December 17, 2009
in Books
Yes, the list is a little skimpy but this blog will not write itself. I plan to read more fiction in twenty-ten.
- Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
- The Chaos Scenario, Bob Garfield
- The Ultimate Happiness Prescription: 7 Keeys to Joy and Enlightenment, Deepak Chopra
- The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
- Free: The Future of a Radical Price, Chris Anderson
- Life Inc: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back, Douglas Rushkoff
- Road Dogs, Elmore Leonard
- The Increment, David Ignatius
- Wicked Prey, John Sanford
- What Would Google Do?, Jeff Jarvis
- Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible, Bart D. Ehrman
- Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World, DonTapscott
- God’s Debris: A Thought Experiment, Scott Adams
Tagged as:
consciousness,
Deepak Chopra,
happiness
This PBS program on design has stuck with me for a couple of days. In one of the segments, a designer said something about removing everything that is not essential until all that remains is the essential. (This MacBook is a very nearly perfect example of that aesthetic.)
The same, I suppose, could be said of the theme I chose for this blog (the theme… not my execution). Thesis is the creation of Chris Pearson. More creative types have done all sorts of wonderful things with Thesis but I like the way it looks “right out of the box.”
I have gone through phases where I thought I could add a little “pizazz” to a site. If you have that designer gene, you can pull it off. If not, more is less. Knowing that –and lacking the gene– I shoot for simple. And let’s face it, nobody comes to a website twice because it looks cool.
I just finished a book by Deepak Chopra in which he says something about simplicity as an element of happiness. I’m paraphrasing here: If you acquire something, give something away. Sort of, “stuff neutral.” I’m going to give that a try because I clearly have too much stuff.
PS: So much for “less is more.” Got to playing with Thesis options and figured I’d play around with a header image for a few days.
Tagged as:
Deepak Chopra,
happiness,
posterous
Are you happy? That’s a reasonable question and I suspect most folks answer in the affirmative. It’s kind of not cool to be unhappy. If pressed for The Meaning of Life, being happy works pretty well for me. I bring this up because I think of myself as a happy person. And getting happier, it seems.
I don’t remember much about the early years but I think I was a happy baby and child. The high school years were good because it came at a good time (1962-1966). Same for college. My 20’s and early 30’s were The Radio Years and good times for sure. The next big uptrend came in the mid-90’s when the Internet blossomed and it’s just gotten better from there.
A superstitious person might warn it’s not a good idea to talk about such good fortune. But if something happened tomorrow, I’d like to have this on the record.
Tagged as:
happiness
February 4, 2009
in Books
I love the writing of Scott Adams. The Dilbert Principle played no small part in my escape from Management. His blog is one of the most thought-provoking I read. I just finished God’s Debris. Not a book for those who already have things figured out.
“Humanity is developing a sort of global eyesight as millions of video cameras on satellites, desktops, and street corners are connected to the Internet. In your lifetime it will be possible to see almost anything on the planet from any computer. And society’s intelligence is merging over the Internet, creating, in effect, a global mind that can do vastly more than any individual mind. Eventually everything that is known by one person will be available to all. A decision can be made by the collective mind of humanity and instantly communicated to the body of society.” pg 53
[click to continue…]
Tagged as:
consciousness,
God's Debris,
happiness,
Scott Adams
I’ve been thinking some about fear and happiness recently, so these excerpts from an article by Roger Fransecky ("Happiness Is A Choice") caught my attention:
"Dan Baker’s book, What Happy People Know, confirms the wisdom of the research into what (Dr. Martin) Seligman calls "authentic happiness" and "learned optimism." Baker notes that a major barrier to happiness is fear. He writes, "We all have a neurological fear system embedded deep within our brains, a neural network that once helped us survive as a species, but now limits our lives. The biological circuitry of fear is the greatest enemy of happiness."
We’ve written about how fear binds us, edits our hopes and diminishes our potential for happiness. Baker reminds us that fear is the repository for our past traumas, our fear of the future and our archaic instinctual terrors. Fear can be a gift, our way of staying out of the darkness and moving into the light of awareness and new beginnings. But if our fears own us, we have to break free…by awareness of those fears, and through the courage to challenge our fears to see if they are still real."
For additional information on "neurological fear systems embedded deep within our brains," reference the work of Dr. Warren Chapin. Additional insights on Happiness.
Tagged as:
happiness
January 12, 2008
in Apple
…and I am. Leaving for MacWorld tomorrow. As a MacWorld virgin, I’ll be under the collective wings of George, Tom and Mark. Seasoned veterans all. If we were driving cross-country, this trip might make a decent road-trip movie. Middle-aged geeks search for meaning and happiness among 40,000 people talking to each other on their iPhones.
I’ll have the MacBook with me (I’m not sure you can get into SF without one for the next week) but blogging might be light. I really hope to soak up the experience and not worry too much about recording it. We’ll see.
Tagged as:
happiness,
iPhone,
MacWorld
I guess intelligent people could argue about whether happiness is something that happens to you or something you can make happen. Gary van Warmerdam believes and, more importantly, makes me believe, we can achieve happiness. We can make it happen.
I won’t get all New-Age touchy-feely on you here. But if you’re not as happy as you’d like to be, I highly recommend a visit to Gary’s blog and website. Or his podcast (This guy’s voice is magic).
This is a topic I don’t post on too often. The idea of "changing your life" can sound weird if you’re not "ready." When you are, Mr. van Warmerdam might be just the guy to help you get there.
Tagged as:
happiness
Seth Godin on the "organic success" path to a high Google rank:
"If you want to be on the front page of matches for "White Plains Lawyer", then the best choice is to build a series of pages (on your site, on social sites, etc.) that give people really useful information. Once you’ve done everything you can… once you’ve built a web of information and once you’ve given the ability to do this to your best clients and your partners and colleagues, then by all means apply the best SEO (search engine optimization) thinking in the world to your efforts."
Tagged as:
happiness,
Seth Godin
Rocker SHERYL CROW has topped a new Unlucky in Love list following a string of failed romances. The SOAK UP THE SUN singer, who has had flings with ERIC CLAPTON, KID ROCK and OWEN WILSON, broke off her engagement to cycling champion LANCE ARMSTRONG last year (06).
But she hasn’t given up on finding true love, confessing, “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone. That’s the only true fear I have.” Her optimism hasn’t kept her off the top of In Touch Weekly magazine’s new love losers list, in which she narrowly beat best pal JENNIFER ANISTON. The top 10 is:
1. SHERYL CROW
2. JENNIFER ANISTON
3. PAULA ABDUL
4. HILARY DUFF
5. TYRA BANKS
6. LAUREN CONRAD (US reality TV star)
7. MARIAH CAREY
8. CARRIE UNDERWOOD (AMERICAN IDOL winner)
9. KIRSTIE ALLEY
10. CAMERON DIAZ
Well, that kinda sucks. I might argue that splitting with Lance could go in the “Lucky” column. But I no doubt our girl will find true romance and lasting happiness.
Tagged as:
happiness,
Sheryl Crow