Importance of compromises in our lives

As Emerson said for everything we have missed, we have gained something else, and for everything we gain, we lose something else. Life is about ongoing compromises. We trade off our resources constantly for our survival and add new meanings. Sometimes they are tangible and sometimes intangible.

It is interesting and important how we make decisions what to trade off. And it is important to be aware of this universal principle reflected in all walks of our lives. There are many factors affecting our decisions from constants to variables. As highlighted throughout the history, compromise can be seen a kind of sacrifice of a right or good thing in the hope of obtaining another one. The sad part (which we need to be cautious) is that we may end up losing both, I mean the compromised and the compromising goals; hence we need to be careful when we are making decisions and apply an intelligent risk assessment process based on the relationships of our needs, gains, goals and what we compromised. For example we see that through our compromises of tactical gains we neglected very important parts of our humanity such as human rights in some countries, collective creation and transformation which may lead us towards enlightenment.

Last week, I had to compromise my blogging and online social networking time to gain some different perspectives in life which will be important for me in the long term. There were almost no other areas for me to cut time and spend for my new transformation activity hence I have deliberately chosen blogging and social networking time because their impact on my life is seen less than the impact of my other goal; at least as an indication of my own risk assessment for this decision. Even though I missed the interaction of blogging and other social networking activities last 10 days, I am grateful about my choice, decision and the progress which produced satisfactory outcomes for me. How about you? How and what do you trade off for what reasons?

Philosophical clarity with atheistic pessimism for diagnosing unhappiness

I was talking with my wise yet controversial friend Helen whose real life stories I used to blog in another site but stopped with her final request. Even though she is very young (at her early twenties), Helen looks at things from multiple angles and has vast knowledge of philosophy and human psychology within sociological context with the practical sharpness. Her capabilities even challenge her father's many years of academic and corporate experience in dealing with a number of life situations.

When I asked Helen about recent issues related to her father, she diagnosed her father's recent unhappiness with two words (boredom and pain)which later I found borrowed from Arthur Schopenhauer who is known with his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity. She said Bruce was recently unhappy due to excessive boredom at emotional and severe pain at physical level.

First it was hard to conceptualize the scope of these two words and interrelationship for one's unhappiness within such complexity. When she gave me a number of examples related to her father's situation with thirst of unfulfilled material desires and link to our previous discussion on whether reason alone can unlock key answers about the world, I started seeing an unexpected yet pleasant light upon a dark issue in my perceived world too.

It was easier to relate to Helen's challenging thoughts as I used to read theories of Schopenhauer's in my early twenties as well. It was inspiring to understand views of an aesthetic pessimist relating to teachings of well known Buddhist, Vedanta and ancient Greek Stoic philosophers. And more importantly, Schopenhaeur always reflected something familiar for me with the intellectual and emotional taste of my favourite thought leaders like Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Borges, Wagner, Camus, Wittgenstein, Schrödinger, Einstein, and more...And his philosophical clarity was evident with sharp and wise remarks like "The more unintelligent a man is, the less mysterious existence seems to him” or metaphorically "Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame.”

I learnt through Schopenhauer's analysis that emotional, physical, and sexual desires can never be fulfilled! And it was amazing how empowering to have such a fundamental yet powerful piece of knowledge in early twenties which may even shed lights on senior citizens' complex issues.

What kind of privileged knowledge or insights have you obtained at your younger ages which you still use in your life for enlightenment or other purposes of your life?

Transforming from ivory tower to collaboration maker status

The term "ivory tower" holds a negative connotation for some academic and research institutions.

There are some efforts to overcome or change this perception. For example, it is great read about some movements from the impression of being an "ivory tower" to developing and implementing partnerships with local communities to foster research efforts that address social problems by new research from North Carolina State University mentioned in Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work.

The media release explaining this effort and guidelines could be obtained from this link titled "Research Lays Guidelines For Real World Scholarship"

Are there any collaborative efforts in your locality to exemplify moving from ivory tower to collaboration maker status? How do they contribute to your community?

Recent blog posts diversity from Ecademy business network

I like reading blogs to gain different perspectives, insights and individual views from various people coming from various geographies and cultural backgrounds. Today, my focus is on Ecademy network. I observed extra richness in Ecademy blogs within last few days. I am impressed by the content and diversity in general; for example the following categories and representatives took my attention:

1. Injection of business in social context by Jan Mulder, Bernadette Doyle, Martin Bamford, Ty Tyson, Cornelis de Maijer, Penny Power, Bob Nicoll, William Buist, Mark Lee, Marco van Velthuisen, David Winch, Anthony Mullinder, Annabel Kaye, George Emsden, Anna Stephens, Jason Collins and James McBrearty...

2. Challenging social observations and prompts by Wayne Bisset, Stuarte Harris, Sam Borrett, Simon Ellinas, Ann Andrews, Nighet Nasim Riaz and Andreas Wiedow...

3. Exotic cultural input from Fatimea Tedora, Zahir Shamsery, Dr Das Suman, Martin Dewhurst, Nick Dutch, Bernard Bonvivant, Michael Oon...

4. Interesting personal input from Norman Feiner, Mark Mandel, Elizabeth Malouvier, Demos Flouri, Carolyn Williams, Phil Shepherd, Jon Hansen, Keith Whitney, Dr Gaby Cora, Solveigh Calderin, Richard Derwent Cooke, Nic Oliver, Jet Rotmans, Maki Kosaka, Maurice Poole, Hans Terhurne Freddy Daems and Joy Webber ...

5. Highlights from various interesting media types by Richard Perry, Jeff Mowatt, Rajesh Ananda, Daniel-Flavius Lucica, and Tony Hine

6. Sudden breeze from famous Nikki Pilkington and a sad farewell from insightful Andrew Peel...

7. Social media flavour from Alan Stevens, Georgina Lester, Thomas Power, Steve Hall, Andrew Wilcox, Roger Vanstone, Zara Lockwood, Ivor Kellock, Steven Healey, Francois Hotte, Chris Ogle, Marcus Fielding, Nick Tadd and Vanessa Warwick...

8. Superior philosophical, realistic and thought provoking observations from Michael Heaney and Steve Holmes...

There were more interesting posts but it was the ones I enjoyed in my limited time and tagged some of them for future reading. What posts did you enjoy last few days and how did they impress you?

Regards,
Mehmet Yildiz

Importance of cognitive problem-solving ability for happiness

Why do I highlight importance of cognitive problem-solving ability today? Problem solving is a broad topic and observed in all walks of life and it is a lifelong process. Cognition is a core survival system for human being. When we connect these two large concepts covering multi-disciplines such as Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, it automatically makes it a complex topic to deal with. However, my aim is to focus only one aspect of this topic today: happiness!

According to a study conducted at Iowa State University, they found that diminished cognitive problem-solving ability was a significant predictor of depressive symptoms in octogenarians, while living in a nursing home and greater neurotic tendencies increased depression among centenarians. The title of the media release explaining the study is "Iowa State researchers identify secrets to happiness, depression among oldest of old".

The research also confirmed that worry and anxiety contribute to depression in centenarians. And one of the things they're worried about, according to Martin, is the direction the country is headed and the world they're leaving for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

So based on the findings of this study, one may ask that if we maintain our cognitive problem solving abilities and learn to eliminate or at least reduce worry and anxiety in our lives, does that mean we can catch happiness? Or could there be more to happiness from psychological point of view even in such a narrowed scope; let alone neglecting myriad of other compound factors and unknowns in our larger parts?

A preliminary and informal study on seven online tools for professional and business use

In this post, I'd like to share my findings for a preliminary study as a partial requirement of a paper to be published. It is related to the use of some popular online tools for business and professional purposes.

Study Approach: I selected 10 active online profiles from my networks. These are the co-networkers whom I established personal trust via a number of correspondence over 12 months. The sample is gender agnostic, representing only English speaking countries (USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) with business and professional background. I interviewed these 10 people via Google, MSN, Skype, Yahoo, and Facebook chat tools in an informal way approximately half an hour. I also confirmed some of conflicting and contradictory views via email follow-ups. My key questions were about their current beliefs on Ecademy, Facebook, Google, Linked, Twitter, Yasni and Youtube in terms of the contribution of these tools to their business or profession.

Findings: There were a number of interesting views that I will make available in a paper progressing on these tools. However I'd like to share the key common findings for each online tool related to their profession and business as of 7 April 2010 to validate my findings with a wider sample:
1. Google is the main source of information for their profession and business. They use it everyday.
2. Youtube is secondary source of information for their business. They use it everyday.
3. Twitter has done nothing for their business as yet. However they see it as third important source of information.
4. They all are in Facebook. They believe to have some potential for their profession and business even though they haven't used it for business purpose as yet.
5. Linkedin is seen as a business card or CV collection and they sometimes use it to check some contact references.
6. Ecademy is only known to them by the blogs they saw in Twitter and some email invitations. They have no idea so far how Ecademy can help their profession but they all are interested to explore the possibilities further.
7. Yasni was heard by 4 of them in various online sites but none of them knew its scope and contribution for their profession and business. They all indicated interest to explore the possibilities further.

I have some impressions, perceptions and personal views established based on my experience but what do these findings tell or mean to you? Can you comment on the points you are familiar with? If you prefer your views to be kept confidential; please send me a personal mail linked to my Google profile.

Regards,
Mehmet Yildiz

Back to basics and cost effective solutions for our sanity

Solutions in technology and science to help us survive, feel better and stay sane are ubiquitous. The progress is fascinating to follow. Each day I explore new studies, new approaches, new ideas leading towards desired solutions.

Interestingly, we appear to go back to basics; natural, simple and cost effective solutions. For example, "exercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety disorders, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health care providers, according to researchers who analyzed the results of numerous published studies". This was highlighted by the SMU Research recently.

In addition, cost effective and simplistic solutions are attracting our attentions. It is great to know that researchers in Penn State University developed a low-cost behavioral assessment that can clue someone in to Alzheimer's disease at its earliest stage. More information could be obtained from this link.

I'd be interested to obtain your views and examples of basic, natural, simple, inexpensive yet efficient solutions from your experience that you can comment here.

Would attitude for everyday activities make us healthier?

Exercise is an inevitable part of our lives. It is essential for us to stay healthy. We are recommended 150 minutes of aerobic activity throughout the week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. My health consultants so far recommended at least an hour of walking which I have been following and enjoying the outcome.

What I found more interesting is the research through gaining exercises at unconscious level. I'd like to highlight a recent study conducted by the Penn State University. The media release is titled "Attitude toward everyday activity important for healthy lifestyle". David Conroy (associate professor of kinesiology) said "It wasn't the overall level of activity we focused on, it was specifically the unintentional activity -- those little things that you don't even think about that help you burn those extra few calories. If you aren't in the habit of being physically active, you can run out of energy trying to force yourself to do it everyday but if you can make physical activity habitual, being active becomes a lot easier."

What I am more interested in their further research is "exploring whether there are ways to promote or encourage physical activity without a person knowing it".

Another factor or manifestation of smoking : Low IQ and its implications

IQ (intelligence quotient) is a measure of a person's intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100).There are many factors believed to be affecting IQ such as genetic, environmental, parental, schooling, breastfeeding, external stimulus, malnutrition, and so on.

It is interesting to read about a media release titled "Proof: Smoking Is Dumb" by Tel Aviv University which shows links between cigarette smoking and lower IQ.

I was thinking whether it may mean that lower IQ could be a cause of addictions? Or does that mean something else? The answer was provided in the article. Interestingly, Prof. Weiser claimed that "People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking, these same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues. Our study adds to the evidence of this growing body of research, and it may help parents and health professionals help at-risk young people make better choices."

This study is a kind of warning and targeting certain groups who are at risk. This sounds good in theory but the practice of this may have many implications on young people's lives. Your thoughts on putting this knowledge into practice by addressing the implications in a favourable way? I also posted a discussion blog on Ecademy asking "Is smoking dump" from a different perspective; you are welcome to participate with your views and experience on this.