What Crisis?

The Chinese word for crisis consists of two characters



So in Chinese crisis means something like

Crisis = Danger + Opportunity

Let's apply this to daily life.

No matter how great the danger in a crisis is, it also means a change of circumstances that gives room for new opportunities.

Try to see them when you're in the middle of a crisis.


Even better, just like in a storm :



Try to stay in the eye of the storm.
After all, as you know it is still in the eye in the storm.

This reminds us at the words of Rudyard Kipling in his famous poem "IF" on my blog "Never give up".


So when you're in the middle of crisis :

• Don't run
• Set time still (Let time do the work)
• Keep your head together
• Wait for the opportunity, no matter how hard it is

Some more tips on how to behave in crisis situations you'll find on

APPROACHING A CONFLICT SITUATION

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Godly Formula

Perhaps you've heard about special numbers like e or π. They are called irrational numbers.
To write out these numbers it would take an infinite number of decimals:

π = 3.1415926.............
e = 2.7182818........

Although there are many approximations or summation-like formula's for these numbers, we're not able to express them in an easy manner.

Another strange number is the imaginary number i . This number is defined as the square root of minus one, in formula: i = Ö-1

Now although it's impossible to describe these numbers in an easy way, there is a remarkable simple formula in mathematics that describes an almost holy relationship between these extraordinary numbers :
e^{i π}= -1



It was the famous mathematician Euler that revealed this formula, called Euler's identity.

It's not at all surprising that Euler not only studied mathematics but also philosophy and theology.

Not only is his formula of a "godly beauty", it also triggers the mind to reveal it still hidden secrets.

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You feel before you think!

Yeah, we feel before we actually start thinking. This is not one of those arbitrary statements, but a fact that is used in one of the Topics in American Legal Theory.



Now because - through your senses - your brain gets first activated by feelings and reflexes, the action you take after you thought about what you saw and your feelings is a mixture of feelings and logical thinking.

{ Feeling <==> Thinking } => Action

In fact feeling, thinking and action are a continuous cycle of the way we live each day and fed by Positive Action. Although moderate drinkers tend to have better health and live longer, you don't need a Martini a day to practice this.



All you need is to develop a good self-esteem.



Try to manage the process of strengthening your self-esteem. Be challenged by trying to grade up your 'self-esteem level' and diminish the flow-amplitude of continuous super-positive or super-negative thoughts to a enjoyable wave-level, instead of living in a daily self-esteem rollercoaster.

Talk to yourself in a positive way. Self talk is not for lunatics, but an excellent power and way to grow and maintaining your health.

Don't remember to feel before you think: You don't have to!

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Are you Good or Bad?

Why is it that it's so hard to do "only good" ?
It's because

Good and bad go together



You can't separate Good and Bad form each other, no matter how hard you try.

Although this is hard to believe, it's easy to proof.

Proof
Imagine 'Good = White' and 'Bad = Black'.
Now if you do something good in a bad environment it's clearly visible as "good".
If the environment is good as well, good things wouldn't show up. You couldn't be conscious of good things because there would be no difference.



So good and bad are linked to each other and what is perceived as "good" depends on the circumstances, the environment.
Stay Good in a Bad environment.

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Synchronicity

Ever had this experience: You try to telephone someone and at that very same time (s)he's trying to call you.

Coincidence, telepathy or Synchronicity?

Mathematical view
From a mathematical point of view this could perhaps more or less be explained:

Suppose you call someone every day and a attempt to connect takes about 20 seconds.
Then you've got a probability of 0.023% ( 20 seconds / [24 hours x 3600 seconds] ) the two of you call at the same time

Since you probably don't call at night or during work, this probability increases to 0,185% if you take a 3 hour period as possible call-time instead of 24 hours.
This ruffly gives a change of about 49% (= 1 - [1-0,185%]^365) in a year that this simultaneously calling takes place at least once.

But what about if your '20 years ago emigrated friend' Carl, who you've not seen since, calls you one day, while you at the same time try to call him?
Now we are getting short of simple mathematics.

This phenomena is called

Synchronicity



Synchronicity is an explanatory principle, according to its creator, Carl Jung. Synchronicity explains "meaningful coincidences," such as a beetle flying into Jung's room while a patient was describing a dream about a scarab.

Synchronicity explained

There are many attempts to explain Synchronicity. From intuition to quantum mechanics.

Perhaps the most natural explanation for synchronicity between two people is that they, one way or the another, think in more or less the same way.
By thinking the same way, we mean that their thoughts, thought-patterns or feelings get stimulated by the same stimuli or events.

Going back to Carl. Perhaps you both heard the CNN-news with a news-item that the both of you shared in your youth.
This stimuli encouraged the both of you to take the telephone. Not at once, but after an hour, because you both developed the habit in your life to wait before making a impulsive move.

So in fact your life-, habits- and/or thought--wave-patterns are more or less the same and this increases the probability of synchronicity a lot.

Synchronicity on events in your live
The same thing could be said about Synchronicity concerning merely events.
You just bought a new car, a Ford. Suddenly you notice one of your college's is also driving a Ford. The next day you see even more Fords.
This has nothing to do with probability. It's just how your conscience works. You're exited about something and suddenly your conscience is more focussed on noticing associative or similar events.
"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

You also have the synchronicity of the I Ching . The I Ching is not a fortune-telling book. By the hexagrams of the I Ching your mind can mirror the question you ask in such a way that it's easier to get your problem more clear, in order to take the right decision.

Jung
The vision stated above is not in accordance with Jung's vision or the correspondent parallel quantum-vision on the universe that has been developed recent decennia in physics.
The complex reality in which we live can at a deeper level only be described in statistical terms. But that doesn't mean there is no 'causality'.
There is causality, but we are unable to describe it because of it's complexity.

Or to say it with Einstein's words:

God doesn't play dice

Einstein's vision was however proved to be wrong by Bell's Theorem. But this prove was based on the assumption that 'measurements which are made far apart (at spacelike distances) cannot affect each other'.
Perhaps reality is so complex that communication faster than light is possible.
In fact every border or axiom we as humans formulate (e.g. maximum speed = speed of light) limits our view on reality.

Play dice, but keep searching for the deeper and higher realities !

After all: Synchronicity is only

Resonance of thought

More, much more on Resonance or Synchronicity in the future !

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Are you serendipitous?

What a strange word "serendipitous". It comes from the word Serendipity.
Serendipity (from serendib) is like

"while searching for something, discovering something else"

Something like "casual discovery".



One of the nicest examples is that of the discovery of the telephone by Graham Bell.

The Telephone Bell's mother and wife where deaf. In an approach to create a multiple telegraph for teaching the deaf, he discovered not the "multiple telegraph", but the telephone.

Another nice example is that of the discovery of the yellow "Post-it Notes":

Post-It Notes In the 1960's at 3M, developers were trying to find a powerful glue. The chemist assigned to the project, Spence Silver, often experimented with variations in formulas--one resulting in a substance that would only weakly stick and could be easily pulled apart. He worked on it for ten years but despite improvements in its stickiness, it went undeveloped. In 1974 Arthur Fry, one of Silver's co-workers, was trying to make a bookmark stick in his church songbook and in a flash of recognition discovered the application: Post-It Notes Silver later stated, "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."

Serendipity asks for an "open mind".
It demands an attitude that at the same time - while you're absolutely focused on an subject en doing your outmost best to find or create something new - you recognize an other possibility and have the skills to completely "let go" the subject you where searching for.
This special "state of mind" helps us joyful true our lifes.

Let's try to get serendipitous !

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Your Butterfly Effect

In chaos theory it's been proven that:

Little events can have big consequences

This phenomenon is in Chaos Theory known as

The Butterfly Effect Imagine a butterfly on one side of the world flaps its wings. This tiny event causes a hurricane in another part of the world.

Although it can be somehow proved that certain small events cause or influence great phenomena's, we are not able to define a direct relationship (model) between them.
There are so many events that influence the process, that no matter how much we understand of the principles behind the events, we will never be able to model them completely.



Butterfly effects in your own life

Do you recognize The Butterfly Effect in your own world and life?

• You explicitly didn't tell anyone it was your birthday today, yet in the evening your room is unexpected filled with uninvited guests.
• In a conversation with a good friend you mention something unimportant. Your friend suddenly gets angry.
• You try to sell your old television set to Mr. Unknown. But he's not enthusiastic. Then you smile and give up. A few minutes later Mr. Unknown decides to buy without any logical argument.
• You do your job the best you can, but you never applied or asked for a promotion. After 5 years you suddenly are offered a major promotion from a concurring company.

It's really an art to discover how small events or actions may influence your life.
Try to achieve events or results by a minimum of force, talk, arguing, and use a maximum of "butterfly effects".
Although you'll not be able to explain how it works, you'll see that Butterflies actually can do the work in your life.

Good luck with your Butterfly Effect. Enjoy Butterflies !

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Are You Normal?

An interesting question you could ask yourself:



Are you normal
The answer is simple

Nobody is normal
Everybody is special. Be happy you're not 'normal'.

So in a way we all have ( at a certain level ) some disorders (diseases) like:

Disorders Paranoid Schizoid Schizotypal Antisocial Borderline Histrionic Narcissistic Avoidant Dependent Obsessive-Compulsive

If you doubt this, just

Test your level of disorder

This test is not like a inkblot-, personality- or stress-test, but serious work.
Accept and enjoy that you're not normal.

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Zen thinking altitude

How high can you reach? What's your ultimate altitude?

With respect to what Jesse Jackson or Donald Trump are saying about that, I state that

Aptitude + Attitude = Altitude



In other words: the level that you reach is a combination of your natural given talents (aptitude) and your attitude.

To raise your altitude, you'll have to change and improve your attitude by learning.

This "learning" is well demonstrated by the English language trainer, Sreenadhachary, at a workshop on the "Importance of English Language in M.N.C.s".
Sreenadhachary trains Indian man and woman in learning English with simple principles:

• A positive frame of mind and learning from mistakes are both needed to improve
• Good learners make mistakes unknowingly and correct themselves knowingly
• The glory lies not in avoiding a fall but in getting up every time you fall down

Sreenadhachary uses several other techniques to achieve that job aspirants improve their accent and try to speak English in the way an Englishman does.

However one general rule could be added:

"To Speak English", "Think English"

In fact this rule could be generally applied to an higher altitude and new principle or formula:

"To XXX YYY", "Think as YYY"

Where you could substitute for XXX verbs like "help", "fight", etc.
For YYY you could substitute all kind of nouns like "English", "your best friend", "God", "your enemy", etc.

By substituting different verbs verbs for XXX, you'll first conclude that it doesn't apply, but on a deeper thinking-level you'll grasp it, learn from it and know what to do.



A nice application of this Zen-like-thinking is a Sun Tzu like quote like:

To beat your enemy, think like your enemy

Be sure not to mesh up with the pitfall that "thinking like" is the same as "becoming-like".
By "thinking like thousand different people", you don't become like one of them, they'll all enrich you on your path, YOU !

However.. see what happens if you substitute "Think" by "Be" or "Become like" (i.e. "to beat your enemy, become your enemy"). Dare you?

Remember, it's your decision to change your attitude and to decide to make this day a beautiful day

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Are you Alice?

We are as Alice in wonderland. Trained by education and experiences the past turns into present. But we have to go forward in life and take new steps.



Led by our will and ready to learn each day, we are able to transform "present" into "future present" and are open to experience new ways!
Often in the things we are afraid of we can find the hidden challenges to become who we're meant to be.

Or to put it in an other way:

Alice in Mirror It seems that the desire to really find oneself is at the heart of the mirror story. Although very often we are just as deep or shallow on the other side, we keep trying to uncover some spectacular unknown quality that makes us who we are. Grace Slick

So don't expect too much, but wonder just like Alice how your new life emerges.

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Hear it with your eyes!

Ever heard about

The McGurk Effect

Simply said, this effect is

• Your ears hear the word "BA"
• Your eyes see the word "GA"
• Combining the two: Your mind thinks it hears the word "DA"

BA+GA=DA

If you, just like me, doubt this,

Try McGurk

After this experience you'll have to recognize that:

• What you hear is influenced by what you see
• You may say one thing, but everybody else - who sees and hears you -is hearing something completely else.

The fact that BA + GA creates a new perception of DA, also indicates that our mind creates a new reality (DA).
This may be explained by fuzzy logics. Shortly said: If BA and GA in our mind each create a subconscious weak GA, the combination of BA an GA creates a strong conscious DA.
This subscribes the effect that when you say to someone "I like you" but (unconsciously) think "I don't like you", the hearer of this message actually not hears ILY but something else.

This also explains why if we are talking to people face to face we sometimes "don't believe them", "doubt them" or "feel" that something is not right.



What is true for the combination of hearing and seeing, will probably also be true for the combination of "all your senses".
It all has to do with perception. Try to find out how the combination of hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting and smelling creates a new world in yourself.

So try to use all your senses in "your kitchen", when communicating with others. This will lead to a richer life. Enjoy it.

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Expect the Unexpected

Ever heard about Heraclitus?

He was a Greek philosopher who lived 2,500 years ago. He announced an everlasting Word (Logos) according to which all things are one, in some sense. Opposites are necessary for life, but they are unified in a system of balanced exchanges.

His epigrams (= concise, clever, often paradoxical statements) are often used for creative and new approaches to problem solving.




Reed more about Heraclitus and its epigrams in the book:


Expect the Unexpected or You Won't Find It
by Roger von Oech.

Here are some free translated examples of Heraclitus epigrams.

Choose one for yourself and think about it in relation to the question or problem you like to solve.

Unless you expect the unexpected, you will never find truth.	Every beast is driven to pasture by a blow.
I searched into myself.	Most don’t note the things they encounter, nor grasp them when they note them, though they think they do.
The bones, connected by joints, are at once a whole and not a whole.	It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wished.
The inner nature of things loves to hide.	Even the finest drink separates if not stirred.
Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.	In a circle, the beginning and endpoint are the same.
It is by disease that health is pleasant, by evil good, by hunger satiety, and by weariness rest.	If every thing were smoke, it is by smell that we would distinguish them.
Seekers after gold dig up earth and find little.	It is by changing that things find rest.
The way up and the way down are one and the same.	Dogs will bark at any person they do not know.
Donkeys would prefer hay to gold.	One cannot step into the same river twice.

In this way "always expect the unexpected" becomes a way of enjoying your life !

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Stress Ohm's Law

At highschool -do you remember? - we all heard about Ohm's law:

V = I x R
Where where: V = voltage in volts (V), I = current in amps (A) and R = resistance in ohms (Ω)

Now let's translate this law to daily life !
You could interpret the voltage (V) as tension, strain or simply Stress.
Interpret the current (I) as the amount of inspiration
The resistance (Ω) is simply your natural resistance; It's the way you always did the tings you did, think the thoughts you thought, it's your resistance to change.

So now our formula in real life looks something like

Stress = Inspiration x Resistance
To play around a bit with this formula:

• By lowering your resistance you're able to be more inspirational and creative at the same stress level. You'll be able to see received inspiration as an opportunity and not as a demand. In other words you'll be able to cope with much more demands in your life.


• If you have too much stress, you could lower your actual stress level by lowering your resistance. Give in sooner. You could of course be stubborn, stick to your resistance level and lower your inspiration level (received or created by others or yourself). But this approach will soon lead to a depressive and non-inspirational lonely lifestyle

Now let's add another electric formula : Watt's Law

P = I² x R
In daily life translation this means:

Power = Inspiration² x Resistance



Playing around with this formula leads to:

• Generating or receiving more inspiration squares the output (power) you deliver ! So get inspired as much as you can, but keep in mind ohm's law and take care that your maximum stress level (R x I) is not exceeded.


• Don't lower your stress level in such way that your resistance approaches zero. In this case you'll have no output or power at all !. So don't do this unless you like to become a Zen Buddhist.
  So it's clear that we need a certain amount of resistance.

Either way, manage your resistance to maximize your output and get on your flow !

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