What Do We Do in the New Year?

Photo by husin.sani

Another new year is about to dawn. As usual, most of us would make one or more New Year’s resolutions, most of which, again as usual, will not be kept in the long run. Knowing the fact that most people fail to live up to resolutions made at this time of year, the alternative, though, should not be to avoid making any of them at all. It is a time of renewal that we could use to make positive changes in our lives if only we tried the right way.

One thing we have to remember is that a year is a man-made unit of measurement of time and we merely use the beginning or end of a year as a reference point because it is a convenient way of keeping track of our activities. Therefore even if we didn’t manage to keep a resolution we make, it is hardly a sin; nor is it a mark of permanent failure since we can always try again next year, probably with a changed approach.

Anyway, this is not to say that we should aim to let our promises to ourselves fall flat without much effort on our part. There are ways to make New Year’s resolutions that last, which are not too difficult to follow: First among them perhaps is going for realistic goals that inspire you, and treat them as positive challenges rather than boring chores. Being too ambitious and hoping for sudden big changes or picking things that don’t necessarily appeal to you is a sure way to fail. Getting other’s help in keeping on track and also forgiving ourselves the occational lapse are important aspects not to be forgotten.

Choosing the right resolutions is therefore key to being able to adhere to them. There are small changes any of us can make in our day-to-day lives which, practised on a long-term basis, can pay significant dividends. Enjoying the present more is perhaps one of the most relevant aspiration for lots of us living in the high-pressure world today, as we often tend to re-live the past or worry about the future instead of savouring the moment; enjoying the journey rather than concentrating totally on the destination would be helpful even in the successful pursuit of other goals we set. Learning to listen better and have good coversations, cultivating more healthy eating habits, exercising more effectively and being more mindful of our expenses are also some of the worthwhile changes, among many others, we can choose from.

Is the World REALLY Flat?

Photo by Untitled blue

The now famous book The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman claims that opportunities available to people are growing more and more equal no matter where they live. This is meant to present more competition and challenges to those living in the Western world, but more benefits to others in less developed countries since the playing field has largely been levelled by the developments in communications technology. Especially the knowledge workers- those who do their work using their knowledge rather than their physical strength- of the Third World, who earlier had no means of squaring off against their counterparts in the advanced lands due to their less favourable location, are now no an equal footing thanks to technologies like the Internet, e-mail and work flow software that make the place where the work is actually performed far less important.

According to the author, the latest wave of globalization involves more and more work of an intellectual nature rather than just the manual and back-office work outsourced at the beginning. The trend that emerged with the off-shoring of tasks to be performed by cheap labour as countries like China and India opened up their economies has expanded to encompass many other domains that until recently nobody thought could be handled in a different place.

However, critics are quick to point out that it is not quite as simple as that. While certain sections of society in developing countries may do well with globalization, others- especially the poor and uneducated- may become even worse off as, for example, the cost of living in those countries rises with the growing incomes of the minority that does benefit from outsourcing, something being observed in some parts of India to name just one case.

And on the other hand, knowledge workers, despite the availability of all the technology, are affected in other ways by where they live according to psychologists. Interacting with other people- similar as well as different- plays a major role in the way those people perform, for whose work intellectual stimulation and creativity are vital. They are said to get quite a considerable boost to the quality of their work when stationed in places where they get the chance to mix with others rather than when isolated. This fact, coupled with better quality of life, explains why people in large numbers are still attracted to certain urban centres in spite of higher property prices and other expenses.

All in all, it seems that although the world may have got flatter, in Mr. Friedman’s words, than it once was, it is as yet nowhere near as flat as it should get for everyone to be on a par, and probably will never be entirely so. As they have done throughout human history, preferred locations will continue to appeal to talented people for quite some time to come.

Are We Humans a Bunch of Lazybones?

Photo by jelene

Diligence is a highly extolled virtue of the human civilization. In almost every society it is taken seriously, albeit in varying degrees, and being inculcated in the younger generation in the educational systems.

On the other hand, it happens to be an inherent trait of human nature to procrastinate and, no matter what we tell our children to the contrary, we adults often tend to slack off when some superior is not breathing down our neck. So does that mean we humans are characteristically lazy? Psychologists don’t quite agree. As they point out, it is rather being diverted from what should be our high-priority activities due to various mental miscalculations: one of the most prominent among them is our covert perfectionism that makes us flinch when faced with a challenging task or project as we in our heart of hearts fear that we would not be able to do it correctly. To get away from this doubt, we adopt diversionary tactics like busying ourselves with other- less important but easy to accomplish- activities. Needless to say, these other occupations bring little, if any, reward.

Many complex tasks we have to undertake today may look quite daunting when viewed in their whole. The trick is to divide them into several smaller units that, when taken separately, won’t put us off like that. And launching into the first step as soon as possible will generate momentum that will help propel us forward, something that definitely won’t happen as long as we wait on the sidelines.

Then again, there is no point in being perfectionist in avoiding procrastination either. There are things you have to put off in order to get on with other more important stuff. After all, no one today can tackle everything they ideally should do, given the many different duties crying for our attention at the same time. So it is very important to prioritize and pursue the tasks that really matter as otherwise one might run the risk of not seeing the jungle for the trees. Inadvertantly they would once again end up being diverted from their priorities if they attempted to be diligent with everything without separating the grain from the chaff.

Take Heart, Ye That Labour and Are Heavy Laden!

Photo by iowa_spirit_walker

“What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” goes the saying. It means to say that the troubles and tribulations in life would give us more strength and make us better prepared to face challenges in the future. Anyway, there are precious few of us who would welcome problems in our lives for the sake of this professed benefit. Most of us, although we theoretically accept that life can never be a bed of roses, want our existence to be as hassle-free as possible.

Psychologists say that problems in life can give us an opportunity for growth that we might miss if we had a path clear of them. People who have undergone various ordeals have often said that their lives have become richer through the experience: they have gained a fresh appreciation of what they already have, rather than focusing on what is not there and feeling miserable; families have grown closer and come to value each other’s company much more; their perspective on life has changed to one of wonder and gratitude, letting go of much of the self-seeking and entitlement-thinking that characterized them earlier.

Even children stand to lose when they have an overprotected childhood. As a paper by psychologist Ed Diener (in PDF format) points out, children in richer families may come to expect all the luxuries their parents provide them with and this mentality of entitlement can cause adjustment problems for them in the future. In their cloistered existence they could miss out on the whole learning experience other kids their age automatically receive by having to face the natural challenges of growing up and find creative solutions to them.

To be sure, no one has to go looking for trouble or unnecessarily complicate their lives by courting disaster, but the present-day emphasis on hassle-free living probably has to relax a bit for us to become full-fledged human beings. Quite apart from the fact that we never can be totally free from problems and have a life that turns out 100% according to our expectations no matter how hard we try, why bother excessively to avoid trouble- and become wimps- if we can find a growth opportunity in squarely facing up to them. It looks like all that is part and parcel of living a fulfilling life.

Will Money- or Lack of It- Make You Happy?

Photo by NeoGaboX

Some say money is the root of all evil. Others claim it’s rather the lack of money that leads to most misery. And when it comes to the question of money and happiness, the differences in opinion are equally diverse. Mankind’s bittersweet relationship with wealth is so deep-running that it has become part of human nature and therefore the subject of much scientific research.

Conventional wisdom, aided by religious teaching, holds that riches won’t make you happy but fulfilling family and social relationships as well as service to humanity will. Some religious views, which are probably excessively strict misinterpretations of original teachings, even seem to regard money generally as dirty and glorify self-imposed poverty. On the other hand, in spite of all the notions of filthy lucre generated by such thinking, society has a fascination with wealth so strong that most of us- at least covertly- crave it and sometimes make irrational sacrifices of other things dear to us to acquire more of it.

The reasons for this dichotomous approach are many: Foremost among them is the fact that wealth represents power. Those who possess it have the ability to afford not only many modern convenieces that would apparently make life more pleasant and enjoyable, but also status symbols that would announce to the world that they are somebody to reckon with. The inherent need of the human psyche to compare oneself favourably with others- and to stand out and get noticed- is served so effectively through the accumulation of riches that it often makes us forget there is more to life than just the pursuit of money.

This point illustrated by a study conducted by two Princeton University professors, economist Alan B. Krueger and psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the results of which demonstrate that we tend to make false assumptions and associations about ever increasing income. It does not say, however, that those who are poorer have a better life. The affluent seem to have more overall life satisfaction although they don’t have more moment- to-moment happiness; their main problem lies in that they generally spend more time in non-enjoyable activities and have- and accept- responsibilities that rob them of quality time.

Substantial data collected by Ed Diener and Martin Seligman, both professors of psychology and leading researchers of happiness, point out that rich people are on average happier with their lives than their poorer counterparts (probably the same thing meant by life satisfaction in the Princeton study) but that happiness operates on a principle of diminishing returns with income: it increases in ever smaller amounts as you earn more and more. After the central needs- based on one’s cultural backdrop- are met and a relatively comfortable life is achieved, further rises in income seem to contribute less and less to one’s feeling of well-being. Also, running after ever more complex desires with rising prosperity is likely to lead to disappointment.

A post in PsyBlog on the psychology of money also has quite a few eye-openers, with links to more detailed individual explanations, on how we deal with, or react to, money in various settings. We seem to put too mach value on ownership of items once our mind is set on them, be unable to compare alternative uses of our cash when they lie in different categories, become suckers for the word FREE, but sometimes operate in a social- rather than financial- mindset when we would voluntarily do more for others than if they paid us for it.

All in all, there seems to be no virtue in being poor. But going to the other extreme and amassing wealth giving short shrift to other aspects of life is no viable solution either. Taking care to carefully evaluate all the nuances involved is vital in tackling this very complex and ambiguous subject mankind has grappled with from time immemorial.

You Mean What You Think? Think Again

Photo by Reigh LeBlanc

Ever since the humans came past the primitive stages of development and formed agrarian communities, they have endeavoured to get some understanding of how their own minds work. Their new lifestyle accorded them the spare time necessary to concentrate on these matters with introspection and observation of others. The trend probably culminated in efforts of philosophers like the Buddha in India, Confucius in China and Socrates and Plato in Greece, all of whom lived in the 6th and 5th Centuries BCE.

The next great flowering of thought in that realm probably occurred in 18th-Century Europe during the time of the Enlightenment. The emergence of various branches of modern philosophy and psychology were natural offshoots of this movement that liberated Europe, the then centre of gravity of the world, from hide-bound tradition and straitlaced authority.

However, modern cognitive and social psychologists have come to realize that the workings of the human mind still remain quite elusive and irrational as ancient philosophers like the Buddha correctly pointed out. However much we would like to pride ourselves on the apparently high mental state the human race has attained, it seems that we ordinary humans are not much better today at controlling, or even understanding, our thought processes and aligning our behaviours with them than our ancestors were. We still don’t know for sure how we get new ideas or creative solutions to problems, why we react to certain things in certain ways, why we adopt particular attitudes- and why we then change them sometimes- or even why we are attracted to specific people. When we do attempt to figure these matters out, the results, according to findings of psychological research, are rather hit-or-miss. And that is to say nothing of the perhaps even greater failure of ours when trying to predict such processes in others. An interesting post in PsyBlog on what everyone should know about their own minds illustrates this point beautifully together with links to further clarifications.

As it is, we are not clean slates beginning from scratch but, if I am excused for using an analogy from IT, rather like pre-programmed and used computers carrying a lot of data and cookies in cache memory, stored there by millennia of evolution. (I sure hope the reader of this is not a creationist!) As valuable as this database sometimes can be, often its influence is maladjusted to the current setting due to the fact that our circumstances have changed so fast in the part few centuries- a mere speck in the vast stretch of evolution- that our genes just haven’t had the time to adapt or upgrade.

Another post in PsyBlog elucidates, with further links to detailed descriptions of well-known social psychological studies, the dumb and irrational things we humans do that no self-respecting man or woman would willingly admit to but have been proven through meticulous scientific research. It looks like we often subconsciously tend to misinterpret outside information and cues, develop biases and prejudices, form ingroups and outgroups, and simply bend our thinking and behaviour to suit the situation at hand, which is hardly flattering for a species that thinks very highly of its sophistication.

All this should give us a lot of food for thought. We had better realize we are nowhere near accuracy in our general- or for that matter even specific- thinking and take due care whenever we approach crucial issues. That way we shall be able to avoid much unnecessary trouble and suffering for ourselves and our loved ones as well as other fellow human beings.

Speculators or Criminals?

photo by Ergo Martini

Speculation has become a glamorous economic activity in today’s investment arena. Although there has always been some speculation involved in any economic activity- after all, you have to make educated guesses at potential profits and possible glitches in business as there never is any certainty in these matters- since of late a trend has emerged where the speculators practically run the show, sometimes with sheer manipulation, in international financial, commodity and stock markets. Those who do the real work in production, distribution etc. are rather left on the sidelines.

It is one thing to observe that the highest profits are flowing to these guys who are in a sense little better than gamblers. It is quite another to see that they never hesitate to manipulate anything for maximizing their spoils, with scant regard for the turmoil and disturbance their activities could cause in people’s lives and in the world at large, even when such consequences are sometimes quite distinct and visible. The current global economic crisis certainly has a lot to do with the unscrupulous dealings of there rapacious profit-mongers.

How else, for example, can one explain the record highs the real-estate prices attained in the US before the bubble burst. To be sure, the demand was high, but it is clear now that there was plenty of manipulation going on, fraudulantly issuing loans to marginally employed people and then marketing those loans to others in the form of investments. Didn’t those highly qualified financial whiz-kids know that it was unsustainable? Of course they did; they just didn’t care about the end-result and focused instead on their almost instant gains!

Another- probably more lucid- case in point was the way crude oil prices reached the stratosphere a few months ago, going beyond US$147 per barrel before they started to come down, ending up well below US$50 today. The reason given for the spectacular rise in those days was the ever-rising demand from China and India, which was in reality just a cover-up for the manipulation by speculators. The demand from China or India, though high and rising, never spiked all that much all of a sudden to cause such a spectacular price hike. Or if it really did, how come it evaporated so fast for the prices to fall by two-thirds in such a short period of time. A recent article in the Time Magazine gave a very good explanation of the whole episode and, fortunately for the world, the evil process has been halted for the moment. But nobody is being held accountable for the untold suffering it must have caused around the globe, especially in Third-World countries.

The greed of the speculators reaches criminal proportions when they show no remorse in driving up even food prices, thereby virtually starving the poorest of the poor in the world, who find it hard to make ends meet even with ordinary price levels. Those who always keep an eye out for a fast buck in the commodity markets need only the slightest reason to manipulate the so-called commodity futures to create huge gains for themselves, thus making the goods unaffordable to millions of people in poor countries. Whether these goods are essentials or not is of little interest to them.

We who live in a so-called civilized society have to find a way to put an end to this type of shameless activity sooner rather than later. This simply is the law of the jungle and doesn’t befit the advanced state of civilization we claim to have achieved.

Is It More Blessed to Give than to Get?

photo by Mr. Kris

All civilized religions in the world- and other traditions for that matter- stress the importance of giving to your fellow human beings, as opposed to getting from them. However, modern societal norms often seem to imply that the opposite were true. People tend to adore those who amass vast amounts of wealth with no qualms about others. And people who without any scruples keep sponging off the largess of others, or the State, also seem to do just fine. Those who are concerned about their fellow human beings are sometimes made to feel like members of a fringe group.

To be sure, there is plenty of talk about caring for other people, especially coming from politicians. But very often the guys who make the loudest noise are not being honest and have some axe to grind. If you are a true giver and helper, you are bound to feel like a fool at times, particularly when faced with ingratitude from those you have helped a lot- something guaranteed to happen sometime or other. Society at large seem to hint that it is all about getting more and more and giving is what you do only when assured of a bigger return down the road through that.

It is in this light that new research findings come as a wave of relief and validation, which tell us that giving, rather than receiving, paves the way to a healthy long life. According to the studies, those who help others get the benefit of positive emotions that lead to stronger immune systems and, as a result, healthier and longer lives; they have reduced levels of anxiety and depression and a better sense of belonging; and the receivers, though they may be quite happy while they receive, don’t seem to get any of the long-term benefits, probably due to feelings of dependency and guilt that may be caused as a result of perpetually being on the receiving end.

Much as all this would highlight the virtues of giving and helping, it also shows us the sorry state those who continue to receive might end up in if they don’t get- or find- a way to give back to people who have been kind to them, or to others who are even less fortunate than themselves. Giving and receiving just can’t be a one-way process and, for the sake of everybody involved, it should be a cycle where each person would attempt to help someone else in some way according to his or her ability, rather than being a parasite living off the kindness of others.

That’s What Friends Are for!

photo by LaertesCTB

Most of us love the company of friends. Though there are times when anyone would appreciate some privacy, and people tend to vary in how much or how often they like to have their friends around them, there is no denying that the one who doesn’t have any close buddies is a pitiable one.

New research also has shown that we have a good chance of being happy when our friends are happy. It is actually not only our direct friends but even their friends and their friend’s friends whose happiness can have a positive impact on us according to the study. And, better still, the findings indicate that their sadness doesn’t affect us in a similar way. So having friends looks like a definite boon to our mental state.

However, one has to exercise caution in selecting one’s friends since, whatever the research results may suggest, if you let yourself be surrounded by pessimistic naysayers, you are bound to be influenced by their negativity in some way or other. This is not to suggest that we should run away from someone who is having a bad patch and therefore not feeling particularly happy right now- after all, friends are to stand by each other in good times and bad- but there is little sense in hanging around with folks who are incorrigible negativists who tend to drag down others too with them.

In today’s world, friends have become even more important than one’s relatives and can help one not only to be happy but also to live longer, according to studies. It is a good thing too as, although we couldn’t choose our relatives, we can do so with our friends. We also have to realize the difference between friends and acquaintances or colleagues because the latter types come in plenty but we generally develop just a superficial type of rapport with them. Close friends, on the hand, become a pillar of strength to us in life, fulfilling the deep-rooted need for connectedness and companionship that all healthy human beings share.

It’s No Laughing Matter

photo by dcJohn

They say that laughter is the best medicine. It gives you the chance to change your perspective on the world and stop taking your little self too seriously. Without humour, we run the risk of getting into a rut where we adopt an unrealistically rigid approach to everything we encounter in life.

When a sense of humour is not present, people tend to get pessimistic and assume that bad things, which happen to everybody at one time or another, come with the three P’s attached, i.e. Permanent, Pervasive and Personal. All of us with good sense should know that our problems usually don’t last forever, don’t affect every aspect of our life even while they are there, and are often shared by lots of other people too. But we often forget all that when in the grip of negative events, and therefore it pays in such cases to take a step back and try to see things in lighter vein. Laughter, especially together with others, would generally help one do just that.

photo by B Rosen

But there is a flip side too. There are many types of humour, some of which may be rather corrosive. While most people don’t like the company of those who giggle all the time without any good reason, you also find those who routinely make others laugh with negative gossip or sarcasm. Although gossip and sarcasm also have their place in light conversation, it is better to avoid the inimical varieties of them that do more harm than good by going beyond jovial banter and inordinately ridiculing another person, either present or absent.

As long as we can avoid such excesses, humour will remain one of the most vital skills of human beings that continues to help us keep our sanity no matter how complex our lives may get in this increasingly complicated world.