Dark chocolate, chianti, music and a little kaizen, anyone?
Dark Ghirardelli chocolate, a glass of chianti, and Lucinda Drayton singing in the background, all is well in the world. (If only) It’s a feast for the senses. Lucinda’s an angel on earth, and even though I have more exotic chocolate preferences, the 60% cacao squares will do just fine.
It’s the eve of a new work week and the brain reluctantly moves from one side of the skull to the other making ready to make sense. Dollars and cents.
The mind is what I’ll be delving into this week as the promotion cycle begins for a book called, The Vigorous Mind by communications strategist, Ingrid Cummings. I’ll have more to say about it later in the week, but at this early stage, I am delighted and intrigued.
Ingrid will show us in her book how to cross train our brains to become more well-rounded, like those we historically call “Renaissance people.” She employs a technique well-regarded in the workplace in Japan called Kaizen. In fact, the Toyota corporation practices the principles of kaizen, even here in the U.S. Soon we’ll be sharing with the media Ingrid’s take on how General Motors might have had a better shot had they used it.
Stay tuned.
Apparently, our minds can make significant progress with just a simple 20-minute concentration exercise daily. I don’t know about you, but I’d give 20 minutes to kick start my graying gray matter.
The Vigorous Mind will be released in January just in time for all of you who are making grand resolutions. Perhaps cross training your mind or aspiring to be a contemporary Renaissance man or woman will make your list. In the book business we always say that the beginning of the year is the “new year, new you” season.
I don’t think you’ll lose weight with kaizen, but I could be wrong. You can prepare to trim some of the fat from your brain. Sounds a little gruesome but I’m sure we’re all carrying around some extra fatty mental baggage that we no longer need.
May the kaizen force be with you (and GM)!
And me.
Note: Be one of the first to get a copy of The Vigorous Mind by writing to me. FREE copy to the first 10 people to ask.
Comments (7)Life’s a beach…
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A bit of mystical Italy comes to Miami - outsiders, it’s still worth reading!
Mid week, I am delivering an un-bookly post to inform you of an intriguing event happening in Miami. If you’re not a South Florida dweller, I invite you still to click on the links so that you might travel to a mystical place in Italy called, “Damanhur“. They do publish books in Italian, so those out there that speak the language - you can indulge. I hope to add some spiffy graphics to this post as they day goes on so you may want to check back. I’m attending the “Concert of the Plants” event and will be sure to report on the musicality of our shrubs, houseplants and forests. Now, I find that worth the price of admission! Enjoy!
Tomorrow (11/14), from 7pm to 10pm, Miami’s top artists, educators, environmentalists, community leaders and media will gather to welcome special representatives of The Federation of Damanhur. The world’s largest intentional eco-community, Damanhur featured in February 2008 on ABC’s Good Morning America has chosen Miami Beach as the community’s main North American hub for their educational programs and events.
The first event, Damanhur Reception and Music of the Plants, will be held at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden. The program will include a magical concert of the plants utilizing one of Damanhur’s revolutionary technologies that converts the energy of the plants and translates it into music, a short video of Damanhur and open conversation with the Damanhurian Ambassadors, Crotalo Sesamo and Shama Viola.
“We are thrilled to be opening up a center in Miami,” said Crotalo Sesamo. “As part of our first program we’ll be creating a spiral stone labyrinth which will become a permanent interactive art installation at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, our gift to the community.”
Damanhur has city centers all over the world in countries such as Italy, France, Austria, Japan, Germany and Croatia. Founded in 1975 and located in northwestern Italy, the federation of Damanhur (”the city of light”) has been described as one of the largest and most successful advanced technological intentional eco-villages in the world. Damanhur is a Federation of Communities with a continuously evolving social and political structure. They are also renowned for building the largest underground temple in the world. The Temples of Humankind at Damanhur are an extraordinary work of art that has been described as an “Eight Wonder of the World”.
A United Nations award- winning sustainable community, Damanhur is an eco-society based upon ethical and spiritual values, esoteric traditions and modern research. The world which they speak about is surrounded and motivated by the beauty of art, guided daily by spiritual purpose, and a commitment to manifesting the Damanhur dream; the successes of their ideals manifested as a living reality ignite hope for the future of humanity and for the realization of a diverse and unified peaceable planet.
For more information, contact: Fredda Psaltis: (fredda@healingstar.net)
Comments (0)Wednesday
If this is social networking then why are we home alone on our computers?
Social networking brings to mind something other than sitting solitary at home on my computer. I hear glasses clinking, the din of a crowd, small and not-so-small talk wafting out of the mouths of seemingly respectable people. There’s a jazz trio in the corner, a tip jar on the portable bar and a singer with a smoky voice. Peel n’stick name tags, maybe?
Not a Imac keyboard, a screen full of strangers’ photos, and a littany of inane “what I’m doing now” notices posted every few hours.
Basically, I have the kind of personality defect, which I think stems from being the youngest child, of not wanting to feel left out, of never wanting to miss something. So, like millions of other drones, I hopped onto Facebook and LinkedIn, joined Shelfari with the love of literature as my excuse, and think I’ve even agreed to something called Plaxo. Now, that sounds a little space aged and cold to me… Plax-o?
Oy.
Is it the number of “friends” you amass or “contacts” as Linkedin likes to call them? Facebook and LinkedIn even link to each other, just in case you feel like your being too social on one and need to strut your business persona on the other. I perpetually post clever enticements to visit my blog in both places which I’m sure is verbotin. Who’s to say what’s “socially acceptable” anyway? Who makes up these rules for this pretend networking world?
If we think of these venues as marketing tools, I’m be all for them. I wonder, though, if they really do anything to increase our visibility or contribute to our businesses. Believe me, I’ll stay on there just to find out.
Once in a while, a name from the past or an obscure cranny of my life will pop up and we’ll have a moment of how great it is to be in touch. That moment usually passes quickly and our estrangements scurry back to their estranged places never to “meet” again.
Not always. But mostly.
I’m amused by technology. No longer totally mystified by it, above it (hah!) or a slave to it, I question how it replaces real human contact. At work it keeps us in touch in a more immediate way without the strings of personal conversation. Gee, phone calls are such a commitment these days. Hardly anyone deserves THAT kind of time and attention. Sad.
I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water and I do try to balance my verbal human talk with my cyber talk so I will continue to explore these brave new worlds.
I’m just still a little clueless about how Facebook, LinkedIn and Plaxo (MySpace anyone?) enhance our relationships, or even our professional lives. Can anyone tell me? Have you had an experience worth sharing about the benefits of the new online cocktail party? Am I missing something (again)?
Having worked for myself in a little boutique pr agency in Boca, prior to my current publishing position, I’ve been known to say that if I never had to go to another Chamber of Commerce mixer or breakfast networking event, I would be more than content. So, maybe I just don’t like networking, period. (Or is it just the people part?)
That pathetic conclusion may be partially true, but I do hope we keep an eye on the waning qualities and quantities of personal touch and personal connection. Just call almost any business and tell me how the electronic phone answering tree makes you feel? My guess is, not warm and fuzzy.
I am anxious to hear your thoughts and please, some tips!
Gotta go. Have to let my “friends” know what I’m doing now. It’s been a couple of hours.
See ya.
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