Paparazzi Culture

One way or another you are a brand: corporate, commercial, professional or personal. And in the age of YOU-tube and the near death of actual privacy the separation between what we do and who we are has become a lot more blurry  I argued with a friend of mine several years ago about separating his life and his work. He was defined by what he did. It turns out he might have been more correct than I was in defining himself, he was just ahead of his time.

What we do as our livelihoods should be completely separate from who we are in private. A CEO can be a cowboy or a clown, or like UFC fights, or Ballroom dancing, or maybe he moonlights as a male stripper, has a whole group of couples that he swings with, and is an avid nudist. Who cares! Recently pictures of a Canadian judge in various states of undress were posted on-line. The resulting outcry for her job is appalling.  That was private time, that shouldn't have made it to the web in any case, but it did. How the public reacted is the stupid part. Yes, she's embarrassed. Yes, I bet she wishes the photos never surfaced. Does it change the way she does her job?
 Aren't we all entitled to our legal personal pleasures, without judgement. Doing these kind of things in no way effects the ability of people to perform their duties. Studies have indicated for years that recreation is good for all of us. Take apart the word and you get re-create. It's easy to see how applying that to yourself has to be a good thing come Monday morning, or after a holiday that really takes you out of your backyard. Unless your own backyard is your retreat. I'm all for whatever works.

Unfortunately I seem to be wrong. Like the US political machine, anything can and will be taken out of context and used against you whenever possible. Unfortunately we all need to be careful about things about us that exist about us, even from long ago. My frat days have little to do with anything I am about now, but I know that somewhere in a scrapbook there are photos of me that might be incriminating in the right context. I'm not ashamed, just a bit sad. Who I was, is not who I am and who I am in private is supposed to be my business.
We live in a world where your suit, shoes, business card, office and maybe sign or brand define a small part of who you are. All the rest can also become public and change the way clients, customers or the public sees you. It's wrong, but it doesn't make it any less possible.

Haven't we learned from the tabloids that even if you have the picture that isn't the whole story, and sometimes, the picture just wasn't meant to go public. So if you have a picture that could incriminate someone, give it back. Help them preserve the life they want to lead, and don't post it if it isn't about you.

This post is a few thoughts on your brain. Yes, your brain, not mine. You see I have been learning things again and if you know me at all you will know that i like to share whatever it is i stumble on that i believe could benefit others.
So here are the 2 simple thoughts of the day.

1. Self-hypnosis prayer, or meditation are all aspects of the same thing. It has worked for others for thousands of years and your version can work for you too. You already do this a little bit, and with some training, a book or an instructor you can get really good at it. It wil help you get the things you want or solve problems or focus on a job. The secret is to ritualize it. Spend just 10-20 minutes everyday for about three weeks sitting at the same time in the same place and you will learn how it works and most importantly train yourself and your mind to quickly and easily access the other levels of brain activity.

2. You have an RAS. It's the Reticulating Activation System, and it is old, from our hunter gatherer days. It is the part of your brain that identifies and catalogues every experience for you automatically. it may be causing you problems. See if you have a recurring theme in your life like holding  a long term job, financial battles that go from paid off credit to back into collection, or relationships that seem to go out the same way as the last one. The RAS functions like a computer program and making you do things SUBCONSCIOUSLY that are NOT helping. It creates behaviour patterns that are linked to SURVIVAL not culture. Unfortunately human civilization doesn't need these survival codes as much anymore, at least not for most of us. The RAS is what gets you to notice every other car like the one you just bought for about a month. IT is also the thing that makes you bail when losing an argument as a youth can triggers feelings of flight 15 years later duru=ing a discussion about a similar topic. How do you deal with it? Find the bad program loops and reload new and better ones. make a list of all the platitudes, phrases and ideals that you may have learned over time, especially ones you might have learned very young.
For me it was "money is the root of all evil" I heard my grandmother speak that when I was very young and it stuck. it became a program and it made me subconsiously not want to have or hold too much money ever.
I know it isn't true now, but I got rid of money almost as fast as I had it because my programming was telling me it was evil. I have a new program now, but how much could I have saved, or invested  if had discovered this bizarre truth 20 or 30 years ago.
Think hard about the areas in your life that are cyclic problems I bet you can find one or more statements that relate. Get rid of them by just repeating a new version of the bad statement in a positive way.
Here a  few to get you moving.
If you want something done do it yourself. -this might be preventing you from getting help
Men/Women, can't live with em. - of course you can, thousands of people do and benefit from the love.
Money can't buy happiness. - true,emotional states aren't for sale but it can buy events and things that bring us pleasure.

You get the idea.
Cheers.