The Lesson of Knowing When to Actively Observe amidst Acting: A Sub-Lesson of "The Best Commitments Never Bind and Allow Advantageous Flexibility"

The Lesson of Knowing When to Actively Observe amidst Acting: A Sub-Lesson of "The Best Commitments Never Bind and Allow Advantageous Flexibility"


One thing I realized I NEVER do in life is watch the movie of life. I'm OBSESSED With acting in it; engaging, moving, being active in life. All very good things. After all many a great wise man can espouse the value of being active and interacting with life instead of being a passive observer. However, what I recently realized is that constact acting, nonstop Yang, all the time is out of balance. While activity engagement, and initiative and just "doing stuff" is fantastic and a valuable energetic quality (and no doubt a necessity for success), knowing when to remain just as alert and focused as you are in acting mode, but to sit back and observe on select occasions is of equal importance.. I was at this club in Hollywood earlier this weekend. It was a massive dance club with multiple bars, hundreds of square feet of space. Massive ceilings in a former theatre hall and a huge stage and dance floors cluttered with hundreds and hundreds of dancing partying people. Amongst all that there were a few people there that, amidst all this blaring techno music, gleaming lights, hundreds of people moving and dancing, they weren't moving an extra muscle even trying to dance. Now this wasn't laziness. These people were alert. Sure, there were people that were half-asleep slouched in a chair sitting or spacing out. But these 2 people I saw were always in the middle of this huge dance floor, smack dab in the center of all these dancing partying people, and they were alert and observant and not lazy. It wasn't as if they didn't make an effort to dance; it was as though the thought didn't even consider to them or it wasn't in their interest. They weren't acting haughty or "above" the party or group; none of that. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but later I realized they were "watching the movie" of the club. Watching the movie of that small slice of life. Most interestingly to me was that they appeared to fully have validated their simply standing there fully observing.

Those two people had validated their active observation -- the choice to merely watch amongst crowds that were moving and dancing. The funny thing is what made me realize that. When I entered the club the cover fee was at a booth at which you normally by movie tickets! Wow! haha. I think we've got to ensure that we realize that any commitment mustn't be a "bind". The taoist beliefs emphasize the necessity of the balance between activity and stillness. You grow the best out of utilizing both those. Our very essential bio-rhythms function at such pattern - wakefulness (active engagement) and then sleep (stillness). Committing to being active shouldn't bind you from ocassionally observing, when observing actively could be more valuable at a certain time. Committing to eat certain types of food, mustn't "bind you" to occasionally eating some different type of food that at the time could be more valuable. So in a way the lesson of "allowing yourself to actively observe in the instances where observing would be the most valuable thing to do -- more valuable than acting", is a sub-lesson of the grander idea of remembering to maintain flexibility in your commitments and knowing that the best commitments are those that never bind or lock you into something but enable the flexibility to do something slightly different if that adjustment has more present value. The best commitments allow advantageous flexibility. You have to give yourself permission to do the most valuable thing at a given time within the construct of a commitment -- that's advantageous flexibility. It doesn't mean abandoning your original commitment or goal; just allowing it to expand through a different medium on select occassions.

Knowing When to Actively Observe or Actively Engage.
See, I had felt guilty out of simply actively observing around people. But actively observing doesn't violate that commitment to stay active. So I'm going to focus on being active and constantly doing things but give myself the permission to engage "active observation" when that's best at a certain time or place. How do you identify in which places or events are best to actively engage or actively observe? Excellent question. The best way to know is to ask yourself "is this place or event set up so that I could be the apex center performer? Or is there ropes, boundaries, an inaccessible stage or some kind of hierarchy? If there's a stage you can't get up on and a main event that other people have paid to see then such a situation is best to actively observe because actively engaging will eventually cause problems in such a scenario. If there's already a main event and you excel through exceptionally talented active engagement at that event eventually you'll hit a the ceiling where you aren't permitted to go on stage or use the mic or lead the seminar or whatever the main event is. In this situations simply accept that the maximal utilization of such a scenario is to actively observe. Feel guilty about actively engaging in such a situation because trust me from many many experiences of getting kicked out of places, running into security, hitting that ceiling where someone else is the center, the star because actively engaging is the best use of your time. Then where there's more of an open field in a different scenario you can actively engage.

Go Obama!

Obama is a story of a person inspiring and leading a disillusioned country. I'm adamantly a supporter of Obama.

Man he definitely has tremendous words of hope, unfathomably inspiring hope, but they aren't hollow; you can tell what Obama says is authentic and originates from a source of true belief.

In terms of his speaking style, the way he floats from a comical message, like the puppy in the whitehouse, to the seriousness of his mother's death.

But belief is contagious, so you believe like he believes in the positive shaping of our country. With his very words Obama has launched the country already into a positive uplifting state of change. Additionally, he's realistic in his promises. He doesn't say we'll fix everything 100% with 0% setbacks. He acknowledges the few bumps in the road. And in that flexibility, lies is his strength. You believe in Obama, hearing him believe! I believe in Obama!

Self-reiance, indiviudal liberty, national unity -- he knows the best values. I feel more faithful and more empowered just HEARING Obama; so having him actually make changes galvanizes just heaps of goodness. haha.

I actually heard this author on presidency speak in person and Greenstein

"gives Obama high marks for running his transition with the same brand of assertive self-confidence he showed during the campaign. The transition has been characterized, he said, by "a very strong sense of maintaining control and professing to be waiting in the wings but filling up all the presidential space, and doing things in textbook order."

A former Clinton aide thought,

"I find it hard to believe that, no matter how skillful he is, he can sustain this level of hope and support,"

. Well, that's where our part comes in. Obama has the right stuff -- the intelligence, the action-oriented certainty, the confidence, and the clarity to make the best changes; we just need to continue believing in his capacity to inspire, create, and galvanize things to the way they should thrive!

Obama Article

Tuesday News Blip: Phoenix Lander!

Astronomy: The Phoenix craft of the "Mars Scout Program" to mars is a $475 million mission to launch and land the Phoenix spacecraft on the surface of Mars and explore it. When you consider the massive undertaking of such a project, NASA's slim budget of $475 million is extremely frugal, pennies really, but despite it's relatively slim budget, it's been an incredible success. The Phoenix lander was set to explore Mars for 90 "sols" (Martian days, or about 92 earth days). But instead of lasting a mere 3 months, it lasted almost 5, and only lost transmission to the approaching harsh Martian winter. Phoenix broke the barrier setting a lot of discoveries in previously uncharted territory.
The Phoenix included a set of ovens to heat minerals and materials it picked up as well as an electronic "wet chemistry lab" to run various experiments on the substances it sampled. Phoenix was the first spacecraft to ever "break the surface" (pun somewhat intended) and dig beneath the ice of another planet. This technological advancement revealed that the northern plains of Mars are more habitable for life than expected. Instead discovering inhospibility soil acids, Phoenix discovered alkaline soils, which could be actually conducive to potential plant life!!! It may not be green aliens with three heads and phasers, and rather possible microbes, but the Phoenix has come the closest mankind ever has to discovering life on another planet!

The Future of the Mars Scout Program will include an exciting "SUV-sized" Mars Science Lab (MSL -- and yes, and actual "laboratory") hehe. Like its predecessors Spirit  (January 4, 2004 landing) and Opportunity, (January 25, 2004 landing)  the MSL will have vehicular mobility.

Science: The journal of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Science: The journal of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion just announced a possible breakthrough for astronauts enduring long-distance space travel. The earth is protected from meteorites, high velocity cosmic rays, and other space debris from its surrounding "magnetosphere". Cutting edge physicists aim to simulate this magnetosphere around a space craft. Scientists intelligiently merely mimicked the sophisticated protection mechanism already surrounding the earth and voila, a new breakthrough that could extend space travel incredibly.

Bottom-Line: Magnetic Force field aims to protect astronauts from space harshness.

Future astronauts could benefit from a magnetic "umbrella" that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say.
The super-fast charged particles that stream away from the Sun pose a significant threat to any long-duration mission, such as to the Moon or Mars.
But the research team says a spaceship equipped with a magnetic field generator could protect its occupants.
Lab tests are reported in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.
The approach mimics the protective field that envelops the Earth, known as the magnetosphere.
Astronauts' risk
Our star is a constant source of charged particles, and storms that arise on the Sun's surface result in huge numbers of these particles spilling into space.
As well as this plasma, or "solar wind", high velocity particles known as cosmic rays also flood through our galaxy.
The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles that rain down on the planet, and our atmosphere absorbs most of the rest.

The first time we switched it on, it worked
Ruth Bamford
International space agencies acknowledge that astronauts face a significant risk of ill health and even death if they experience major exposure to this harsh environment.
And even the spacecraft themselves are not immune to the effects. A solar flare crippled the electronics on Japan's mission to Mars, Nozomi, in 2002, for example.
But researchers from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), the Universities of York and Strathclyde, and IST Lisbon have shown how it might be possible to create a portable mini-magnetosphere for spaceships.
People scale
In its experimental set-up, the team simulated the solar wind in the laboratory and used magnetic fields to isolate an area inside the plasma, deflecting particles around the "hole".
It was not initially clear the idea would work, said Ruth Bamford, who led the research.
"There was a belief that you couldn't make a little hole in the solar wind small enough to do this at all," Dr Bamford, from RAL, told BBC News.
"It was believed that you had to have something very large, approaching planetary scale, to work in this way."
The team has had to take into account the physics of plasmas at the comparatively tiny human scale. To create its metre-sized trial, the team used a plasma jet and a simple $20 magnet.
"The first time we switched it on, it worked," said Dr Bamford.
What is more, the trial field seems to adjust itself automatically. "It does have the capacity to be somewhat self-regulating, just like the Earth's magnetosphere is," Dr Bamford explained.
"When it gets a strong push from the solar wind, the bubble gets smaller. The video shows us increasing the pressure of the solar wind, and the shield gets smaller but brighter."
Power issues
Many more experiments are needed, Dr Bamford admits, to understand how best to harness the effect; and a practical implementation is probably 15 to 20 years away.

The approach mimics how the Earth's magnetic field deflects cosmic rays
To protect a spaceship and its crew, she said, the craft itself might carry the magnetic field generator. Alternatively, it was possible to envisage a constellation of accompanying ships dedicated to the purpose of providing the umbrella where it was needed most.
The approach will probably also work with a field that is not on constantly, but cycles on and off - conserving the power that is precious on long-term missions. The details of how to cycle the field and control its shape must be hammered out, however.
"There're a lot of things to work out, like control, reliability, weight to launch, and so on," said Dr Bamford.
"I don't think it'll come down to as little as sticking fridge magnets on the outside of the spacecraft."

Tuesday News Blip: Obama, Magnetosphere, and Oil

Great News: Man, amazing passion speech. It was really wise to speak of unity, a topic that gets people charged, instead of complex policies from the get-go of his opening speech. Obama appears extremely intelligent, honest, good, and unlike his predecessor, Obama truly understand and most importantly believes the words that he communicates. Obama should be awesome. Hope reigns in america again.

Science: The journal of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion just announced a possible breakthrough for astronauts enduring long-distance space travel. The earth is protected from meteorites, high velocity cosmic rays, and other space debris from its surrounding "magnetosphere". Cutting edge physicists aim to simulate this magnetosphere around a space craft. Scientists intelligiently merely mimicked the sophisticated protection mechanism already surrounding the earth and voila, a new breakthrough that could extend space travel incredibly.

Bottom-Line: Magnetic Force field aims to protect astronauts from space harshness.

Politics: Arnold Schwarzenegger cast his vote for McCain, joking that McCain has now 100% of the vote from 'Austrian-born bodybuilders', a joke that was just clever and a bit goofy. Meanwhile his wife, being a member of the Kennedy lineage, has voted for Obama. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the nation votes.

Bottom-line: Election process before Obama won.

Economy: Oil Prices have evened out after spiking in July. In London, Brent crude oil was up to $65.91 but have tapered off to $58.38. In the U.S. the $71.77 July peak has dropped to $69.88. I remember in July hearing stories of automobile commuters who practiced "stepping on the gas" the least amount possible. By using inclines and avoiding stop lights to "save on gas". But trade in oil in the U.S has slowed. It's hopeful that recent growth in China and India will help re-establish equillibrium with the oil market.

Bottom-line: Oil prices begin to balance out after spike in July.

Tuesday News Blip: Crappy News, Genetic Mutations, and Greenhouse Auspiciousness

Legal Crap and Frightening News: There's a lot of lame crap going on in the legal world. The attorney general of California sued three small trucking companies for violating labors to avoid paying payroll taxes. Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was convicted on 7 counts of corruption and should serve 5 years for each count, but apparently may serve much less. On a much scarier note, the Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms bureau successful stopped anotehr school killing spree before it started. Some idiot neo-nazis had some heinously inhuman plan to decapitate African Americans and assassinate Barrack Obama. Wow. It's times like these where corruption, illegal earning, and racist brutality seem to clog the news that you feel pretty pathetic calling yourself American. At the very least it certainly doesn't make you feel safe! In fact, the news in America has gotten so foul and disturbing (I can't believe there's still racist neo-nacist hate group buffoons still around), there's really no point in continuing to cover it. But just the fact that dangerous hate-group racism still exists in America really causes you to scrutinize that irrationality. The opinions on slavery from the Civil War really might have left a scar and some racist people remain dangerously confused and primitive, but this chunk of news just reeks of a lot of fear. Jeez, just the thought that if Obama gets elected he could be under the threat of a racist assassination is, well, a sad sign that maybe some haven't evolved as much as they should have. Fortunately, tomatoes have evolved!

Bottom-line: Sometimes current events are so atrocious, at times it's good just to not pay attention to the news.

Health: Interesting news, very intriguing. The genetically modified research has sprouted a new invention: purple tomatoes cross-bred with a snapdragon flower. The resultant creation is jacked with antioxidant and supposedly has huge cancer-prevention properties! The combination of snapdragon with the tomato produces anthocyanin which is an extremely antioxidant-rich pigment.

Bottom-line: New snapdragon genetically-infused tomato may help cure cancer.

Environment: Good news on the horizon of environmental conservation, specifically emissions control! While,

"there is currently no agreed method of allocating international emissions to individual countries"

, members of the British Parliament are

"determined that international aviation and shipping should be part of a comprehensive approach for tackling climate change"

. I guess you never factor in exhaust from airplanes polluting the atmosphere contributing to the green house effect, but it's good to know that emission control standards on that form of communication are being set in place.

Bottom-line: Airplanes' emissions control will help environment.

News Blip: Marathon, Apple Tech, and Felines

Athletics: Roger Bannister, born almost 80 years ago, in 1929, was the first human ever to run a mile in under four-minutes. He accomplished this amazing feat in 1954 during a track meet in Oxford, UK. The winds were high at first, died down, Bannister ran, and when the announcer announced his time of "3..." the crowd went mad. His official time was 3:59.4.
That's a great achievement but what was even more fascinating that the psychological barrier was shattered. Instantly after Bannister did a sub-4, other runners believed it was possible and consequentially more and more sub-4 miles were accomplished. John Walker went on to run 129 sub-4 miles, alone, and Daniel Komen of Kenya, in 1997, doubled up Bannister's original record to run a sub-8 minute 2-mile (two sub-4 miles back to back). So all this "breaking the barrier" business in athletics -- or any arena of accomplishment -- has a big emphasis.

Certainly, three sub-4 miles back to back resulting in a sub-12 minute 3-mile race is certainly a goal for some, but an even more prominent goal is the sub-2-hour marathon barrier. People have gotten close, but no one has ever run a marathon in an amount of time that begins with "1-hour"...x minutes, x seconds. Right now, the person to do that most likely is Gebrselassie, an amazing Ethiopian runner. You can read the full article, but basically prior to Haile Gebrselassie's race in Berlin about 2 weeks ago a 2-hour 4-minute marathon was a barrier. Gebrselassie went on to break that with a 4:44 mile pace to get 2:03:59. There are skeptics and optimists of the 2-hour marathon barrier, but if anything, Gebrselassie brought the world a whole lot closer to the accomplishment of shattering such an outstanding barrier.

Bottom-line: Gebrselassie pushes the sub-2-hour marathon record.

Bizarro News: I normally don't cover the disturbing or unsavory news, but this murder trial of a former "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" actor was just too, well, bizarre. He lured some yacht sellers out onto the boat and apparently tied them to an anchor, plunging them to a watery death. I'd like to know how they discovered his guilt, maybe they had Angela Lansbury on the case, and frankly this sounds like something out an episode of Murder She Wrote, as opposed to real-life!.
And for some comic relief from the above incident "SNL's People getting punched in the face just before eating!".

Technology: I know I covered Apple's "iBrick" rumors last week, but frankly, I just love this IT company. New news with Apple is that they've released an LCD screen designed for it's simplicity in connected with a macbook notebook and a new macbook notebook, sleeker and more polished in its appearance, making it someone visually similar to a miniature macbook pro. Personally, I liked the sturdiness of the older version macbook, which was built like a tank. But nothing can beat the humor of the iBook version 1 which has become notoriously known around the mac community as the "toilet seat notebook" because of its uncanny, um, hardware design.

Kudos for Apple's release of the new macbooks, but honestly I think the LCD was a bit overkill. Apple has released some incredible monitors and LCDs for high-end graphics, those are only mainly used for high-end graphic designers; the typical consumers will just vie for a cheaper LCD screen to connect their macbook to a desktop environment. But it's certainly excellent to know that the LCD option exists for die-hard apple fans (like myself).

Miscellaneous-Home: One of the things I like most about this guy is that he's not special, certified trainer. He's just a normal bloke who seemed to have taught himself how to train a cat! The scientific theory behind all of the conditioning is fascinating as well as nostalgic. I remember training a rat to tap a lever and visit different corners of a box for a psychology class. It's just amazing watching the cat -- over the course of a very short period, no doubt -- slowly get the gist of the "light switch gimmick". Over the course of the operant conditioning period, you can almost just envision that cat saying to itself:"Well, I don't really know what this is about, but if I bump that white thing...how do I bump it again?...oh alright, I flick this stupid thing and I get food, so works for me!"

Works for me, too. Clicker-training has a fascinating background and Skinner's operant conditioning functions as its fundamentals. It's fun for the pet; fun for you, and simply illuminating (pun unintended) to see the applications of science in your pet from turning on a light switch to other tricks!

Bottom-line: Operant conditioning applies to household pets.

Real estate: Apparently there's some discrepancies in data that show southern californian homes being some of the most expensive, and now, they apparently look as though the prices of plummeted, resulting in a greater number of house sells in recent months.

"Last month's median home price in the six-county region fell 33.2 percent to $308,500 in the six-county region, compared to $462,000 in September 2007, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said"

. Interesting, well high or low-priced, still a great place.

Bottom-line: House prices decreases, causing house sales to increase.

Good Times:  At least the Aussies still know how to have fun  Graduating 12 years from Xavier College allegedly streaked through their school wearing the ties as g-strings, set off fire works, and caused a ruckus like no other on their "Muck up Day" as a graduation prank.  It's hysterical if you read the readers comments.  Some woman apparently got her her gnomes beheaded and bird bath tipped!  And another '68 alumni praised the pranksters! Ah, the life down under! hehe.

Tuesday News Blip: Apple Innovations, Stocks Skyrocket, and More D

Technology: Apple's innovation cease to amaze. The cutting edge rumor is that they intend to release a special laptop known as "the brick". Doing its name justice, "the brick" is supposedly carved out of a solid "brick" of titanium, making it seamless and screwless! The price for such water-blasting crafted item sounds like it would be extraordinary. While it may not be 100% indesctructible, the durability of Apple's new laptop technology will be a practically unprecedented release sturdy portability. Here are some cool factoids about it:

Macenstein had the best prediction of its bizarre codename:

"it is likely that it is simply a name for an upcoming product (or group of products) that Apple thinks will be sexy enough to pull a huge marketshare away from Microsoft. After all, how do you break “Windows”? You throw a brick through them!"

iPhone Savior predicts it will be some kind of new mac mini:

"a re-design of the Mac Mini super-sized to reveal a Mac Mini Pro of sorts."

Whatever this new innovation will be, it officeally releases (if on schedule) today. So it will be exciting to find out.

Bottom-line: Apple's iBrick's creating a sensational quality hype.

Economy: We've heard a lot of people griping (others outright wailing) about the economic slump, specifically of the stock market. Well, good news for all. Pessimists complained that the stock market was as bad as it was during the Great Depression. Maybe, but I'm an optimist and now I recognize is as flourishing as it was during the Decade of the Glorious (but of course after the Great Depression and without the distorted Keynesian economic blunders that caused the drop nearly 6 dozen years ago). And evidence of our recently flourishing economy lies in the crisp numbers of the stock market: stocks skyrocketed 11% yesterday, which is the biggest jump since 1933. So clearly, optimism will always prevail over of the pessimists.

The cause of this? Not so reassuring. Many believe this will hurt more then help the economy, but the Bush Administration shifted into a "$250 billion of the $700 billion bailout program recently passed by Congress to purchase stock in U.S. banks, providing the banks with desperately needed money" and the FDIC will temporarily provide insurance loans for the banks as well. Why would the Bush administration do such a maneuver when he's practically no longer in office? Possibly a somewhat desperate attempt to boost the economy, or malevolent ploy to screw with the economy before it shifts into more adept hands. hehe. Probably the former.

Apple stock shot up a whopping 13.26 points yesterday, too, so apparently "the iBrick" (see above) made an impression on shareholders.

Bottom-line: Stocks sky-rocket because banks rework a bailout plan.

Health: New breakthroughs in nutritional science have shown recent significance of Vitamin D in building bones and preventing cancer. Preventing cancer, after all, is simply about creating balance in the body. Scientists don't understand the direct cause of cancer so they create all these assumptions of measures to take to indirectly prevent it. Undoubtedly taking more of a balance of Vitamins will create body balance and it's that physiological equilibrium that ultimately prevents any kind of deterioration in the body (cancer included). So in another few months scientists will have a "big breakthrough" stating that we need to be taking more Vitamin A! And then more Zinc! etc. Framing these as real breakthroughs would be impractical; they do serve a good purpose though; old-fashioned reminders to take in healthy Vitamins. People are more apt to change their habits (in this case "vitamin consumption") if it's labeled as a "new breakthrough". In any case, you can get more D in smelly fish like mackarel, tuna, and sardines, supplements, or our sun.

Bottom-line: Double your intake of Vitamin D.