--December 4 – Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year? (Author: Jeffrey Davis)--
Rob and I live roughly 2 hours from each other and see one another every weekend. Depending on the weekend it's a lot of driving time for me. I leave the Vail Valley and drive the winding mountain passes down to Denver. When it's not snowing it's a beautiful drive and I love the time to myself. I've listened to some amazing stories while making this drive back and forth, two in particular that significantly increased my sense of wonder.
MY STROKE OF INSIGHT by Jill Bolte Taylor TED video
This is a book worth reading or listening to (she reads it herself). As a brain scientist she suffered a stroke and 8 years later she wrote about the experience of recognizing the stroke as it was happening, what it was like to be completely living from her right brain (her left brain damaged by the stroke), what neural pathways she chose to strengthen and "regain" and how and why, all the while her mother tending and taking care of her and teaching her as she always had. For example, to help Jill regain speech and vocabulary her mother would give her two choices for lunch ie., tuna salad sandwich or roast beef sandwich. If Jill said she didn't know what a tuna salad sandwich was then that was what her mother served her so that she could associate those words to that object. How patient both she and her mother had to be!! When I'm so moved and excited about a piece of work as My Stroke of Insight it moves me in such a way that it changes my life. Among many things, Jill's story taught me that it is up to me to strengthen neural pathways or let them diminish simply by choosing my thoughts. In a personal and scientific way she taught me how to change my thoughts so that I can literally shape my mind. This has changed my life profoundly and this concept is now part of my life's perception.
THE ELEMENT: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Sir Ken Robinson TED video
I think this book is better as an audiobook - he also reads it and the stories of his research are wonderful. The key theme is that we cannot afford to squander our most powerful human resource - personal creativity. With technology this world is changing so rapidly that we absolutely need everyone's help to think creatively and use their imagination and what he calls their unique Element to shape and create a positive living experience. With science and math valued above every subject for every child in the classroom, not only those who have a proclivity for it, and the arts and physical education valued far below for every child, despite their proclivity for it, Robinson says we are wasting our most important resource needed for our future - imagination and creativity. To Robinson it would be ideal for everyone to know their Element, nuture and grow it, and share it with the world in its most positive expression. He cultivated a sense of wonder in me that has lead me on the quest for my Element. I have good ideas of what it is, but I want to be sure, and I have been experimenting with various jobs and habits that I believe will help reveal my Element. I'm getting close!
I've tried to limit and direct my consumption of information to that which enhances my life, expands my perception, and teaches me what I need to understand in order to uncover and strengthen my Element. This cultivates and keeps me in a constant state of wonder.
Rob and I live roughly 2 hours from each other and see one another every weekend. Depending on the weekend it's a lot of driving time for me. I leave the Vail Valley and drive the winding mountain passes down to Denver. When it's not snowing it's a beautiful drive and I love the time to myself. I've listened to some amazing stories while making this drive back and forth, two in particular that significantly increased my sense of wonder.
MY STROKE OF INSIGHT by Jill Bolte Taylor TED video
This is a book worth reading or listening to (she reads it herself). As a brain scientist she suffered a stroke and 8 years later she wrote about the experience of recognizing the stroke as it was happening, what it was like to be completely living from her right brain (her left brain damaged by the stroke), what neural pathways she chose to strengthen and "regain" and how and why, all the while her mother tending and taking care of her and teaching her as she always had. For example, to help Jill regain speech and vocabulary her mother would give her two choices for lunch ie., tuna salad sandwich or roast beef sandwich. If Jill said she didn't know what a tuna salad sandwich was then that was what her mother served her so that she could associate those words to that object. How patient both she and her mother had to be!! When I'm so moved and excited about a piece of work as My Stroke of Insight it moves me in such a way that it changes my life. Among many things, Jill's story taught me that it is up to me to strengthen neural pathways or let them diminish simply by choosing my thoughts. In a personal and scientific way she taught me how to change my thoughts so that I can literally shape my mind. This has changed my life profoundly and this concept is now part of my life's perception.
THE ELEMENT: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Sir Ken Robinson TED video
I think this book is better as an audiobook - he also reads it and the stories of his research are wonderful. The key theme is that we cannot afford to squander our most powerful human resource - personal creativity. With technology this world is changing so rapidly that we absolutely need everyone's help to think creatively and use their imagination and what he calls their unique Element to shape and create a positive living experience. With science and math valued above every subject for every child in the classroom, not only those who have a proclivity for it, and the arts and physical education valued far below for every child, despite their proclivity for it, Robinson says we are wasting our most important resource needed for our future - imagination and creativity. To Robinson it would be ideal for everyone to know their Element, nuture and grow it, and share it with the world in its most positive expression. He cultivated a sense of wonder in me that has lead me on the quest for my Element. I have good ideas of what it is, but I want to be sure, and I have been experimenting with various jobs and habits that I believe will help reveal my Element. I'm getting close!
I've tried to limit and direct my consumption of information to that which enhances my life, expands my perception, and teaches me what I need to understand in order to uncover and strengthen my Element. This cultivates and keeps me in a constant state of wonder.