they withhold the brush from the canvas or the pencil from the paper. Or they set down the pen for a bit. And they take a moment to review their work so far. They may finish with a few more strokes of the pen or the brush but they are careful to avoid "over-producing" the work.</div>
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This also holds true in the work involved in other productive activities. Doing enough to accomplish your core values without overtaxing yourself or your team is the key to "keeping the main thing the main thing." The most dangerous effect of doing too much meta-stuff that is outside of your core values is that you will potentially become distracted and lose traction with the main tasks and goals you have set.</div>
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The next on the list is <b>Cleanliness.</b></div>
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As has been quoted for ages, <i>"Cleanliness is next to Godliness."</i></div>
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Cleanliness is a way of instituting simplicity, focus, discipline, and organization into your direct environment. It's true that sometimes you just need to work amid the chaos or at a "messy desk" as part of the process but at most times it is refreshing to come to the table with the free-space that's ready to contain the day's fresh creative expression.</div>
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In a somewhat meta-sense, Cleanliness also somewhat applies to cleanly orchestrating your daily rituals and habits so that one doesn't endlessly veer off into tangents that set fire to your true course. If one looks at the 4th dimension of time/perspective as the primary foundation for working with the development of progress in our lives and the development of new products in 3D space, we'll have the proper attitude for navigating and mapping out our schedules and our day.</div>
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Number 11 is <b>Tranquility.</b></div>
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Tranquility is defined: <i>as the quality or state of being tranquil; calm.</i></div>
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I think some good synonyms for tranquility are "composure" and "poise."</div>
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Composure is defined: <i>the state or feeling of being calm and in control of oneself.</i></div>
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And "Poise" is defined: <i>graceful and elegant bearing in a person.</i></div>
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I personally love the concept of "poise" because it seems to describe a state of mind which is sort of cross-fading the practice of meditation and zen into everyday life activities. When you can handle everyday tasks with the same level of calmness and creative perception as one gains through a meditation practice, you are likely to handle stresses and challenges better than your peers who haven't trained this faculty. The fact is that these are states of mind that are trainable, measurable, and scientifically reproducible. We sometimes view emotions in an entirely different mental compartment from logic but emotions are integral for life mastery and self-actualization. Mastering our emotional body puts us in the driver's seat of life.</div>
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Mastering these emotions helps us get in touch with the deeper layers of mind and also "embodied cognition" which is sort of a whole-body awareness that helps us match all our organs and bodily functions with the task at hand rather than becoming trapped in the illusion that the only important faculty is mental or brain-based. It also helps encourage a kind of balance between different states of awareness or various areas of expertise or different points of focus. Then, rather than getting bogged down in the details or ruts of life, we can masterfully switch gears between tasks and choose the most efficient parts of our mind to accomplish any given task in the best way possible.</div>
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Number 12 on his list is <b>Chastity.</b></div>
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I think this one also overlaps with a kind of spiritual sobriety that contains a person's core strengths and values without selling out to the crowd or selling oneself short through short-term lust for pleasure. It can be viewed more in the abstract as in maintaining a strong sense of value of oneself so that one maintains healthy connections with others or with their work. Chastity means different things to different people but every successful person seems to be able to have some level of compartmentalization between business and personal life that helps them focus on the right thing at the right place and time.</div>
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The last Virtue in Franklin's list is <b>Humility.</b></div>
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I think this one is deceptively simple. None of us like to think of ourselves as arrogant or blind ot the role others inevitably play in the peripheries of our life. I think the best way to balance self-confidence with humility is to make sure that what you're doing is truly in service of other people and also to maintain the Sincerity and sense of purpose that will keep your mind grounded in the stream of life that others are also existing in. It can feel freeing to try to escape into your own little world at times. It can of course even lead to new discoveries or creativity so it's not bad to be somewhat reclusive or freethinking. It does seem wise, however, to make opportunities to connect with others in ways that emphasizes commonalities and encourages re-connection with your culture. It's good to understand how others perceive the world.</div>
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A good adjunct to Humility is the concept of Empathy. Empathy is the internal compass that is able to sense the conscience that is common to all of us. The business benefit of empathy and humility may seem out of place if one is thinking only in terms of bullish competitive business tactics but I think that the ability to truly capture the feelings or possible challenges and frustrations of your customer base is paramount when you want to cater to a large demographic.</div>
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Humility is an appreciation for the larger order...the larger reality. An to extend thigns even further and somewhat "spiritualize" the subject, we could rightfully say that humility can bring us into closer contact with the <i>divine order</i> and thus with key truths about what people are looking for, what people truly need, and where the world is heading.</div>
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Franklin's 13 virtues may be some three hundred years old but the wisdom encapsulated within those 13 simple words, if taken to heart, can make you a better human being. Of course, you should expect that like everything in life, you're going to need to fully practice implementing these character traits in your life if you want to make the most of these key habits. That's what these are: habits.</div>
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In closing, I truly wish you, the reader, the best of luck in your personal and business endeavors. I know that the times which I have practiced implementing these virtues, life has gone better for me. I hope you find the success you deserve and that the world recognizes the values you are capable of generating. You may be one light...but you are very, very bright.</div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif-light, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span>Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-59677032339252747352016-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:002016-09-14T18:30:02.217-07:00Awareness: The Gateway to New ResolutionsThere are times in our life where we want to make change in the way we live our lives. Maybe we feel that there is simply more to our story than what we have previously expressed. We want to contribute more to the world or to our families. The New Year is often a time when this will happen although you can make these kinds of commitments to your goals at any time during the year. At least once per month, we should be prepared for the changes we have been sowing in our mind's eye to come to sustainable fruition.<br />
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There are 12 aspects for developing an inner awareness. They fall under 4 categories. The four are: Mind, Body, Spirit, and People.</div>
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The 12 are:</div>
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1. Self-Active</div>
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2. Vision</div>
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3. Actions</div>
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4. Energy</div>
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5. Wellness</div>
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6. Temperance</div>
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7. Gratitude</div>
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8. Faith</div>
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9. Order</div>
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10. Want for Everybody</div>
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11. Impression of Increase</div>
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12. Give More than you take</div>
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These 12 keys unlock the cabinets in the Awareness kitchen. Your awareness kitchen is where you take stock of what you have in your pantries, cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer - and then you intuit what you need to prepare for your family's meal time.</div>
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Knowing what's in your cabinets is key to building an inner-awareness that you will use to propel yourself into the future and then periodically review your progress. The way to follow-up with your goal-setting is to be brutally honest in the way you assess any changes (or things which have remained static). Change is hard. But getting into a flow state is relatively simple. The trick is to get into a flow-state where making positive (and sustainable!) forward momentum is a simple daily hack that becomes second nature. If you can find ways to abstract the simple routines into an ongoing process of renewal and regeneration, you'll easily create the expansion you need. It's the blank spaces to rest and recover - or to review - where we find the moment is perfect for taking stock.</div>
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It's easy to become entertained (quite repetitively, possibly almost uselessly) if we are in a time where we are feeling comfortable. If we commit to using those times where we feel comfortable - those times each day where we are preparing for the day to come...we will bring a spirit of sobriety and creativity to a creative process where we are automatically assuming that we've had some amount of shortcomings compared with our vision for ourselves.</div>
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It can become easy to fill our cabinets with illusory entertainment and things which on their face appear to be serving our higher ideals but are essentially drugging us with a "rich but limited experience." One would likely equate this analogously to the difference between spending money on experiences vs physical things you can buy. You probably enjoy the experiences more than an jobject you can buy which will wear out or be spent up. That's because memories are made during the experience. The experience becomes an abiding theme that you can mentally and spiritually subsist off for days and days. And of course experiences have a way of strengthening relationships with other people, reminding us of the larger nature we are part of, and getting more in tune with our inner world.</div>
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If we are honest about what we are placing our attention on, we might find that more often than not, we are seeking a drug-induced high. We might spend a little too much time browsing facebook or watching videos or playing on our smartphones. When do we ever create the space for intentionally opening up to the hard reality of the state of our soul? Please don't take any special meaning of my word choice here. I simply mean the moral compass of the Human Being and the state of his or her journey through the Planet Earth.</div>
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I would think it's fair to say that the vast majority of people who are feeling stuck in their personal development are simply being too optimistic. There is such a thing as being overly optimistic. Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses might seem like the most optimal state of mind because then you are (ostensibly) seeing the highest ideals you'll be able to achieve. You're seeing the wide open spaces of possibility.</div>
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It's fine to be super-optimistic about the future but one cannot have a good manifestation of their awareness if they are acting on merely a rehearsal script for the future all the time. It's good to be prepared and future-oriented but it can be hard to enter into the flow-state without the weight of the board underneath you. In other words, you need the present moment to be your surfboard. Make the present moment your Pinterest board. One can learn new tricks by watching surfboard videos. One can enjoy the process of surfing. But each morning you need to condition your boyd and mind to be ready for the day of surfing. You must strengthen your core and legs so you are ready to pounce over those wave fronts as you skim over the crystal water. Life is beautiful in its mysteries, its complexities, and its opportunities. But what are you *doing?</div>
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Awareness is an intuition as well as a disciplined mindset that keeps you in the groove. If you can get your inner vision to track along with a flow-state that is actually happening with your experience around you, you'll be in the prime spot for you to prepare for the changes ahead and to master the shifts that are necessary for you to adapt to the changing terrain.</div>
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Life lends itself to those who are willing to react quickly and positively with the changes around them and maintain integrity throughout their journey. Building these core values while generating those changes from a place of *simple* honesty and commitment will give you a nice clean cabinet sapce to arrange your foodstuffs. The consciousness can only filter properly if you are giving enough airtime to the reality of your situation.</div>
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<i>"A word to the wise is sufficient."</i></div>
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If we can draw from the stream of information as we are moving rather than as we are remaining stagnant, it will contain information about our personal journey. Otherwise it will only be theory. It might seem like we are filling ourselves with unquestionable truth - but real truth cannot so easily be put into words, let alone be put into good use by words alone.</div>
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To satisfy our needs and pursue happiness is the meaning of life. To be of service to others so they can do the same is saintly. There is a certain kind of false contentment that just shreds the soul of a person. It's common in people who are internally confident but haven't communicated through real interaction with other people how they meant to enact their vision for their future.</div>
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Desires have to be worked for and fear of facing our true self is why most people pretend they are satisfied. In order to build the funnel for a rocket ship, you have to face the laws of physics and your own engineering reality. The bottleneck is where the most pressure is but also where the most thrust is generated. Learn to love the core.</div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-87494422061655861132016-04-14T23:46:00.001-07:002016-04-14T23:46:31.599-07:00Ride-Sharing and a Money-Earning OpportunitySo you've likely heard of Uber. You know..the distributed taxi service that lets you order a car ride from a smartphone. Well, it's one way to earn some money on the side. It's a relatively new innovation in the industry. Traditionally taxis were the only similar form of transportation. They are now trying to maintain competition with this new breed of distributed car-sharing service.<div>
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It really makes a lot of sense too since the vast <b>majority of cars are sitting unused</b> for the majority of the time.</div>
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When you sign into the app as a rider, you can choose between a regular car or a larger SUV. In my experience, drivers have been at my location <b>within 5-7 minutes.</b> The entire process is a breeze. Pull out phone and order the ride in just a couple taps. Facebook has even enabled an Uber ride ordering feature in their mobile app.</div>
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So if you want to drive for Uber, how much can you make? Sources say that during busy hours, they can make between <b>$20-25 per hour.</b> That includes tips. If you show up in a clean car in a timely manner and are friendly, you are more likely to get tipped and receive a good review on the app. The Uber company does take a 20% cut out of every ride but after that you keep the rest.</div>
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If you sign-up as a driver using my custom invite code, you can help me earn extra badges and commission. Just remember to <b>enter b872gbcbue when you sign up.</b></div>
<br /><br />I've personally ridden with Uber three times now and I've only had good experiences. Let me know what your experiences have been in the comments below!Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-81011012542030415242016-04-12T00:42:00.001-07:002016-04-12T00:44:15.302-07:00Workflowy: The Simple but highly effective Dynamic Outline SystemEffective note-taking is a universally-applicable skill that we use all the time whether for college or business or simple to-do lists or grocery lists. That's why I was thrilled to learn about this amazing web app called Workflowy.<br />
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Workflowy is a dynamic outline so you can keep all of your lists in one place and access everything through the search function. You can have nested outlines as many layers deep as you want so you can add detail and structure to your information with a simple system that doesn't get in the way of your productivity or your information. Mind-mapping software may have more tools but its many functions can get in the way of the actual process of working with your notes.<br />
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Keep all your to-do lists, business notes, or college notes all in one app. Workflowy is a dynamic outline that makes managing all your information a breeze. It's a great productivity app that is powerful and yet very simple to use.<br />
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Here is an example of how it can be used:</div>
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As you can see, I use the outline primarily for my business as well as to-do lists, grocery shopping lists, etc. If you click the image, you can zoom in and see it better.<br />
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As I research and find new information and gain new insights about how we can strategically work with the body and mind in to achieve our specific goals, I'm able to add to the outline. I can simply search for the specific disease or organ system that is related to what I'm researching and edit the outline or add something new.</div>
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It works much better than if I were to simply use a word document with bullet points because I can drill down into a specific list and show just the information I need when I need it. And I don't have to scroll through ten pages of lists.</div>
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Another great feature of this app is that it automatically saves everything to the cloud and synchronizes your outline with the mobile apps. That allows me to simply type on my laptop which makes typing much easier but if I'm with a client with only my phone, it's ready for me to pull it up in the mobile app. That also makes creating shopping lists convenient.</div>
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I love the fact that this app has just enough features to make it great but not so many features that the features distract from the productivity of organizing your notes.</div>
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This app basically makes organizing notes for research a breeze. I would recommend it to literally any business person, college student, or anyone who is looking for a way to organize their life.</div>
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If you'd like to take advantage of the research I've done regarding optimal human performance, I do health coaching and have a selection of hi-tech anti-aging supplements on my website. I'd love to help you achieve your peak potential for biological fitness. I work down to the core of your metabolic pathways and can help you gain an intuitive first-hand knowledge of what you can do on a day-to-day basis to optimize your biological fitness! Visit UHealingArts.com for more info.</div>
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By the way, Workflowy starts out with a free version allowing you up to 500 new entries per month. That's enough to really start your journey towards organizing and simplifying your life and study materials. If you find yourself needing more, there's a pro version and also if you refer your friends to the app, they will give you more free entries per month. I've currently amassed 4,119 items in my personal workflowy.</div>
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Let me know what you think of the app in the comments section!</div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-31326044967772997732016-04-10T22:52:00.000-07:002016-04-10T22:52:02.066-07:00Focus on Today for Success Next Year<div class="graf--p" name="6380">
<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">#1: Reduce Distractions</strong></div>
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We always look for what we can add to our lives when we are trying to make improvements. How often do we think about what’s going to need to be cut out of our lives so we can achieve success?</div>
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“We become our habits.”</blockquote>
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We all look forward to our future and want to create more value for ourselves and for our children. If one watches the news (I don’t) or pays attention to the culture around us (I do but I don’t let it define me), we can grow complacent with our dreams. It can become easy to believe that we will never have what it takes to become successful. Being well-connected, having ample finances to fund our business growth, or top-tier education may seem crucial for reaching success in business. However, anything that we are looking to achieve can be gained through smart development of our skills and going out of our comfort zone. We can become well-connected and meet new people. We can develop trust and reputation in our communities, both local and online.</div>
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You can design your future by taking action in the present. <em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">-Andrew Carpenter</em></blockquote>
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If we fill our days with senseless acts of consumerism, we are simply going to be entertaining ourselves. That’s not to say that we can never watch television shows. It’s not even so much about the impact cognitively or financially, although those are factors to consider. It’s the time that really matters here. Rather than looking at how we can cram more into our days, why not look at how we can re-position our schedules, build new habits, and become as comfortable as possible with doing what we need to succeed?</div>
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A person that begins going to the gym or running is probably not going to enjoy it as much the first day as they will on the hundredth day if they stick with it. Once they start seeing their progress and getting into shape, you’re naturally going to want to continue the exercise. We need to start looking at our business pursuits more like a practice or an exercise than a set goal that we are trying to achieve. Big wins don’t come in one fell swoop. Large bears do not go down with one shot. And basketball games aren’t one with one shot either. These things take momentum and consistency.</div>
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It’s time that we start looking at what we can remove from our attitudes and from our days.</div>
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We can either use the things we need to develop as excuses for why we can’t grow our wealth and success or we can use them as guidelines for how we will develop ourselves until we reach our mission. Once you’re on the launchpad of success, you may see delays but you are still going to take off.</div>
<blockquote class="graf--blockquote" name="e090" style="text-align: center;">
Productivity is never an accident. It is always a result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort. <em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">-Paul J. Meyer</em></blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinj678aw3QX-Tl6Ogccp8xQz7QeT4d7IKW-GjjhH65nJ8-qeMt_qL096CBeE8uX6S0iRo7qGI4vT5bS1wO6ekMivDuF8PPQn2cd9YqUfUTSA-teAdt3RERLJrgmniJMiYWgHNZLU57DJY/s1600/rocket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinj678aw3QX-Tl6Ogccp8xQz7QeT4d7IKW-GjjhH65nJ8-qeMt_qL096CBeE8uX6S0iRo7qGI4vT5bS1wO6ekMivDuF8PPQn2cd9YqUfUTSA-teAdt3RERLJrgmniJMiYWgHNZLU57DJY/s320/rocket.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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Most of life is preparation. We are constantly positioning ourselves and conditioning ourselves. We are working with our inner potentials for creativity and possibility. A lot of what’s necessary for success is gained through practice and developing habits through self-discipline. We must learn to manage ourselves and our time.</div>
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I believe luck is preparation meeting opportunity. If you hadn’t been prepared when the opportunity came along, you wouldn’t have been lucky. <em class="markup--em markup--blockquote-em">-Oprah Winfrey</em></blockquote>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">#2 Look and Move Forward with Full Responsibility for my Attention, Thoughts, and Actions.</strong></div>
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There is a big difference between being busy and being productive. The balance between practicing our craft and just simply being busy without being productive is not always clear. I just know that you can feel when you are putting your heart into the process and you have clearly-defined goals about how you want your business to improve your and others’ lives.</div>
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It’s great to have goals and benchmark our progress towards our goals — long and short-term. I think it’s important to have several weekly and daily goals that we can be sure we accomplish so we can make sure we’re on track with our overall process.</div>
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Having these daily micro-goals and weekly short-term goals helps us develop daily rituals and processes that keep us on track. When you focus on the actual <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">action </strong>and <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">detail</strong> of your everyday work, you’ll be able to focus on the little micro-gears in the machine of your success. This is vital because you need to be able to tune and tweak this process based on short-term feedback loops. Whether you’re practicing writing everyday or designing webpages or drawing, as you hone your skills, you’ll find ways to increase the quality of your work.</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The present moment is where focus happens.</strong></div>
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Focus is probably the hardest thing to get right for creatives. It’s a unique combination of attention that you hold in place and a flow of action known as a flow-state. It’s the secret behind every great creative person or athlete. It’s about being in the moment and present with the work you’re doing. You can see the pieces coming together and yet you’re able to hold your focus so you don’t become distracted or overwhelmed by the large amounts of data coming through your conscious awareness.</div>
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Tell yourself:</div>
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Focus is like a muscle and each day, as I focus, I will become able to have laser-like focus.</blockquote>
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One thing I’ve learned helps is to focus on doing the important things earlier in the day and revisit it everyday if it’s a daily practice. You can also revisit it each day later in the afternoon or evening but I think it’s important that make sure to channel your attention and focus early in the day so you start the day with a good habit/practice. Otherwise you’re just setting the day up for ‘whatever happens happens.’</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Everything you do in the morning sets the context for the rest of the day.</strong></div>
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Usually the important things are the things that make you feel uncomfortable.</blockquote>
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Getting into a flow-state can feel good but since it requires us to make some internal mental and emotional investments in the present moment, that can feel a bit uncomfortable if we’re not used to it.</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">The Present Moment is where Focus happens.</strong></div>
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Ask yourself: <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">“If I could do only one thing, which task WOULD I choose?”</em></div>
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Make a conscious decision (and a daily habit) to <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">block out at least 2 hours each calendar day to do the 1 Critical task.</strong> (no interruptions)</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Effective Goal Setting:</strong></div>
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<li class="graf--li" name="d0de">Specific</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="8678">Measurable</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="38b3">Action-Oriented</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="57c5">Realistic</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="8915">Time-Stamped</li>
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Your goals should not be the focus. Doing the goal should be the focus.</div>
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Be a synthesizer. ‘Synthesize’ is defined as: “ combine (a number of things) into a coherent whole.” Sometimes people expect a great sound to come from the machine right away without first developing the individual tunes and then working everyday to find a process of recombining them and perfecting the effects.</div>
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Success is about all the little layers and parts that get stacked and mixed on top of each other.</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">#3. Perception Creates your Reality</strong></div>
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It may sound counter-intuitive to someone that wants to ‘change the world’ or ‘make it big in business’ but it’s actually important to foster a state of gratitude and contentment in some form and fashion in our current life. If we’re constantly looking outside of ourselves, even if it’s at our future, without building a successful mindset and emotional state in our present attitude, then it’s like we’re telling ourselves that we’re not yet good enough to make these achievements. Or if we are looking at these far-off goals without developing the daily practices and rituals that will build-up into bigger successes and wins, it’s like we’re trying to reinvent a wheel without spokes or create a clock without gears. We can’t forget about the small inner pieces hidden behind the scenes of success.</div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Success is a state of mind.</strong></div>
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<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKrZSGLo_54" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKrZSGLo_54">Video on how to change your mental state by Tony Robbins</a></div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">How to Improve your state:</strong></div>
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<li class="graf--li" name="c23e">Smile</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="6111">Water</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="2ffb">Exercise</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="1146">Gratitude</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="32e5">Sunlight</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="ae47">Journal</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="6afc">Envision positive inward motivation</li>
<li class="graf--li" name="4a7c">Start with the most uncomfortable task</li>
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If you want to truly change the results you are getting, you have to break out of old mental routines and old habits that aren’t serving you and aren’t serving others. The beautiful thing about making micro-goals and daily practices an important part of your creative or professional lifestyle is that you are able to see the fruits of your effort each and everyday and that is its own reward. Even if you don’t immediately see monetary results or increased connections with people, you are gaining valuable insights into how you work, the art of your profession, and your gaining the valuable experience you’re going to need for your success.</div>
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Keep your eye on today. Keep your eye on the mirror. Keep your mind on the inward things. You do want to look for results outwardly but those are not always the most motivating for increasing the quality of your output. If you really want to be motivated, you need to develop daily practices. Motivation is based on habit and so you may have to tweak your “why.” Winning today leads to the championship competition later. You can think about the championship but focus on today’s game.</div>
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Random fact: The word “mind” connotes “to pay attention to.” You could be highly-educated, intelligent, and creative but if you cannot pay attention then your results and interactions are going to be analogous to looking at a computer’s output through a projector with a mis-adjusted focus.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwOz9143QPD8tt6bWvZPljDHIHazvEmJxA0rpatuuddkeV0dZfwBozhbYMxZfCFsuls7yxHApFU-tikCK7sHyn4Dhyphenhyphen0lEhqpoNUZXMXPHH5CpEID4XviBPDrmSBe3jekMLucBCTSqohs/s1600/blurry%252C+matrix%252C+data.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHwOz9143QPD8tt6bWvZPljDHIHazvEmJxA0rpatuuddkeV0dZfwBozhbYMxZfCFsuls7yxHApFU-tikCK7sHyn4Dhyphenhyphen0lEhqpoNUZXMXPHH5CpEID4XviBPDrmSBe3jekMLucBCTSqohs/s1600/blurry%252C+matrix%252C+data.jpg" /></a></div>
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If you can’t see all that beautiful data and creativity to its fruition, what benefit does it have for you or anybody else? External focus is often connected with inward focus as well…everything in our mind will potentially connect more accurately and completely if we are teaching ourselves to use Dopamine (the reward neurotransmitter) to be tied into the everyday activities that actually build the foundations for our success.</div>
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You see — everybody’s capable of greatness. We can adapt and improve ourselves and accomplish so much if we put our mind to the task. Typically those who fail did not reach their goals because they were trying to do too many things at once. <strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Creating something original requires original focus.</strong></div>
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<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Your vision for the future is nothing without a vision for today.</strong></div>
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Cheers to Optimization!!</div>
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If you would like to see more of my work, you can visit my Optimal Human Performance site at <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.uhealingarts.com" href="http://www.uhealingarts.com/">UHealingArts.com</a></div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-39113590670309660792016-04-03T09:24:00.000-07:002016-04-03T09:28:35.955-07:00SuperConnectors, Glia Cells, and Creative Social Networks<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The human mind is a fascinating piece of equipment. The wonders and marvels of the human mind have astonished and confounded philosophers and even scientists for as long as we have recorded history. The human brain is capable of absorbing and processing an enormous amount of information and thus able to learn a huge amount from the environment. We are even able to tap into virtual environments written about in books or through stories passed on to us through family or the community.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the physical level, we could examine some of the elements of what makes the human brain so special compared to other primates. We could note the larger prefrontal cortex in comparison to the monkey or gorilla, for example. One of the lesser-known ways in which the human brain is distinguished from the brains of other mammals is the the abundance of a specific kind of brain cell called the glial cell. These cells are most prominent in the grey matter of the brain towards the surface of the cortex. These cells have especially-long axons and are some of the most well-connected cells of the brain. These are the “socialite” butterfly cells of the brain. Their well-connectedness suits them well for the role they play in helping to organize the signals from all over the brain into a coherent stream of consciousness. Just as communication amongst tribe members and family members is fundamentally important, good communication within the mind is also fundamentally important for the success of the organism. There has to be a common language for translating the signals from one area of the brain to the other areas.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What makes the human brain so wonderful is the ability for us to communicate ideas amongst ourselves and gain from the knowledge of those who have studied and invented things before our generation. We are able to gain some of the wisdom of the crowd. The human species is able to achieve so much because of this interaction between the subtle worlds of information--and the more stable world of matter viewed through a simpler lens. (viewed through more complex, advanced quantum lenses and theories, we know reality to be made of waves of probabilities and potentials. The waves are open to signal modification and then collapse in a cyclical pattern we might describe as a vortex or toroidal action. This is similar to quorum sensing within the mind and amongst people in a group.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Humans learn best when their curiosity and inner-motivation drives the learning process. Since humans are naturally very social beings, we usually make better decisions when we are associating with like-minded individuals. Strangely, our current culture seems to have chosen to focus on the individual and the nuclear family rather than larger formations. The American Dream, for instance, is largely based around the destiny of the individual and his or her family. I think that the problem starts at the level of the individual where people are unconvinced of their true value as a human being. The human being has a unique place within the world in terms of capability as well as responsibilities that go along with our strengths. Unfortunately, I feel that one of our greatest strengths (our social bonding) is also the biggest part of our “shadow self” both on the level of the individual, and collectively as a species.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For us to transcend beyond the current state of things and recognize our true value as human beings, we’re going to need to recognize who we are without all the layers of civilization artificially built-up on top of us layer by layer. Once we see ourselves for who we truly are, we’ll see the true power of the choices we make and the ways in which our choices affect our evolution as individuals as well as our collective evolution.</span></div>
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</span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In order to reach greater levels of prosperity, we are going to need to recognize the ways in which failing to work together is hurting each of us even when it’s not obvious. This may be especially challenging for those who are in the top earning brackets since they are the most likely to underestimate the ways in which those who are ‘below’ them in the socioeconomic classes actually contribute to moving the entire society forward. But really there is no finger-pointing here..</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are all responsible for recognizing our true potential as a human being and transcending our current expectations and standards for ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Whatever your mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve regardless of how many times you may have failed in the past.” </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Napoleon Hill</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I love this quote by Napoleon Hill which highlights the mind’s ability to achieve something when he commits his whole being to bringing forth his genuine and persistent desires. The Universe seems especially prone to helping those who truly have a selfless passion and desire for uplifting the state of many other people. For our species to thrive, we absolutely depend on others. We depend on others to be responsible on the roads we share with other drivers. We expect those in public offices and professional roles to maintain professionalism and quality work. Civilization is built upon the principle of trust. We wouldn’t be where we are at now if it weren’t for powerful force of capitalism and economic trade. But behind this obvious system of trade, there’s an entire backbone of behaviors and expectations that we can basically consider to be the “social contract” or the status quo of culture.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we closely examine how well these arrangements are working however, I believe that most sane people will be able to imagine a great number of ways in which society can improve our interactions from the level of the individual all the way up to the level of the corporation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this time we are lucky to have access to the tremendous power of the Internet and all the information available to us. With all the information plus all the globalization, there are a lot of products on the market and a lot of information to sort through. This means that the amount of research one would need to do in order to stay well-informed or become well-informed about the subjects needed for him to really take matters into his own hands are quite grand in scope. It is doable of course to a large degree but definitely a challenge for the average individual.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is why I believe we will increasingly find the relevance and sensibility in joining up with other like-minded individuals who share similar passions to us and are interested in optimizing similar things in their life. By linking up in these “intentional networks,” we’ll have the opportunities to share this knowledge amongst ourselves and keep one another on track. We will likely make better decisions and perform more optimally in the many aspects of modern, complex life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe that there is massive potential in communicating with like-minded individuals on topics which are important and relevant for our evolutionary growth as individuals and communities. Changes at the community level are traditionally made through political bureaucracy and we all know how reliable and smooth these processes can be, right? I am mostly bullish about the potential for personal and family-level benefits but there are likely many benefits that could be seen at the community-level as well.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Take a second to notice the direction of this document thus far though. Notice how it has all been primarily focused on consumption. Even when discussing information, it has still centered around consumption of that information.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I believe that networks of individuals can be 10X as powerful when they are used as creative channels for channeling our individual dreams into collectively-generated dreams. There’s something about a team of intentional designers working on a project together that is capable of incredibly amazing accomplishments. In the world of children’s movies, just look at Pixar for an awesome example of the power of a creative team.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-RYNYPGJkAQZXL2D0cL1lir8Ip64JLgSquIT1jw7Xzdxu1_33LaiNnk9ffp8hJc7CIipEvC5WYRlc3ezSDTLZBFJ_R-7bg_u5MZ34a6WntSPwZMKPfbaG3BYDncIh1I1sJ-HVkjwFpM/s1600/colors%252C+paint%252C+people%252C+creativity%252C+energy%252C+passion%252C+group%252C+art+-+lo-res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-RYNYPGJkAQZXL2D0cL1lir8Ip64JLgSquIT1jw7Xzdxu1_33LaiNnk9ffp8hJc7CIipEvC5WYRlc3ezSDTLZBFJ_R-7bg_u5MZ34a6WntSPwZMKPfbaG3BYDncIh1I1sJ-HVkjwFpM/s400/colors%252C+paint%252C+people%252C+creativity%252C+energy%252C+passion%252C+group%252C+art+-+lo-res.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You see, this same type of creative force can be channeled for the optimization of the human being and the human family (nuclear and otherwise) First, we need new ways of honroing the human spirit. We need new ways of respecting the drives and motivations of the individual. Some people truly are on a mission to change the world and bring greater harmony and well-being to the community. Sometimes those who gain the most confidence and built the biggest dreams achieved these states because they went through so many hardships...or pushed themselves so hard...strayed so far outside the norms....perhaps in their own introverted worlds..that they were able to see the world for what it is and also for what it can become.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Those with the widest breadth of experience generally have learned the most through those experiences because there is so much contrast and complexity within their experiences that they can draw comparisons and analyses from. However, these people can get worn down through all these experiences so the community should take note of the values these people have learned along their journey and help support their dreams, or at least hear them out.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One thing I find a bit disturbing about our culture is that it seems that there are not many outlets these days for having deep conversation with people unless perhaps you are doing a business transaction with them or maybe if you are already good friends. The trouble with this is that it reduces the amount of exposure we get to new people with new ideas and new perspectives. If we want to increase our personal and social evolution by learning through others’ experiences, it is vital that we make the time for having these deep conversations with those who have nuggets of wisdom to share or knowledge in a specific field.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wonder how much we would learn if we found ways of connecting with people on a deeper level and forming intentional relationships with people of a like mind. Would we raise the prosperity of nations? Would we find greater levels of peace? Would we recognize more of the interconnectedness of all things? See the overlaps between the multiple “separate” academic disciplines and begin to see the actual natural models behind all the theory and jargon?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s personal experiences and relationships that form real mastery of knowledge and wisdom. I propose that we all make a point to evaluate the nature of the human being and how far we can evolve. The greatest enemy only exists when we create it within ourself. The greatest ally is the one we create within ourself. And when we recognize that others are of very similar quality to us, we recognize that there are no clear distinctions between the “self” as in our body and our mind and with other human beings. We share the same DNA and blood. We all basically want and need the same basic desires, physical and spiritual.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are only used to conceiving of the idea of a human being as we see it in civilization so it’s almost like if the only cheetah or black bear we saw was in the zoo. We would think that their behavior and habitats in the zoo were the norm. If we only imagine the behavior and habitats of human beings within the environments of cities, we will imagine a whole different breed of animal than the one we really are.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let’s develop those tribes of individuals with like-minded purpose and direct our attention and will-power towards setting big things in motion. If we don’t, I believe our kids will ask us why we didn’t try harder to improve the state of the planet.</span></div>
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Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-90734787329516012692016-04-01T14:27:00.001-07:002016-04-01T14:27:25.492-07:00Intention Networks We live in interesting economic times. There is more potential for prosperity and riches than ever before in history. And the advances in information availability means that the potential for self-development is really only limited by our work ethic and how motivated we are to develop our wisdom and character.<div>
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There is a huge increase in people who are realizing how powerful we are as human beings, especially when we work together to achieve a common goal. Most people agree that Capitalism is one of the best systems for building wealth, at least on the massive global and national scales. The competition drives us to achieve more and deliver higher value to each customer. All boats rise.</div>
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There have been some changes to how we negotiate the economic and social landscape, like Uber for ridesharing and social media and personalized online ads for discovering new products and services on the market.</div>
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I think that these trends will continue but they will probably not be as low-friction and convenient in the roll-out on a mass-scale as the Uber App and platform. By connecting with friends who have similar intentions and interests, we can share in the advantages of economies of scale. An example of an economy of scale is when you open a printer and refill all the cartridges at once from the same ink cartridge package, it's faster than if all the cartridges are individually wrapped and you refill them all at separate times. That's just an example but in larger processes with more involvement, it's even more profound. And there are usually financial perks as well. This is actually the main reason why companies are formed. When you have a larger company that specializes in doing a few things really well, they become proficient at it and they also are doing the same basic processes all while everything is out and ready to go...</div>
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This is the same reason why there are financial advantages to living with a significant other, especially when the other person also works outside the home. The combined income is the obvious advantage but there are many savings of both time and money when the meals that would be cooked separately are cooked together in one larger meal, and groceries and products are bought for the shared home.</div>
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There is also what's known as SuperFamilies which are multiple families which network together and take advantage of one another's assets. Simple examples are tools, gardens, juicers, etc. Intention networks can reshape the way that groups of like-minded people make purchases and the way we live.</div>
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Plus there are simply the added benefits of sharing knowledge and having more social connections and more opportunities to enjoy life with each other. Life is meant to be lived in harmony with our authentic selves and with nature.</div>
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We do have so much prosperity on the planet and yet we also aren't necessarily fully conscious and intentional about the kinds of purchases we make and the activities we do. There are many reasons for this. Ads are one reason. But a bigger reason is that people feel crunched for time. There is something beautiful that changes in a person's entire spirit when we just vibe with the people around us.</div>
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I think one of the biggest benefits we can gain from linking up in these Intenional Networks is a sense of virtual experience by gaining from the collective knowledge and experience of the others in the group. In the present age with all the information available on the Internet, it's a blessing and a curse. It's amazing the kinds of opportunities available for us to learn about cutting edge technologies and such. But there is such a variety that to get the full benefit is difficult both economically and informationally unless you are working with intentional groups of people. This helps you understand better and also take advantage more fully.</div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-27062339410193540982016-03-30T15:33:00.000-07:002016-03-30T16:33:02.812-07:00Learning in a Creative, Experience-Building Way<div style="text-align: center;">
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The human brain has evolved to be capable of stunning feats of ingenuity and creativity! Most notably, when we interact socially with our peers and even those who are more knowledgeable and experience than us, we are capable of taking advantage of human language and communication so we can talk about and think about complex ideas. And the word 'ideas' doesn't even do justice to the complex models that we are capable of interacting with in the mind. <b>We all use filters to consume information.</b> We may primarily use our 5 senses but these are all filtered through the brain and processed which is what <b>extracts meaningful information and patterns</b> from what we are seeing. (on whatever time scale we are noticing them.) These filters are able to be developed <b>as we apply discipline to our minds and our studies.</b></div>
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<b>All of us are able to stand upon the shoulders of the giants who have come before us.</b> They were the inventors, the great orators and authors, the philosophers, the captains of industry. We are capable of learning by their example, their biographies and autobiographies, their contributions to their fields, and so on.</div>
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The vast array of knowledge that society continually churns out is able to help us become <b>more knowledgeable, more adaptive, wise, and capable.</b> We can be more creative with these wholesome inputs being our inspiration. We can learn to really understand ourselves by understanding others and by getting in touch with various models of complex dynamic systems such as those found within Biological systems, planetary systems, and Quantum systems.</div>
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<b>Being able to really connect with nature at this depth and being willing to change your own mind as you consume new information is capable of taking you on a journey through not just knowledge, but experience.</b> <b>Once you begin to see your mind as a changing, evolving system of models and information, you become a creator of information and you become capable of using this information to your advantage and to the advantage of your mental models. You actually begin to change your experience!</b></div>
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So many people seem to be caught up in the idea that they have to be *taught* everything in an orderly way. The problem with this is that it only gives you what you put in and nothing new. It also assumes that what you are being explained is fully what was in the minds of the people who really study these complex systems. It even assumes that they are fully correct about the systems in question. We should all be responsible for our own journey of discovery. Wisdom is distinguished from knowledge for good reason. The difference can be summed up in the word <b>'experience.'</b></div>
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Experience is more than a number. It's not just age. And it's not even the amount of time you've dedicated to studying a field. It's also the way in which you've approached it from an emotional and psychological perspective. Someone could be very dogmatic and skeptical and slow to change their mind about things and be very stubborn and really not evolve their mind much at all. Another person can be very insistent on continually modifying the mental models in their mind so they are consistently asking questions and maintaining some amount of humility and a huge amount of curiosity.</div>
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The process itself of learning can be an incredibly enjoyable and rewarding experience! When we maintain an attitude of truly caring about knowing more about our reality, even knowing ourself! (Know Thyself!)...we are setting ourselves up to find and know truth. Truth is one thing you can't really depend on anyone else for. Not just because people are bad communicators or liars or because of government and so on. It's also in large part because of the nature of truth. Truth is based on how a person experiences it and so if we collapse everything down to its core, we find that we almost completely lose meaning because we are not able to feel the need to interact with anything or anyone. But <b>it's through our experiences in life that we discover that we are capable of bringing the light of truth to our daily actions and thus improving the lives of our fellow man and of ourselves.</b></div>
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<b>Fostering within ourselves a state of constant curiosity and a passion for discovering how we can live optimally in harmony with nature is our duty, I believe.</b> It is paramount that we learn to live in harmony with nature and with one another. It truly makes a difference how much pollution we create and how much waste we create from our consumerist lifestyle choices. I also believe that taking care of our bodies and maintaining optimal health is important for our well-being. But nobody can really put these sparks of desire and commitment directly inside you permanently. <b>People can help you plant the seeds and even help you water them and so on but you have to maintain a cooperative spirit with the process of growth.</b></div>
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It takes intelligence and wisdom to be able to make wholesome, optimal decisions for ourselves and our family when we have so many choices and all the media wants us to buy into their product or belief systems. So it's as if we just need to be very selective about our inputs and take a broad variety of inputs into the mind. I believe that's in fact of the utmost importance. If we only get information from one source, we not only get just one perspective from a real model standpoint but we also only get it explained in a single linguistic way of communicating the complex ideas or models. One of the most interesting things we are capable of as human beings with large several pound brains and lots of energy is to actually hold multiple models in the mind simultaneously which interact with one another and to create the best of all worlds out of those multiple perspectives and models! Because we have to assume that the models we are 'given' or set out to use at the beginning or even the middle of our journey are incomplete, even flawed.</div>
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One should always be willing to modify the mind to <b>incorporate</b> information which generates more complete solutions or helps build the scaffolding needed to build our knowledge base. Another reason to keep coming back to the knowledge in its finest "gnostic" form is because if we are not "practically" using knowledge then it will decay and we will feel like we have an understanding of our reality but it will become too simplified. We must constantly be simplifying and then working towards a further understanding. If we are not pushing ourselves to constantly grow, we are going to slip into mediocrity and we will no longer be able to provide actionable value to ourselves, our family, and our community.</div>
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It's important we think outside the box. A personal motivation for me is to help other people live more optimal lifestyles and be happier, healthier, etc. So for me, I've been adding this tagline to my email footers for quite awhile now: <b>"Think for yourself with others in mind."</b> I think it does a good job of summing up the true motivation we should have when doing any kind of self-development or research. We should be really keen to learn from lots of different sources. (dozens) And we should go through hundreds or thousands to find those really amazing few dozen that we can really count on. Even if you don't go for those numbers, that's the basic ratio you should look for. <b>If you want to make sure that the information you're using is of the utmost value and closest to the truth, you have to go through as many sources as possible and figure out based on all the extreme positions, exaggerations, errors, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and so on, how you balance out for sort of the ultimate model which is a combination of what you have learned from all the competing voices.</b></div>
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Now, everyone is going to use their own system and that's the beauty of the mind. We all chart our own progress through our existences and we are all able to perceive reality in different ways and thus add our own unique values to the world based on what we each uniquely view from our perspectives. The important thing is that you aren't simply copying what the mainstream is saying or doing or just simply copying what one or two people (even if they are famous or mostly "right") are saying. The reason is because you won't really understand the system fully until you really process through a lot of material and basically <b>judge what you see in an open-minded but intentional way.</b></div>
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Being a Philosopher is how you strengthen the mind. But people sometimes forget the "Philo" part of the word. You're going to need a good heart as well if you don't want to just be a copy of everything you read and see. A mind that is not willing to change or perceive the needs and desires of nature or people is doomed to the ivory towers and probably not going to change society to a large degree. And what good is knowledge that does not have an effect? Both on oneself and one's loved community and world?</div>
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Philosophy means, roughly speaking, "love of knowledge." But it actually means <b>"love of wisdom."</b> The wise person knows the value of experience because he has experienced it himself. The loving person knows that love is the emotion felt when you give or receive flowers, not the flowers themselves. The loving person knows that an advanced lover does not even necessarily need to buy flowers in order to create this energy of love. It can simply be conjured from within. So with Philosophy, a person does not always need external information inputs in order to increase in knowledge and wisdom. <b>From what has been "planted" within in our neural networks, we can expand our knowledge, wisdom, and experience.</b> We can begin to see differently through our "mind's eye" or simply through different <b>filters</b> and be able to observe <b>patterns</b> in nature or society or even simply in ourselves and our own behavioral patterns. We will be able to surmise possibly that the origins of some effect we are feeling or noticing personally may have been triggered by one or more "causes" many days or even weeks previous to this day. We may also begin to predict what good changes may come of our <b>concerted</b> and intentional efforts towards some end goal.</div>
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One of the wisest things I have personally learned is that there is never any real single cause or single effect. In essence, we create our own luck through preparedness and the taking of opportunities. We are able to prepare ourselves physically and mentally for the goals we wish to accomplish. Incredibly powerful is the will of man when fully engaged and incredibly limiting can be our doubts, negative self-talk, or self-limiting beliefs. If we engage in behaviors and patterns of thought and emotion--where we see only huge potential for growth in our own lives and the impact we're able to have on others' lives--we will be able to channel all our energy towards our success instead of that which possibly could go wrong. The subconscious is very good at bringing to our conscious awareness or even our external experience that which we are thinking about, whether we are imagining something undesired or desired. So we should absolutely be sure to, as much as is possible or practical, concentrate our energies and attention on those things which we desire to manifest in our lives.</div>
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So by building these <b>mental models,</b> we are able to more clearly see that there are not necessarily simple solutions for that which we desire but some <b>set of conditions</b> which must all probably be present for the likely manifestation of that which we desire.</div>
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I will end this treatise with this last concept of <b>triangulation.</b></div>
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I present to you this quoted bit of text:</div>
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotman_School_of_Management" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rotman School of Management</a> defines integrative thinking as:<br />
"...the ability to constructively face the tensions of opposing models, and instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generating a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new model that contains elements of the individual models, but is superior to each."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrative_thinking#cite_note-0" rel="nofollow" style="color: #3366cc; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">[1]</a>The website continues:<br />
"Integrative thinkers build models rather than choose between them. Their models include consideration of numerous variables — customers, employees, competitors, capabilities, cost structures, industry evolution, and regulatory environment — not just a subset of the above. Their models capture the complicated, multi-faceted and multidirectional causal relationships between the key variables in any problem.<u>Integrative thinkers consider the problem as a whole, rather than breaking it down and farming out the parts. Finally, they creatively resolve tensions without making costly trade-offs, turning challenges into opportunities."</u></blockquote>
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<div>So, a true thinker obviously is doing much more with their mind than injecting information into it through their eyeballs and their ears. A <b>true thinker</b> or philosopher is actually forming arguments (logical reasoning, discussion, communication) within their systems of processing information. This is both for actually consuming and forming responses or output through communication such as speaking or writing.
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So triangulation, for me, means a couple things. Triangulation can be used in writing or any form where we are using human languages like English, Mandarin, Spanish, or German to communicated complex ideas and <b>clusters of concepts.</b><br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtv-AHr5gxKBRUxrrqp9uqIWemPTIr81-UJIFTO0QFXmET7SzT3EO4al-VDn0lghBa1gxhlmx4Y828LHSEijO7D6f2FjD_dVrhQFWpL4jnzWevRucb-jv_S6TaUDWDx3Kql0TVlHLZkts/s1600/cluster+network.gif" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtv-AHr5gxKBRUxrrqp9uqIWemPTIr81-UJIFTO0QFXmET7SzT3EO4al-VDn0lghBa1gxhlmx4Y828LHSEijO7D6f2FjD_dVrhQFWpL4jnzWevRucb-jv_S6TaUDWDx3Kql0TVlHLZkts/s400/cluster+network.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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As you can see in the above image, we have a <b>network of nodes which are separated into general clusters,</b> each with a unique color code. Yet these clusters are also interconnected and even within each cluster, there are differences or separations where the nodes are starting to differentiate.</div><div><br /></div>
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So when you think about some complex system such as in Biology where you can have a disease effecting multiple organs and organ systems simultaneously and dozens of metabolic pathways directly related to the "root causes" you can begin to see how there would never really be a silver bullet because there is no single cause to begin with...</div><div><br /></div>
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Also with words, we can't really assume which definition someone means when they use a word so it's important that we have some context or that we at least know the person so we have some context from previous conversations with them, etc. This tremendously deepens the ability we have of communicating and indeed for the communication that happens within our own minds which partially gives rise to consciousness itself. Good communication is important so to go beyond "buzzwords" we need to triangulate these nodes so that we can talk about certain custom clusters "on the fly" in the moment and constantly keep these adaptive neural networks moving and reshaping themselves. These networks are not meant to be static and never-changing. The whole point is that they are able to be computed with and interacted with. <b>Being able to mix and match and recombine these different pieces of our knowledge web in different ways</b> allows us to see new perspectives and come up with new ideas for the most effective ways to achieve a desired results or perhaps change a condition. Perhaps we want to take somebody from a state of disease to a state of being on top of their world and full of life. We can only make effective lifestyle changes if we are able to holistically understand psychology, emotions, physical biological systems, and more in a connected, interactive way.</div><div><br /></div>
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If we want to truly <b>optimize our lives,</b> it's of utmost importance that we have clarity about the many interacting pieces in our lives. The simpler our models, the simpler a change might be but the simpler our understanding of complex issues will be. So we must create simple, effective results while also being able to see the bigger picture so we can work with those hard cases or achieve the "impossible."</span><br />
I actually started writing this blog post as an introduction to nootropics and then it morphed into an essay about being responsible for our personal experience of educating the mind. If you haven't heard of nootropics, they are basically the next level after caffeine for helping you train the mind to learn new patterns and be more efficient at creating quality output, whether that's writing, designing, drawing, coding, taking tests for school, or working in any kind of office or work environment. Basically nootropics are a whole different beast from caffeine because caffeine simply speeds up your perception of consciousness but doesn't really increase the quality of your output. It also doesn't really give your body and brain what you need to create new connections in the mind (called neuroplasticity) The brain needs a good supply of oxygen, blood flow, neurotransmitters, and other chemicals in order to function at its best. That's what a lot of these herbs and superfoods provide which you wouldn't ordinarily find in average foods from the supermarket...</div><div><br /></div>
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You may explore more at my website at</div> <a href="http://uhealingarts.com/">UHealingArts.com</a> or follow me on Google+ at <a href="https://plus.google.com/+AndrewCarpenter/about">https://plus.google.com/+AndrewCarpenter/about</a></span><br />
As always, Cheers to Optimization!!</div>
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Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-54125052949863932762016-03-20T19:55:00.001-07:002016-03-20T19:55:29.216-07:00Being Persistently ADAPTIVE (You are travelling THROUGH the Environment)When on a journey of expansion or moving into new paradigms of being, we can get get tunnel vision and feel like the vision we are working to transform into existence is going in slow-motion. Those of us who identify as Type A personality can probably identify with the feeling that we are the odd one going against a lot of societal pressures and cultural norms. This is why we have to be independently strong and really believe in the vision we have for ourselves number one before anything else. We need ways of being personally validated about what we believe and being personally stabilized and persistent.<br />
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It can be an easy mistake to mix our business and culture-changing ideals with our personal sense of well-being and value as a human being. We may begin to feel as though we are victim to the cycles of business and culture which is actually far more "friendly" to our personal development process and attitude than we may realize. By friendly, I mean that the way that we experience the world and the way the world experiences us...is very dependent upon how we are living out our pattern. If we begin to believe that we should be owed more by others and the world then we are going to start placing the emphasis of action on others and upon the environment. We must take ownership of our actions and the results we get.<br />
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The wise course of action is to continually practice the art and sciences that we know are personally developing oneself as a human being on all levels of being including our spiritual self-development. The way we interface and interact with the development of our dreams and aspirations is highly-important. Many people have been close to achieving success and given up on their dreams shortly before they would have brought them to life.<br />
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Being able and willing to adapt in order to remain strong (or grow stronger and wiser) is one main key I believe is crucial to the long success game. Sometimes we feel like we just have to be more persistent. But if persistence morphs into negativity about the current state of things then it is morphing into a "give-me attitude" instead of a gratefulness attitude and positive work ethic.<br />
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Be like this water droplet that can flow as water and also refract light and shape our environment so strongly as water does. Also notice how water can cling together as a stream and also break off into a smaller bead drop and flow across a surface.<br />
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Water and light both follow cycles as well on an atmospheric, physics and biologic level which is another reason why these are both ideal analogies for how a person should ideally adapt throughout the process of creating business success in their lives and their community.<br />
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A person must have core-values and integrity and for this to exist within a person, they must believe in themselves and their value in whatever shape they take as a person. If they believe they are only valuable if they are acting in a certain capacity or way, they can become stubbornly set on a rigid view of how their life should be playing out. And that's following a script that is almost surely doomed to failure. Our actions and emotional/mental strategies should never be conditioned (or contingent) on such a fragile, singular result.<br />
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The essence of any creative pursuit is being able to see the big picture. I will add to this metaphor. It is being able to see the big, MOVING picture and being able to see it from multiple angles and perspectives. But what about when you can't? How do you move and create within a landscape when you are using imperfect maps? You have to be able to adapt to streams of information and to your surroundings as they emerge to you and be able to extrapolate extra data from limited, incomplete patterns. It also helps when you realize that preparedness is one of the greatest keys to the Universe.<br />
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We are constantly co-creating the conditions for our success. We are the creators of our lifestyle. The story we write and the movie we create is dependent upon us believing in our innate value and the value we transform in the world around us.<br />
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Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-38665635971194253672016-01-18T16:00:00.001-08:002016-01-18T19:31:10.767-08:00Launching out into the Creative FlowThere is the meme of the starving artists..those who are fanatical about creating for the sake of interacting with the creative forces, working with the beauty of natural archetypes and design patterns and such. And these are people who love to generate delight in those who view their artistry. They themselves are in love with their work. They are perhaps more in love with their work than any monetary gain. And yet the greatest business successes take advantage of the principles of artistry and delighting their customers.<br />
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When a businessperson truly harnesses the creative force within themselves and takes careful notice of the needs and desires of their target demographic..they become responsible for delivering something almost as sacred and natural as a swift summer rain at the peak of growing season. For their customers, they become the perfect answer, the perfect solution. They find the niche in the market space and they bring an energy to that space that wasn't there before.<br />
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Successful people live their personal lives this way. Whether they are conscious of it or not, they are in a kind of alignment with the forces of influence surrounding their lives and in their environment. They aren't playing victim games. The successful person sees opportunity where others would see nothing.<br />
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The successful person brings these seething forces of power and furls them into twisting vortexes of positive pulsating energy that becomes ready to burst forth with its seed and deliver value to their company and ultimately to society. And in return, as almost a natural law, there is the potential for profits to return to the creator of this value.<br />
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In fact, the successful value-creator or entrepreneur is more than a creative or a creator. They are really orchestrating these creative forces and designing larger flows of effect (or power) out of the combination and recombination of multiple smaller flows. The word "success" itself has its meaning rooted in going from one accomplishment to the next which is actually a related concept. But the true point of value here is that a value-creating individual is one who becomes adept in satisfying the needs of the many but doing so with a more generalized or efficient design pattern which is repeatable and robust.<br />
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What they are really doing is seeing the potential for transformation. The key to success is being able to have a vision for what you'd like but simultaneously being able to see past certain rigid mindsets and being able to flow "like water" around apparent obstacles. Being able to shift the mind and shift your actions..you..and your business..become unstoppable.<br />
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It's about the structure. It's about the structure but it's not. There's a careful tension..a careful balance of power that must be observed and maintained in balance and harmony. A certain amount of chaos and yet some amount of containment of that chaos. Some semblance of narrative, of routine, some absolutes. But even these are changeable.<br />
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The important thing is recognizing failure when it's there and yet not succumbing to its continuation. For that's exactly what seems like the default when you are in a failure mode, doesn't it? You're at the point where it feels like there's no return to basics. You feel invested in the way you've been looking at the problem or the goal or whatever it is that you're focusing your energy on. And it feels like if only you just put more energy into the thing you've been trying to get working that maybe you will hit success.<br />
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And this is why we need metrics..so we can see the truth of our position. If we have not map of what it means to be successful or now vision of what we are doing, we will become isolated in our ways of working and wrapped in the fears of loss..and being lost. Only when we create for ourself the surrounding vortex of power that we can come to depend upon as reckoning device..we will know high amounts of success.<br />
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It's important to have imagery in our mind to guide our way of thinking and our actions. The energy we surround ourselves with is like the clouds that cling to topographic features like mountains or along lakes and then precipitate our their various action potentials: rain, snow, thunder, lighting..Likewise, the man or woman can be surrounded with emotions that take him or her to the depth or height of his or her choice. Being persistent to send out value to your workspace and into the market and building connections of value..with sincere close friends, with potential customers, with other businesses that may tie in somehow with your field of choice..these are avenues--streams--pathways--by which you can channel a dynamic flow of energy. A stagnant energy doesn't have the capacity to create value. A stagnant energy cannot bring you a return on value delivery because it lacks the deliver and lacks the return.<br />
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There's a very real level of passion that must be kept in constant motion and yet be under a kind of control or containment. For each person, each business..this will be a different synthesis, a unique formula for your success. Every successful person and business goes through stages and lifecycles where the conditions for success change and the metrics change. If you run into failure, sometimes you need to find new ways of thinking and working.<br />
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Unlock your success. I hope this encourages you.<br />
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P.S. It's not all about the perfect process, perfect grammar, or a perfected synthesis or discovery of ideas that you can somehow package into the "one right answer" or "the way." It's also about the delivery of value. The sun comes up many different ways. The clouds rain many kinds of drops. And there are lots of different kinds of snowflakes. Make your successful process repeatable but not frozen.Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-82706636545967811562015-01-03T06:37:00.004-08:002015-01-03T06:37:29.198-08:00PROCESS Your Way To Your DREAMS; Don't GOAL Your Way There!The change of year is a time when a lot of people declare their life a battleground. People make goals. How successful are people at making these goals reality? Not very. Maybe for a few weeks. But why do people write off as a failure what they undoubtedly succeeded at for at least a few days? That should at least be seen as some kind of success. Or what if the goal is so big and intimidating that we fail because we measure ourselves in comparison to a finished product and feel hopeless? We are not merely products in stasis and we shouldn't underestimate the power of slow but consistent changes over a period of time. The tortoise wins the race...<br />
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If I say I have the goal of writing a book in the next year, most people find that a totally intimidating idea. How can we ever do great big things then if human psychology wimps out so easily? What's the secret? How do some people achieve success in their life? How come some people seem to be able to summon from deep within their will power the manifestation of their dreams into reality? How come some peoples' lives are so congruent with their dream world?<br />
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These questions are important if we want to make our dreams happen. If we want success. If we want to stay on the right path, the path we set before us. Rather than fall short of the full vision we have for ourselves.<br />
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I posit to you that it's not the goal that leads us to success but the process that guides our present actions on a daily basis.<br />
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If I want to write a book, I could have a process where I often write one page of text. Or two pages. I think it's important to be realistic though. If you're not good with consistency, I'm not so sure you should set out to do something every single day. Because you'll probably fail before long. Rather, you could look at it like an easy-medium-hard kind of game or expedition. I like the term 'expedition' because wrapped up in the definition of the word is the idea that there is some purpose to whatever it is you are setting out to do. So there is an aspect of 'goal' in the concept. But there is also an element of game or hunting or exploration involved such that you are looking for something; you are not just tossed around completely by external circumstance...you are exercising some will power...but you are also not completely sure what will happen. It's like if you go out into the woods and go hunting. If you get a smaller deer (or whatever type of animal you are hunting) than you are hoping for or have gotten before, you don't become discouraged and go home and ball your eyes out. If you don't even find a deer, you say "better luck next time" and go again in a couple weekends.<br />
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There are elements of our life story which we can change but we can't change everything all magic-like with ritual dark magick in our circle of candles in our basement. That isn't to say that rituals aren't important though. On the contrary...that's actually kind of the point of this article. Rituals, ie. maintaining a process that you can truly find delightful and joyful rather than some kind of heavy burden...that's your secret. That's the good news. That's the recognition that can take you from victim to victor.<br />
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To change our life requires will-power and experts say we only have a limited amount of will-power much like we only have so much we can pay attention to at any given moment of time. And we only have so much time. Changes are possible usually so long as we have the right kind of expectations and a healthy mindset.<br />
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But how do we MAKE these changes? Through goal-setting? No way. Goal setting might help us plan. But we can't completely accurately predict the future.<br />
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You have to make your process fun and enjoyable. You have to make it addictive. You have to build a habit that engages your attention...<br />
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Something as simple as a list of things to do in a word processor or Google Document which you paste checkmarks into after each complete task might be more compelling and engaging of your attention than some to-do app where you click a button. Maybe the feel of the click of the keys on the keyboard is more satisfying than the click of the mouse. Maybe you like the feeling of freedom when you use the word processor or Google document to track the things you want to do more than the perceived limitations in functionality of to-do apps. Maybe even interacting with to-do apps imposes a psychological perception of intimidation at the mere suggestion that you should be focused solely on producing and doing work, etc.<br />
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It seems weird but seriously research shows that our environment and what we interact with effects our brain and mindset in strange and sometimes subtle ways. A trigger for forgetting something on our mind can be something as simple as walking through a doorway from one room to another room. The reason seems to be that our brain organizes our memories based on what our location is and what the environmental conditions are like. We like to think that we are 'objective' and 'rational' whatever those are supposed to mean. We don't necessarily realize that our brains have a different idea of what is objective and rational. To our brains, it probably actually is rational and productive to be subtly effected by our environment.<br />
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Then there's the whole Dopamine aspect. What's the reward for making changes in our life? Change can be stressful. One thing we can do to reward ourselves is eat a small piece of chocolate after we do something that takes some effort on our part. Like writing a blog post :) Plus, I suspect that the simple action of tying together different kinds and instances of minor accomplishments in our life, via following the accomplishment with a small reward, ties certain neural pathways used to achieve each various minor task/accomplishment into a stronger related network in our brain which generally seeks out BEHAVIOR and REWARDS (OPPORTUNITIES & COSTS). I suspect this network pathway would make us more confident, successful, and have stronger more consistent will-power, etc. But you don't necessarily have to only use chocolate. And the beauty is that you don't have to even use chocolate every time. Once you do sometimes, your mind will automatically think of chocolate when you do something productive on a subconscious level. But you could additionally/alternatively use other means to reward yourself. You could read a chapter of a fiction book after you complete a task that you normally put off doing or find yourself frequently becoming distracted from. You could also play a game online or on your phone. A fun one I like is 'Bloons Tower Defense 5.' It can last a little bit longer than I'd sometimes like to spend on a game all in one sitting but once in awhile this is not at all such a bad thing. It's good to work hard but also to play hard.<br />
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Find a way to split up a task into a chunk just small/easy enough that you're confident you can probably achieve it without taking too much time (I'm thinking less than 45 min-1 hr.)<br />
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What you can take away from all this is that your work, your productivity, can and should be fun and exciting. Whether you have to spice it up by being creative and snacking on some highly pure antioxidant-rich chocolate or some other decadent treat or reading some fiction or using social media or playing a game or taking a nap...whatever...the important factor is the expedition, the journey, the process.<br />
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Your process needs to be designed for humans not for machines. You are a human, not a machine.<br />
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Be the change you want to see in the world. Your environment and your future are basically convoluted reflections of your inputs & outputs right now. The more that you can crystallize and focus on the vision of your desires/needs, the better this will be reflected in your actual outputs and your environment will be expressed by the deeds of your hands and the spoken words of your tongue. Let thy hands fulfill the deepest expectations of your mind. You gotta believe. Whatsoever you believe will become your reality. With few exceptions. You're one of the biggest influential players in the story of your life. If you don't enjoy the processes and rituals of your daily life, you're living in a system of massive resistance to your own creativity and your own capacity to effectively create the changes you desire. Be attentive to what you want and use each small step of fulfillment as fuel for further change-making. Your results are your reward. Don't like them? Morphogenesis that crap then.<br />
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Change the game. Change the process. Change the way you think about managing your life. The way that your body, mind, and entire life is instructed...or programmed...is not limited to only your conscious wishes or even your conscious awareness but by the deepest, most recessed aspects of your self, including your shadow self...the parts of you which you wished didn't exist. You can't continue to allow those parts to exist or to give those parts of yourself positive attention if you don't want them to rule your life. You need to purge yourself of those things which are doing you self-harm.<br />
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We can be our own worst enemies so often.<br />
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Nurture that part of yourself that is essential to your true success just as you would nurture the watermelon plant and cull the undesired weeds and toss them into the rotting pile to be restored to raw biomass potential.<br />
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Free yourself by removing the bonds of former patterns and reconnecting the aspects of yourself in other more productive configurations. This is the process that feeds itself with its own desires. Do you feed yourself the dung of beetles? I surely hope not... Mentally we need to feed ourselves and our own processes with that which will integrate us into a more deep union with ourself. This is called being self-consistent in systems terms. If we are not self-consistent, the results are horrible. We do that which we do not want to do and are double-minded like a bipolar person.<br />
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If we want the results that we want (to go meta), we need to see that the person who we are when we do not succeed at fulfilling our desires is the same person we are when we do succeed at our desires. Just different parts. And we have to prune back the parts of ourselves that are hurting us as a whole.<br />
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Seek those things which will give you lasting fulfillment. Those things which are sustainable. If what you say you seek is not sustainable or does not bring you fulfillment but you insist that it is better or best for your life, perhaps reconsider whether this is true to your inner purpose. Maybe this is not actually good for you, in other words. What is good for you?<br />
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Many times we have dreams and we immediately assume that they must be what we really want. As if the heart really always know what it wants. These thing we so often think of as truisms are more like mass delusions...<br />
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Just like the music you liked when you were a teen probably isn't the same as the music you like now...The heart changes. The heart doesn't know what it wants. Why does that matter for success? Success requires a strong consistency aspect. Search out your dreams and interpret them looking for flaws.<br />
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Before you change your life, change your goal. Before you change your goal, change your process. Before you change your process, change your attitude/mindset...your entire mode of awareness. Have gratitude. Be aware of negative valence emotions though. Look deep within you for that shadow self. That person you deep down know you are but wish you weren't. That psychological part of yourself that you project onto others but inwardly ignore in yourself and avoid admitting you have problems with.<br />
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We like to think we are better than average. Better drivers, better informed, better mannered, etc., etc. Doubtful. We judge the world. Others are so stupid, so ignorant, so lazy, so this or that... Yeah the world is ugly but we are not exempt from that ugliness.<br />
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You want change? WHO ARE YOU?<br />
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This article is meant to get you into a philosophical mode of thinking and really grapple/wrestle with what it means to be consciously aware of yourself. We humans like to pride ourselves with the idea that we are conscious but really I think we are far more blind to our inner workings than we would hope was the case.<br />
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Be Inwardly Aware. But don't over-think or flood your mind with worry and chatter.<br />
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I hope my thoughts on this matter fuels within you an urge to change your life circumstances for the better and maybe paints a better picture than the oft-recited memes about habit-change that give the illusion that life changes reliably snap into place like Lego bricks or K'nex rods.<br />
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Cheers to your bountiful success and to optimization!<br />
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Much Love,<br />
AndrewCorey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-34640723161488472962014-12-06T02:05:00.000-08:002014-12-06T02:18:33.774-08:00Seamless & Infinite App Ecosystem<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">A Dystopian Digital Experience, Why it Exists, and How to Fix it</span></div>
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I want apps to more or less go away and be replaced by dashboards and apps that control multiple company's functionality. I don't see the sense in having to open up an app just to scan a QR code, look at the weather, play music, etc. Furthermore, the data and the protocols for controlling devices should tie into a layer of abstraction on top of the Web.<br />
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So far...the "Internet of Things" is a "dystopia" of proprietary hardware and incompatible, siloed, experiences.<br />
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Digital odometers on bikes and the sensors on treadmills should wirelessly communicate with fitness trackers. Music and other media should be easily streamed to car audio systems or home theater systems. Eventually, more homes will be built with automation-ready technology for controlling the lights, fans, climate control, locks, appliances, windows, blinds, etc. and so far that is a dystopia.<br />
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Just as the Internet creates a unifying experience between different types of computers with the use of the Internet Protocol (IP system) and the Web unifies digital Web Resources like webpages, audio, video, images, text, CSS, etc....I have been a proponent for some time now, pushing for not only better open platforms for data compatibility (for Science and Semantics, etc.) along with a layer for unifying our Experiences as we use devices...predicting the use cases and features of devices and making open standards for using them...together...<br />
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Additionally, similar awesomeness will bleed through in the form of Venues...becoming more contextually relevant for the digital age. Classrooms, stadiums, homes, libraries, conference halls, workplaces...these areas could potentially make use of open standards as a layer on top of the existing Web standards for doing amazing experience based things. Such as...participating in a mobile based game/contest, etc. automatically at a sports event. A little alert pops up on-screen letting you know there is an interactive feature at your event. (tied into Google Now or something, for instance)<br />
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And you can probably imagine yourself how this would be used in other places. The point is...right now, currently, apps are reinventing the wheel all the time. And why should we have to search for an app, install it, and add a huge multi-megabyte app to our phone every time we want to participate in a new, experimental "experience" that has been designed.<br />
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These experiences are not so completely unique that it doesn't make sense for there to be a very special layer of abstraction on top of the existing Web as a starting point for this stuff.Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-65642013477273380182013-10-15T00:19:00.001-07:002013-10-15T00:34:43.767-07:00Digital CurrenciesTechnically, digital currencies have been around for awhile depending on your perspective. That is, if you consider the fact that the world's currencies have been being traded and recorded in ATM networks, stock exchanges, and over the Internet for decades now.<br />
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However, what I'm going to write about today is <i>alternative</i> digital currencies such as <i>Bitcoin.</i> It is interesting, to me at least, to note that <i>Bitcoin</i> actually doesn't really differ much from traditional mainstream currencies in terms of how it spends. In technical terms, of course, it's quite different.</div>
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But what if we want to completely change the way that society uses money? What if we want to create a currency (or credit system) that actually gives us alternatives? Well I've been thinking about that. And I think I've come up with some viable ideas regarding alternative currency systems.</div>
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One of the main properties of traditional money seems to be the high degree in which it seems to be tied to the global markets and inflationary processes. It doesn't seem to be very conducive to decentralization strategies.</div>
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One of the main features that I would like to build into (or see built into) an alternative currency/credit system is a sort of natural independence from the whole...such that everyone can get a fair shake...an opportunity. Think about how each and every one of us has the same amount of time each day. We can spend it how we want. It's often one of the main determining factors of our monetary income, in fact. But what if there is a credit crisis/crunch, a bubble in a market or industry in which you are a professional, or some other global economic phenomenon?<br />
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The fact is that there are a lot of times where the opportunities (real opportunities) seem to be far more abundant than the cash that people have to trade for those opportunities. We need to notice the dichotomy between real natural resources and wealth and the artificial tool called money that we use to trade our skills and products for other products and services that someone else creates.</div>
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Of course, there's always the possibility to barter. Unfortunately, bartering can be time-consuming and this effect is amplified in our global and highly complex markets with tons of stuff being traded in the free market. It's just really hard to keep track of value when bartering. (not to mention...how would one save up value if you're bartering) I'm not discounting the role that bartering and negotiation can play in our lives. I think it can have tremendously good benefits in a lot of circumstances. But, let's be honest. Money is a highly useful tool.</div>
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Except when it's not. Money's not too useful if you don't have access to a whole lot of it. So what else can we use?</div>
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Keep in mind that we live and work in an <i>open system.</i> Our bodies and the plants and animals we eat are powered by the Sun. There's constantly lots of new energy being pumped into our environment. That's not to say that it's necessarily easy to capture that. But we are constantly building new infrastructure to help us capture more useful energy. And experts in every field are constantly finding ways to make energy do more useful ways and to accomplish the same task with less energy and less materials. Computers, for instance, can do orders of magnitude more calculations with a fraction of the energy input that it once took.</div>
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To cut to the chase, what I've been thinking about is a currency or credit system which would be completely digital (out of necessity) and which would have a minimum and maximum balance for all account holders. (people) Let's use the example of 0-100 being the range in which you could go. Everyone would start out with the same amount of credits and these would become immediately available for trade among your local peers, online bloggers, or whomever you want to buy from or support.</div>
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A term I've come up with that I think aptly describes this idea is <b>Opportunity Credits.</b> Why do I call it that? Well, the intent is that this system would be a more ever-present token with which people could trade with and which would be, by its very nature, more evenly distributed among people. By design, people would not be able to collect great piles of that currency. People <i>would</i> be able to collect great <i>wealth.</i> But that is not the same thing as the currency we trade with.</div>
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Wealth is the stuff that we use. Natural resources, land, water, air, a house, rare earth minerals, skills, relationships, health, etc.</div>
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Paper money (or digital for that matter)...or even Gold (especially just sitting in your vault) is not really inherently valuable. Admittedly, gold has more inherent value than paper money but how many people have a use, want, or need for a hunk of Gold. Sure, there's probably trace amounts of it in your smartphone but I doubt there are many people that have the capability or the interest in manufacturing their own smartphone. So is it fair to say that real wealth is pretty separate from the stuff we commonly trade in?</div>
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Anyway, back on topic. all currency is a medium of exchange which functions as a representation and measure of the value that we collectively perceive of certain things. And of course profits and savings are mechanisms which allow for upward mobility and wealth building.</div>
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Money transfers signals. Here's the thing...there's a plethora of different types of signals that people are interested in. There's a lot of different kinds of value. There's monetary value, all the different kinds of natural resources, brand establishment, customer relationships, trust, social capital, skills, time, opportunity, etc. Just to name a few...</div>
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It's safe to say that one single type of currency probably doesn't have the innate capacity to carry all those different signals very well. And, no, various country's currencies don't really count as different types of currency. Nor do I think that <i>Bitcoin</i> is different enough to count as a whole new style of market signal. Sure, it's a little different but it still has much of the same features. That is, individuals who are early adopters or who get lucky can easily have their wealth amplified inordinately beyond others who worked just as hard or harder or who have even more value to offer.</div>
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Not all currencies are created equal. Currencies are what basically "represent" us. They reflect what type of person we are, how skilled we are, or how much work we do. Or, to put it more accurately, money is meant to reflect the perceived value that we create for others. It doesn't always seem to hold true though.</div>
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Is money fairly and accurately representing us? You can make your own assessment and come to your own conclusions.</div>
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My vision is that we can come up with at least one new kind of currency or credit system which has the innate quality of supporting the local, individual, unique value and opportunity that each and every one of us is capable of. And hopefully it can help us each gain access to those opportunities in ways that traditional money doesn't seem capable of.</div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><i>"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed."</i> -William Gibson</span></b></blockquote>
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Let's distribute the future a little more evenly, shall we?<br />
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Cheers to Optimization...</div>
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-Andrew</div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-64412208501873567052013-09-19T19:10:00.004-07:002013-09-19T19:22:21.836-07:00Google Announces Calico: What does it mean for the future of Health?With the notably vague <a href="http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2013/09/calico-announcement.html" target="_blank">announcement of Calico</a> by Google, pundits and nerds alike are left wondering about the details of what this will mean for emerging healthcare trends and life extension technologies in general.<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/+LarryPage/posts" target="_blank">Larry Page,</a> CEO of Google, who originally made the announcement on G+ <a href="https://plus.google.com/106189723444098348646/posts/Lh8SKC6sED1" target="_blank">here,</a> had this to say: <i>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I’m excited to announce Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases."</span></i><br />
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The startup involves Art Levinson, the Chairman of Genentech and a director of Hoffmann-La Roche, as well as Chairman of Apple. </div>
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I thought that my good friend <a href="https://plus.google.com/105103058358743760661" target="_blank">Gideon Rosenblatt</a> wrote up a great encapsulation of what we know so far in his <a href="https://plus.google.com/105103058358743760661/posts/8NVCjAYQuqS" target="_blank">post</a> over on <a href="http://www.plus.google.com/" target="_blank">Google+.</a> Gideon suggests that Google may leverage their significant search capacity and expertise as an entry-point into the genomic (genetic) bio-informatic sciences. If there's one thing Google's good at, it's big data. They index it, graph it, and use algorithms to help people find what they're looking for within that massive set of data.</div>
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Gideon says, <i>"What do you want to bet it has to do with smart approaches to managing the data in our genetic code? That's my bet, but it will be interesting to see how this story unfolds over the next year and beyond. I just don't see the company straying that far from its core competencies and this bet is by Google, not Google Ventures."</i></div>
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Some are wondering if this announcement has something to do with Google's semi-recent <a href="http://www.kurzweilai.net/kurzweil-joins-google-to-work-on-new-projects-involving-machine-learning-and-language-processing">hiring</a> of the famous visionary, <a href="http://www.kurzweilai.net/ray-kurzweil-bio">Ray Kurzweil</a>. Ray Kurzweil is well known in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism">Transhumanism</a> circles and is well respected as an accurate predictor of famous trends such as his <a href="http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-law-of-accelerating-returns">Law of Accelerating Returns.</a> (definitely well worth your time if you haven't read about it yet)<br />
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And others note the similarities with the work of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey_de_Grey">Aubrey de Grey,</a> a renowned anti-aging researcher and evangelist...also well respected in the Transhumanist, technological, and life extension communities. He's the Chief Science Officer of the <a href="http://www.sens.org/">SENS Research Foundation</a>, (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) a non-profit devoted to researching "negligible <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senescence">senescence</a>" and rejuvenation therapies.<br />
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de Grey has come up with a framework for classifying, studying, and targeting various types of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageing">aging</a> processes which he believes to be comprehensive:<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Cancer-causing_nuclear_mutations.2Fepimutations.E2.80.94OncoSENS" target="_blank">Cancer-causing nuclear mutations/epimutations—OncoSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Mitochondrial_mutations.E2.80.94MitoSENS" target="_blank">Mitochondrial mutations—MitoSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Intracellular_junk.E2.80.94LysoSENS" target="_blank">Intracellular junk—LysoSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Extracellular_junk.E2.80.94AmyloSENS" target="_blank">Extracellular junk—AmyloSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Cell_loss_and_atrophy.E2.80.94RepleniSENS" target="_blank">Cell loss and atrophy—RepleniSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Cell_senescence.E2.80.94ApoptoSENS" target="_blank">Cell senescence—ApoptoSENS</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_Engineered_Negligible_Senescence#Extracellular_crosslinks.E2.80.94GlycoSENS" target="_blank">Extracellular crosslinks—GlycoSENS</a><br />
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Increasingly, the bottleneck in science and health is becoming information-based. We have so much data we don't know what to do with it all. Biological organisms are extremely complex from a "static" viewpoint and significantly moreso when you realize that biology and chemistry are anything but static. If we have any hope of reaching a more useful understanding of what causes aging and the associated diseases, we are gonna need a lot of professional research, the right digital tools, and a large research effort.</div>
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The truly beautiful thing about science these days...or any subject/field...is the incredible access we each have via the Internet. The World Wide Web is really changing the landscape of science. Ideas can come from anywhere; anyone. Projects can be initiated and supported by ad-hoc "virtual" teams from around the Earth. Questions can be asked from experts in fields we know very little about. An altruistic individual can help disseminate knowledge and raise questions and spark conversations about virtually any topic and anyone interested can chime in. Google+ is a fantastic blessing we have and I'm extremely grateful that Google built that amazing social network...and indeed this very blogging platform I'm typing this in.</div>
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Open-Source is a concept, philosophy, movement, and more...practically speaking, it is one of the many wonders of our digital age. An enormous opportunity for volunteers to achieve huge milestones, projects, or even breakthroughs by simply collaborating, hacking, and co-creating together. Small contributions add up to sometimes become world renowned public services, products, knowledge, etc.</div>
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So what am I bringing up this optimistic view of self-organizing online interest/topic-oriented communities for? Well, I think that citizen scientists, research hobbyists, and nerds who like to dabble in various subjects that interest them at the time...are a key ingredient in humanity's mission to get everyone healthier and (more) immune to aging.</div>
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There are scores of startups and even big established corporations moving into this space. There are numerous fitness trackers, such as <a href="http://www.fitbit.com/" target="_blank">Fitbit,</a> the <a href="http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/pd/fuelband/pid-669575/pgid-670534" target="_blank">Nike Fuel Band,</a> the <a href="https://jawbone.com/up" target="_blank">Jawbone UP,</a> and the <a href="http://www.mybasis.com/" target="_blank">MyBasis</a> that have sprung onto the market recently and more to come. There is <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/" target="_blank">Watson</a> by <a href="http://ibm.com/" target="_blank">IBM.</a> They are doing some amazing things in <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/watson_in_healthcare.shtml" target="_blank">healthcare.</a></div>
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Not to mention the whole <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_hacking" target="_blank">lifehacking</a> movement and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biohacking" target="_blank">bio-hacking.</a> (I find bio-hacking incredibly exciting by the way.)</div>
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I will shamelessly mention that I am also personally invested (time-wise...not so much financially) in this whole health/anti-aging scene. I spend a lot of time reading and researching about cutting edge science about disease and nutrition. This is an area I'm paying close attention to. I think we can each contribute in our own way. And indeed health really requires personal responsibility anyway. We can't just pay for it. We have to put in the effort, go to the gym, go on a run, do pushups in your room, do pullups at the local park, eat right, get quality sleep...whatever you've gotta do to take yourself to the next level.</div>
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So this definitely appears to be an area that is growing rapidly. I'd really appreciate some feedback and would love to hear what my readers have to say about this new venture by Google. Are you as excited about the possibilities and opportunities of radical life extension as I am? p.s. sorry if my thoughts are disjointed. I'm working on it.</div>
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Cheers to Optimization!</div>
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Think for yourself, with others in mind...</div>
Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-3020144875194881782012-12-14T23:21:00.000-08:002012-12-14T23:31:07.712-08:00How can I write?OK, so I have really been working my mind over an anvil lately, trying to mold something not so transient but destined for something bigger than myself.<br />
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This global village, this world wide web, this vast but small feeling sphere on which I live is a magical, curious place filled with intriguing mysteries waiting to be discovered and reinvented and retold and rediscovered by still someone else. But I must admit, I have a strange quirk, a little angst, knowing that somebody, many, have already written about the subjects I so dearly and passionately want to write. And I almost feel like I am a little cog in a great machine, or I certainly would be if I stretched a little and reinvented the wheel. Or would it really be a reinvention, or maybe an innovation? For although hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of hits can be found on various search strings corresponding to various fascinations...or ...obsessions of mine, still, maybe my own words, the ones I add, replace, or drop off...maybe they might take these ideas to new minds, new audiences, new heights. And I suppose that the practice of writing and learning what to do, how to do it, and how failure works in yet another way of life, maybe I really will accomplish something. Something real, substantial, and lasting.<br />
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I made this blog, found a name so divine in my own eyes, like a beacon for a cause, a crusade for the next generation, a blank page for things yet to be. A dual meaning it is, unbound by math, infinite possibilities, and also unbound by cover or binding. The pages have no scrawling on them.<br />
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The future, as abundant and inviting as I believe it one day will become, is yet quite an uncertain path. Guided by our imagination, we lay hopeful, tentative steps towards a point undecided, knowing so little about the dangers and opportunities and hoping beyond hope that our imagination, our distinguished ability to visualize the possibilities and the impossibilities, and to piece together a plan. Can we master the fear and muster the courage to make our way, to choose a destiny for our children Let us find out what lies ahead. The sooner we know what we don't know, maybe we can fear less, knowing then what we don't now. Ahead we find ourselves and we lay stakes not on land but on patterns of human thought and what it means to be alive. We begin to choose the destiny of mankind.<br />
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If there really be some master creator, some divine architect, to which I owe great gratitude for this existence...as some believe, I ask that being for strength of mind, of spirit, and of character. Specifically for grace to deal with surprises of life with a confident, resourceful, engineering attitude rather than a defeatist attitude.<br />
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I think I have expressed previously and in other places my inclination towards wanting to solve other peoples' problems sotospeak. I call it humanitarianism. Some would call it a waste of time, a mistake, or a crazy obsession perhaps. No matter what catches my interest, there is always an overarching theme, how can this help other people? How can I make the world a better place? I probably put too much pressure on myself in some ways or have unrealistic expectations and demands but it is definitely important to me that I do whatever is in my power to improve the human condition.<br />
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Technology is certainly a factor, and admit food and nutrition likewise. But there is another factor. Some call it spiritual. We can also call it wisdom or culture. It matters not how prosperous we cosmetically may seem for if we are not sustainably functioning as a society, and not stable and sure, we will fall. Of that there is no doubt. It is always something a society should guard against.<br />
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For the sake of my own future and generations to come, I hope with all my heart that we can get ouf acts together, that we can strive towards a higher excellence than simple industrialization, and achieve the full bounty that lays possible even right now.Corey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4594132723627079692.post-1674931712797932252011-10-20T12:06:00.000-07:002011-10-20T19:45:26.227-07:00Why I'm starting a BlogI'm starting a blog because I want to make it possible to better archive my work. I feel drawn to the world of publishing. I love being able to flip open my computer and expand my knowledge. I think I am finally ready to start compiling my personal knowledge that I have obtained through the Internet back onto the Internet. My goal is for Unbound Future to be a community of people who have an affinity for Intelligence, Knowledge, Imagination, and especially the Future. We have been seeing greater and faster use of technology in everyday life over the past century. Even engineering is playing a role in how our culture gets things done.<br /><br />I am interested in wide ranging topics from Quantum Electronics to Sustainability to Liquid Thorium Reactors to Economics and Politics to Academia. I want this blog to be a place where anybody and any topic may be involved and discussed and where Integration of concepts is the norm. Integrative Thinking along with Lateral Thinking is an important part of the way I research. When talking to people, I will try not to offend and rest assured that I am not easily offended. I will try to be open to new ideas or even old ideas. Please feel free to communicate with me here or on my active node of the social network Google+. My name is Andrew Carpenter and you can find my G+ Profile at https://plus.google.com/104424338679069151673/aboutCorey Lemonthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08524637220862179688noreply@blogger.com0