A poem for my favorite month, October...

On the Metacognitive Nature of Courage | Poetic corollary to the Neurolinguistics of Resilience.

For Courage

BY JOHN O'DONOHUE

When the light around you lessens

And your thoughts darken until

Your body feels fear turn

Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft

Of any belief in yourself

And all you unknowingly

Leaned on has fallen,

When one voice commands

Your whole heart,

And it is raven dark,

Steady yourself and see

That it is your own thinking

That darkens your world.

Search and you will find

A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone,

And that this darkness has purpose;

Gradually it will school your eyes,

To find the one gift your life requires

Hidden within this night-corner.

Invoke the learning

Of every suffering

You have suffered.

Close your eyes.

Gather all the kindling

About your heart

To create one spark

That is all you need

To nourish the flame

That will cleanse the dark

Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive

To urge you towards higher ground

Where your imagination

will learn to engage difficulty

As its most rewarding threshold!

From the books, Benedictus (Europe) / To Bless the Space Between Us (USA)

To puruse over high tea...

• • My personal focus at the intersection of languages, linguistics, and neurolinguistics.

  • 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice from The Technium

  • Peruse an article on the distillation of happiness research from The Atlantic.

  • Naturphänomen: Das Geheimnis des Seehund-Mannes von der Frankfurter Allgemeine

  • What You Can't Say by Paul Graham

  • A note on selecting translations of Rumi's work for English-speakers: Jawid Mojaddedi or Nicholson provide faithful interpretations. Other translations are popular but not faithful... some paraphrase and many strips Islam from the work but keeps Christian references and thereby strip some of the most powerful messages. Example: Commonly translated "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there." is actually referencing the divide of Islam and Christianity he he was preaching love for all... truly profound for any era, but certainly for his time and many English translations in the USA removes that element. Coleman is a popular new-age translator but as he does not speak Persian, I would not call his work Rumi's so much as inspired by Rumi. As a poet himself, Coleman's work is enjoyable to read. One might wish he would have more clearly delineated that he significantly altered Rumi's texts in his publications. Coleman has been heavily criticized for his work, but we must also acknowledge that Coleman did much for spreading joy and Rumi's work in other countries, making Rumi what some have called the most popular poet in the USA.

• • When 'i' is replaced by 'we'

even 'illness' becomes 'wellness'

Mindfulness

1. Having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve.
2. Being able to concentrate for a sustained period of time.
3. Losing the feeling of consciousness of one's self.
4. Finding that time passes quickly.
5. Getting direct and immediate feedback.
6. Experiencing a balance between your ability levels, and the challenge.
7. Having a sense of personal control over the situation.
8. Feeling that the activity is intrinsically rewarding.
9. Lacking awareness of bodily needs.
10. Being completely absorbed in the activity itself.

• Goals – Goals add motivation and structure to what you're doing. Whether you're learning a new piece of music or creating a presentation, you must be working towards a goal to experience flow.
• Balance – There must be a good balance between your perceived skill and the perceived challenge of the task. If one of these weighs more heavily than the other, flow probably won't occur.
• Feedback – You must have clear, immediate feedback, so that you can make changes and improve your performance. This can be feedback from other people, or the awareness that you're making progress with the task.

• Set goals
• Improve your concentration 
• Build self-confidence
• Get feedback 
• Make your work more challenging (ie job crafting)