On Meaning and Well Being

I'm back. For the past three years (has it been that long?) I have been distracted by my long distance commuting job, writing book chapters and finishing up a new edition of the textbook I have been working on with my good buds Carolyn and Julie.

In the realm of this blog, I have been working on (and have given several presentations in the US, Europe and Australia) on a model of meaning and well-being.  One of my goals this year is to finally see the model in print.

The model is based on an idea that is both simple and complex at the same time. The simple part is that it presumes that our overall well being at any one point in time is influenced by our personal life story and how well it seems to be "hanging together." By this I mean, that people in distress sometimes describe their situation with an observation that their lives seem to be coming "unraveled." Metaphors in everyday language are interesting, because they give us insights about the images we use internally to make sense of our situations.

Of course, if we use"coming unraveled" to describe distress, it also implies that our view of a state of well being means  can be represented as strands of our lives that are fashioned together in an acceptable way. By this, I don't mean they represent a perfectly knitted afghan, because every life will have knot or stray thread every once in awhile. But overall, the implication is that we like to think that if things are going to be okay, we need to be able to say that we have a satisfactory pattern or coherence to the various strands of our lives.

So, my concept, based on the work of some outstanding social scientists, mostly from psychology, but also some sociologists and anthropologists (and social psychologists), theorizes that there are some predictable situations that put us at risk for feeling that our lives are missing a strand. These notions are largely based on some outstanding work done by Dan Adams and Roy Baumeister, scientists who have pursued some very disparate research during their careers.

Adams is all about describing the properties of unified, coherent life stories, and his work has been groundbreaking in helping to understand the profiles of lives that are viewed as troublesome (or satisfactory) by their owners. Research has shown that these life story archetypes can predict psychological distress and even health issues. Baumeister, on the other hand, has done work in many areas, but has made some seminal contributions to understanding the notion of meaning. He has identified core needs for meaning that can be construed as necessary strands or threads in our lives.

So, since this is starting to get long, I'll pause it here and take it up again in my next blog. In that post, I will identify four key areas that have been shown to be important anchors or characteristics for having a life that we can view as coherent or integrated—and therefore, one that creates a personal context for well-being.

Meantime, as always, I welcome your comments and observations.

Ciao.

Your friends and their friends may influence your health

I recently came across an excellent TED (Technology, Education and Design) Lecture given by Harvard Social Epidemiologist Nicholas Christakis. His work over the past 15 years has shown very interesting relationships between who we know and the state of our health. His work is not about understanding how influenza or other contagious diseases get transmitted, but rather how social connections in general seem to influence the state of our health. For example, Christakis has found that if your friend's friend is obese (even someone you have never met), it increases your risk of also being obese by a rather surprising percentage. That percentage decreases as the social connections become more distant, but the findings are rather surprising and worthy of significant additional scrutiny. Christakis continues to unravel the explanations behind his interesting findings, but suggests that one clear implication is that we can all benefit each other by recognizing that attending to our own health and well-being can have an impact well beyond our lives and the lives of those closest to us. Be intrigued, see Christakis' lecture here.

Tips for Living a Full and Healthy Life

Wow. I like the recommendations in this link to highexistence.com. There is great advice about taking control of your life and beign focused on achieving the sense of self worth, self efficacy and purpose you need to create a life full of beneficial meaning. Sometimes, this requires the centering procedures of a life detox. Some great suggestions for detox are here:

Many of these suggestions fall neatly within the model of life balance that Kathleen Matuska and I published, and which was recently supported in a study titled: Occupational Patterns of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Revisiting Matuska and Christiansen’s Model of Lifestyle Balance authored by Stein, Foran & Cermak and published in the Journal of Occupational Science, Vol 18 2011. My colleague Sandra Rodgers of Pacific University and I will be presentng some preliminary findings of our study of activity patterns and resiliency at the fall, 2011 meeting of the Society for the Study of Occupation: USA. We hope to see you there.

Care for the Caregivers

Alrighty then. Time to roll up the sleeves and get crackin'. It has been far too long since the last post, but I have not disappeared nor intentionally abandoned my duties. As so often happens, by attention has been devoted to some other things —a book, some speaking engagements and a new marriage for starters.

In my last, sad post, I commented that my next one might be about my reactions to what I have been reading in Krista Tippet's book: Einstein's God. (I've added that to my favorites list). That book was inspired by interviews she gave on her syndicated PBS radio talk show, Speaking of Faith. I find it interesting that the name of the show has now been changed to "On being." Anyway, more posts will follow on that journey, but for the moment, I have other fish to fry.

Lately, I've been thinking about a couple of things that come together at interesting touchpoints. My wife's mother has been diagnosed with dementia, and the threads of memory that serve to bind together experiences into sensible wholes are coming undone. It is terrifying to know one is losing one's abilities, but literally losing the ability to make sense of the world and engage it actively is beyond comprehension, yet it happens every day.

The task of caring compassionately for caregivers is something that often fails to appear on our lists of concerns. But their work is unbelievably important for so many reasons, not the least of which is helping to preserve the coherence in the world for their loved ones; while retaining some semblance of a life of their own. I'm looking for that just right project that will provide some assistance for this effort. If you have an idea, please share it with us here.

Back at it

I'm back and motivated. Why? Because a friend and colleague died suddenly last month and his death motivated me to think some more about the relationship between doing and meaning. His name was Gary Kielhofner, and he was a creative and intelligent thinker in occupational therapy. During his relatively short life, he wrote 20 books, published over 140 research papers, and mentored hundreds of students. He also developed a worldwide model of practice, and published many assessments to support the work of the practice model.

He was a strong advocate for more holistic approaches to understanding health and disease. He had an unusual background that included a classical education, theology, psychology, public health and occupational therapy. That grounded him in his appreciation for how people experience the world and create meaning from it. We are, after all, spiritual beings in a spiritual world.

In my next post, I will describe my current journey provoked by the wonderful book, Einstein's God. Stay tuned!

OT on OT: Hello!

OT on OT: Hello!

The Power of Being Engaged

The last thing a fish notices (if fish do indeed notice, and we presume they do!) is water. They are immersed in it, it sustains their lives, and provides the means for them to get food and swim away when they want to escape being dinner for larger fish. In that sense, water is essential for their well being.

In a similar way, people hardly notice the activities in their lives, and they most certainly underestimate the importance of doing to their well-being and survival. Being engaged is important to us for many reasons, some of which have been articulated in earlier posts on this blog. It's always nice to remind ourselves, however, of things we take for granted.

As a recovering academic (actually, academics are never fully recovered), I have sometimes used examples of life changing events that disrupt people's everyday activities, sometimes temporarily, sometimes progressively, and less often, permanently. Many people fear death, and worry about the complete cessation of their engaging daily occupations, but few people even think about how injuries and disease, or changes in their aging bodies, can limit the things they like to do.

These "things" are activities, sometimes called interests, projects, hobbies, work, tasks or simply "doings." A disease or injury that interferes with movement, or any of our senses, will make doing these things, or engaging in life, more difficult. But, features of the environment, policies, attitudes and other dimensions of life also create barriers to doing. People get passionate about policies that restrict their behaviors. Hopefully, they get equally passionate about finding ways to do the activities they love when adversity starts to create limitations.

If we live long enough, we all begin to experience the normal effects of aging. These diminish our vision, our hearing, our taste, and our ability to move around. People react to these circumstances in different ways. Some compensate and don't miss a beat, and others seem to withdraw, which we now know hastens the process of bodily decline.

So, at long last, the point of all this. Make each activity count. Enjoy the moment and appreciate the power of engagement. It is the very substance that makes life what it is.

Reflections on Not so Mysterious Medical Findings

This post is about subjective health. By that, I mean how people rate their own health when asked. Medical researchers have found that self-rated health is among the best predictors of mortality, even when compared against so-called "objective" measures of physiological function. Of course, when this was first reported, there was great skepticism among medical researchers. They surmised that the finding was in some way explainable through faulty data or perhaps represented a random statistical aberration. In medical research, it seems, subjective feelings about anything are considered "soft" or unreliable data, just a notch above qualitative research, where individual themes rather than grouped numbers represent the data to be interpreted.

Overall, skepticism about what people think represents the Cartesian incubus of medicine, an expression that blames René Descartes (the 17th century French scientist and philosopher) for the mind-body dualism that has characterized Western medicine for centuries. Descarte's emphasis on studying observable phenenomena is responsible for the bias against studying phenomena that occur in the mind, primarily because such phenomena cannot be reliably measured or verified. While the body and its tissues can be touched, invaded, observed, and otherwise measured and manipulated; the mind represents a special challenge. What goes on there (beyond visual representations of structures and electrical activity), can't be directly seen, so functions must be inferred. The mind remains a vast frontier of scientific challenge. The "medical mechanics" of the body like to focus on the things that can be observed and manipulated. When it comes to the mind, things like feelings create dilemmas. How can science explain and measure what it cannot see and take apart?

In recent years, faced with data that could not be dismissed so readily, medical science has given a grudging nod to the reality of the mind-body connection. Now, the finding that self-rated health has such powerful predictive power when compared to other time honored measures is an inconvenient truth, sort of a scientific fly in the ointment. Moreover, since many studies have confirmed this finding, the dilemma of how to explain it grows more troublesome and begs for closer scrutiny. This finding may be troubling and inexplicable for some, but not for those who, like me, understand the incredible health giving power of human activity.

One very interesting finding related to self-rated health is that when it comes to the factors that seem to explain this phenomenon, it appears that neither pain, nor fatigue nor other such factors commonly described as subjective "symptoms" seem to explain the predictive power of self-rated health. Instead, actual engagement in activity seems to be a major influence on how people rate their own health. Put in other terms, researchers have found that people tend to rate their own health based on the things they can or cannot do rather than on other factors. This makes sense, because what people experience is what they know best.

These findings make one medical philosopher, H.Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., MD, PhD, seem like a very wise man. He is. Years ago, Dr. Engelhardt observed that people are healthy or diseased in terms of the activities open to them or denied them. Stated in other terms, he was saying that participation in life is the manner in which people normally experience health or illness. If their participation is restricted, it follows logically that they are going to perceive that their health is compromised. People know what they are doing in comparison with what they have done in the past and what they would like to be able to do in the present.

And so, the findings about the predictive power of self-rated health end up being not so improbable after all, but rather logical. Given that a strong connection exists between activity engagement and health outcomes, it suggests to me that when health screenings are done, questions about activity participation should be a central part of the data gathering by primary care providers. Perhaps a question that would be more valuable than "How are you feeling today, Mrs Jones?"" might be "What have you been doing lately, Mrs. Jones?" followed by "Are you doing more, less, or as much as you'd like to be doing right now?" Funny, that in everyday social conversation, people often ask each other "How are you doing?" So, if you think about it, (and I do), this common phrase uses "doing" as a synonym for "feeling". Oops, there is that troubling mind-body connection again! It just may be that life activity itself is a tremendous barometer for health and wellness. For years, activity levels have been used to gauge mental health. Now it seems, those same data might be useful measures of overall physical health as well. On that topic, a future post awaits.

Of course, as much as I'd like to have the last word, that is reserved for you. If you are aware of other findings that relate to this topic, by all means share your comments (subjective and objective) below.

October Road?

Yo. Here it is, the 21st of October, and it has once again been weeks since my last post. What gives? Part of it had to do with my commuting lifestyle, but the other had to do with enjoying a splendid Summer and early fall in Southern Minnesota, mostly on the bike trails.

I did a little biking, and canoeing, hiking, and even a little (can you believe it?) segwaying. Yep. Segwaying—using that novel two wheeled motor stick that propels you along as though you are riding a push lawnmower! My son Erik and I learned at the same time, and we deigned to take those segways along a few mile stretch of a bike trail outside of Lanesboro. Personally, I think they qualify as motorized vehicles and ought to be forbidden on bike trails, but there are so few of them that I don't think the trail authorities have time to worry about them.

It was a glorious summer, with so many great outdoor experiences that it just went by in a wonderful blur of enjoyment. I hope yours was equally satisfying.

Now, the winterization process begins. Storm doors are being installed tomorrow, and the guy with the compressor blew the water out of the irrigation system this morning. No more mowing— most likely, until next April. A few leaves to rake, perhaps, and a whole lot of memories to reflect are in store as we sip wine in front of the fireplace during the long nights of wintertime in the Northland.

Life is good. We did it well this summer. Next year we'll do it even better.

PS. I titled this blogpost "October Road" from the album (and song) by James Taylor. One of my favorites. Maybe my next post will be about the lyrics to that song, or JT's lyrics in general. Who knows? Share your own stories, I'd love to hear about them. Remember, we live in the shelter of each other.

Interrupting the Hiatus

It's been awhile since my last post, so one can say that this post is an interruption of an interruption. If you Google the word "hiatus" you will find many definitions, ranging from those anatomical to use of the term in the context of breaks in television production or programming. The word comes from the Latin word for "yawning" (interesting), and also is used to signify an opening.

Lately, I have been considering the notion of hiatus from the standpoint of transitions. Most people have transitions in their lives, and often, but not universally, these transitions are marked by a hiatus that serves as a bridge from the old to the new state (whether this refers to jobs, life stages, parenthood, or other aspects of the life course). A hiatus, of course, can also be defined by a vacation period, or time away from a usual routine.

Transitions are often difficult and stressful. I have frequently found that returning to work from an extended break can be challenging, as though one has to move through the gears to get sufficient torque to overcome inertia and resume customary speed. A well-oiled life, it seems, chugging along with a predictable routine, maintains momentum and indeed, even benefits from that momentum (just as a sleigh moves downhill without the need for additional propulsion).

So, I'm hoping that firing up the cylinders for this post will get me back in the groove so that posts will be more regular for the coming weeks and months. Commentary, of course, helps. So if you stop by, please leave a note and share your thoughts about the events and facets of everydy life that contribute to balance, happiness and of course, success in the projects that engage us.

More on the world's happiest countries

Previous posts have discussed the comparative data among countries using measures of happiness or subjective well being. Sometimes, the fact that two different measures are used causes confusion. One measure, used by Martin Seligman to measure "authentic happiness" as described in his book, is the simpler of the two. It measures happiness by asking people how happy they are. A second measure also asks people how happy they are but adds a second dimension called satisfaction. That measure is called a subjective well being score and is used in the World Values Surveys done at the University of Michigan.

Using the second (subjective well being) measure, the following countries rank in the top five across the globe: 1. Nigeria 2. Mexico 3. Venezuela 4. El Salvador and 5. Puerto Rico. At first blush, it is obvious that these countries have something in common: they each have large numbers of relatively poor people, suggesting that money does not equate with happiness. The list brings to mind another truth, which is this: Happiness is a state of mind, and as such, people have complete control over it. If people make the best of their circumstances, they can create the conditions necessary for happiness. One wonders if there is a cultural characteristic about poverty that enables people to see the best in their circumstances, which in turn influences their sense of well being?

I have two friends, both professionals, who respectively are from Nigeria and Puerto Rico. They are both positive energy emoting people. That is, they bring good feelings to situations, in comparison with others who seem to work hard in the opposite direction. Each of these persons also share the trait of valuing things that make a difference in the longer term, while also taking care to make each moment a particular pleasure for themselves and others.

In future blogposts I will explore this notion further. As always, if you have observations about anything on this topic or others that pertains to doing life well, please share it with us!

What to do during Spring

Spring for many is the most glorious of the seasons, and it holds true for me as well. It is especially wonderful in portions of the globe where the winters are long and bitterly cold and people are forced from the warmth of their habitats for only the most essential of tasks (such as going to work, worshiping, seeing friends, dining out, attending school or shopping at the grocery or department store). What's left, you might ask? 

Well, what's left is enjoying nature, sitting on the deck, walking by the river or pond, and staring at the sunset or the birds in the trees. In the winter there are no squirrels scurrying about in the grass, and birds are not nesting in the trees. There is little bicycling either, nor canoeing, nor kayaking, nor in-line skating, or running. The winter worshipers will be quick to point out that there is ice fishing and cross country skiing and ice skating during their season. But even these sports, fun as they are, find their adherents happy to get inside to relinquish the activity to warm drinks and cozy fireside chats.

Yes. Spring is wonderful not only because of the weather, but because of the blossoming of nature and the general spring fever that overtakes the land. People are happy to be out and about, and so are other animals. Everyone frolics. The seasons ahead bode more of the same enjoyment, as spring gives way to the fullness of summer, and summer recedes to the beauty of autumn.

So, what's to do during spring? Enjoy life through outdoor activity...or inactivity. Just be and bask in its beauty.

Home again

It's hard to believe I have not posted a blog entry for three weeks, and I'm amazed at how fast time has passed. Of course, I've been busy; but then again, so have you. Which prompts a reflection in this post about the perception of time. That is, how it seems to pass so quickly on some occasions and so slowly on others.

As a person well into middle age, I have the distinct impression that time accelerates as we get older.  I can recall endless and interminable afternoons in my desk during the fifth grade (and perhaps on more recent occasions as I endured disengaging lectures). In the sixth grade I was fortunate to have a master teacher and felt constantly engaged; the time passed quickly and I excelled. I now wonder if there was a relationship between the two experiences (my performance and my perception of time).

Of course, there have been scientists interested in this phenomenon, both from a psychological perception perspective and a time use/accuracy of reporting standpoint. Not surprisingly, time use scientists report that perceived versus actual time spent working is inflated, while perceived versus actual time spent in leisure and social activity is underestimated. Go figure.

The whole complex matter of perceived time passage, performance, and happiness is immensely interesting, and invites the possibility that loneliness is associated with depression because of disengagement and the perception that time crawls mercilessly through uninviting terrain—rather than springing, as it should, through more pleasant surroundings. 

I'll have a look at the literature to see if any enterprising (engaged) scientist has cleverly considered these questions and report them if I find anything. Meantime, if you discover something, or have a thought to share, please feel free to post it here. Meantime, I wish you engaging moments.

Happiness is about meeting needs...

Over sixty years ago, a psychologist named Abraham Maslow began working on a theory of motivation. His questions had to do with what makes people do different "things" at different times? His work, of course, led to the much studied, and widely known "hierarchy of needs". An idea behind this early work was that some needs are more compelling than others, and thus serve to influence behavior more strongly. Another idea was that once "lower level" needs were met, higher level needs would take over as influences of behavior.

Maslow's hierarchy was often depicted as a pyramid, with survival needs at the base and higher order needs at the top. The survival needs were physiological and safety related, in that we need to eat, sleep, breathe and be protected from harm. Above the survival needs were the need to be accepted and loved by others, and to be approved and recognized as competent. These needs seem associated with our group-living characteristics—indeed, we are social animals. Together, these needs (survival and social) were referred to by Maslow as deficiency needs, suggesting that actions taken to meet them were inspired by their deficiency. That's why Maslow called them "D-Needs".

At the top of the pyramid, were needs Maslow described as "being needs". Being needs include our quest for aesthetics and cognition, the realization that we have that beauty and art and music enrich our lives, and our need to understand the world as coherent—to organize the universe and understand it as having order and symmetry. At the very top, a motive that Maslow called "self-actualization", people are compelled to realize their potentials.

These ideas of Maslow have now been supported by many studies, and have been debated and refined over the years. Yet, they have fundamental value in steering us toward understanding the kinds of things we can do to meet our universal needs through the things we do.

In coming posts, some examples of need meeting activities will be discussed, and readers will be invited to provide their experiences and ideas about meeting essential needs.

Forgiveness —Something we can do to keep ourselves healthy

Many years ago, I read a piece of advice that truly caused me to reflect. The statement was about letting go of petty grievances and of not harboring resentment. It proclaimed that forgiveness is something we do for ourselves, not others. Each of us, in our lifetime, has experienced an assault on our identity or sense of self (pride), or on our body. We feel we must defend our bruised egos, reclaim who we are, and create a sense of fairness and justice by getting even. We expect that to make ourselves whole, the person who perpetrated the injustice must apologize, or in some other way give of themselves in order to "make things even."

To the extent that we must endure such injustices, we feel abused and hurt, and we feel we cannot go on until that wrong is somehow "righted". All the while, however, this resentment is creating a knot within us, something that represents "unfinished business". We carry this extra baggage along with us, perhaps adding additional baggage over time, and then realizing one day that we have a lot of this baggage weighing us down, and it truly does weigh us down.

There is abundant evidence now about how the endocrine system, the regulator of hormones that flow from our emotions, can yield unhealthy consequences over time if we continue to carry this additional emotional weight. It can and does create conditions that lead to increased risk for physical and mental illness. Yet, summoning the strength to be larger than any particular issue is to truly proclaim one's independence and create the emotional conditions that empower the body and the mind. This is often easier said than done because we are so habituated to acting like a victim when we are assaulted. We often forget that there is sometimes more power in "not doing" as in "doing"— in yielding rather than forcing. That is a principle of Taoism.

So, it turns out that one of the most beneficial "fitness exercises" a person can do is learning how to forgive. Think of forgiving as "giving for health and happiness"—our own!

Zigs, Zags and Doing

Today's post is a bittersweet testimonial to the power of doing. Cartoonist Tom Wilson, who continues his father's work in evolving the character Ziggy, has written a poignant book called Zig Zagging, in which he describes the bittersweet experiences of his life so far and how his work has helped him transcend life's difficulties. Mr. Wilson has experienced more than the usual burden of challenges, and his book gives us a glimpse into how he coped. One of the take away messages I could not escape was how important his work was to this process.

In the 1981 movie called "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?", Richard Dreyfuss, who plays a paralyzed sculptor (Ken Harrison) who is deprived of his work after a tragic car crash. In a dramatic scene that portrays a dialogue between Harrison and another character trying to offer hope by telling him he can learn to do other things, Harrison's response is that it is the work that matters. His reply reflects the meaning he attached to doing his art and his realization that this could not be simply replaced simply by substituting other work in its place.

There is immense power in what we do, and that power results not from the outcome, but from the process. Perhaps this is a more focussed corollary to the admonition that life is a journey and not a destination.

What do you get from your work?

More Thoughts on Attention, Gratitude, and Happiness

Recent posts have concerned the importance of truly attending to what we are doing, appreciating its beauty and benefit, and recognizing how fortunate we are to be experiencing each moment. We acknowledged that doing this is not easy for many people, because our minds are constantly bombarded with stimuli, we have too much to do, and the preoccupation of what has or will happen creates a detour for what is happening right now.

How many of us have done a routine, such as dressing, or even driving to work, and finding that we are unable to recall any of the actual details of going through that routine? It's as though our minds were on automatic pilot. We were concerned about the budget, the important upcoming meeting, or the argument we had with our boss. How many people, during those lulls of inattention, forget to notice the dog crossing the street, or the stop sign? Sadly, this occurs on occasion with life altering and tragic consequences.

Yet, those outcomes, as rare,dramatic, and often tragic as they are; are arguably no more problematic than a life gone by and missed through inattention. It is sometimes said that we never fully appreciate what we have, until we lose it. Part of the reason for this, it seems, is that we are not fully experiencing and appreciating what we have. We too soon accommodate to comfort, and in doing so we focus on what we imagine might be missing to make the moment more complete.

A friend shared a humorous clip recorded from the Conan late night show. Although the humorist shown in the clip pokes fun at how blasé we have become in the face of 21st Century hyperchange, he makes an important point about appreciation and gratitude. You can see the clip here.

If we define each moment as the perfect experience that it is, concerns seem to evaporate. This is a principle of Taoism; namely, if we accept what comes to us and experience it without comparing it to another condition or state, we are not evaluative, we simply are, in our all too short, wonderful state of being. By doing so, we create the conditions for happiness at all times.

Importance of Being Where You Are

In several previous posts I have discussed how settings or places influence what we do and how we feel. In one post, I invited readers to share some of their own habits and routines that help them enhance their comfort, well-being or happiness. People create living environments that please them, they decorate with art, with colors and fabrics and even views that are interesting, satisfying or pleasant. So it was not surprising to me that many of the comments related to creating quiet places or adding pleasant scents or music. Some people describe how they surround themselves with sounds and objects, while others preferred quiet, simplicity and solitude. Some people described how they change their locations or conditions to suit their moods and what they are trying to do at the moment.

Thinking about this brought to mind several thoughts. James Taylor, one of my favorite musicians, once wrote a song called "Secret O' Life." The lyrics began with the lines: "The Secret of Life is Enjoying the Passage of Time...any fool can do it, there ain't nothing to it", with the implication being that each person has the power to create their own happiness through what they choose to do, where they are, and who they are with. Of course, how we think about our experiences is also important.

The wonderful book written in 1993 by Jon Kabat-Zinn titled "Wherever You Go, There You Are" emphasizes the important message of mindfulness meditation, or being attentive in the moment as a way of reducing stress, improving enjoyment and contributing to everyday well-being. When we pay attention to creating the world we want by making our surroundings comfortable, it makes sense that we can more fully enjoy them if we are "in the moment" and enjoying every second. We can define each moment as a present and experience it as the term is also defined, as a gift. Life is amazingly short, so dwelling on what is not is squandering opportunity that is lost forever. Another writer, Eckhart Tolle, writes on the same theme in his "The Power of Now." Tolle discusses the habits of mindless thought that get in the way of attention and mindfulness. His message was that being in the moment takes practice to rid ourselves of habits of thought developed over years. Tolle, too, talked about how environment can support such practice. So, we come full circle to James Taylor. When it comes to being where we are fully, any fool can do it, but it takes practice and will to make it happen.

Looking Out for Our Neighbors- Ayn Rand Revisited

The blogosphere has been buzzing lately with commentary about Atlas Shrugged, the novel written by author Ayn Rand in 1957. Considered one of the most popular US novels during the second half of the twentieth century, Atlas Shrugged tells the tale of a revolt by innovators and others in society whose ideas and work efforts create wealth and opportunity. The books lays out a philosophy that has come to be known as Objectivism, and advocates free market capitalism, objective reality, and enlightened self-interest.

Opponents of the economic stimulus plan, particularly far right conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, and others, frequently cite Atlas Shrugged as a type of manifesto that justifies their position that people who have lost jobs or are losing their homes should not be helped by the government because this is contrary to free market individualism. Typically, their argument holds that people (which is usually code for themselves) should not be asked to contribute tax dollars toward efforts that are seen as contrary to free market philosophy. Objectivism's emphasis on an individual's right to pursue happiness and self interest without feeling an obligation toward others is central to the current misguided argument used by anti-stimulus adversaries who cite Rand.

So what does this have to do with doing life well? An oft-cited viewpoint expressed in previous posts on this blogsite is that because we are group-living animals, we are interdependent creatures. We each depend on others, and our species requires altruism and cooperation for its survival. Objectivism rejects unbridled altruism, and its principles have been misrepresented by Limbaugh and others as justifying the kind of selfish "look out for yourself only" type of attitude that led to the unprecedented transfer of wealth over the past decade to the wealthiest one percent of the population. Social Darwinism, which is the kind of winner-take-all mentality that characterizes some viewpoints, misses two points. First, it presumes that by accumulating enough wealth, people don't really have to worry about the greater environment because they can enjoy their riches in protected isolation.

They are so wrong about this. Everything that we know about happiness and the enjoyment of life involves sharing experiences with others. Studies consistently show that we need others for our happiness. But more importantly, advocates who use Rand's book as a justification for their selfish philosophy didn't read the book closely enough. Rand does not advocate the kind of selfishness that some use to as justification to deny unemployment checks to people who are out of work for reasons unrelated to their performance. Rather, she advocates reasoned, rational and enlightened self-interest, which is different than the hedonistic, pleasure seeking, "I refuse to share my rice bowl with others" self-interest that typifies so much of the superficial Rand-citing that is moving across the conservative blogosphere these days. In the interest of creating the kind of world we can all share, whether rich or not rich, it is important to set the record straight. Ayn Rand never justified selfishness in the hedonistic sense that anti-stimulus adversaries are now contending. The Irish proverb is worth citing again: "the people live in the shelter of each other."

The incredible subway violinist story

On January 12, 2007, Joshua Bell, one of the world's top violinists, strolled into the L' Enfant plaza metro station in Washington, DC, pulled out his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin and began playing. Joshua had, evenings before, played before a sold out crowd in Boston where people gladly paid $100 per ticket to hear him perform. But, on this morning, during rush hour, Bell was playing in this metro station for free.

During his 45 minute concert, nearly 1100 people passed by, and 27 paused to put money into his violin case ($32 and change was collected in all). Only seven actually stopped to listen, despite his world class performance of six extremely well performed classical violin solos.

This event was an experiment sponsored by the Washington Post. The Post was confirming what psychologists (particularly those interested in ecological or environmental influences on behavior) already knew. People's perceptions are greatly influenced by situational or contextual variables. We are apt to expect to hear a great concert in a concert hall, but not in a subway station.

You can see (and hear) a filmclip of Joshua playing his free performance here.

What lessons should we take away from this event, now over two years passed? Well, for one thing, there is the lesson that if we are attentive and in the moment, we are more likely to recognize what is taking place in our lives and to thus benefit from the beauty when it is there. Beyond this, it seems likely that another lesson is that good wine can be sipped and enjoyed from a paper cup, just as poor wine can be found masquerading in elegant crystal wineglasses.

Deception preys on assumption, but truth exists independent of its surroundings. Life is all around us to enjoy. Next time you pass by a performing musician working to supply the air with beauty, take a moment to enjoy them, feed their empty case, and thank them for making the world a more beautiful experience. Everyone will feel better as a result.