Ramblings

I am not sure what to write for this post.  Perhaps this was evident to some who notice my last post did not have a subject for this post.

Perhaps this will be my last post.  Perhaps I will continue to post as ideas, comments, or suggestions come to me, but not on a regular basis as I have tried in the past.  I will never claim to be a writer, though I have received a few comments that my posts are getting better and better.  And I do believe I have what they call ‘writer’s cramp’, where no ideas are coming to me.  But that doesn’t make me a writer.

I have had many ideas at once, and wrote them down in different sections.  I read, and re read them many times before I posted them, and couldn’t wait to post them.  Now the time comes by fast, and instead of posting twice a week, am now at weekly.  I am glad I am not under contract to write on a regular basis, as that would cause undue stress in my life.  Yet I still feel a need to reach out and try to help others with dyslexia.  Especially those who are in the work force now.

My following is indeed very small at this time.  I don’t know if I have helped anyone in any way.  However, I don’t feel I have accomplished what I need to on this blog, hence there will be more postings, but I can’t say how often going forward at this time.

I will say for today’s post, that those who have the gift of dyslexia, you can rely on their memory for something that happened to them that they did over and over.  I remember as if it happened yesterday, the home I lived in before I was 8 years old.  I remember the ‘fort’ we had outside that my dad made, the huge Mulberry tree in the center of our back yard that gave us shade from the blazing heat in Phoenix.  The swing set that I played on many times.  Or the storage unit under the carport, which was always locked between Thanksgiving time and Christmas for some reason.  I even remember following my dad’s example of varnishing that door shortly after he varnished it with the varnish he didn’t put away, and was drying. 

You see, we may be considered as having a learning handicap, but once we learn something, it doesn’t leave us.  I have had people question me in the past about some things, and because of things that have happened to me, I have not stood my ground.  Now I know this is a gift, and it comes naturally to a few of us. 

Yet there are those who will argue that if we can’t remember why we went into another room for, that we don’t have this ability.  The difference is, if one who has dyslexia does something over and over, it becomes a part of them, and they will not forget the situation, nor the details. 

I remember my parents going to our new home to paint each room before we moved into the house.  I was so excited to be in a new home, and those days they were gone seemed like they lasted forever!  I even remember that the new house had a thing called a dishwasher!  I also remember my parents telling us if we didn’t do our dish jobs well at the old house, we would have to wash the dishes by hand at the new house, even though we had a dishwasher there.  (My parents are very smart and wise, and knew how to use things properly.)  Now I am dating myself here, but I can tell you I remember the black and white TV we had in that first house I lived in.  You had to turn it on, and wait for the tubes to warm up, and even having to call a TV repair man if any tubes went out! 

Yes, my mind is full of many fond and happy growing up memories.  They serve me great now, and I trust even more, when my parents are no longer living here on earth.  Instead of looking back on the challenges I have had in life, I can choose to use my gift, and remember all the good thing in the past with accuracy.  

Winnie the Pooh and consequence

Once upon a time, Rabbit had an urge for enjoyment with his friend Pooh, and invited Pooh over for lunch. Pooh’s urge to have a full tummy, and not have his stomach growl at him, took Rabbit up on this invitation. Pooh ate and ate and ate.  During this consequenceing act, Pooh got bigger and bigger.  Finally, Pooh’s urge for food was met.  In fact, to eat any more would cause him great pain, as is the case for many of us after Thanksgiving dinner.  A thought came into Pooh’s mind that he must leave, so he wouldn’t suffer pain by eating too much, and once it was internalized, he acted on it.

 So Pooh got up, and thanked Rabbit for lunch, and left.  Pooh encountered resistance when he tried to leave, as he couldn’t fit through the door. Try as they could, they could not get Pooh out of the door.  They had met resistance, which neither one could overcome, even when they worked together. We have two friends now with different perceptions.  Rabbit thought Pooh got stuck in the door because he ate too much.  Pooh thought he got stuck in the door because the door wasn’t made big enough. 

Rabbit now had a want, he wanted Pooh out of his door.  However, Rabbit’s need wasn’t strong at this point, as he did nothing outside of his comfort zone, or did any thinking outside the box to change the situation..  Could he had widen the door?  Could he have reached out to others at this time for ideas, suggestions, and help?  They story line does not tell us what Pooh was thinking at this time. With Pooh’s nature of easy going, ‘it is what it is’ attitude, he must have been satisfied with his want, what he had at that time, being stuck in the door, and he had no need, external desire, to get out of the door.

 Rabbit was upset to think he would have to look at ‘that thing’ for months, and turned his chair around, which used potential energy, as he tried to ignore situation. However, he quickly realized he couldn’t ignore it, as he saw ‘that thing’ in a mirror.  The thought/see principal came into effect here.  He saw ‘that thing’, and then thought of how he could better his situation.

Instead of using potential energy where nothing gets done, he got up and used kinetic energy, and spruced up his home with creative imagination.  Just as Rabbit was finishing making things for the better, it all came tumbling down.  You see, while Rabbit was using kinetic energy, Pooh also was using kinetic energy, as he graciously accepted a gift from baby kangaroo, honeysuckle flowers!  He took a deep breath of the wonderful fragrance, and then just as quickly, his allergies kicked in.  This caused an uncontrollable force, in his body, and air came rushing out both ends, and movement of his body, and ruined Rabbit’s freshly decorated home. 

 Rabbit was now sad that he invited Pooh over for lunch on that fateful day.  He wanted Pooh gone.  He loved him, but wanted ‘that thing’ off of his wall.  Day after day, that same ‘thing’ was there, and day after day, Rabbit wanted it gone. Rabbit’s need, an external desire of having Pooh gone, grew with each passing day.  It was painful to Rabbit to see ‘that thing’ on the wall, and just as he had an urge to have Pooh over for lunch those many days ago, he now had an urge to have Pooh gone. 

This urge caused Rabbit to see the need he had on the first day, but Rabbit’s perception did not recognize it at that time.  However, as time passed, that need started to grow stronger and stronger.  Here, we can observe that the situation has not changed, (Pooh being stuck in the door still)  but time has gone by.  During this time, change has happened, as change can’t happen without time, and time does not happen without change, as time and change are the same thing.. 

One morning, as Rabbit got up, and went through his morning ritual, he found out that as he pushed on Pooh, he budged.  Now this caused a huge amount of emotion to come to Rabbit.  He was sure the day had come when Pooh would be able to be freed from his situation, and ‘that thing’ would be gone from off his wall, or in other words, his needs have come to a head to cause him to take action to satisfy his want. Rabbit’s need had been stimulated, as he saw a way to get Pooh out of the door. Rabbit went and told all the friends of Pooh that he had budged. They all gathered around Pooh, to help Rabbit give external influence to Pooh.  Here, force was used, at the point of contact. When force is applied, resistance happens, and it wasn’t easy to get Pooh out.  Some pushed, and some pulled on Pooh, all to help Rabbit.  After much kinetic energy was applied by so many, Pooh was freed from his sticky situation, and went flying through the air.  After the resistance of being stuck, change happened.

Pooh was free!  But only for a very short time.  Soon he found himself with food all around him again.  By now, he was hungry, and started eating to his heart’s content.  It didn’t bother Pooh that he was stuck in another sticky situation, and ate and ate and ate.  Sadly we see, that as Pooh didn’t consequence, self-making change happen, he has another sticky situation to get out of.  But that is another story, for another time.  However, because Rabbit did consequence, self, making change happen, he no longer had to look at 'that thing.’

Motivation 4, conclusion

Need exist outside ourselves.  Want is inside.  Want always comes before need.  A need is something that satisfy a want. Did I just confused your mind with this statement?

I had a challenge with this concept.  I don’t think I fully realized it while I was taking this course on motivation, but as I reflect back to a class I had in high school, I had a teacher who taught me that we, as humans, only have three needs. Food, clothing, and shelter, and everything else is a want.  As students in that class, we all felt that showers were needs, and she insisted that they were wants.  Now perhaps as I reflect back on this, my perception of the class, or the subject at hand was off.  I would say that there are only three needs to sustain life, food for energy for our bodies, clothes, to keep us warm from the cold, as well as decency, and shelter, so we can protect ourselves from diseases that will come to us from weather changes.  So, what about the 'need' for a shower?  We have to want to shower, before a need exists.  If we can't smell, or desire to remove dirt off of us as we sweat, there is no need for us to take a shower. It doesn't mean we won't offend someone else by our lack of shower, but without want, there will be no need to shower.  We see conflict all around us.  In all reality, the people who feel they 'need' to take action, such as civil disobedience, actually want to do that.  Want is inside, need is outside.  A person would not participate in those actions, if they didn't want to.  This causes one's eyes to widen as they reflect upon this.

Emotion is the energy that makes us take action.  Pleasure is the strongest emotion we have.  The greater the emotion, the greater the action taken.  Outside influence can happen here.  Positive reinforcement (pleasure) is greater than negative (pain).  Perhaps the best way to comment on this is to think about all advertisements.  If they are on TV or radio, they have usually 30 seconds of your time.  In a book, or magazine, or internet, they have only the length of time you will look at that article until you go to the next page.  They are all designed to tug at your emotions.  The picture perfect home, the starving child somewhere, the perfect body, the cool design of a car, and the list is endless.  Unless they arouse your emotions, they know no action will be taken.  They also know that once a picture is in your mind, it is hard for it to leave, and over time, and other advertisements, and knowing your wants and needs change, they want you to remember their add. Emotions are stirred up when a group of people do something to another group of people.  As conflicts arise around us, emotions inside us are being aroused, and eventually, we will join one side with our emotions, physically, financially, or some other way.  But it was our emotions that were stirred that caused us to do something. Even as simple as being hungry, you go fix yourself a sandwich, to settle the hunger emotion you are experiencing.

Successful people are very aware of the power of emotions, and they chose very carefully the people they hang out with, the places they go, the TV, movies, and entertainment they chose to see.  All of these, and much more, has the power to cause emotions, and when the emotions are affected enough, change will happen.  Successful people know that emotions can do one of two things, either drag you down, or lift you up as a person.  Where do we want to go personally?  Thus, a huge part of motivation are the emotions that are stirred up inside us, and if we are around wrong sources or people, we won’t get to where we desire to go. We change the want into a need through the emotion.  Emotion is the energy to consequence (self, making change happen) want into need.

Intention is created by emotion, and the urge to satisfy.  So the question I have to ask now, at the end of motivation, is, ‘Have I stirred up enough emotion in you, so that you have an inward want, to have this need (help and assistance) to consequence (self, making change happen), to apply enough internal force on ourselves, so we can overcome the resistance that will come, as we try to improve ourselves?

If not, I have tried.  However, you now have the steps in motivation.  Go through them one by one.  You can be like I was, and try to argue, or disagree with something for whatever reason, and that is fine.  However, if you are lacking in motivation, instead of saying this is too hard, or that isn’t right, work on making the changes needed inside yourself, and see what happens. I am.  It is amazing at how my life has changed.  I would invite, and encourage you to do likewise.

Next Post: Winnie the Pooh and Motivation

Motivation part 3

Urge is the instinct to seek pleasure or avoid pain.  (People will work harder to avoid pain, than to seek pleasure.)  There isn’t much more I can add to this, except wonder why we don’t have a stronger urge to enjoy pleasure.  How often do we do something at work at the last moment, so we won’t get in trouble, or lose our job, instead of getting it done first thing in the day, so we can enjoy rest of the day?  I know some people are thinking that if they get it done early, they will be given another unpleasant task to do. That could be true, but have we considered that this may be the way to the promotion we are looking for?  When a promotion comes up, or people have to be laid off, what do you think your employer is thinking?  Who has that urge to work hard for their employer?  I would hope we enjoy the job(s) that we have to some extent.

Next concept: There are two forms of energy, potential and kinetic energy.  It is the kinetic energy we are interested in, the actual movement.  I believe each of us is filled with unlimited potential energy.  We have great potential to do anything we desire.  However, unless we do a consequence (self, making change happen) we don’t have that kinetic energy.  Unless we do something about it, the potential remains inside us, and never gets out.  Energy is converted into force at point of contact, the point of doing something…anything!.

Energy is the potential to influence or change (consequence) something.  The image I got in my mind when I first heard this was a huge electrical plant.  I could imagine seeing all this electricity in this plant, and its potential, and changes it could make is unlimited.  However, as long as it is in that plant, that is all it is, potential.

Force is the application of that energy.  To continue with this illustration, the electricity has gone through wires, and is at the outlets in my home.  I plug my computer into the outlet, and that energy is forcing my computer to come on so I can use it.

Change (consequence) happens at point of contact.  Whereas I had a dark screen before, it has changed, as the electricity goes through the computer.  I can now write a posting, research something, or hundreds of other things on my computer.

Want is an urge to exist with something (or not with something, i.e. lose weight) with the change that we are trying to motivate.  How deep or internal, is our want?  We all have wants, but the urge to live with or without something is not strong enough for us to make a consequence (again, self, making change happen).  Seeing yourself as you want to become, is all internal.  If that want is consistent, clear, and seen in our mind, we then develop the urge to exist with or without it.  My mentor’s comment that she thought I was afraid of success, put a thought in my mind, caused it to grow, causing me to see myself differently, developing a want in me, which in turn, is developing a need to exist with success.

Perhaps the most important part of this motivation series is, ‘Can you see your want?’ ‘ Do you see yourself as the person you want to become, having those qualities?’  How clear is this picture in your mind?  How detailed is it?  How vivid is it?  As resistance will come, as well as discouragement, and people telling you that you can’t do this or that, or change, do you have that picture firmly in your mind?  Is this picture the last thing you see in your mind as you drift off to sleep at night, and the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning?  Do you see the potential in yourself?  This is by far, one of the biggest step for me, as I have been making changes (consequences).  We can all see clearly where we are now.  However, I can see where I want and need to go.  I can see I am not there, but more importantly, I can see the changes (consequences) I have made, and I am not that person I was a year ago, or even a week ago.

I will talk about need next time.  Watch out, you may be in for a surprise, as I was.

Next post: Motivation, part 4