So far we cannot upload our ‘software’ into new hardware.

So I am mindful that my body needs to remain vital ; ) and viable if today’s statistics about living to 120 is personally feasible.

And more than that, I’d want to be physically independent enough to enjoy the years between, say, 70 and 120 with an acceptable level of freedom. 30–40 years lying in a nursing home doesn’t sound very appealing!!

I watched a fascinating and controversial documentary a while back about a group of elderly people illegally planning their exit strategy while they are still mentally and physically able. So as to be prepared for the time when they are no longer.

Quality was certainly more important to them than length.

As our population ages and we are able to keep people alive longer (even if quality is compromised) the time is fast approaching when we asked ourselves as a society: When is enough?

And isn’t a person their own best judge of when is enough for them?

It is our responsibility to ask these questions without judgement or guilt and without imposing some preconceived, ill-conceived set of personal beliefs in a universal way. After all, this is something that individually effects us all.

I am not a person who believes in life at any cost – I watched my grandmother lying in a nursing home no longer able to eat or speak and barely alive. Her life and death were drawn out in a way I know she would have never wanted.

We can be kind and humanely end our pets lives when they no longer have quality of life, but it is still illegal for us to be kind (and ironically, humane) to the people in our lives when the time comes they would wish us to.

*According to the ‘brain-in-a vat’ theory, we can never be certain the reality we experience (in a bodily sense) is real or the result of sensory inputs – think Neo in the Matrix.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

This Sunday I am celebrating my first anniversary…

without TV  : )

On August 15 last year I unplugged the TV and removed it from our living room and my life.

To be perfectly honest I wasn’t sure what life without TV would be like. I wasn’t sure if I’d feel like I was ‘missing out’ when people talked about TV shows (as they so often do!).

work colleague: ‘Did you see Glee last night?’

me: ‘Um no, but I felt glee. Does that count?’

Seriously though, the world inside our TVs appears big. And many of us make TV a very big part of our lives. For most people if you added up the hours spent watching TV, you could fit a part-time job in there!

I find it ironic when people complain they don’t have enough time and yet they’re spending 15–20 hours a week in front of the box. That’s why they don’t have time lol!

So, if you find yourself regularly saying ‘I don’t have time’, count how many hours you give to your TV each week. Maybe it’s time to reclaim some of it back for you.

We can travel across continents from the comfort of our sofas. We can get glimpses into people’s lives all over the world. But, sometimes I fear we delude ourselves that our TV experience is actually living.

The world beyond TV is much BIGGER.

So, will I be plugging the TV back in?

Not bloody likely!: That is the answer.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

*Headline credits go to Nadi. No TVs (or Johns) were harmed in the making of this article.

Let me be frank, one of my pet hates is being asked ‘What do you do?’ by someone I’ve just met.

Sometimes I want to answer: ‘Run, when I get asked this question!’

Other times and depending on who asks the question and where I am at the time (and how cheeky I’m feeling) I may answer with a shrug: ‘Eat ice-cream when it’s hot?’ or ‘as-little-or-as-much-as-possible-depending-on-my-mood’.

I’m sure my refusal to play the What-Do-You-Do game irritates some people. It’s not my intention to do that, but irritation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Especially if it makes you re-think something you do unthinkingly.

Ever asked an unemployed person, ‘What do you do?’. Or asked someone who is bored to death in their job and DYING for a career change? There’s a conversation killer : )

Seriously though, I have come to DREAD this question that almost invariably comes immediately after you’ve been introduced to someone new.

If you (like me) are not someone with a single career or a conventional job (and a nice neat Noun e.g. Accountant or Dentist), or if you have a job you loathe or are currently unemployed, you’ll know how much this question can really jar.

We can’t be too annoyed I guess. I suppose what people are really asking is ‘Who are you?’.

Still, I find myself resenting this process of being assigned to some category, a neat but often confining pigeonhole in that person’s mind.

What I do is not who I am.

What I am today is not all I can be.

Inside all of us is a much bigger picture than that. We are also our hopes, our relationships, our passions and whatever else we personally regard as significant.

That’s the stuff we want to talk about  : )

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

As a predominantly visual person, this is not always an easy task, yet necessary if I want my “verbal transmission” to be understood. And since we cannot say more than one word at a time, how can there be any other way?

While I can be fairly certain I know what I mean, you may think I mean something a little different, maybe something vastly different.

It’s easy to see how misunderstandings between people (and Nations) happen.

“I only know what feels right to me. Only I know what feels right to me.”

At first glance, these two statements (while containing the same words in a slightly different order) seem to tell two different messages. Yet, if I alone can truly ever know how I feel, then surely I can never truly know how anyone else feels. It would be arrogant and misguided to assume otherwise.

Right?

And yet oftentimes we assume just that. This a reminder for me as much as anyone.

If we trouble ourselves to think beyond what is said to what is implied, then the meaning of one, contains the meaning of the other. And what may be likened to a 180º reversal is really 360º – we have come full circle.

Next time you’re having a heated conversation (or a deep and meaningful one), ask the other person if they feel like you understand them. The answer may surprise you.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

In the world of Art, everyone has an opinion. Whether you think their opinion has any authority is another matter entirely!

I belong to an online Art community called RedBubble. And online, as in the real world, somebody always has something to say about whether somebody else’s work is in fact Art. And whether or not it is good Art.

I write Art here with a capital A to draw attention to how important this distinction – and debating this distinction – is to some! An age-old debate with no definite answers, certainly no new answers that gets seemingly so many hot under the collar.

‘Art is what you can get away with.’  – Andy Warhol

Probably, we all have our own criteria about what makes good Art – e.g. ‘would i have it on my wall?’, ‘Art is truth’, ‘Art must be beautiful’ etc. Does it matter really?

Do we need to agree?

Do we really need to categorise EVERYTHING… Yes, this IS Art, no this is NOT Art, this IS craft (with just a little ‘c’). Does everything really need to fit into a nice neat box?

Can’t the work simply exist without the need for debate OR is this debate the very thing that gives Art its place in the world?

I’m curious.

Personally, I don’t care much for labels or boxes and with Art or any aesthetic, perhaps it simply comes down to what it was intended to be. That it is for the creator to decide whether they are producing art, craft or whatever. Respect the artist’s ‘toes’. And for us the would-be art critic to accept that our position on this matter is based on personal preference and what we can relate to.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

As a not-particularly-materialistic-human I am finding myself increasingly uncomfortable with the sheer emphasis on buying and consuming in the western world – Jonesing and supersizing far far beyond our needs to fulfill our out of whack desires.

It’s a sick kind of irony that in some parts of the world we continue to produce and consume far more than we ever could need, while in other parts there are still many many people who lack the bare necessities like fresh water and basic food.

In Australia being overweight or obese is close to overtaking tobacco smoking as the leading risk factor for premature death and disease in Australia. (source: Cancer Council Victoria)

Hold that thought!

At the same time and at the other end of the scale, there exists an equally unhealthy obsession with being thin in our culture. The quote “One can never be too rich or too thin” attributed to Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor sums up this problem (or-is-it-an-aspiration?).

The problem lies in the extremes. In taking things too far. It leads to polarisation among other things.

While in the western world, obesity is threatening the life span of our younger generations (to the point where there is concern that parents may start outliving their children), at the other end of the scale, younger and younger people (guys included) are putting their long-term health at risk by trying to be thin – restrictive eating, purging and excessive exercise – to feel acceptable as a person.

The antidote is the same as it’s always been: Moderation. Even moderation in moderation lol.

FOOTNOTE: The ‘Snellen Chart‘, a test of visual acuity using rows of letters printed in successively decreasing sizes. ORIGIN mid 19th century: named after Hermann Snellen (1834–1908), Dutch ophthalmologist.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

I’m still taken aback that they think I have THEIR answer. I don’t of course lol!

But I do have mine. But really it’s different for everybody.

Mine isn’t so much a thing, as a process. A way of being in the world and engaging with it. From this experiential viewpoint, it’s a heady combination of curiosity, discovery, purpose and fascination.

Two of my favourite quotes to live by are…

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” – Dorothy Parker

and

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” – Henry Miller

But if I had to distill it right down to a single word: It’s WONDER.

Wondering about life. Looking for the wonder in things. Embracing the wonderment in the world. Allowing myself to be wonderstruck with childlike awe. And especially, filling my life with wonderful moments – people and experiences.

For me, Wonder is the Elixir of Life.

With this filter, it’s hard not to see the World as a Wonderland.

For you it might be the word LOVE or PEACE or ADVENTURE or POSSIBILITY or SOMETHING ELSE…

It’s not The Answer. But, there’s something about focusing on a single word that both broadens and sharpens your perspective. It might lead to The Answer ; )

If you had to pick a single word, what would it be?

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

At some point, one must relinquish the fight – lest it go on indefinitely.

Persistence isn’t always constructive.

There are many things in life we persist with beyond good sense – unfulfilling relationships we have ‘invested’ time and energy into. Staying in jobs that bores us or drive us crazy. There are times when giving in is actually moving on.

Some years ago I was chatting with a dear friend about a personal dilemma. A programming course I was doing at the time was turning out to be very average – disorganised classes and tutors teaching subjects outside their scope of knowledge.

But, I had always prided myself on being a ‘finisher’ – why start something otherwise? ; ) Therein lies the dilemma: To my mind not ‘finishing’ equalled ‘giving up’.

*ahem* Except it’s not true.

On the other hand I already had pushed through an entire degree (I knew in my heart) I’d never use. So why do that again just to finish?

That would be CRAZY right.

Persistence, the ability to keep pushing through despite difficulty, is one of my greatest strengths and ironically perhaps also one of my greatest weaknesses (I thank this wise friend for joining the dots here).

There are times when investing more time and energy into something is a futile and ultimately foolish thing. There are times when one must be prepared to simply walk away without attachment. That was one of those times.

Memo to self: Persistence isn’t always constructive. When you refuse to GIVE UP, you can end up SELLING OUT.

Learn from the bull ant.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

But I do find strange the practice of collecting up their poo in a plastic bag and then disposing of it in a bin.

Particularly, when shoppers are being encouraged to use reusable shopping bags instead of disposable plastic bags: Dog owners are being encouraged to use disposable ‘poo’ bags.

I’m missing something here. Those free dog poo bags at my local park look remarkably like those shopping bags we’re encouraged to stop using.  ; )

I totally appreciate that standing in dog poo is not cool, it’s messy and smelly and dog poo contaminating our waterways is not cool either. But is it actually worse than tonnes of poo wrapped in plastic piling up in our tips?

Don’t mention the plastic-wrapped dog poo that gets flung up into trees (why do people do this?) or simply left on the ground.

Dealing with biodegradable matter in non-degradable way makes no sense to me at all. (Now we can keep our pets’ faeces fresh for future generations!)

This solution might have seemed like a good idea at the time. But I’m pretty darn certain it’s going to be a crappy idea in a long time from now.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

Recently, I came across a YouTube video showing how plastic is polluting our seas. Amassing along coastlines and ending up in the stomachs of unwitting birds and other animals. And entangling our marine life.

In the media, Plastics Companies are keen to downplay the issue, cloaking it in euphemisms like ‘marine debris’ – Hang on! – it’s THEIR product, not something the sea made.

I’m not a fan of euphemisms for the same reason they are used: As a way to sanitise the truth so it’s more palatable. To give the impression it’s not adversely affecting people.

Except it’s not true. It does affect us because we eat fish (among other things!) and so plastic is also contaminating our food chain.

I know we’re encouraged to recycle but I don’t think that’s what they meant!

It’s ironic really (in a black humour kinda way): We buy our food in plastic, and now we can also get plastic in our food.

Bonus.

D’oh!

While the footage in the video disturbs me to my core, it also INSPIRES me to think hard about my own actions. To look at how I contribute to the problem.

When I’m in the supermarket it alarms me to see people piling packaged goods into their trolleys with seeming oblivion. And I find the idea of packaging fresh fruit in a polystyrene tray and plastic wrap absurd.

Especially when fruit comes ‘packaged’ naturally : )

If you prefer the comfort of ignorance, don’t watch it.

On the other hand I find discomfort can be very useful. It can make us THINK hard. And that makes us ACT. It’s what the world needs.

- Naomi
Your mind is your domain. Be the master not the slave.

SOURCE: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/marine-debris.html