Thursday, December 18, 2008

The 10 assertive rights of an individual

Assertive Right #1: I have the right to judge my own behavior, thoughts, and emotions and to take the responsibility for their initiation and consequence.

Assertive Right #2: I have the right to offer neither reason nor excuse to justify my behavior.

Assertive Right #3: I have the right to judge whether I am responsible for finding solutions to others' problems.

Assertive Right #4: I have the right to change my mind.

Assertive Right #5: I have the right to say, ``I don't know.''

Assertive Right #6: I have the right to make mistakes and be responsible for them.

Assertive Right #7: I have the right to be independent of the good will of others before coping with them.

Assertive Right #8: I have the right to be illogical in making decisions.

Assertive Right #9: I have the right to say, ``I don't understand.''

Assertive Right #10: I have the right to say, ``I don't care.''


If you are ever stressed about a situation, it may sometimes help to review your assertive rights. Using google I found this list of the ten assertive rights from Coping.org

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Conversation with God


I do not see myself as a religious person. I do not actively practise any religion, and I put no value in the fact that I chose to go through the rituals of both baptism and confirmation in the Danish protestant church. I do however, know some people who, although they do not practise a specific religion, characterise themselves as religious.

About a year ago, I was for the first time introduced to the book "Conversation with God" by Neale Donald Walsch. It is the first of a series of books in which Walsch asks questions and God answers.

I immediately liked the book. The style is straightforward, the chapters are short, it is written in colloquial English, and even though I disbelieve and even disagree with many of the facts and arguments presented in the book, I must say that I love the recurring theme and message:
  • You are the creator of your own reality

In my opinion it is a message that you can embrace or deny, regardless of your overall conception of religion or belief. If you read it, please tell me what you think.

Illustration courtesy: de-conversion.com

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

The damped system


I was reading Schrödingers "What is life?" and came across his description of the mechanics of the human ear and auditory system. It is a very refined system, but it is limited to detecting a certain range of frequencies. The cilia that detect vibrations do not seem to have a mechanical limit to the same range, so why do we not detect sounds to the same extent as the cilia can be activated? According to Schrödinger, this limit is a result of the integrated damping of the sensory signal. It is possible to conceive another 'wiring' of the system, with less or no damping, and so it would be a far more sensitive system, but unfortunately it would have the side effect of near constant detection of vibrations, which would be literally a very noisy sensory experience. Compare it to playing a piece on the piano with your foot holding the right pedal all the time.
Also, I can not help but compare to the complete human nervous system. Without the automatic damping (e.g. the subconscious filtering) of sensory input from touch and pressure on the skin, muscle movement, temperature, sound, vision, intestines, it is difficult to imagine the brain spending time on prolonged intellectual activities. An exhaustive exercise, really.

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