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December 2008WelcomeChristmas is now getting very close. I hope I get all my Christmas cards etc. all sent in time. As you will see below, I have a lot on at the moment. What have I been up to?
I have three weeks' leave, so I am hoping to get the first draft of my book completed by the end of the holidays.
I completed a rehabilitation programme in Invercargill that went well and I enjoyed staying with Alan there. We went to Oreti Beach (remember the motorbike race with burt Munro in the World's Fastest Indian?) and flew kites. I ran another website building workshop, so we can build towards a whole group of people from the Evolve Trust having websites through the Trust. Best of the NetCan Ants Solve Traffic Jams?As roads and highways become ever more clogged, Danielle Parsons tells us how researchers are studying ways to learn from nature's own traffic-flow experts: ants. Watch this great short videoA New Theory of Mental Illness There is a really interesting article
about a new theory of mental illness and how they may be linked to the
interactions between our father's genes and our mother's genes.
If certain genes from our father are more active, we are more
likely to get illnesses on the autistic spectrum and if our mother's
are more active, we tend to get illness on the psychotic spectrum. It creates a picture that ties together many observed facts that did not seem to be related. Building EmpathyPsychotherapists have developed a technique using small cameras on their body, which are preceived by the client as their own body through special glasses. The client looks from their body, but see the therapists body where theirs is. It ha been very useful in developing a sense of empathy in clients because they have a more real sense of what it is like being someone else. Check it out.Right Brain or Left BrainThere is an interesting little test which supposedly tells whether we are more left-brained or right brained. I don't know how reliable it is, but its fun to look at.EmergenceA short 11 minute video looking at emergence with John Holland being interviewed. |
Subscribe to this newsletterIf you would like to receive this newsletter as a monthly email just send me an email. You may choose to email me to Unsubscribe. Victor's BlogI have started a blog where I can write down thoughts I am having that I hope will stimulate some discussion. Check out my Blog Previous NewslettersNewsletter archiveOld "Recent News" Books I read this monthCosmos, A Co-creator's Guide to the Whole World by Ervin Laszlo and Jude CurrivanThis is another book with Ervin Laszlo's integral worldview. It is great reading even if it is very similar to his other books.. It did mention that Laurent Nattale has developed an alternative to the Big Bang theory that the entire universe right up from the Ploank scale has been found to have a fractal nature and that all that is comes from this quantum level. Going Home, Bringing Christ and the Buddha together in Daily Life by Thich Nhat HanhThis little book appears simple, but has amazing depth to it. Thich Naht Hanh finds similarities between Buddhism and ChristianityMy own personal revelation was, "We are defined by what we resist", which ties in with the dragon in When the Dragon Stirs Sway, The Itrresistable Pull of Irrartional Behaviour by ori and Rom BrafmanThis short book gives some interesting examples of how we can make some extremely irrational decisions, with sometimes drastic results. It shows for example, that we tend to overcomplensate for a perceived loss that can mean we keep risking further loss when we would be better to accept a smaller loss.Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for DummiesI read this book in the "Dummies" series as a part of my work. It gave a good outline of CBT and its uses. I am used to using it in working with offenders, but it focuses more on issues such as dealing with phobias and addictions |
Victor's webpage Victor's complexity website Subscribe Email Victor Victor's first book Victor's Blog |
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It
has been a busy month for me. I have been elected President of
the local Theosophical Society and I have lots of plans of things I
would like us to do. I have already been to Auckland to attend my first
meeting of the national council committee meeting and go to the
national convention in Wellington in early January, where I have a
presentation on intuitionto present. I am using a Monty Python based
powerpoint that promises to be fun.
The
Summer solstice celebrations at Dave and Linda Duff's house with a
labyrinth in the garden was great fun. Lots of people dressed up and we
had lots of activities. We also had a short time to remember my friend
Ted who died this time last year.