Plays and Feelings

On Monday I went to see a play with some friends because our friend Ashley was in it. To be honest, at first I wasn't really excited to go. I was thinking about the many other things I had to do, and about how tired I was after a long day at work. However, I am so glad I did. The show was titled "Do You Love Me?" and it was a collection of short plays, with relationships and love as the main theme.
Again, I am glad I went. The playwrights, directors, and the actors all did such a good job. They provided me with that great feeling that comes from witnessing something aesthetically pleasing and tasteful. They really connected with me, and transformed what is commonplace and ordinary into extraordinary. Reltionships became something deep, complex, humorous, rewarding, and fulfilling. They reminded me that people are ends and not means.
They really made my day. They made me think about relationships and about love. I wanted to stay there forever. It is weird, I just wanted to keep watching these people interact with each other. I was mesmerized. I don't know how else to put it....
It is true what they say, that man is not meant to be alone. It is because of this that we have this need to connect with others. Friendships, family, romances, they are all there to help us fill the emptiness, to help us feel complete.
One of the lines in one of the plays was "Love is madness." It is so true. There is nothing like it, but it feels so good. It's the good kind of madness.

I'm a professional, would you please stop trying this at home?

Lately, there has been a lot said about the new Facebook craze, the "25 Things About Me." Columnists in periodicals and newspapers have raised their voice of condemnation against this practice, as well as against blogging and twittering, calling the newest form or narcissism, a transparent and sickening expression of self-love. They have called it stupid and dumb, and they blame the loss of 800,000 hours of productivity on it as well.
Why does it bug them so much? I find it amusing that these "professionals" are so irritated that normal people have decided to write about themselves and about what they consider to be important in their lives. It is the constant rant about how they don't care, how it is too much information, and how it is pointless.
The funniest thing is that even though it bugs them so much to be tagged on these notes of 25 things, they still read them, and what is worse, they still take the time to write about it, and even write their own list of 25 things. It is the epitome of irony.
Who are they to decide what is worth reading and who is qualified to write to express themselves? It is ridiculous and hypocritical of these people, who are making a living out of writing and publishing their opinion on current events, to try to put an end to others doing the same (who, on the other hand, do it without getting paid).
After vilifying Facebook or blogging, they give it a try, and they write their sorry confessions about how fun it turned out to be, or how they got some benefit of it.... Give me a break.

Don't you go messin' with mah sleepy-time!

As I have pointed out earlier, sleep is an important part of my life. I am addicted to it. It helps me function properly throughout the day. When I don't get enough sleep I experience "sleep withdrawal symptoms;" My degree of tolerance for the world is reduced exponentially--I get annoyed by everything and anything; my head feels heavy and my eyes hurt. The more sleep I lose, the more severe the symptoms are.
I have been reported to say that I can sleep anywhere, which is true. However, quantity of sleep is not as important as quality of sleep. So even if I can sleep with the light on, or with noise, on the bus, on my desk, or even standing up, it doesn't mean they are the optimal conditions for sleep.
My roommate has recently developed this habit of online after-midnight chatting which has slowly but surely destroyed the quality and quantity of sleep I'm getting. I started noticing the development of this downward spiral a couple of days ago, and today I feel the crappiest I have felt in a while. Today I am grumpy.
When did people decide to start doing things backwards? The night is to sleep unless you are a nocturnal creature. Humans are not nocturnal creatures. Our brain is wired to function during the day; that's why it makes sure glands in the body secrete the necessary hormones to cope with the stresses of life during the day, and secrete hormones that make us want to go to sleep during the night.
But let's pretend there is a sudden mutation in the human genome, and there are two rare cases of messed-up nocturnal humans (since we need two people to chat). Do they have to impose their lousy lifestyle on non-nocturnal humans? No! Civility and common sense dictates that they should be considerate towards those traditional sunlight-loving, night-sleeping beings like me. Unfortunately, some people out there didn't get the memo.

Two Things That Will Make You Feel Good

There are two things that always make me feel good: service and exercise. When I was younger I always saw exercise as drudgery, but now my views have changed. It may be due to the fact that now I choose to exercise, and I do what I want to do, not what the P.E. teacher told me to do. Another reason may be that instead of giving me stress, it relieves my stress levels (scientists say that exercise uses the cortisol released under stressful circumstances, which is why it feels good).
Exercise also releases endorphins--little molecules of goodness that bind to receptors in the brain, causing one to feel happy. Added to all this magical chemistry in the blood and in the brain is the feeling of success that one gets when winning a match or a game in competitive sports.
Since I didn't know of a physiological reason why it feels good to serve others, I decided to look it up online and see where the sea of the internet took me. I ran into an article in the Washington Post that reported the results of brain scans of individuals performing good deeds to others. It turns out that doing something unselfish activates a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex. Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable.
The observation made me wonder why, if we are hard-wired to do good, is altruism so rare in our society? Does our culture and society train us to ignore those "basic" functions? Do criminals have lesions in their "good deed center"? Hopefully more research will be done on the subject because I would like to know....

Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Charles Darwin's 200th birthday! And this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of his controversial book On the Origin of Species.
Even though all this time has passed, and despite all the scientific evidence, there are some people that still have trouble with evolution. I believe this to be evidence of a world epidemic of chronic closed-mindedness.
I was reading an article published in the The Christian Science Monitor on academic freedom and intelligent design. In it the author claimed that the belief that human beings were created by God in his own image is "a view impossible to reconcile with evolution propelled by natural selection." I think not!
Who ever said that those theories are mutually exclusive? Why do we have to assume a false dichotomy?
I completely agree with biology Professor Elena Kramer from Harvard University when she said--as quoted by the CSM: "I wish everyone could understand the profound degree to which we understand evolutionary biology," and "there is no legitimate scientific evidence that evolution has not occurred." However, I too join her in disappointment with evolution supposters who dismiss faith and religious viewpoints.
It is just as geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky points out: "Nothing in biology makes sense, except in the light of evolution." Do not fall in the pit. Do not allow yourself to be labelled with the flat-earthers, holocaust-deniers, or young-earth-creationists. Just because you don't understand how faith and evolution work together does not mean they cannot work together. Do not believe the myth that evolution and religion are incompatible. It is time we open our minds and put on our critical thinking hats.

Happy Birthday and thanks Mr. Darwin!

Pain and the Moment

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, usually associated to actual or potential tissue damage. However, we all would agree that there is "pain" that is not physical.
As I read a article on the web, I was suddenly interrupted and brought back to reality by a sharp pain in my left index finger. Although the source that triggered the sensation of pain has not been identified and the sensation of pain has not repeated itself, I was interested by the fact that pain demanded my attention.
So, pain is an inescapable fact of life, and it will interrupt attention and behavior and urge one to act. However, research has shown that the opposite can be true: Pain can also be modulated by attention. Subjects consistently report less pain when they are being distracted.
In that pain-in-the-finger experience, pain made me stop any other thought and action and demanded that I focused on the aparent site of the problem. Pain brought me back to the moment. However, we don't have to experience pain to live the moment.
This whole thing reminded me of some interesting lines in one of my favorite movies: "Peaceful Warrior:"

This moment is the only thing that matters...
Where are you?
Here.
What time is it?
Now.
What are you?
This moment.

How many times do we forget to "live the moment?" How many times do we get distracted by unimportant things and stop living the now? How many people out there die without really living?
I am not suggesting here that we resolve to get involved in dangerous situations that will induce a high-adrenaline state, but that we start living in the present and make the most out of it. I am suggesting that we learn from the past, and prepare for the future, but not forget about enjoying our current circumstances and enjoy the journey. Live the moment.

A Contradiction in Society

Lately, while attempting to make important plans for the future, I have found myself forced to make preparations not to be affected by the lack of integrity of others. More specifically, I have had to evaluate the risk of being victim of others' dishonesty, laziness, indiscipline, irresponsibility, or carelessness--even when they are working under a contract.
At first I tried to dismiss those distrustful thoughts as cynical and irrational; but after evaluating the potential loss and inconvenience, I concluded that not preparing for this kind of adversity is foolishness.
Here I am dealing with a fundamental contradiction of the imperfect society: The term society comes from the Latin societas, a "friendly association with others," and from socius, meaning "companion, associate, comrade, or business partner." From this, we should be able to safely assume that any society is based on respect and trust for and among individuals. Unfortunately, that is the case only in a Utopian society.
With this I don't mean to say that there is a total lack of virtue and integrity in the world, but that there is a force of immorality, injustice, and lack of integrity of enough force to require a change.
I realize that it is unfair of me just to point out the problem, so I propose a solution. While it is impossible to force others to be virtuous, it is possible for one's self to choose to be virtuous; after all, individuals and families are the fundamental unit of society. As long as individuals promote and reward virtue, it will spread with the potential to become the dominant force in society.

Sleep

This morning I slept in. The same as yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the same as every day all the way to Saturday last week when I actually woke up on time to go to the zoo. Wait. No, I slept in that day too! Obviously I have an addiction problem. Yes. I am addicted to sleep. But I don't think it is a bad thing; not yet at least. Contrary to the belief common in college dorms, sleep is a good thing.

It has been scientifically proven that while we sleep our brains process the information we have learned during the day. We restructure and strengthen memories so that only the "important stuff" sticks. Some scientists also have conducted experiments that show that insight may be obtained by sleeping (Nature 427, 352-355). As an example, the structure of benzene, a beloved compound of many organic chemists and biochemists, was--as the story tells--first discovered as a result of insightful information obtained during a dream.
Scientists also tell us, however, that sleep does not enhance insight in the absence of initial training. Therefore, waking up and "training" is also necessary....

Having said all that, if my addiction to sleep were to interfere with my proper functions (whatever that means), then I would have to get it checked. Maybe it is just a side-effect of winter. Maybe I should look into improving my diet.... Whoever knows how to do that effectively in this day and age, please contact me.

The Vulture of Procrastination

Today was my day off. My precious day off. I had so many things to do, but like is often the case, I found myself entangled in the deadly web of procrastination. Yes, I did many things; but most, if not all of them, were counterproductive, needless, and delaying when it came to completing my planned tasks for the day.
I was robbed by procrastination. I robbed myself the opportunity to cultivate talents and abilities. I was robbed the emotion of accomplishment and success, and the peace of mind that comes with it. However, it was fun at the time. It is just as Christopher Parker said, "Procrastination is like a credit card: it's a lot of fun until you get the bill." Now I'm afraid to get the bill!

As I was pondering on the effects of procrastination, I was reminded of a common phrase used at home to point out that one is procrastinating. It would translate to "'Tomorrow I will make my house,' said the vulture." As I thought about it, I wondered whether it had any foundation in the real world or not. So after taking a couple of minutes to research the reproductive behaviors of vultures around the world (and being highly fascinated by these birds), I found out that the New World Vulture does not build nests, but lays its eggs on bare surfaces. I also learned that they are unaffected by the botulinum toxin, anthrax and cholera bacteria.
I highly doubt the fact that they don't build nests to be caused by patterns of procrastination, since there are no reported cases of overachieving vultures with nests.

We are the biggest obstacle in our lives.

On Nature and Gratitude

This weekend I had the chance to spend time pondering about nature and the beauty and exquisite order that is its essence. I had the chance to visit the zoo, the natural science museum, and enjoy watching a couple hours of Planet Earth. I realized the soothing and healing power that taking time to examine and enjoy our natural surroundings can have. I was able to find peace, increased understanding, and even a good laugh just by forgetting about myself and becoming aware of what is out there. It was truly a feast to my senses. I was reminded of the words by Hamlin Garland, who said: "Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me - I am happy. " I was happy. I was content. Such emotions of happiness and contentment came from the expression of awe and gratitude, which in turn came from taking the time to stop and observe the wonderful gifts from out Creator. I am always amazed at how the smallest expression of gratitude can transform our state of mind. This is better stated by Melodie Beattie when she wrote:

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."