Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you are.
Chinese Proverb
Summer Quotation # 1
Archivi delle categorie:Change
Daring But Not Too Much
1970: NASA, the American space agency, completes the “Skylab“: a space station designed to accommodate 3 people for a period of three months. But, while the technology is advanced, the interior decoration looks sad: the cockpit is cold, and austere … the astronauts deserve better!
NASA then asks for help to a professional designer, Raymond Loewy, who works in the field of aesthetics applied to industrial objects. He conceived and designed, for example, several logos of famous brands, car and locomotive lines and even the Air Force One, the aircraft of the President of the United States.
Arriving at NASA, Raymond is amazed but speechless. The decoration of the Skylab? Too blue that diffuses a pale color. The lighting? It comes from above and creates distressing shadows. He therefore proposes to install portholes to look outside.
Raymond follows the M.A.Y.A. (Most Advanced Yet Acceptable) principle, which in practice means: dare but not too much. If an invention or design is too revolutionary, the consumer is frightened.
This idea takes into account the “cognitive bias“, that is a very common deformation of our way of thinking, of familiarity. We tend to prefer what we know, because it reassures us rather than what we don’t know. For this reason, for example, producers use advertising to make their products familiar to consumers.
According to Raymond, an important innovation must contain elements that users would be able to accept and embrace.
With the portholes, the brave occupants of the Skylab could admire a familiar sight: our dear old planet Earth!
Would More Money Make You Happier?
Markus Persson, a Swedish 36-year-old business man, spends his time on Twitter, where he talks about his life and that of his company. One day, he twitted something that will change his life.
Markus created in 2009 the video game called Minecraft, a kind of virtual Lego game that has become a social phenomenon. But, all of a sudden, he ends up getting tired of running his business, Mojang.
So, one evening in June 2014, he announced on Twitter that he would sell Mojang. In no time one IT giant contacted him and bought it for 2.5 billion dollars (2.2 billion euros).
On permanent vacation or lying in his luxury villa, he continues to tell about his life on Twitter: he complains that he no longer sees his friends, that parties in Ibiza have become boring…to make a long story short, he gets depressed.
Markus may be the victim of what is called the “Easterlin Paradox“, after the name of the economist who demonstrated it. Richard Easterlin has observed over several years that while the per capita income in the US increased, the proportion of people saying being “very happy” did not increase at the same time.
Later, other researchers found that the more money you made, the happier you felt but there was a limit: up to 75,000 dollars (about 68,000 euros) per year per household. Over this amount of money, the extra money would not make you happier!
Markus earned far more than 75,000 dollars but he has no friends, no plans for the future, and he is also depressed. He even ends up arguing with lots of people on Twitter, making comments deemed racist and misogynist.
As a result, in 2019 the big IT company who bought his business does not invite him to the 10 year anniversary of Minecraft, and deleted his name from the credits of the game. Markus gained a lot of money, but he also lost a lot.
Do you agree with the Easterlin Paradox? Would you be happier with more money? Would 75,000 dollars be enough to have a happy life? In my case, I would be definitely happy with 75,000 dollars a year!
Exchange of Things: I Give Something to You, You Give Something to Me
Summer 1959, Moscow. During an official meeting, the head of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, drinks a Pepsi Cola. Yes, victory! A member of the meeting discreetly welcomes.
The happy man is a representative of the famous American brand of drinks, Donald Kendall. That evening, Kendall had one goal: to convince the Russians to sell their drink in that immense country.
But Kendall shouted victory too early. If Khrushchev likes Pepsi, we are still in the times of the “cold war”. We don’t really talk about consuming a product from capitalist America!
But a few years later, when relations between the two countries improve, Pepsi tries again. And this time the Russians also see an interest in them because they can sell vodka to the Americans.
The deal can only be done without using the currency: Russia rejects the dollars of the American capitalists and cannot bring out the rubles from the country.
Then we return to the oldest form of exchange: bartering. The Russians authorize Americans to sell their drink on their soil in exchange for selling vodka on American soil.
This Pepsi exchange for vodka has continued for years, but in 1979 the US no longer wants to exchange Pepsi for vodka.
So Pepsi finds an alternative. Instead of regulating trade in vodka, the Russians will be able to pay with their old warships. Pepsi thus resells the old scrap metal to make a good profit.
What do you think about it? Have you ever exchanged items with your friends? Would you like to do it, like when you were a child and you exchanged stickers?
Do you know that there are Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) where you can trade not only things but also services?
In times of crisis, it would be good to start applying new economic models, like the sharing economy, where individuals can hire out things like their cars, homes and time to others in a peer-to-peer modality. We exchanged our home for vacation for many years through a website called Home Based Holidays, and on the Web you can find many more. No worries about your belongings: they come to you place, but you go to theirs!
Once, at a second hand market I bought a sweater made by a famous French brand for 2 euros. I was astonished and the lady told me: What I don’t like any longer, you may like it.
Actually this is the principle: instead of buying things that we maybe use only once, or we get tired of soon, like children with their toys, we could start exchanging them.
It will be a step towards a more sustainable economy, that will bring us some benefits like reducing negative environmental impacts by decreasing the amount of goods needed to be produced, and cutting down on industry pollution. It will also increase recycling items and grant access to people who can’t afford buying certain types of goods or use them only from time to time.
All this is also in the perspective of the degrowth theory, that will let us go towards strengthening our belonging to our local community.
By the way, I have been using that sweater since then!
The Tour of the World
Some time ago I saw a nice pair of jeans in a shopping centre, which were not even expensive.
However, there was no label indicating its origin, no “made in”. Curios as I am, I decided to start a small investigation, first by asking to the shop owner, who had no idea. Then I pretended to be a member of a consumer association, I listed a whole series of regulations that he has been violating so that he gave me the address of the warehouse where he bought them.
Once home, I called that warehouse, always pretending to be an exponent of a consumer association. They started immediately to tell me the story of the jeans, without any problems, as some journalists have already made an investigation before. First of all, they were made with cotton from Benin. The cotton threads are then dyed in Spain, before being shipped to Taiwan to be woven into several separate pieces (pockets, legs, etc.).
The pieces are then sent to Tunisia to be sewn with Japanese polyester threads. The factory also adds buttons, zippers, rivets which are made in Japan with Australian metals.
So the jeans leave Tunisia for a warehouse in France from where they will be sold all over Europe. In short, the jeans traveled about 65,000 kilometres: once and a half the tour of the world.
The production of these jeans is definitely “globalized”: to sell jeans at the lowest possible price, manufactures look for the lowest cost of production at all levels. The manufacturer multiplies the steps to optimize its overall manufacturing cost. Dyeing is less expensive here, buttons are cheaper there, etc.
This causes several problems: the culture of cotton requires a lot of water for countries that do not have much, the working conditions of the workers are very bad, transport consumes a lot of oil and releases greenhouse gases.
At the end the jeans are very expensive for the planet, even if they are sold at an attractive final price for the consumer.
There are so many other examples like this. Danish prawns are cleaned in Morocco and then sent back to Denmark to be marketed. Scottish langoustines leave for Thailand to be decorticated by hand in a large multinational company and return to Scotland where they are cooked and then resold.
But is it worth? Wouldn’t it be better to bring production closer to places of sale, reducing energy and hydrocarbon consumption, finally doing some good to our planet?
The Best Time to Practise Physical Activity
Have you ever wondered when is the best time to exercise? If it is better to eat before or after?
Recent studies state the importance of practicing moderate physical activity on an empty stomach.
Practicing physical activity in the morning on an empty stomach would favour a better response to insulin, better use of glucose by the muscles, better regulation of blood glucose and twice as effective fat disposal.
Ideally starting your day with 30 minutes of gentle exercises combined with endurance exercises would be really beneficial. Considering that it is not essential to eat shortly after waking up, prolonging the night fasting would also allow us to detoxify our intestines.
When can we eat then? The ideal would be eating after half an hour, or even better an hour after this short physical activity. Breakfast should be rich in animal and vegetable proteins to promote muscle recovery and anabolism, and also contain complex carbohydrates to obtain the energy needed to face the day. An example: low-fat yoghurt with muesli made with nuts and seeds.
What do you think about it? Would you be able to start your day like this? Honestly, my morning routine is different: I wake up, practise 10 minutes meditation, have breakfast, take a shower, make up, get dressed and finally I can go out. Total: one hour and 15 minutes. If I had to add another half hour at what time should I get up? Too early! But I was wondering whether I could start this morning practice during this confinement period, considering that I manage my time thanks to telework and I am not stressed by having to take public transport to go to the office.
Working Less, Could it Save the Planet?
A study by the University of Massachusetts states that “working less is good for the environment”. If we would spend 10% less of our time at work, our footprint on the earth would be reduced by 14.6%, mainly thanks to the decrease in travelling and daily expenses.
There are two contradictory theories on this idea:
- wages may remain unchanged and the economy would continue to grow thanks to the technological and energetic improvements despite the reduction in working time; this theory explains us that pollution could be reduced thanks to the change in daily habits, such as the preparation of your own meals at home instead of buying food already prepared or prepared by others;
- only by reducing wages we will achieve a significant reduction in the ecological footprint by 2050. This is the theory of degrowth that supports the fact that only with less money available the consumption of material goods can be reduced and consequently there will be a corresponding reduction of the pollution and use of resources. In practise, it means that by working four days, you would receive a salary equivalent to four days.
I would like to focus on degrowth because I support this approach. It seems clear to me that by continuing in this way the human kind will encounter a rapid depletion of available resources which will cause a sudden and uncontrollable decline of the population and of the productive capacity of the industries. The degrowth theory is certainly radical and to some it seems heretical. However, an OECD report says that consumption has increased by 50% in the past 30 years and that this goes hand in hand with an increase of the environmental footprint. The degrowth theory stipulates that a progressive decrease in consumption should begin by starting with a reduction in working time.
Serge Latouche, economist among the founding fathers of the degrowth theory, explains that degrowth does not mean weakening or suffering. It rather means transforming the concept of consumption into that of use: I buy something because I need it, if it breaks I have it repaired ( or repair it by myself) and, at the end of its lifecycle, I recycle it. It also means shifting attention from quantity to quality. The result will be a materially responsible society.
Degrowth is also a praise of slowness and duration; learning from the past; awareness that there is no progress without conservation; indifference to fashions and ephemeral; draw on the knowledge of tradition; not identifying the new with the best, the old with the outdated; do not call buyers the consumers , because the purpose of purchasing is not consumption but, as I said before, use.
So why working less and earning less? If the consumption for leisure or pleasure activities would increase thanks to a shorter working week, there would be a significant increase in the ecological footprint. This is why the reduction in working time must be accompanied by a reduction of wages. However, we would have more time for us, to dedicate to our personal growth, which does not only mean fun or leisure activities.
The crucial choice of our times, therefore, is between urgently committing ourselves to embark on the path of sobriety at all levels or going at full speed towards the depletion of resources and the global collapse of our system, which nobody hopes for.
In these difficult times, with the rapid spread of a virus that threatens our lives and frightens us, we could seriously begin to reflect on a different future for us all.
What do you think about it? Would you be willing to work less, gaining less and consuming less (but using more), thus starting a path towards a more committed society, different from the way we know it today?
Empathy: a Link Between Us and The Others
Relating to others may be difficult sometimes. Tensions may arise but they could be turned into opportunities to get to know each other better. The relationship can thus improve and become a source of joy and inspiration.
Empathy is not to show mercy, but it is the possibility that a person tries to put herself in other’s shoes and lives from the inside what the other feels at that moment.
An important thing to know is that empathy is not a talent with which you are born, but it can be learned. Being empathic means first of all feeling somehow involved towards the other from us. Surely it is easier to feel empathy for people who are similar to us than for people who we feel as antagonist.
If we want to be empathetic with our colleagues at work, we could try talking to them more often, asking them what they have been experiencing and the emotions they feel rather than imagining it, which could prove to be absolutely misleading.
A good empathy could allow us to feel the emotions that our interlocutors feel and we could thus anticipate their reactions. When people feel understood, the path of trust and good understanding opens up. True empathy allows you renewing a bond that could have seemed broken.
But be careful: empathy cannot be directed only towards others but it has to be directed also towards ourselves. In order to identify the emotions of others, we shall first know how to identify our emotions and not only the positive ones but also the negative ones such as, for instance, anger, bitterness, shame. The clearer our emotions are, the more we can accept and understand others’ emotions. Understanding why we experience certain emotions will allow us to put ourselves in others’ shoes and understand the reasons why one person was pushed to experience one emotion rather than another. The diversity of points of view can only be understood if we accept that we all are diverse.
9 Tips to Live a Better Life
Good habits and good mood have a close connection with good health and well-being.
Here are 9 tips that will help you find a bit of tranquility, improve your balance and get closer to the idea of happiness that best suits you.
- Keep moving. Physical activity is one of the tools that most benefits our body. It can significantly reduce stress, control cholesterol levels, help you lose weight, oxygenate body tissues and eliminate toxins through sweating. In addition, it allows the development of endorphins that produce brain pleasure and decrease joint pain. If you can, don’t take the elevator but take the stairs, walk to work, or ride a bicycle. These are all activities you can do without necessarily going to the gym. Not only will your body benefit, but the environment will also be thankful.
- Improve nutrition. Pay attention to what you consume daily. Take time for each meal and choose healthy menus. Eat balanced and add fruit, vegetables and legumes to your diet. Try new recipes and prepare differently flavoured meals to discover new things. Avoid eating junk food, because it contains simple sugars and carbohydrates, which contribute to the slowdown of metabolism and obstruct the arteries. Also avoid fatty meals too.
- Drink plenty of water. The consumption of water, tea and juice allows you to eliminate free radicals. In addition, hydration is good for the skin, which will thus remain beautiful and healthy.
- Do something you enjoy. Take time to do an activity that you like during the day, which makes you relax, such as doing manual work, cooking, reading or learning to play a musical instrument.
- Disconnect yourself for a full day. Make an effort, put social media and cell phone aside for a day. It’s good to focus on yourself every now and then.
- Spend time outdoors. Walking in the forest, having a picnic, spending time outdoors are activities that make you reconnect with nature as well as being an opportunity to breathe some fresh air.
- Volunteering. Solidarity is one of the paths most used by people who seek tranquility and who want to be at peace with themselves. Good deeds will affect your life in a positive way.
- Stay positive. Look at things with pleasure, optimism and positive energy. Frustration brings negative consequences in life.
- Share moments with friends. Having a coffee with friends, talking about nothing, will help you feel much better.
4 Tips for Your Wellbeing
Here you go with four tips to kick off the new decade that has just started:
1. Learn to say no: to assert yourself is first of all to respect your own values and to listen to your own needs. While managing your priorities in your private and professional life you become more productive/a but also more available. The result is that there is little time left for what really matters to you.
2. Have more fun: a healthy lifestyle includes healthy eating and also trying to limit sedentary life. What if we put together the useful and the enjoyable? If you want to move, take a nice walk or go dancing!
3. Smile more often: getting angry or criticising? What a waste of time! Do you know that for every minute of anger you spend energy that you will recover in an hour? Cultivate your happiness by relativizing what happens to you and taking advantage of what life offers. Let’s try with an exercise: write on a piece of paper three positive things that happened to you or that you liked each day. Put the paper in a jar and, when you’re down, pick up one and read it again to remind yourself of pleasant memories. How do you like it?
4. Take advantage of the silence: in a very noisy world that constantly urges us to do things, it is important to disconnect by getting rid of the noisesthat surrounds us. Program some moments of digital detox to take advantage of the silence by walking in the woods, taking a a siesta during the work break or enjoying a meditation session. Everything will be all right!
Crisbie Coach 