Nurturing Image: Splint Supporting Plant--Perry

On her public radio show On Being, Krisa Tippett had a great conversation with Princeton Professor Imani Perry.  During that conversation they discussed a blog post that Perry made.  In that post, there was a great analogy for nurturing.

Have you ever seen a small plant that has a splint holding it up? Growers do that when the plant is precious, but the ground on which it sits isn’t quite right for that little green shoot to flourish.

Perry was referring to nurturing children, but this imag can be applied to any nurturing situation.


Conversation at On Being: http://www.onbeing.org/program/imani-perry-the-fabric-of-our-identity/6747

Blog Post at The Hairpin: http://thehairpin.com/2013/07/teaching-trayvon

Before Happiness by Achor: Practical Suggestions

In his book, Before Happiness, Shawn Achor provide numerous suggestions for sustaining positive change and achieving success.  On useful thing is that at the end of the chapters, he provides application suggestions.

Here are a few "Making it Practical " suggestions.

Diversity your meaning portfolio.  Write down a list right now of as many meaning markers in your life as you can. Aim for at least ten, and be specific.  Instead of just "money" or "family," yours might include "Be a positive role model for my son" or "Find time to read more" or "Do more adventuresome travel with my family."  And be sure to look for meaning markers in all areas of you life, not just a few corners.

Noise-check your life.  Check to see if information coming in meets the criteria of noise:  unusable, untimely, hypothetical, or distracting.  If so, eliminate it.

Give yourself a head start.  Design your goals with some progress already worked in.  For example, if yo have just started exercising and you wan tot continue it by making it a habit chart, design the exercise checkoff list wiht several days already checked off instead of starting at day 1.

Make your goals visible.   Create a realistic and meaningful digital slideshow or wall in your office wiht pictures or words representing goals you would like to accomplish.  Remember, thes goals must be (1) realistic, (2) meaningful, and (3) possible in the near future.

Book: Shawn Achor, Before Happiness;  The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change (New York, Crown Business 2013).

Literary references in Stanley Kurbick's "Paths of Glory"

Two literary references caught my attention in the film "Paths of Glory" directed by Stanley Kubrick (1957).

Quote by Samuel Johnson that underscores many aspects of the film:
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."


Except from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray which contains the films title:

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

         Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile

         The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

         And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,

Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.

         The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Link to poem by Thomas Gray:  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173564

Yo-Yo Ma on Vulnerability and Asking Questions; On Being

In her radio program, "On Being," Krista Tippett interviewed Yo-Yo Ma.  At one point, the discussion covered the role of the musician in larger social challenges.  Ma discussed the challenge of approaching these problems.

"Once you ask the question, you already put yourself in a position of slight vulnerability because you don't know the answer.  And I think that by doing that, you can actually begin to see where the solutions may lie  At least you start to open yourself to someone else who might propose the solution that might start to lead us in a certain position."

Link to the interview:  http://www.onbeing.org/program/yo-yo-ma-music-happens-between-the-notes/6641
(Quote occurs around 31 minutes into the broadcast interview.)

Creating motivational quote images using Brainy Quote

Often for motivational reasons, you want to use a famous quote. The website Brainy Quote (www.brainyquote.com) provides a large number of great quotes. An useful feature that the website also provide is a function to put the quote and author on an image.

On the Brainy Quote website, select an specific quote.  One option for social media sharing should be "Share As Image".  Clicking on this will take you to a feature where you can customize the image and the text.

You should be able to right click on the image on save to a file.  

You can print and post the quotes at work or at home.  You can include them in a PowerPoint presentations.  One suggestion by Shawn Achor in his book Before Happiness is to use such images in your screen saver as a digital "vision board."

John Maxwell on Successful Thinking

A few quotes from How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell (New York, Center Street Publishing, 2009).

"No matter what you're trying to accomplish, you can do it better with shared thinking."

"Get used to being uncomfortable,"

"The better the questions, the more gold you will mine from your thinking."

"One of the best ways to cultivate a possibility mind-set is to prompt yourself to dream one size bigger than you normally do."

"Instead of asking how, they should first ask why.  If you jump right into problem solving mode, how are you going to know all the issues?"

Comments on Jazz--Lyons

A couple interesting comments on Jazz in Len Lyons book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums.

On a definition for Swing Jazz:  The more basic a musical quality is, the less definable it is.

On Billie Holiday:  She could transform the most banal pop ballad into a painfully intense, subtle work of art.  She was the ultimate jazz singer, relying on a deeply honest delivery and an exquisite control of her rather small range.

Reference
Len Lyons, The 101 Best Jazz Albums:  A History of Jazz on Records (New York, William Morrow and Company, 1980).


 

Baldoni's Epigraphs

In his book, Lead By Example, John Baldoni start each chapter with a great epigraph.  Here are two examples.

On Courage:  "So much of leadership is about drawing a line in the sane and standing behind it.  Such decisions require fortitude, strength of character, and plain old guts."

On Grace:  "Call it elan, suaveness, or simple confidence; all these words describe a single attribute--grace.  Leaders need to maintain grace in good times and especially in bad.  A leader with grace has a calming effect."

Good Quotes 2014

"It's important that we focus more on what we need to be that on what we need to do."
--Max De Pree, Leadership Jazz

"People do not lack strength; they lack will."
--Victor Hugo

"To lead the people, walk behind them."
--Lao Tzu

In response to the question "Why do you play so long?"
"It took me that long to get it all in."
--John Coltrane


List of Questions
"There are four questions of value in life, Don Octavio. What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love." --Lord Byron

"The three questions: How many walkers have you have you killed? How many people have you killed? Why?" --Abraham Lincoln as Rick Grimes in "The Walking Dead"