Category Archives: Mediation

Multi-tasking – formula for thriving or folk tale?

Mediation, Musings, ,

If the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland (the 1951 Disney film) used a smartphone, would his passing by a curious Alice have been less panicky?

Are you a multi-tasker? Over the years, real-time task juggling has been praised. Multi-tasking on our digital devices has become the model for all tasks, at work & home (even perhaps on vacation). Hey, lifestyle of the 21st century. In fact, not doing so sometimes is viewed as a personal deficiency.

But what does research say? I’ve noticed a few articles now & then exploring the question. Here’s the latest:

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The attention age – secular sirens & salvation

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[Draft 3-24-2025]

Pay attention!

You’re at a cocktail party … or maybe in a social setting with your family … your attention is selective – like moving a spotlight around a stage, or tuning between foreground & background channels. Did you notice the person dressed in a gorilla costume walk by in the distance? [4]

Others want your attention. Sirens are calling you.

You want attention. Thrive on such attention.

(quote)
… the ability to grab the attention of the consumer is more important than the actual product or service offered. … we will forever be invested in [hunger for] other people paying attention to us. – Chris Hayes [1]

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When is enough enough – any way small is beautiful?

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How can constantly chasing more make you feel poor?

I was reminded recently of the book Small Is Beautiful. Does its economic philosophy still pertain to today’s world?

  • To a landscape of scale, wherein the business model of “bigger is better” rules. With mass speech, mass reach, mass marketing. Without any “enough is enough.”
  • To a contemporary context which (in some ways) operates as if people do not really matter. With our personal data just another commodity in commerce.
  • To a political culture infused with the rhetoric of makers vs. takers [1].
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Sour grapes – blame-shifting folklore

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This article (below) is an interesting take on a classic fable, one of Aesop’s. Like the fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, The Fox & the Grapes [1] is part of the moral fabric of the American psyche (and elsewhere).

The oft-quoted moral of the fable is: There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach. The sour grape effect has become synonymous with being dismissive and disparaging about goals we’ve failed to achieve.

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Our longest saga – the evolution of humanity

Mediation, Musings, Poetry, , , , , ,   2 comments  

Pondering the big picture, what has changed in the last 100 years or so …

This article (republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license) is a useful recap of our understanding of human evolution, and an excellent visualization of that story, including salient talking points.

The millions-of-years history of our rise as a species is a fascinating story of patient pursuit of knowledge. A pursuit all too often underfunded and under-resourced, starting with singular archeological discoveries and growing into multidisciplinary collaboration. That joint research expanded the outlines of our story from bones & stones to geographic and climatic events, to genetic (DNA) arcs, and to social and cultural changes.

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Puritan praise & pride – a legacy of conflated piety

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[Draft 11-7-2024]

We supposedly live in a secular society. And yet, sacred speech dominates our polarized politics. The righteous mind is alive and well. Private & public piety pervades our identities, our virtues and values. Dogma still divides. History has lessons which remain unheeded. Social media (and money) amplify an illusion of majority voice. We drift into a divide over the future of our democracy. The role of reason is in retreat.

Can heads, hearts, and hands find common ground to move forward?

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‘Politics is about sacredness’ – overlapping moral orbits

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Fables were part of the moral fabric when I was growing up. Perhaps yours as well. Especially some of Aesop’s Fables. (Yet, I was suprised that this was not the case for many of my middle school students, when a public school teacher.)

There’s one fable, in particular, which social psychologist Jonathan Haidt discussed in a 2012 interview (noted below) about his latest book (at that time): Aesop’s The Ant and the Grasshopper.

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Happiness pension plan – a pillared formula?

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This article (below) discusses happiness as a direction, and the elements of that state of mind. And, yes, there’s a science of happiness. And a “happiness pension plan.”

Yet, in such direction, recall our mantra:

What’s the good news about habits? They’re hard to break.
What’s the bad news about habits? They’re hard to break.

There’s also a question of social engineering. Can “villains” (and their minions) be happy? – Tick off Brooks’ elements of happiness. Might autocrats exploit Brooks’ formula?

No yellow-brick-road, eh.

• Big Think > “There is a formula for happiness — but it’s highly misunderstood” by Arthur C. Brooks [note his Wiki bibliography] (7′ video with transcript) – “Happiness is NOT about feelings.”

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Algorithmic demagoguery – Monsters from the Id redux

Mediation, Musings,

A delirious, inexhaustible, social fountain of information … what could go …

A new book (below) reminded me of the sci-fi classic 1956 movie Forbidden Planet, and how an extinct godlike race fell prey to the ultimate persuasive technology (“unaffected by intelligence, ethics, or morality”). There was not even time for an apology by the Krell entrepreneurs, eh.

Hopefully, moderation will prevail. And there’ll be collective action to tame the demons unleashed by social algorithms.

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Make 1 new friend a year?

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Here’s some advice on building the sense of being connected socially.

• Washington Post > Advice > “Making new friends can be hard. Here are 5 ways to make 1 friend a year.” by Emma Nadler, psychotherapist and author (June 23, 2024) – Align with your interests; give attention; show care to others and yourself; take healthy risks; and seek a fresh perspective.

There are many people longing for closer relationships. A 2022 and 2023 Gallup survey found that less than half of U.S. adults reported feeling “very” connected to others.

Here are five ways to begin a new friendship. They are informed by my perspective as a practicing psychotherapist for over 15 years and my experiences as a caregiver who has struggled with seasons of isolation. What I have learned is that friendships are ever-changing, complex and worth the effort they require.

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