http://www.careerealism.com/interviewer-competitive-intelligence/
This is the blog where counselors and therapists with the Lisbon Clinic of Therapy and Counseling (www.lisboncpc.org) write about mind issues, ideas, emotions, memories, dreams, art and life in general. You're welcome to voice your opinions. At Lisbon Clinic we value the capacity to enjoy life in spite of all its difficulties. We want to be both thoughtful and helpful.
http://www.careerealism.com/interviewer-competitive-intelligence/
Fear of heights is quite common and often comes with other types of phobias. Psychoanalysis considers phobias as an excessive ansiety in particular situations but also a kind of defense against more primitive kinds of anguish. It may seem pradoxical, but fear of heights often goes along with attraction for dangerous situations.
In cinema, "Vertigo", the movie by Alfred Hitchcock, is a particularly disturbing illustration of this kind of psychic phenomenon. Vertigo was recently voted the best film ever made and those who saw it know why.
No the movie, James Stewart is an ex-cop who has a paralysing fear of heights. He suffers from vertigo but also from a particular attraction for dangerous situations - and dangerous women.
The photos below come from a BuzzFeed link and don't have anything to do with the movie, except for one. They are of specially beautiful and vertiginous stairs. Hold on to the handrail!
A very interesting post about (un)hapinness from the Moodscope team.
When you look back, how do you remember yourself? Memories ann moods does't always coincide.
Read more:
http://moodscope.blogspot.pt/2013/05/what-is-happiness-anyway.html
From Time:
"When faced with a challenge, whether you deny the problems it poses or dive in to solve them in a positive way may determine how much anxiety you feel overall"
http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/13/how-you-deal-with-your-emotions-can-influence-whether-you-have-anxiety/?xid=newsletter-healthland
Have a look at this awesome photo taken from the orbital station.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2505.html
Listen to this wonderful TED talk by Kenneth Robinson
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2013-05-10&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button
According to James Pennebaker, writing about our feelings and emotions or about what's upsetting us, can help not only mental health but also pshysical health.
Prof. James Pennebaker, from the University of Texas, has been conducting experiments for decades and found that writing 15 min a day for, say, 4 days in a row, can be truly helpful.
I have been listening to his interview to BBC 4 and was specially struck to the benefits in general health felt by women with breast cancer who followed Pennebaker's instructions.
The procedure is quite simple. I'll quote from Prof. Pennebaker's site:
Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least 3 or 4 consecutive days.
Once you begin writing, write continuously. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to write about, just repeat what you have already written.
You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. If you are unable to write, you can also talk into a tape recorder.
You can write about the same thing on all 3-4 days of writing or you can write about something different each day. It is entirely up to you.
What to Write About
Something that you are thinking or worrying about too much
Something that you are dreaming about
Something that you feel is affecting your life in an unhealthy way
Something that you have been avoiding for days, weeks, or years.
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/pennebaker/home2000/WritingandHealth.html
“The problem, often not discovered until late in life, is that when you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. The most successful people in life recognize, that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own meaning, they generate their own motivation. For me, I am driven by two main philosophies, know more today about the world than I knew yesterday. And lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you".
- Neil deGrasse Tyson's response on Reddit when asked "What can you tell a young man looking for motivation in life itself?"
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments
Amazing pictures by Jean-François Rauzier, a French artist.
See more at
http://www.yatzer.com/jean-francois-rauzier
I read this interesting article in Big Think about the techniques for learning. New studies have lead to different conclusions from what was previously believed.
Being a lifetime learner I was drawn to some of these conclusions. The most striking one seems to be about the time period you should re-study taking into consideration the time you want to remember the suject.
Quoting: "Research has found that the optimal level of distribution of sessions for learning is 10-20% of the length of time that something needs to be remembered. So if you want to remember something for a year you should study at least every month, if you want to remember something for five years you should space your learning every six to twelve months. If you want to remember something for a week you should space your learning 12-24 hours apart."
Interesting, uhu?
I believe most people know by now that things have changed and we have to keep studying for all our lives. The pace of change is such that you really cannot avoid to freshen up what you know and if need be to learn again.
if you want to know more go to
http://bigthink.com/neurobonkers/assessing-the-evidence-for-the-one-thing-you-never-get-taught-in-school-how-to-learn?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c48eac05b9-_Here_s_What_s_New_at_Big_Think2_22_2013&utm_medium=email
(photo credit: NASA)
LL Ori is the name of a star in the Orion nebula. This young star produces a stellar wind that is much powerful than our sun's, who is not so young anymore. In this beautifull photo you can see it on the left, burning like fire.
One can see the nebula and some of its stars with a naked eye if the night is clear.
We shoud tell our chidren more about what's happening in the skyes above. Going to an observatory shoud be a good start. NASA has wonderful pictures of the universe that children can see on the screen. However, knowing that they can see them for themselves if they know where to look is another kind of experience.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2442.html
We're living uncertain times. The more the need to invest in ourselves. Us as people and us as professionals.
In the old times you got a degree for the rest of your life and you'de be living on that. Not now. Now we have to keep up constantly with change. We have to keep fit mentally and physically. We have to learn or improve different skills and capabilities. The boundaries between private life and profession become fuzzier and that's also a cause for rising anxiety. We have to keep improving some aspects of our personalities and behavior and learning new skills. Knowledge is very precious and no one will do it for you. It takes self-motivation and will power.
Flexibility, adaptation, communication, empathy, assertiveness, resilience - these are the keywords. These capabilities are part of knowledge in the broad sense. How to improve or acquire them?
Many people don't know what goes between a psychotherapist and his (her) client. In fact, it's a process of learning for both parts. The important thing is that the client is able to improve communication, empathy, awareness, self-perception. He's supposed to acquire skills that will be useful for the rest of his life.
Private life and work being so entangled nowadays, the more important it is to know yourself, your limits and your strenghs and make use of them.
Schwartz and McCarthy in a paper for Harvard Business Review ("Manage your energy, not your time") argue that the capacity for work can be re-energized with greater and bettter output than by working more hours.
How can we achieve that? According to the authors, our energy comes from body, emotions, mind and spirit. Those forms of energy come from:
Physical energy: comes from nutrition (for example light snacks every three hours), exercise, sleep and rest (regular breaks respecting ultradian cicles every 90 min or 120 min)
Emotional energy: awareness of whar triggers negative emotions, expressing appreciation to others.
Mental energy: fully focusing from 90 to 120 min, establishing priorities for next day.
Spiritual energy: sense of meaning and purpose, establishing a few rituals (gratification, living one's core values).
Re-energizing seems to be hard work but feasible. Our quality of life certainly deserves we dedicate time to it.
You may want to read an article by Matthew E. May in Harvard Business Review about the more recent discoveries neuro-science has made on the benefits of meditation.
It seems that meditation, pulsing and day dreaming are powerful tools to boost creativity. They also keep your brain younger helping prevent dementia and slowIng the aging process.
We're all afraid of change. Yet we wish for it. How can you explain the paradox? I think the human species is quite prone to habits (as animals are) and on the other hand as a thinking species we thrive for change.
Changing mean losses but it also means new opportunities. Change means anxiety and fears but also hope.
Lots of people keep saying: "I want to change. I really do. But...". This ambivalence is quite normal. You know you need to change but you stick to old habits and pattern of thoughts and behaviour.
The most frequent question is: "Tell me how I can change". There's no answer to that question specially if you are an adult. When you're a child you are supposed to ask parents and other authorities for directions. Not anymore when you're a grown-up. You can ask for professional help which is not the same thing. A psychotherapist doesn't give directions. Its job is to help you thinking not to point to solutions. The path to change has to discovered by the person if possible with the help of a professional, be him a psychotherapist or a coach. Transformations happen within people and sometimes they are not noticed right away. Change is about hope for progress. Do you really want it?
"London is a place where art and creativity are in every corner.
And the pianos installed recently on the concourse at St Pancras International rail station are just one example of this vibrancy: they are there for anyone who wants to play them.
This passenger stops to play "The Girl from Ipanema", his partner waits. And then they continue on their journey to who knows where, whilst jollied on their way.
Definitely, it is not just the destination that counts."
Check out the video