Mind

This post has been in my mind since I saw a wonderful program ABC TV. The program “Rare Chicken Rescue” has two themes, one is depression and the other is about rescuing rare chicken breeds. Both subjects are interesting however it was the role that keeping chickens played in rescuing Mark Tully from depression that really struck a chord.

When we lived on the North Coast of NSW we kept about 20 odd chickens and 3 ducks. Watching this mob of birds going about their daily activities was a source of endless fascination for us. If you slow down and observe with curiosity their individual characters become more apparent. Chickens have an astonishing range of movements and noises when they allowed to follow their natural patterns. I can easily understand how watching the birds can bring someone out of a downward spiral and gradually lead to some relief from symptoms of depression.

As anyone who has allowed chooks to free range around their garden will know, they have an uncanny sense of which beds to head for to disperse carefully mulched delicate plants. Roosters also seem to be able to get over just about any fence and into a vege garden.

One of the experiments we trialled was the use of “Chook Tractors”. This is an idea popularised by Bill Mollison in the Permaculture books. The version we used was a chook dome made of poly pipe and chicken wire, that was rotated over half a dozen circular vege beds (as described by Linda Woodrow in The Permaculture Home Garden). One additional benefit of the dome was that it was easy to sit next to and watch the chickens go about their business.

Resources

Finding Optimism - an award winning blog aimed at helping depression suffers and their helpers, also links to their excellent software package for the Mac that provides an easy way to maintain a daily record of your mental health symptoms and the various triggers that are associated with with them.

This stimulating post from Art Markman at HBR.org has a focus on Innovation.

It turns out that if you practice finding the meanings of proverbs, you can get better at finding the same kind of essential definitions of problems you are trying to solve. Describing problems in this way will help you retrieve the knowledge you have that is most likely to lead to innovative problem solutions.

Ultimately, the key to innovation is not to "think different," but rather, to think about different things. (Via HBR.org)

Beyond business innovation, paying attention to the meaning of the words we use and the cultural stories we retell is also a tool for deepening our understanding of the world around us. Many of us go though our daily routine in a somewhat robotic state with our actions being driven by habitual routines. This lack of attention is sometimes seen in the way we use words and proverbs without considering their original and often insightful deeper meanings.

Numerous esoteric disciplines feature exercises to help people look below the surface veneer of life by paying attention to multiple meanings of culturally common words, phrases and stories. For example - the Sufi's have a practise that aims to find seven levels of meaning inside traditional teaching stories. These are a somewhat like extended proverbs in the sense that they are usually involve folk lore characters and common situational contexts e.g. the Mulla Nasrudin stories. These stories are constructed to prompt the mind to seek the underlying message which is indirectly pointed to by the characters and plot.

The traditional teaching stories of the Sufi's are often intriguing. One of my favourites is known as Dividing Camels. I originally came across it in Idries Shah's book Thinkers of the East.

There was once a Sufi who wanted to make sure that his disciples would, after his death, find the right teacher of the Way for them.

He therefore, after the obligatory bequests laid down by law, left his disciples seventeen camels, with this order:

'You will divide the camels among the three of you in the following proportions: the oldest shall have half, the middle in age one-third, and the youngest shall have one-ninth.'

As soon as he was dead and the will was read, the disciples were at first amazed at such an inefficient disposition of their Master's assets. Some said, 'Let us own the camels communally,' other sought advice and then said, 'We have been told to make the nearest possible division,' others were told by a judge to sell the camels and divide the money; and yet others held that the will was null and void because its provisions could not be executed.

Then they fell to thinking that there might be some hidden wisdom in the Master's bequest, so they made inquiries as to who could solve insoluble problems.

Everyone they tried failed, until they arrived at the door of the son-in-law of the Prophet, Hazrat Ali. He said:

'This is your solution. I will add one camel to the number. Out of the eighteen camels you will give half--nine camels--to the oldest disciple. The second shall have a third of the total, which is six camels. the last disciple may have one-ninth, which is two camels. That makes seventeen. One--my camel--is left over to be returned to me.'

This was how the disciples found the teacher for them

Here is a sufi comic version from Arif & Ali's Blog

Saw this great cartoon over at Devon-Technologies which I have been visiting lately as I start to tackle my own information overload.

Devon-Technologies make some very sophisticated software for the mac, I am exploring DevonThink Professional, an amazingly powerful database.

This inspirational talk by Nick White at the Wellington Ignite Conference gives an insight into what its like for an avid public speaker to overcome head and neck cancer and the loss of his voice.

via Presentation Zen

Really good material here from Becoming Minimalist.

Finding Significance in a World of Distraction

For example, the distraction of a lucrative and powerful career has the opportunity to distract us from using our talents to benefit our immediate community. The distraction of maintaining a large and perfect home may pull us from caring for the people living in it. The urge to check up on our Facebook friends steals more of our time than the friends right in front of us. And the opportunity to spend money on newer and trendier possessions may divert us from using it to accomplish a greater good in this world. In each case, the distraction keeps us from accomplishing a greater significance with our lives.

After calling out the challenge, a number of tools are offered including being mindful of the "culture we are swimming in", the importance of finding stillness through pausing and reflecting, seeking inspiration from role models and living with fewer possessions. A timely reminder as I was getting a bit caught up in the importance of getting an iPad 3! (Via Becoming Minimalist)

I like this introduction to decision making techniques at Creative Market .

“Some decisions appear to be relatively straight forward until you take a step back and look at the entire picture with a fresh perspective. You may notice that there are a variety of factors that actually impact a choice or decision that you did not notice before.”

The post also features a nice mind map example from Learning Fundamentals focused on personal actions for reducing climate change impacts.

I find the iPad an ideal tool for mind mapping especially with the power of iThoughtsHD .

This article was linked by Macdrifter overnight and, as is often the case, Gabe has come up with gem. It's by Rob Delaney a US comedian, reflecting on his depression and the importance of getting help. Read it here.

Great post from HBR that calls out the danger of simplifying your dreams down to a narrow outcome that can setup a black and white success or failure scenario. One tool they describe to help avoid this is the "folder of gratitude"

Diversify Your Dreams

So how do you start moving from one dream to many? A practical tip I've seen work well is to develop a "folder of gratitude," a constantly-updated list of all the things in life you're grateful for. Chances are, many of the things on your list correspond neatly with your underlying passions. Then, take your list and amplify these passions with intelligent experiments. Test and invest in your areas of interest, and cultivate the joy of learning from failure

(Via HBR.org)

An interesting article from the Atlantic which compares the modern derivates trading environment with playing a sophisticated computer game.

Trading as a high-stakes video game

Worth reading through as it speculates that the scenario described will become a component of more jobs in the future.

Seth Godin has published a free ebook, “Things that matter”. It contains over 70 short essays from todays leading thinkers. Definitely worth a read. I found resonances in many of the entries however the following extract from Howard Mann caught my attention as its a phenonmena I see growing daily.

We walk the streets with our heads down staring into 3-inch screens while the world whisks by doing the same. And yet we’re convinced we are more connected to each other than ever before. Multi-tasking has become a badge of honor. I want to know why.

Howard Mann in Things That Matter

Zen Habits a frequent and popular contributor of articles that cover many aspects of moving towards a simpler life have published a summary of their articles focused on simplicity.
Check it out 

Rings true to my own experience How to Accomplish More by Doing Less

It's not just the number of hours we sit at a desk in that determines the value we generate. It's the energy we bring to the hours we work. Human beings are designed to pulse rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. That's how we operate at our best. Maintaining a steady reservoir of energy — physically, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually — requires refuelling it intermittently

Stress isn't the enemy in the workplace. Indeed, stress is the only means by which we can expand capacity. Just think about weightlifting. By stressing your muscles, and then recovering, you gradually build strength. Our real enemy is the absence of intermittent renewal.

(Via HBR.org)

Some fascinating ideas explored at the Annual Edge contributions for the most deep, elegant or beautiful explanation.

Responses | 2012 Annual Question | Edge
(Via www.edge.org)

Since I subscribed to the Harvard Business Review blog posts I have seen a steady stream of sharply observed and well thought out pieces. Many are aimed at corporate efficiency however a good smattering challenge the existing order and some are just timely good advice like this one

Maintaining Physical, Social and Mental Fitness for Peak Performance

Mental fitness involves the following seven practices — some of which cross over into the physical and social domains: good night’s sleep (7–8 hours is recommended), physical activity, focus, reflection, down time, connecting time, and play time. This approach to mental fitness is similar to the Human Performance Institute’s Corporate Athlete program which focuses on physical, emotional, mental and spiritual (or purpose) sources of energy to build resiliency and drive peak performance. (Via HBR.org)

Putting Things Off has a nice post about changing the way we work.

The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time:

Excellent reminder from HBR to focus on doing one thing well

Tell the truth: Do you answer email during conference calls (and sometimes even during calls with one other person)? Do you bring your laptop to meetings and then pretend you're taking notes while you surf the net? Do you eat lunch at your desk? Do you make calls while you're driving, and even send the occasional text, even though you know you shouldn't?

Well, sometimes… The post finishes with some suggestions for managers

• Maintain meeting discipline
• Stop demanding or expecting instant responsiveness at every moment of the day
• Encourage renewal ….It's also up to individuals to set their own boundaries.
• Do the most important thing first in the morning
• Establish regular, scheduled times to think more long term, creatively, or strategically
• Take real and regular vacations 

(Via HBR.org)

Insightful guide to living with an introvert, rings true and definitely worth a look.