Wonderosity

If you have not yet seen this TED talk video by stroke-surviving neurologist Jill Taylor, please please please treat yourself to 18 minutes of pure inspiration and then, like me, you’ll want to pass it on to everyone you know.  I’m tempted to tempt you more by telling you what its about, but would rather just let you be surprised…

Tags: TEDTalks, JillTaylor, Wonderosity, LeifHansen, Neorology, Schitzophrenia, Spirituality, Connectedness, Unity, Brain

A number of blog readers, podcast listeners and other friends have been wondering why I’ve been so quiet lately. The main reason is simply that a lot has been going on in my life and every time I imagine blogging or doing a podcast, I feel overwhelmed from how ‘behind the updates’ I am. And then another ’something’ (challenging or blessing) comes up in life and the overwhelmed feeling increases. So, in case more ’somethings’ come up and I end up crushed, blissed out or stretched thin, I thought I’d start out with updating you on the main sad news. Next post will be on the main good news happening in my life…which there is plenty of as well.

About three weeks ago (February 24th, 2008) my father, Jorgen Hansen, passed away (Santa Barbara Independent obituary). Though it was a sad surprise, it wasn’t too much of a shock due to the fact that he was close to 86 and did have some arrhythmic heart issues. I had last talked to him the week before when the Today Show aired the piece about our Soul Tech workshop. I think (in his funny way) he was proud about this (perhaps a little jealous or skeptic in that I don’t think he ever received the kind of accolade that he would have wanted, or that he deserved), but I’m not sure. He often shared that ‘true art/artist’ rarely, if ever, received a fair reward in the world.

Another reason I wasn’t devastated was that I received a wonderful gift the night before I found out the news. I woke in the morning with the memory of two dreams that felt so vivid and important I immediately went upstairs and wrote them down. I hadn’t written down dreams with this feeling of…hmmm…’importance’ in years. I don’t want to share the details publicly, but I’ll just say that upon reflection after the news, they were clearly gifts from my dad and/or God and/or ‘the universe’. A needed boost to my wavering faith (of late) that life truly ‘goes on’ after death…

My dad and I had an odd relationship –distant (geographically and due to being separated from him at 3) and yet very close (in that we could still connect intimately, and more so in later years as I learned to accept him for who he was.) There is so much more so to say, but its a little odd to share in this space. I will say though that I’ve recently learned much more about him, about his brilliant side as a teacher and mentor, through his students and through other friends and family that I’d never met.

Ironically (for those who know about my ’skep-tech’ side) this getting to know him has mostly happened through the social site I created on Ning. At ‘Room 23′ people have shared their personal stories, pictures, paintings and videos from my dad’s life and classes. Check out the site to learn more about this amazing, though at times mind-bogglingly frustrating, man. I love you dad and will miss hearing your voice and seeing your face, until we meet on the other side.

Check out the new iphone usage stats at m:metrics (from 10,000 adults.)
And with the new iPhone SDK just released, the iphone will be eating an even bigger piece of the pie when all the cool new native apps are released.

I just read an engadget article referring to some interesting research about American anxiety over being unplugged.

“The study used research collected on almost 5,000 people over two years, and found that feelings of “disconnect anxiety” affected people of all ages, triggering sentiments like “dazed,” “disoriented,” “tense,” “inadequate” and even “panic.” Interestingly, however, the reasons for disconnect anxiety changed as subjects got older — teens and young adults worried about social communications being cut off, while older adults mostly fretted over work and safety issues.”

The shift in reasons for unplugged-anxiety seems obvious: As we grow up, our insecurities shift from being socially based to being based on work and health/safety. As I’ve talked about taking a break from cell phones with clients wanting to be more productive with technology, and workshop participants who are older (which is most of them), I almost always hear the concern “What if there is some family emergency?” Or the other side of the coin, “What if I‘m in an emergency situation?” This concern I’d say is the #1 reason given by people who really don’t want to use/carry a cell phone, but who sometimes still decide to carry one in their car…”just in case”.

These are good, hard questions raised by the ‘blessing’ of these kinds of technologies. And yet, to confirm the research, I doubt its what a teen is going to site as to their reason for being constantly plugged in. But maybe, to them, its just as -important.
If you wrestle with this issue and are interested in some coaching that can help you use your ‘tech time’ more productively, or in our ’soul tech’ workshops, then visit the Spark Northwest site. You can also join the ‘52 Nights Unplugged‘ site for some fun support in taking some time in your life to unplug, relax, get creative and focus on the more ‘enlivening’ aspects of life.

Warmly,
Leif