The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete

Diversion. 329 pages, $27.99

The doctor described the president as a physical marvel.

An emergency room attendant claimed he was one of the most powerful men I have ever seen laid on an operating table, while another doctor noted that his magnificent physical condition owed to his regular physical exercise.

It may well have been overblown rhetoric stemming from the presidents own trumped-up assessment of himself, but there had to have been a kernel of truth in there, considering he had just been shot.

Those were medical reports after former president Theodore Roosevelt survived an assassins bullet while stumping on the 1912 campaign trail as a candidate of his own Bull Moose Party. His brush with death and subsequent bill of good health marked one more chapter in Roosevelts strenuous existence, a life he had dedicated to a rigorous self-improvement plan that would launch him to success and inspire a feeble nation.

In his new book, The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete, Ryan Swanson whips through T.R.s athletic exploits and influence on American sports with the vigor of sportscaster Harry Caray punctuating a Cubs home run with Holy cow! We often think of two body types for Roosevelt: the bronzed boxer-cowboy hybrid and the paunchy president. Both are correct, as Swanson shows, leading us through T.R.s physical transformation.

As a young boy, he was thin and asthmatic. At Harvard, the sinewy figure he developed as an avid boxer and rower was undercut by his glasses and jittery movements. When he was nearly 60, his ballooning girth sent him to a pastoral retreat dedicated to intense physical training and profuse sweating.

In every stage, he was never the star athlete and never afraid of looking ridiculous. Second to his Strenuous Life speech, in which he goaded Americans to go to work and to war, the oration that defined Roosevelts approach to life was his Man in the Arena speech. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, Roosevelt said in a sermon dripping with sports analogies.

In Swansons book, we see Roosevelts face bloodied, blinded in one eye and overheated in pursuit of the strenuous life. Its the sort of heartening journey that will make one want to shout Go, Teddy! Go! each time he mounts another hurdle.

Its less Roosevelts athletic prowess he was often middling and more his unrelenting grit thats so inspiring. Here we find a president who is strong not because he brags about his might but because he publicly embraces his vulnerabilities. That infectious, positive energy was crucial at a time when more Americans were starting to lead sedentary lives and needed some prodding to get moving again. Swanson describes a country where corporate power superseded the states, factories robbed workers of their physical labor in the fields and doctors saw more cases of nervous exhaustion and irritable weakness.

Basically, Americans seemed to have every sign of economic progress and technological development in their midst, but instead of flourishing they were falling apart, he writes.

Roosevelts thoughts about sports extended beyond his philosophy on the benefits of physical activity. His broader concerns focused on a rapidly industrializing country that he believed was raising soft, effeminate men who could barely face down an army. His goal of American athletic supremacy, whether it was Olympic races or simply walking, ran parallel with his ambition to build a world-class military that could rival Britains. Even his Strenuous Life speech, while often connected with athleticism, was in fact a call to military action in the Philippines.

It seems theres no aspect of American life that Roosevelt hasnt touched or, more accurately, punched right through. From his conservation efforts and exploration of an uncharted river in the Amazon to his jingoistic expansion of the U.S. military and rollicking time as a Rough Rider, Roosevelt hit the line hard, as he would say in both football and life. I co-created a Teddy Roosevelt book club in Washington partially out of the need to explore each facet of this complex character who has, for better or worse, defined what it means to be an American.

Happy as I am to dredge this deep well, I expressed some initial skepticism about a book devoted to T.R.s mark on American sports because it seemed John J. Miller had already tackled that subject with his 2011 book, The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football.

Sure, Swanson sets the scene with an opening chapter on Roosevelts attendance at the 1901 Army-Navy game in Philadelphia and devotes another section to the Ivy League politicking over reforming Americas most dangerous game. But theres ample meat left on the bone covering tennis, baseball, school sports and more.

There were moments when I could have done with fewer interjections by the author. Swansons conversational tone makes clear that he doesnt intend for this to be a typical Roosevelt read. This is an engaging book you can hold with one hand while doing light bicep curls with the other, not a Doris Kearns Goodwin tome that gives you a backache.

At times, Swanson falls prey to the trap of mixing Roosevelt myths with facts. In his telling of Roosevelts 1879 boxing match at Harvard against Charles Hanks, Swanson emphasizes the presence of T.R.s love interest, Alice Hathaway Lee, a point that is debunked in David McCulloughs Mornings on Horseback. Owen Wister, a friend of Roosevelt who specialized in fiction, wrote that Lee watched the match from a balcony in the gym, but McCullough notes that the old gym had no balcony and no women were present. Its a small detail that may be hard to pin down exactly because the primary sources rely on hyperbolic, 19th-century reporters like Wister. But this type of color is what separates this book from the tedious exactitude of other Roosevelt stories.

The chapter on African American heavyweight champion Jack Johnson is particularly illuminating. The 1910 showdown between Johnson and the white boxer Jim Jeffries served as a proxy race war in Jim Crow America. Swansons vignette offers a nuanced portrait of Roosevelt, who fought for equality while holding racist views of white, American supremacy.

History often frames Roosevelt as a woke hero for inviting Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House. But he also dishonorably discharged 167 black enlisted men of the 25th U.S. Infantry on limited information after the mayor of Brownsville, Texas, alleged that some of the soldiers had engaged in violence in the city. The Brownsville affair transformed Roosevelt into African Americans Judas and provided rhetorical ammunition for Johnson, a rising athlete who played politics better than the aging ex-president.

Swanson succeeds in telling stories that will be entertaining for readers without any previous knowledge of Roosevelt, as well as those who dont closely follow sports, like myself. Whats most invigorating about Swansons book is watching T.R.s struggle. Everyone wants to cheer for the bespectacled underdog with the high-pitched voice and the toothy grin, even if its the same man who ran a successful two-term administration and won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was Roosevelts sheer ability to keep moving forward that Americans found so appealing, Swanson writes about the presidents brutal exercise regimen toward the end of his life in 1917.

How wonderful to see a president make the strenuous life look like so much fun.

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Teddy Roosevelt, the athlete, was more about grit than might - The Keene Sentinel

Have you heard that compliment for someone? He is always on top of things! It sounds really good, doesnt it? Are you that person? Maybe, maybe not. Do you want to be?

Staying on top of things is a direct consequence of putting the first things first on your calendar each day. More information here. But there is more than that. You need to unlearn to operate in crisis mode and you need to learn to operate strategically. This is not easy, but, like everything else in life, it is a self-improvement process.

This article is about learning how to anticipate the important requests that may (or may not) come your way in the future. And how to prepare for them in advance.

Time to read: 8 minutes (based on 150 works per minute).

Why do we always praise our colleagues who are always ready? Because it is easy to work with them. They help move the needle in the right direction. And they ask the right questions. But lets take a step back. I think that there are two types of people those who improvise (and can improvise) and those you cannot improvise. I can openly say that I belong to the latter type. And I cannot just show up at an interview and ace it without hours of deliberate practice and preparation.

I would argue that the first type (improvisors) can fake being on top of things for a long time. But eventually, the world will know that they are faking. Especially when a decision has to be data driven and the decision-makers need to make sure that they have considered all potential consequences.

This is when the second type of people come into play. Those who have done their homework and have came prepared (to an interview, to a meeting, anywhere).

Below, you can find some tips on how to achieve that status in your company, your circle of friends, or your family.

First and foremost, you need to know what type of skills (or knowledge, or information) you bring to the table. For example, if you are involved in a discussion about the future of your product,and you are the go-to person for statistical data. Then, you need to have that data prepared days and even weeks in advance.

You need to know your strengths and weaknesses. If we continue the example above, and you are not a data person, then it does not make any sense to try and come up with the data or the analysis of the data. If you are disorganized it does not make sense to try and propose to your spouse how you want to organize the closet (or the summer house, or even your suitcase).

I am sure that most of you have demanding jobs. Typically, a person is stuck working on urgent (and not necessarily important) tasks. Steven Covey writes about the four quadrants. I urgent & important, II urgent & not important, III not urgent & important, IV not urgent & not important. The more you stay in quadrants I and II the less on top of things you can feel, because you are operating in crisis mode. And of course, the more you operate in II and III, the more you feel in control of your life and career.

This is why you need to learn to think weeks in advance. Do you remember when you were in school and your parents kept urging you to do your homework on Saturday (or even Friday) so that you can have the whole weekend free? Well, this is the same. If you have an important report due two weeks from now why wait until Monday on that week to start? Because if you are ready with the report by then, you can start working on another important task which is two two weeks later.

I do not remember how many times I have said that, but I believe in working with Most Important Tasks (MIT, more info here). Please not, most important tasks, not most urgent tasks. If you want to accomplish anything, make time for it. If you want to read a book in preparation for a conference, make time for it. And, If you want to polish your presentation skills before the All-hands meeting speech that you have to deliver, schedule some time for deliberate practice.

When you want to do something, you have scheduled time for it, and you need to concentrate, make sure you have one or two hours to fully immerse in the task. Close the email, turn off your phone, even put your headphones on. This way you will remove all the potential distractions and you will achieve most of the work in a fraction of the time it would take you if you were distracted every few minutes.

The main benefit of preparation is that you have a ready product that you can circle around for feedback. If you have to prepare a report and you are ready a week in advance, use the time to gather feedback from some stakeholders and polish the message. If you are in charge of planning the family trip, share it with you spouse and your kids, before announcing it to everybody.

You mind constantly tries to find better, easier, and faster ways to do something. If you get into the habit of picturing everything as a process with moving parts (cogwheels), then you will start noticing small improvements that can save hours and days if implemented. If you rush to get the status for all projects in the last 2 hours before you send out the report, then your brain will be stressed out and will not notice automated ways that you can use to get the data.

Last but not least, learn to seek allies and to delegate things that are important, but someone else can do that faster, better, or just instead of you. If you can automate any of the steps (gathering data, getting feedback), do it and never worry about it in the future. This way you can achieve the so-called multiplication factor, which means the ability to own and deliver a lot of things, without actually having to own most of them.

Staying on top of things can greatly improve the way your peers perceive you and the value you bring to the organization. Do you want to be that guy, who is always behind? Or that other guy, who is always prepared and appears to control their life and have time for everything. The difference between being stressed out and always working in crisis mode and feeling happy and in control can be just a few tips and deliberate planning session each week.

Originally published on: https://www.fromgnometogoliath.com.

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Staying on Top of Things - Thrive Global

(THE CONVERSATION) My most vivid adolescent memories of the Jewish High Holy Days are the painful rumbling of my empty stomach as I fasted on Yom Kippur, and the sharp blasts of the shofar the rams horn sounding from the synagogue pulpit.

I was one of millions of Jews the world over who observe Yamim Noraim. Thats Hebrew for Days of Awe or High Holy Days.

This 10-day period begins with the two-day celebration of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana. It ends with the one-day observance of Yom Kippur, when adult Jews in good health are expected to fast.

What is the significance of these holy days for orthodox Jews, secular Jews and perhaps even for non-Jews?

Traditional beliefs

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are known, respectively, as The Day of Judgment and The Day of Atonement. In Orthodox Judaism, these combined Days of Awe embody both celebration and trepidation, renewal and repentance.

This is a time when Jews believe that all humankind is judged by God and inscribed either in The Book of Life or The Book of Death. Judaism doesnt believe these are actual books. However, Jewish tradition tells us that God writes down the names of the righteous in The Book of Life, and the names of the wicked in the Book of Death.

The belief is that the righteous will live through the coming year; the wicked will not. All others neither fully wicked nor fully righteous will have their fate decided between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

The angst surrounding these holidays is captured in a liturgical poem called the Unetanneh Tokef, translated as let us speak of the awesomeness. This ancient prayer is chanted during both Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services, and states that,

On Rosh Hashanah they are inscribed, and on the fast day of Yom Kippur they are sealed who shall live and who shall die who shall perish by water and who by fire; who by the sword, and who by a wild beast; who by hunger and who by thirst

Leonard Cohen, considered among the greatest of songwriters, was inspired by this poem and used similar words in his song, Who By Fire. He wrote,

And who by fire, who by water

Who in the sunshine, who in the night time

Who by high ordeal, who by common trial

Who in your merry merry month of May

Who by very slow decay

And who shall I say is calling?

Given the apprehension that accompanies these stark pronouncements, it is hardly surprising that during the Days of Awe, observant Jews often greet each other with a phrase of hope, Gmar Chatimah Tovah roughly translated, May you be inscribed in the Book of Life.

As a psychiatrist reflecting on the High Holy Days, I have often wondered how many traditionally raised Jewish children have been frightened by the prospect of winding up in the Book of Death. I know I was.

As someone who has written extensively on Jewish ethics, I know that the High Holy Days also embody an ethical core that transcends religious doctrines and embodies universal ethical truths.

The varieties of Jewish beliefs

Judaism encompasses a wide range of beliefs. Orthodox Judaism is based on the premise that the Torah essentially, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible represents Gods eternal and unchangeable rules for Jewish living and religious observance.

But non-Orthodox branches of Judaism emphasize Jewish ethical and cultural traditions more than strict adherence to Jewish law and scripture. They seek to adapt Jewish traditions to modern needs.

Judaism in all its varieties is, at heart, a religion of hope and optimism. For example, the somber warnings of the liturgical poem Unetanneh Tokef are softened by its reminder that one can avert being inscribed in the Book of Death by means of repentance, prayer and charity. That is done in the interval between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Repentance, or teshuvah in Hebrew, requires taking a kind of spiritual inventory aimed at improving the health of our souls. True repentance during the High Holy Days also requires making amends to those we have sinned against or mistreated. Merely asking God to forgive such sins is not enough.

The ethical core of the High Holy Days

Secular and Humanistic Judaism are branches of non-Orthodox Judaism and are often considered together under the rubric, Secular Humanistic Judaism. This tradition does not invoke or accept the concept of an eternal, transcendent God. During the High Holy Days, emphasis is placed on how all people Jews and non-Jews can become better human beings.

In this secular humanist tradition, Rosh Hashana is seen as a time for self-evaluation and self-improvement, without reference to God. Instead, emphasis is placed on the cultural, historical and ethical aspects of Judaism.

A common ceremony in the secular humanist tradition is Tashlikh, which involves symbolically casting off ones sins by throwing bread crumbs into the water.

Tashlikh allows Humanistic Jews to reflect on their behavior; to cast off behaviors they are not proud of; and to vow to be better people in the year to come.

Finally, although Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are quintessentially Jewish holidays, their ethical values transcend any one religion.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.

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Universal ethical truths are at the core of Jewish High Holy Days - Daytona Beach News-Journal

Korey Wise told students that lasting criminal justice reform is still far from a reality as he shared his story at WMU on Friday afternoon.

Wise spoke in the Bernhard Center ballroom on Sept. 27. One of the Central Park Five, Wises story was dramatized in the limited series When They See Us, which received two Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Actor for Jharrel Jeromes portrayal of Wise. Wises appearance at WMU marked his first public appearance since the Emmys.

In 1989, Wise and the other members of the Five were falsely convicted following the rape of Trisha Meili. No DNA evidence could connect the Five to the attack, but the prosecution managed to convict on various assault charges. Wise was originally not a suspect, but was brought into the investigation after he accompanied his friend to the police station.

I was just a kid who loved his boy, Wise said.

Wise and the others were eventually exonerated when Matias Reyes, a convict who Wise met during his time in prison, confessed to being the real perpetrator. DNA evidence confirmed Reyes confession. Since his release Wise has been an advocate for criminal justice reform, sharing his experiences.

To be free is a state of mind, but to be free is also not a state of mind, Wise said, describing how the current criminal justice system deprives people of their dignity. You need to be free of parole, you need to be able to come and go as you damn well please.

Wise said that before his exoneration he had planned to max out his prison sentence to avoid parole. Parole, he said, is just another form of imprisonment.

Youre still the property of the state. You have a curfew, you could be 50 years old and still have a curfew, he said.

Wise said that despite increased media coverage, he feels that no real progress has been made in regards to criminal justice reform. In someways, he said, things are getting worse.

Its the Twilight Zone...[Police] now are more like robots. And when theyre afraid they get itchy trigger fingers. RIP Eric Garner, he said.

Wise also discussed President Trump. During the trial of the Five, Trump took out a full page ad in the Daily News calling the New York to bring back the death penalty. Despite the DNA evidence and their exoneration, Trump continues to argue for their guilt. Wise encouraged people to vote with the goal of getting him out of office.

Vote wise, he said, inciting a wave of laughter.

Wise continued with a discussion of some of the things that have kept him going over the years. During his imprisonment, Wise saw time in solitary confinement. During that time the only thing he had was his will to live.

I wanted to stay alive. I dont know why I wanted to stay alive, but I guess thats the only great thing you can do, he said. He added that his time in solitary provided a sense of safety that was hard to find amongst the general population.

After his exoneration, Wise took comfort in his family and in music. Immediately following his release Wise lived with some family from upstate New York. While staying with them, he worked through his emotions.

They were like therapists, he said.

Wise also cited music as one of his biggest releases.

Hip-hop is empowerment. Hip hop is self improvement, he said. Even in my home I just try listening to hip-hop and being hip-hop to keep a smile on my face.

Wise concluded by answering a question regarding his portrayal in When They See Us. Describing what it was like to see himself portrayed on film, Wise said:

[It is] very hard. I dont see it everyday. Most weeks I dont see it at all, but when I do see it I dont process it.

After the event Taylor West, WSA vice president and one of the events organizers, said that bringing Wise to WMU is one of the most exciting moments of her time as a student.

It was so emotional, she said. Seeing how many people actually showed up, listening to him, it was amazing.

Continued here:
Korey Wise shares his story of life after exoneration, continued frustrations with the justice system during WMU visit - Western Herald

Satyagraha (noun), an act of non-violent civil resistance, a term invented by Mahatma Gandhi.

Usage: Mahatma Gandhi first resorted to satyagraha during his early battles in South Africa, though the concept gained in recognition and respect when he applied it to the freedom struggle in India.

The Mahatma came up with the term Satyagraha - literally, holding on to truth or, as Gandhiji variously described it, truth-force, love force or soul-force to describe his method of action in terms that also imbued it with moral content and authority. He disliked the English term passive resistance, which journalists had applied to his civil disobedience movement, because satyagraha required activism, not passivity. If you believed in Truth and cared enough to obtain it, Gandhiji felt, you could not afford to be passive: you had to be prepared actively to suffer for Truth.

No dictionary imbues truth with the depth of meaning Gandhiji gave it. His truth emerged from his convictions: it meant not only what was accurate, but what was just and therefore right. Truth could not be obtained by untruthful or unjust means, which included inflicting violence upon ones opponent. Hence he would call off a satyagraha if any participant resorted to violence as he did when the killing of policemen in Chauri Chaura in 1922 led him to call off his nationwide protests just as they were gathering steam.

Gandhiji was profoundly influenced by the principles of ahimsa and satya and gave both a profound meaning when he applied them to the nationalist cause. This made him the extraordinary leader of the worlds first successful non-violent movement for independence from colonial rule. At the same time he was a philosopher who was constantly seeking to live out his own ideas, whether they applied to individual self-improvement or social change: his autobiography was typically subtitled The Story of My Experiments with Truth. If truth was his leitmotiv and guiding credo, satyagraha was his principal mode of major action precisely because it was infused with truth, the highest of all moral principles.

So non-violence, like many later concepts labelled with a negation, from non-cooperation to nonalignment, meant much more than the denial of an opposite; it did not merely imply the absence of violence. Non-violence was the way to vindicate the truth not by the infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on ones self. In satyagraha, it was essential to willingly accept punishment in order to demonstrate the strength of ones convictions.

Today, in the post-truth era, one can only ask in despair how much of that old spirit of Mahatma Gandhis survives in our countrys politics.

First Published:Sep 28, 2019 18:26 IST

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Shashi Tharoors word of the week: Satyagraha - Hindustan Times

How close are you to knocking the door down? One play in Seattle and Buffalo.

Were close. We just have to create our own opportunities there. Other teams have done that against us and we just have to make sure we do it against the other teams going forward.

What are your priorities in Pittsburgh?

All the fundamental things that we talked about the first three weeks that havent been good enough. Have to be better on first down. On defense we have to make sure were sure tacklers and cant let anybody out of our grasp. Weve played some tough quarterbacks that like to run around and theyre tough to get down and we just have to make sure that remains our focus.

It looked to me like for the first time in the second half on Sunday you were able to get into a good rhythm calling the game with down and distance.

We have to get that first first down. Really, thats where the rhythm comes from. We feel like we can get in an attack mode and be a little more creative. In the first half, for a myriad of reasons we werent able to get that first first down, so we were on our heels. They were attacking us. Thats not the way we want to play.

I know you dont like the balance (129 passes to 52 runs). Is what you had in the second half Sunday (14 rushes, 23 passes) more what you want?

To be quite honest with you, were going to do whatever we have to do to get a first down and score points. Every game is going to be a different approach. Some games you may run it a lot more than you throw it.Other games you may throw it a lot more than you run it. Sometimes it may be 50-50. Were not going to pigeon hole ourselves into were going to win it a certain way. Were going to make sure were doing whatever we need to do to defeat the team were playing.

I guess you built this offense to be like one of those shirts you can put on both ways.

Thats a good way to put it. Just like a reversible jersey.

You havent been able to score three touchdowns in a game. If you can put your finger on why, what would the reasons be?

We have to be more efficient on first down. We said it after San Francisco, Ill say it again after this one. The first half was a killer because were setting ourselves back. We had a dropped pass on the first play of the game, had a penalty on the first first down of the second drive. It starts with the play calls. We have to make sure were putting ourselves in the best position for guys to make plays.

After your first three games as a play-caller, what grade would you give yourself? How does Zac Taylor the head coach critique Zac Taylor the play caller?

Not good enough. We havent scored enough points. We havent had enough efficiency on early downs and so certainly in there we have to improve. Are we calling the best plays into the best looks? Are we giving ourselves the best chance to be successful? So far it hasnt been good enough through three weeks.

We need to continue to find the best way to use all our players. Every week we evaluate that and the decisions we made as a coaching staff. Continue to be hard on ourselves. We havent won a game yet. So you have to look yourself in the mirror and make sure you make the corrections you need.

Is there one play you want back from last week?

Theres always a couple you want back. Theres more than one.

Any that stick in the head?

Yeah, we threw a screen when we were backed up. Probably around the 10-yard line. Threw a screen on first down trying to get Tyler Boyd the ball and it was a poor play call. They had two guys bumped up there. Tough play call. Put us in bad position.

But you had that screen to running back Joe Mixon for 33 yards.

You remember the ones that didnt work. Thats just the way it works. Constantly striving for self-improvement there.

Andy Dalton and John Ross had an open go ball where they couldnt connect.

Everyone has been accountable for the things he can do better. Plenty of our guys have made lot of plays. Andy put us in position in the second half to move the ball down the field and be in position to win. It didnt go our way. I think everyone points the fingers at themselves right now. Everyone can coach better and play better.

I think he would say hes 0-3. Just the same way I feel. Just the same way (offensive coordinator) Brian Callahan feels. Everyone feels like theyre 0-3. Everyone knows they can improve and do better. Certainly you cannot point the finger to one person. I would say Andy has made some really good plays that have put us in position to do some great things and were going to continue to lean on him, as the season goes.

The most popular guy in town on an 0-3 teams is always the back-up quarterback. Thats foolish at this point, isnt it?

That would be ridiculous.

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Taylor-Made Takes: 'Whatever We Have To Do To Get a First Down and Score Points' - Bengals.com

My eyes are closed. Both arms are in a loose X across my chest. I feel my heartbeat quicken as I lean back. I fall. For a moment in time, I am afraid. But before fear takes over, a dozen hands cradle me instead.

A trust fall.

This team-building exercise, in which a person deliberately falls and trusts members of a group to catch them, was done during a three-day workshop. Self-discovery and self-improvement involved relinquishing control. The fear of hitting the ground was eclipsed only by the rush of being caught. I let go and my team had me.

That was two decades ago. One decade before my diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS). So much has changed. Can anyone trust fall with a disease like MS? I could say the right thing and offer platitudes. Yet I am left to wonder. I have a loving husband and family who are very much there for me. They are caring and involved. They are supportive.

But this is MS.

I cannot trust fall. This disease is unwieldy. I am afraid to let go. I am unable to close my eyes. I am unwilling to trust. I refuse to fall. I am scared to fall. But that does not preclude me from doing so. It only creates a fear-based reality. My God calls for more. He calls for faith. That faith leads me from fear into acceptance.

This is my MS.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease. It has zero emotional context until we apply such. If we apply fear, we create that association. Similarly, if we hope, we create that. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We can experience fear without creating a narrative. I am often uplifted by this reminder. I choose to live with my disease rather than fear it. This cognitive choice has saved me from me.

It is easy to fear, and far more difficult to hope. So much about our symptoms elicits fear. Foot drop, pain, numbness, cog-fog, and relapses are scary stuff. We wonder if they mean progression or further disability. That association is propagated hearsay and selective literature. Take those same symptoms and admit fear, yet allow hope. Go bigger and allow faith. Hope and faith are more difficult to substantiate. Each is intrinsic and infinite. Each slays fear and accelerates well-being.

We did not choose MS, but we can choose how we coexist. This does not necessitate a trust fall. It requires a leap of faith.

***

Note: Multiple Sclerosis News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Multiple Sclerosis News Today or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis.

Jennifer Powell is a health writer and weekly columnist on Multiple Sclerosis. Jennifer imparts her hopeful optimism into real-life challenges facing the MS community. Prior to writing her column, Jennifer freelanced for several online periodicals including WebMD.When not writing, Jennifer enjoys volunteering with animal rescue, traveling and spending time with her Golden Retriever.

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Leaving Fear Behind and Learning to Trust - Multiple Sclerosis News Today

The good news across all industries and business sectors is that leaders increasingly recognize the tremendous value of retraining workers for the digital workplace. As a recent Harvard Business Review article noted, Any business can invest in advanced technologies, but creating a workforce thats ready to use them is much harder.

The bad news, however, is that as companies strive to upskill their workers to keep pace with advanced technologies, they continue to overlook the biggest impediment to learning at all levels. Its a problem that affects people in as much as 20 to 40% of areas critical to their performance.

The problem is unconscious incompetence, which literally means that people are incompetent in some aspects of their job, but completely unaware. In other words, they believe they know something but, in fact, do not. Unconscious incompetence can undermine quality, customer satisfaction, and even safety.

Getty

There are dramatic examples of unconscious incompetence and their tremendous toll. Three decades ago, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred at Chernobyl in the Ukraine due to flawed reactor design and inadequately trained personnel. In January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger was torn apart 73 seconds after liftoff when the O-ring seals on the solid rocket boosters failed, despite assurances that the integrity of the rings would not be affected by the cold weather.

In the medical field, unconscious incompetence has been linked to preventable medical errors.The seminal report To Err Is Human examined the incidence of medical errors, which are a leading cause of death. Among the findings: knowledge of how to prevent some errors existed, but there has been a need for wider dissemination.

The only way to address unconscious incompetence is to systematically practice uncovering and addressing it as part of learning. Otherwise, what people assume to be accurate or appropriate (but, in fact, is the opposite) can keep them from acquiring the new knowledge and skills they need to compete in todays technology-enabled workplace.

The Personalized Approach

The question then becomes how best to address unconscious incompetence and impart new skills. Traditional learning strategies, including static e-learning, are one-size-fits-none approaches that give everyone the same material with no personalization. An analogy I like to use is a person who goes to see a doctor with a health complaint but is told, Ill give you the medications and treatments that I have prescribed for the last 75 people. You go home and try them and see what works for you. Of course, that would be ridiculousand yet, that is essentially what education has traditionally done. Based on the experience of prior learners, assumptions are made about the needs of every learner.

Far better is a personalized approach tailored to each learner, which takes into account their varied backgrounds, experience, levels of technical skills, and unconscious incompetence in different aspects of their jobs. In 20-plus years of research and development of learning solutions, I have found that adaptive learning delivers a truly personalized approach. Adaptive learning is a broad term that means, in essence, a computer-based learning system that automatically adjusts to the needs of each learner. It comes close to emulating the one-to-one student and teacher interaction of a tutoring environment, but at a scale.

Advanced adaptive learning platforms use a short, closed loop communication where the learning is constantly validated or corrected through high frequency questions and tasks that probe the learners proficiency, knowledge gaps, and unconscious incompetence. Most important, these platforms can deliver the targeted support needed to build proficiency, such that every learner becomes competent.

In corporate learning and development (L&D), adaptive learning can completely change both the experience for individual learners and the outcomes they achieve. For too long, corporate L&D focused on course completion: People showed up, took a class, went to a conference, and got a pat on the back or a certificate of completion. But a piece of paper on the wall doesnt mean that the information delivered in a class stays in ones brain. Even more important than what people learn in short-term is how much they retain in the long-term.

What People Learnand What They Forget

There is a problem with retention that has been well documented for more than a century. In the late 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist, demonstrated what became known as Ebbinghaus forgetting curve: Within the first 24 hours, Ebbinghaus found, 70% of newly acquired information cannot be recalled, and as much as 90% is lost within the first two weeks.

This brings us to another aspect of learning that companies must also address as part of their L&D strategies. Reinforcing knowledge and skills is one of the most impactful aspects of learning. It not only ensures retention but also helps prevent unconscious incompetence.

One area where knowledge refreshment and retention is critical is pilot training because of the obvious impact on safety involving hundreds of people per planeload. Most business environments, though, dont have such life-or-death scenarios. Nonetheless, knowledge retention remains critical to ensuring success for people in all professions who are facing changing demands and escalating requirements for their jobs.

Retention, just like learning, must be individualized.

Engaging Learners in the Process

By viewing learners as individuals with different experiences, knowledge, skills, and approaches to learning, adaptive learning is far more effective in getting the job done. Learning becomes more than a requirementits highly motivating as a process of self-improvement and empowerment for lifelong employment.

As people are exposed to new knowledge and skills, they also become aware of their unconscious incompetence. When their erroneous assumptions about what they know is addressed, a higher baseline of knowledge is established. This becomes a firm foundation on which to build the advanced and higher-level knowledge and skills needed for a more successful future.

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Employers Want To Retrain Workers, But Heres What Theyre Missing - Forbes

Grayson DeJesus (as Jim OConnor) and Carey Cox (as Laura Wingfield) in the Guthrie Theaters production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, now playing at the Guthries Wurtele Thrust Stage in Minneapolis. Photo by T Charles Erickson.

Memories are a tricky thing. As recounted by Tom in the prologue toThe Glass Menagerie, they are sentimental, not realistic. If you look up sentimental in Merriam-Webster, however, youll find that director Joseph Haj has not gone with the common definition of the term. Instead, the Guthries new production of Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie follows the alternate: having an excess of sentiment or sensibility. This excess is expertly mined from opening to ending, yielding much sardonic humor.

This derisive, disdainful quality is the lifeblood and throughline of this production. Jennifer Van Dycks Amanda Wingfield becomes an avatar of Southern vigor and lost causes great and small, constantly grabbing at, poking, and manipulating Remy Auberjonois ever-more-frustrated Tom towards misdirected self-improvement. Its really fun to watch, and laces each scene with ticking time bomb after ticking time bomb ofschadenfreude and dramatic bloodsport.

Effective sardonicism, like satire, requires a commitment to cause and character to truly resound. While the broader motions may be exaggerated by that filter of excess, Hajs talented cast holds back from outright parody, creating a tension that wraps successive layers around action and reaction. Watch Auberjonoiss Tom tremble on the cusp of an apology and see Van Dycks Amanda delight in an old dress and you start to sympathize with the characters, even as you laugh at them.

As splendid as Tennessee Williams writing is, every production ofThe Glass Menagerie hinges on the Gentleman Caller scenes. Hajs design team saves many of its choicest touches for the extended encounter between Laura (Carey Cox) and the Gentleman Caller Jim OConnor (Grayson DeJesus) a scene as poignant and magical in its delivery as it is, ultimately, tragic in the narrative. If Toms quest for his own space and privacy is the overarching narrative, this is the alternate counterpoint. Together, theyre a powerful pair.

The Glass Menagerieruns through October 27 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN.

Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017.

Originally posted here:
REVIEW: Sardonic Humor in Glass Menagerie (Guthrie Theater) - Twin Cities Arts Reader

I spent the majority of my degree scared and complacent. I decided that spending two years taking science courses and getting terrible grades was the greater alternative to admitting that I may be better suited for arts. Why? Because everyone makes fun of arts degrees, so I let that stop me from admitting that Im creative a dreamer with skills that are better suited for arts. Now, Im a psychology student and my grades and my soul sleep better.

If I could offer you one piece of advice, something I wish someone had drilled into me when university started is this: be brave. I know, I wish it was something more mind-blowing and complex. But being brave in itself is difficult. Its so general, so let me try and break it down for you.

Be brave and seek out new experiences. Dont be afraid to be uncomfortable, embrace it. Growth and self-discovery are facilitated by stepping outside your comfort zone. So go join clubs, attend parties and first-year events. Be proactive and make the effort to do things that scare you. Dont do what I did and pretend to be too cool for novel experiences. For so long, I wondered why I felt like I hadnt grown since high school. It wasnt until I started getting involved in the community that I started to feel that sense of self-improvement I had longed for. I was and still am so afraid to try new things because I didnt want to fail. Now, Im constantly forcing myself to operate outside of my comfort zone and its scary but great.

Be brave enough to value your own opinion and gut feelings above others. Only you know whats best for you. Dont spend years studying something that a) you werent good at and b) you didnt enjoy. If theres something that feels off, dont let the fear of judgement prevent you from staying true to yourself. I know its clich and I still find myself struggling to adhere to this, but do your best not to care what people think. Doing what you think you should do rather than what you want to do is overrated and not in service of yourself.

So whats the difference between being open and trying new things? To me, the difference is in passivity. When I suggest being open to experiences, I mean going with the flow, letting things happen and sticking around long enough to watch them play out. You never know who you may meet, memories you may make and experiences you may be exposed to. Try not to write things off right away and keep an open mind. I shut out so many experiences because I thought it wasnt something Id be interested in. For example, I had no idea how interesting writing for virtual reality was until I took a creative writing course. Rather than turning my nose at it because Ive never been interested in video games, I kept an open mind and it really sparked an interest in me.

Be brave. Its something I have to tell myself everyday. If youre not pushing yourself, youre not growing. I know its only the first few weeks of school, but time flies. I remember being in first year, I couldnt see the end of my degree it seemed impossibly far away. Now, Im here and its unreal. Truth be told, I wish I had realized and implemented my own advice years ago. So heres me, doing my best to reach out and pass on what I consider to be the greatest thing Ive learned over my years at UBC. Good luck and be brave!

Adry Yap is a fifth-year psychology student.

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Letter: From a fifth year to all first years be brave - Ubyssey Online