myworkingitout.com

What’s so engaging about conflict and spirit? First, most people get solace and direction in stressful times through their religious or spiritual beliefs; information that supports or enriches those beliefs (including practice tools) will strengthen that resource when facing conflict.Second, some people are stressed because of questions about religion and/or spirituality that they think arise out of science. But most of us don’t know much about science … what is it? More to the point, how does science help explain our impulses towards religion and spirituality, and how we chose to practice them (including explaining why those impulses can turn to violence and conflict in some circumstances)? Can the areas of science that relate to religion and spirituality help prevent, reduce, contain or resolve conflict?

Some people may experience conflict when confronting an insistence that there is only one way, or even just a best way, to experience and practice religion and/or spirituality — and what they know gives insufficient solace, or is different. Others may watch with confusion how some forms of religion are changing, as we see especially in the United States in the perhaps parallel growths of more fundamentalist mega churches, and post-modern quantum mysticism. Can science help here?

Finally, how some practice their religion is itself increasingly the source and cause of stress, exclusion and violence in the world, including in the United States, from terrorism in the name of a god (including 9/11 and the bombing of abortion clinics) to fundamentalist political activism and political regulation in response to fears about religious divisiveness (e.g., recent US fundamentalist activism and some countries’ banning of headscarves and other religion-identifying clothing).

All of us are confronted by these new realities. Understanding better why people’s religious beliefs can drive them to actions that are considered extreme by many, can itself help reduce the stress of living in a world subject to those actions; and may help in developing additional tools for working towards solutions.

Sometimes, one can fear that these are the days of “the new religious wars,” and that the advances in critical thinking exemplified in part by the best of science will be thrown over and out — but this won’t happen. Really, the vast majority of people do trust science, and don’t believe all the tenets of their religions literally — most happily fly in airplanes (they trust science) and do not kill people of opposing religious beliefs. We can celebrate and be excited by the opportunities to learn more about science, our humanity, and spirituality.

With commodities constantly so high in demand, here are some online selections to inform our purchases, and aid charitable giving:

“Why We Shop” by Jennifer Michael Hecht is a bit dated, written last December for holiday shopping (note: you may need a subscription to the New York Times’ Times Select to access), but her conclusions still hold true: “History suggests that holiday shopping fills an ancient need to gather and tithe, and serves as a modern-day ritual of renewal.” Whether you are shopping because it’s a holiday, or for the coming start of the  schoolyear, it seems healthy to keep in mind how fortunate we are.

Some “ethical shopping sites”, thanks to the Thinking Ethics blog; and — my favorite online donation site — The Hunger Site, where “[y]our click helps feed the hungry with the value of 1.1 cups of staple food.” I love this site especially because it also has tabs across the top for donations to The Breast Cancer Site, where “[y]our click, along with others today, will fund free mammograms for women in need;” The Child Health Site, where “[y]our click, along with others’ today, provides basic but critical health services to more than 1,000 children. Each click helps prevent life-threatening diseases, restore vision to blind children, and enable child amputees to walk; The Literacy Site, where “[y]our click, along with others’ today, helps children in need discover the joy of books;” The Rainforest Site, where “[y]our click has funded the preservation of 11.4 square feet of endangered rainforest;” and The Animal Rescue Site, where “[y]our click provided the value of .6 bowls of food and care to a rescued animal in a shelter or sanctuary.”

Just clicking where indicated gives the donation — all you spend is a little time. You can sign up for emailed reminders to visit the site.

I wrote before about Kenneth Cloke’s book, The Crossroads of Conflict: A Journey Into the Heart Of Dispute Resolution, here. His book includes his list of explanations why we get stuck in conflict:

Ten Reasons Why We Get Stuck in Conflict:

1. Conflict defines us and gives our lives meaning.

2. Conflict gives us energy.

3. Conflict ennobles our misery.

4. Conflict safeguards our personal space

5. Conflict creates intimacy (even if it is only the transient, negative intimacy of fear, rage, attachment and loss).

6. Conflict camouflages our weaknesses.

7. Conflict powerfully communicates what we honestly feel (even while it may increase stress and emotional suffering in others).

8. Conflict gets results (it forces others to heed us).

9. Conflict makes us feel righteous (by encouraging us to believe we are opposing evil behaviors and rewarding those that are good).

10. Conflict prompts change (which feels better than impasses and stagnation).

Ken’s book can be purchased directly from his publisher, Janis Publications, here: http://www.janispublications.com.

Note: The book is also available at the MyWorkingItOut! companion Squidoo website.

Tip of the hat to James Tyre for sharing this news release sometime ago on Solosez, a legal listserve I subscribe to and love. It’s not breaking news any longer, but I love coffee (I adopted it as my drug of choice when I went to lawschool):
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070110/sfw043.html?.v=92

Press Release Source: Meth Coffee

Meth Coffee Launches with Super Caffeinated Brew

Wednesday January 10, 9:23 am ET

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Meth Coffee, a rebel coffee company in San Francisco, opened for business today with the launch of its hard- hitting coffee roast for energy addicts and caffeine freaks. Meth’s super- caffeinated beans are amplified by the addition of yerba mate, a powerful natural stimulant and antioxidant used by shamans of the Amazon for boosting stamina and mental clarity.

Boasting an intense buzz and cocoa-tobacco finish, Meth Coffee is fresh-roasted within 48 hours of shipment to jumpstart workaholics, thrill seekers, artists, and subversives seeking an exciting new fuel for their endeavors.

[….]

Now, I’d put this in a “Health, Conflict and Stress” category if I had one, but I don’t, so I will put it in the Mental Health, and Misc. categories — caffeine affects us differently, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide where it fits for you. Like I said, as for me, well, I adopted coffee as my drug of choice when I started law school, and, but for two or three very short flirtations with tea, I have never looked back.

Lots of things in life are stressful. Conflict is stressful for most of us. According to the RealAge site, stress can add up to 32 years to your calendar age, in terms of the health of your body. Indeed, RealAge cites better management of stress as the #1 one to grow younger, i.e., to reduce unnecessary aging of your body. Self-care and health tools protect and strengthen us while we work or live in conflict. RealAge posts its “Top 12″ strategies for healthier lives at http://www.realage.com/research_library/12ways.aspx.

#4 is “Reduce Stress — In highly stressful times, your RealAge can be as much as 32 years older than your calendar age. By building strong social networks and adopting stress-reduction strategies, you can erase 30 of those 32 years of aging caused by stress.”

Most of us are stressed when we find ourselves in disagreement with other people, and don’t know very well how to work out the disagreement and reduce our stress. Why not check out the resources offered on My Working It Out! and the companion Squidoo resource site?

As I said before, The Crossroads of Conflict: A Journey Into the Heart Of Dispute Resolution, by Kenneth Cloke, offers much. . Here’s a partial list of assumptions he makes about conflict — the earlier propositions were posted last week here:

6. Chronic conflicts are systemic, and all systems, be they personal, familial, relational, organizational, social, economic, or political, defend themselves against change, even when it is essential for their survival.

7. Every conflict is holographic and systemic, so that each part contains and recapitulates the whole.

8. Every conflict reveals an internal crossroads, with each path branching and leading off in radically different directions.

9. Every conflict offers opportunities to evolve to higher levels of skill and awareness in how people respond to their opponents and problems.

10. At the center or heart of every conflict lies a pathway to resolution, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Ken’s book can be purchased directly from his publisher, Janis Publications.

Note: The book is also available at your local libraries and bookstores, and online at the companion Squidoo site to MyWorkingItOut.com.

I wanted to post about the article Are Librarians Totally Obsolete? because they aren’t, and we need to be reminded of all the reasons why. Libraries and  Librarians are great resources for whenever you want to work something out! To me, it’s about literacy, and critical thought, and being able to use the wonderful resources available on the net and elsewhere (like in libraries) without being unduly distracted or lost because of everything else (overwhelmingly) available on the net. I love the net, and I want people to know how to use it well, and to know where else to go.

Here are the highlights of the 33 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important in Will Sherman’s superb article, and his Conclusion:

1. Not everything is available on the internet

2. Digital libraries are not the internet

3. The internet isn’t free

4. The internet complements libraries, but it doesn’t replace them

5. School Libraries and Librarians Improve Student Test Scores

6. Digitization Doesn’t Mean Destruction

7. In fact, digitization means survival

8. Digitization is going to take a while. A long while.

9. Libraries aren’t just books

10. Mobile devices aren’t the end of books, or libraries

11. The hype might really just be hype

12. Library attendance isn’t falling – it’s just more virtual now

13. Like businesses, digital libraries still need human staffing

14. We just can’t count on physical libraries disappearing

15. Google Book Search “don’t work”

16. Physical libraries can adapt to cultural change

17. Physical libraries are adapting to cultural change

18. Eliminating libraries would cut short an important process of cultural evolution

19. The internet isn’t DIY

20. Wisdom of crowds is untrustworthy, because of the tipping point

21. Librarians are the irreplaceable counterparts to web moderators

22. Unlike moderators, librarians must straddle the line between libraries and the internety.

23. The internet is a mess

24. The internet is subject to manipulation

25. Libraries’ collections employ a well-formulated system of citation

26. It can be hard to isolate concise information on the internet

27. Libraries can preserve the book experience

28. Libraries are stable while the web is transient

29. Libraries can be surprisingly helpful for news collections and archives

30. Not everyone has access to the internet

31. Not everyone can afford books

32. Libraries are a stopgap to anti-intellectualism

33. Old books are valuable

Conclusion

Society is not ready to abandon the library, and it probably won’t ever be. Libraries can adapt to social and technological changes, but they can’t be replaced. While libraries are distinct from the internet, librarians are the most suited professionals to guide scholars and citizens toward a better understanding of how to find valuable information online. Indeed, a lot of information is online. But a lot is still on paper. Instead of regarding libraries as obsolete, state and federal governments should increase funding for improved staffing and technology. Rather than lope blindly through the digital age, guided only by the corporate interests of web economics, society should foster a culture of guides and guideposts. Today, more than ever, libraries and librarians are extremely important for the preservation and improvement of our culture.

Bravo, Will!

A lovely title to a moving essay on literacy, on how profoundly books can change lives, yes, as can the lack of them. Roxanne Coady is an independent bookseller, owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut.

The annotation for the essay (called a manifesto, at the ChangeThis website) describes it this way:

49% of the adult population of the United States reads below a sixth-grade level and has difficulty navigating such common demands as reading job applications, ATM screens, and outpatient care instructions. In this evocative manifesto, Roxanne Coady calls for change and suggests how you can improve the lives of others through promoting literacy in your community.

That’s the “bare” description — it’s more than that, truly moving, at least to those of us who also grew up loving reading and finding so much of value in the worlds opened by reading and libraries.

Click on this for the .pdf download. You can also find it at ChangeThis.com.

Kenneth Cloke’s book, The Crossroads of Conflict: A Journey Into the Heart Of Dispute Resolution, is a book by an experienced mediator about many things, including his conclusions after many years of a rich and varied practice. I interviewed Ken in the winter over at my Engaging Conflicts Blog and Newsletter. He gave me permission to excerpt portions of his book there, and I’ll put some of them here too.

Here’s a partial list of philosophical assumptions he makes about conflict — the remaining propositions will be posted later, next week:

1. No two human beings are the same.

2. No single human being is the same from one moment to the next.

3. The interactions and relationships between human beings are complex, multidetermined, subtle, and unpredictable, if only because they involve two or more different, constantly changing individuals.

4. Conflicts are even more complex, multidetermined, subtle, and unpredictable.

5. Most conflicts take place beneath the surface, well below the superficial topics over which people are fighting, and often hidden from their conscious awareness.

Ken’s book can be purchased directly from his publisher, Janis Publications: http://www.janispublications.com.

Note: The book is available at the MyWorkingItOut companion Squidoo website.

Here’s an online Scientific American article on sex differences in the brain.

In her article, Doreen Kimura explores the differences and likenesses between  the male and female brains, in correlation to their sex hormones. She discusses, for example, the male’s natural ability to be efficient in navigating his way through routes and the female’s innate ability to remember things more distinctively.

It’s interesting to see how sex hormones play such a tremendous role in determining the structure of  the brain with regards to behavioral and cognitive patterns. It seems to me that knowing more about these differences will help us with our own and the other gender.