R2 Thoughts for You 
Is Lifelong Learning A Reasonable Goal?
Posted on March 4, 2010 Leave a Comment
No Child Is Left Behind!
There has been a lot of press during the last three decades about America’s educational system. Generally, the press has been negative toward America’s educational accomplishments, especially when ranked with other countries. During President G. W. Bush’s administration, America’s effort to improve education was called No Child Left Behind. Previously, during President Clinton’s administration, the effort was called the Improving America’s Schools Act. Almost ten years before the Clinton administration, President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education, issued a report called, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform.
On October 17, 1979, President Jimmy Carter signed into law, The Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88), creating the United States Department of Education. Its official mission was/is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. I gave this brief history of some of the major governmental acts toward improving education to illustrate how we, as a country, have been focusing on education and learning for our citizens. Of course, almost all of these improvements and/or efforts were designed for improving learning for the young people of our country.
Lifelong Learners!
But, what about the goal of lifelong learning? Is it reasonable to have lifelong learning as a goal? Is learning a natural goal for all humans? I think the answer is yes for all three of the previous questions. The key word in all three is goal.
Lifelong learning is interesting, especially when we consider that children seem to start out with an insatiable appetite for learning which appears to lessen with age. This is particularly true when we consider the appetite over a normal lifetime. I know many older adults who appear to have lost their appetite for learning. In fact, they generally are afraid of learning anything new and unfamiliar. I think they tend to view learning, especially complex learning, as something that should have been “done and completed” in the formal education period of their lives.
Recently, I attended a forum at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, MO. The forum is part of series of lectures called Science On Tap. While at the forum, I was talking with two people who were attending for the first time. They both remarked how afraid they were about being “called-on.” I told them not to worry since the format of the forum is that the presenter talks for about thirty minutes and then s/he answers questions from the audience for an hour. At no time during the forum is anyone called-on. They appeared to be relieved after hearing that, but during the forum they both expressed more than once how they felt “stupid.” I admitted to them that many of the concepts that were discussed at the forum were not understood by me. But, I also told them that I wasn’t bothered by not knowing. At least I know what I don’t know! :-)
Is our nation at risk?
The two people who were afraid of being called-on demonstrated, by their attendance at the forum, that they are trying to be lifelong learners. For some, lifelong learning appears to be a scary thing. But, if we think that significant learning stops when we leave school, then we are likely to miss out on education in a big way.
I think learning and education are closely tied to attitude and belief. We will often act in accordance with our attitudes and beliefs. If our attitudes (mental feelings) toward learning and education are negative, then we will think we can’t learn and our education is complete. If our beliefs are that learning and education are only in our past, then we will miss opportunities for lifelong learning that are all around us.
In my opinion, lifelong learning is essential in order to become the best and most complete person possible. It is important for our government to help its citizens continually learn. The success of a democracy depends upon an educated electorate. Unfortunately, our government generally emphasizes only the improvement of education for the young. Lifelong learning and its importance should be emphasized by all. Perhaps, a national goal of lifelong learning for all citizens would be helpful. Having stated that, It’s ultimately up to all of us to make lifelong learning a goal for life.
Is lifelong learning a reasonable goal? Yes!
Most likely, as far as keeping a person’s mind healthy and useful, lifelong learning is not only reasonable, but essential!
What do you think?
How Important Are Our Beliefs?
Posted on March 1, 2010 Leave a Comment
If this environment is unsafe to drive in, then I could change my environment by changing my belief from “it is safe,” to unsafe, and STOP driving!
How important are our beliefs? Now, I’m not necessarily referring to religious beliefs. For this writing for learning exercise I want to consider beliefs, in general, and their connection to our life.
Last July, I did a post on beliefs and whether or not we should change what we believe. Click here in order to visit that post. In this post, I will not focus on whether or not we should change our beliefs, but instead, how to determine our beliefs and how important they are to the changes in our lives.
Ok, so first, let’s explore how we can determine what beliefs we have. Should we take out a notepad and pencil and start writing down what we think we believe? Should we ask someone close to us what s/he thinks we believe? Should we study the written and spoken word that we value? Should we consider what our loved ones believe? These are questions that all have the same answer. No!
Your beliefs are “right in front of you.”
Well, what should we do? Simply stated, look around! Look at your life. Everything that you believe, is right under your nose. That, of course, is an idiom implying that our beliefs are right in front of us. That of course is another idiom … :-)
Now, sometimes people tell me they believe something and then, when I look at their lives, I can’t see them reflecting what they say they believe. This, for example, is what I see happening with many who claim to believe in the bible and what it teaches, yet the lives they live often violate many of those “teachings.”
So, if you want to know what you believe in, then take a look at your life. Do you believe you are a person who deserves love? Do you believe you deserve plenty of everything you need? If you answered yes to those two questions, then you most likely are with people you love and have enough of everything you need. Notice, I wrote need – not want.
But, if you believe you don’t deserve love and plenty of what you need, then you most likely are having troubles with both. The point is that if you want to change your life, then you should not start by trying to change your environment. Instead, in order to change your life, start with your beliefs. As you change your beliefs, changes in your environment follow naturally since you are an integral part of your environment.
Are you what you think? Are your beliefs part of your thinking? These are two questions that most likely require more than a simple yes or no. I think most of us would say that both questions have answers that lean closer to yes than no. The second question seems obvious to me. My beliefs are always part of my thinking. So, if I want to change the way my life appears, I shouldn’t start by changing my environment, but instead, start with the beliefs in my head.
Exploring science. Are they changing what they know or what they believe?
Let me give you a personal example. When I was a young boy, living with my parents, I disliked the uncleanliness and clutter in my home. I disliked it, but the way that I first tried to change it was by getting everyone else to change. That wasn’t a successful approach, in that the only result was making my entire family upset. After awhile, I realized that I believed it was the responsibility of everyone, but me, to fixed the problem of clutter and uncleanliness. Though I didn’t change my belief immediately, when I did, my environment became much cleaner and orderly.
You see, before I could affect the change that I wanted, I had to change what I believed was the cause. I am always part of my environment and changing my belief has to occur before I can affect change in my life.
So, how important are our beliefs? As important as our lives!
Do you believe it? :-)
Is It Appropriate To Have “The Future Now?”
Posted on February 25, 2010 Leave a Comment
Now, they are in the future!
Is it appropriate to say and mean, “The future is now?” Aren’t we suppose to plan for the future, but not live in it?
As a person who is in his second half-century of life, I have spent a lot of time planning for the future. During my formal education, I was constantly reminded that one of the main purposes of education was to help me be successful in the future. Therefore, when decisions were made, either by or for me, often they were made while thinking about how each decision would affect my future.
Hare today, gone in the future!:-)
Not only did thinking about the future play a big role in my educational decisions, but I also placed the future in the forefront when choosing a profession, buying houses and cars, selecting insurances, and determining diets. These are only a few of many examples where thinking about the future played a big role in my decision making.
Ok, so planning for the future while making decisions in the present has been important for me. But, what about this statement, “The future is now?” I have heard many times that always living in the future isn’t living at all. It isn’t living at all because it means we are always preparing to live and therefore, are failing to live. Ouch!
I guess living in the future is much like living in the past. I have friends who constantly talk about the good old days and often say nothing about their plans for the future or what they are doing in the present. Is that living? But, I digress! This is about deciding if it is ever appropriate to have “the future (is) now” and not “the past (is) now.”
In the future, give the dog the bone.
I have often used the saying, learn from the past, live in the present and plan to make the future better. It is important for all of us to be able to move in a positive manner between hindsight, foresight and the present. Having stated that we, of course, can only live in the present. But, as we live in the present, where are our minds living? My friends who constantly talk about the good old days seem to be mentally living in the past.
I once worked with a man who almost everyday, during lunch, would talk about his plans for when and how to retire. He usually referred to the present as hell on earth, while his future retirement was going to be pure heaven. In fact, he would usually tell me exactly how many years, months and days until he would retire and be in this pure heaven. He always seemed to be living in the future. He has retired and I haven’t had any contact with him for more than seven years. I wonder if his present is pure heaven or is the pure heaven still in the future.
Is our future now?
It’s this aspect of dealing with the future that brings us back to the initial question of, “Is it (ever) appropriate to have ‘the future now’?” I think YES, it is appropriate when what you planned for becomes reality. Consider the example of the person who planned for retirement and envisioned it to be pure heaven. When he retired, he should have considered the future is now and lived as though he was in pure heaven. I’m using this only as an example; I don’t know what his attitude is/was since he retired.
There is much to be gained by viewing the present through the lense of the past and envisioning the future the way we want it to be. But, when we see the present as we envisioned the future, then the future is now!
I am envisioning a comment from you. Let’s have the future comment now! :-)
What Does “Freely Give, Freely Receive” Mean?
Posted on February 22, 2010 5 Comments
He is giving freely what is hers and she is receiving freely, what is hers! :-)
Last Summer, I started reading a blog/website created by Chris Guillebeau. The name of the site is “The Art of Non-Conformity.” He describes the site as a home for unconventional people doing remarkable things. I am unsure of exactly why I am attracted to the site. Mr. Guillebeau is a good writer who manifests an “in-your-face” and “positive message” style. He often writes about his travels and his goal of visiting every country in our world within four years. Perhaps, the previous two sentences give enough reasons for why I’m attracted to the site.
One of Mr. Guillebeau’s statements that has intrigued me is, “freely give, freely receive.” It is a short statement that has, at least for me, a large message. In this world of Social Media, there are many participants who freely give, freely receive. I would classify myself as one who does. As you look at the words that I have “hypertexted” up to this sentence, you will notice that I have freely received from those websites. If you look at this blog or my website, you will see that I am freely giving.
President Reagan Giving a Speech at the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, Federal Republic of Germany, 06/12/1987
I demonstrate that by not having any google ads or any other advertisements – excluding the fact that I provide a button for my R2MATH4U Math Enrichment and Tutoring service on my website – that involves trying to not give freely. And, if you go to my site, R2MATH4U, you will notice that I give freely of ideas and techniques designed to help students become better learners. The point is, I think I have followed a path of freely give, freely receive when participating in the social media arena. But, what does “freely give, freely receive” mean?
To me, freely give, freely receive does not necessarily imply some kind of religious directive. I write that because when I “googled” the expression, many of the hits were religious based. To me, the saying is more of a proverb similar to the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Actually, the more that I think about it, freely give, freely receive is very similar to the Golden Rule. They both have a sense of symmetry : do unto others (freely give) ↔ would have them do unto you (freely receive). They both have an implied balance of give and take and they both have implied use of the thinking standard of fairness.
Of course, all rational fair-minded thinking people should use the standard of fairness in their everyday lives. The thinking standard, fairness – justifiable, not self-serving or one-sided, if not used when considering either the Golden Rule or freely give, freely receive, would make the person a model hypocrite. At least, that is the way I view it.
I’m Golden and I freely give and freely receive! :-)
So, what does freely give, freely receive mean? In my opinion, it means that if you are going to freely receive, then you must freely give and if you are going to freely give then you must freely receive. Notice, I emphasized must in the last part of the previous sentence. This may seem odd on the surface, but if we freely give and don’t freely receive, then we wouldn’t satisfy the standard of fairness.
I’m not advocating the use of the proverb, freely give, freely receive, in a self-serving one-sided manner. For example, when we freely give, we should freely receive any compliments. We should not, for example, insult the person who gives the compliment by saying, “Oh, it was nothing!” At least, look at the person and sincerely say thank-you. For more on compliments, please visit my post from last Fall that was entitled, “Do You Believe Your Compliments?” Click here to visit that post.
Perhaps, freely give, freely receive is the motto of most who use the internet for communication and information. From my point of view, it seems to be working rather well. I wonder if we should start using it in the same manner as we use the Golden Rule?
Please consider using it right away – freely give me a comment and I will freely receive it. :-)
What Good Is Done By Offering Constructive Criticism To Loved Ones?
Posted on February 18, 2010 Leave a Comment
What’s the best way to keep a relationship that you want to keep? How about offering what you would consider good and constructive criticism to the person whose relationship you want to keep? Is that the best way? Most likely, NO! Believe me, I’ve tried many times and have failed miserably.
William Jennings Bryan, on the right, (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, statesman, and politician. He was a three-time Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, but Bryan resigned in protest against Wilson’s policies in 1915. In the 1920s he was a strong supporter of Prohibition, but is probably best known today for his NEGATIVE CRITICISM of Darwinism, which culminated in the Scopes Trial in 1925. Creator: Wilbert Melville Date: Ca. 1900
I do think constructive criticism is a good thing to share, but most of the people I have shared it with don’t agree with me. I have believed for a long time that self-criticism is valuable and essential if a person wants to improve. It seems logical to me that if someone, who is wanting a positive relation with me, offers constructive criticism, then I should seriously consider the offer and, if appropriate, act in a grateful manner. I realize from my personal experience, this is not a normal response.
Ok, so what should I do if I want to keep a close and loving relationship? Perhaps, I should give nothing but praise. Or at least, use the adage, “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.” That does have merit and usually keeps conflicts down to few or none.
But, if those who have good relationships with me, do not give me constructive criticism, then who will? If everything they say is nice and uncritical, then how will I find out how I truly am from other points of view? My self-assessment will only have input from self-criticism and without the benefit of outside constructive criticism.
So, what should I do if I want to keep my close relationships? I think I know what to do, but I don’t know how to do it. I know I must stop finding fault and blaming others, even though I’m sure I’m right. I know, I know, that statement sounds bad, especially the last part where I write, “even though I’m sure I’m right.”
I like how you bump AND you don’t hit.
I’m pretty sure that finding fault and blaming does little more than cause resentment and withdrawal. I know that isn’t a good way for expressing a sense of openness toward the person I am trying to keep a relationship with. But, how should I help a person improve that I’m wanting to keep a relationship with? Should I not offer constructive criticism? I don’t know! It seems to me that offering any type of constructive criticism involves a certain amount of finding fault and blame.
Well, as some of you know, I profess to be “writing for learning.” By writing for this post, so far I have learned that I shouldn’t be finding fault or blame in order to make a close relationship stronger. Or, have I learned that?
Perhaps, finding fault or blaming others is fine as long as I keep it to myself and outwardly use it in a positive way. How can I use it in a positive manner? How can I change the negativity caused by blaming and fault-finding to a “warm positive?” How about making a positive statement where I don’t express what I see as not right, but instead, I express what it looks like in a new and “fixed” state?” In others words, focus on creating a mental picture of the benefits of this new fixed state instead of painting a negative picture of blame and fault-finding.
I love being praised while I’m criticized! :-)
I suppose, looking at it from a quantifiable point of view, 99% of the constructive criticism should be expressed, only mentally, to myself. Perhaps, the best approach is to keep constructive criticism in my mind and give praise to the ears of others. Give praise and approval for all positive efforts toward change and use the constructive criticism in my own mind as a basis for determining the approval and praise.
What good is done by offering constructive criticism to loved ones? Little good unless it is offered silently. :-)
What constructive criticism do you have?
If You Change Yourself, Then What Else Changes?
Posted on February 15, 2010 Leave a Comment
Arlington National Cemetery – Our world has experienced great changes, often because of the people who rest here!
I once read about a man who wanted to change the world. He tried to change the world by starting an organization to help feed the poor in Africa. The organization didn’t work out. He thought he could simply collect food for donations, pack it and send the packed food to a mission in Kenya. Unfortunately, because he didn’t go through the “proper channels,” his donations weren’t accepted.
Let’s continue the story, using some fact and some fiction, along with a reasonable amount of “what-if’ing” and follow this man’s journey toward changing the world.
Haight Asbury, San Francisco, CA – Our world has been changed due to many of the people who spent time here.
Next, the man tried to change his nation. He started a new political party that would reflect his concern regarding feeding the poor. The new party was quickly overwhelmed by the Republicans and Democrats and soon was unable to garner enough votes and/or support to be recognized by the media.
Following the attempt to change his nation, he focused on changing the city he lived in. He ran for and won an alderman’s position on his city government. After some initial success at getting the city government to encourage local restaurants to donate food to the poor, he had serious problems getting the food that was donated to be approved by the health commissioner of the city. Soon, the program failed!
The man considered his family and thought, briefly, that perhaps he could change the world by changing his family. He realized, of course, that he was part of his family. To change his family, he would have to change himself. If he focused on changing himself, someone he could change without any outside interference, he realized that only then would he have the power to make change.
When trying to change the world, nation, city and family, it takes more than a didactic lesson of change. It takes the person who is facilitating the change to change.
I can change the world!
You see, in order for our world to change, WE must change. There is so much power for positive change in each person. The only way we can help this world, is for each of us to begin the change now.
Recently, I saw the movie, Pay It Forward. In the movie, a middle school student proposes a way to change the world by paying it forward, which can be described as a charitable pyramid scheme, based on good deeds rather than profit. “Paying it forward” means the recipient of a favor does a favor for a third party rather than paying the favor back. The middle school student proposed and did a favor for three people, asking each of them to return the favor by doing favors for three other people, and so on, creating a branching tree of good deeds. In the movie, the world was changed for the better when an extremely large number of people were positively affected due to this one act by a middle school student.
Will you cool me off?
So, if you change yourself, then what else changes? Only, the world!
Ok, Ok, I can imagine what you are thinking. “Just because I change, it doesn’t mean the world will change.” Yes and No!
You are part of the world and the most important person who can change that part.
When a part changes, does that constitute a change in the whole? Yes, especially if that part is an important part. Aren’t you an important part of the world?
For a change, let’s “pay a comment forward!” :-)
Can Mathematics Explain Our Happiness?
Posted on February 11, 2010 1 Comment
Happiness – the right amount of meaning and pleasure!
Last month a friend/neighbor left a book in my mailbox. In the book was a note written by my friend on which he said he thought, after reading my blog, that I would find the book useful. The book is entitled, “Happier” and was written by Tal Ben-Sharar.
Mr. Ben-Sharar started teaching a positive psychology seminar at Harvard in 2002. In class, each week, the students explored what he believed to be the question of questions: how can we help ourselves and others – individuals, communities and society – become happier? His book is intended to be used as a self-help book – help with the understanding of the nature of happiness and to help the reader become happier. “Happier,” as I see it, is a result of the classes and the author’s thoughts regarding this important drive we all have – to be happy.
A picture of happiness?
As I read the book, I was intrigued by the last section in the third chapter which is entitled, “Quantity and Quality.” I wrote a post last September in which I explained how the mental act of quantifying quality and qualifying quantity is a simple way of viewing mathematical thinking. (Please click here to visit that post.)
In the third chapter Mr. Ben-Sharar explains why, in order to be happy, we need to find both meaning and pleasure – to have both a sense of purpose and the experience of positive emotions. In the section “Quantity and Quality,” he explained how activities can give meaning and pleasure and how that does not mean we can be happy doing them, all of the time. Upon reflection, it does make perfect sense that if I do an activity I like all of the time, happiness doesn’t necessarily follow. But, I hadn’t really thought about it until now.
So let’s think a little deeper about quantity, quality and happiness. If I do an activity that I like over and over again, then the quantity of doing it will be great. What about the quality? I think that if I keep doing the same activity, no matter how much meaning and pleasure it gives me in the beginning, I will eventually find it to be less than a quality experience. Take, for example, the activity of eating my wife’s spanokopita. It is a greek spinach pie that I really like. Though I really like it, if I would eat it everyday, I’m sure the enjoyment of eating it would lessen.
Balance activities using quantity and quality to achieve maximum happiness!
For another personal example, suppose I spend all of my waking time with my wife. I sincerely do enjoy spending time with my wife, but I also need time to myself. If I spent all of my time with only one person, no matter who that person is or how much I love her, I’m sure my happiness would decrease.
Now, just because I don’t want to spend all of my time with one person, doesn’t mean I love the person any less. It simply means that as I increase the quantity, the quality isn’t necessarily better. The point is, as I raise the quantity of an activity that gives me meaning and pleasure, eventually my happiness tends to decrease.
Mr. Ben-Sharar states, near the end of the section, that the best method of maximizing our levels of happiness is trial and error, paying attention to the quality of our inner experiences. I think he is addressing that most fundamental concept of human thought – symmetry.
Yea! Mathematics explains our happiness!
We need to pay attention to whether we have too much or too little of any activity that has meaning and pleasure. In this case, the “too much” and “too little” would refer to quantity and the “meaning and pleasure” refers to quality. Therefore, if mathematics is the mental act of quantifying quality and qualifying quantity, then using mathematics can not only help explain our happiness, but also help make us happier. Wow!
I’m looking forward to your happy or sad comment. :-)
If Overwhelmed, Why Not Try Underwhelmed?
Posted on February 8, 2010 Leave a Comment
An overwhelming climb done by underwhelming steps!
Have you ever been overwhelmed? Of course, we all have. For this post, I am using overwhelmed as a “feeling in the mind which causes us to think we have too much to do.” There are other ways to interpret the word, such as: overthrow, cover, bury, etc. Even though I’m aware of those other interpretations, I know when I hear or read the word, “overwhelm,” I immediately think, “too much.”
Climbing overwhelming academics – underwhelming step by step!
So, what do you do when you have this feeling of being overwhelmed? Do you do nothing? Do you complain? Do you cry out in “mental pain?” I think if you do any of these, you are doing what a lot of people do. As I wrote the last few sentences, another word “popped – out” at me. Procrastination! It seems to me that many procrastinate because they feel overwhelmed.
Procrastination implies that a person’s behavior is counterproductive, delaying and needless. Well, when someone is overwhelmed, we often see the person satisfying that behavior. Consider a student who feels overwhelmed with the studies required by an academic course. I personally, as a former teacher, have observed such students – those who throw away applicable notes (counterproductive), do not attempt required practice work (delaying) and have another person do their practice work (needless).
Under the book can be overwhelming!
Ok, this post is not about procrastination, per se, but being overwhelmed does cause us to behave in diverse ways. We need to recognize when we are overwhelmed and then find something other than procrastinating, complaining, and/or crying to help us with this negative feeling.
What can we do if “doing nothing” is not the answer? How can we get rid of the feeling of being overwhelmed and know that we are doing so in a positive and productive manner? I think we should consider being underwhelmed – expecting and doing less than we think we should do AND shorten the time we spend working on the tasks.
Take the task we are overwhelmed with and consider small manageable parts of the overall task. Consider completing the overwhelming task like the time-sharing done by computers in the 1960’s and 70’s. Take, for example, cleaning your home. If you are overwhelmed by the task of cleaning it during a single time period, then take a few minutes to clean the dishes and then later clean the floor of one room. Continue with this approach until the cleaning of your home is complete. Even if you don’t finish the dishes, you could do as many as time allows. The important thing is to not feel guilty because the overwhelming task is not completed. The guilty feeling is most likely related to the underwhelming aspect of your effort toward completing the task. But, that is a problem only if you make it so.
The journey of “completing” is more important than the destination of “completion!”
So, if you are overwhelmed and want a reasonable approach for ridding yourself of the feeling, then underwhelm yourself with your approach. Do a part of the task that is overwhelming you and know that you are completing the task. It’s the journey of “completing” and not the destination of “completion” that we need to feel good about.
Underwhelming yourself will not only give you an approach to ending the negative feeling of being overwhelmed, but it will also give you a positive plan to complete your task.
I look forward to your over or underwhelming comment. :-)
Do I Really Mean What I Write?
Posted on February 4, 2010 Leave a Comment
Hopefully, oops, I hope you can tell what time it is using this. :-)
In the February, 2010 edition of the Reader’s Digest, there was an article by Melissa Demeo and Paul Silverman entitled, “How to Sound Smarter.” It was subtitled, “The Reader’s Digest Version of those rules for talking and writing – the ones you missed in high school.”
The article starts out with the following exchange of thoughts.
You almost never mean: Hopefully
You almost always mean: I hope
Why: Hopefully means, in a hopeful manner. “I hope the boss lets us out early” and “Hopefully, the boss lets us out early” aren’t the same thing.
I did a search of all of the posts on this blog (R2) and found over fifteen of them contain the word “hopefully” and almost all of them should have the word hopefully replaced with the words, I hope. Ouch! I’m not going to replace them, but it does illustrate that what I write is not always what I mean. BUT, what I mean to write is what I mean! :-)
More important, you aren’t doing things importantly!
Ok, so the next exchange of thoughts in the article was:
You almost never mean: More importantly
You almost always mean: More important
Why: More or most important is probably what you want. Only if you’re a pompous blowhard do you say things importantly.
Again, I did a search on my blog (R2), but this time, I found only one post where I used the “bad” phrase, more importantly. I did not want to come across as a pompous blowhard, but here I am using something (more importantly) when it wasn’t what I wanted it to mean. Ouch, again!
Hopefully, you can see… OOPS!
I hope you can see the point of the title of this post, “Do I really mean what I say or write?” I mean what I mean to say or write, but the unfortunate aspect of my writing is that I sometimes don’t know how to correctly say or write what I mean. It reminds me of the line from the 1967 movie, Cool Hand Luke, “What we got here is a failure to communicate.” Until I read this article in the Reader’s Digest, I didn’t realize how I wasn’t, at times, writing what I meant.
Is this a chaise lounge or a chaise longue?
I found a few of the “you (almost) never mean” phrases very interesting and insightful. Here are few examples.
You never mean: Chaise lounge
You always mean: Chaise longue
Why: People have been getting this wrong for at least a century. The proper phrase is French and translates as “long chair.”
—–
You almost never mean: Orientate
You almost always mean: Orient
Why: Orientate is a word, but it means “to face east.” The tour was designed to orient new students.
—–
You never mean: Everyone has their grammar hang-ups
You always mean: Everyone has his or her grammar hang-ups
Why: Everyone, everybody, and close cousin each are singular, so words that refer to them should also be singular. Or, since we all have our grammar hang-ups, you could just rephrase the sentence.
Is this an ATM or an ATM Machine?
There are many other words and phrases discussed in the article, but I am going to mention only one more. It has to do with redundancy and how sometimes, even though I know what I have written isn’t correct, I leave it so. Here is one of the redundancy “phrases” mentioned in the article and that I have (mis)used.
You never mean: ATM machine, PIN number
You always mean: ATM, PIN
Why: Redundancy (“automated teller machine machine,” “personal identification number number”).
So, do I always mean what I write?
Before I answer that question, I need to use my PIN number at my local ATM machine to get some cash and orientate my chaise lounges before everybody brings their food for today’s party. :-)
Do I always mean what I write? I sincerely hope so!
I would love to read what you write as a comment.
Can I Think “Positively” Too Much?
Posted on February 1, 2010 1 Comment
Positive and negative demonstrated with an Electrostatic Generator. One of the mysteries of the atom is that the electron (negative) and the nucleus (positive) attract each other. This attraction is called electrostatic force, the force that holds the electron in orbit.
Can I think positively too much? What does that mean?
Does it mean, “Can I think in a positive way too much?” Or, does it mean, “Can I think too much (where “positively,” in the original question, is used for emphasis)?” Well, I want it to mean, “Can I think in a positive way too much?” I hope I’ve positively cleared that up. :-)
Are you “positive” that I’m too “negative?”
It’s very common for someone to say, “Don’t be so negative.” But, I have very seldom heard the statement, “Don’t be so positive.” You see, most of us are encouraged to be positive and to not even consider the negative. At least, that is my experience.
Should we think only positively, without consideration for the negative?
Many think that a person who thinks positively is not being real. They think the positive thinking person won’t pay attention to obvious danger signs since those signs are usually considered negative. A person who is always positive is just out of touch with reality!
Can we focus on being positive and negative at the same time? Some say we can’t. I have heard realists say that we can’t. These realists are of the opinion that we should compartmentalize our approach into either thinking positively or negatively. For example, if you are trying to make an important decision, they think you should consider all of the negative aspects, prepare for dealing with them AND then think positively as you make the decision. I suppose this might work, but I think it is much better to be a thinker who always considers the negative while constantly thinking positively.
Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, at press conference at which he announced he would run again, he tells the press, “Now, I have reached a decision, I am going directly to the American people, my answer will be POSITIVE, that is , affirmative.”
Let’s consider the following specific example. Suppose I have a health problem. The first thing I should do is to think positively that I can get my body to heal itself. Of course, in order to do this, I will most likely need to find the cause of the problem and give my body medicine/therapy/support for its healthy recovery.
As I am finding the cause and working toward a healthy recovery, I need to do some negative thinking. Perhaps, what I think is the cause isn’t correct. Maybe, what I am giving my body for its health recovery isn’t working. If I only think positively, I run the risk of not facing the reality of the situation. In other words, I need to positively make my thinking fit reality instead of trying to make reality fit my thinking! WOW!
Of course, only negative thinking is not what I’m advocating. In my above example, if I only use negative thinking, then all I would do is constantly check for other causes and danger signs. In my constant negative thinking frame of mind, I, for example, would not seek the advice of health care professionals for fear of what I might be told. My negative expectations would allow me to expect only negative outcomes.
What I am advocating is to make thinking fit reality while keeping a focus on a positive future. Click here for another point of view that might be helpful.
Can I think positively too much? Only if reality is ignored!
How about a positive or negative comment?
R2 Thoughts for You 