The Greek Stoic Epictetus wrote, “Do you know that old age, disease, and death must overcome us, no matter what we are doing? What do you wish to be doing when it overtakes you? If you have anything better to be doing when you are so overtaken, begin on that now.”
In Buddhism, the term “Samvega” means, a sense of urgency or passion for spiritual or life practice coming from knowing the preciousness of life and the constant nearness of death.
With a powerful sense of Samvega, I’ve decided to join the Obama campaign. I’ve always followed politics closely, but I’ve never been inspired to get involved with a political candidate before. While I write this, there are over 700 wildfires burning in Northern California because of Continue reading →
“Going Postal” has never been so well illustrated than in the recent “Insane Office Worker” video that’s making the rounds on YouTube. I found the official explanation for the event in a Russian newspaper and translated it using Google translator, viewable here. The video depicts an ad sales rep in a Russian yellow pages office. According to the article, he was sent over the edge when his colleague made a comment about him not receiving his sales commission and joked that he would now have to spend his vacation in the less-than-enticing Krym (Russia) instead of in Thailand. The article goes on to say that Continue reading →
Rather than see a problem that we need to feel guilty about, what if we made living sustainably into a game? From that standpoint, my friend Phillipe came up with 7 easy ways to make direct changes to how to live a more environmentally sustainable life:
My pals Chris and Keith of rock band We Are Scientists released their 2nd album this week in the US. Like spinal tap, they aremuch bigger in Europe and hit #11 on the UK charts with this release, titled “Brain Thrust Mastery.” Can’t help but wonder if they’re taking a jab at all all the personal growth workshops I go to. Check out their hilarious Brain Thrust promo. Fingers crossed for a warm reception of the album here stateside. I had the unique pleasure of witnessing the genesis of WAS when we all lived together in our first post-college home in Berkeley. Turns out, drums are loud, no matter how well-insulated the practice space. This is my favorite track from the new album. If you like, check them out on their US tour: wearescientists.com/shows/
A great ad can entertain and inspire by tickling us with its producers’ creativity. Advertising makes some of my favorite things free (pretty much all my favorite sites on the internet, and also radio) but it certainly can be overdone by front-loading $12 per-ticket movies with too many previews. But a worse offense is to launch an advertising campaign devoid of creativity or innovation. A great ad campaign can move us emotionally. It can make us laugh or cry or bring color and humor to an otherwise mundane city bus.
But I learned a new rule of advertising recently that discourages creativity. Turns out that many ad campaigns Continue reading →
Did anyone notice, about four years ago, how quickly McCain changed his tone after a consistent straight-talkin’, anti-bush platform? My Dad asked the question while we were hiking recently, “What blackmail do they have on McCain that got him to change his tone so quick?” Perhaps McCain, as this photo suggests, just has a big ol’ crush on The Decider.
Regardless, I’m hoping that America won’t make the mistake of electing a guy who whistles when he talks like McCain does. And also this guy.
When Barack & Hillary announced their candidacy, I watched their respective speeches on the web and within seconds felt myself able to trust Barack Obama, and somewhat repulsed by Hillary. In the media, I believe what they refer to as her ‘likability’ is actually how lined up as an authentic human being she is. As a Clinton, she’s a master politician, able to switch and slide like her husband. But unlike Bubba, there’s some way in which she doesn’t seem to enjoy it like he does. You trust his slick-willy act, don’t you? It feels like the real him. With Hillary it feels like a means to an end. Like she’s putting something on, and we pick up on it. I felt it immediately when I saw her intent-to-run speech, here.
I’ve been reading Malcolm Gladwell’s second book, Blink, which describes the feats our subconcious is capable of in assessing situations and quickly making decisions. Turns out our subconcious is considerably adept at picking up on vocal intonation, facial expression, posture and other telltale signs of a human being’s wholeness and integrity. Continue reading →
I’ve decided to take a cool new job with Glam Media, serving as the General Manager & VP of their publisher network. It’s an interesting take on a model I’ve got some experience with. Glam has a media network of female-centric beauty, fashion and lifestyle bloggers (that’s *not* the part I have a lot of experience with) that they sell the advertising around (that is) and also provide other services like SEO and content distribution. They have a viciously loyal following and have succeeded in getting relevant advertisers like Levi’s and Macy’s to match the content. I attended one of their publisher functions the other night and met the author of a cool fashion blog called Stiletto Jungle. She had quit her job as an attorney to blog full-time on fashion and Shopping…Glam pays her bills by selling advertising on her site. I’m decidedly impressed with the smarts and positioning of the folks at Glam so far. They’ve achieved a lot in a really short amount of time.
One thing that has me a bit concerned however is that about a day after I accepted the job offer from Glam, I went in to Lens Crafters for a new pair of specs and when I got sized, there was only one pair that really spoke to me…I had to have the Prada eyeglasses. Let’s hope this trend doesn’t escalate for the sake of my pocketbook…
Ken Wilber is an interesting fella. A prolific writer in spirituality and personal growth and the founder the founder of the Integral Institute. Wilber is also a staunch proponent of a theory called Spiral Dynamics which purports that human nature is not fixed. Humans are able, when forced by circumstances, to adapt to their environments by constructing new, more complex, conceptual models of the world that allow them to handle new problems. One of the more inspiring examples of this to me was illustrated in An Inconvenient Truth, in how we as a population of evolved humans addressed the issue of our shrinking ozone layer, by changing our practices in using CFC’s…and, stopped the damage we were doing to the ozone.
Reaching new levels of the ’spiral’ illustrated in the theory of Spiral Dynamics require greater levels of self-awareness. It’s my belief that the more self-aware the entire population is, the more able we are to make smarter group decisions that push the population’s level of happiness and responsibility forward. To me the practices and resources of personal growth (whether it be a simple Yoga class w/ meditation or a book on reaching your financial goals) is an accessible way to invite a population of people into greater self-awareness. That ‘next level’ of thinking, to me, helps illustrate a basic example of how personal growth can play into the theory of massive leaps in spiral dynamics.
To that end, some friends of mine recently launched a personal development review site, called GrowthPop.com, where users post reviews, rate & comment or discuss their experiences with self improvement & growth resources from books to workshops to spiritual gurus. I feel like this sector has been heating up lately, from mainstream folks like Tony Robbins, to the proliferation of life coaches and Yoga going mainstream. A single source where you can find everything in one place will help more people find resources to become more conscious of their thoughts and actions and play a key role in helping the masses discover new levels of consciousness…and…thereby save the world. =)
For the past eight years, I’ve chosen advertising for my career, and I often find myself in debates with friends who claim that advertising doesn’t influence them at all. Most people seem to have a lot invested in believing that they are independent thinkers and somehow unaffected by the thousands of messages they receive each day through various media. I can understand that…believing that we are all highly influenced by our environments and to admit that whomever has the most budget to spend on advertising, would be able to influence one’s mind is an admittedly chilling and unsettling thought. And, thankfully, not true. Knowledge, for example, is a far more persuasive message than even the most brilliantly suggestive advertisement. This video, however, gave me pause to wonder how great the power of suggestion actually is….
Did anyone notice, about four years ago, how quickly McCain changed his tone after a consistent straight-talkin’, anti-bush platform? My Dad asked the question while we were hiking recently, “What blackmail do they have on McCain that got him to change his tone so quick?” Perhaps McCain, as this photo suggests, just has a big ol’ crush on The Decider.
