What's your passion?.......on the benefits of being passionate

 

He wasn't sure of what made him different, but somehow he just knew that he wasn't like others, and for a six year old, that was a heavy burden. Like his brothers and sisters, he liked playing games and doing the things that little kids enjoy doing, but most of all, he loved sitting at the piano and listening to the sounds that he could make by pressing the keys.

He discovered that there were melodies hidden in the keys if he pressed them in a certain order, but it was when he pressed two or more keys together at the same time, that he felt as if his burden had been lifted. He didn't know what made some combinations of notes sound so wonderful and so right, but he would play them over and over until he had them memorised.

His was a home often filled with music; sometimes opera, sometimes classical, sometimes popular, and sometimes jazz. For a boy of six, genres don't exist, it is all just music. Until.... one day, when the boy instinctively knew, that the music called "jazz" felt like a very good friend.

 Suddenly he knew that when he grew up, he wanted to become a jazz pianist, and when he grew up, he became one.

 

Passion. Some people find it very early in their lives, some of us along life's journey, and some of us...may struggle all of our lives to find it.

The Urban dictionary: "Passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action to put as much heart, mind body and soul into something as is possible."

After doing a particularly exciting music gig, a woman came up to me and asked: "You play with so much passion, where do you get all that passion from?" I could see that she was very serious about the question, so I felt it necessary to try to give her a serious answer. Problem was, I wasn't really sure about where the passion came from. My brain quickly ransacked my memory banks trying to find a good answer, but all I could come up with was: "somehow, the passion found me."

I could tell by the look on the woman's face that my answer was very unsatisfactory, so I quickly asked her if there was anything in her life that she felt passionate about. "Not really, I have dabbled with a number of different things that I have liked and enjoyed doing, but I wouldn't say that I was passionate about any of it", she answered. Trying to find something helpful to say I asked: "Is there anything in your life that you do, and when you do it, makes you loose track of time?

For me, part of passion is an insatiable desire for learning more, delving deeper, expanding boundaries, and extending the self while doing so. This insatiable desire brings bravery, courage, new discoveries, and whilst in the midst of the flurry of passion...time ceases to exist, all there is when you are in the middle of doing something you are passionate about, is now".

"So where do I get the "insatiable desire" for delving deeper from?" she quickly responded.

"I am not sure, but I believe that perhaps being willing to invest time and effort into something that is of interest may be a good starting point?" I answered. "I see", she answered then continued "thanks for taking the time to speak with me and I hope you never loose your passion". And with those words she left.

Is passion important?

Some say so.

Why?

Some suggestions:

It can give us a sense of purpose and meaning for our lives,

it can help us to develop persistence and a desire for growth,

it can help us to strengthen our focusing ability, and

our passion can inspire others to seek their own passions.

Although passion for many of us perhaps is quite emotionally charged; as in we may seek to feel passionate about something; may I suggest that part of passion is also an insistent driving force for a deeper understanding and knowledge of that which we are passionate about, as well as a willingness to put in the work and effort necessary to become competent at our passion/s.

The amazing thing about being passionate about something, is that when you are doing something you feel passionate about, ....joy and a sense of fulfilment often seem to seep in.

"Any kind of progress is neither automatic or inevitable...Every step toward the fulfilment of a goal requires an amount of sacrifice, struggle, and persistence, but with passion as a driving force, those steps become worthwhile."

(An "improvisation" made by me on a quote by Martin Luther King Jr.: "Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.")
 

"Logic will never change emotion or perception" Edward de Bono

 

Sherlock Holmes, the fictitious super sleuth, was famous for his deductive powers. So, what is the definition of "deduction"? According to Dictionary.com: " (logic) a process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true".

A premise, is an assumption that something is true, and an assumption is something assumed to be true, even without proof.

Example: All birds have beaks.(premise) This creature has a beak.(2nd premise) Therefore this must be a bird.(deduction)

Right? Logical? Not so fast, Scooter.

An octopus also has a beak, but it sure isn't a ...bird.

What us humans often seem to do, is to reverse a premise, in this case convert: "all birds have beaks" to "all beaked animals are birds". This reversing of the premise is plausible for those of us who perhaps don't know that there are other creatures that also have beaks, but it has changed the premise and the premise is no longer true.

("All swans are white", used to be a true statement until someone noticed that for example, in Australia there are actually black swans...)

This long introduction (sorry) leads me to my topic today which is: how easy it is to come to a "false" conclusion by not having all necessary information.

Before we arrive at a conclusion, according to those in the know, we go through a battle between intuition and logic. No matter how much we may like to think that when we make our deductions we do so by basing our choices on solid, rational, and logical thinking, but according to Prof Daniel Kahneman at Princeton University, this, we may have to reconsider. He says: "There's the deliberate, logical part of your mind that is capable of analysing a problem and coming up with a rational answer.

This is the part of your mind that you are aware of. But then there is another system in your mind that is intuitive, fast and automatic. This fast way of thinking is incredibly powerful, but totally hidden. It is so powerful, it is actually responsible for most of the things that you say, do, think and believe.

And yet you have no idea this is happening. This system is your hidden auto-pilot, and it has a mind of its own."

Most of the time, our intuitive mind is in control and is pretty much in charge of the many thousands of decisions (deductions) we make every day. Problem is, that we all have cognitive biases and they affect almost all of what we say and do, including our beliefs, opinions, and decisions. Without us being aware.

According to Daniel Kahneman: "if we think that we have reasons for what we believe, that is often a mistake. Our beliefs and our wishes and our hopes are not always anchored in reasons".

So what are these cognitive biases that cause us so much trouble?

Wikipedia: "A cognitive bias refers to a systematic pattern of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, whereby inferences about other people and situations may be drawn in an illogical fashion."  Some examples: confirmation bias - the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, focusing effect - prediction bias occurring when people place too much importance on one aspect of an event; causes error in accurately predicting the utility of a future outcome, framing - drawing different conclusions from the same information, depending on how that information is presented........and many, many more.
Biases are in my opinion, insidious and often more visible to others than to ourselves.
"What do you mean? How am I biased against xxx?" "Well, every time you talk about xxx, you don't seem to consider different perspectives...." According to my research on biases, suggestion seem to be that they are so deeply ingrained in our thinking patterns that we are oblivious to them. Which brings me back to deduction. What if some of our deductions are based on false premises?
(Premises, as I mentioned in the beginning, are only assumed to be true...)
If we are seeking to understand people better, ourselves better, the world better, then beginning by asking ourselves how we came to hold the views/opinions/beliefs in the first place, may be a good place to begin. Next, it may be helpful to ask ourselves if our views are founded on solid, verifiable and truthful sources. Finally, perhaps it may also behove us to ask ourselves: do I need to change or alter in any way how I view some things?
As a kid, our family visited a large Fairground in Copenhagen. Standing at the top of a huge and seriously exciting slippery-slide, I asked my dad if he was going to go down the slippery-slide as well. He answered: "You will not understand this right now, but one day going down a slippery-slide will no longer be exciting or fun for you."
He was right.

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
(Marcus Aurelius)
 

Imagination ..."imagination is the fertile soil in which possibilities reside". (Citizen Z)

 

This work/painting consists of a few layers. First I painted the background in soft peachy colours, then I printed on five different transparencies parts of a photo of raindrops on a banner, plus one of a building at sunset. I then glued the transparencies on to the canvas and painted the man on top of the transparencies. Finally, I added a transparency with the words printed on it on top of the previous layers and painted the white highlights.

In case you are wondering, I have written all this in order to segue-way my way to write about imagination...

There are a few definitions already on the painting, but there are more: "the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or... images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses, the ability to form a picture in your mind of something that you have not seen or experienced, or...creations in the mind triggered by a thought" to mention a few.

What I find very interesting, and hopefully you too, is where it comes from. As in; even if it is triggered by a thought, where did the thought come from in the first place?

On my journey as a visual artist, composer and writer, I am often asked: where did you get that (whatever it may be) idea from?

At the Dartmouth College Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, researchers are suggesting this:  "what we call the imagination is the product of a widespread network of neurons (what they call the "mental workspace") that consciously alters and manipulates images, symbols, and ideas, and gives us the intense mental focus that we need to come up with new ideas and solutions to complex problems".

However, the question as to why some of us are more imaginative and (or) creative than others, remains unsolved. Sigh!

As there are different kinds of IQ recognised: spatial, academic, kinesthetic, emotional, social, etc.etc. it seems that perhaps there may also be different kinds of imaginations: active, passive, receptive, creative, intellective, practical, and so on.

If memory is a reproduction (although heavily influenced by perception) of the contents of past experiences, imagination some say, re-constructs the contents differently from the original experiences.

Is imagination the same as creativity?

Some say yes, some say no, personally I view them as different things.

For me, imagination is something that we all possess more or less, but often remains as inactive thoughts, creativity on the other hand is when we do something that involves some form of activity involving those thoughts. The Wright brothers began with imagining that humans could fly, then followed up with creatively figuring out how that could become possible.  Thomas Edison imagined electric light bulbs, Alexander Bell imagined a way to speak with someone long distance, aka the telephone, or Charles Babbage, his imaginings lead to creating the first mechanical computer, etc.etc.

Imagination can be a springboard to creativity, to inventions, to ideas becoming realities, and so on, and in such cases, imagination can be viewed as a "good" thing, ...can imagination also be a "bad" thing? There are sometimes terms attached to imagination: over active, vivid, wild, un-realistic, un-inhibited, which seem to me to suggest that there is such a thing as "too much" imagination which can potentially be "bad" for us. (If too much can be bad, can it also be bad to have too little?)

If our imagination interferes or affect our lives in ways that make our lives more painful, or in other ways more difficult, then perhaps that could be qualified as bad, or too much, although to me that is very much up to each of us to determine.

After all, we use the same brain to imagine either "bad" or "good" things according to how we define such things.

Albert Einstein: "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."

Imagination can stir up passions which may lead to creative pursuits, imagination can help us imagine positive as well as negative scenarios, imagination often stimulates innovation and creativity > "imagination is the fertile soil in which possibilities reside". (Citizen Z)

As far as I can ascertain, we are all born with the facility to imagine things, but often, as we proceed through the education system, imagination becomes more of a stumbling block rather than an asset.

"Such and such would do better if he/she spent more time in the real world rather than in some imaginary world." Slowly but surely, it becomes harder and harder for some of us to stay connected with our imagination. Einstein: "Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere."

“There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." (Pablo Picasso)

 

Albert Einstein again: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

Imagination, could it perhaps be viewed as a "mindset"...and with that I mean; entertaining many possibilities, keeping an open mind, staying flexible, viewing "what if?" as a viable question.

Not so long ago much of what was possible in Science Fiction Movies was viewed as pure imagination, pure fiction, in todays world, many of those impossibilities have become realities.

Having an imagination, as I see it, does not necessarily have to involve any kind of art form or specific creative pursuit, rather, it has to do with "stretching" our minds in order to enrich our experience of what it is to be a fully alive human being.

 

"Imagination is the fertile soil in which possibilities reside". (Citizen Z)

 

Being shy can be an asset..........

 

(I have found that to illustrate some things, using a non-human figure can be more effective for the purpose of conveying a message. So, I invented this spotted Teddy, and now and then, I let him speak...)

Have you ever tried to say something important to you, only to find that somehow the words just don't come out right? The person you are talking to looks at you bewildered and you can almost see the question mark hanging above his/her head?

Being able to express in words clearly and precisely what we are trying to convey may at first glance seem easy as in: "just say what's on your mind"....thing is however, so many of the words we use are quite ambiguous and misunderstandings often follow differing interpretations and or definitions of the words we use.

For people who may consider themselves as shy, speaking with others can be a stomach churning, anxiety ridden experience, especially when speaking with "new" and unfamiliar people.

Social interactions for some of us perhaps energises us, but for some of us, it can be a rather torturous experience. "What if I say the wrong thing.....what if I come across as stupid when I speak.....what if I become tongue-tied....what if what I say doesn't make sense" and so on. For people who struggle with shyness, often choosing to say nothing seems a far safer option rather than speaking and risk seeming foolish. So how do I define being shy? Just for clarities sake: a shy person feels uncomfortable, often even anxious, around people they don't know. (Sometimes there may also be physical sensations alongside with the anxiety such as clammy hands, a dry throat, blushing, a queasy stomach, to mention a few.)

Susan Cain, a bestselling author of the book: "Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" has this to say: 'Society has a cultural bias towards extroverts'.

Is she right? Many of us probably have internal "loops" telling us how we should be and for many of us, those loops probably tell us to be more extroverted, more easy going, more socially apt, more interactive, more talkative, etc. etc. But, what does it mean to be an extrovert?

If an extroverted person were to give you the definition of the word it may go something like this: a friendly, outgoing, socially confident, affable, and people-orientated person.

Although, this is how the Urban dictionary defines the word: "Assholes who doesn't know when to shut their goddamn mouth. Sadly they make up most of the population on Earth."

For the purpose of this blog, I will use my own definitions...an extrovert feels energised when in company of others, ...... an introvert feels energised spending time in their own company.

Is being shy the same as being an introvert? For some people this may seem to be the case, but personally I don't see it that way.

Being shy and being introverted both relate to socialising/interacting with others, however, an introverted person may chose to not socialise by preference, in difference to a shy person who may avoid such due to fears. For an introvert, spending prolonged time with others can be experienced as emotionally draining and will often seek out "alone-time" to recharge, a shy person may not desire any alone-time, but due to fears of interaction with others may find him/herself on his/her own.

Those in the know say that introversion is as much part of a person as the colour of the eyes or the hair, shyness on the other hand is a learnt behaviour, and the good news about that is, that a behaviour pattern can often be changed with the help of a specialist health professional.

There are some positive aspects that favour introverts and shy (quiet) people in my view.

A. Quiet (shy and or introverted) people often tend to be observant and good at listening.

B. Quiet (shy and or introverted) people often think before they speak, running through in their heads what they are going to say before they say it.

C. Quiet (shy and or introverted) people often favour sensitivity toward others, being very familiar with their own.

Bernardo Carducci, the director of the Indiana University Southeast's Shyness Research Institute,

argues that shyness may be a trait that rather than needing to be overcome, may be a trait to embrace.

He writes: "The successfully shy don't change who they are. They change the way they think and the actions they make. There is nothing wrong with being shy. In fact, I have come to believe that what our society needs is not less shyness but a little more."

 

On the surface of things it may seem as if in order to be a "successful"(whatever that means?) human being, a person has to be an extrovert, a social butterfly, a leader, a front runner, gregarious, looked up to, a head above, etc.etc......however, a number of very "successful" people rather than extroverts were/are introverts: Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mark Zuckerberg, Abraham Lincoln, etc.etc.

Perhaps if we are striving to become either introverts or extroverts, striving to become an "ambivert" (a person who has a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality) may be a more helpful choice?

 

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

(Abraham Lincoln)