Too many options

There is a special kind of angst which comes from having too many options.

Two schools with great facilities for your children are down the road. Which one to choose?

Two companies want to partner with you for selling their products. Both products are great, which one do you decide to sell?

I’m not sure I have an answer, but I know that long and committed conversation helps to make an important decision.

Eckhart Tolle says there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind. Options are sometimes seductive because they are new and shiny, like a new iPhone. However, maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to change something if it is already working.

Not all good options are better than what we already have.

Happy Tuesday.

Birthdays

I just turned 37 a couple days ago. To paraphrase Marilyn Monroe “…makes a guy think….”

Approaching (hitting?) middle age for me means a few things, but the overriding feeling I have is that, obviously, time is fleeting. So what to do with fleeting time?

Here’s an idea. We live in an extraordinary moment when everyone has access to the sum knowledge of humanity. Stanford university is giving its courses FOR FREE online.

Khan Academy is teaching pretty much anything in a really great format and also FOR FREE through its app.

With this in mind, I’m learning maths on Khan and I’m reading up on the links between health, sustainability and interior design/architecture in a new book by Esther Sternberg.

Staying curious. That’s what I want for my 38th year and for any more time I get on this amazing earth. This sounds pithy but it’s true.

Happy Sunday Chimps.

Getting bored and having energy

Is getting bored a good thing?

In the age of Facebook, Netflix, Spotify and Fortnite it’s easy to let the system take control. If you allow them, these streaming, entertaining, dopamine tripping platforms will keep you glued to your seats all day. They won’t let you get bored.

This thing is, getting bored serves a function. As far as I can tell, the whole purpose and spiritual breakthrough of Yoga is to cope with boredom and through this to reflect on life. No time for that in a video game.

Some other activities where boredom is there to be overcome:

Taking a walk with no phone in hand. Just walk.

Listening to an album from start to finish. Just listen

Running for 30 minutes straight. Just run.

When were you last bored?

Interior design versus environmental management

In the home or office, your environment can impact your health.

Cursory reading online will show you how much the design of a space can impact on your own health. It can:

Influence your mood. For example, research studies reveal that rooms with bright light, both natural and artificial, can improve depression and anxiety.

Impact your behavior and motivation to act. For example, a messy hall with shoes, bags, and other stuff may invite you to drop what you are carrying right there, whereas a clean entry and adequate storage will encourage you to take the time to put the item away.

Facilitate or discourage interactions in your family and with guests. For example, an inviting space with comfortable chairs can encourage people to sit and chat.

Create or reduce stress, which impacts not only your emotional, but also physical health, including your longevity!

Presumably this is true of larger spaces and larger systems than just the office, the living room or the entry way? Presumably this is true of environmental management systems as a whole?

I studied environmental management at university. The course and my subsequent career focused more on the impact of human activity on the earth. Granted that is a huge topic, but I think they missed a trick. Little attention was paid to the impacts of a poorly managed environment on the individual, beyond total planetary annihilation – a concept that is scary but hard to relate to on a day to day basis.

I think this is a shame.

The promise of healthier bodies and minds as a result of environmental management would be a powerful one. I think we can use the theory and psychology of good interior design to encourage broader best practice environmental management. This might help both the planet and the individual. Not such a sacrifice. A Win-win.

I’d love more info or expertise on this topic/link if anyone has any.

Happy Monday. 🐵🎧

Match

Are you more of a corporate manager, or a children’s show presenter?

Do you have the time to enter an ultramarathon or are you better off focusing on the problems in front of you?

Will a holiday away actually be relaxing for you? Or should you rather sleep in at home?

Will you benefit from buying that new iPhone, or should you put the money into a savings account?

I think all of the options above are valid. They just need to match up with the rest of your life to avoid angst.

Referrals

I was referred a book today. I love referrals. They are the polar opposite of the random, googled, cold-called experience.

Whether it is for a contractor’s services, a new restaurant, a new employee, a new product, or for a well written explanation of a concept – it is far easier and more enjoyable to digest the unknown if it comes as a referral from someone you know and trust.

Censorship

Can a civilisation function without free speech?

It is my personal belief that more speech is the only answer. Yes even hate speech. Even the most vile, racist, biased, twisted, evil ranting should be allowed, if only to point to and say out loud – “This is bullshit”.

Atrophy

If you ever want to prove the rule of atrophy, just go on a holiday.

We left the house in mostly working order. WiFi, phones, alarms, pets, cars all up and running.

But when we came back last night, the gremlins had struck. The power was out, which had tripped our alarm, which had sent the dogs into a two day frenzy. Phone and WiFi has disconnected. The car was dead. And so on.

If you throw a bunch of bricks in the air, it’s almost impossible that they will land on top of each other in a nice organised wall. Atrophy is a natural order of things. It means that everything falls apart and bends toward chaos, unless it is maintained.

Just ask my dogs.

Wind and whales

It’s a gusty day here by the sea. our kids are bothered by the sand and the choppy water. The whales don’t seem to care.

I just saw my first breach – like a rocket launching out the ocean.

Coming up from the deep with such force, the whale’s head and shoulders pushed into the air. It looked for a moment like the giant learned how to fly.

Then with half of its body out the water, the launch failed. The rocket fell down to the sea with a monstrous crash. I could see the explosion of water from kilometers away.

They’re still lolling about out there as I type this. Viva whales.

Rain

The rain has set in. The last few days on holiday have been hot and humid but now the cold front is here and we’re enveloped in cloud and cold air.

No hiking with the little ones. We’re playing table tennis and dominos with other guests at the hotel to pass the time.

For a few years we were in a drought, missing the rain in Cape Town. One wet winter and I find I’m wishing for the drought again. Fickle and selfish thoughts set in when you get bored I guess.

For now, indoors and bunkered down is the way forward. I find I am rearranging the apps in my phone for no particular reason.

The mind is a funny thing.