Did you generate some alternate viewpoints? In the last post I suggested that you should generate alternate viewpoints on a news story because doing so can often force you to take in more information than you normally would when you reach an opinion on something.
Some points to ponder:
If you’ve ever participated in volunteer organizations or other similar functions, you’ll likely have come across some folks in the group who don’t show up for a lot of meetings, they don’t contribute much; when they do have something to say it is negative, and so on. The reason they often have such negative viewpoints or can be so critical is because they haven’t considered all the facts. Sometimes a negative viewpoint is warranted but in this instance I am only referring to those who do little but criticize because they refuse to be informed on many of the issues.
A quick analogy:
If you know some competent lawyers you’ll know that when they are preparing for a case in court they will have considered the arguments of the other side, they are completely apprised of all the facts, and know the arguments and counterarguments. Now in this instance they know all the facts and then they make their argument. Now whether or not one agrees with their viewpoint, at least they are informed. This is what I’m getting at with respect to being informed with news stories. Obtain as much information as you can before reaching an opinion. At the very least you should always be reading the news and asking skeptical questions and then seeing if you seem to get reasonable answers. Often you might get alternate viewpoints if you do so. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having an opinion, but one should always try to be informed.
You know, in today’s busy and competitive world, being informed is not only valuable it is necessary. That’s why I would recommend that you consider joining my free and continuous newsletter which deals specifically about how to be informed on a variety of important subject areas. People often state that an activity is valuable if they can take away at least one actionable idea away – with respect to improving the quality of their life physically, mentally, intellectually . We’ll by joining my newsletter you will walk away with many actionable ideas on an ongoing basis. To get started, simply enter your email in the sign-up box at the top or bottom of the blog.
I will keep this post short. I want to make a suggestion which I think relates to the concept of being truly informed. The next time you read a news story and begin to find yourself forming an opinion, immediately try to find alternate viewpoints. You can listen for them in the news or you can easily go online. Next try to ensure that you fully understand the arguments being made from all sides of the story that you have found. I will pick up from here next time.
Something I’ve thought about on/off over the years is what lessons could someone who lives to 100+ teach us. These lessons would certainly be helpful for anyone, I think, who wants to optimize their health. So I wanted to include some observations on centenarians.
I tend to think that there must be more to becoming a centernariun than pure chance whether it’s intentional or not. Because it is difficult to study centenariuns as a group we need to infer certain things from what we know about them.
One important feature is that they are hardly ever what could be called lazy people. Those who live more than a hundred years have nearly always been more mobile and physically active than the average. In particular, they have frequently been vigorous walkers or cyclists. I do not mean to imply that they were athletes it is a strange fact that athletes do not live longer than the rest of us. Violent exercise seems to take its toll on the human body. But the long-lived did take steady, relaxed exercise on an almost daily basis. Madame Calment, for example, was still riding her bicycle around Arles when she was 100.
Mental exercise seems to be as important as physical activity. Nearly all the centenarians retained a sharp interest in the world around them. They still had a zest for life, right to the end. My favourite example is Margaret Murray, the archaeologist, who wrote a book with the wonderful title of My First Hundred Years. Above all, the very long-lived lacked nostalgia. They didnt look back to the good old days they felt that the good days were still ahead of them.
A sense of humour also appeared to be an important ingredient. Most centenarians managed to keep a twinkle in their eyes even if their vision was not as good as it used to be. This twinkle not only reflected that fact that they still found life entertaining, but also revealed that the endorphins released by laughter were still helping to flood their aged bodies with natures in-built pain-killers.
Other qualities that appeared time and again among the centenarians were: a degree of self-discipline a tendency to organise their lives and to impose a pattern on their daily routines; moderation in eating most of them avoided over-eating and under-eating and fad diets were nowhere to be found; moderation in drinking many of them enjoyed alcohol, but only in small, regular amounts; a focus on things outside themselves without too much introspection or self-examination; and finally, and most importantly, a calm, even-tempered nature.
If these are the qualities that are typical of the 100+ survivors, then they must surely give us some clues as to how we, who have not yet reached that extraordinary age, can best increase our chance of getting there.
I tend to think that there must be more to becoming a centernariun than pure chance whether it’s intentional or not. Because it is difficult to study centenariuns as a group we need to infer certain things from what we know about them.
One important feature is that they are hardly ever what could be called lazy people. Those who live more than a hundred years have nearly always been more mobile and physically active than the average. In particular, they have frequently been vigorous walkers or cyclists. I do not mean to imply that they were athletes it is a strange fact that athletes do not live longer than the rest of us. Violent exercise seems to take its toll on the human body. But the long-lived did take steady, relaxed exercise on an almost daily basis. Madame Calment, for example, was still riding her bicycle around Arles when she was 100.
Mental exercise seems to be as important as physical activity. Nearly all the centenarians retained a sharp interest in the world around them. They still had a zest for life, right to the end. My favourite example is Margaret Murray, the archaeologist, who wrote a book with the wonderful title of My First Hundred Years. Above all, the very long-lived lacked nostalgia. They didn’t look back to the good old days they felt that the good days were still ahead of them.
A sense of humour also appeared to be an important ingredient. Most centenarians managed to keep a twinkle in their eyes even if their vision was not as good as it used to be. This twinkle not only reflected that fact that they still found life entertaining, but also revealed that the endorphins released by laughter were still helping to flood their aged bodies with natures in-built pain-killers.
Other qualities that appeared time and again among the centenarians were: a degree of self-discipline a tendency to organise their lives and to impose a pattern on their daily routines; moderation in eating most of them avoided over-eating and under-eating and fad diets were nowhere to be found; moderation in drinking many of them enjoyed alcohol, but only in small, regular amounts; a focus on things outside themselves without too much introspection or self-examination; and finally, and most importantly, a calm, even-tempered nature.
If these are the qualities that are typical of the 100+ survivors, then they must surely give us some clues as to how we, who have not yet reached that extraordinary age, can best increase our chance of getting there.
In the previous post I featured a video on love. I came across this video of Julian Lennon talking about John Lennon and really thought it was a good one for anyone who has kids, or for that matter, anyone. Bottom Line: You can be the most successful and amazing person in the world (in many regards) but if you don’t take time to give love to your children then are you such a great person after all? Many famous “great” people have shared this same dynamic with respect to their domestic life, unfortunately. Watch this video and see what you think. Feel free to leave a comment.
Happy upcoming Valentines Day…from some interesting thinkers! This quick little video offers some interesting “nuggets.” It started me thinking about carrying variations of “love” forward into our day to day lives, just by following up with a simple question “how”?
I was reading an article in the Globe and Mail which discussed the fact that more people have left the province Alberta than immigrated to it. More specifically more people from other Canadian provinces had left Alberta than entered it; however, ultimately in the time frame referenced, the population of Alberta did grow, although you would not know it from the article. Immigrants from other countries caused Alberta’s overall population to grow.
What’s this have to do with anything?
Well it serves an example to anyone who truly wants to be informed: the lesson to take from this is that it’s not necessarily what is said in an article but what is not said. Although what was stated in the article was not actually false, it did not present all relevant facts in my opinion. The problem, though, is that the overall impression the reader may be left with is false – without having the additional information, that is. Fortunately I had obtained the additional information by having more than one source of information.
So it’s important to always consult more than one source of information and ask yourself whether all the important facts are likely included in a story whenever you read them.
This is yet another way of being informed and empowered in today’s world where much information is thrown at you. By doing this you put yourself ahead of many who will never take the time to be truly informed.
Happy Holidays!
Matthew
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Yes there are some interesting findings which pick up on the theme of the purpose of life and in particular retirement or the idea of not having to work again. This time it’s not just an opinion but the findings are backed by solid, scientific, research. Check out this great podcast from CBC Radio’s program “The Current” Click here for instant access of the podcast.