Saturday, May 25, 2013
Let's talk a little bit about food's quality...
In fact, it's about McDonald's and their food quality or rather, the lack of quality...
A 9 year old girl points out the problem:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/05/23/186304643/this-9-year-old-girl-told-mcdonalds-ceo-stop-tricking-kids
Well, using toys can be a really good trick. As a child, I also enjoyed some of them and was even more interested in them than in the food itself...
It really makes me wonder what they can put into food. And suddenly, I got it.
Take a look at this short film called "Think Twice before you eat McDonalds":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSHaZIOk9nY
I'm not sure how our body can digest it... And what's wrong with these fries? I don't recommend the fast food diet at all but
it's really frightening that these fries are the same yesterday, today and... forever?
Yummy food from McDonald's? If I were you, I would think twice before eating it...
Thursday, May 9, 2013
GMO: food for thought
Are genetically modified foods a good idea?
This film made by "D-Town Farm" gives us food for thought. It presents the problem in a funny and warning way at once. Defenders of GMOs present them as an effective way to produce more food for the whole world so a hunger problem can be solved. They claim to know the effective way to kill insects. They show how GMOs can give us more and more. More vitamins, more productivity, more food, more power. They present a lot of advantages but somehow, we can conclude that quantity does not necessarily means quality. Do GMOs give us more peace, more harmony, more compassion?
Let's take a look at arguments of "D-Town Farm".
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Small acts of kindness make a difference
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-small-kindnesses-mean-everything/2013/04/12/8f900baa-9e07-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html
Yes, sometimes we all have a bad day and can be not as nice as we should be to other people. This article is about how someone can harm another person not necessarily being conscious of that and how small acts of kindness can improve our communication with others as well as our life itself. Anyway, circumstances described there are quite specific but I think the overall message is universal and applies to everyone.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
My childhood memory
Me in my grandma's garden.
This photo takes me back to the place where I used to spend my summer holidays. I remember well these moments, surrounded by nature. Beautiful flowers of my grandmother around me and their refreshing scent. It was a great opportunity to enjoy nature and feel happy. The world seemed to be such a wonderful place thanks to my grandma's garden :-).
I wish I'd thanked her for creating such a lovely place where I could admire nature, play with my cousins and feel so carefree.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Mnemonics
Techniques that can help us remember more and more informations and make it easier.
As there are many techniques already known, many people know what they can do to memorize better. Anyway, I found out that a word "mnemonics" is derived from the name of the greek goddess of memory - Mnemosyne.
I would like to share with you some techniques when we are focused on using our imagination and associations:
http://www.mind-mapping.co.uk/_images/_Images/ADVICE-AND-INFORMATION/How-to-MindMap-imindmap.jpg
But there are also other techniques. We should not forget about preparing our environment and ourselves too. Much appreciated a "brain gym" that leads to a so-called optimal learning. These are special physical movements that helps us coordinate better our learning process and do it in a more natural way. Then, we have also a "relaxed concentration" linked with the alpha state when we are enough relaxed to activate our memory. Besides, we can engage our feelings. As we are not only thinkers but also we have feelings and even so called higher feelings, why not to use them?
There is also something that we should remember too: it's much more difficult to memorize anything when someone is agitated and thus, they lose their balance. And in this case, I think, our Greek ancestors' wisdom can be helpful because they paid attention to everything that was geometrically harmonious. A discordant, noisy music as well as a messy environment can make our learning process even more difficult. More harmony within and without, that's a good way to try to remember as much as we can and in a more pleasant way.
As there are many techniques already known, many people know what they can do to memorize better. Anyway, I found out that a word "mnemonics" is derived from the name of the greek goddess of memory - Mnemosyne.
I would like to share with you some techniques when we are focused on using our imagination and associations:
- mind mapping
http://www.mind-mapping.co.uk/_images/_Images/ADVICE-AND-INFORMATION/How-to-MindMap-imindmap.jpg
- creating a story or an image
But there are also other techniques. We should not forget about preparing our environment and ourselves too. Much appreciated a "brain gym" that leads to a so-called optimal learning. These are special physical movements that helps us coordinate better our learning process and do it in a more natural way. Then, we have also a "relaxed concentration" linked with the alpha state when we are enough relaxed to activate our memory. Besides, we can engage our feelings. As we are not only thinkers but also we have feelings and even so called higher feelings, why not to use them?
There is also something that we should remember too: it's much more difficult to memorize anything when someone is agitated and thus, they lose their balance. And in this case, I think, our Greek ancestors' wisdom can be helpful because they paid attention to everything that was geometrically harmonious. A discordant, noisy music as well as a messy environment can make our learning process even more difficult. More harmony within and without, that's a good way to try to remember as much as we can and in a more pleasant way.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
When life is not always what it seems
We already approached the subject of extreme sports and of taking risk.
I would like to share with you this story.
Kelly was willing to deal with adversities with courage and determination. She lost her leg at 15 from cancer. However, she didn't give up her love for sports. Before the amputation of her right leg, she was a promising netballer.Then, she was unable to practice this sport again. But there was another way and she find out that running itself could be also interesting. So finally, she loved it.
A great example of how we can turn failures to opportunities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiaZubSIRMk
Sometimes life itself can be like an extreme sport :-).
I would like to share with you this story.
Kelly was willing to deal with adversities with courage and determination. She lost her leg at 15 from cancer. However, she didn't give up her love for sports. Before the amputation of her right leg, she was a promising netballer.Then, she was unable to practice this sport again. But there was another way and she find out that running itself could be also interesting. So finally, she loved it.
A great example of how we can turn failures to opportunities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiaZubSIRMk
Sometimes life itself can be like an extreme sport :-).
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Why do people like to take risks?
That's a good question.
According to research at Vanderbilt Univeristy, the reason is that a risky activity is a good source of dopamine in the brain. "Feeling good" while doing risky things, it sounds crazy!
However, how many people dare to act illogically in their everyday life?
The woman who was talking about her adrenaline addiction and doing rap jumping, swimming with sharks... She admitted to avoiding such things when she was at work. However, she enjoys challenging herself.
Maybe that's another explanation. Maybe people tend to challenge themselves because they want to prove something, surpass themselves, gain mastery. But somehow, they don't want to do the same thing when they know that it includes their everyday activities.
So maybe it's a desire to escape from stressful circumstances in their lives, from problems that are too much difficult for them. Everyone can have such a temptation. And there are people who do it almost every time they encounter an obstacle. Then, they can drink too much, take harmful substances and do other things that are obviously destructive. Sometimes people are aware of dangers but they lose control anyway. Why?
I think it's a big risk to do something while losing control over ourselves.
By the way, is it possible to take risks and be in control at once...? And even if we can't control everything, is it worth denying our ability to take control when we know we can lose something very important?
I think we want to relieve tension linked with our everyday lives. And maybe for some people who do crazy and risky things it seems the only way to forget about their responsability for something or someone, including themselves...
According to research at Vanderbilt Univeristy, the reason is that a risky activity is a good source of dopamine in the brain. "Feeling good" while doing risky things, it sounds crazy!
However, how many people dare to act illogically in their everyday life?
The woman who was talking about her adrenaline addiction and doing rap jumping, swimming with sharks... She admitted to avoiding such things when she was at work. However, she enjoys challenging herself.
Maybe that's another explanation. Maybe people tend to challenge themselves because they want to prove something, surpass themselves, gain mastery. But somehow, they don't want to do the same thing when they know that it includes their everyday activities.
So maybe it's a desire to escape from stressful circumstances in their lives, from problems that are too much difficult for them. Everyone can have such a temptation. And there are people who do it almost every time they encounter an obstacle. Then, they can drink too much, take harmful substances and do other things that are obviously destructive. Sometimes people are aware of dangers but they lose control anyway. Why?
I think it's a big risk to do something while losing control over ourselves.
By the way, is it possible to take risks and be in control at once...? And even if we can't control everything, is it worth denying our ability to take control when we know we can lose something very important?
I think we want to relieve tension linked with our everyday lives. And maybe for some people who do crazy and risky things it seems the only way to forget about their responsability for something or someone, including themselves...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)