April 14, 2008
Gordon B. Hinckley called for more optimism:
I come to you tonight with a plea that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life we try to “accentuate the positive.” I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good… (Be Not Afraid, Only Believe)
Today was a beautiful day in Utah! It was the kind of day I wait all winter for. With a motorcycle and no skiing or snowboarding skills, I spend the whole winter watching for sunny days on the Apple weather widget. Today the readout called for beautiful temperatures all week. (You better believe I was out riding today!) The only downer is the low temperature on Wednesday — a chilly 24°:
But why focus on the lows? Flip over that widget, uncheck the box, and then it’s warm days all week!
I realize my selective ignorance about the weather doesn’t make it any warmer, but I do believe that where we put our energy and focus matters. Optimism is a mindset of gratitude, focusing on the positive around you instead of the negative.
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March 13, 2008
Last month I finished reading Bonds That Make Us Free by Terry Warner. Though I found it repetitive in some spots, overall I liked it. My favorite concept from the book was that you are currently in the “Best of All Possible Situations.”
This idea might be traced to Søren Kierkegaard’s parable of The Two Artists:
Suppose there were two artists, and the one said, “I have travelled much and seen much in the world, but I have sought in vain to find a man worth painting. I have found no face with such perfection of beauty that I could make up my mind to paint it. In every face I have seen one or another little fault. Therefore I seek in vain.”
On the other hand, the second one said, “Well, I do not pretend to be a real artist; neither have I travelled in foreign lands. But remaining in the little circle of men who are closest to me, I have not found a face so insignificant or so full of faults that I still could not discern in it a more beautiful side and discover something glorious. Therefore I am happy in the art I practice. It satisfies me without my making any claim to being an artist.”
…the second of the two was the artist.
Referring to our forgiving the offenses we sometimes take from friends, family, and coworkers, Mr. Warner puts it this way:
Unless we change in our hearts toward the people we struggle with here and now, we are condemned to struggle with whomever we may find ourselves associating with.
…
It doesn’t say that our situation could not be better. Many of us have serious needs, like too little to eat or broken health; even those of us who are fairly comfortable could benefit from positive changes in our circumstances. What the principle says is, in matters that affect our happiness, we are in the best of all possible situations.
…
We cannot be liberated from our burdensome feelings toward certain people unless we forgive these very people; without this, we leave unfinished the task by which we ourselves can be transformed. For wherever we go, we will remain accusing, self-excusing individuals who, fantasizing, think a change of circumstance will make a fundamental difference. Instead of leaving our problems behind, we will take them with us.
When happiness is the issue, the best possible situation for us is the one we’re in now, and the people around us are the best we could be with. (pp. 307-9)
You’re an artist if you realize that you’re already in the best of all possible situations.
February 20, 2008
I’m not a big believer in karma, but this week I experienced some karma-like effects. Two years ago for work, I developed code to protect wiki websites. Then I published it on my blog.
This weekend a software upgrade caused this protection code to stop working on our websites. I couldn’t find an answer. Then yesterday, some chap named Nathan left a comment describing the solution. I hadn’t asked for help. He was simply documenting his own experience. But it was just what I needed.
This is fundamental to open source software — the creation of a software commons. It’s also what happens on Wikipedia, the creation of a knowledge commons.
In Love Is the Killer App, Tim Sanders suggests freely sharing your knowledge and your network, not hoarding them.
Jon Udell talks of “narrating” one’s work from day to day. This allows everyone to share in your vast brain knowledge, and it becomes your living résumé. I’d like to do more of that.
February 5, 2008
Today is Super Tuesday, the day on which residents of Utah and 23 other states will go to the polls. Before you cast your vote today, please complete the following exercise:
1. Please rank the candidates in order of your preference. Who is your 1st pick? Who is your 2nd pick? Who is 3rd? etc..
2. Does your 1st pick stand a chance of winning the primary election? The general election?
3. If you answered “no” to question #2, would your vote be better used on someone else?
If your vote for an unelectable 1st choice means fewer votes for your 2nd choice, and a victory for your 3rd choice, please reconsider how you use your vote.
EXCEPTION: If you’re casting your vote to make a political statement, not with the intent of actually electing the best candidate of the viable options, please disregard the above exercise.
Mitt Romney is my 1st choice for President of the United States, both of the running candidates and of the candidates that can actually win.
December 27, 2007
There’s danger in consuming too much information. I’m sure you know what happens when you eat too much food. Like food, information needs digestion. It’s only useful to the degree you can distill it into actions, habits, and wisdom.
Dallin H. Oaks gave a good talk on focus and priorities:
We have thousands of times more available information than Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Yet which of us would think ourselves a thousand times more educated or more serviceable to our fellowmen than they? The sublime quality of what these two men gave to us—including the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address—was not attributable to their great resources of information, for their libraries were comparatively small by our standards. Theirs was the wise and inspired use of a limited amount of information.
I know where to get my information binge if I want it. (Thank you, RSS.) I’m sure you do too. The challenge is to consume less of it and use it more wisely.
I wonder what Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln would do in our shoes.
