Neocortex Region of the Human Brain

The idea of connections within the cognitive, affective, and physical domain regarding behavior, development, and literally every function of humanity that results from a sensory – motor, neurological – capacity framework, are not new constructs. However, great new discoveries are made more and more that deepen humanity within the development and assessment of actions, reactions, or any capacity of individual merit, is concerned. When discussions of the regions of the brain become the focus, verbiage, and the emphasis of whole systemic influence create high level conversations where many otherwise studious individuals become lost or uninterested in the required depth.

     With this axiom in play allow us to attempt to discuss some sections of the brain over the course of our blog postings this next year or two. Madzook will deliver some points of consideration for you to focus deeper reading, as you are individually inclined to do so. The advancement of neuron capacity and influence on development and evolutionary contributions is a highly prioritized area for human development and personal discovery. Furthering improvements for individuals, and social groups alike, including high-end performers and lower-level performers, as well as many areas of anomaly, or dysfunction that can be corrected and/or minimized.

     The Neo-cortex is a part of the brain that contributes to human functionality primarily in the limbic system. Some of the areas that are controlled, and stimulated in the Neo-cortex include;

·       Motivation

·       Memory

·       Learning

·       Determines fear, increases or inhibits arousal

·       Sensory perceptions

·       Influences, or participates in bodily functions necessary for both survivability and improving ability or capacity to thrive.

·       Neurogenesis

·       Neural Migration

·       Synapse formation

·       Conscious Cognitive Ability and Efficacy

·       Language

·       Spatial Reasoning

     The Neo-cortex is considered to be 76% of the human brain making it the largest section of the CNS. The Neo-cortex is also believed to be how humans can employ neuroplasticity by creating new neural functionality long into adulthood. The concepts reinforce opinions that injury, or individual development can become a more inclusive research area on how to maximize contributions by humans for inducing specificity in neural programing and recruitment potential. Some scientist even postulate that the Neo-cortex is the seat of consciousness and many have long held that humanity, the spirit, the soul, the unknown variable that makes us human is that exact seat of consciousness identification that has not been assigned empirically to this point. Perhaps, we as humanity are on the correct path with advancements into brain study. The Neo-cortex is something that all of humanity should make inquiry just given this information of importance in limited quantity. Madzook hopes that you now decide to pursue additional information about the Neo-cortex in much more detail!

Word of The Week - Rapacity

Lately, I have read an abundance of information while I was researching the field of life coaching, and the various subtitles or specialized sub-fields that are being used as monikers. In that process, I found a troubling synthesis with many programs and practitioners with limited or nonexistent qualifications beyond good looks, an appearance of wealth, or an uncanny ability to repeat platitudes on social media. This realization provided my inspiration for the word of the week this week.

Rapacity - The aggressive greed! A person that simply takes from another for the betterment of themselves. e.g. John’s rapacity was on full display when he chose to practice deceptive personal coaching that was way outside of his capacity and educational boundaries. John did so for the simple goal of personal wealth at the expense of another.

Do not allow yourself to fall victim to anothers rapacity. A good way to use checks and balance against rapacity is to always ask “what is the intention” and “what is a reward” for the person that is offering me a service or a product, and most importantly always evaluate with depth beyond intuition, or emotional acceptance those that blindly offer you a “friendship”, or those that ask something of you in return for said relationship.

The MADZOOK Fateful Eight of Personal Development & Performance Enhancement

Our Personal development and individual performance enhancement require that many variables are operating in both synthesized and counterbalancing functionality. The integrated systems model of humanity is quite complex with areas of blatant simplicity. Often, at times we as individuals and as a collective overlook the simple constructs that improve or influence the complex systemic operational outcomes. Areas of both depth and simplicity are widely discussed throughout much of the expansive written literature that is available on the subjects. Subjects that include, methodology, or correlations of neurological, sociological, biological, psychological, physiological, anatomical, and educational phenomena. The potential pathways, requirements, or inclusiveness for elemental functional response and particular contributors of cognitive and emotional training processes intended to override predisposed genetic, or environmentally influenced behaviors.

     The findings of psychology focused on Heuristics, or filters which much of decision making is based from in the World today. Heuristics are one of the many constructs that you can and should become more familiar with on a personal level. Researchers at the University of British Columbia (2015) opined that a genetic predisposition for placing a greater priority to negative emotional and cognitive thoughts are more likely in humans which supported the negativity bias theory. In a separate study (2013) a discovery of the much detailed neurological and physiological functions i.e. a G-Protein Receptor influences Norepinephrine and a deletion of Glutamic Acids….(hint! Read more if you can understand the deep science and terminology of this discovery). The discovery was a specific gene which is believed to amplify negative emotional response and emphasize the potential for negative cognitive output – i.e. negative self-talk, the gene is the ADRA2B gene. (Burrows, 2017) published her research findings that were repeated by the National Institute of Health indicating that putative networks in the brain caused repetitive negative thoughts that were a significant contributor to autism development. Multiple studies confirm that humans use more negative words in their daily word selection than they do positive ones. Others hold a position that as developing minds, children are exposed to constant highlights of their failures, always told what they are doing wrong, what they are not capable of becoming, their dreams and ambitions are consistently placed in a negative light. In some cases, children are exposed to ridicule by peers, scared on purpose i.e. Halloween with the older brother, a trip to grandma’s house where the scary old people speak negatively to the child and much, much, more.

     Hold on! There is plenty of good news to hear today too! All of this, yes, all of it, is correctable, even the predisposed genetic influencers. First, Madzook is a program and a philosophy that works with otherwise non-diagnosed individuals as a primary focus. We seek to assist personal development and self-discovery as our primary goal of working with you as a client. As a disclaimer, and more importantly as vital information for you to understand fully, should you be diagnosed with, or feel that you suffer from or could be affected by mental illness, we highly recommend that you seek a practitioner in this area that is licensed and specializes in such areas of expertise that are associated with the potential affliction. It is our belief that some people with such a diagnosis can and should utilize our methods but that is only determined individually and with much consultation and discussion on a case by case basis with specificity and confidentiality in force. With that said, this is a reminder of an informative nature that you are capable of participating in your own personal development and self-discovery! You should know that high performance personal improvements are our primary focus and we seek to assist healthy persons become whole, learn more, and perform better where possible. We do not supply medical advice, including psychiatric diagnosis or interventions for persons that require such professional help, that practice is simply out of our scope of practice and professional or legal capacity.

     The idea of overcoming the negativity bias is based on CBT, and positive psychology constructs in much of the literature available. Madzook has a fateful eight listing of the greatest influencers, in our opinion, of the negative personal development contributors. We want to work with you to learn how to override the following actions, feelings or thoughts! Work on the areas of mandatory constructs and get to know the depths of the fateful eight! Freedom and enhanced personal development require your participation – start here!

Madzook Fateful Eight of Personal Development and Performance Enhancement

Apathy

Arrogance

Shame

Guilt

Fear

Doubt

Envy

Submission/Quitting

Madzook Mandatory Eight of Personal Development and Performance Enhancement

Intensive Self-Discovery

Articulate and Diverse Communication

Candid Assessment (internal and external)

Time – Management

Personal Physical Development

Personal Education (Acquire knowledge, develop cognitive intelligence) and an Expanded Life Experiential Development (People, Places, Things, Events – master and fully understand individual emotional intelligence)

Flexibility/Adaptability (Does NOT specifically mean you are to seek constant change)

Competency comes before confidence! (Choosing Proficiency over Sufficiency)

     MadzookJoe, 2019

Word of the Week - Myopic

Myopic - An adjective used to describe a person that is considered short sighted. The shortsightedness can be attributed to the physical domain, the actual capacity of depth of vision for the ocular system processes. However, the term is used more often to describe a person with a shortsighted attitude or disposition. A person that fails to see depth where possible and always looks for the shallow reason, or solution. A shortsighted person will never understand how to unify humanity, or how to better educate themselves.

Be especially guarded against any actions, re actions, choices, reconciliations, reinforcements, or attributions to such persons ( including yourself if applicable) that are behaving or thinking from a myopic position or postulation.

Pedagogy - Metagogy - Andragogy - Heutagogy

These specific constructs are four of the ideas of learning modality. Distinct by the differentiations in relationships between instructor and student, student with peers or as an individual seeker, and student with the recognized reality that learning and teaching between individuals or groups of individuals is a shared concept with a multitude of potential lessons. Knowledge acquisitions are determined or enhanced through a participatory action and one’s capability to access the lessons through perspective, context, self-expression, depth of critical thinking applied, and self – reliance. As we do here, with all the blog posts entries that we provide. We simply introduce a surface discussion into areas where a deeper dive is warranted. The exposure to the pathway does not determine where the path will lead for any individual. Individuals must recognize that they alone will choose how the intensity and applicability of the concepts are explored and analyzed.

Pedagogy is the method of learning where the teacher/instructor/mentor/coach is the dominate party of the relationship. The advisor of subject matter, the guide that both poses the questions and helps you to find the directed answers. Most generally the pedagogy is where the Master instructs the student on how to perform a math equation, what letters come in order of the alphabet, how to name shapes, how to read a map, how to do a correct push-up, what the meaning of being polite is, what table manners are, etc…. The idea that the teacher instructs the student in the acquisition of the knowledge born of the construct and the intention of the lesson.

Metagogy finds a shift in this relationship between instructor and student. The shift being that the student begins to interject questions of their own, to issue challenges to the status quo, to research or to examine query with Socratic principles, or applications of the null hypothesis ( you can prove something false but you can not prove it true – therefore, if you always approach evidence-based examination through the lens and intention of proving it false, you have a greater recognition of what all is possible or believable to become or currently be true at the time of your examination with the data available). The student/instructor begin to examine things together with the instructor still guiding the boat, but the student is setting a course for where to take the boat so to speak. A place of mutual study and although the student is not fully capable yet of knowing what they do not know or how to seek with intention, they begin to learn during a process of metagogy instructional design and participation.

Andragogy often related to “adult learning” but for our discussion we will provide the assumption that the process is for learning with maturity and discipline of one’s self more than the attainment of one’s age. The inference being that life experiences are unique, and that age is not the determinant factor of personal experience as a stand-alone measure. A good metaphor is that the instructor is like the caterpillar, Cheshire the cat, The Mad Hatter, and the White Knight in Alice in Wonderlands journey through Wonderland. The Instructor/Mentor in this model of learning process is the guide but only when the student needs them to appear or seeks them out for assistance. In other words, the student, Alice herself is the guide that seeks her own knowledge. The student explores areas of interest to them and sets the course for what they would like to learn or know more of specifically. The individual responsibility of the “adult” or “mature” learner is required for them to excel, find sufficiency as the objective, or to seek mastery and proficiency in their own right and by their own seeking and doing.

Heutagogy some people would call this phase or process an awakening, or an actualization that teacher and student can become synonymous, a time length, a subject matter, a hierarchy are all in a state of fluidity. An expert in martial arts may be the best teacher until the subject matter is speaking English, or cooking tacos. The point being that a person that finds themselves utilizing this learning style process is one that understands that collaborations, diversity, discourse, and evidence are all relative and that a person can be or become both a student and a master (instructor) – a person can learn from someone younger, different, less academic credentials, less monetary influence or worth for example. In fact, the whole process is now determined by the individual and there is no more formal guide to assist with the knowledge or skill acquisition. The subject matter, the environments, the choices made, the interactions and integrations of people potentially inferior, and people potentially superior in any subject at anytime can all learn from and with each other. From and with being distinct but equally as important in word selection or matter of practice. From being that (A) teaches (B) or (C) showed (A) something new. With being that (A), (B), (C), and even (D) all might participate in learning something together and each one influences or provided input that is significant – not always in equity as a mandate but significant. (A) might add (1) concept and (B) might add (4) concepts and (D) might add (12) concepts – the whole, is the result, not the single contribution of any individual. The point being, that we are able to learn through life experiences, communication, participation, and observations.

     I encourage you to study these concepts and their differences in greater detail. Find where you are as a learner, and as an educator if that applies to you. Life is a journey and lessons are never-ending. We must never stop asking questions, watching and interacting with people, or learning!

     MadzookJoe, 2019

Concentric and Eccentric

The working definitions of concentric and eccentric are widely used in a plethora of fields. For our purposes today, we want to utilize the terms to explain how the physical and martial pillars of Madzook are affected by the application of the solution, a concentric construct, or an eccentric construct. Concentric means when something shares a center but is expandable as long as the objects or patterns added to the shape or fulcrum point share the same center. Eccentric means using something in a manner that is different than the norm, or in a way, use or behavior that creates varied points of power from the movements or actions that are the cause of the resulting anomaly.

     For fitness persons, or those that have experience in working out with weight training, concentric training is the traditional form of an exercise. By traditional form we mean to say that the contraction is the purpose that creates the power. The movement is utilized in the manner that produces an action rather than preventing an action. As an example, a concentric bench-press action requires the person to exert contractions that force the weighted resistance up from the chest. The motion of the force production is to push it away from the body. An eccentric action for a chest exercise that utilizes negative resistance, or eccentric training is when the person lying on the bench press station is using muscle power to resist the gravity of the weight bearing down onto their chest. The idea is to continue to resist the weighted gravitational pull so that the muscle stays contracted, and the power is created by the movement of the point of contraction.

     Weight training by utilizing eccentric contractions are also exampled by the downward phase of the Push – up exercise, and concentric is performed when the person pushes away from the ground. In short, resisting the activity from overcoming you is the eccentric component, and using your strength or movement to overcome the resistance is the concentric phase. Both applications are quite useful and beyond the scope of this blog entry. Suffice it to say that weight training modality has a much-detailed specificity in the exercise choice and methodology that is used to build, or maintain muscle size, power, and endurance functionality. The difference being this; concentric uses a positive power force in a linear direction by a centered control point or center of emphasis. An eccentric exercise will utilize the negative action on the muscles movement by altering the center of power and holding a purpose to prevent an activity rather than produce an activity or energy.

     When it comes to martial training, eccentric is simply using odd behavior to disrupt or confuse your opponent or attacker. A form of deceitful activity that shows the foe that you are outwardly different from what they might expect. A movement or action against the normal expectancy that produces an opportunity for escape or retreat as a designed tactic. The idea of utilizing non-conventional methodology to counter or disrupt any attempted aggression or action of violence that is meant to harm or endanger you by the activity of another.

     The concentric application deals most recently with the discussions of situational awareness. The law enforcement, and military instructors teach what is called the concentric ring of disruption. The idea being that a circle is expanded to extend the levels of situational awareness and capacity for action as necessary. Eccentric is a form of defensive strategy design. Concentric is more of a method of knowing where and when the attack capacity, limits, or potentials reside. The individual utilizes a symbiotic center, or location of etiology and source of power. In the case of situational awareness training that center is YOU, the person that expands their spatial room awareness, the awareness of who is in the room, what dangers are possibly present, and where is the most likely point of attack, or defensive maneuver for you to employ. As is the case with physical training, the operational use and expanded capacity of both eccentric and concentric training is optimal. Madzook does offer both types of training for physical and martial trainings that we provide. I would suggest that you begin to look into the importance of balanced training practices that incorporate concentric and eccentric activity for your own personal development, wherever you may locate the opportunity to do so based on your location, preferences, and individual capacity or perception of need.

Three important actions to become more aware and to extend your concentric ring capacity:

1.)   Create and monitor your baseline – know your usual locations and the dwellers of such, their actions and their patterns or usual functions and temperament.

2.)   Remove normalcy bias – all evil is not big and scary, and big and scary is not always the evil you need to worry about. Make sure that your bias toward thinking something is normal is not the determining factor of your reaction – with that said, do not underestimate your sense of survival if you feel something is wrong, leave the area, or prepare for the situation to ensue. You can work out how you arrived at the conclusion later if you were wrong.

3.)   Avoid focus lock – do not allow yourself to be so focused on one thing, or one possibility that you overlook the real danger. Do not be distracted but do not become locked on to one issue. Remain openly aware and train to become better at expanding your awareness capacity. This is a critical first step and a foundational step for all self-defense applications.

     MadzookJoe, 2019

Word of the Week - Axiology

Axiology is a noun, a manner in which persons assign or recognize the value or valuation of phenomena within their determinations. In other words, what is it that we place a value on and how did we arrive to that conclusion for a value measurement?

     For example, do you find that you utilize an axiology of a persons importance to be their beauty or their intelligence, are they successful based on the amount of money that they hold when you meet them or by the number of followers that they have on Instagram? Do you adjudicate a person as intelligent by their academic accomplishments, or their worldly experiences? The way you measure a worth of value is considered your axiology!

     Be sure to expand your paradigms after you recognize the axiology that you employ to arrive at your assumptions. Knowing how you determine a valuation is an important construct of self-reflection, and associations that create relationships, or limitations, each with equal influences on personal development and individual behaviors.

Introduction to Spirituality

There are four-pillars of Madzooks’ philosophy toward personal development that must be reconciled for a person to find the most complete holistic and individual process of their development. One of these important pillars of development and personal proficiency is spirituality. I have talked primarily about the cognitive pillar in these early blog posts. One of my priorities for Madzook is to evolve our online presence and to offer places of learning and discovery for those that choose to explore our outlets; YouTube, this blog, and our personal Instagram accounts.

     The Instagram accounts will be primarily informal, mostly candid, and on location type of postings. The YouTube will consist of a professional channel where professional constructs are discussed, and a formal tone is the objective of the delivery process. We intend to post what will be called a legacy video (much of our work or travels that we captured over the years), and candid videos for entertainment, enjoyment, laughs, or social interactions, and our more professional toned video creations with depth and breadth of personal discovery as the purpose. The Blog, this blog, will post once a week with a discussion into one of the four-pillars each week. There will also be a word of the week posted each week on the blog randomly but sometime during the week.

     With that said, I wanted to bring the topic of spirituality into this introduction for a recognition of the variety and contrasted or comparative potentials for exploring and exploiting one’s spirituality. I must mention that my personal spirituality is a detailed combination born of many constructs from esoteric origin; varied religious Dogma and beliefs, and personal participation in the multitudes of my own influences that create my individual spirituality. I do not advocate or represent to be speaking for any given form of spirituality and I fully advise and acknowledge two things here; religion is a spiritual vessel for many that hold a specific faith, and your personal choice for developing your own spirituality is yours to make – not mine to adjudicate for your merit or your purposes in holding such views or paradigms. The importance of increased or newly discovered paths for spirituality is vital for personal development and performance improvements as the pillar creates a wealth of discovery potential for ontology, epistemology, metaphysical phenomena, esoteric connections, sciences of earth and energy, Deity choices or Dogma mandates that touch or speak to you, and faith, fate, luck or self-identification with a meaningful purpose, all of which are empowering for anyone’s and everyone’s individual evolution and growth.

     One thing that I would use as an example here is the synthesis of similar beliefs found within starkly contrasting paradigms and perspectives when it comes to any specificity of belief in a spiritual entity or a lack thereof. The World seems unanimous that there is a “good” and an “evil” the contrasts resting on the determination of which, is what, and for whom. The example I will use here for this post is within the stories of powerful darkness or evil in the form of a Demon or Influencer not of human entity.

Christians – Offer the story of the seven fallen Angels that had intercourse and bred children with human women. These offspring were known as the Nephilim and are in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Numbers. Said to be evil giants spawned from demonic etiology and the creators of the linage of demons.

Celtics, Wiccan, and Animism all hold stories of Demonic possession or summoning of darkness for power by invocation of a Demon or entity other than human.

Hindu believes in both good and evil in all things, and that those choosing to be evil are in fact not equal to a God but are destined to live by the works of their own evil acts (or change them).

Muslims have the Jinn, the Tir and the Dasim among several other entities not of humanity but filled with evil intent and actions.

VooDoo is notorious for the summoning and power of the Demons, the Undead and Devils not of this World.

Tao has the Ngai practitioners or “black magic sorceress”

I could literally list hundreds of other symmetries in beliefs of evil as an inherent construct, and the act of man and other Worldly beings as the foundational influences of the darkness in the energy or Spirit World in and of itself. The point is this, two-fold; Spirituality is both good and evil, and personal choice is the primary influencer of each action or decision that you opt to take or participate in, and before you adjudicate which belief is prioritized over another, perhaps understanding the synthesis of the teachings, and knowing the differentiations in as much detail as you can is a best case practice to undertake. Spirituality is important, and the way you approach it and receive it will have powerful impacts on your personal development capacity and pathways.

     MadzookJoe, 2018

Word of the Week - Nyctophilia

A love of the night hours! Pleasure or peace derived from being in the darkness.

Are you a person that likes to be out at night, or one that thrives in the hours of darkness? As a younger person, I was working a lot of nighttime hours in bars, and clubs, or doing bodyguard work. I found that I was most at peace or empowered when the sun went down and living after midnight was euphoric at times. I really felt alive and energized. As I aged and my lifestyle changed, I found the daytime to be my preference. In fact, I almost feel lost when out during the nighttime now. However, if I am out and feel engaged or concerned about the night at all, my innate powers of the connection with the darkness seem to go on autopilot. I become hypervigilant and almost electric it seems. I feel most cognitive in the daytime hours, and most intuitive in the nighttime hours. Where do you prefer? Have you ever asked yourself why, or how?

Proximity Influences Perception

A construct that often has me perplexed when on-boarding new clients into the coaching sphere is personal perception. My years of work as a performance enhancement specialist, a sport and performance psychology consultant, and an elite competitive athlete trainer prepared me of course both academically and life experientially for discerning and negotiating perception discrepancies. Those variations in human differentiation's born of multiple influencers and connectivity through constructive practices and individual exposure. Proximity is a psychological element of Gestalt methodology or belief (perspective which is not to be confused with perception). Proximity of course had long been an influencer of environments and individual behaviors prior to acknowledgment or postulations of the pioneers for Gestalt or whole integrated systems thinking ideology. Why will one person see or view any phenomena in such drastically different ways than another person? Their perception, is it a result of their proximity to paradigms espoused, personal result of triumphant or failed attempts, modeled behavior, rote memory, exposure to academic resources, or their support systems competence if one assesses that level with utmost candor?

Sensory perceptions are biologically and neurologically processed in two ways; bottom-up or top-down. The former being where an individual simply accepts the input and usually with emotional response, or feeling, interprets the stimulus and creates the association or schema lens. Example, you see a person spit and you think that act is gross, so the person must be gross. Subsequently, you immediately turn away from them and form a negative opinion of who they are without any further thought (bottom-up perception practices).

Deeper evaluation or top-down processing may have helped you to see the person was choking and needed to spit out the article that was causing the choking to take place. The person that you emotionally associated with a despicable act, was the Doctor that just saved a person’s leg in surgery and does not even fart in public, generally! You see, human associations through perceptions are what generate future influences on bottom-up shallow understandings or create stronger cognitive development by top-down processing trained mental skills enhancement. The irony for a coach is seeing the bottom-up client that feels they are a top-down master. They think they know all they need to know and seek you out simply to reinforce what they think that they already know!

Proximity to greatness is a foundational practice for Madzook Wellness Coaching. The position that finding a proximity to greatness increases one’s top-down processing capacity. Imagine if you were to talk with Tesla about energy or spent time with Beethoven while he composed a symphony. What if you served under George Washington or Benedict Arnold? How does the proximity in your life generate opportunity for your growth and personal development?

If you read and learn about the masters of various fields and industry of historical relativity, then you will certainly gain a better proximity to their perspectives and possibly understand how their perceptions influenced their choices. What laws or ethical concerns influenced Washington, did Malcom X master resiliency? What was Van Gough thinking that made him cut off his own ear? Social psychology suggests that proximity principle allows interaction with groups and individuals that form their beliefs (their perceptions by another name) – proximity influences perception. Therefore, proximity influences behaviors based on those associations formed by personal perception.

Seeking a proximity to greatness develops a top-down process and contributes to the associations between feelings and thoughts that determine self-direction in contrast to conformity, generalization, victimization, and sufficiency masked as tolerance for differences within people. In fact, the proximity of mutual acceptance also creates the associations that like-minded people cling too for reinforcement. Unless of course, they learn individually how determining to seek important proximity to greatness of environments, knowledge, and experience, creates stronger depth and breadth influences for forming those mutually associated perceptions trough individually evaluated merit, complexity, and personal relevance of importance. Proximity to greatness is when a person seeks to be near or around, or influenced by, great minds, great concepts, great truths, great food, great love, great thinkers, great artisans, master craftsmen, and the individual is determined to control their own powerful development and skill enhancement. Madzook opines that seeking greatness and finding a proximity to powerful skilled leaders, empowering environments, and expanded knowledge is how to improve anyone’s limits of perception. The limits that those seeking greatness by proximity are capable of seeing as expanded pathways while those that hold a perception that they are just fine where they are, do not. Choose wisely, greatness is out there, will you look for it and evaluate how it became, or will you admire it from afar?

MadzookJoe, 2018

Happiness, Flow, and Finding “The Zone”

We have spoken about our positions of mastery, seeking proficiency, and how to look to achieve a greatness within our functional capacity. The rubber hits the road so to speak when we examine the colloquial expression in the zone. That zone being a zone of optimal performance, according to constructs of positive psychology. For athletes, or high-level performers the zone is a critical area of examination as a conscious awareness beyond the external boundaries of extrinsic influencers.

     Introspection is a method for self-examination that is believed to be a positive practice for self-efficacy (a strong belief in one’s own skill capacity to perform a specific function or task). The practice of finding personal dispositional flow results when the purpose for achievement, in this case or example we are talking about individual happiness, becomes autotelic, or intrinsically motivating – meaning the desire to keep doing what it is taking place that has you in that zone of optimal dispositional flow is greater than anything else at the time. Time, or timing of the personal specificity for dispositional flow and discovery of autotelic tendencies or traits is subjective to the individual. The scope of this discussion is introductory, as much of a blog post should be. Advanced learning on the subjects mentioned should be examined with more depth by a person seeking to understand the basics of this introduction.

     Rumination differs from introspection by the connotations associated with the practiced. Rumination is when a person self-examines themselves from a subconscious lens and conscious perspective of what is wrong, and why is this or that sensation, environment or person, making me so unhappy. The idea is to understand how an autotelic personality development will secure a methodology of positive psychology that places your introspection in a positive lens, one that seeks to examine what felt good, and why. The purpose of the action or feeling is the goal, doing something for the sake of doing it when it provides cognitive and /or emotional benefits is an important schema to build. Have you ever taken a nice bath, walk on the beach, sat with a person and talked, and just felt so alive that you did not want the moment to end? That is it! That is the zone of optimal development when we consider happiness as the measure. 19th Century Philosopher and Business man John Stuart Mill said:

          “One person with a firm belief is worth more than ninety-nine others with a mere interest”

          “Asking yourself if you are happy will only lead you to more thoughts of unhappiness”

     The indication being that believing in what you are doing is the path to happiness, far greater than measuring what you have or do not have – good goals help us seek what we want, but we must also inquire of ourselves if what we want is useful to our dispositional flow. Mihal Csikszentmihalyi, one of the co-founders of modern-day positive psychology practices, postulated that effort to control external forces or environments is not the path to happiness. The purpose of the choice, the behavior, or the disposition of the individual is the more critical element of consideration. Inner harmony comes from participation and collaboration with the influences that make a person satisfied just by the act of completion for the task or event. Once you learn the influences of happiness, and the personal identification with the dispositional flow and individual zone of achievement, you may develop activities and environments conducive to that end.

     According to Csikszentmihalyi, the following eight characteristics of flow are the areas to focus on attuitively:

A.)  Concentrating completely on the task or moment of bliss

B.)  Clarity in purpose of the goal – practice reflection through introspection NOT rumination

C.)  The capacity to transform time – speed up, or slow down the process of your functionality – gain control of the situation within your own determined regulatory flow development

D.)  Focus on realizing what is intrinsically satisfying for you rather than what outside variables (people, places, things) have to do with your disposition. i.e. you earned a hundred bucks – do not focus on how the hundred bucks is important to you – focus on the idea that YOU were paid for what you wanted to do.

E.)  Ease of the process, if the process is too hard, or does not provide a sense of satisfaction and requires more effort than you feel is worth the result. You will never find happiness in pursuing that end – much misinformation out there suggests otherwise but if you do not like what you are doing and you do not like the effort it takes to do it, you will find that at the end you will settle for the result, or may find a different result, but your flow is not going to concentrate on the individual effort, it will focus on the external reward and happiness is shallow and temporary from that origination.

F.)   Build a proper balance between challenging and personal skill reality. Endeavors should challenge you but should not demean you. Scaffolding is a better method for taking on difficulty and expanding boundaries, or skill development.

G.)  Merge action and awareness when possible – learn to feel good in the zone but understand what put you in that zone.

H.)  Remain in control of the task and the environment – loss of control does not achieve happiness. Escaping by means of fantasy, intoxication, or assimilation will only discourage and placate your process. If you feel the issue, or environment is not rewarding to you – do not try to force acceptance or for others to accept a half-truth of you, seek the places and people that you are subconsciously comfortable with, and those elements which provide positive contributions to your happiness and personal development.

Be sure to read more about:

 Dispositional flow

Autotelic

M. Csikszentmihalyi

J.S. Mill

          “I can only point you in the direction, I can not make you choose the path” -  MadzookJoe

    

Proficiency Constrains Sufficiency

What does it mean to seek personal mastery? “In my humble opinion” – Wait, should we make or qualify our opinions as humble if we are learned and know better than to presuppose such filtered belittlement? The constructs of positive psychology, manifestations, affirmations, and visualization practice, all dictate that we see a mastery and that we pursue that mastery. Why do we accept normative educational standards, and why do we tolerate complacency as a comfort? Is it better to allow a scaled range from incompetent to sufficient as the practitioners or laymen that create and drive the systems of the collective? Because somehow society of the day has decided that we cannot speak candidly of those persons that work toward sufficient standards as opposed to those that seek higher standards and personal accountability?

     Who speaks for the gifted, the strong, the creators of amazing things and the artists that provide environmental influences for building an extraordinary human capacity? When did it somehow become equitable for another, if any other individual suppresses their own maximum competence or performance levels. It is only through personal participation and learned skills, that proficient practitioners develop, and this process is a continuum not a point (a) or point (b) scenario. Madzook opines that encouraging individuals to seek proficiency in their passion and those things that provide purpose and attainable levels of skill acquisition should be celebrated! If you recognize physical or abstract beauty – tell the person and acknowledge such splendor. If you recognize strength, say thank you to those that must wield it! If you find a proximity to intelligence or greatness of any form or practice, pay attention and learn from such experiences and exposures!

     You get to make personal choices every day, and the fallacy of blame, and resentment, or claims of privilege is not going to determine your disposition. You will determine your disposition and any solution by your own actions, and your own participation in personal development. Arthur Shopenhauer was a philosopher. He said, “a man can do what he wants – but a man can not want what he wants as freely”. In other words, those that do, the ones that rise and achieve mastery or sufficiency by their own choice do so by that choice or the choices made along the way.

     However, a person that wants to seek proficiency will battle the demons of envy, doubt, fear, and discouragement. People will always try to influence you to remain sufficient and tell you that ‘it is OK” – but those that find mastery, those that rise to become greatness of some form or another, they are the ones that pushed beyond the words and actions of those that discouraged the process. Sometimes this is family, other times it is what you might consider a close friend, a partner, a confidant. When in reality, the person seemingly only reminds you what you can not attain, how little you have, what you are missing to accomplish your desires, and why you should just be happy where you are or with what you have. I mean after all, you could have it much worse, is that not the rationalized positions of the deception and disbelief others bestow upon you to justify their opinions of how you are not worthy or deserving for some reason.

     Mr. Shopenhauer also said, “Talent hits a target that no one else can hit – but true genius, well, genius hits the target that no one else can see”. Do not settle on perceptions of talent when measured against lessor challenges. Rise to the mastery level in all that you are passionate about. Sufficiency is never acceptable when the learned knowledge is a required tool and the mastery rest in your motivations and desire to find personal proficiency. Make the choice to become genius and see the target that no one else can see. Hit the targets that you need too with improved skill acquisitions but be mindful and seek nothing less than mastery for the mandates of your own personal development with utmost proficiency! No one else must see your vision, the greatest master’s in history were generally not recognized until those visions were revealed to the doubtful ones that could not see the greatness developing right before their eyes.

 

     MadzookJoe

    

Word of the Week - Hermeneutic

An adjective used to describe a method of interpretation based from prior experiences, or paradigms of personal choice. A persons hermeneutics will predispose them to a perspective which influences an acceptance or contrasting opinion of any certain phenomena.

In laymans’ terms - if you feel strongly about a position, then you are more likley to see the same position when you examine potential new conversations or text that associate with that belief.