People sometimes act stricly on emotions. I do, and when I was deep in depression, I used to left my emotions guide me entirely. It can be a way to live, but there is something fundamentaly wrong in this...
Emotions are not absolutes. Emotions are not a perfect guide. Emotions are a VERY personnal thing.
People often confuse an emotion, with the object, or the reason, of that emotion. Take fearfor exemple. A spider (or whatever object you fear the most), is not the fear itself. Fear comes from within you. Think about it. Why do you fear? What drive you to have that emotion? The spider is not actually dangerous, so why do you fear it? Of course, in the case of spiders, it's easy to answer... It's a because spiders (or insect in general) might be dangerous... But it might not be the case with everything...
Some emotions might even send you the wrong signal. Being shy, for one, sends a signal... a message.... But the object of the shyness, an attractive person perhaps, is not the emotion itself... That person might be the reason for the emotion, but it is not the source...
Since theses emotions comes from inside, analyzing them can be a big insight on oneself. They are a reflexion of your view on the world... A sort of shadow of the subconcious...
And it's for the same reason that these emotions can be controlled. Fear can be almost eliminated. Anxiety can be reduced. Self-confidence can be grown...
Be these emotions can only be chnaged if you have the will... if you really want to...
What are you waiting? Are you afraid?
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Some problems with my generation
As a generation, we oppose certains trends of the generation before, and oppose others. It is a natural thing to do and the consequences, on a large scale, tend to shape to way for the next generation. A natural process, repeated for generation, over and over again.
Some of these changes are fascinating. Like how the cell phones has changed the way we do things. Or how the Internet changed how we interact globaly.
Some changes are more subtle, but have more deep consequences:
The youth of this generation wait a couple of years more, on average the the last one before leaving the family nest. They also wait longer before marrying. While my great-grandfather was married around the age of 18, and my grand-parents in the early 20s, my parents married much older, and it seems that this trends is not about to be reversed.
Just as the generation before me was raised by television, my generation was raised by a screen. It may well be the television, it may be a computer, but it could also be video games. A growing part of the population is now is what is generaly known as a 'gamer': Someone who plays video games a lot. They are part of a large growing group of 'Geeks' of all trades: people who are generaly very enthusiastic about a certains subjet like computer, role-playing games, anime, fantasy, security, social engineering, etc...
We also have, in north america and in east asia, people obsesed with work. In japan, they even invented a term for 'death by too much work': Karoshi.
With women's emancipation, womens too, became obsessed with their career. And with a career they have little or no time for childrens. Or even for a husband. Or a boyfriend.
Most of the friends I have are single. It's kind of ironic: we have more way of communication, yet we are more isolated. Communication is so easy now that we don't learn to spend time together: we all communicate on 1-on-1 channels all around without never really seeing each other face to face. We stay 'in touch', and have more friends, but we don't really so things together, except maybe virtually.
We, as a generation, are a like time-bomb... We are fueling a society of individualism, where we all complain that we feel alone and consume products or virtual envirronnements to forget ours real problems... I hate to see us all waking up at 40-something and realizing that life is really not a product, that life is not a virtual world, that life is not just working....
Of course, this is all from personnal experience, and I hope that I am completely wrong here. I really hope that these trends are not, and that all I see are isolated cases. I still have faith in my own generation, as we will find ways around problems and move on...
Only time will tell. We'll just have to wait and see...
Some of these changes are fascinating. Like how the cell phones has changed the way we do things. Or how the Internet changed how we interact globaly.
Some changes are more subtle, but have more deep consequences:
The youth of this generation wait a couple of years more, on average the the last one before leaving the family nest. They also wait longer before marrying. While my great-grandfather was married around the age of 18, and my grand-parents in the early 20s, my parents married much older, and it seems that this trends is not about to be reversed.
Just as the generation before me was raised by television, my generation was raised by a screen. It may well be the television, it may be a computer, but it could also be video games. A growing part of the population is now is what is generaly known as a 'gamer': Someone who plays video games a lot. They are part of a large growing group of 'Geeks' of all trades: people who are generaly very enthusiastic about a certains subjet like computer, role-playing games, anime, fantasy, security, social engineering, etc...
We also have, in north america and in east asia, people obsesed with work. In japan, they even invented a term for 'death by too much work': Karoshi.
With women's emancipation, womens too, became obsessed with their career. And with a career they have little or no time for childrens. Or even for a husband. Or a boyfriend.
Most of the friends I have are single. It's kind of ironic: we have more way of communication, yet we are more isolated. Communication is so easy now that we don't learn to spend time together: we all communicate on 1-on-1 channels all around without never really seeing each other face to face. We stay 'in touch', and have more friends, but we don't really so things together, except maybe virtually.
We, as a generation, are a like time-bomb... We are fueling a society of individualism, where we all complain that we feel alone and consume products or virtual envirronnements to forget ours real problems... I hate to see us all waking up at 40-something and realizing that life is really not a product, that life is not a virtual world, that life is not just working....
Of course, this is all from personnal experience, and I hope that I am completely wrong here. I really hope that these trends are not, and that all I see are isolated cases. I still have faith in my own generation, as we will find ways around problems and move on...
Only time will tell. We'll just have to wait and see...
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Divisions on the net
With traditionals groups, interest, as well as location is important in forming a group. A sport group with players from city that are afar is hard to organise.
With the advent of the internet, and even before that with buletin board systems, the distance becomes non existant. The exchange of information is independant of the actual location of each individual, but only dependant on the tools used.
So a british-based group could have americans members, an american news website could be used by australians to get international news, and a canadian support group could help british citizens with little effort. That is the global village that media talks about.
But there isn't only one 'global village'.
The only real barrier to communication online is the written language. Each language get a very different view of 'what is the internet'. A french-speaking person does not use the same ressources as someone from an English speaking country.
The Internet is a really different place for someone who can't speak english. Think about it for a second. Think about each ressources you use online. Which one exist in more than just english?
It is as if anyone not english-speaking is simply forgotten in cyberspace, as if the rest of the world didn't matter.
It's like the tourist scenario in Quebec: Tourist from the rest of north america come in Quebec, and (rightfully) expect to be served in english. Yet french speaking people can't go anywhere else in north america (with some noted exceptions) and not have to learn english simply to get around. The same is true of tourism in Mexico.
If you had to learn spanish, japanese, mandarin, german, italian or french to use the internet, would you?
With the advent of the internet, and even before that with buletin board systems, the distance becomes non existant. The exchange of information is independant of the actual location of each individual, but only dependant on the tools used.
So a british-based group could have americans members, an american news website could be used by australians to get international news, and a canadian support group could help british citizens with little effort. That is the global village that media talks about.
But there isn't only one 'global village'.
The only real barrier to communication online is the written language. Each language get a very different view of 'what is the internet'. A french-speaking person does not use the same ressources as someone from an English speaking country.
The Internet is a really different place for someone who can't speak english. Think about it for a second. Think about each ressources you use online. Which one exist in more than just english?
It is as if anyone not english-speaking is simply forgotten in cyberspace, as if the rest of the world didn't matter.
It's like the tourist scenario in Quebec: Tourist from the rest of north america come in Quebec, and (rightfully) expect to be served in english. Yet french speaking people can't go anywhere else in north america (with some noted exceptions) and not have to learn english simply to get around. The same is true of tourism in Mexico.
If you had to learn spanish, japanese, mandarin, german, italian or french to use the internet, would you?
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