Writing, second language and Nicaraguan signs

* I was listening again the podcast with the guy who is writing a book every 21 days. Few years ago he would get just enough to stop working for a living, but now, two years later, he is averaging 40-50k per months with more than 100 books.

I was not so efficient like him, with two books published in March last year and another two this year in February, reaching the total count of 12.

** When it is about children, a negative habit such as whining or hysteric episodes, the way to deal with them is by using the psychological idea of extinction. But our rate of success needs to be as close to 100% as possible. If we decide to not give in when the child is whining, consistence is the key. If we stop after a while, we will reinforce the idea that we will eventually give up when the child is persistent. So giving in later is a No-No.

***Learning a new language as a child can have its own benefits. The second language will be native if it is learned before age of three, decreasing in quality with each age group (4-15, 15-18, 19-39) After age of 39, you will never speak perfectly, in theory. One good resource to check your child language is wordbank.stanford.edu. The ideal age of acquisition for a second language is before age of 10. A peer group talking in the studied language is ideal. If this is done early, the child will gradually lose the ability to speak first language, even if he/she will understand it. Even if parents are using the language. But not if he/she will have a second peer group where to use the language. An interesting observation was done in Nicaragua, where the deaf children were not supported until 1980s. Because of that, being deaf in there meant that you will have only rudiments of language, but something strange happen. After 1980, they start to create schools for deaf children, and their sign language started to get structure and subtlety with each new generation. The result was called Nicaraguan Sign Language. Main benefits in learning the second language are believed to be a result of switching from one language to another, creating a series of cognitive advantages called executive functions (EF). The main influence of the executive functions are observed in planning, flexibility and stopping/inhibition. They will relate later in life with retirement habits, diet, stopping bad habits such as smoking. Let's talk about diet as an example. Everybody knows the theory, but we do not do the right things, even if we know them. When you are on diet, and see food, the initial response (prepotent tendency) is to eat, but then we switch and stop. Same as when we are French speaking - English, but we are asked in French. The first impulse is to answer in English, but we switch and answer in French.

Languages and rewiring the brain

Motto: If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. (Nelson Mandela)

Why should we learn at least one foreign language? Not because is rewiring our brain, making us smarter, faster and brilliant, but because talking to someone in his/her native language will always bring admiration and respect from the other person. We will catch a glimpse into another culture, another kind of psychology, and we will touch even someone else soul. Having access to a world class poet or writer in his native language is a must for every one of us to achieve, a bucket list thing. There are endless possibilities, and everything starts with a bit of effort. Try this, learn another language, even if it is just to know what to order in your favorite restaurant.

About meaning ( Mastery ep.01)

Motto: Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning you give it. 

(T. Robbins)

   Din you ever wonder what controls and determines the quality of our life? Why are you doing the things you do?We are shaped by our beliefs and our values, and doesn't matter if they are right or wrong. It is more important what we think, even if they are false for the rest of the world, if we believe it, they will be real for us. The meaning we give will shape us, and like the dog of Pavlov, we will manage to attach a set of emotions to every meaning and belief that it is important for us. And then we will limit ourselves to a set number of emotions. We will become predictable, encompassed in our routine. How our life will be? Depends, if we have the right beliefs and values, we will live a happy life, if we have the wrong beliefs and our values will be in conflict, we will suffer and self-sabotage. If we will have a mix of right and wrong beliefs and values (this being the case of the majority of us), we will have an ordinary life, with good and bad things happening to us. 

   Can we change all this, can we sort out the mess, and navigate towards a happy life, defined by excellency? Yes, we can and i will try to explain how we gonna make this changes, how to not be ruled by emotions, and how to use them as fuel, instead of being burned in a witch trial fire. By tampering with the bundle of emotions that are behind each meaning, we can define new ones and we can grow as a being. There are three ways to do that, three forces that can shape a meaning. First, we can do this being helped by physiology, how we use our physical body, such as breath, posture, movement, second, by changing focus, whatever you focus on, you will feel, and a method to change your focus is by asking better questions, which will lead to better answers, and third, by being aware of our language, because as soon as we put different words to an experience, it change the meaning we experience. 

I hope I made you curious, as i will continue with this ideas very soon. 

Have a wonderful end of the week,

G.