Saturday, December 22, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
story of stuff
Watch this short movie - it will open your eyes to our "shopping" world!
http://www.storyofstuff.com/downloads.html
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Homeschooling study results..
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/Commerce.Web/product_files/Homeschooling.pdf
• Home schooling continues to grow in popularity
among parents in both Canada and the US.
• There are good reasons to be suspicious about easy
comparisons between the test scores of home
schooled and other students, since it is difficult to
ensure comparable testing conditions or levels of
student participation, among other reasons. However,
the number of scholars and studies comparing
the two groups continues to grow, bolstering
older studies.
• Many studies, Canadian, American, and international,
have found that home schooled students
outperform students in both public and independent
(private) schools. One US study found that
home and private school students perform comparably
well, and that both maintain a strong advantage
over public school students.
• Home educated children enjoy no significant advantage
if one or both parents are certified teachers.
• Surprisingly, several studies have found that home
education may help eliminate the potential negative
effects of certain socio-economic factors.
Though children whose parents have university
degrees score higher on tests of academic achievement
than other home schooled children, home
education appears to mitigate the harmful effect of
low parental education levels. That is, public
schools seem to educate children of poorly educated
parents worse than do the poorly educated
parents themselves. One study found that students
taught at home by mothers who had never finished
high school scored a full 55 percentile points
higher than public school students from families
with comparable education levels.
• Despite a widespread belief that home educated
students are not adequately socialized, the preponderance
of research suggests otherwise. The average
Canadian home schooled student is regularly
involved in eight social activities outside the
home. Canadian home schoolers watch much less
television than other children, and one researcher
found that they displayed significantly fewer problems
than public school children when observed in
free play.
• Though the long-term effects of home schooling
are less well studied, both Canadian and American
findings on previously home schooled adults are
encouraging. Canadian home-schooled students
report a life satisfaction score well above their public
school peers. American studies have found indications
of a wide range of non-academic benefits
from home schooling.
The Fraser Institute 3 Home Schooling, 2nd ed.
• The widespread use of the Internet has helped the
development of social connections and pedagogical
resources of home schooling families.
• Home schooling families reportedly spend less
than US $4,000 per year per household on home
schooling though that cost does place any value on
the parents’ time. In the United States, the most
recent figures show public school spending to be
$9,644 per child.
Got to love it!!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Friday, November 09, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
We are not boiling our babies!
:: "I'm Not A Frog-Boiler!" ::
When you reject authoritarian, coercive parenting in favor of non-punitive, pleasure-oriented parenting, critics and naysayers will warn you that your child won't be able to cope in the "real" world.
The assumption is that "it's a jungle out there" and we should gradually toughen up our kids and get them used to suffering so they won't be shocked when they venture out into the big, bad world.
It's like that famous experiment where they tossed a healthy frog in boiling water and it leaped right out. But if they put the frog in cool water and raised the temperature gradually over several days, the frog would be able to *adjust* and stay in the water.
The slow boil seems more humane, but that "well-adjusted" frog eventually *died* from the heat! Whereas the non-adjusted frog's intact sensitivity protected it from being boiled.
Today, look for evidence that your child's sensitivity is intact (e.g., negative reactions to unwanted conditions) and be *grateful* for it! Tell yourself, "My child will *never* get boiled!"
http://www.dailygroove.net/frog-boiler
Feel free to forward this message to your friends!
(Please include this paragraph and everything above.)
Copyright (c) 2007 by Scott Noelle
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Do you still have any common snense?
My parents told me about Mr. Common Sense early in my life and told me I would do well to call on him when making decisions. It seems he was always around in my early years but less and less as time passed until today I read his obituary.
Obituary - Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a sticky plaster to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by five stepbrothers; Me First, Who Cares, I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I'm a Victim.
(extract author unknown)
Monday, October 22, 2007
great conversation starter...
This one is really cool - actually a lot of the videos at metacafe.com are cool for science and math.
Enjoy!
Do Try This At Home! Episode 3 - Defying Gravity - The most popular videos are here
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Is your child prepared?
We can only prepare them to ask good questions, find answers, evaluate those answers and ask better questions.
We can help them develop skills like decisiveness, curiosity, persistence, communication and literacy.
We can be an example of courage, integrity, compassion and faith.
With all that any career will open its doors wide for them. The data can be learned when they need it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
education vs schooling!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
When should my child be reading?
There is no good reason why a child would naturally be reading at any specific age. They read when they are mature enough and motivated enough.
Children in the institutional system :) need to read by the time their peers do because they will be obviously out of step with the class if they don't. This is about "fitting in" and class control. This is not about your child's special strengths or what is best for him.
A blossom cannot be pulled open in order to encourage it to bloom. You will simply damage it. It will open in it's own good time.
Facilitating your child's education means understanding where they are and having resources to offer them to take the next step. It doesn't have anything to do with "forcing" the bloom.
Trust your child. They will eventually read. Just probably not on your schedule!
Monday, October 08, 2007
How much time does Tiger spend on his baseball skills? 0
He has specialised and become great at one thing - golf.
In facilitating our children's education we need to remember that their success in today's market, now depends on them becoming really good at one thing. Something they love. Something they can excel in. Something they can be the best in.
Exposure to everything available is great so that they can make an informed choice, but once they have chosen, focus is imperative.
Support your child's excellence!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
You can take comfort from the thought that
Even God's omnipotence did not extend
To His own children.
As I first heard Bill Cosby say:
After creating heaven and earth,
God created Adam and Eve.
And the first thing he said was
"DON'T!"
"Don't what?" Adam replied.
"Don't eat the forbidden fruit."God said.
"Forbidden fruit?
We have forbidden fruit?
Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit !"
" No Way !"
"Yes way! "
"Do NOT eat the fruit ! " Said God.
"Why ?"
"Because I am your Father and I said so! "
God replied,
wondering why He hadn't stopped
Creation after making the elephants.
A few minutes later,
God saw His children having an apple break
And He was ticked!
"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit ? "
God asked.
"Uh huh,"
Adam replied.
"Then why did you ? "
Said the Father.
"I don't know,"
Said Eve.
Having had it with the two of them,
God's punishment was that Adam and Eve
Should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.
If God cannot get his kids to behave,
why on earth would you expect to?
How to Build Loyalty to Suggestions, Ideas, and Offerings
By: By Steven Martin and Noah Goldstein
In one study, loyalty cards were handed out to three hundred customers of a local car wash. The customers were told that every time they bought a car wash, their loyalty card would be stamped. However, there were two types of cards. One type of card stated that eight stamps were required to receive a free car wash, and no stamps were attached to the card. The other kind of card stated that ten stamps were required to receive the free wash, but two stamps were already affixed to the card. This meant that both cards required eight purchases to receive the award, but the second group seemed well on its way to completing the card with 20% of the stamps needed for the free wash.
Afterwards, every time a customer came back for another wash, an employee affixed a stamp to the card and wrote down the date of purchase. After several months, when the researchers ended the program and looked at the data, their hypotheses had been confirmed: Whereas only 19% of customers in the eight-stamp group made enough visits to claim their free car wash, 34% of the ten-stamp, head start group did so. What’s more, the head start group took less time to complete their eighth purchase, taking an average of 2.9 fewer days between visits to the car wash.
According to Nunes and Dreze, reframing the program as one that’s been undertaken but incomplete rather than one that has not yet begun, meant that people feel more motivated to complete it. They also pointed to research showing that the closer people get towards completing a goal, the more effort they exert to achieve that goal. In support of this idea, the data revealed that the amount of time between visits decreased by about half a day on average with every additional car wash that was purchased.
Besides the obvious application of these findings to loyalty programs of all sorts, the results of this study indicate that when soliciting another person for help on anything, try to point out how that person has already taken steps toward the completion of that task.
For example, if you needed help on a project that’s similar to one that this person has worked on in the past, you could emphasize how, in essence, she is well on her way to overcoming the complexities involved in finishing the assignment. And if that’s not the case, but you’ve already done a fair amount of work on the project, you could underscore how the task is already almost 30% completed. In this way, your colleague is more likely to view the project as one that’s already under way but incomplete rather than one that she has to start from scratch.
Educators, teachers and parents can also benefit from such a strategy. Imagine that your child is being particularly stubborn about doing his homework and you felt compelled to try to offer incentives. If you decided to give him one weekend off from homework for every six weekends in which he does his homework, you might find that he would be especially motivated to comply if you started him off with “credit” for one weekend before your little program officially begins.
(Just a head's up here - there may be more useful ways to apply this to your homeschool than this suggestion. Work towards natural consequences - both good and bad rather than suggesting that learning needs to be rewarded. That is a sticky place that is hard to leave. My suggestion would be to have already completed the first one or two math questions on the page before passing it over to your child to finish or reading the first several lines out loud yourself and them giving it to to your child to complete etc.)
The message is clear: people will be more likely to stick with programs and tasks if you can first offer them some evidence of how they’ve already made progress toward completing them. If you use this strategy, like cars at a carwash, your influence will sparkle.
Source:
Nunes J. C., Dreze, X. (2006). The endowed progress effect: How artificial advancement increases effort.Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 504-512.
Are you breaking people?
In order to believe that people need help we must first believe they are "help-less"!
To believe they need to be fixed in some way, we must believe they are broken!
People are astonishingly obliging. They will live into your story.
Especially your children!
Make it a good story!
When people stop listening, stop talking.
Listening heals "psycho-sclerosis - hardening of the attitudes.
Listening is the opposite of knowing.
Listening teaches others from the inside-out.
Beautiful definition of listening - How I express myself through you.
Think about it.
Consider listening to your children!
Ideas from Greg Mooers book - Heart Virtues.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
(Sorry no idea who the original author is!)
You Know You're A Homeschool Mom When...
When a child busts a lip, and after seeing she's okay, you round up
some scotch tape to capture some blood and look at it under the
microscope!
You find dead animals and actually consider saving them to dissect
later.
Your children never ever leave the "why?" stage.
You ask for, and get, a copier instead of a diamond tennis bracelet
for your wedding anniversary.
Your kids think reading history is best accomplished while lying on
the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog.
Your husband can walk in at the end of a long day and tell how the
science experiment went just by looking at the house.
The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to
cook.
Your kids learn new vocabulary from their extensive collection
of "Calvin & Hobbes" books.
Your formal dining room now has a computer, copy machine, and many
book shelves and there are educational posters and maps all over the
walls.
You have meal worms growing in a container... .on purpose.
If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you're having a
PTA meeting.
You step on math manipulatives on your pre-dawn stumble to the
bathroom.
If your child claims that the dog ate his homework, you can ask the
dog.
Your kids refer to the neighbor kids as "government school inmates."
You live in a one-house schoolroom.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
There is a cookie jar filled with all sorts of individually wrapped candy on the kitchen counter. Everyone can help themselves to a single piece anytime once they have had a piece of fruit/vegetable (fruit and veg in the fridge) or a glass of water. (Note - not at bedtime)
This works well for all of us, although I will admit it took a while to convince the 3 year old. :)
Here is my thinking - you can only eat so much this way before you are full! Damage control and best of all - I am not the cookie/candy police anymore!
We have a cupboard filled with breakfast foods and snacks that I can live with and they feed themselves from there all morning. Lunch and dinner are more organised and they help to cook them. Then they only have to have 1 bite of anything new (and try it again every few months) and completely eat whatever else they help themselves to. If I serve it - they don't have to finish it.
Here is my thinking on this - breakfast is because I am not a morning person and you don't want to wake me up to make food - trust me!
Lunch and supper - the shopping, prep and cooking are great learning opportunities and we love food so it is fun.
The serving thing - I figure since I cannot know how hungry you are, if I serve it you do not have to eat it all. I want them to learn to eat until they are satisfied, listening to their own bodies.
However, if they take it, then they must eat it all. They can always have seconds. I don't care for waste and they learn to take appropriate amounts this way and to listen to their bodies more carefully.
For the rest, I would agree with the post about the kids needing to fit into the world they are in and not infringe on other peoples pleasure in a wanton fashion. Respect for all creatures (including your environment, yourself, your child and your audience) at all times. Here they learn the fine art of compromise and negotiation.
Basically, it boils down to something like - if it annoys me - you cannot do it around me! :) Likewise I will respect your preferences and keep my singing in the shower!
I feel that the tantrum and running around the restaurant thing is inappropriate. We are supposed to be preparing them for the world - imagine if you tried that on at your office tomorrow!
We are facilitating and guiding our children and can help them avoid some hideous consequences by teaching them what you believe to be the important social and spiritual rules by which we live.
You wouldn't allow your child to discover the laws of physics by running into the road, likewise you would guide them about social behaviour and stuff like honesty and integrity. They really don't need to reinvent every wheel! I do my best to stick to logical and reasonable consequences for every behaviour - good and bad.
That is what works for us.
Whoever said it takes trust to unschool was spot on! It certainly does. Trust comes with practice too - so keep on going! You can do it!
Besides there is no rule that says you have to only do one kind of "schooling" - mix and match until you find what works for you and your cherubs! Ignore anyone who tells you differently!
Have a choice-filled day!
:)
Karen
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Even though I unschool, I do control what is offered to my children - both food wise and environmentally. We all do.
We like to think we are giving everyone free choice, buit in fact there are many restraints in place naturally.
In our family, we don't have chocolate available for breakfast (sadly) and we don't watch pornography or violence. We have a wide range of choices like staying home and reading and riding and martial arts and art class and time on the pc etc.
From what is available to them, they make the choices most appropriate and interesting to themselves.
We can not realistically make everything in the world available and I would suggest that we wouldn't want to either. There is much I choose not to have my children experimenting with at this point or at all.
We also control the attitude and beliefs that surround them most closely. They will be copying what we do!
I have frequently been heard to say that by the time they leave our home they will have witnessed at least one really cool and complete education - mine!
Have a day filled with choices!
Karen
Monday, September 10, 2007
The average child hears "No" a gazillion times a day - eventually they very reasonably tune it out.
Try saying stuff like -
Yes, after you have finished that job.
Yes, when you are 18.
Convince me. Right now I feel that would be unwise - convince me otherwise.
Or you can try finding out what they really want behind the thing they have asked for...
eg - sometimes we eat because we are emotionally empty - maybe we could have a cuddle instead?
Have a loving day!
K
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.
John Holt
Thursday, September 06, 2007
At the park several boys called my daughter (8) some names.
She opted for crying and running away.
I found her theatrically seated by the lake, dripping and sniffing.
I was puzzled about what to say that would be useful.
Eventually after hugging quietly and some deep breathing, I said:
"Sweetheart, do you remember when C came to play? His family doesn't have any pets and how he was fascinated by the cats and wanted to play with them. Remember how he didn't know how to get them to pay him attention and so he poked them? And poked them. And poked them until they got up and left. Do you remember that?"
"Uhuh" was her damp response.
"Well, I think these little boys are fascinated by you and they don't know how to get your attention and so they are "poking" you by calling you a name. They just don't know how to stroke you and make you purr."
Damp giggle.
"They went poke and you exploded in tears. They are probably bewildered about what just happened."
Snort.
"By the way, what does it mean about you, if I call you broccoli nose?"
"Nothing"
"That's right, because the words people use tell us about them, not about you. How about stinky flea?"
"Nothing", but now she is smiling.
"How about pretty Peonie petal?"
"It means I'm pretty."
"Ah, no. That is a common misunderstanding. If you forget that their words tell us about them and take the ones you like to be true, then you will take the ones you don't like to be true too. Neither are. They are just words that people have used that reveal who they are."
Back to "hmmm".
"So what did they call you?"
"Catwoman."
I burst out laughing. "How appropriate! They set us up for this conversation! Do you know I love you?!"
We hugged and she dashed away to find her little flock of girlfriends.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
If no-one (read the school system, mostly) messes with their natural curiosity and ability to learn your baby will grow into a curious child who is eager to learn about his/her world and who knows exactly what interests him/her at any point.
If you feel you absolutely have to have an agenda then build it around their interest!
Bear in mind, it is only in the school system that there is a set time at which a child must know something or have a specific skill. And that is so that the child can keep up with the pace the class has set. It has nothing to do with that specific child and its unique skill set.
It takes a lot of faith - and you can do it!
Monday, September 03, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
from INSULT TO INTELLIGENCE by Frank Smith (PhD Harvard)
1 The brain is always learning. We learn exactly what is demonstrated by people around us. Schools must stop trying to teach through pointless drills, activities and tests.
2 Learning does not require coercion or irrelevant reward. We fail to learn only if we are bored, or confused, or if we have been persuaded that learning will be difficult. Schools must be places where learning can take place naturally [by desire, not force].
3 Learning must be meaningful...schools must change themselves, not try to change us, to ensure we understand what we are expected to learn.
4 Learning is incidental. We learn while doing things that we find useful and interesting. Schools must stop creating environments where we cannot engage in sensible activities.
5 Learning is collaborative. We learn by apprenticing ourselves to people who practice what they teach [who don't just teach. If the child didn't learn, the teacher didn't teach]
6 The consequences of worthwhile learning are obvious [We use what we learn]. Schools, teachers and parents should not have to rely on marks, scores or tests to discover if we have learned.
7 Learning always involves feelings. We remember how we feel when we learn or fail to learn. Schools must not treat learners like machines.
8 Learning must be free of risk. If we are threatened by learning, then the learning will always threaten. Schools must recognize that continual testing [and many other of their practices] are intellectual harassment.
The lesson in Smith's list is that schools are bad places for learning, especially the public schools. They violate all of those recommendations, with every child, all the time. Smith's book describes what goes on in the typical school and sums it up best in one chapter, called The Nonsense Industry.
article by Ned VareThursday, August 30, 2007
Everything in it's own time - yes?
That is especially true of children.
They will learn that skill exactly when they are ready to and not on your fabricated schedule.
We don't rush up to a rose bud and because it is August, pull each petal open, forcing the flower to bloom. That doesn't work. Well it won't work on our children either!
Nowhere is it written what age your unique child will want to read or write or tap-dance.
Bear in mind that even if your reference "the experts" and their "bell curves" you still won't know when it is right for your child.
Have faith!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Follow through
Why do you need to follow through so much on a tennis or golf swing? After all, the ball is long gone.
Why do you have to honor a money back guarantee with a former customer who is never going to buy from you again (and it's six years later)?
Why do you have to reinvest and retrain an existing employee who needs some guidance when it would just be quicker and easier to hire someone new?
I think the reason is the same in all three cases. It's not because the thing you do at the end of your swing matters. It's because it's a slippery slope.
If you know that the last two inches of your follow through don't matter, then you'll start slowing down at three inches, or even four, and suddenly it does matter. If you draw the line on money back guarantees you'll keep sliding backwards, bit by bit, until it does matter. If you're quick to fire the employee who needs a lot of help, you'll be quicker with those that need just a little, and then, pretty soon, it's a very different place to work, isn't it?
Obsessing about the last inch of follow through ensures that the important parts of what you do get just as much (if not more) commitment.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Spaceflight Ticket Prices
If you're planning a visit to the International Space Station, you'd better book your trip now - because prices are going up. A seat on the Russian Soyuz spaceship, the only flight available to space tourists, now costs $30 million, compared to $25 million earlier this year. Next year, the price will go up to $40 million.
Officials with Space Adventures, which organizes the trips with the Russian space agency, blame the falling value of the dollar for the price hike.
(Source: Associated Press and Early to Rise Newsletter)
Without a sense of where you came from and a sense of connection with your ancestors you may be like a bonsai - tiny, stunted tree with no roots.
As home-schoolers we have a unique opportunity to research and really connect with our roots as families!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Fear and the Creative Power of Your Mind
by Kathy Zant
www.ZeroFearNow.com
Fear affects all of us. People talk about the
fight or flight response, but there's another
reaction that is even more common and
detrimental: becoming paralyzed, unable to move.
Thoughts about what may happen race through our
minds coming up with elaborate possibilities...
possibilities that will likely never occur.
Often when fear begins racing in our minds, waves
of emotion follow like a raging stream carrying
us away. Those emotions can be extremely
powerful. We begin to feel that the fears are in
fact truth, and that our visceral physical and
emotional reactions solidify our beliefs that we
can't move from where we are.
The emotions and physical reactions are very
real. The basis for those reactions -- the fear
-- usually is not. Those fear come from illusions
within our mind.
Isn't the mind wonderfully creative?
It can concoct elaborate schemes of what could
happen, and think through all of the ways you can
protect yourself like a chess game without an opponent.
Let's see if there are some ways we can use that
brilliant creative power of your mind to move you
forward, instead of erecting defense systems
against something that doesn't exist.
How is fear keeping you stuck?
Do you want to ask for a raise, but you're afraid
of being denied?
Do you want to apply for a more exciting job,
but you fear that you're not qualified?
Do you want to ask a pretty girl out for a date,
but the thought of her saying no makes your
stomach turn?
Do you want to lose weight, but inside there's a
quiet fear of the attention you might receive if
you do?
Fear blocks your manifestation
No matter how much attention you might place on
achieving your goals, how much you want them,
hidden, unconscious fears often get in the way.
Then we end up feeling frustrated and angry that
our manifestation efforts aren't going the way we
planned or hoped.
Tips for overcoming fear
Explore your emotions. If you find yourself
within that raging stream of emotion, allow those
emotions to flow. But separate yourself from
them. Instead of following the current, pull your
conscious mind to the riverbank and watch the
emotions flow. You don't have to be carried away
by the river, you are not the river. But you will
learn a lot about yourself and your patterns by
watching your emotions flow through you. Perhaps
your intuition will show you where the basis for
those emotions exists within you, and you can
release the cause of your fears.
Separate your fear from the object of your fear.
If you fear being rejected, that may stop you
from asking for what you want or need from life.
The key is to not avoid the action that might
cause rejection, but to re-identify the problem
as the fear itself. Fear is the obstacle, the
rejection is not an obstacle. It's only feedback
that will guide you on the path to getting what
you want.
Re-address the consequences. What if your mind,
running off with possibilities, is completely
right? What is the absolute worst thing that can
happen from your worst fears coming true? If you
can find a place within yourself where the worst
possible scenario is somehow okay to you, then
the fear will dissipate. What if you are told
point blank that you're not qualified for the job
of your dreams? What happens next? Use your
mind's creative power to find ways where you can
be okay with the worst possible scenario. Perhaps
it means you take another course, or study at
home in the evenings, or manifest a job that's
more suited to your needs. The rejection is only
a problem if you don't have a plan of finding a
way to be okay no matter what happens.
Feel the fear and do it anyway. There are some
instances of fear-inducing situations where you
just can't find a logical way out. Your gripped
by fear, but you know that being stuck and
paralyzed is not an option. You have to move one
way or another. The only thing you can do is...
take action. You might be taking the "wrong"
action, but all you can do is move from the place
you were. When you can move, just a little bit,
you begin to develop momentum and the fear will
no longer be the primary driving force in your
life. You'll have moved from a place of inertia
into a place of movement, and you'll no longer be
blocked. That first step doesn't have to be a
huge step, it just needs to be A step.
Epigenetics is the study of how environmentally or behaviorally acquired traits can be passed on to future generations - without any change in the DNA of that organism.
Huh?
Yeah ...
Anyone paying attention to what's been happening in biology over the last 150 years just did a double take.
If this sounds to you like "Lamarckism" (the Lamarckism that you learned in High School was "disproven" by Darwinian/Mendelian genetics) you're exactly right.
Despite what has been believed as irrefutable biological truth, there is now a body of evidence that suggests that we didn't have the full picture. The study of Epigenetics shows that changes which occur to you as a result of your environment and behavior can be passed on to future generations. We don't fully understand "the how" yet, but the evidence of this phenomenon seems quite clear.
And no, these changes don't have anything to do with the way you treat your kids. They have everything to do with how you treat yourself.
For example, a cancer you get today could have been triggered by your great grand-mothers exposure to an industrial poison.
The passing of these non-genetic traits has been observed now across multiple generations of mice.
The implications are huge.
If these findings are right, then everything you do ...
... what you eat, your use of recreational chemicals (including alcohol and tobacco), where you live, your moods, your stress levels ...
All of these things can not only affect your health, but any adverse (or favorable) affects could be passed on to future generations as well.
If you've been looking for an excuse to change your lifestyle, I don't think you'll find a better one than that.
Stunning, isn't it?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
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Welcome to Genius Sparks by Paul R. Scheele
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Do you ever find that you've adopted the
mannerisms or sayings of someone else --
without having realized it?
Perhaps it's a goofy face often exhibited by
a coworker seeking to ease a tense situation
or a common or quirky phrase of a close
friend or loved one.
The old adage "You learn from the company
you keep" is profoundly true.
As infants we learned by modeling those
around us. This natural learning method let us
acquire language, speech patterns, mannerisms,
and general orientation to our world.
You can use this same modeling technique
today to acquire new behaviors that help you
more effectively achieve your goals. It's a
process we use on our New Behavior Generator Paraliminal.
Modeling can help you develop personality
characteristics, patterns of self-motivation,
attitudes, and behaviors that distinguish
successful people from failures. Even highly
complex skills such as playing the guitar or
golf can be enhanced through modeling.
Here's how you do it.
* Identify a specific goal. Let's say you
want to improve your golf game by 10 percent or
give a presentation that will influence a
client to buy your product or service.
* Identify the behaviors that will lead you
to the goal. These could be personality traits,
emotional responses, or specific identifiable
actions, such as the body posture of a perfect
golf swing or the voice inflection of an
influential speaker.
* Select a model -- someone who consistently
demonstrates the behaviors that will lead you
to your goal. Ideally, this should be a
real person, possibly someone you personally
know, or someone you admire such as golf pro
Tiger Woods or the top account executive
in your company.
* Close your eyes, relax, and visualize your
model demonstrating the behaviors you have chosen.
Notice specific elements of behavior you desire,
the muscle movements, posture, rhythm, or voice.
* Now, see yourself in place of your model,
as if you removed their body and substituted yours.
Imagine you can see and hear your body, fully
demonstrating the exact behavior your model demonstrated.
* Finally, imagine stepping inside the image
of you to experience the new behaviors, the feeling
of your muscles, your posture, the rhythm and tempo
of your movements, or the quality of your voice.
Your brain can construct and step into any
resource. Modeling allows you to translate an
abstract set of neurological resources
into something more tangible. Your brain
accepts as fact that these behaviors can be
performed and will help you learn them.
Use this exercise to bring out your full
inner resources to achieve more success in
every area of your life.
Friday, August 10, 2007
- Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
- Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
- And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
- It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
- Avoid clichés like the plague.
- Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
- Be more or less specific.
- Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
- Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
- No sentence fragments.
- Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
- Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
- Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
- One should NEVER generalize.
- Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
- Don't use no double negatives.
- Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
- One-word sentences? Eliminate.
- Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
- The passive voice is to be ignored.
- Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
- Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
- Kill all exclamation points!!!
- Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
- Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth-shaking ideas.
- Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
- Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
- If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
- Puns are for children, not groan readers.
- Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
- Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
- Who needs rhetorical questions?
- Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
And finally...
- Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Friday, August 03, 2007
How many of us were told to go to school. We tell 10 years
old still today what do you want to be when you grow up. Notice you’re supposed to
study something in school, pick a career job, get out of high school or college, and do that
job the rest of your life. Have you met anyone Joe, who’s done the same thing for the
rest of their life?
Joe:
No.
Paul:
Yet we’re still teaching kids that way.
Joe:
Yes.
Paul:
It’s crazy, because what we should be teaching them is how to roll with the punches and
change their careers every 5, 10 years to learn new technology. Because today wealth
equals resources - physical resources, P, times technology, T, but the T is what matters
entirely and in almost any field, you’re in. You’re in the music business; you better learn
how to roll with vinyl records into digital CD’s and today into MP3’s, completely
different technologies, but still providing the end used product, music.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
The internet has been a great resource! Obviously, but in unexpected ways as well. In my daughters excitement to play the latest music they have learned to spell a wide variety of words. To type in the title and get the tune they want they have to spell it right!
Internal drive to overcome a 3rd party pressure - got to love it!
Have h-e-a-v-e-n-l-y day!
