WOW IDEAS #18 Time, Lion, Web Connection

THE SECRET POWERS OF TIME

Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys (a 10 min animated presentation) on how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3oIiH7BLmg&feature=channel


CHRISTIAN THE LION

OK, so this isn't a website. But it's a video so amazing it'll have you believing anything is possible. The backstory: John Rendall and Anthony Bourke bought Christian, a lion cub, from Harrods in 1969 and raised him in their London home. Several years later, they set the lion free to live in the wilds of Africa.

A year later, against the advice of experts, the pair was determined to locate Christian.They traveled to Kenya to find him, and their reunion was recorded on film. Really, you just have to watch it -- it's truly inspirational. (If you want to see the video with Whitney Houston singing in the background, click this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__UHSZHJ9LA&feature=related?cnn=yes

You can read the full story at the Born Free Foundation site.


WEB PLAYROOM: ZE FRANK - Connecting to People using the Web (16 min)

On the web, a new "Friend" may be just a click away, but true connection is harder to find and express. Ze Frank presents a medley of zany Internet toys that require deep participation -- and reward it with something more nourishing. You're invited, if you promise you'll share.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ze_frank_s_web_playroom.html

WOW IDEA #17 Education, More for Less, Flow

Ken Robinson: Animated Video on “Changing Education Paradigms” The effects on Creativity and Divergent Thinking 11:40 min
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

"InNOVAtive" designs for ultra-low-cost products - Getting MORE from less to serve more people (19 mins).

Engineer, RA Mashelkar shares three stories of ultra-low-cost design from India that use bottom-up rethinking, and some clever engineering, to bring expensive products (cars, prosthetics) into the realm of the possible for everyone.
http://www.ted.com/talks/r_a_mashelkar_breakthrough_designs_for_ultra_low_cost_products.html

FLOW or “The Zone” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the former head of psychology at the University of Chicago. Noted for his work in happiness and creativity


What is flow?

According to experts, "Flow is the mental state
of operation in which the person is fully immersed in
what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus,
full involvement, and success in the process of the
activity."

Athletes call it "The Zone."

According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely
focused motivation. It's a single-minded immersion
and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing
emotions in the service of performing and learning.

In flow the emotions are not just contained and
channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned
with the task at hand.

The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous
joy, even rapture, while performing a task.

Can you start thinking of ways being in "Flow"
could help you in particular areas of your life?

Csikszentmihalyi identified these 9 factors
that accompany the "Flow" experience:

1- Clear goals (expectations and rules are
discernible and goals are attainable and align
appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should
both be high.

2- Concentrating, a high degree of concentration
on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in
the activity will have the opportunity to focus and
to delve deeply into it).

3- A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness,
the merging of action and awareness.

4- Distorted sense of time, one's subjective
experience of time is altered.

5- Direct and immediate feedback (successes and
failures in the course of the activity are apparent,
so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

6- Balance between ability level and challenge
(the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

7- A sense of personal control over the situation
or activity.

8- The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there
is an effortlessness of action.

9- People become absorbed in their activity, and
focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity
itself, action awareness merging.

WOW IDEA #16 Unconscious, 50 Blogs, Good Ideas

THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS – Gerd Gigerenzen
Director of the Max Plank Institute, Berlin Germany

Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious According to the speaker, human beings tend to think of intelligence as a deliberate, conscious activity guided by the laws of logic rather than Intuition and heuristics in problem-solving and decision making. Learn the power of “1/N” from a Noble Laureate of economics.

http://fora.tv/2008/02/08/Intelligence_of_the_Unconscious (01:16 min)


50 BEST BLOGS FOR CREATIVE THINKING
Like the smell of a crackling, sparking campfire, creativity slowly permeates everything around it and changes what it touches for the better. Unlike the smell of a crackling, sparking campfire, however, its results tend to last quite a bit longer. The ability to think innovatively benefits far more people than those embroidered into the visual, liberal, and performing arts, however. Business, education, law, and even medicine can benefit from its adherents learning how to percolate their creative juices - and using the following blogs, a diverse range of people can find exactly what they need to formulate ideas and put them to (hopefully) good use.
http://www.onlinedegree.net/50-best-blogs-for-creative-thinking/

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html (17 min)


THE MYTH OF POSITIVE THINKING (Smile or Die)

A 10 minute animated presentation on the Myth of Positive Thinking
By acclaimed journalist, author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich
explores the darker side of positive thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo&feature=channel


Here are some beautiful ideas from the AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL –
10 COMMANDMENTS and RITUAL CHANT


1. You should express your individual creativity

2. Realize that you are accountable

3. Before birth you agreed to help others

4. Mature emotionally

5. Entertain

6. Be a steward of your energy

7. Indulge in music

8. Strive to achieve wisdom

9. Learn self-discipline

10. Observe without judging



RITUAL CHANT

Forever Oneness,
Who sings to us in silence,
Who teaches us through each other,
Guide my steps with strength and wisdom.
May I see the lessons as I walk,
Honor the purpose of all things,
Help me touch with respect,
Always speak from behind my eyes.
Let me observe, not judge,
May I cause no harm, and leave
Music and beauty after my visit.
When I return to Forever,
May the circle be closed and
The spiral be broader.