From Ode’s ‘The Intelligent Optimist’

Digital Prohibition?

I have some bad news for you: The more you email, tweet, post messages on Facebook, read blogs (including this one), the less clever you become. With the advent of ever more capable mobile devices, people are online all the time, everywhere. You see people texting while waiting in line for their coffee, while exercising in the gym, while going up or down in an elevator. The opportunities to make the tiniest windows of time productive or entertaining become almost endless. But the achievement comes at a price. Scientists are discovering an unexpected side effect: The higher digital input we receive, the less time our brains get to process information, learn and become creative. In other words: We need downtime to get new insights and new ideas.

This doesn’t come as news to me. I have always found a walk on the beach or on a mountain trail with a long view to be a very good “idea producing” event. In fact, on an ongoing basis, I find my best ideas come to me in the morning shower when my mind is still fresh and when I’m not even close to my computer.

There is no question what’s best for our own fulfillment and for society’s success—our creativity. And it appears that in order to serve that creativity we have to be less online. “Almost certainly, downtime lets the brain go over experiences it’s had, solidify them and turn them into permanent long-term memories,” said Loren Frank, assistant professor in the department of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco recently in The New York Times.

While downtime for the brain may be a good recipe, it will be hard to sell in this age of increasing digital addiction. Almost a century ago Americans found it better for their people and society when alcohol was forbidden. It was not a successful experiment and I’m not proposing that a “digital prohibition” would be a great solution. But apart from the needs of our brains, I’m wondering where we are going when we would more and more replace the digital experience with a real one. When I wanted to play with a friend when I was young, I went to his home, knocked on the door and hoped he was there. My son simply checks out his status on Facebook; he doesn’t even make a call, let alone goes on an unexpected visit that may lead to unexpected real-life experiences.

There is a strange loneliness when the ongoing communication is more often with someone who is not next to you.

Digital communication is not the real thing. People send emails when they find it hard to make a call or even face the person they have a message for. I have seen so many email trails leading nowhere other than to confusion and alienation between people, that I very much sympathize with the CEO who said recently in an interview that he never reads an email that he is copied on. E-mail cc’s, he said, are attempts by people to cover their backs. When you need someone, call her or him, or better yet, make a visit.

Modern communication is great, but it is as with alcohol—moderation and responsibility are required to really enjoy it. So whenever they launch a waterproof mobile device, I will decline. I need my offline moments under the shower.

- Jurriaan Kamp

Polyanna would be proud: Gratitude List

I recently read an entry from Colin Beavan’s blog about the idea of writing Gratitude Lists. The way he explains it is that while buying things gives us a burst of happiness, it is unsustainable and our level of happiness will quickly recede back to the baseline. Consumption as a tool to achieve happiness requires constant expenditure. Instead, one tool you can use to increase the baseline itself is to regularly compile a list of the things you feel grateful for. This gratitude list “won’t just make you feel better then and there, but will actually change your all-day baseline.”

I really like this idea, and the way that it makes you appreciate those people and things in your life that are not material. In particular, I think it is easy to fixate on the negative things in your life, and allow them to dampen you mood and your outlook. Instead, the practice of making a gratitude list can do the opposite, and channel your mental and emotional energy in more positive directions. (I can hear Rachael right now chiming “No negativity!”) So, I’m going to share my list for today.

1. My family, their health, well-being and happiness
2. Friends here, abroad and at home
3. The opportunity to study according to my interests
4. Waking up in the morning to my ecological alarm clock of sun, chirping birds and the warble of frogs
5. The pleasant memories of the past, the possibilities for the future & being alive, right now

Echigo Yuzawa in the Autumn

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us be thankful.

- Buddha

The Side Effects of Hope

The term has been kicking in to full gear as I attempt to narrow the direction of my thesis and the sakura trees of Snow Country are finally convinced that Spring is imminent. My frenetic pace has put my calendar in a jumble while other aspects of my life fall in to place. My fiance ships off to basic training within a day and we share different degrees of simultaneous nervousness and excitement. Working part time at the library has been even better than I imagined it would be, and even the dull activity of shelf reading has led me to titles I am glad to have happened upon. Among other things, I’ve been reading the book Resonant Leadership by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee.

According to Boyatzis and McKee, people who create a sustainable resonance of hope:

• Demonstrate dreams and aspirations, but are also in touch with those of the people around them.
• Are optimistic and believe in their ability to make a change.
• See the desired future as realistic and feasible.

The book describes hope as an “umbrella” for positive emotions, which in turn are good for us, for our work, and for our relationships. The following are all quotes from Resonant Leadership.

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“In a hopeful state, we have more physiological as well as emotional resiliency, and we are mentally and physically prepared to deal with challenges.”

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“Positive emotions impact our openness and cognitive flexibility, problem-solving abilities, empathy, willingness to seek variety and persistence. [...] Hope is an emotional state accompanied by clear thoughts about what the future can be and how to get there.”

Right now I find that observation particularly pertinent and helpful. Boyatzis and McKee advocate the use of visualization techniques to envision the positive or desired outcome.

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“We can all apply visualization to cultivate hope in our lives. Besides triggering mindfulness and a sense of renewal, such exercises can help guide our decisions and future actions. The key is that the vision should evoke in your mind a specific, clear mental pictures of the future – one that you find inspiring and that you believe can happen. A sense of purpose or meaning in your work often follows naturally from such images. And the positive emotions that are generated as you think about your desired future are actually powerful drivers of behavior.”

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It is reading like this that are needed to balance the mood of some other things on my current list, such as Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams.

Recommended Reading:

• Destructive Emotions by Daniel Goleman
• Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion by Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee
• Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed joint publication by United Nations OCHA and United Nations IRIN

April Green Days

“The Earth has enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”

-M.K. Gandhi

As you probably know, April 22 is Earth Day, but that is by not the only occasion relating to kindness to our planet in this month. While last month we had Earth Hour, this month there is also Pee Outside Day (link). This is part of an effort to reduce water usage, as flushing wastes tons of water each year.

Water is necessary to sustain human life, for consumption, for sanitation, for industry and for transport. Increasingly we rely on non-renewable groundwater supplies for the water-heavy irrigation in regions that are feeding much of the world. These will diminish with time, and more quickly though our current over-consumption habits compounded with the effects of climate change.

One of the Millennium Development goals was to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.” This is very important in terms of human health and security, as well as environmental sustainability.

I also recently heard an interview with a Bishop who lead a Carbon fast this Easter season (See Christians told: Give up  carbon for Lent). It was a nice interview, and emphasized the was small lifestyle changes can add up to a large difference. Another point that I was glad to see emphasized is that there are multiple benefits to such choices – environmental, financial as well as social. For example lowering your carbon footprint by turing down your thermostat and unplugging unused appliances also lowers your energy bills!

“During Lent, Christians usually give up various things. In the past they’ve given up things like sweets, chocolate, and alcohol. We came up with the idea of giving up carbon rather than giving up those other things, because as you give up carbon not only are you reducing your own carbon footprint, but you’re also doing something which helps people in other parts of the world.  Because at the moment, the poor in the poorest parts of the world are suffering because of climate change and if we can reduce our carbon footprint we, then in in the end we help the world and we help the poor.”

-Bishop James Jones (2010)

Here are some links or particularly easy water related tips:

• Turn the water off when brushing your teeth.
• Wash your hands with low flow of water.
• Don’t wash your car too often.
• Water Footprint Calculator
• Flush your toilet with grey water.
• Dilute urine with 8 parts water to use it in your garden.
• An Ohio University scientist has developed a catalyst capable of extracting hydrogen from urine. Power your car with pee.
• Pee in the shower!
• Radio Netherlands Worldwide: Earth beat Water Episode

Of course, there is so much more we can do, such as scrutinize the choices we make in terms of what products and foods we consume. In my opinion being conscious of our choices is the most important thing that will put a dent in our total impact. Being zero impact is difficult, but being as low impact as you can is something everyone can achieve. What are you doing in terms of your water use?