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During my recent trip to South Africa I met Hodorowski, someone that has pushed the barriers of communication to live cross-cultural experiences in foreign countries that were once only a myth. His experiences traveling to North Korea, a country that used to be inaccessible to tourists, are captured in his paper Holding Court in the Hermit Kingdom.

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Learning skills are valuable when adapting to new groups or places. Learning in multiple spread-out sessions using spaced repetition can aid in the process of effectively memorize information.

“Memories are constructed from disparate components which create a logical whole.”

Read more…

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We are not taught how to learn in school, we are taught how to pass tests. The spacing effect is a far more effective way to learn and retain information that works with our brain instead of against it. Find out how to use it here.
"Every perception is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination."

- Gerald Edelman, Second Nature: Brain Science and Human Knowledge

The most important metaskill you can learn is how to learn. Learning allows you to adapt. As Darwin hinted, it's not the strongest who survives. It's the one who easily adapts to a changing environment. Learning how to learn is a part of a "work smarter, not harder" approach to life-one that probabilistically helps you avoid becoming irrelevant. Your time is precious, and you don't want to waste it on something which will just be forgotten.

During the school years, most of us got used to spending hours at a time memorizing facts, equations, the names of the elements, French verbs, dates of key historical events. We found ourselves frantically cramming the night before a test. We probably read through our notes over and over, a gallon of coffee in hand, in the hope that the information would somehow lodge in our brains. Once the test was over, we doubtless forgot everything straight away. ¹

Even outside of formal education, we have to learn large amounts of new information on a regular basis: foreign languages, technical terms, sale scripts, speeches, the names of coworkers. Learning through rote memorization is tedious and-more important-ineffective. If we want to remember something, we need to work with our brains, not against them. To do that, we need to understand cognitive constraints and find intelligent ways to get around them or use them to our advantage.

This is where the spacing effect comes in. It's a wildly useful phenomenon: we are better able to recall information and concepts if we learn them in multiple, spread-out sessions. We can leverage this effect by using spaced repetition to slowly learn almost anything.

It works for words, numbers, images, and skills. It works for anyone of any age, from babies to elderly people. It works for animals, even species as simple as sea slugs. The effect cuts across disciplines and can be used to learn anything from artistic styles to mathematical equations.

Spaced repetition might not have the immediacy of cramming or the adrenaline rush of a manic all-nighter. But the information we learn from it can last a lifetime and tends to be effectively retained. In some ways, the spacing effect is a cognitive limitation, yet a useful one-if we are aware of it.

In Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language and Never Forget It, Gabriel Wyner writes:

Spaced repetition...[is] extraordinarily efficient. In a four-month period, practising for 30 minutes a day, you can expect to learn and retain 3600 flashcards with 90 to 95 percent accuracy. These flashcards can teach you an alphabet, vocabulary, grammar, and even pronunciation. And they can do it without becoming tedious because they're always challenging enough to remain interesting and fun.

In Mindhacker, Ron and Marty Hale-Evans explore further:

Our memory is simultaneously magnificent and pathetic. It is capable of incredible feats, yet it never works quite like we wish it would. Ideally, we would be able to remember everything instantly, but we are not computers. We hack our memory with tools like memory palaces, but such techniques required effort and dedication. Most of us give up, and outsource our memory to smartphones, cloud enabled computers, or plain old pen and paper. There is a compromise...a learning technique called spaced repetition which efficiently organizes information or memorization and retention can be used to achieve near perfect recall.

"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered."

- Edgar Allan Poe, Marginalia

The Discovery of The Spacing Effect

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909), a German psychologist and pioneer of quantitative memory research, first identified the spacing effect. After earning his PhD in Germany, he traveled to London. Like so many people, he found his life forever changed by a book.

The work in question was Elements of Psychophysics by the pioneering experimental psychologist Gustav Fechner. Inspired by this book, Ebbinghaus began the research into memory that would consume his career and impact all of us.

Ebbinghaus took up his new field of study with the unbridled zest of a newcomer. He didn't believe strongly in the prevailing understanding of memory at the time. In his wish to avoid getting bogged down in theory, he made everything about experimentation. As researcher and the sole subject of his experiments, he faced an uphill battle.

His most important findings were in the areas of forgetting and learning curves. These are graphical representations of the process of learning and forgetting. The forgetting curve shows how a memory of new information decays in the brain, ² with the fastest drop occurring after 20 minutes and the curve leveling off after a day.

There is a way to slow down the process of forgetting. We need only to recall or revisit the information after we originally come across it. Going over the information later, at intervals, helps us remember a greater percentage of the material. Persistence will allow us to recall with 100% accuracy all that we want to remember.

The learning curve is the inverse. It illustrates the rate at which we learn new information.

When we use spaced repetition, the forgetting curve changes:

Frequency matters. Under normal conditions, frequent repetitions aid memory. We know this intuitively. Just try to memorize this article on a single repetition. However much attention, focus, or individual ability you have, it won't work.

Memory mastery comes from repeated exposure to the material. Ebbinghaus observes, "Left to itself every mental content gradually loses its capacity for being revived, or at least suffers loss in this regard under the influence of time." Cramming is not an effective memorization strategy. Lacking the robustness developed in later sessions, crammed facts soon vanish. Even something as important and frequently used as language can decay if not put into use.

There are other ways to improve memory. Intensity of emotion matters, as does the intensity of attention. Ebbinghaus notes in his definitive work on the subject, Memory and Forgetting:

Very great is the dependence of retention and reproduction upon the intensity of the attention and interest which were attached to the mental states the first time they were present. The burnt child shuns the fire, and the dog which has been beaten runs from the whip, after a single vivid experience. People in whom we are interested we may see daily and yet not be able to recall the colour of their hair or of their eyes... Our information comes almost exclusively from the observation of extreme and especially striking cases.

Ebbinghaus also uncovered something extraordinary: even when we appear to have forgotten information, a certain quantity is stored in our subconscious minds. He referred to these memories as savings. While they cannot be consciously retrieved, they speed up the process of relearning the same information later on.

A poem is learned by heart and then not again repeated. We will suppose that after a half year it has been forgotten: no effort of recollection is able to call it back again into consciousness. At best only isolated fragments return. Suppose that the poem is again learned by heart. It then becomes evident that, although to all appearances totally forgotten, it still in a certain sense exists and in a way to be effective. The second learning requires noticeably less time or a noticeably smaller number of repetitions than the first. It also requires less time or repetitions than would now be necessary to learn a similar poem of the same length.

As the first researcher to undertake serious experimentation on memory and why we forget, Ebbinghaus transformed psychology as a new branch of science. His impact has been compared to that of Aristotle. Ongoing research into the spacing effect continues to support Ebbinghaus's findings.

"There is no such thing as memorizing. We can think, we can repeat, we can recall and we can imagine, but we aren't built to memorize. Rather our brains are designed to think and automatically hold onto what's important. While running away from our friendly neighborhood tiger, we don't think "You need to remember this! Tigers are bad! Don't forget! They're bad!" We simply run away, and our brain remembers for us."

- Gabriel Wyner, Fluent Forever: How to Learn Any Language and Never Forget It

How the Spacing Effect Works

Let's take a quick refresher on what we know about how memory in works, because it's not what we think.

Memories are not located in any one part of the brain. Memories are formed in a process which involves the entire brain. If you think about your favorite book, different parts of your brain will have encoded the look of it, the storyline, the emotions it made you feel, the smell of the pages, and so on. Memories are constructed from disparate components which create a logical whole. As you think about that book, a web of neural patterns pieces together a previously encoded image. Our brains are not like computers - we can't just 'tell' ourselves to remember something.

In , Robert Greene explains:

In the end, an entire network of neurons is developed to remember this single task, which accounts for the fact we can still ride a bicycle years after we first learned how to do so. If we were to take a look at the frontal cortex of those who have mastered something through repetition, it would be remarkable still and inactive as they performed the skill. All their brain activity is occurring in areas that are lower down and required much less conscious control...People who do not practice and learn new skills can never gain a proper sense of proportion or self-criticism. They think they can achieve anything without effort and have little contact with reality. Trying something over and over again grounds you in reality, making you deeply aware of your inadequacies and of what you can accomplish with more work and effort.

No definitive answer has been found to explain how the spacing effect works. However, a number of factors are believed to help:

Forgetting and learning are, in a counterintuitive twist, linked. When we review close to the point of nearly forgetting, our brains reinforce the memory as well as add new details. This is one reason practice papers and teaching other people are the most effective ways for students to revise-they highlight what has been forgotten.

Retrieving memories changes the way they are later encoded. In essence, the harder something is to remember now, the better we will recall it in the future. The more we strain, which is painful mental labor, the easier it will be in the future. There is no learning without pain. Recall is more important than recognition. This explains why practice tests are a better way to learn than opening your text and re-reading your highlights.

Our brains assign greater importance to repeated information. This makes sense; information we encounter on a regular basis does tend to be more important than that which we only come across once. Disregarding any forms of mental impairment, we don't have trouble recalling the information we need on a daily basis. Our PIN, our own telephone number, the directions to work, and names of coworkers, for example. We might once have struggled to remember them, but after accessing those sorts of information hundreds or thousands of time, recall becomes effortless.

Some researchers also believe that semantic priming is a factor. This refers to the associations we form between words which make them easier to recall. So, the sentence 'the doctor and the nurse walked through the hospital' is easier to remember than 'the doctor and the artist walked through the supermarket' because the words 'doctor' 'nurse' and 'hospital' are linked. If you are asked to remember a logical sentence such as 'mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell', it's not too difficult. If those same words are scrambled and become 'cell the house mitochondria power is of' it's a lot harder to remember. And if those words are broken up into nonsensical syllables - 'th ell ce he ous hon mit odria fi of' - retaining them would become arduous. But some researchers have theorised that repetition over time primes us to connect information. So, if you revised 'th ell ce he ous hon mit odria fi of' enough times, you would start to connect 'th' and 'ell.' We can demonstrate semantic priming by telling a friend to say 'silk' ten times, then asking them what a cow drinks. They will almost certainly say 'milk.' The answer is, of course, water.

Yet another theory is that of deficient processing. Some literature points to the possibility that spaced repetition is not in itself especially efficient, but that massed learning is just very inefficient. By comparison, spaced repetition seems special when it is, in fact, a reflection of our true capabilities. Researchers posit that massed learning is redundant because we lose interest as we study information and retain less and less over time. Closely spaced repetition sessions leverage our initial interest before our focus wanes.

With properly spaced repetition, you increase the intervals of time between learning attempts. Each learning attempt reinforces the neural connections. For example, we learn a list better if we repeatedly study it over a period of time than if we tackle it in one single burst. We're actually more efficient this way. Spaced sessions allow us to invest less total time to memorize than one single session, whereas we might get bored while going over the same material again and again in a single session. Of course, when we're bored we pay less and less attention. ³

In Focused Determination, the authors explain why variety also contributes to deficient processing.

There is also minimal variation in the way the material is presented to the brain when it is repeatedly visited over a short time. This tends to decrease our learning. In contrast, when repetition learning takes place over a longer period, it is more likely that the materials are presented differently. We have to retrieve the previously learned information from memory and hence reinforce it. All of this leads us to become more interested in the content and therefore more receptive to learning it.

"How do you remember better? Repeated exposure to information in specifically timed intervals provides the most powerful way to fix memory into the brain. ...Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately, and in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most vivid it can be. Learning occurs best when new information is incorporated gradually into the memory store rather than when it is jammed in all at once."

- John Medina, Brain Rules

Taking Advantage of the Spacing Effect

We don't learn about spaced repetition in school-something which baffles many researchers. Most classes teach a single topic per session, then don't repeat it until the test.

Going over a topic once teaches very little-sometimes nothing at all, if the teacher is unengaging or the class is too long. Most teachers expect their students to take care of the memorizing part themselves. As a result, many of us develop bad learning habits like cramming to cope with the demands of our classes.
We need to break up with cramming and focus on what actually works: spaced repetition.
The difficulty of spaced repetition is not effort but that it requires forward planning and a small investment of time to set up a system. But in the long run, it saves us time as we retain information and spend less total time learning.

A typical spaced repetition system includes these key components:

A schedule for review of information. Typical systems involve going over information after an hour, then a day, then every other day, then weekly, then fortnightly, then monthly, then every six months, then yearly. Guess correctly and the information moves to the next level and is reviewed less often. Guess incorrectly and it moves down a level and is reviewed more often.

A means of storing and organizing information. Flashcards or spaced repetition software (such as Anki and SuperMemo) are the most common options. Software has the obvious advantage of requiring little effort to maintain, and of having an inbuilt repetition schedule. Anecdotal evidence suggests that writing information out on flashcards contributes to the learning process.

A metric for tracking progress. Spaced repetition systems work best if they include built-in positive reinforcement. This is why learning programs like Duolingo and Memrise incorporate a points system, daily goals, leaderboards and so on. Tracking progress gives us a sense of progression and improvement.

A set duration for review sessions. If we practice for too long, our attention wanes and we retain decreasing amounts of information. Likewise, a session needs to be long enough to ensure focused immersion. A typical recommendation is no more than 30 minutes, with a break before any other review sessions.

The spacing effect is a perfect example of how much more effective we can be if we understand how our minds work, and use them in an optimal way. All you need to learn something for life are flashcards and a schedule. Then, of course, you're free to move on to actually applying and using what you've learned.

Footnotes

When is the last time you used a2+ b2= c2 in real life?

This is different than the half-life of knowledge, the process by which information in memory becomes less valuable because your understanding of the world has changed.

You can test this by asking yourself what your last meeting yesterday was about.

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The Spacing Effect: How to Improve Learning and Maximize Retention

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We are not taught how to learn in school, we are taught how to pass tests. The spacing effect is a far more effective way to learn and retain information that works with our brain instead of against it. Find out how to use it here.

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Scientist's habits that contributed to their success.

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In 1902, a young, depressed, and solemn 21-year-old Albert Einstein was on the verge of giving up on his dream of becoming a physicist.

Six years prior, Einstein had enrolled in a Mathematics and Physics teaching diploma at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland, where he frequently skipped classes and spent his spare time wooing girls, whilst playing his violin at ladies luncheons and cocktail parties.

As a result of his devil-may-care attitude, Einstein's professors cast him aside as a lazy student destined for a mediocre career in physics.

And after graduating, Einstein couldn't get a job-in fact, he was passed over for a role as a lab assistant, and even contemplated selling insurance.

After two frustrating years of job hunting, Einstein moved to Bern to work as a clerk in the Swiss patent office.

Working six days a week as a patent clerk, Einstein could barely find any time to develop his scientific ideas, and would eventually give up on a career in physics.

Or would he?

In March 1905, Einstein submitted a paper that challenged the general consensus that light was a wave, and instead proposed that it was a particle.

Two months later, in May 1905, Einstein submitted a second paper. This time he challenged widely held beliefs that atoms didn't exist, and provided proofs of their existence.

But Einstein wasn't done yet.

In June 1905, Einstein submitted a third paper-the granddaddy of them all.

Einstein proposed the idea that time and space were the same, and formalized his thoughts as the special theory of relativity.

Then, in September 1905, Einstein published a fourth paper as a follow-up to the previous one.

He suggested that mass and energy were equivalent, and derived the most famous equation in the history of mankind: E=MC^2.

In the years to come, these four papers-produced during "Einstein's Miracle Year"-would radically transform the way humans understand the world.

And by the end of his career, Einstein would publish over 300 scientific papers, receive a Nobel Prize in Physics, and firmly establish himself as one of the greatest physicists of all time.

So, here's a puzzling question:

How is it possible that this failed scientist and unknown 26-year-old clerk destined for a mediocre life could suddenly produce four groundbreaking papers within the span of a year, that would change the course of history?

And what's the most important lesson on productivity and success that we can learn from Einstein?

The cult of extreme productivity

"If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company."-Jean-Paul Sartre

We live in a world that rewards busyness and the idea of "getting things done": an addictive rat race to cross off as many things from your to-do list, as fast as possible.

Because of this viral hype, we bury ourselves in busyness and attempt to achieve much more than we're capable of.

Each day, we create unrealistic expectations to respond to every single email in our inbox, spend quality time with our family and friends, exercise, read a book, sleep by 10 pm, and so on.

But these superhuman attempts to get so much done, and the constant bombardment of new productivity tips, hacks, and gadgets, leads to procrastination, stress, burnout, and disappointment.

Worst of all, the cult of extreme productivity has robbed us off the ability of enjoying our own company.

A study conducted at the University of Virginia discovered that participants would rather subject themselves to electric shocks than be left alone with their thoughts.

Likewise in our everyday lives, we distract ourselves with social media, emails, and new goals and ideas, to avoid being alone with our thoughts.

The cult of extreme productivity has sold us the lie that boredom should be avoided at all costs, and doing nothing at all is an unproductive strategy for lazy people.

Yet, it is during moments of solitude that we can discover ingenious solutions to familiar problems and gain clarity to make better decisions.

A time to do nothing but be alone

In his book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, biographer and historian Walter Isaacson shares Einstein's thoughts on the need for solitude:

"I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude."

From his youth, Einstein had a habit of spending a lot of time away from his friends, family, and work, to do nothing but think.

He would regularly go for long walks, wander off to quiet cabins in the mountains, play his violin, or sail the seas with his wooden boat to find serenity.

It was during these moments of solitude that Einstein would discover ingenious solutions to difficult problems:

"He would often play his violin in his kitchen late at night, improvising melodies while he pondered complicated problems. Then, suddenly in the middle of playing, he would announce excitedly, I've got it!"

Ironically, Einstein often lamented about the distractions of communication devices his discoveries later created.

In a letter to his friend, he wrote, "How conducive to thinking and working the long sea voyage is-a paradisaical state without correspondence, visits, meetings, and other inventions of the devil!"

If Einstein were alive today, he'd be labeled a loner in need of more social time. But without his solitude, he'd never have achieved an extraordinary level of success in his lifetime.

Coincidentally, throughout history, there's a theme of great thinkers-leaders, scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, religious figures, artists-who regularly sought solitude to rejuvenate and refine their thoughts: Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther King, Nietzsche, Jesus Christ, Nikola Tesla, and Ernest Hemingway, to name a few.

Likewise, practicing solitude would help to improve our productivity, creativity, and decision-making in everyday life.

For example, I take daily walks in a quiet park, travel without my headphones, and spend a few days in the woods once every couple of months.

And I can say without a shadow of doubt, that my breakthrough ideas and clarity on crucial life decisions, have shown up during these moments of solitude.

Simply block out a few minutes each day to be alone and do nothing at all.

By doing so, you'll tap into your inner genius and uncover the most effective ways to take action.

Embrace solitude

"Writing, at its best, is a lonely life."-Ernest Hemingway

In our pursuit of "getting more things done," we've lost sight of the true meaning of productivity.

Productivity isn't about getting more things done, rather it's about getting the right things done, while doing less.

The best way to figure out the right things to focus on and the best ways to tackle them is to spend more time alone with your thoughts and embrace solitude.

And just like Einstein, you'll achieve much more and unleash your potential.
Mayo Oshin writes at MayoOshin.com, where he shares practical ideas on how to think and live better by exploring the intersection of science, art and philosophy. To get these ideas and learn how to avoid stupidity, you can join his free weekly newsletter here.

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Einstein's most effective life hack wasn't about productivity

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In 1902, a young, depressed, and solemn 21-year-old Albert Einstein was on the verge of giving up on his dream of becoming a physicist. Six years prior, Einstein had enrolled in a Mathematics and Physics teaching diploma at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich, Switzerland, where he frequently skipped classes and spent his spare time wooing girls, whilst playing his violin at ladies luncheons and cocktail parties.

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Just grow this beautiful Amaryllis in time for the holidays!
Tips: https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/amaryllis-care/5410.html

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A piano keyboard diagram is shown and explained below. This section will help you better understand the layout of a piano keyboard.
Let's first of all take a look at an unlabeled piano keyboard layout, i.e. without the note names. The one shown in the first piano keyboard layout has two octaves, a total of 24 notes. In an 88 key piano, there are 36 black keys and 52 white keys. 76 key keyboards come with 31 black keys and 45 white keys, 61 key keyboards come with 25 black keys and 36 white keys, while 49 key keyboards have 20 black keys and 29 white ones.

Someone new to the piano may feel overwhelmed when they first take a look at its keys. "How do I remember so many notes?" But as we shall see later it is very simple to understand. Hint: repetition. Highly Recommended: Click here for the BEST piano/keyboard course I've come across online.

Here's a simple piano keyboard diagram (below this paragraph). The white keys are all labeled. If you look closely, you will realize that the same note names are being repeated over and over. These notes are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Whether it's a 49, 61, 76 or 88 key keyboard, this is the note pattern of a piano.

In the piano keyboard layout immediately below this paragraph, I have ventured to add a more complete piano keyboard diagram. As you will see, both the black and white keys have been named. As for the black keys, they each have two note names. There's D-Flat (or C-Sharp), E-Flat (or D-Sharp), G-Flat (or F-Sharp), A-Flat (or G-Sharp) and B-Flat (or A-Sharp).

Watch this lesson:

To help you better understand sharps (♯) and flats (♭), let's find out what a semitone is. A semitone is also called a half step or half tone and is the smallest interval used in Western music. It is the distance between two notes which are next to one another in pitch. So the distance between C and C-Sharp is one semitone, the distance between D and D-Sharp is one semitone and the same can be said for the distance between A and A-flat.

What is the note that is one semitone higher than C? The answer is C-Sharp. What is the note that is one semitone higher than D? The answer is D-Sharp. Let's go the other way around. What is the note that is one semitone lower than D? The answer is D-Flat. One semitone lower than E? It's E-Flat.

A whole tone means a distance of two semitones, i.e. the distance between two notes which are separated by one other note in pitch. For instance, C and D, D and E, and F and G are each one whole tone apart.Recommended for you: Go here to learn about my newly released beginner's piano course.

A piano comes with a 12 note pattern. This can be seen in the piano keyboard diagram above. While there are many notes on a piano, it's really 12 notes being repeated over and over. On an acoustic piano it is repeated over 7 times. We see in our piano keyboard layout above that the 12 notes are C, C-Sharp (D-Flat), D, D-sharp (E-Flat), E, F, F-Sharp (G-Flat), G, G-Sharp (A-Flat), A, A-Sharp (B-Flat), and B. Take a look at the piano keyboard chart below. It consists of the 12 notes of a piano or music keyboard.

To better understand the piano keys layout see how the black keys on a piano are grouped together in groups of two's and three's. Do you notice how many groups of two's there are? How about the groups of three's?

You will also notice that the note C always comes before the group of 2 flats (or sharps), while F always comes before the group of 3 flats (or sharps). On a 49 key keyboard, there are 5 C's, on a 61 and 76 key keyboard there are 6 C's, and there's 8 on an 88 key keyboard.

The first note on a 49 key keyboard is C and the last note is C.

The first note on a 61 key keyboard is C and the last note is C.

The first note on a 76 key keyboard is E and the last note is G.

The first note on an 88 key piano is A and the last note is C.

If you have an 88 key piano (find diagram here), look at your piano keyboard layout and find middle C. Middle C lies in the exact center of your keyboard. The location of this note is very important to remember when learning to play the piano.The piano keyboard diagram below shows the various piano notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B. There's a treble clef, a bass clef and a grand staff. Notice that the "C" in the treble clef and the "C" in the bass clef are the same note. This is the point where they cross and meet on the Grand Staff. It is known as Middle C.
Piano Keyboard Keys Layout - 49 Key Piano Keyboard Notes
The following is the layout of notes on a 49 key piano keyboard.
Piano Keyboard Keys Layout - 61 Key Piano Keyboard Notes
The following is the layout of notes on a 61 key piano keyboard.
Go here for 32, 36, 37, 49, 54, 61 and 76 key keyboard layouts. Learn to play piano with Rocket Piano lessons. Click here. Further Reading Return from Piano Keyboard Diagram (Layout) to home page.
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Piano keyboard diagram - piano keyboard layout

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A piano keyboard diagram is shown and explained below. This section will help you better understand the layout of a piano keyboard. Let's first of all take a look at an unlabeled piano keyboard layout, i.e. without the note names. The one shown in the first piano keyboard layout has two octaves, a total of 24 notes.

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Brofenbrenner's Ecological Theory
https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/bronfenbrenner-ecological-theory/

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Let God inspire your actions

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You Have the Energy of God

The world is running out of energy - oil, coal, gas and so on. How do we ensure sufficient energy supplies to sustain life? Where will we find this energy? We are searching anxiously for power 'from above' - trying to harness the almost limitless power of the sun.

All of us face the same problem as the physical environment, but on a spiritual level. We stand before a choice: do we look for the energy we need in ourselves and the resources of our intelligence and our entrepreneurial spirit, or do we look for it ' from above', from the risen Christ, the Sun of Righteousness?

In the passages for today we see something about the extent of God's energy, power and strength. Whereas on a physical level we struggle to harness even a fraction of the power of the sun, God has given you full access to his endless energy through Jesus' resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1. Where does it come from?

Psalm 68:28-35

Energy, power and strength come from God. This psalm ends on a note of confidence as David proclaims that 'the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!' (v.35). Amazingly, God promises to give you his power and his strength.

David prays, 'Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God, as you have done before' (v.28). In contrast, he is dismissive of any attempt to seek power elsewhere. He talks of the worldly power of an evil regime, 'Rapacious in her lust for silver, crushing peoples' (v.30, MSG). Yet he knows that ultimately such power 'will submit... to God' (v.31). David knows from his own experience that God's power is more than enough for all his needs.

Thank you, Lord, that you will give 'power and strength' to your people. Fill me today with your energy, power and strength.

2. What is it like?

John 19:28-20:9

God gives to you the same energy, strength and power that he used to raise Jesus from the dead.

I remember a time when I was speaking at a conference for church leaders. I had been speaking for several hours each day and felt completely exhausted and drained. During a break, I happened to open The Message Bible translation at Ephesians 1:19-20: 'The utter extravagance of his work in us who trust in him - endless energy, boundless strength! All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death'. I felt re-energised from above.

In this passage, John emphasises that Jesus had truly died. When he had 'completed' (John 19:28a) the job he had been given to do, thereby fulfilling the Scripture (v.28b), he cried out, '"It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up ( paradoken) his spirit' (v.30).

His last act is to give the gift of the Spirit. He breathes out his Spirit as later he will breathe on his disciples and also give them his Spirit.

Death by crucifixion could be sped up by breaking the person's legs. In Jesus' case, this was not necessary, as he was already dead (v.33). 'Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water' (v.34). At death the clot and serum of the blood separates, and this would look like blood and water. John provides good medical evidence that Jesus was truly dead.

It may be that there were already people at the time arguing that Jesus did not really die, but only seemed to. This view came to be known as docetism. Mohammed was influenced by docetic views. The Quran states, 'They did not kill him, neither did they crucify him; it only seemed to be so' (Sura 4:157).

John emphasises that Jesus really did die - he gives the physiological evidence. He also shows that Jesus' death was in accordance with the will of God revealed in Scripture: 'These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of his bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced"' (John 19:36-37).

In the blood and water flowing from the side of Jesus, we see a symbol of hope. Water symbolises the Spirit. The water flowing from the heart of Jesus will heal, cleanse and energise us all.

The body of Jesus was wrapped in linen cloths and seventy-five pounds (34 kg) of spices. If anyone had removed the body, surely they would have removed the lot. No thief would have left the only items of value. Jesus certainly could not have taken the grave clothes off himself (humanly-speaking). Yet the disciples found 'the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself' (vv.6-7, MSG).

As William Temple, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, pointed out that the language used is extraordinarily vivid, and 'such as no invention would devise, no freak of imagination conjure up'.

On this evidence, it is hardly surprising that when the disciples saw, they believed (20:8). At this stage no one had even seen the risen Jesus. Yet the evidence of the state of the tomb and the absence of Jesus' body was enough in itself to convince them of the resurrection.

They had believed that Jesus was the Messiah before. But this was different. They 'saw and believed' that God's power and energy had raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was alive again. This was unexpected sunshine. Winter was over. Spring had come.

When the New Testament speaks of God's love, the focus is the cross. When the New Testament speaks of God's energy, power and strength, the focus is the resurrection (Ephesians 1:19-20). We rightly think of power belonging to God. Yet we so easily forget that God's power is also 'for us who believe' (v.19).

The same power and energy that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives in you.

Lord, thank you for your extraordinary love; that you were willing to die for me. Thank you for your resurrection, and that the same power now lives in me. I pray you will fill me with that energy today.

3. How do we receive it?

1 Samuel 29:1-31:13

Do you ever feel exhausted, at a low ebb, not knowing how you will be able to cope with all the problems you are facing?

These were terrible times for the people of God. David had reached a low ebb in his life. He had got himself in the position of being about to fight for the Philistines against Israel. But then, even the Philistines decided that they didn't want him.

He gets back to find that the Amalekites have captured his and his men's wives, sons and daughters. The result is an explosive mix of grief and anger. The whole company was distraught at what had happened, and David's followers then turned the blame on him, threatening to stone him (vv.4-6).

But in the middle of all his problems, ' David strengthened himself with trust in his God ' (v.6b, MSG). This was the turning point in David's life. Those who, like David, have turned to God in their deepest distress have been repeatedly amazed at the speed with which he has been able to change their fortunes.

As the men return from battle, some of his men did not want to share what they recovered with those who were too exhausted to fight (vv.21-22). But David was wise enough to see that everyone has a part to play in God's work. He replied, 'No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us... The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be same as that of him who went down to the battle. All shall share alike' (vv.23-24). Those who do the less glamorous work are just as important as those who hit the headlines.

As we read of the death of Saul and his sons, it is clear what a brutal world they lived in. Saul takes his own life in order to avoid being abused in the way that Samson was. Faced with such dangers and barbarism it must have meant so much to David to strengthen himself 'with trust in his God'.

Follow David's example - spend time with God strengthening yourself, being re-energised and then trusting him wholeheartedly, believing that he is in you by his Spirit and believing that you are able to do whatever you need to do through him.

Lord, thank you that whether we are at our lowest ebb or facing great trials and challenges or just facing the ordinary struggles of life, we can all find strength and energy in the Lord our God.

Pippa Adds

John 19:39
It is so good to see Nicodemus back and a continuation of his story. His original conversation with Jesus in John 3 must have had a huge impact on him. It could just have been a one-off discussion, but here he is collecting the body of Jesus having bought, at great expense, seventy-five pounds of myrrh and aloes. You never know the impact of a conversation with someone.

References

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. 'NIV' is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

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The world is running out of energy - oil, coal, gas and so on. How do we ensure sufficient energy supplies to sustain life? Where will we find this energy? We are searching anxiously for power ‘from above’ - trying to harness the almost limitless power of the sun.

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https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/13-benefits-of-yoga#section1

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Blog acerca de viajeros con Fibromialga. Tecnicas de como manejar el estress durante un viaje.

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The importance of change management

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Change is happening in your organization. Every day, new initiatives and projects are launched to improve performance, increase profits, and enhance your competitive advantage. You could be implementing technology to enable a more mobile workforce, reengineering a process to ensure regulatory compliance or pursuing an enterprise-wide transformation around customer experience.

There is a common denominator for achieving the intended outcomes of your initiative: people. Your initiatives impact how individual people do their work: their processes, job roles, workflows, reporting structures, behaviors and even their identity within the organization.

Change management is the approach to driving adoption and usage so initiatives deliver expected results and outcomes. Here is why you need change management:

Thrive in an Ever-Changing World

Gone are the days of one large change every 36 months. Organizations are facing faster, more complex, more interdependent and more cross-functional change than ever before. Being able to deliver results on multiple changes allows an organization to achieve their strategic vision and thrive in today's changing landscape. Applying change management enables organizations to deliver results on each change more effectively and build competencies that grow the organization's capacity to tackle more changes at one time.

Deliver the People-Dependent Portion of Project ROI

Changes in organizations are undertaken to improve performance. Some of that improvement comes from just installing the solution. However, much of the benefit and expected improvement is tied to people changing how they do their jobs. In the Prosci CMROI Model, that is the "adoption contribution" of the project: the percentage of a project benefits that depend on people changing how they do their jobs. For important projects, that number is commonly in the 80% to 100% range. Change management focuses on helping people change how they do their jobs, allowing us to capture the adoption contribution and the people-dependent portion of project ROI.

Close the Gap Between Requirements and Results

All too often, organizational changes meet requirements without delivering expected results. They deliver the necessary outputs without delivering on expected outcomes. The focus of the change effort is on the solution rather than the benefits of the solution. The gap that exists between requirements and results, between outputs and outcomes, between solutions and benefits is the people who bring the change to life in their day-to-day work. Change management enables the closing of this gap by effectively supporting and equipping those people impacted by a change to be successful in bringing it to life in how they work.

Increase Likelihood of Project Success

The data is abundantly clear. The better we apply change management, the more likely we are to deliver on project objectives. Prosci's correlation data from over 2,000 data points and ten years shows that initiatives with excellent change management are six times more likely to meet objectives than those with poor change management. By simply moving from "poor" to "fair," change management increases the likelihood of meeting objectives by three fold. McKinsey data also shows that the ROI captured from excellent change management is significantly more than with poor change management. Change management, when applied effectively on a project, significantly increases the success rate of the effort.

Mitigate Mission-Critical Risk

Ignoring the people side of change creates risk. When the adoption and usage of a solution is ignored, and the focus is exclusively on meeting technical requirements, the result is excessive risk and cost. Projects are subjected to "RE" costs like redesign, rework, revisit, redo, retrain, rescope, and in some cases, retreat. Absenteeism and attrition increase. Productivity declines. Customers feel the impact when they were not supposed to. Morale suffers. Employees disengage.

Failing to plan for and address the people side of change is costly, and change management is the discipline to help mitigate those mission-critical risks.

Take the Chance out of Change

Change is difficult. To the degree that we can, we want to remove the chance or variability associated with change. Project management has accomplished this by providing direction on sequencing milestones, deliverables, activities and resources over the lifecycle of an effort. Unless we proactively support and guide people through the changes our projects bring, we leave them embracing change to chance. Change management removes the chance from change by providing employees with the preparation, support and skills they need to succeed in change.

Treat Employees Rights

How many times have you heard, "our employees are our most important asset"? Then, when it comes time for a change to be implemented, employees are sent an email on Monday for training on Tuesday for go-live on Wednesday. That is not the right way to treat people, especially the people that are your most valuable asset. By proactively engaging and supporting people in times of change, we demonstrate in action that we value them.

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Change is happening in your organization. Every day, new initiatives and projects are launched to improve performance, increase profits, and enhance your competitive advantage. You could be implementing technology to enable a more mobile workforce, reengineering a process to ensure regulatory compliance or pursuing an enterprise-wide transformation around customer experience.

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Great read that portrays the struggle while showcasing inner stregth.
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Leadership: A Transformational Path on the Road to Success

Editor: Melissa Castro, MECE, PE

Many people see leadership as an opportunity to enjoy the trappings of power. While this is true, genuine leadership is about taking the responsibility of making the well-being of the society, organizations and individuals a priority for the greater good. Leaders need to have a vision and purpose to take their organizations to the next level of growth in every step of the way. This is especially true for transactional managers whose primarily focus is to ensure compliance with the set policies through the use of rewards and penalties. However, to increase effectiveness at their jobs, managers should think of themselves as transformational leaders as well.

Transformational Leadership

Transactional leaders need to fully embrace transformational leadership in order to make their organizations more successful through the work they do. Transactional managers not realizing the need to transform into leaders as well, might not be up to the challenge of successfully running a global company and the diversity it entails. Generally, transformational leaders go a step further than regular managers. They get more involved with those required to make the broad vision of an organization harbor success. Transformational leaders need to use the right influence on the people they lead to inspire and stimulate their intellect. Offering individual consideration to their team contributions and recognizing the full commitment of the team members ensures that the ultimate organization goals are attained.

Visionary Leadership

A transformational leader without a vision can struggle at attaining an organization's goals. Having a vision involves looking at the bigger picture even when the hurdles along the way might cloud the horizon. In engineering consulting, visionary leadership has to be paired with the necessary knowledge and skills, and an unwavering focus on ensuring that the ultimate goal remains in sight even in the face of overwhelming management challenges. Some of the things that characterize visionary leadership include remarkable communication skills, superior organization abilities, a charismatic personality that inspires others, excellent planning skills, and the ability to take calculated risks.

Effective Leadership

The effectiveness and current status of an organization can provide a measure of its leadership strategies. Superior leadership can be measured by how efficiently the goals are obtained. An organization that aspires to grow its operations must measure its effectiveness after a predetermined period of time. If the organization has the same amount of team members it had after the required period, then the strategy failed even if the organization remains profitable. Superior leadership skills assist in selecting the right approach or strategy to fulfill the organization goals. The right kind of leadership will ultimately ensure higher levels of organizational effectiveness. Some transformational and visionary leaders have gone beyond this standard and helped their organizations outperform their projections.

Management vs Leadership Skills

Taking up a management position might as well feel like being called upon to be a leader. A lot of skills overlap in both management and leadership like the need for excellent communication skills, problem solving capabilities, and responsibilities delegation. Consequently, being a good manager is often an indication that you might be a good leader. That being said, ultimately, managing people you struggle to inspire to a common goal typically leads to employee resignation. The manager position obtained at your organization, though it might come about through years of experience at your job, will rely considerably on good leadership skills. Therefore, if you are a transactional manager, you need to know that good leadership skills are needed to obtain greater success.

Conclusion

Clearly, becoming the kind of leader that can turn a global corporation into a success is not as hard as many people think. As the saying goes - leaders are made, not born. If you aspire to exemplary leadership, you can master some of the leadership tricks above to make your organization more successful. With the right kind of attitude and the willingness to master the skills needed to become a transformational leader, you can achieve this!

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Leadership: A Transformational Path on the Road to Success - MCD Enterprise Group LLC

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Editor: Melissa Castro, MECE, PE Many people see leadership as an opportunity to enjoy the trappings of power. While this is true, genuine leadership is about taking the responsibility of making the well-being of the society, organizations and individuals a priority for the greater good.

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