AlienatedAmerica

I recently read Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse by Timothy Carney (2019). 

In this book, TC dissects voting trends in both the primary and general elections of 2016 to try to make sense of why large collections of American voters felt/feel disenfranchised.  TC not only carefully disaggregated the numbers via statistical analysis, he also followed up with qualitative interviews/observations to delve more deeply into the causes and effects of political, social, and economic disparity. 

Some of my biggest takeaways:

Ø  Ease of mobility in America has had the effect of creating pockets of self-segregated “elites” (affluent and/or educated) from the “non-elites,” resulting in the polarization of worldviews. Those are not “merely differences of income, wealth, or education; they are differences of health, hope, and opportunity.” (p. 62)

Ø  When people are afflicted with “idleness” – nothing to do – traditional social institutions begin to collapse.

Ø  To truly understand others we must engage them where they are – in their communities.  Simply crunching data sets does not effectively tell the whole story.

Ø  Trust is a requirement of healthy community; it allows us to lower our defense shields.

Ø  The dissolution of family and houses of faith are at the root of America’s social and economic problems.

Ø  Loss of civility is directly proportional to the collapse of traditional social institutions (e.g., family, church, book clubs, bowling leagues, service organizations, etc.)

Ø  Secularization is the effort to force religion into being solely a private experience, depriving it of the self-actualizing effects of service for the greater good of the community.

Ø   A continuum:  Total regulation & low trust  <--->  Low regulation & high trust.  (Community health is low on the left end and high on the right end.)

Ø  Family strength is a powerful predictor of the potential for upward mobility for children.

My favorite quotes:

“Strong communities function not only as safety nets and sources of knowledge and wisdom, but also as the grounds on which people can exercise their social and political muscles. These are where we find our purpose.”  (p. 12) 

“Bad economics can help kill a community, but good economics cannot, alone, rebuild one. And if you’re not building community, you’re not getting close to fixing what ails us.” (p. 282) 

A very insightful examination of our national “health.”  Thanks for the recommendation, TM.

UndoIt!

I recently read Undo It! How Simple Lifestyle Changes Can Reverse Most Chronic Diseases by Dean and Anne Ornish (2019). 

Few researchers on the topic of nutrition are better known or more respected than Dr. Dean Ornish.  In this book, he and his wife, Anne, make a compelling and comprehensive argument that, with rare exceptions, our health and wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional-spiritual) is in OUR OWN hands and can be adeptly optimized through the lifestyle choices we make.

The four Ornish health pillars:  eat well, move more, stress less, love more.  In this book, DO/AO provide concrete strategies and advice for accomplishing all four.

Some of my biggest takeaways:

> In the U.S., 5% of the patients account for 50-80% of all healthcare costs.

> Our health is a holistic construct, and can only be optimized through a holistic approach.

> The Ornishes advocate for a whole-food, plant-based diet.

> Us humans are really mostly microbes, having over 100 trillion non-human organisms growing inside our bodies.

> Over 50% of the current U.S. population either has Type 2 diabetes or are pre-diabetic.

My favorite quotes:

“By analogy, if you have a rock in your shoe, don’t blame the stone, use painkillers or surgery to cut the affected nerves, or wear thicker socks — just take out the rock!.” (p. 19)

When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need. —Ayurvedic proverb

“…our natural state is to be in a state of ease; when we disturb this, we become dis-eased.” (p. 243)

If you care about your own health, and that of your family and employees, this book is a most worthy read.

WarOfTheWorldviews

I recently read War of the Worldviews: Where Science and Spirituality Meet -- and Do Not by Deepak Chopra and Leonard Mlodinow (2012). 

Chopra is a well known author (though trained as a physician) and Mlodinow is an American physicist. 

In this book DC and LM alternatively take turns addressing some very deep and interesting questions. 

Those questions were:  
How did the universe emerge?  Is the universe conscious?  Is the universe evolving?  What is the nature of time?  Is the universe alive?  What is life?  Is there design in the universe?  What makes us human?  How do genes work?  Did Darwin go wrong?  What is the connection between mind and brain?  Does the brain dictate behavior?  Is the brain like a computer?  Is the universe thinking through us?  Is God an illusion?  What is the future of belief? 

As the title indicates, DC and LM hold very differing perspectives on these deep questions, Chopra arguing for the spiritual underpinnings, Mlodinow for the purely scientific explanations. 

I tend naturally to lean toward the spiritual side of that continuum, yet have come to believe that the fundamentalists who cling to the extreme ends necessarily must dismiss some pretty compelling evidence in support of the other perspective.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book.  If you choose to read (or listen) to it, expect your assumptions to be challenged, regardless of what you think you believe.

Covenential

Standing at the threshold of a new year and a new decade, I can't help but reflect a bit.

The journey thus far has most assuredly been a blessed one -- with health, with family, with a loving partner, with support networks (both personal and professional), with enough.  To be sure, there have been a few hiccups in the road, a few fractured relationships, a few decisions that seemed NOT to have "panned out" (to channel Rooster Cogburn).

Nonetheless, looking forward at this moment in the journey, I consider anew the things most in need of my attention.  After all, as I heard Amy Grant say in a recent concert, "I can see the finish line from here."

Focal points for my attention and effort:
- Relationships First - with the God of my understanding, with family, with my many valued friends and colleagues.
- Stewardship - thoughtfully care for that over which I have been given responsibility (e.g., health and wellbeing, relationships, natural/material resources).  
- Service - emulate, as best I can, the Christ model of serving others (LOVE being always the motivating catalyst).
- Learning - accelerate my learning across multiple fronts and share it with others.  When we stop learning, we start dying.

Not really resolutions.  Perhaps commitments.  No, Covenants seems a better word...

TheBrainThatChangesItself

I recently read The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge, M.D. (2007). 

In this book Dr. Doidge reviews the most current findings of brain research, and takes us inside the minds and work of some of the pioneers in the field of brain therapy.

Some of my biggest takeaways:

> Science is now providing irrefutable evidence that the brain has the ability to remap, reroute, and reorder itself in very significant ways.

> This dynamic of malleability is known as “neuroplasticity.”

> Neuroplasticity is not limited by age; the process can even occur in aging and aged brains.

> We can only affect long-term brain change through the intense paying of attention; divided attention does not lead to long-lasting change in brain mapping.

> When learning a new skill, mental practice is as beneficial as actual physical practice.

> Neurons that fire together, wire together.

> Novelty and learning new things is a requirement for continued brain health.

> The brain is shaped by culture; and culture is shaped by the brain.

My favorite quote:

“It [the brain] doesn’t simply learn; it is always ‘learning how to learn.’ The brain Merzenich describes is not an inanimate vessel that we fill; rather it is more like a living creature with an appetite, one that can grow and change itself with proper nourishment and exercise.” (p. 47)

Hope for many.  Clear guidance on the power of learning new stuff for all of us.

CultureCrafting

Culture moves us.  It moves our thinking, it moves our behavior, it moves the way we connect the dots in making sense of our world.  Whether we're aware of it or not.  

The culture of each of the organizations we belong to - family, faith, teams, school, state, nation - impacts us in many ways.  Some of that impact is quite overt, some of it running deeply in the background of our unconscious mind.

Here's why.  Humans, above and beyond all currently known life forms, have brains of size and processing speed that FAR exceeds those of other "creatures."  Add to that the fact that our brains have plasticity, or malleability (Doidge, 2007).  

Culture, then, is the downstream effect of our ability to change and adapt and reroute and problem solve and discern and relate and ............................. to LEARN! 

So what? (you may be thinking).  

Leaders must be (or become) master teachers, to affect the learning that culture shaping requires.  

What is it that we should be teaching?  The three components of culture, I believe:
1) Ways of THINKING
2) Ways of BEHAVING
3) Ways of SYMBOLIZING

That teaching is best done with great intentionality (I also believe).

Lead on!  Teach on!