Moving On

When contemplating making a change in your life, sometimes a person is stuck, mired in confusion and unable to make a decision. When that mental fog is so thick it seems impenetrable and there are many possibilities, all of which seem equally good or bad, making a choice seems impossible. And sometimes that confusion is almost like a defence not to change. Deep down, it might feel better to stay where you are, however difficult that might be, than venture into something that is largely unknown - no matter how carefully we might think something through, there are so many variables beyond our control (like other people) it can become one of those 'Better the devil you know' things.

When you realize that's where you're at, doing something is necessary. If you really can't decide, pick anything, a random choice if necessary. If it isn't right, you will know before too long and you can try something else. If you do nothing, you could find yourself ten years later still in the same place, mired in the same confusion and indecision.

Neuroplasticity

I've always bought into the idea that the brain is fixed after the early development years. So problems arising from strokes and brain injuries, and things like intelligence and learning disabilities are permanent. That mainstream belief also includes the idea that specific parts of the brain are strictly for one thing (a vision centre, a speech centre, etc) and if something happens to them, that's that for whatever function that particular part of the brain is responsible for.

Now I find out there have been many scientific studies and actual examples over the years that contradict this view, but they have been dismissed by mainstream believers as 'bad science', 'flawed studies', or something like that. However, the evidence seems to have reached the point where they can't be ignored and those traditional views are wrong, or at least, some aspects of them are.

Such views are summed up in a book called 'The Brain That Changes Itself". There is far more science in it than I want to know, but I'm glad it's there. It supports the conclusions, which would otherwise have all the credibility to me of any other opinion, which any drunk in a bar can have.

The brain does seem to be able to build new pathways when there is a problem with one, but the process takes a long time, even when specific exercises to address the problem are devised by someone who understands. Someone can spend six weeks or longer, an hour and a half per day, before he/she starts to notice even small changes. That may be too long for the people in our society who expect instant results - flip a light switch and there's light, turn up the thermostat and there's heat, etc. Even physical exercise is almost like that - people know there isn't an instant result, but expect to notice changes in a few days or a week of working out every day.

The book gives the example of a man who had a massive stroke and lost a variety of functions, whose son was determined to help his father recover. Without really knowing what he was doing, he developed a program he repeated daily. Eventually, the father recovered his abilities. But when he did die years later, an autopsy revealed a lesion in his brain where the stroke had destroyed tissue that conventional science said was the only place the brain could handle the functions he recovered. The brain had 'healed' itself by having another part of itself take over those functions.

-Anyway, I wish I had known this many years ago as I spent a lot of time with people with learning disabilities thinking those difficulties were permanent and the best we could do was develop a way for them to cope with them. If you are one of those people, that may not be the case.

What's In A Name?

-a very short piece of writing

Wiley Hunter is a hard name to live up to if you’re an anti-gun vegetarian out here where some believe the high school should shut itself down for deer season. Almost as bad a name as Alexander Bates after our Grade Six year when we had the exchange teacher from England who called everyone Master Hunter or Master Smith or whatever. I figure that’s the reason Alex turned into such a skirt chaser, at least eight kids by three different women. He had to disprove the nickname.

Funny how those childhood handles stick. Newcomers, which is anyone who wasn’t born here even if they’ve lived here thirty years, wouldn’t know that Cheryl Milford is called Saucy because her maiden name was Applebaum which became Applesauce which we shortened to Saucy. She’s actually as withdrawn as cash from a gambler’s bank account, quieter than a teenager trying to sneak in after curfew. Not Saucy at all.

But the worst has to have been Murray Finnie after some wag reversed the letters to make Furry Minnie. Though now he’s Father Finnie. Or Father Furry behind his back.

On Being Eclectic

My father died when he was 47 (I was 11), his father when he was 43. One of his sisters said each of the brothers (it was a large family) heaved a sigh of relief when he hit 50.

I was never morbid, walking around terrified that my life would be short or afraid to do things thinking they were dangerous or might somehow shorten my life. However, when I hit 50 and felt quite burned out, I realized I had packed an awful lot into my years. Many people don't fit in that much in 80 years, some never, so no wonder I felt mentally exhausted.

The lesson I had learned, largely an unconscious one, was not to wait to do things. I suppose it helped form that philosophy that the motto of my high school was Carpe Diem (make the most of the day). While our homeroom teacher who explained what that meant to us had a slightly different orientation - his take was about working hard on school work every day - it furthered that underlying value I had unconsciously developed, that it was important to pack as much as possible into every day because you didn't know how many you would have. (I hope that doesn't make me sound manic - there was never a frantic aspect to my behaviour. I sat still frequently -usually with something to read in my hands - but my head never stopped. My wife once commented that my brain never turned off and my reaction was a very surprised one - Why would anyone want that to happen? -meditating is not an attractive concept to me, though maybe I don't really understand what it means.)

The result is I have a very wide range of interests and knowledge. I'm not an expert in anything, but can carry on a discussion on just about anything, as long as it is a focussed discussion. (I am terrible at small talk.)

All of which brings me around to this blog. I originally started it because one of my interests is writing fiction (I have published three novels, several short stories, and am now working on a play and another novel.) However, the blog is not simply about writing, though some entries are. Rather, there are a wide variety of topics, reflecting the wide range of my interests.

Is anyone interested in my ramblings? -I have no idea, but articulating issues which are triggered by something that happens during the day is an interesting process.

Crisis Management

Every time I turn around, I seem to hear or read someone saying something about managing a crisis. I always liked that you can look at a crisis in two ways, negatively as a problem or positively as an opportunity. I remember reading once that the Chinese ideogram is two charaters, superimposed. (I don't know if that is true - I don"t speak or read Chinese.) The two characters are 'danger' and 'opportunity'. That captures the dichotomy that I recognize. You can look at a crisis in that dark light, that there is a problem of some kind. Or you can look at with the lighter colouring, that the crisis presents an opportunity for positive change.

A local social service agency changed its name to Point In Time a few years ago. Personally, I'm not keen on it - to the public, it doesn't speak to what the agency is about- but I understand it. They deal with people in crisis of some kind (you don't go to them if everything in your life is fine) and a crisis indicates you have reached that point in time where you are willing to change. Most of the time, people aren't willing to change, even if something isn't great, because the prospect of changing is scarier (read more painful) than maintaining life as it is. A crisis presents the opportunity to change that.

Negativity In Writing

I am no Pollyanna. I certainly have known my share of pain, have seen more anger than I want, realize the world can be a cruel, viscious place. But I write about people who struggle with diffculties with positive characteristics like determination, the ability to connect with others, the belief that things can and will be better.

But somewhere along the line, the negativity that used to be reserved for the antagonists in stories, what needs to be overcome, has crossed the line into something desireable. Protaganists are bitter, cynical, sarcastic, etc. There is an underlying positiveness in that they overcome real evil of some kind, but any positve effect on their characters is transitory at best - they remain cynical.

Maybe it's just what I read. I get the feeling fantasy, which I don't read, is based on positive characters who overcome difficulties to become even more positive.

Two questions then: Am I right, and if so, why is that optimistic view of people reserved for fantasy stories? Has the real world actually become populated by peo0ple who find the other characters entertaining and worth emulating?

Somebody Must Be To Blame

There are people whose response to any diffculty is to look for someone to blame. -Not to solve the problem, stop the bleeding or change direction, but to find whose fault it is. Somehow that gives them considerable satisfaction, even if they are the ones who are suffering or losing out because of the difficulty. Having someone to blame is more important to them than finding positive responses to the situation itself. Righteous indignation makes up for everything else.

It's not that I think examing a problem to understand how it happened is always a waste of time. The opposite is often true. It's important to recognize how a problem started, what fed it so that it became bigger, why it now has the stature it does. But the reason is so that change can happen so the problem won't be repeated. -Not so there then can be a kind of self-satisfaction now that we know who to blame.