Viral Vicissitudes

"It is Written" Throughout the days, so many ways. "Use Your Words" - Part 2 The Written Word, In Prompt You: As in word forms, forms of words...taking shape... to shape sentences, paragraphs, paraphrasing, pages, post-its, posts, promissories (for congressional members), treatises, treaties, entreats...theses.......dissertations! All in a day's or...life works, as in a "a body or work" (see January 10th here). So much to write about, in so many ways, not enough days -- they say that if you have the joy or reading or  writing, you'll never run out of things to do. But what about if you have both?! Suffice to say, here , not enough space or time, which can, of course, lead to a great deal of frustration, approach a state of confusion as to what to prioritize, approximate a condition of madness (all of which I have written to you about, here). Exemplified here, when, with pen in hand, I disclosed you how I have a "love/hate" relationship wi...

Generally Speaking, How to be Heard.   "Use Your Words" - Part 1 "Ladies and Gentlemen..." Now that I have your attention, in the age-old, time-tested, approach to starting an address, a conversation, in this case a monologue, regarding the power of language, the importance of "watching your language", in order to get a point across, or to elicit cooperation, to lead, have IMPACT! Are you hearing me OK so far?! Good, I got your attention, so I can begin in earnest, lead with my strongest convictions on this subject -- I've shared with you before the importance of "not leading with your left (fist) or your right, but your convictions", if you want others to follow. Knowing this space approximates that of a short presentation that you might be "invited" to as a break from the boredom of your cubicle, only to be sent back about a half hour later, initially infused with a burst of enthusiasm, which you find waning shortly after...I inte...

"Water, Water everywhere... Everywhere  but where you want it, that is. As well as in wrong form. Unevenly distributed in your own yard, let alone throughout the globe. Wrong amounts. Too much, too little, such a delicate balance with an element that is plentiful on our globe as well as within each of us, of course. Spirits , the Olympic spirit, the spirits you may consume after reading all the flood of pre-Olympic news, regarding the natural realities of the locales wherein many of the Winter Olympic 2022 events are to be held, which are being un-naturally altered, to such a degree which seems at odds with the true Olympic spirit, that of healthy competition, international cooperation, while increasingly emphasizing "sustainability", the latter pertaining to the particular locale du jour as well as how the people are treated in various nations that are to be participating...the stories behind the stories...regarding "fair farm practices", etc. This, at a time ...

Wagon, Training: Pre-, Post- Pandemic Perennial Parade: Metaphorically Speaking. All Aboard! Forward Ho! Rites of Passage: It sure seems so, with so many of us every single year, come rain or shine, south, north, east, or west, red/blue state, states of confusion...finally once again resolving... Either/Or: Resolving to hitch up our wagon for the journey forward as in a wagon train, or prepping to catch, board a train, to here or there...Who hasn't grown up near a train track, heard the distant whistle and wondered where it's bound? For those few who can't relate, I'm pretty certain you either pulled or were pulled around in a wagon...which in turn was probably red...or blue. Either/or. And who hasn't made a resolution any time during the year to start or stop a life habit, or even two. Either/or, even  both. Today's post is what happens when these adult level resolutions combine with child reverie, how the two converge, cross track, collide even. Start/stop. Ei...

When all else fails..."Use Your Words" Putting it all out there - Intro. Three Parts, Harmony (?) Just coming off a "Clandestine" mission, (see last several posts), I begin here, today, with you (if you're not here you wouldn't be reading this), to "Once and for ALL" communicate with you "above board", about more overt, deliberate communication, all inclusive, putting it all out there for you. Referring to voice, print, body...language. How we talk the talk, walk the walk, write the wrongs (?!). In each case, the critical importance of how these three modes of communication have value in their own right but when utilized consecutively, in tandem, even simultaneously, they can be harmonious and highly effective in getting ideas, opinions across, even accepted, or, when not done effectively, can lead to misunderstandings, lack of acceptance, and/or noncompliance, as in...   "What we've got here..." Can you hear the iconic line...

Flaked out! Pandemic Playgrounds, 44.980282 (+/-) Coming to Terms, Warm-up: After hearing from me early on and intermittently (a term highly relevant to yesterday's post) on the psychological value and opportunities for sustaining engagements (X3) throughout the last 24 months (+/-), you may, by now, have "had it up to here!" with this mantra of mine. But here I am, once again, prior to bringing you a crescendo on communication ("When All Else Fails") in the next few days, TBD (depending on the nature of my mood, as well as nature itself, which could preoccupy me), I am "Up Here" on your behalf, as in what we in Michigan generally, genially, refer to as "Up North". Which may seem redundant to those states south of our border, to those who don't refer to themselves as "Michiganders", let alone "Yoopers" (those who hail from the Upper Peninsula, almost always referred to here as the U.P.). Who cares, we have grown accust...

Clandestine Communication - Part 4: UR what U-IS...Back to BASIC Instincts   Setting the Scene, Unseen: Yesterday I briefly touched on some of the sociological IMPACT! that high tech has had, in ushering US ALL into the "Golden Age of High Technology", and how there's two sides to every story as well as its main characters. With "Hackers", for example, there are those who have once again demonstrated the redeeming side of Robin Hood and similar aspirants, while we have become more acutely aware over the last few years of the malevolent bunch, who might initially pose as such "Merry Men" who worked alongside Robin, but whose merriment turns out to be an aspiration for world domination. In a word, HEGEMONY! The plot and theme of countless movies and novels and, as I mentioned yesterday, depicted in the ongoing saga of "Spy versus Spy" in a world gone "MAD". Nothing new, these two groups. Neither are our own drives, our own BASIC insti...

Clandestine Communication: Part 3 - UR what U-IS (Scene 1, the UnSeen; Ex-Posers) CyberSecure: OxMeMoronic(?) An Oxymoron is, of course, a contradiction in terms, a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings, a self-contradiction...used in the context of "Clandestine Communication"', more specifically in the context of "cyber" and "security" side-by-side as a way to bring your/my attention to the fallacy of thinking that when we click on a site, even with assurances, that it is completely secure, that we ourselves remain out of sight, unseen, that in such cases we R only kidding ourselves. We become the moron. If recent history is our teacher and an increase time on the internet is our classroom, then we oughta be advanced placement students, eh? Probably in some subjects, including the ease with which we have learned to access info, as well as the methods for doing so (e.g., search engines). But what about our lessons in "in...

"It's All Down Hill from Here..." Powerful Psychology at Play...here...and...there! Red hatter: Intellectual honesty compels me to acknowledge, point out to you, so you may not be deceived, mistaken, faked out, that it is not  actually the man/woman wearing the striped shirt and the whistle that has the power, control of the field of play, at least the flow of the game (e.g., stoppages of play, flagging players, protracted replays), which can in turn have great psychological IMPACT! on the players, as well as the fans home and abroad. But in 'truth and transparency' (key to this post as well as the first few weeks in February, which coincide with the first few weeks of the Chinese "Year of the Tiger" as well as the 2022 Winter Olympics in Bejing), it is the "man with the red hat" who wields even more power. For, if it weren't for the sponsors, who purchase commercial time (from NBC once again), how would the Olympics "be brought to you...

Hedging, Dredging, Ledging Bets. Risky Business; time will tell. "We interrupt this program, for the following prediction..." And I interrupt the series on Clandestine Communication, within the larger series on communication, due to some profound prognostications, which reminded ME to remind YOU about the omnipresent, prescient nature, of these predictors. Well, at least I got the first part right, that predictions of risk, threats are daily, ranging from the weather which, based on events of the past few days, can be ominous enough. But then there's the human type, and those who pose as possessing the power of prediction, who can tell us beyond a shadow of a doubt...  "No longer a threat" Or, to include the greater quote, "...the right wing extremist Breivik who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 will be eligible for parole, unless the Telemark Distict Court rules he is still so dangerous that society needs extra protection against him..." (adding tha...

Modern Warfare - Clandestine Communication: Part 2 (Op-scenes!) Attention! If setting the Ob-scene scene did not get your attention, regardless of whether UR a parent or an INU (internet user but here pronounced IN YOU like it's become part of, if you use it enough...foreshadowing, spoiler alert for "UR what U-IS")...then the idea of going to war as in Modern Warfare, otherwise known here as "Op-scenes", should gain the rest of the crowd, whose heads may otherwise be in the icloud...need your full attention here, if only for a few minutes, to deliver an important message, as in a public service announcement, that you may not otherwise find on your own service. That you need not be an experienced or dedicated gamer to know, we are in a power struggle, trying to protect our children, if not ourselves, from a surge of information and attempts to preoccupy our attention, when it might be best directed otherwise. That is, we are, as parents, trying to be... Surge Pro...

Speaking of Clandestine Communication: Face It; UR Exposed.   (Part 1, Ob-Scene 1&2) A Mini-Series within a Serious Series of Talks Walk, Talk, In Brief: Because that's all we can stand, put up with, these daze: sound bytes, news in brief, taking in messages and photoshops/ops...bombs! All of which have been reduced to the bare st number of symbols, pics to get their point across, and when it's U, when you, yourself are putting 'it' out there, using the fewest characters, you may, if not careful, if in a rush, may reveal your own character, your SELFIE. Before a fuller explanation of what brought U/ME to this moment in time ("University President fired for..."), allow me, in this brief time and space, but one which allows for sufficient explication, justification for your visitation, so as to avoid self-extirpation. The broadest of reveries found in two brief convos. Pre-Net, Inter-Nana: About 15 years into my career as a psychologist, one where I found my...

Hey Guise, Don't Be-guiled! Just Sayin' - Con-veying, Inveighing, weighing in.                                          Talking about (Clandestine) Communication  All in a Morning's work(out): Continuing on speaking to you, communicating through writing but hopefully also conveying word pictures on this ALL-important topic of communication, I am bringing to you a synopsis of what I overheard this very morning, all within reach of my radio, all within one morning's workout...good thing doing so in part, as I have imparted to you here many times now, mental and emotional stamina (in addition to the obvious, physical), because having to scrutinize, read between the lines while the rest of me was otherwise occupied, required a keen eye, ear...mindset. Yes, within a span of just 75 minutes, I heard the following excerpts   exemplary of today's subtopic on communication -- the ty...

Time Keepers, Keeping Time...Timing Out 1/3: As in "one of the big three" -- three precious resources I've already covered here (money, energy...TIME)...things we find are finite, find more in supply or, conversely, fleeting, depending on place and time in life. Time again to talk about TIME, as well as those who keep time on our behalf, the TIME KEEPERS. This, brought to you and me from a distant continent, a faraway place but in our own time. A contemporary story that has strong implications for some events to unfold in the near future, the Winter Olympics (assuming they still take place)...many timed events, depending on great precision, let alone objective judging. This time, the story about time du jour, includes that of the official, the official time keeper, at a critical time, in a critical futbol game, at the "Africa Cup of Nations" in Cameroon (the officials of which are doing a good job to make it a travel destination), calling it quits too soon (...

Freedom of Movement, Self Containment: The Villagers Recurrent Deterrents: Before carrying on here about the art and the science, the psychological and sociological, the explicit and implicit, the...all the parts of communication, I felt temporarily pulled in another direction...the In's and the Out's of US being...shut In or shut Out...here and there...by external, but more often (in my vast experience, taking just the last 24 months as a sample), INternal forces...OURSELVES! Yes, while WE, throughout the U.S. can relate to our neighbors near and far, throughout our whole world, the frustrations associated with restricted movement. Restrictions that are nothing new, have been recurrent throughout the ages...as well as those where we are forced OUT, made to leave our homes, such as in the case of fires or other natural disasters affecting our locale, as well as those that are not so natural, but more MAN made (yes, accent here on MAN), such as wars, which frequently spawn not o...

Conversely, Catch Phrases: "You just never know"; could be catchy.                                                        Part 2 in a series on communication Conversely: As explained in a degree of detail yesterday, effective communication takes into account, pays attention to, details . On the other hand...effective communicators also utilize remarks which might, at first glance, contradict one you or someone you are in conversation with, one just made, even as in a technicality, regarding an important detail. More specifically, introducing a statement which contrasts with one that precedes it, by yourself or an 'other'. Part of conversing, or conversating. Sometimes can become strident; conversely, can add depth and breadth to a conversation. You just never know how this might go. Or, conversely, start, such as conversation starters, which can, in...

Sign(s) of Our Times, What am I missing* here? In/mis/dis-communicado - Part 1 A Preface, Pre-fix: Prefaced, as in an intro to a larger subject, that of communication, followed here, I mean right here  followed by a Pre-fix, applied here to demo how words can have different meanings, impact simply by fixing a prefix to the beginning (as opposed to a "suffix", an add-on for effect, but that's for later, another post, postscript), and "Pre-fix" a reference to offer some corrections, improvements, addendums to your communications, whether they be in spoken, written, or other nonverbal forms (the latter to include gestures, finger pointing, signing, emoji's), even reading between the lines (as in interpretation)...all this prior  to speaking, writing, or sending a string of emoji's, sort of a variation on the theme "autocorrect". Lest you or I thought I was out of material, after posting 300 here, here comes some early morning news articles provoki...

  A Body of Work, Working It Out 300 and Counting! When I embarked on this journey, started my very first blog (one and only, so far) on your behalf, to support your well-being through this indeterminable time period that was declared a global pandemic by WHO else? almost two years ago now (3-11-20), with the intent on posting on a range of subjects as well as a mixture of seriousness and light-hearted flights of fancy, sometimes even within the same post. But I did not anticipate that a) I would still be adding to this blog early in 2022, with yet another mutant in our midst, nor b) I would be exceeding 300 posts! (frankly, I kinda lost count but "Blogger.com" does it for me -- nice of y'all, thanks very much!). Finally, I did not know what kind of readership to expect (otherwise known as "followers" in blog speak), and remain grateful there are still so many out there who visit this blog frequency, if not frequently. I appreciate you as well! In an earlier tim...

Games of Young and Old; Calling All Players, Out! Going Full Circle: "What's old is young again, what was out is back in, the ___ is the new ___..." To which you, the reader, listener, having seen and heard these words here and elsewhere, thousands of times now, throughout the ages, regardless of your own age, respond with "blah, blah, blah" ("wah, wah, wah" if you prefer the alternate spelling, pronunciation, the words of Charlie Brown, who has pretty much passed the test of time) OR, boiled down by younger generations in an attempt, I guess, to "cut to the chase!" (foreshadowing, spoiler alert)... "DUH!"  As if it's obvious to you and should be to me by now, that even if you have read a minority representation of posts here, even at a surface, superficial level, among other ways I enjoy "fun and frolic" inside and out, recently through new "pandemic playgrounds" (8/31/20), include a play on words, word play...