5. Yummy yummy, Mr. Pavlov, yummy yummy
Pavlov took a dog and gave him food (unconditioned stimulus = UCS) paired with the sound of a bell. After a while, the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus = CS) gave the same response as the UCS, namely: drooling. Pavlov considered his dog conditioned very well. He and others showed again and again this Read the full article…
4. So plastic flowers are real after all… are they?
Good to know (yet not a recent finding) for all asthmatic patients: you can seemingly get an asthmatic attack through contact with a plastic flower or even distilled nebulized water (*). It may surprise you at first, but this is extremely good news, since it means that the relation between allergen (the thing you react Read the full article…
3. Give me your brainscan and I’ll tell you what you’re thinking
On a modern brainscan (PET, SPECT), researchers can see which parts of the brain are specifically active when a person is looking, feeling, imagining, visualizing, etc. One can of course look at this as ‘proof’ that everything psychological is based on a physical substratum. Mind-materialists do like this very much. Human mind in a mind-materialist’s Read the full article…
2. Why diets put more weight on the scale
We all know it, or should know it by now. People who go on a diet, in many or even most cases eventually end up gaining more weight than they have lost in the process. Why? And how to prevent it? ◊◊◊ Think of a small boat. You are in the boat. So are ‘you’. Read the full article…
Are we living in a ‘burnout society’?
You. Burnout. Society. A lot of questioning goes on about whether the cause of burnout lies rather within the individual or rather within his immediate environment, his workplace, his direct leader perhaps, or the broader environment: capitalism… With ‘burnout society’, I mean something even broader and deeper. This is a domain of rather intangible worldviews Read the full article…
Transcending the Tyranny of Techniques to Speak from the Heart!
With one single goal: speaking to the hearts of the people in the audience. Because people come to see you as a person. And there is only one you, right…? Wrong: there is only one ‘you at this moment.’ Each time people come to see you, you are different. So there are in fact many Read the full article…
What’s the Secret?
Looking for the ‘secret’ can be shallow or very profound. Shallowness shouldn’t close the doors of profound perception. Shallow = the ‘secret’ as a simple key leading straight towards worldly success, wealth and fame. For instance, through mindlessly, mechanically repeating ‘I want’. A simple mechanism as if oneself were also nothing but a mechanical construct. Read the full article…
Prevention of Burnout: Love is Infinite Fuel.
Love is a fire that never gets extinguished by burning. Speaking about ‘love’ as the feeling that very deep inside, something or someone is very deeply meaningful to you… Yes, the L-word. So seldom used in business, yet so all-important for… even the bottom line, dearest shareholders among you readers. Also talking to you, dear Read the full article…
From Deep Meaning to Post-Capitalism
We seem to be stuck in capitalism, yet capitalism itself seems to be stuck. Can ‘deep meaning’ help us to get beyond? Monetary values are measurable. For pure-capitalism (!) to work perfectly, everything needs to get a value that is measurable, comparable, thereby making the valued thing tradable. The most abstract trade is of course Read the full article…
Gravity is a Hoax!
One can describe the universe ‘inside out’… as a thought experiment. Please read this text as a mind-game. It is meant to be playful. This said, maybe… Gravitation-as-attraction (in short: ‘gravity’) is derived by inductive reasoning from empirical observations. The observations are clear. The reasoning might be wrong. If so, then: Gravity is a hoax! Read the full article…
The deeper meaning of burnout is about you
Deeper meaning is always present within you. This is your true motivation, your ‘fuel’ that you need most of all when getting into a state of burnout. Let’s start with a comparison: water in a vase. The water takes the form of the vase, thus – confusingly – it may look like the vase but Read the full article…
Burnout prevention for caregivers: give care, but do not ‘give it away’
Caregivers can get into the habit of ‘giving themselves away’ too much. Take care. You can learn to give without giving yourself away. ‘Giving away’ feels like you lose something. If this is your feeling as a caregiver, time and time again, then little by little you can start feeling bad. It’s as if others Read the full article…
Burnout as a Phoenix
A phoenix is a mythical bird that rises from the ashes completely renewed and stronger than ever before. This is a nice metaphor for human burnout, which can also be a stage in an altogether positive evolution. It mainly depends on how deep the process of recovery is sought. This should not sound easy of Read the full article…
How to start meditating?
Some idea about meditation may stop you even before starting. Therefore you better see it as what is always present in your mind, like the blue sky even above the clouds. To meditate is actually very easy. You don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to try to meditate. You don’t have to try Read the full article…
How to give positive feedback as a leader
Good feedback is informative as well as motivational. This is as important as it is not straightforward . You want your feedback to be accurate and motivating. You may also want to learn from the feedback that you give. How is it received? How may it lead to constructive feedback towards you? Do you see Read the full article…
1. Bacteria are real. So are feelings.
Stomach ulcers are caused by stress. No they aren’t. Yes they are. No they … Do you also get the idea that people see what they want to see in this? Since scientists are people, that is true for them as well. ◊◊◊ In human affairs, there’s always something for everyone. So people who want Read the full article…