How to be Creative–WSJ

Today I read a few interesting articles, so I thought I would share one with you. This is from the WSJ, I hope you enjoy it and find some use out of it.

God Bless & Happy Lent

Paul Sposite

Guided Insight Life Coach 

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BY: JONAH LEHRER

Creativity can seem like magic. We look at people like Steve Jobs and Bob Dylan, and we conclude that they must possess supernatural powers denied to mere mortals like us, gifts that allow them to imagine what has never existed before. They’re "creative types." We’re not.

The myth of the "creative type" is just that–a myth, argues Jonah Lehrer. In an interview with WSJ’s Gary Rosen he explains the evidence suggesting everyone has the potential to be the next Milton Glaser or Yo-Yo Ma.

But creativity is not magic, and there’s no such thing as a creative type. Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed by the angels. It’s a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. New research is shedding light on what allows people to develop world-changing products and to solve the toughest problems. A surprisingly concrete set of lessons has emerged about what creativity is and how to spark it in ourselves and our work.

The science of creativity is relatively new. Until the Enlightenment, acts of imagination were always equated with higher powers. Being creative meant channeling the muses, giving voice to the gods. ("Inspiration" literally means "breathed upon.") Even in modern times, scientists have paid little attention to the sources of creativity.

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But over the past decade, that has begun to change. Imagination was once thought to be a single thing, separate from other kinds of cognition. The latest research suggests that this assumption is false. It turns out that we use "creativity" as a catchall term for a variety of cognitive tools, each of which applies to particular sorts of problems and is coaxed to action in a particular way.

 

Philip Montgomery for The Wall Street Journal; Illustrations by Serge Bloch

It isn’t a trait that we inherit in our genes or a blessing bestowed on us by the angels. It’s a skill that anyone can learn and work to improve.

Does the challenge that we’re facing require a moment of insight, a sudden leap in consciousness? Or can it be solved gradually, one piece at a time? The answer often determines whether we should drink a beer to relax or hop ourselves up on Red Bull, whether we take a long shower or stay late at the office.

The new research also suggests how best to approach the thorniest problems. We tend to assume that experts are the creative geniuses in their own fields. But big breakthroughs often depend on the naive daring of outsiders. For prompting creativity, few things are as important as time devoted to cross-pollination with fields outside our areas of expertise.

Let’s start with the hardest problems, those challenges that at first blush seem impossible. Such problems are typically solved (if they are solved at all) in a moment of insight.

Consider the case of Arthur Fry, an engineer at 3M in the paper products division. In the winter of 1974, Mr. Fry attended a presentation by Sheldon Silver, an engineer working on adhesives. Mr. Silver had developed an extremely weak glue, a paste so feeble it could barely hold two pieces of paper together. Like everyone else in the room, Mr. Fry patiently listened to the presentation and then failed to come up with any practical applications for the compound. What good, after all, is a glue that doesn’t stick?

On a frigid Sunday morning, however, the paste would re-enter Mr. Fry’s thoughts, albeit in a rather unlikely context. He sang in the church choir and liked to put little pieces of paper in the hymnal to mark the songs he was supposed to sing. Unfortunately, the little pieces of paper often fell out, forcing Mr. Fry to spend the service frantically thumbing through the book, looking for the right page. It seemed like an unfixable problem, one of those ordinary hassles that we’re forced to live with.

But then, during a particularly tedious sermon, Mr. Fry had an epiphany. He suddenly realized how he might make use of that weak glue: It could be applied to paper to create a reusable bookmark! Because the adhesive was barely sticky, it would adhere to the page but wouldn’t tear it when removed. That revelation in the church would eventually result in one of the most widely used office products in the world: the Post-it Note.

Mr. Fry’s invention was a classic moment of insight. Though such events seem to spring from nowhere, as if the cortex is surprising us with a breakthrough, scientists have begun studying how they occur. They do this by giving people "insight" puzzles, like the one that follows, and watching what happens in the brain:

A man has married 20 women in a small town. All of the women are still alive, and none of them is divorced. The man has broken no laws. Who is the man?

If you solved the question, the solution probably came to you in an incandescent flash: The man is a priest. Research led by Mark Beeman and John Kounios has identified where that flash probably came from. In the seconds before the insight appears, a brain area called the superior anterior temporal gyrus (aSTG) exhibits a sharp spike in activity. This region, located on the surface of the right hemisphere, excels at drawing together distantly related information, which is precisely what’s needed when working on a hard creative problem.

Interestingly, Mr. Beeman and his colleagues have found that certain factors make people much more likely to have an insight, better able to detect the answers generated by the aSTG. For instance, exposing subjects to a short, humorous video—the scientists use a clip of Robin Williams doing stand-up—boosts the average success rate by about 20%.

Alcohol also works. Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago compared performance on insight puzzles between sober and intoxicated students. The scientists gave the subjects a battery of word problems known as remote associates, in which people have to find one additional word that goes with a triad of words. Here’s a sample problem:

Pine Crab Sauce

In this case, the answer is "apple." (The compound words are pineapple, crab apple and apple sauce.) Drunk students solved nearly 30% more of these word problems than their sober peers.

What explains the creative benefits of relaxation and booze? The answer involves the surprising advantage of not paying attention. Although we live in an age that worships focus—we are always forcing ourselves to concentrate, chugging caffeine—this approach can inhibit the imagination. We might be focused, but we’re probably focused on the wrong answer.

And this is why relaxation helps: It isn’t until we’re soothed in the shower or distracted by the stand-up comic that we’re able to turn the spotlight of attention inward, eavesdropping on all those random associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain’s right hemisphere. When we need an insight, those associations are often the source of the answer.

This research also explains why so many major breakthroughs happen in the unlikeliest of places, whether it’s Archimedes in the bathtub or the physicist Richard Feynman scribbling equations in a strip club, as he was known to do. It reveals the wisdom of Google putting ping-pong tables in the lobby and confirms the practical benefits of daydreaming. As Einstein once declared, "Creativity is the residue of time wasted."

Of course, not every creative challenge requires an epiphany; a relaxing shower won’t solve every problem. Sometimes, we just need to keep on working, resisting the temptation of a beer-fueled nap.

There is nothing fun about this kind of creativity, which consists mostly of sweat and failure. It’s the red pen on the page and the discarded sketch, the trashed prototype and the failed first draft. Nietzsche referred to this as the "rejecting process," noting that while creators like to brag about their big epiphanies, their everyday reality was much less romantic. "All great artists and thinkers are great workers," he wrote.

This relentless form of creativity is nicely exemplified by the legendary graphic designer Milton Glaser, who engraved the slogan "Art is Work" above his office door. Mr. Glaser’s most famous design is a tribute to this work ethic. In 1975, he accepted an intimidating assignment: to create a new ad campaign that would rehabilitate the image of New York City, which at the time was falling apart.

Mr. Glaser began by experimenting with fonts, laying out the tourist slogan in a variety of friendly typefaces. After a few weeks of work, he settled on a charming design, with "I Love New York" in cursive, set against a plain white background. His proposal was quickly approved. "Everybody liked it," Mr. Glaser says. "And if I were a normal person, I’d stop thinking about the project. But I can’t. Something about it just doesn’t feel right."

So Mr. Glaser continued to ruminate on the design, devoting hours to a project that was supposedly finished. And then, after another few days of work, he was sitting in a taxi, stuck in midtown traffic. "I often carry spare pieces of paper in my pocket, and so I get the paper out and I start to draw," he remembers. "And I’m thinking and drawing and then I get it. I see the whole design in my head. I see the typeface and the big round red heart smack dab in the middle. I know that this is how it should go."

The logo that Mr. Glaser imagined in traffic has since become one of the most widely imitated works of graphic art in the world. And he only discovered the design because he refused to stop thinking about it.

But this raises an obvious question: If different kinds of creative problems benefit from different kinds of creative thinking, how can we ensure that we’re thinking in the right way at the right time? When should we daydream and go for a relaxing stroll, and when should we keep on sketching and toying with possibilities?

The good news is that the human mind has a surprising natural ability to assess the kind of creativity we need. Researchers call these intuitions "feelings of knowing," and they occur when we suspect that we can find the answer, if only we keep on thinking. Numerous studies have demonstrated that, when it comes to problems that don’t require insights, the mind is remarkably adept at assessing the likelihood that a problem can be solved—knowing whether we’re getting "warmer" or not, without knowing the solution.

This ability to calculate progress is an important part of the creative process. When we don’t feel that we’re getting closer to the answer—we’ve hit the wall, so to speak—we probably need an insight. If there is no feeling of knowing, the most productive thing we can do is forget about work for a while. But when those feelings of knowing are telling us that we’re getting close, we need to keep on struggling.

Of course, both moment-of-insight problems and nose-to-the-grindstone problems assume that we have the answers to the creative problems we’re trying to solve somewhere in our heads. They’re both just a matter of getting those answers out. Another kind of creative problem, though, is when you don’t have the right kind of raw material kicking around in your head. If you’re trying to be more creative, one of the most important things you can do is increase the volume and diversity of the information to which you are exposed.

Steve Jobs famously declared that "creativity is just connecting things." Although we think of inventors as dreaming up breakthroughs out of thin air, Mr. Jobs was pointing out that even the most far-fetched concepts are usually just new combinations of stuff that already exists. Under Mr. Jobs’s leadership, for instance, Apple didn’t invent MP3 players or tablet computers—the company just made them better, adding design features that were new to the product category.

And it isn’t just Apple. The history of innovation bears out Mr. Jobs’s theory. The Wright Brothers transferred their background as bicycle manufacturers to the invention of the airplane; their first flying craft was, in many respects, just a bicycle with wings. Johannes Gutenberg transformed his knowledge of wine presses into a printing machine capable of mass-producing words. Or look at Google: Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with their famous search algorithm by applying the ranking method used for academic articles (more citations equals more influence) to the sprawl of the Internet.

How can people get better at making these kinds of connections? Mr. Jobs argued that the best inventors seek out "diverse experiences," collecting lots of dots that they later link together. Instead of developing a narrow specialization, they study, say, calligraphy (as Mr. Jobs famously did) or hang out with friends in different fields. Because they don’t know where the answer will come from, they are willing to look for the answer everywhere.

Recent research confirms Mr. Jobs’s wisdom. The sociologist Martin Ruef, for instance, analyzed the social and business relationships of 766 graduates of the Stanford Business School, all of whom had gone on to start their own companies. He found that those entrepreneurs with the most diverse friendships scored three times higher on a metric of innovation. Instead of getting stuck in the rut of conformity, they were able to translate their expansive social circle into profitable new concepts.

Many of the most innovative companies encourage their employees to develop these sorts of diverse networks, interacting with colleagues in totally unrelated fields. Google hosts an internal conference called Crazy Search Ideas—a sort of grown-up science fair with hundreds of posters from every conceivable field. At 3M, engineers are typically rotated to a new division every few years. Sometimes, these rotations bring big payoffs, such as when 3M realized that the problem of laptop battery life was really a problem of energy used up too quickly for illuminating the screen. 3M researchers applied their knowledge of see-through adhesives to create an optical film that focuses light outward, producing a screen that was 40% more efficient.

Such solutions are known as "mental restructurings," since the problem is only solved after someone asks a completely new kind of question. What’s interesting is that expertise can inhibit such restructurings, making it harder to find the breakthrough. That’s why it’s important not just to bring new ideas back to your own field, but to actually try to solve problems in other fields—where your status as an outsider, and ability to ask naive questions, can be a tremendous advantage.

This principle is at work daily on InnoCentive, a crowdsourcing website for difficult scientific questions. The structure of the site is simple: Companies post their hardest R&D problems, attaching a monetary reward to each "challenge." The site features problems from hundreds of organization in eight different scientific categories, from agricultural science to mathematics. The challenges on the site are incredibly varied and include everything from a multinational food company looking for a "Reduced Fat Chocolate-Flavored Compound Coating" to an electronics firm trying to design a solar-powered computer.

The most impressive thing about InnoCentive, however, is its effectiveness. In 2007, Karim Lakhani, a professor at the Harvard Business School, began analyzing hundreds of challenges posted on the site. According to Mr. Lakhani’s data, nearly 30% of the difficult problems posted on InnoCentive were solved within six months. Sometimes, the problems were solved within days of being posted online. The secret was outsider thinking: The problem solvers on InnoCentive were most effective at the margins of their own fields. Chemists didn’t solve chemistry problems; they solved molecular biology problems. And vice versa. While these people were close enough to understand the challenge, they weren’t so close that their knowledge held them back, causing them to run into the same stumbling blocks that held back their more expert peers.

It’s this ability to attack problems as a beginner, to let go of all preconceptions and fear of failure, that’s the key to creativity.

The composer Bruce Adolphe first met Yo-Yo Ma at the Juilliard School in New York City in 1970. Mr. Ma was just 15 years old at the time (though he’d already played for J.F.K. at the White House). Mr. Adolphe had just written his first cello piece. "Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing," Mr. Adolphe remembers. "I’d never written for the instrument before."

Mr. Adolphe had shown a draft of his composition to a Juilliard instructor, who informed him that the piece featured a chord that was impossible to play. Before Mr. Adolphe could correct the music, however, Mr. Ma decided to rehearse the composition in his dorm room. "Yo-Yo played through my piece, sight-reading the whole thing," Mr. Adolphe says. "And when that impossible chord came, he somehow found a way to play it."

Mr. Adolphe told Mr. Ma what the professor had said and asked how he had managed to play the impossible chord. They went through the piece again, and when Mr. Ma came to the impossible chord, Mr. Adolphe yelled "Stop!" They looked at Mr. Ma’s left hand—it was contorted on the fingerboard, in a position that was nearly impossible to hold. "You’re right," said Mr. Ma, "you really can’t play that!" Yet, somehow, he did.

When Mr. Ma plays today, he still strives for that state of the beginner. "One needs to constantly remind oneself to play with the abandon of the child who is just learning the cello," Mr. Ma says. "Because why is that kid playing? He is playing for pleasure."

Creativity is a spark. It can be excruciating when we’re rubbing two rocks together and getting nothing. And it can be intensely satisfying when the flame catches and a new idea sweeps around the world.

For the first time in human history, it’s becoming possible to see how to throw off more sparks and how to make sure that more of them catch fire. And yet, we must also be honest: The creative process will never be easy, no matter how much we learn about it. Our inventions will always be shadowed by uncertainty, by the serendipity of brain cells making a new connection.

Every creative story is different. And yet every creative story is the same: There was nothing, now there is something. It’s almost like magic.

—Adapted from "Imagine: How Creativity Works" by Jonah Lehrer, to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on March 19. Copyright © 2012 by Jonah Lehrer.

10 Quick Creativity Hacks

1. Color Me Blue

A 2009 study found that subjects solved twice as many insight puzzles when surrounded by the color blue, since it leads to more relaxed and associative thinking. Red, on other hand, makes people more alert and aware, so it is a better backdrop for solving analytic problems.

2. Get Groggy

According to a study published last month, people at their least alert time of day—think of a night person early in the morning—performed far better on various creative puzzles, sometimes improving their success rate by 50%. Grogginess has creative perks.

Serge Bloch

#3 Don’t Be Afraid to Daydream

3. Daydream Away

Research led by Jonathan Schooler at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has found that people who daydream more score higher on various tests of creativity.

4. Think Like A Child

When subjects are told to imagine themselves as 7-year-olds, they score significantly higher on tests of divergent thinking, such as trying to invent alternative uses for an old car tire.

5. Laugh It Up

Serge Bloch

When people are exposed to a short video of stand-up comedy, they solve about 20% more insight puzzles.

When people are exposed to a short video of stand-up comedy, they solve about 20% more insight puzzles.

6. Imagine That You Are Far Away

Research conducted at Indiana University found that people were much better at solving insight puzzles when they were told that the puzzles came from Greece or California, and not from a local lab.

7. Keep It Generic

One way to increase problem-solving ability is to change the verbs used to describe the problem. When the verbs are extremely specific, people think in narrow terms. In contrast, the use of more generic verbs—say, "moving" instead of "driving"—can lead to dramatic increases in the number of problems solved.

Serge Bloch

According to a new study, volunteers performed significantly better on a standard test of creativity when they were seated outside a 5-footsquare workspace, perhaps because they internalized the metaphor of thinking outside the box. The lesson? Your cubicle is holding you back.

8. Work Outside the Box

According to new study, volunteers performed significantly better on a standard test of creativity when they were seated outside a 5-foot-square workspace, perhaps because they internalized the metaphor of thinking outside the box. The lesson? Your cubicle is holding you back.

9. See the World

According to research led by Adam Galinsky, students who have lived abroad were much more likely to solve a classic insight puzzle. Their experience of another culture endowed them with a valuable open-mindedness. This effect also applies to professionals: Fashion-house directors who have lived in many countries produce clothing that their peers rate as far more creative.

10. Move to a Metropolis

Physicists at the Santa Fe Institute have found that moving from a small city to one that is twice as large leads inventors to produce, on average, about 15% more patents.

—Jonah Lehrer

A version of this article appeared Mar. 10, 2012, on page C1 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: How to Be CreativeHow To Be Creative.

 

Attitude, you got one?

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.

~William James (1842 – 1910)

Attitude…. What a powerful word.

manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind: a negative attitude; group attitudes. (Source)

Notice the one little section that states “Especially of the mind” our attitude is just that, ours. We control it, it does not (or at least should not) control us. Yet all too often, we allow it to just that, our attitude all too often becomes a commentary on outside forces. We allow forces that we cannot control, friends, work, and weather, to control us. Attitude is not beyond our control, it is within our control, if we would only take control.

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.

~Martha Washington (1732 – 1802)

Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington lived a hard life. A life of service to her country, a life of war and peace a life that called upon her many times to sacrifice. You will not read it in the history books, but she did. She had to be a woman of great courage and one of positive attitude. She had to be selfless in all she did, for she allowed her husband to go off to war and lead a revolution that, by all accounts, could not be won. She left to take care of the farm. She again offered her husband to our new and struggling nation to attend the constitutional conventions, a thankless and long task, leaving Martha to tend to the family farm, once again. Still more was asked of her, as she and George we honored with the task of becoming the first leader of this Great Nation, no simple task. No, hers was not a life of leisure and pleasure; hers was a life of service and attitude. Yep, Attitude… Martha, based on what I have read of her, was a remarkable woman, one of strong opinions and full of positive attitude. We all can learn a lot from not only George Washington, but his wife Martha as well.

Jesus has something to say about our attitudes as well, He provides us with the Beatitudes as a guide to follow.

• Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 3)
• Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. (Verse 4)
• Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Verse 5)
• Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. (Verse 6)
• Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Verse 7)
• Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. (Verse 8)
• Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (Verse 9)
• Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Verse 10)

(Source)

Reading the Beatitudes can be a hard task, if you do not understand how to read them. If you do not understand the meaning behind them. However, put simply, Jesus is telling us, we are in control or our outlook, our attitudes towards life and self. To the poor He promises the Kingdom, to those that mourn, comfort and so on. But what is He saying? Is Jesus saying that the poor are the only ones to see the Kingdom and the mournful the only ones to receive comfort? Nope, not at all. The poor is not referring to the lack of money, but rather the lack of faith, yet in this lack I should not despair, for Jesus states I will see the Kingdom. So rejoice and be glad, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

It is our attitude we control, we have the power to see the glass as half full or half-empty, and the Beatitudes are lessons in seeing the glass as half full. What a valuable lesson. A lesson that has been taught over the centuries by many a great teacher, none greater than Jesus, but still many a great teachers. Yet it is a lesson we still need to learn. Knowing that I am poor in Spirit, yet will still see the Kingdom of God does not mean I stop trying to deepen my faith, sit back and just wait, rather it means I double down and study, learn and grow in my spirit, knowing that it will always fall short, but also knowing that Jesus understands, and the Kingdom will still be at hand. That is the power…

Dr. Wayne Dyer states, “Change the way you look at things, and the things you are looking at will change”, so true and so powerful, yet most of us refuse to do so. Changing our outlook, our attitude, is not easy, we have been programmed to accept that this is the way it is, outside forces determine our attitude, and we have no control over it. Such a false understanding, yet it is the understanding the majority of people have. How often I have heard “They can’t help it, that just how they are, that’s who they are”… To state it directly and simply, that’s just bull crap, a cop-out, we all have control of our lives, we all can change out attitudes, our outlook, and determine for ourselves what our future will be. We just have to work at it…

The task is hard, the journey long and the pitfalls will be many, your drive will wane and your ego will protest, but it can be done, you can change your attitude, you can see the glass as half full, if you only work at it. Yes, sometimes I do see that 1/2 empty glass, but in moments like this I know it is my ego driving my attitude and not my soul, not my being. At times like this I step back and breathe deeply, re-focus my thoughts and realign my attitude, and re-image the glass as 1/2 full yet again. It is a mammoth task at times, but the pay-off is always worth the effort. The feeling of control over the ego, the knowledge that I am in control on myself are well worth the effort.

Attitude, you got one. I am sure you do, but the bigger question is, Attitude, you like the one you got? Is it a healthy attitude? Does it contribute to your overall happiness or is it a source of depression and discontentment? Try this, try taking an attitude assessment, simple write down your attitude towards things, family, work, life, politics, religion, faith, money and so on, rate them based on a 1 to 10 scale, 1 being extremely bad attitude and 10 being extremely positive attitude. Once you have completed this, look at your list, anything with a 6 or more score, consider good for now. Everything with a five or below score consider as areas that need improvement. Start with the 5’s, pick one, let us say its Job, and create an action plan to help you change your attitude. What can you do to create a new and better attitude concerning your current job? To help with this, write down all the aspects of your job that seems to be the source of your bad attitude. Look at each one and determine what action you can take to rectify this. It may be as simple as having a conversation with your boss or as complex as having to try and be transfers to a new department. Nevertheless, whatever the solution, whatever the problem, remembers you are in control of your attitude, no one else is!

Once you have fixed the first on your list continue through the rest of the list, and before you know it, your attitude will be better. However, your work is not done yet, nope… Because you know that, your coworker or whatever the source off your discontentment was will not just roll over and play dead. So now, you need to learn tools to help you cope with issues that will pop up. Best advice, find a saying or prayer that you like, one that reminds of your ultimate goal, a more positive and productive attitude, make a copies of it, place on all your office wall, put one in your purse or wallet, tape one to your bathroom mirror and one on your car visor. Frame one to hang in your hall, in other words place this reminder all over the place, so when the need arrives, just look at, read it and take a step back to contemplate it. Refocus your thoughts and realign your attitude. It takes practice, but it can be done.

 

Good luck and God Bless

Paul Sposite

Guided Insight Life Coach

(Something to read, and help you with your attitude)

Related articles

• Blessed: One Thousand Gifts #229-240 (graceformymess.com)
• Poor in spirit; great in reward (lifereference.wordpress.com)
• What does it mean to be blessed? Scripture for Nov. 6 (plymouthspirit.wordpress.com)
• Seeking the Kingdom of God (apmadriaga.wordpress.com)
• The Beatitudes of Jesus (#8) (theupwardcallofgod.wordpress.com)
• The Sermon on the Mount (brakeman1.wordpress.com)
• Can a Camel fit through a Needle? (christianpf.com)
• FEAST of ALL SAINTS DAY / leonard oprea – THE WAY OF THE NINE BEATITUDES (magultheophil.wordpress.com)
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• Jesus Teaching of the Beatitudes Was a Lesson in How to Be Blessed (vineandbranchworldministries.com)

 

10 Simple rules for life, with complex results

Out lives are often times disordered and chaotic. With all the driving, planning, parenting and working, we often times forget to care for ourselves, and the result is we  find ourselves burnt out and unable to do, or at-least do well, all the driving, planning, parenting and working we are required to do. The truth is, there are simple things we can do, each and everyday that will help to make order in our lives, re-focus out energy and allow us to do all the driving, planning, parenting and working we need to do.

tem simple rules, that in the end have very complex and dramatic results. Each rule is something we can do throughout the day to help us center ourselves and bring a calming to our souls.

So here we go:

1. Smile, a smile can change not only our outlook on life, but also the lives of the ones who received your smile
2. Laugh, it has been said that laughter is the cure… and it is, learn to laugh at yourself, find the humor in the everyday
3. Pray, start the morning off with prayer, setting yourself into a humble existence
4. Listen, nothing makes someone feel wanted and loved like listening to them with intent
5. Relax, not only will you feel better, but so will all who are around you
6. De-clutter, clutter on your desk, in your car or at home will cause you to stress (read number 5)
7. Breath, learn to take breathers throughout the day, little 5 minutes breaks will do wonders for you
8. Dream, A dream i s like an escape, dream of your perfect vacation or perfect date, let yourself go to that space and revel in it
9. Read, read about someone you admire or read positive thoughts or uplifting verses
10. Create, creation is paramount to our existence, God created us in His image, there for we are created to create

The above 10 items are just starting points, use them, nurture them and grow them. I know that they will change your life and your outlook and the added side effect, it will also change the lives and outlooks of all you come in contact with. Simple rules, complex results, can’t ask for much more.

God Bless

Paul

 

I Cut the Cable and Dished the Dish

Image via Wikipedia

It has been about 2 years now that I have not had cable or dish TV. I cut the cable and dished the dish to save money. I thought it would be hard to get use to, but I was wrong, we never really missed it. The hard part was finding the right components to make up for the missing TV stations.

Over the past 2 years or so I have been trying out different combinations of  digital converter boxes, antennas and laptops to augment my viewing selection. And now I do believe I have found the almost perfect solution.

I use the Leaf antenna, its paper thin and I have gotten the best reception yet, and it was cheep.  I now have 2 antennas at home, 2 very costly and the Leaf… The other 2 are in the basement collecting dust! With the Leaf I receive all my local stations and there digital sister stations. So I think I am currently at like 12 stations. Not bad for free…

The digital converter box was also an issue, the first one I purchased worked, sort of, it seemed to lag behind the remote click by like 3 or 4 seconds. And it would “digitize” the image often, causing the picture to go crazy. I purchased a new converter box and all is good.

I have connected an older laptop to the TV, so now I can stream internet TV via my laptop. It works out fine, sure sometimes you get that buffering thing going on, but over all I have access to thousands of stations.

I have also connected my Wii system to the net and have download a program called PlayOn TV, this program allows me to download different stations, such as MLB or Netflix’s and if you have accounts with them, you can stream them to your TV via Wii. It also has links to many websites that stream video, such as syfi and FOX news. They are not live feeds, but links to there online videos. The best part is, other people can write scripts to add to the PlayOn system. So I have access to hundreds of TV stations now, more than I would with Dish or Cable. I also have a program called My Wii Center, it also streams TV stations. The My Wii Center is not as robust and PlayOn, yet. But they tell me it will be. But My Wii Center offers the ability to watch also on your PC, and more stations appear on the PC than on the Wii. I have also downloaded other programs for the Wii, that allows me to play music, FineTune.

No I must say the PlayOn does charge a yearly fee, it is a small fee and My Wii center is free. But the price of PlayOn is worth it, it’s a lot cheaper than cable or dish.

Life is not perfect, I do have issues from time to time with my little set up, but I am willing to deal with them and not have a $150 cable/inter net bill. I did have to upgrade my internet speed and get a new wireless router to help with the performance, but the increase in internet fee is still cheaper than cable and internet. So over all I am saving money, and I never have to worry about cable going out or price increases. The internet I would have to have anyway for my computer and phone, yes I have no Land Line, I use MagicJack, once again saving me money.

I will keep searching the net to find new and exciting programs to download on my Wii or laptop to add to my TV experience, so if you know of any, let me know.

God Bless

Paul

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Let’s be clear… Obama and his own words…

Image via Wikipedia

OBAMA’S  OWN  WORDS :

2008:  "Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney‘s private assassination team."
2011:  "I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden."

2008:  "Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be captured alive and given a fair trial."
2011:  "I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden."

2008:   " Guantanamo  is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated."
2011:   "Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo  detainees that led to our locating Bin Laden."

Just thought you would like to know…..

 

God Bless

Paul

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Memorial Day….God Bless them all….

"Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic." — General Logan – May 5, 1868

"If it is considered a holiday, why is it so? I consider it to be a national day of mourning. This is how we observe this day in our home. Because of what that day represents the rest of the days of the year are our holidays." — F L Lloyd West Chester, Pa USA – February 26, 2000

"In 1999 I laid flowers at the grave of a young U.S. fighter pilot who was KIA in my village in 1945. In the Netherlands I know of schools ‘adopting’ graves of Allied servicemen, keeping those graves in excellent condition! Does anybody know of adopting graves in the U.S. by schools?

Sincerely,
Paul Patist
Castricum, The Netherlands – Tue May 15 04:50:29 2001"

Image via Wikipedia

 

 

With Memorial Day upon us, let is all stop and take a second to honor our vets, fallen and alive. Let us stand and salute them for there valiant efforts. Let us lay a flower at the grave of a fallen American hero and say a silent prayer of thanksgiving. Let us take sometime to stop and reflect upon what they and there families have sacrificed for us all.  Fly the flag with pride and thank God that you live in America, where freedom lives.

Sure, have your BBQ and beer, eat a hot dog and enjoy, but before you eat, bow your hear and give thanks for the freedom you enjoy. God has blessed America with brave young men and woman, God has granted us freedom and courage and has guided our nation to prosperity. Now let us take a moment to thank Him and the brave members of our military.

 

God Bless

Paul

 

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Because He Lives: Reflecting On Lent And Easter

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Author: Tobin Crenshaw

I once heard an instructor talk about trying to counsel a young woman in a hospital who had been severely abused by her family. He tried unsuccessfully for an hour to get a response from her but she simply refused to acknowledge his presence in the room. Finally when he got up to leave she spoke for the first time. She explained that in her pain she wanted to end her life and asked him how was able to live amidst the hurts and difficulties in the world. Thinking for a moment he responded, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.”

It was Alfred H. Ackley who penned the words to the immortal song with those lyrics back in the early part of the twentieth century. He was listening to a radio program where people seemed very confused about the message of Jesus and the meaning of Easter. Ackley found himself extremely frustrated over the conversation he heard, and so with the encouragement of his wife he sat down and wrote the infamous lyrics to the song “He Lives”:

He lives, He lives,

Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me

Along life\’s narrow way.

He lives, He lives,

Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives?

He lives within my heart.

It was the Apostle Paul who proclaimed, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). Paul took an eternal perspective about life which empowered him to face all challenges with a sense of victory, peace and perspective.

About the same time that Ackley penned the words to his song a missionary named E. H. Hamilton was asked if he was afraid of dying on the mission field. With his own faith in the unseen realities of life and in the love of God Hamilton responded by writing a poem entitled “Afraid? Of What?”:

To feel the spirit\’s glad release?

To pass from pain to perfect peace,

The strife and strain of life to cease?

Afraid – of that?

Afraid? Of What?

Afraid to see the Savior\’s face

To hear His welcome and to trace

The glory gleam from wounds of grace?

Afraid – of that?

Afraid? Of What?

Both writers captured the essence of the Paul’s words, and both works have been an encouragement for countless people. As Lenten season has begun wherever you find yourself on your spiritual journey, remember the words of Mary Morrissey who wrote, “You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith,” and never forget that all things are possible to him who believes.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/because-he-lives-relecting-on-lent-and-easter-1896718.html

About the Author

A former pastor, Tobin holds both a B.A. and an M.A. in theology. Having traveled widely in the Marine Corps and as a graduate student, Tobin has spent the past 15 years gathering some of the world’s most powerful life-changing truths. He’s the author of \\’The Life That Is Really Life: How Biblical Truth Can Transform Your Spiritual, Emotional, Physical and Relational Health\\’ available at his website twominutesermon.com

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NASA… Our best investment

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It has been 25 years since the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon lift-off, and our space program has never truly recovered. After the tragic explosion President Reagan comforted the American public but also pledged to continue with space exploration. With the second space shuttle tragedy President Bush began the process of grounding the shuttles altogether. With only three more flights scheduled, Americas domination in space is set to end. And along with it our investment in our future is also set to end.

Our vision of one day traveling space, the final frontier, like Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise is becoming a pipe dream. The reality of it ever happening is becoming less and less. America needs NASA and all her innovation, the space program has saved lives made our day-to-day living more pleasurable and is a source of pride for all Americans. 

One of President Obama’s fist acts as President was to reshape and refocus NASA, with the directive to become a quasar diplomatic are of the US government.

 “Bolden: I am here in the region – its sort of the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s visit to Cairo – and his speech there when he gave what has now become known as Obama’s “Cairo Initiative” where he announced that he wanted this to become a new beginning of the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. When I became the NASA Administrator – before I became the NASA Administrator – he charged me with three things: One was that he wanted me to re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, that he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.” (source)

NASA as an outreach to the Muslim world, really, that’s our space program. Yes President Obama also had some ambition that also included space, but the simple fact that NASA is not in public relations with the Muslim world sets a new tone for our space program. One that is not space oriented, but rather one that is diplomatic in nature.

This is a new tone for NASA, one that is as far as you can get from the tone that JFK set for America:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
(Kennedy’s Speech: + HTML Excerpt, + PDF Excerpt, + Full Text) (source)

The American space program is part and parcel to American exceptionalism, we must continue to spend time, talent and money in this endeavor. American needs NASA now more than ever, we need something to place our dreams in and we need to see achievements that we once thought were impossible. The Space Program has given us many modern technologies, such as:

1. SATELLITE TELEVISION: Our world would not be the same without the satellites now in orbit around the Earth – all thanks to the space program. They not only give us satellite broadcast television and radio but also power telecommunications including mobile phones and terrestrial TV networks.

2. SAT NAV: The global positioning system on which our in-car navigation systems are based was developed by the US Department of Defense. They would not exist without the space satellites.

3. GOOGLE EARTH: Mapping was never as accurate as the images we can now get thanks to satellites which from space can even see a dog in your back garden.

4. VIRTUAL REALITY: NASA-developed research and advanced technology devices allow users to project themselves into a computer-generated environment. When coupled with a stereo-viewing device and appropriate software, it creates a feeling of actually being there.

5. ARTIFICIAL LIMBS: Prosthetic limbs are not new but advancements in space robotics are being adapted to create more lifelike, functioning limbs.

6. DIALYSIS: Modern machines to do the work of the kidneys – for patients waiting for or unable to have transplants – were developed as a result of a NASA-developed chemical process.

7. MRI AND CAT SCANS: NASA did not invent magnetic resonance imaging but it has contributed to major advances thanks to research into computer enhancement of pictures sent from the moon. Digital image processing has led to enhanced images of human organs.

8. BREAST CANCER SCREENING: A silicon chip originally developed for NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope makes the testing process less painful, less scarring and less expensive than traditional biopsy methods.

Heroes … Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin

9. ULTRASOUND TO ASSESS SKIN DAMAGE: An advanced instrument uses ultrasound technology to assess the depth of burn damage immediately, improving patient treatment and saving lives in serious burn cases.

10. EAR THERMOMETER: Removing the need to use intrusive, mercury-based thermometers on newborn babies and critically ill patients, the ear thermometer uses infrared astronomy technology to measure the amount of energy emitted by the eardrum. This is how NASA measures the temperature of stars and planets.

11. ATTENTION GETTER: Techniques used to measure brain activity in NASA  pilots are being used to improve attention spans for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

12. ROAD SAFETY: The cutting of grooves in concrete to increase traction was developed to reduce space shuttle accidents on runways. It is now applied to roads and has cut US traffic accidents by 85 per cent.

13. IMPROVED RADIAL TYRES: Goodyear developed a fibrous material five times stronger than steel for NASA to use in parachutes to land the Viking explorers on Mars. They expanded the technology to produce a harder-wearing radial car tire.

14. LANDMINE REMOVAL: Surplus rocket fuel is used for a flare that can burn a hole in the case of a mine and burn away its explosive content.

15. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS: NASA software engineers have created thousands of computer programs to find imperfections in aerospace structures and components which has proved invaluable in air safety.

16. WATER FILTERS: Water-cleaning technology has existed since the early Fifties but NASA came up with ways to filter it in more extreme situations. The activated charcoal with silver ions used in commercial filter systems cleans the water and kills bacteria.

17. FREEZE-DRIED FOOD: NASA carried out extensive research to reduce the weight of food to be carried on missions. The result was a method for cooking food, freezing it quickly, then slowly heating it in a vacuum chamber to remove the ice crystals. The end product weighs one fifth of the original, while retaining 98 per cent of its nutrition.

18. TEMPER FOAM: NASA developed a soft, high-energy-absorbent padding to improve crash protection in aircraft. Now ?memory foam? is used in mattresses, pillows, military and civilian vehicles, sports safety equipment, amusement park rides, furniture and artificial limbs.

19. SCRATCH-RESISTANT LENSES: A modified version of a process developed by NASA involves coating the lenses with a film of carbon that helps avoid scratches and decreases friction and reduces water spots.

20. RIBBED SWIMSUITS: The swimsuit worn by Olympic sensation Michael Phelps was developed with NASA technology. Aerodynamic research came up with material which give 15 per cent faster speeds than any other swimsuit thanks to small, barely visible grooves that reduce friction and drag.

21. AERODYNAMIC GOLF BALLS: Technology is behind the design of golf balls with 500 dimples in a pattern of 60 triangles which allows the ball to maintain its initial speed longer and produce a more stable flight for better accuracy and distance.

22. ATHLETIC SHOES: Moon-boot material has been incorporated into running shoe midsoles to improve shock absorption and provide better stability and motion control.

23. PERSONAL ALARM SYSTEMS: A pen-sized ultrasonic transmitter used by prison guards, teachers, the elderly and disabled to call for help is based on space technology.

24. SPACE PENS: Most pens depend on gravity to make the ink flow to the ballpoint. The space pen was developed for the gravity-free space environment so that the ink cartridge contains pressurized gas to push the ink towards the ballpoint, so you can write upside down.

25. CORDLESS POWER TOOLS: The household and DIY products firm Black & Decker came up with a portable drill capable of extracting core samples from below the lunar surface during the Apollo missions. The same technology has been used on cordless miniature vacuum cleaners.  (source)

Think cell phone, microwaved dinners and the computer I am using to post this blog. NASA may not have invented all of them, but it is because of NASA and the innovations created for our space program that I am able to post to the net at all.

So instead of looking to high-speed trains as an investment into America, look to NASA. I would consider that to be a nobler investment, and one that would have a far greater impact on American than a train that can get me from Detroit to DC in 1 hour. With NASA fully funded and achievable goals the sky truly is the limit for the American Dream.

God Bless

Paul

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The Poverty Hype

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to share the link below concerning the American poor. Based on my travels to countries such as China, Brazil, India, I would have to agree with the commentary below.

GOPUSA » Commentary » Sherline: Poverty Hype

 

Mr. Rector also observed, "Many of the popular conceptions about poverty in this nation are inaccurate, particularly the image of poverty as a static and unyielding condition………..We have not only triumphed over poverty as it was historically understood, but that triumph has been so great that we have difficulty remembering what it meant to be poor or even to be middle class in earlier generations." His study concluded:

Today the typical American, defined as poor by the government, has a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer, a car, air conditioning, a VCR, a microwave, a stereo, and a color TV. He is able to obtain medical care and his home is in good repair and is not over-crowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and in the last year he had sufficient funds to meet his essential needs. While this individual’s life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of poverty conveyed by politicians, the press, and activists.

The above text is taken from the the article linked above. I think the problem is that Americans have become use to the idea that they are entitled to own “things” that it is no-longer acceptable to earn what you want, that someone, anyone including the Federal Government should provide all the comforts that we enjoy.

The poor are not truly that poor, compared to the poor of the world. Now some will say, stop comparing our American poor to the worlds poor, this is America. And I agree, but I would have to say we should use that for all of Americas concerns.

Stop comparing our education to the worlds education, stop comparing our healthcare to the worlds, stop comparing our national securities issues with the worlds.

If the standard of the poor does not apply to America, than why should anything else?

Yes we have poor in America, and yes, it is inexcusable in a country as blessed as ours. But lets be honest about what poor truly is. I mean really, do a poor person really have cable TV, internet access and cell phones? Really, they have food on the table and, as we all know, the American poor have comforts that many of the worlds middle class do not enjoy. Lets look at the issue of the poor in a light of truth. Lets set our resources on the true poor, not the “marketable” poor.

America has made an industry out of the poor, only in America can the poor purchase a house, only in American can the poor purchase a new car. Come on think about it… Are they truly poor, or are they just upper lower class or lower middle class?

This election, we as Americans, have a fundamental choice to make. Do we continue down the road of the nanny state or do we take back our country, and return responsibility back to her citizens, like it should be. Do we continue to “entitle” people to prosperity or do we allow them to define there own path, to work for and to achieve or fail at prosperity?

Do we allow the American poor to be used for political gain or do we truly lift up the poor by offering them a hand up, not a hand out. America is a country of opportunities, not a country of redistribution. The ability of every American to archive or fail is the same. America protects the rights of each and every American to pursue happiness, it does not and should not guarantee happiness. The American poor have the opportunity to education and healthcare (despite what the Obama administration would have you think) they have the ability to reach for the stars like any other American. Sure, some will make good and others will not, but the same can be said for America’s rich. The ability to fail is also guaranteed in America, failure is part of life, as is success.

If America is as poor, be it monetary or fairness, as our politicians would have us believe, than why do millions still flock to this country, why do we not see a mass exodus? Why don’t the American people pack up and leave America for a better life, a life were it is more fair to the poor and more opportunities are provided. Basically because there is no other place to go. America, with all of her issues, is still the beacon of freedom and opportunity, despite the rhetoric of Mr. and Mrs. Obama, I am and always have been proud of my country and the opportunities she offers to all.

The American poor, the truly poor, deserve our help, but we must define the poor in the light of truth, not in the light of votes!

Just something to think about….

God Bless

Paul

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Simon Peter offers us our best hope

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The summer seems to be going by so fast, it is already the end of July, were did the days go? As a Catholic/Christian I am faced with many conflicts with my feelings and my faith. And this summer I have had to confront a few. Both being on the same thing. I know that we are called to forgive and to love our enemies. I get that part, but the part I often am confused about is what then, what’s next, so I forgive them, than what?

Do I have to forget what took place, do I have to be friends with them again. I know I have to love them, but do I have to love them like a brother or sister? Do I have to be friends with them? The questions nag at me and beckon for an answer.

My view point is no, I do not have to forget what has taken place, I do not have to be friends with them I do not have to love them like a brother or sister. But yes I must forgive them and I must love them. But love them how?

In the bible when Jesus questions Simon Peter three times about his love for Him, Jesus uses two different word for love. The first time Jesus questions Peter He asks Peter if he loved Him as God loves. A love that is all consuming, a love the know no bounds. That’s the kind of love that God shows us, a love that is unending a love that loves regardless. That was the kind of love Jesus was asking Peter about. Yet Peter responded with a brothers love, a love that knows limits, a love that fills the heart but falls short on the soul. Jesus asked again, using the same love, the same question and Peter responded the same way. The third time Jesus asked Peter, Jesus used a humanly love, a love that Peter could understand, a love that he could comprehend, and Peter responded in-kind.

God calls us to love, he even calls us to love with a love that we do not yet understand, but He also knows our limits, and like with Peter, God will ask us to a higher divine love, yet he will accepts a lower humanly love. A love that fills the heart but fails the soul.

So when I forgive what love am I called to? The higher divine love or the lower human love? That’s an easy question, we are all called to the higher divine love, yet we all fail and we default to the love we understand, a love with conditions, a human love.

The love that Jesus asked about is a love that knows no bounds, a love that is willing to die for the ones it loves. Simon Peter denied Jesus, yet Jesus still asked Peter if he loved Him with a divine love, and Peter was to frail, to weak, to human to respond in-kind.

We are but lowly creatures. yes we are made in the image of God but we are not God. Yes we are called to be a Jesus is, yet we are not Jesus. Simon Peter offers us our best hope, he too was like me, he too had difficulty understanding the love of God in contrast to the love of humanity. He to wanted to love as God loves, yet found that he was only able to offer the love of a man. Yet God accepted it, Jesus calls Peter to feed His sheep, to tend His flock. If the love that Peter offered was acceptable to Jesus, was adequate than the love that I offer must also be.

Yet it still seems shallow, some how it falls short and fails to fill even the heat. Yet I must strive to love as Jesus commanded, Love thy neighbor as I have loved you. A tall order in-deed, yet one that He feels we must be able to accomplish. So I will continue with my struggle, and I will continue to strive for the divine love that I am called to, but until than I will love a man loves, a love that is hollow, yet it seems to satisfy.

God Bless

Paul