Month: January 2018

So, there are a lot of topics I could have touch upon for this post.  But, in the end, emo circumstances won because sometimes they just do, as all Humanists should know.

I tried to find the links to the TED talks I watched with my wife tonight, but apparently the fist one was so bad I couldn’t find it no matter what searches I pursued.  It was concerned on reductionist neurosciences and extrapolating conclusions concerning emergent phenomenon, such as emotion, with out sufficient evidence from lower level causes.   Not impressed, and will provide link once I can find it.  The second talk had absolutely no neuroscience, but provided a much clearer picture of emotional intelligence and human biases.  It concerned a closed “Christian” community in New Zealand and a woman’s escape from authoritarian conditions.  This revealed much more of human psychology than  the reductionist scientist perspective.  Both are important, but I completely understand why people have completely lost faith in science when claims from reductionist perspectives are applied to every day life, and myself as a scientist doesn’t even believe it.

Will update soon with links and further explanations, I think I’m hitting on a core problem between connection between elites/educated and normal people here but haven’t quite put my finger on it…

So, I’ve been stuck for years in a postdoctoral position and struggling to move towards the next level in my career: A tenure-track assistant professorship at a highly ranked engineering institution.  After years giving it my all and then some, followed by rejection and poor work/life circumstances, I was ready to give up for good.  For some reason, I gave it another shot this year while investigating other options.

Am I masochistic and not letting go, or not giving up for a dream I believe in?

I’ve thought about this quite a bit as I’ve searched for alternate career routes, but I think the idealism and my intrinsic motivation for philosophical/research endeavors and progress keeps me turning back to Research as my real passion.  I’ve got nothing to lose in going all in and giving it one last shot, I’m finished up with my current postdoc and floating along in a pretty decent unemployment system through Switzerland until I end up somewhere.  Due to finances and the wife, artistic and start-up endeavors are out at the moment.  I don’t want a soul-killing corporate job either and not knowing German has definitely limited my options.  So here we go, one more time at this.  Let’s do it right this time.

So, what was wrong the previous times.  Simple, I never believed I would have any position.  There was always something that would have made me gaining any position unbelievable so far, in a way that it just wasn’t fitting.  But this time I see at least one of my positions as a perfect fit where I would feel the world righted itself and all my hard work paid off if I wind up there.  So, I’m going to be positive about it every day and attract the opportunity.  I’m going to take care of my self and over prepare.  Updates to come.

So there’s a reason I update this blog every Sunday, it’s because it’s a perfect day for taking a reboot for the week.  And a reboot is necessary.  Or at the very least, a reflection.

Humans, and all animals, operate on cycles.  That means we tend to do the same thing over and over and become creatures of habit.  But, humans are also conscious, and we can make decisions to override our habits, which is often much easier said than done.  Providing a day each week to assess our habits and decisions related to them provides a means for our subconscious connections fighting those habits to become stronger.  I typically find myself very good at overriding a bad habit early in the week, followed by slowly slipping back into it later in the week.  And that’s why the reboot is important, I get slightly stronger fighting it each week.

Second reason the reboot each week is important is to stay on task.  It’s easy to get distracted during the week and lose sight of our goals, but a rewrite of goals, even if it’s just a copy/past from the year before is essential in being strong for the week to come.

No more alcohol!

No more chips!

No more animal products!

No more late nights!

No more wasting time!

Easier said than done right?  Each of these I have been improving on, but why is it so hard to break a bad habit or make a positive change?  Lately for me, it’s been due to many external circumstances that have made it too easy to use crutches rather than stick to my guns and stay healthy.  In addition, my personal health has been a bit poorer than usual so I haven’t been taking care of myself in certain ways on top of that.  Even those outside circumstances have made me less healthy, due to stress and time management, adding on extra problems certainly doesn’t help.

So why do we do it?

In a way it’s a form of control, at least I get to decide how to hurt myself rather than the outside world.  Or to backup everything else as an huge conspiracy in that it’s not my fault, because ‘x’ happened.

So right now, I’ve been doing my typical gradualist changes, but this week is starting with vegan M-F with my workouts each day as well.  No alocohol, except socially, same with bad foods.  This will also make me more social, which is something that I need to add to my Yes more lists, once I get control of these no mores.