Dalai Lama wisdom? Or just plain wisdom? What's the difference?

nedhardy.com shares a list of 18 guidelines for living well. Whether or not it's a list the Dalai Lama actually used, it seems flexible enough in its prescriptions to apply to anyone. I especially like #5: "Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly."

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"A safe place to drink, or just giving up?"

CNN's Chris Welch and Tricia Escobedo ask, "Are wet houses a way to keep late-stage alcoholics safe, or do they just give up on a treatable disease?"

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Provocative ideas about human identity, meditation, & peace.

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Feeling vulnerable? Good.

Researcher Brené Brown talks about her findings on connectedness, shame as the principal obstacle to feeling connected, and embracing vulnerability (through being authentic, and therefore exposed) as the avenue to deeper experience & relationships.

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With freedom to become oneself...

Ricochet had been raised from infancy to be a service dog, but she tapped into her potential to enrich lives when freed from the expectations of her trainer and supported in expressing a more authentic self. Another example of our counterpart best friends reflecting our human experience back to us.

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Homo empathicus: an argument for evolved human consciousness.

At RSAnimate, Jeremy Rifkin asserts, "We have to begin thinking as an extended family...we have to broaden our sense of identity...we extend our identities so we can think of the human race as our fellow sojourners, and our other creatures here as part of our evolutionary family, and the biosphere as our community. If we are truly homo empathicus, then we have to bring out that core nature, because if it doesn't come out and it's repressed...the secondary drives come: the narcissism, the materialism, the violence, and the aggression..."

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Build a PocketMod and see if you like it...

Do your attempts at getting organized lead to a wall full of sticky notes or piles of half-completed "to do" lists? Do you schedule appointments in your phone, but then never check your phone's calendar? Have you lost a planner because you forgot to pick it up when you put it down? These PocketMods seem pretty handy, as long as you don't put them through the wash.

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Connection and belonging: 28 things to improve both.

I'm pretty convinced that underlying our desires to impress other people are hardwired longings for a sense of connectedness and belonging. This is a list of behaviors for getting more of both.

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Digging deep.

Holland Reynolds's coach: "...and if a kid who's as great an athlete as she is, and as fit as she is - won't give up - I'm not."

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The no-money man.

guardian.co.uk writes, "Jon Henley spends the day in Bath with Mark Boyle, who last year decided to stop spending money … on anything … at all … ever. And guess what? He's doing rather well for himself."

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Authority, self-subjugation, stripped identity, and systemic de-humanization: Guard? Prisoner? Both?...

Does the Stanford Prison Experiment reflect in any way what we do to each other in more mundane settings? Does privileged status (based on race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, body size, religion) foster "guards" and "prisoners"? Have you ever been a "guard"? A "prisoner"? Both? In your view, what connections are there between the behaviors exhibited in the experiment and bullying? Are there ways to get back a stronger sense of individual identity in the face of authority, and what do we potentially give up by being truer to ourselves? What do we gain?

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Get some sleep.

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Strength of introversion I.

A challenge to Western bias for extraversion and against introversion, Nancy Ancowitz and Laurie Helgoe write, "Introversion and extraversion have long been seen as normal variations of personality, and there's physiological evidence for these differences. Research shows that the brains of introverts are more active than those of extraverts. This explains why introverts limit how much comes in, while extraverts go where the action is."

What if I feel introverted in some ways, and fairly extraverted in others? What if I like to dance, but you'll never catch me offering a toast at the dinner party? Along a spectrum of introversion/extraversion, where would you place yourself, and is that placement situation-dependent? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Strength of introversion II.

Self-proclaimed introvert Sophia Dembling offers insight into why she hates talking on the phone, with an invitation to add to her list of reasons: "So, there are some of the things that have occurred to me but none feels like the reason so many introverts hate the phone. Do any of them ring a bell for you? What's your reason? (And do any of you introverts out there like the telephone? Why?)"

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Strength of introversion III.

Dr. Laurie Helgoe: "Introversion is a preference, not a fallback plan. Introverts like being introverts. We are drawn to ideas, we are passionate observers, and for us, solitude is rich and generative. Think of all that goes on in the playground of solitude: daydreaming, reading, composing, meditating -- and just being, writing, calculating, fantasizing, thinking, praying, theorizing, imagining, drawing/painting/sculpting, inventing, researching, reflecting...."

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Listening to & pushing through pain...

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Making change.

Since change implies a new route, it seems like a physical map would be helpful. Otherwise, wouldn't it be "wandering" or "dabbling"? Stan Goldberg offers a detailed template for creating your map to change. Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Surfing big moments...dude.

Rebecca Webber writes, "Life can drone along at a hum for years — then break into a short but glorious chorus that changes us forever. It's impossible to predict such peak experiences; in fact, that's part of their charm. But it is possible to prepare for them."

Had any peak experiences lately? Are you planning for one in the near future? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Pssst...you there...lookin' for an anger fix?

David McRaney summarizes Brad Bushman's research on anger and catharsis: "If you get into an argument, or someone cuts you off in traffic, or you get called an awful name, venting will not dissipate the negative energy. It will, however, feel great. That’s the thing. Catharsis will make you feel good, but it’s an emotional hamster wheel. The emotion which led you to catharsis will still be there afterward, and if it made you feel good, you’ll seek it out again in the future...Common sense says venting is an important way to ease tension, but common sense is wrong. Venting – catharsis – is pouring fuel into a fire."

Okay, so am I ready for an emotional cooling instead of the choice expletives during rush hour traffic? And what about those deeper social slights (or even wounds)? There seems to be so much short-term neurological payoff for venting, almost like a drug! Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...

Money ain't everything.

RSA Animate summarizes the research with an easy-to-follow dry erase board sketch: 3 factors that over and over have been shown to bring better performance and personal satisfaction. Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. When it comes to problem-solving, relating, creating, & higher thinking processes, money doesn't cut it (and neither does praise).

So, in your own job (or better yet, in your life), how would you rate your experiences of autonomy, mastery, and purpose? Are there ways you can go after these three factors with clarity and intention? Do you ever feel like you have two lives...one in which you make your money and the other in which you get to do and be what you really want? Check out the link & if you feel like it, post your thoughts...