POETRY: INVICTUS by William E Henley

The poem Invictus is a high moment in poetry. Listen to Sir Alan Bates.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pJcwnS1c0I&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Clara Pracana Ph.D.
http://www.lisboncpc.org/
http://pt.linkedin.com/in/clarapracana

Food for thought

Odewire is a great website with many interesting subjects: from food to business, from energy to technology, to health and back! There is something for everyone's taste and it's nice to get lost here.

http://odewire.com/

Christophe Andre

Another French psychiatrist that wrote inspiring books about happiness: Christophe Andre.
In his opinion, human beings are unhappy by nature. The cause is evolutionary: in the past we always had to be alert for and worried about threats. According to him, it takes hard work to be happy. Two important things to achieve happiness, besides food and a home, are social bonds and contact with nature. And last but not least: to be able to enjoy the small things in life and to live in the moment because we never know what tomorrow brings...

See his website for more information (albeit in French): http://christopheandre.com/

COACHING: WHO CAN BENEFIT

Lately I've been pretty interested in this new tool. Coaching is for someone who wants to learn, grow and maximize his/her performance.
It may be done with individuals or teams and the aim may be personal improvement or organizational change. Many clients are time-pressured executives who want to maximize their performance or the team's.
The book in the picture is one of the basic readings.

Music and memory

 

See in which way music can make people revive....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKDXuCE7LeQ

In other nursing homes they also use dolls, teddy bears, softly dimmed light, fluffy blankets or pillows, and other attributes in so called 'toy rooms' or 'cuddle rooms' to enliven their residents.

Alcohol strategies and policies

While the UK government just announced their 'alcohol strategy' (consisting of, amongst others, plans for a ban on the sale of multi-buy alcohol discounting, read more at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/alcohol-drugs/alcohol/alcohol-strategy), Holland also has some plans. These exist of raising the excise duty on alcohol with 50%. On a yearly basis, this will generate 350 million euros for the Dutch government. Besides, less alcohol would be used (-5%) which will lower healthcare expenses.
I'm curious about other government's plans!

Alcohol in Europe

(map created by: GunnMap, http://gunn.co.nz/map/)

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently wrote a report about the use of alcohol in Europe. In this continent, alcohol is the 3rd leading risk factor for disease and death (after tobacco and high blood pressure).

Apparently, people living in Europe are consuming two times more alcohol than people living in other parts of the world. On a yearly basis, Europeans drink 12,5 liters of pure alcohol, which is 3 alcoholic drinks a day.  In their report, the WHO gives information about effective alcohol policies.

Read more here:
http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/alcohol-use/publications/2012/alcohol-in-the-european-union.-consumption,-harm-and-policy-approaches

THE FREUDIAN UNCONSCIOUS

New brain images confirm Freud's concept of the unconscious.
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/the-importance-of-magical-thinking

Chocolate dreams

Hmmm...this should be nice for Easter!

A chocolate hotel room!

http://www.london24.com/news/quirky-london/the_cavendish_london_hotel_opens_edible_chocolate_room_1_1332015

DREAMS AND BEDROOMS

It may be a bit voyeuristic but who doesn't wonder about the intimate life of one's favourite writers?
The photo shows Emily Dickinson's spartan bedroom - she's a wonderful poet.
Clicking on the link below you may also see Ernest Hemingway's bedroom, surprisingly formal.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/literary-style-15-writers-bedrooms-168023

THE SELF-CENTERED MAN

Water surfaces may be illusive. I called this one "the self-centered man". He has a nucleus in the center of his body.
We all have in a way. When it's fully established we call it the "self".
One of the good things you get from psychotherapy is to allow your self to be more cohese and complete. The self is more than the ego. It has to do with your identity and personality.

Salivating and longing

American researchers (led by David Gal, Northwestern University) found that we don't only salivate while thinking of food...we also salivate when we are looking at pictures of money. Probably all objects of desire trigger the same general reward system in our brain, which leads to salivation.

healthy sleeping habits

Researchers at the University of Antwerpen found that smartphones, tablets and laptops disturb our quality of sleep when we use them just before sleeping. Our brain needs to process the information-stimuli as well as the evoked emotions (positive or negative). Besides, the radiating light of these devices will inhibit the creation of the sleeping hormone melatonin.
Watching tv is slightly better because the screen is further away. But even more relaxing and healthy for the quality of our sleep would be to read a book, or....to watch a starry sky!

STARRY SKIES

25,000 light years from us...
They say, however, that most of the universe is made of dark matter. Be as it be, light is beautiful and makes the mind twinkle.
(photo by NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2204.html)

THE BEAUTY OF THE EPHEMEROUS

Art on sand by the San Francisco based artist Andreas Amador:

http://www.andresamadorarts.com/

ISLANDS 5

This time is the island of Pico seen from Faial (Azores)
Photo by UrPortugal

ISLANDS 4

I love islands. They make such a fantastic stuff for imagination. I already posted here with another photo of another island:



This one, I wonder where it is. There was no legend to it (seen in lifecool.com)

Silence - Nyepi

This friday, March 23th, it will be 'Nyepi' in Bali.

Nyepi is the Day of Silence for the Hinduistic Balinese. From 6 a.m. till 6.a.m. the next morning, the whole island is silent and dark. The Balinese will fast, meditate and reflect all day. They are not allowed to leave their houses...This way, evil spirits will think Bali is deserted, and then won't visit the island.

DAYDREAMING AND CREATIVITY

As play is important for children's psychic growth, so is daydreaming for the mentally healthy adult. Between reality and fantasy, that's the space for creativity. At whatever age.

Financial psychopaths

For success in the financial world, some traits that are associated with psychopathy come in handy.

It is estimated that 10% of the employees on Wall Street are a clinical psychopath. They are thrillseekers, have no problem with taking risks, they lack empathy, are charming and intelligent, and are good liars and manipulators.

Ronald Schouten is working on an interesting book about this subject. Read more about this at his post
on Harvard Business Review.

PLAY AND CREATIVITY: DRAWASTICKMAN

Melanie Klein was a child psychoanalyst who showed the crucial importance of the play in the psychic growth of the child. Playing and its interpretation was also the basis of her therapeutic method.
The following animation allows us to experiment the joys of drawing as a child. At least that's what I felt. Have a try.
http://www.drawastickman.com/episode1

EARTHQUAKES OVER THE WORLD

Here is the link for a video map of all earthquakes that happened in 2011:
http://www.likecool.com/brand-Gear-Video.html

DEALING WITH ANGER

A interesting testimonial on taking issues personally and becoming easily angry, very angry.
We sometimes don't know how to deal with narcissistic issues and when you really should speak up - or not.
http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-03-12/girl-talk-im-going-back-to-therapy-to-deal-with-my-anger/?TrackID=ENC

Training the happiness muscles

Positive psychologist Miriam Akhtar says that around 40% of our happiness can be controlled by ourselves. The most important thing she has learnt during the years, is that happiness is like a muscle we can train. People who want to be happy have to focus on what they want (instead of what they don't want). Just like successful athletes: they focus on winning (instead of losing). When we focus on what we want, there is space to think about ways to reach those goals.

Miriams research has led to 12 practical steps to be more happy. Read more about this here

Invisible Children

In case you haven't seen this one yet: a much talked about documentary about Joseph Kony (especially on social media).
Opponents say this documantary is based on fake facts, while supporters prefer to focus on the intention this documentary has: to make Joseph Kony and his acts known, worldwide.

See also www.invisiblechildren.com

BALL OF SCRUNCHED-UP PAPER OR METEOR?

"Meteor", series of photos by Thomas Brown.

http://trendland.net/thomas-browns-meteors-series/?utm_source=Trendland+List&utm_campaign=0cf8b2985a-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

A tribute to introverts

Susan Cain gives an interesting tribute to introverts on www.ted.com.
Click on the title of this post to see it!

What do you think?

SATURN II

Saturn seen by spacecraft Cassini in the XXI century. To the upper right its largest moon Titan.
(photo: NASA)

SATURN I

Saturn the god of harvest and agriculture, as depicted by Goya. He is said to devour his own sons lest they might take his place.

The holiday-effect

A few weeks per year we are living life as it is meant to be and we change into the person we would like to be. Being outside, having good and nice conversations with our loved ones, experiencing new things, etc. When we are on holidays, we are healthier, happier and more relaxed. We experience calmness as we have no obligations. We are feeling more free and autonomous. Our self-esteem is getting a boost.
It's interesting to think about which activities make us happy on holidays: could we integrate parts of them in our daily lives?

FREEZING THE EGGS

More and more young women with careers are opting for freezing their eggs as a way of assuring fertility when the right time comes - either because of their careers or because they haven't found the right guy yet.
In this video Leigh Gallager, a Fortune's editor, discusses her option.
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/fertility?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=eb957bfb15-Fertility_Revolution_3_2_2012&utm_medium=email

DIVING IN TONGA

A wonderful video : diving in Tonga.
It made me remember my days of scubadiving.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/mcbHKAWIk3I

PANIC ROOM

Urban artist Tilt designed this room for a hotel in Marseille, France. It's called "panic room" and it conveys indeed a powerful sentiment of anxiety".
I wouldn't fancy sleeping there but it's interesting how spaces and colors can influence your mood.
The issue maybe that the room is cut in half in a threatening way (for me at east). What you think?
(seen in
http://www.likecool.com/Panic_Room--Projects--Gear.html)

Hidden

I found this movie quite interesting, it shows what kind of hidden burdens fellow human beings can carry with them, and what people do to survive in life. In this case: a woman pretending to be a man.

LIGHT AND DARKNESS

Astonishing photos by Chris Fraser
http://trendland.net/chris-frasers-light-installations/?utm_source=Trendland+List&utm_campaign=dc57ad5eca-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

THE WONDERFUL HOUSE IN THE SNOW

In Portugal there is very little snow. But our imaginary is also made of stories of fairys, Snow White, forests in the winter.
Dutch arquitects have conceived this marvelous house, part of which lies inside the mould.
Have a look at dezeen.com site for other photos. Notice the car in the wall used as bookshelf.
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/29/dutch-mountain-by-denieuwegeneratie/

COSMONAUTS

These are Russian cosmonauts at work in the space. And it was 50 years ago that John Glenn made his first orbital flight.

(via NASA http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2181.html)

FROM WASHINGTON DC TO QUEEN OF A VILLAGE IN GHANA

This lady who lived and worked in the States as an American citizen was all of a sudden made Queen (as a matter of fact King) of a village in Ghana.
What will she be doing with that?
You can ask her questions through the link below:

http://bigthink.com/ideas/42625?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=aa5377920c-The_Electronic_Brain_Your_Mind_012&utm_medium=email

Where darkness meets light

Wow...this must be a beautiful exhibition! A good reason to go to Istanbul!
Read more by clicking on the title of this post!

The purple bracelet

Have you heard about 'the complaint free world'? This project is running for some years already, but today I had to think about it again. Instead of a purple bracelet, you can use any other easy to switch object as well of course!

OUT OF THE BOX

This is what they call thinking out of the box. You might like it or not but one has to agree on the originality!
http://www.bloglovin.com/m/8169/399729223/a/0/aHR0cCUzQSUyRiUyRmZlZWRzLmFwYXJ0bWVudHRoZXJhcHkuY29tJTJGJTdFciUyRmFwYXJ0bWVudHRoZXJhcHklMkZtYWluJTJGJTdFMyUyRjNnS3V2UjgtZHh3JTJGc3BhY2Utc2F2aW5nLW1hZ2ljLWhpZGUteW91ci1kaW5pbmctdGFibGUtb24tdGhlLXdhbGwtMTY2MjAz

DISORGANIZATION AND THE BRAIN

An interesting approach to understanding chaos and disorganization some of us often experience.
The article was published in:
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42522?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=61b97feed0-Newsletter2_17_2012&utm_medium=email

ARCHITECTURE

I'm always amazed at the indifference some people show towards architecture. After all it concerns our daily lives, isn'it?
I upsets me being surrounded by ugly buildings. We're lucky that Lisbon, despite its flaws, has this beautiful light that seems to cover some of them.
Dezeen is a most amazing site for those who wish to be informed about arquitecture (buildings and decoration of interiors).
Have a look at a modern gallery in China:

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/06/vanke-triple-v-gallery-by-ministry-of-design/

ARCHITECTURE

I'm always amazed at the indifference some people show towards architecture. After all it concerns our daily lives, isn'it?
I upsets me being surrounded by ugly buildings. We're lucky that Lisbon, despite its flaws, has this beautiful light that seems to cover some of them.
Dezeen is a most amazing site for those who wish to be informed about arquitecture (buildings and decoration of interiors).
Have a look at a modern gallery in China:

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/02/06/vanke-triple-v-gallery-by-ministry-of-design/

Empathy and our genes

Researchers of the Berkeley University of California found that we only need 20 seconds to see whether a stranger is genetically inclined to being empathic.
In this research, people who were rated highest for empathy turned out to possess a particular variation of the oxytocin (the 'cuddle hormone') receptor gene.


Read (and see!) more at the Berkeley University website:

SELFLESSNESS NOT SELFISHNESS

Seth Godin has such interesting posts. Have a look at this one:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/02/the-sad-irony-of-selfishness.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

A POEM BY FERNANDO PESSOA

Here is a poem by one of Fernando Pessoa' s heteronyms, Ricardo Caeiro, translated by Richard Zenith and seen in poetryinternational.com

The gods grant nothing more than life

The gods grant nothing more than life, So let us reject whatever lifts us             To unbreathable heights,             Eternal but flowerless. All that we need to accept is science, And as long as the blood in our veins still pulses             And love does not shrivel,             Let us go on Like panes of glass: transparent to light, Pattered by the sad rain trickling down,             Warmed by the sun,             And reflecting a little.

CHILDREN

I'm not a child expert but I sure enjoyed reading this article by an American mother whose daughters were born in France.
The importance of empathy is certainly something to consider. Are we teaching it (by example) to our children?

http://ideas.time.com/2012/02/10/why-american-kids-are-brats/?iid=op-article-latest

Fernando Pessoa

Today the exhibition about Fernando Pessoa will start at Gulbenkian!!

http://www.gulbenkian.pt/section30artId1546langId1.html

A funny and at the same time informative read...

The 'Hector-novels' of French psychiatrist Francois Lelord are so entertaining and informative! These books are about the character Hector, a young psychiatrist, who travels the world to search for answers on the question: what makes people happy? They are written in such an easy, funny way that it's hard to stop reading!