There is nothing more boring than other peoples' dreams

3 times the past 2 days I've dreamed I'm lost in an apartment building or hotel.

1st -- dreamed hub & I were renting an apartment in a different building, several blocks from our current home. It was a large house (mansion?) broken into several apartments, and ours was laid out in an odd way -- more like 2 apartments. I thought maybe we'd split them, add a bathroom & sublet the smaller half out. I realize I'm late for work. I am wandering, trying to find my way out, & see my mom has gutted one apartment & built an amazing new kitchen -- my jaw drops. She asks me to finish a chore but I have to leave for work.

2nd -- I'm in a large hotel adjoining a club I've visited before. The club is VERY small but the hotel is HUGE, one gigantic ballroom or dining room after another. I know everyone is coupled but I am alone & cannot find my way back to my room. I find myself on a mezzanine overlooking a ballroom & the most amazing staircase circles down. I know I might never have a chance to make a "grand entrance" on this type of staircase so I decide to walk down it majestically. At first the steps seem slick & I worry I might fall but soon I'm gliding down, light on my feet & feeling very dreamy-lovely.

3rd -- I'm in a hotel with a museum attached. The museum has an odd red & black theme to the floor, and has displays with small mechanical people acting out historical scenes. This time the theme is older women -- Mrs Roper (from Three's Company) comes to visit but is so old & feeble she cannot speak. My mother in law is reading her will, she wants everyone to know she doesn't have long & what to expect. My friend Lana's Aunt Frannie is doing the same. My MIL comes to where I'm sitting, hands me a check & thanks me for being good to her. I kiss her on both cheeks. I do love her.

Themes: Lost: disconnected from others though I know they are present
Vast building: cannot remember where I should be, nor how to get there
Doors: I keep trying to remember what lies behind which door so as not to retrace my steps
Windows: keep looking out windows so as to get my bearings, which direction am I facing/ heading
Older Women: My mom, the building owner, Mrs Roper, my MIL, Aunt Frannie
Showing off: walking down the stairs, bragging about my space & money making opportunities, bragging about my friends

Mental Models Rule Your World

I'm reading a book on decision-making but you don't have to, because I took notes and made a COOL flow chart. This one is chapter 2 of Think Twice, by Michael Maubousson, called Open to Options.

link

The Hunter S-capades

A jillion years ago I used to have a zine (maga-zine, a little handwritten comic-type phamplet I made & xeroxed & distributed myself) (called Oompf!) and my BFF Marcy wrote this little story about my madmad crush on Hunter S Thompson for it.

Its kinda small & hard to read: you might save & enlarge it, or, as I like to say, bigify.

This story is not 100% true, prob less than 50% tho trust me, my hindsight is NOT 20/20. Its cute tho, and poignant. We were frustrated little girls: we were able to envision a lifestyle much heartier & more vibrant than we were capable of having. Winter in Central PA is depressing all on its own, and the particular valley we lived in seemed to trap the clouds. I remember sitting in those box cars, so bored, and feeling Sylvia Plath-like -- not like we were sitting in a bell jar but that the entire town was under some dome. I imagined a lovely creamy china teacup up-turned -- delicate, dripping, & inescapable.

Hunter had been there, & Hunter had escaped. Its important to have models & mentors in life. You might not know how you'll do it but just knowing it CAN be done has the potential to drive even the most hopeless & least motivated onward. That was the gift Hunter S gave us that winter. I still love him for it.

Here's the story Hunter S wrote about Jersey Shore.

consciousness - LucidChart

consciousness - LucidChart

Person Training: emotion excercises & social stretches for stronger Hot Intelligence

Part 1.a: Intelligence can be HOT





We see the world through "us" colored glasses: everything is tinged with the hue of our own personality. Most of what we do involves other people, yet empathy is not a skill easily learned. Education traditionally focuses on cognition -- information gleaning & processing skills, and the logical progression of thought -- but mood often effects thoughts so one's knowledge of moods & emotions must be a factor in how well-functioning a person can fully be.


Think about it: we're aware of the world around us by using our 5 senses. Similarly, we're aware of the minds of ourselves & others by expressing & perceiving emotions. We have 6 basic emotions which are easily detected by our facial expressions -- happy, sad, afraid, angry, surprised, or disgusted. Just as knowing how to think is vital to building one's general intelligence, knowing how to feel is the basis of practical intelligence.

For this conversation, I'm going to stick to a dual model of intelligence, with sub-branches. Practical intelligence is hot, its interpersonal, & involves skills specific to how we relate to & interact with others. General intelligence is cool, its inTRApersonal. General intelligence involves cognitive skills -- focusing on, remembering & processing information internally. We subconsciously combine the internal thought process with the external social life, and, according to one's individual abilities, find patterns & draw conclusions which drive our conscious actions.

Just as hot & cool intelligences intertwine symbiotically, so do the two branches of HI -- emotional & social intelligence. Because so much of being social relies on empathy, emotional intelligence is the starting point of it all.

Part 1.b: ID E for stronger HI

In order to really develop EI, a person needs to be able to...

~identify emotions & emotional responses

~use emotion to spur thought

~understand what the various emotions mean

and

~manage emotions, your own & others'

Emotions drive thoughts. Thoughts drive beliefs, & beliefs drive actions. If you want to know why a person thinks or does what they do, recognizing their related emotions will give you great insights.

Identifying emotions is the basis of EI. We mentioned that the basic 6 emotions can be recognized visually, by facial expression.

Facial expressions are one form of nonverbal communication, but all parts of the body can give you hints as to how a person is feeling. For example, a head tilt to the side shows a person is interested & paying attention.

Learn to pay attention to your own & others' body language. Watch their hands, their feet, how they hold their torso & you will *hear* a unspoken conversation. Here are just a few points to watch for:

• ~A face touch shows discomfort or a lack of confidence. If a salesman touches their face while quoting a price, ask for a discount and see what they say.
• ~A true smile engages the eyes & is higher on the right side. If a person is not being sincere, the eyes will not move and the smile will be higher on the left.
• ~Arms crossed over the chest is an attempt to protect ones' self, to place a barrier between them & something they find uncomfortable.
• ~When sitting, the legs & feet usually point to a person or destination of interest (i.e. the door).
• ~Upwards facing palms show sincerity: fingertips touching shows confidence.

When you're interacting with another, more than half of the information conveyed will be nonverbal. Most of that will be from body language but some knowledge can be gained from just looking at the person. Clothing, jewelry, spatial distance during conversation & especially body-art can tell you a lot about a person. You might not want to judge a book by its cover but that does not mean you should ignore these many & obvious signals.

Almost half of all communication is made up of the non-verbal aspects of speech. So often in modern society people learn to hide their true voice. They aim to speak only in terms of logic, reason & facts, so their words might not truly express what they feel. The way they speak, however, tells a story, too. The voice is dependant on the breath & the breath is very closely tied to our sense of safety -- or threat.

When you're afraid, your heart races & your chest feels tight. You tend to take shallow breaths and say shorter sentences with shorter words, faster. When you're relaxed tho, you exhale fully & slowly. The longer the pause to exhale, the more at ease you appear. A person who is calm is more able to access their true emotions, & more apt to be genuine about their feelings. A higher pitch to the voice shows excitement: a lower pitch shows gravity & assertion.

The last few percent of communication is, oddly enough, verbal. Words represent a person's thoughts, whereas non-verbals represent feelings. Verbal communication is one person offering information to another: both are equally important. There must be a sender & a receiver of the message. There will often be barriers, such as misunderstandings & distractions, so try to use as few words as necessary to get your message across as clearly as possible.

People tend to use certain ways to get around expressing their feelings verbally. Sometimes people will use text bridges -- a word or phrase that will tell an alert listener there is some information being passed over. Sometimes they will repeat a phrase or stammer, letting you know they are feeling anxious, possibly being deceptive. Listen also for words that imply something very certain especially if the body says something else. Pay attention then, there may be logical flaws in their story. When people tell the truth, they don't bother with modifiers such as "I went STRAIGHT home," or "I ONLY did this."

Part 1.c: EI exercises, phase 1

ID E

Play a little game: any time you're in an area with many people, see if you can identify all 6 facial expressions of emotion -- happy, angry, surprised, sad, afraid, disgusted. HAF SAD

ID nV

Start noticing the 8 points of nonverbal communication in yourself & others.

1. gesture


2. posture


3. facial expression


4. gaze


5. proximity


6. touch


7. appearance


8. voice

ID V

Identify verbal cues that reveal emotions, intent, & motives.

Be aware of...

• text bridges,


• inserting a word that is definitive when it is not necessary,


• or repeating phrases.

Once you get stronger at the 3 individual skills, try combining them. Try to notice facial expression, body language AND verbal cues.

Part 2... Using EI to facilitate intellectual growth

There is nothing more important than being a pretty girl, pt 2

also... Morality by Aphorisms, pt 2



While I was researching the last blog entry, I decided to "have some work done." It was a coincidence: I'd been thinking about it for a while, and there is a plastic surgeon in the suite next door to my salon, plus I'd been in a bit of a rut lately, so I thought, why not? (My poor blog reflects that and I was self-conscious when I noticed -- "I don't have a passion," "I'm numb to the suffering of those far away," "I'm not emotional enough.")


Please do not think it wasn't a bit of a shock to me when I realized what I'd done on an evolutionary level. When we walked on all fours, our rumps showed the female estrus cycle, and when we started walking up-right, we started mating face to face for the first time. The genitals, being hidden, were symbolically replaced by mouth. Lips (both 'upstairs' & 'downtown') get swollen & red after passionate moments. And I learned all that the very evening I had my lips enhanced.



I have blond hair already (sign of youth), long blond hair (sign of health), bright green eyes (show excitement easily), decent boobage (sign of youth), hourglass figure (sign of fertility) and now, fat kissable lips. Sure I bought some of those traits -- I'm not 22 anymore -- but I have them, I wear them proudly, and its important to me that I keep them, and keep perfecting them. Some might say its me trying to cling to youth, but honestly, I didn't look this good when I was young. So I'll say its me being a bit of a perfectionist... or, more generously put, I'm dedicated to my personal evolution & constantly working to improve myself.



The day after I'd had the work done, I went to Sunday dinner at BFF Shari's, slightly swollen. Her step-daughter Paula was visiting and immediately dropped her jammies to show off her new tattoo, a realistic revolver on her thigh. Because I knew I looked odd, I told her I'd just had my lip done and she asked why. I didn't have a good answer for her. She then said she couldn't imagine doing something that would so totally forever change her as a person.



I was taken aback.



I pointed out to her that I am still the same person, I just look a little different now, and that the Juvederm fades away in about a year. Then I pointed out that she had her own lip pierced. Twice. And that she had 8 huge tattoos that really DID change her forever, as ink doesn't fade like a filler does. She left to have a smoke.



At dinner we started talking about Paula's boyfriend's dog, and how because Paula didn't like the dog, it was causing some problems in the relationship. Paula started spewing such hateful things out about the poor dog and how Ian related to the dog. I'd had a couple glasses of wine and in a very joking and coy way, loudly whispered to him "you should dump her."



Paula was very offended. I tried to explain that it was a flip comment: that if your relationship was so fragile that a dog would come between you, ya, maybe you're not right for each other. I meant to put the situation in the context that a problem dog wasn't truly a problem, its easily solved by just taking control of the situation and the changes needed to get the results you want. Evolve. Improve. Perfect yourself.



She left to have a smoke.



I felt pretty bad about it. I worried I'd made a situation poor Shari would be forced to clean up, and worried that Ian really WOULD dump her and I'd be responsible. I apologized and Shari assured me it wasn't a big deal but you never know how a flip comment will be taken by young people. Paula doesn't share the level of intimacy, the rapport, that Shari & I have, she didn't realize how we joke around.



Shari stopped by the salon a couple days later and told me that once Paula & Ian got home, they had a huge fight about the dog. I froze. Shari went on to explain that they'd googled and found some training techniques, and had come up with a plan as to how to make their lives -- with the doggy! -- better. She said I'd saved the dog's life, that chances were good that Ian would have given up the dog to keep Paula happy but now they were taking a step in a new direction and Shari thanked me.



And Paula said the dinner conversation made her change her mind. And that she felt bad that she had taken it all so personally!



As I said in regards to Dr Shermer's many aphorisms on morality: the unexamined life is not worth living but an over-examined life isn't always good either. Its best to not over think everything that comes out of your mouth and sometimes you have to rely on the patternicity/ theory of mind you've developed and go with gusto. Sometimes saying the wrong thing is the right thing to do.

The Chemistry of ~~Chemsitry, pt 2: There's nothing more important than being a pretty girl

In the last blog, we discussed how men see something exciting and want a reward, immedietly, even if it isn't sexual. What is it about women that makes men so excited?

Men are hard-wired to want to spread their seed, and women are genetically driven to make men want to give them the seed. We are motivated instinctively to want one another more than anything else, and the chemistry of the brain drives that as well as enhances it.

Males are led by testosterone and women are led by estrogen. Test & Est are chemically similar: just as the Y chromosome is simply a broken X, Est is Test with a 'stem' or two missing.

Estradiol, a form of estrogen, peaks just before ovulation. Now, men make testosterone all day, their cycle is about every 20-40 minutes. Women have a much longer cycle, and the various repercussions of it are far more enhanced. So while a man might have some slight peaks & valleys from his test being pumped out, it happens so quickly he & others might never be aware of it. Most people, on the other hand, are abundantly aware of how a woman's moods ebb & flow with her 28 day cycle.

There are studies that demonstrate that estradiol can protect delicate neural circuits, and when Est drops -- such as after pregnancy or during menses -- a woman might feel more anxious. Generally speaking tho, Est is an evolutionary godsend: Est makes a woman feminine. It makes her skin softer & smoother, makes her voice higher, makes her more confident & more competitive, all traits designed to entice a mate. Women who have higher than average Est have a great advantage in life, all the above traits as well as the Marylin Monroe look -- large bust, tight waist, round hips. These women are far more in demand, and (perhaps as a result) are more prone to 'trade up' or stray. They tend to be the type of women men want & women hate.

Men like bombshells. It takes a lot of nutrients to grow a healthy head of hair, and long hair shows a woman has been healthy for years. Blue eyes show the pupil better, and since pupils dilate when a gal gets excited, lighter eyes show excitement better. Tight waist & round hips, as shown before, are a sign of plenty of estradiol, which means increased fertility. Lips thin with age, & blond hair darkens, so a busty blond with plump lips and an hourglass figure isn't just eye-candy & pretty isn't just in the eye of the beholder. Its also in the nose, ears, skin & brain.

There's nothing more important than being a pretty girl!