Paper Rules

working for a company where everybody constantly talks about the importance of prints, I couldn't contain a smile when I read this quote (although from a fictional character)

round 2

here's another variation...incorporating some leftovers. I'm big on asparagus lately because I'm fighting a cold, and I read that they help.
truth is: I just like them.
mahalo

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Dee-Lee-Cious

I enjoy cooking. don't even think about giving me a recipe though, I just follow my nose...and taste buds.

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Muscles

The heart is a muscle.
Physiologically that’s a known fact. But It’s also true that in most cultures the heart is considered the center of our emotional sphere.
Let’s look back at the first statement though, and build on that a little. We know a lot of things about muscles: if you stress a muscle too much it will hurt, potentially resulting in serious damage; a muscle’s ability to perform increases with regular exercise; without regular use they experience atrophy, temporary or irreversible depending on how long the inactivity lasts; using a muscle for the first time in a while will result in pain too, but that kind of pain is almost considered “good” pain, any sport enthusiast knows that it’s a sign of the muscles building up to the condition needed to perform.
Although this list could go on, let’s stop here and look back at the other meaning of “Heart”, the emotional meaning. Does what we know about muscles apply to the heart as well? I would argue that in most cases it does. Some people are naturally more inclined to love, and love in a more powerful way, just like some people are more naturally fit and better athletes than others. It’s also true though that anybody can become a better athlete with exercise, and along the same lines I believe that anybody can improve the way they deal with love and emotions by exercising them. Incidentally, the euphoric feeling that you experience when you’re in love is similar to the feeling you get during and after a strong physical performance.
Of course doing sports is hard work, and the fear of injuries, or the sore muscles, can be enough to scare some people, pushing them away from the opportunity to have a healthier body. It’s also true that those who get past those fears find great joy and satisfaction, and look back to their own “lazy” days as missed opportunities.
The heart is the same way: everybody knows love hurts.
A lot of people also know that it’s a worthwhile pain.
mahalo

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Formulas

Living in the States as a foreigner gives the opportunity for some interesting observations: it fascinates me to see how different certain behaviors, approaches and reactions are.
Today I want to mention formulas. Americans live by formulas. For the outsider it’s mind blowing to notice how this applies to virtually anything, from complex work issues to interpersonal relationships.
Formulas have a great strength: they simplify and frame a problem, making it easier to deal with it, sometimes removing the need to understand the problem entirely. At the same time, for the very reason that creates their strength (simplify), they remove or disregard parts of the situation. In an world where everybody, or most players (including the problem) play by the rules, this approach works pretty well. And the US, in many ways, are that world.
The only danger is that the little bits left out by the simplification could pile up into a big issue, therefore although the process runs smoothly, and all the steps are respected, the outcome can turn into a disaster.
Furthermore, in certain fields (such as when dealing with emotional issues), the simplification required to define an actionable formula is even further from the complete picture of the problem, given that there are added layers of interpretation. There might still be an illusion of positive outcome, since the steps and results compute properly, but the real problem, or a portion of it, could be hiding in the missing pieces, and it’s hard to even see that the solution isn’t really solving anything.
In Italy we don’t believe in formulas much, probably because it’s hard to find somebody (or something) that plays by the rules. Or, perhaps, because the longer and more fragmented historical past has generated layers of complexity that make the formulaic approach much harder to apply. In any case, our approach to things is to try and understand the problem from any angle possible, and then just go in and face it, ready to improvise our way through it.Less efficient, for sure. Far more adaptable though.
In my mind it’s obvious that we should learn from each other: there’s no need to question the structure of everything all the time (like Italians do), it’s a terrible time sink, and in a lot of situation the benefits are marginal compared to the resulting inefficiency; on the other hand, the world is getting more and more complex, and the formulaic approach (at least for some issues) becomes more and more dangerous.
Something to think about.
mahalo

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