This is a weekly blog that puts forward my thoughts, and my point of view.
You may agree with some. And probably disagree with most. And we can agree to disagree. After all, wouldn't life be boring if we all thought the same way.
What got me to start this series was bad habits. Bad habits of not being able to read and learn on an on-going and consistent basis. So if I could learn how to break bad habits, that would be immensely helpful.
A simple way to break a bad habit Judson Brewer
Can we break bad habits by being more curious about them? Psychiatrist Judson Brewer studies the relationship between mindfulness and addiction -- from smoking to overeating to all those other things we do even though we know they're bad for us. Learn more about the mechanism of habit development and discover a simple but profound tactic that might help you beat your next urge to smoke, snack or check a text while driving.
I noticed that in the last 3 weeks, I've been depending on TED for my weekly blog. In the process based on the learning, I realized that I don't spend enough time reading and learning. And the best way to do that is to read and listen and watch. And so I've decided that I'll spend the next 8 weeks going through as many TED talks as I can and culling the most useful (IMHO) ones and post them in my blog. This will help me become better and in the process, some of you may even find the output of the exercise useful.
Learning : 1 of 8
Since the next 8 weeks revolve around learning, what better topic to start this series than with "... learning everything online."
The nerd's guide to learning everything online John Green
Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us ... well, we don't. But we still love to learn -- we just need to find the way that works for us. In this charming, personal talk, author John Green shares the community of learning that he found in online video.
I've been spending the last several weeks with family. Mainly my siblings. And around us were several other relations and several siblings. I observed that while on the surface they seemed ok with each other, under the surface there was a lot of unspoken animosity. Serious enough to be obvious even to others such as myself.
I was grateful that our sibling rivalry stood out for being less rivalry and more loving. Relatively speaking of course. Nevertheless, there are tiny bits of baggage that I carry as am sure do my siblings. And probably my wife and kids. And doesn't it make sense to "Let it go." While its easier said and even easier written, its probably hard to do. As someone once said and if they didn't they should have, "Acknowledging is the first step to doing."
Say your Truths and Seek them in Others Elizabeth Lesser
Elizabeth Lesser describes the healing process of putting aside pride and defensiveness to make way for soul-baring and truth-telling. "You don't have to wait for a life-or-death situation to clean up the relationships that matter to you," she says. "Be like a new kind of first responder ... the one to take the first courageous step toward the other."
One of the issues we've been grappling with is motivation and employee engagement. Dan Pink showed me how we were approaching the problem completely wrong. What he's saying seems to make sense and we plan to try it out. Who knows. It may actually work.
The Puzzle of Motivation Dan Pink
Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don't: Traditional rewards aren't always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories -- and maybe, a way forward.
One of the biggest issues I have with this blog is getting my wandering mind to focus on writing a blog. Once a week. And I fail miserably. This talk will hopefully help me cure that. Or at the very least, make it less of a problem.
How to Tame your Wandering Mind Amishi Jha
Amishi Jha studies how we pay attention: the process by which our brain decides what's important out of the constant stream of information it receives. Both external distractions (like stress) and internal ones (like mind-wandering) diminish our attention's power, Jha says -- but some simple techniques can boost it. "Pay attention to your attention," Jha says.
On April 2, 1997 a tiny girl weighing 850 gms (1.87 lbs) and whose weight dropped to 770 gms (1.69 lbs) was born and spent close to 2 months in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) of Bombay Hospital was born. And when I held her for the first time, she seemed to fit in my palm and I wondered, what was to be. Nevertheless we had a miracle baby. One that no one expected to make it. Except her Mom, Ives, who always believed in her daughter. She was premature and was born after just 26 weeks. We hadn't even got around to picking a name. And were so hassled , we couldn't even come up with a name. So we just got rid of the "F" from our elder daughter's name Freia, and named her Reia. https://lobodecoded.blogspot.com/2010/05/miracles-do-happen.html
As it turned out, Reia was a fighter, and fought her way slowly but surely putting on a few gms at a time, to where we could take her home. We took her to preventive physical therapy sessions and she got glasses she refused to wear at 2.
She grew up to be a bubbly, enthusiastic child who loved life and lived life queen-size. She was a kind of a bully, albeit a cite one, which she continues to be. Both a Bully and a cute one. During the intervening years, we found early on that she had not one not two but all 3 of the learning disabilities. Dyslexia, Dysgraphia and Dyscalculia. Academics were a challenge for her, especially in the Indian context where all the knowledge acquired during a semester is tested in 1 exam at the end of the semester.
We would have happily allowed her to dropout and get home schooled. She refused and loved school in-spite of the challenges. She shifted schools in the 9th grade so she could take alternate subjects that were relatively less taxing. And when I was temporarily moving to the US on work, she chose to check it out. As luck and fate would have it, we ended in Wilton, CT in a wonderful school with some amazing teachers. And she graduated.
They were supportive and not only did she manage her classes, she managed to make it to the Honors list on each of the 12 quarters she was there. We were happy for her and though she'd be done with school. She had other ideas. She decided to take up college. And joined SCAD in Savannah, GA.
With a lot of hard work, a good school, amazing teachers and some guardian angel friends she did well. Once again, she managed to be on the Honors list. And the person sending the mails happened to be Jesus. So every quarter, we'd get a message. Jesus has come. Again.
On Friday, she graduated. "Magna Cum Laude". i.e. "With Great Distinction". Something I didn't think could happen in my wildest dreams. Not the distinction. Just the graduation.
Joined at her graduation by her grandmom, uncle, aunt and cousin.
Her Scad family that made it possible: Tiffany, Caroline & Michelle.
Graduating Class Photo - 2019
At this point I have no words to express my awe and delight and so will end with:
"Congratulations. You have done what I never thought possible. Go out there and make a difference. Not only to yourself and your family, but to the world at large."
Reia always insist on proof. So just in case ever forgets, "Here's the ploof", :)
Last weekend, Ivy, Reia and I drove to Atlanta after dropping Freia off at the airport on her way to NYC for a BTS, a K-pop group concert. And that's another amazing story. Can't put too much in 1 blog, else will runout of this blogs most difficult part - Content. We had decided to visit the Georgia Aquarium, often billed as the US' best aquarium. And Ivy love aquariums. I was hoping to slip in a visit to the Coca Cola factory in Atlanta. Because, I love Coke.
The drive to Atlanta was uneventful. Both Ivy and Reia were sleeping peacefully and I was tempted. To sleep. Adjust about managed to keep awake. After a 4 hour drive we arrived at the Aquarium. And the first thing we realized is that the Coke factory and the Aquarium are in the same complex, side-by-side. A auspicious start to our visit.
The new me has decided that it makes sense to spend a little extra and get the insiders tour. And so we took the insiders tour too. We arrived at 11:30 and took the tour of 12:30. As we went in, we noticed that there was a Dolphin show. And my theory is that you need to finish the popular shows early on, else the lines get longer as the day goes on. And we got lucky that we were able to walk in, just as they were warming up to start the show. As in all US productions, it was flawless. And amazing. Both the trainers and the trainees. In this case the dolphins. The clock was ticking and it seemed like we'd miss the insiders tour. As soon as the show closed, we ran. And just managed to make it.
The tour was fascinating. There were a zillion things I realized I had no idea about. And after the tour it went up to a gazillion. Both about our environment, and everything else that's in it. After the tour, we went through all of the exhibits that were there and timed ourselves to see the Seal show. Once again a flawless show. I keep wondering how that are able to make the animals literally dance to their tune. Here's a quick photographic preview.
And for a closer look at the Georgia Aquarium, watch this.
Georgia Aquarium Tour & Review with The Legend
We had finished visiting all of the aquarium shows as well as the exhibits. And it was around 4:30. Didn't know if there was sufficient time to visit the "World of Coke". It showed as shutting at 5:30. We went to the counter and found that there was a guided tour starting in a few minutes. We bought the tickets and went in.
Another fascinating visit. While there were zillion things including a photo op with Coke's long time mascot the Polar Bears, the highlights for me were 3.
Holding the actual Olympic torches held by the Olympic athletes.
and tasting over a 100 world-wide Coke flavors. Including my all time favorite, Thumbs Up from India.
And of course, the often heard but never seen secret vault that holds the secret formula.
And here's a quick photographic preview of some of the other interesting exhibits.
At the end of the trip, we tiredly set off back to Savannah. Where once again, Ivy and Reia decided to sleep, while I drove them back. And this time around, I was actually wide awake.
