I enjoyed this video. My mother told me, "Think good thoughts. Because our Thoughts become our Words, our Words become our Actions, and our Actions come to define us."
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on THESE things” Philippians 4:8 HALALUYAH!
First vid of yours I’ve seen. And you’re living proof that creative excellence is a lifelong skill that comes from a whole lot of interaction with others. In my future teaching I’d like to foster a community that isn’t scared to understand together, speak openly, engage with eachother with familiarity and belonging. All we need to move the world forward is to get people communicating. Stop the separation. I love this video
I appreciate your incorporation of diagrams, something typically reserved for work-related/professional needs, for personal development. Like you said, the personal and professional are the same, there's no reason why we can't use data and project management tools to improve our private lives.
Learning to control my thoughts is going to change my life. The grooves of my habitual behavior have directed the course of my life for so long, and I'm finally realizing that I really do not have to remain stuck. I had a self imposed victim mentality and a negative inner voice that was critical of the actions of others as well as every little mistake I would make. This is the cage that the perfectionist lives inside of until they realize that there really is no cage. It is a delusion that we live inside of. This is something that I don't really see a lot of creative voices talk about, but the basic asset of bodily health is so critical to artistic performance. Recently I had an experience where I was strung out on caffeine after slamming coffee and whatever else all day, then when attempting to go and do something delicate like figure drawing at the end of the day, I literally could not "see" what I was looking at. Nothing made any sense and I had one of the worst art experiences of my life. It was so humiliating, but I needed to go through this because it was emblematic of all the ways I was failing to maintain my mind and body, basic things like hydration, good diet, exercise... SLEEP (I can't stress enough how critical this one is). These were things that were never instilled in me because I came from a chaotic family that was too distracted to demonstrate the importance of these things, but I am not blaming them. Instead, I am realizing the true potential inside myself and acting on this potential in the appropriate way. To all creatives... if you find yourself in a moment where nothing makes any sense and you have fallen off the good path, I urge you to simply stop, breathe, and be patient. Remove stimuli from your immediate surroundings, simplify, and remember to take care of your body in the meantime- this part is critical. The path will naturally emerge before you as it has emerged for me, and you will pick up the pieces again and move forward slowly and carefully in the right direction.
Your videos make me wish I had you as a teacher when getting my degree. Thankful to have found your content and this was another stellar example of just that.
imo it's important for those who haven't won the lottery of birth (having one of more factors that make thinking harder) to view those who are valorised as 'high performing' as having genetics, environments, developmental advantages.... you can't compare yourself to high performing people on face value... and comparing yourself with them will have the opposite effect, paralysing you with anxiety/ self doubt/ confusion. Youre on your own path, and persistence seems to be important for those people :) it's also interesting to see the feedback loop between teachers/tutors and students who are high performing/ and those who don't neatly present as 'high performing'... when a teacher/tutor isn't skilled in holding space for an unconventional path to performance can compound existing lottery of birth factors, resulting in low performance.... where there was the potential for high performance. The challenge of the teach/tutor is to leave open the possibility of performance improving despite initial impressions/ comparisons to those who are 'high performing'.
All of that is fair. If I had to essentialize the message of the video… I would suggest that - at it’s core - the video is less about “high performance” measured against others - and more about the idea of “responsibility”. The idea that regardless of our station in life, regardless of the immutable factors we were born into, that we are response able. (We choose our responses). I’m wondering what your reaction to this component of my video is seen through the lens of your comment? I mean what are your thoughts on “Response Ablity” as it relates to the issues you raised?
ha, that hits this 3rd worlder who knew about social class divides from young and witnessing the downfall of it through broken home and falling apart of communities, trying to cope against bad situations by being 'more intelligent', knows it(intelligence, awareness) to be more pain than it is worth
thanks a lot , ive been strugling reconecting with what i create after a very long depression, never have taked art seriously and i need to discard a lot of things in my mind rigth now, this seems like the way. saludos desde chile, muchas gracias.
We need a book about all of this, maybe in form of a textbook with exercises, there is so many books about creativity, not many about improving thinking/critical thinking skills
It was probably random (although they are all Mediterranean countries); but I felt a sense of pride when the Greek flag popped up. Your input is invaluable.
I only discovered this in my thirties. I always used to be the idiot, however I knew that I was being dumb and definitely knew that others totally see through that. Since then I realized, that self dumbing was caused by peculiar upbringing which forced me to shut down certain parts of cognition to protect myself. There was always a machine hidden underneath, that was running on wrong fuel. Since looking deeply into these little understood and confusing inner things, I've started changing and now some things just come naturally. I can't believe now, how I could not perceive some things objectively in the past.
Great note. Not sure how familiar you are with Carl Jung’s idea of “complexes” and the inner child and the shadow. But it made so much sense to me. Might help if your unfamiliar
I independently hypothesized the behavioral component of intelligence yesterday, believe it or not. When/where did you discover this? So interesting, and I'm quite shocked I found you because I didn't say this out loud or anything ^_^. Like I said, I subbed. I subscribed because I think you're providing stellar information. People just need to listen really hard, just like you're saying, if they are not already tipped off to what you're saying. Then again, the problem could be the prison. Either way, very great work.
We've seen a gradual degradation of the public square partially due to a deemphasis on a shared cultural knowledge. There's advantages to seeing an explosion in diverse expressions across various mediums. However, as a society, we now lack a lexicon of presuppositional truths or a fluency in a uniform symbolic language to be able to effectively articulate our ideas with others. The pursuit of license (rather than liberty) which is typically impulsive and emotive, through an emphasis on individualism, has discouraged a critical reflection of our idiosyncratic thoughts and behaviors. We're no longer responsible to poke and prod to help our fellow citizens to help move themselves outside of their caves, we either tolerate (ignore what we perceive to be idiosyncratic) or encourage their shelter. The result is a directionless and disintegrated society of idiosyncratic individuals that produce an abundance of diversity.
Great advice. I used to organise all my thoughts and ideas in multiple notebooks but it was impossible to manage when I needed to restructure it and move things around. This year I started using OneNote instead, which has worked much better (and it's free, and it does auto-backup to the cloud). As the Buddha said "With our thoughts, we make the world." I find it useful to identify which parts of a problem are external or internal to myself. It would seem obvious at first glance but it isn't. Often obstacles appear to be external but it's an illusion: If I'm having a terrible time with something, is the problem some nebulous external run of bad luck? Or is the problem actually an irrational internal reaction to events beyond my control?
One who shapes his thinking positively despite the world going into a direction of digital enslavement - how does such positive thinking practically assists the individual and the ones around him? In a way it might be a mechanism that makes a person buy into whatever limit on freedom he's introduced to. Wonder if it's beneficial in the long term.
"La inteligencia no se aquieta la síntesis, sino en la tensíon de contrarios." (Intelligence is not pacified by synthesis but rather by tension of contraries.) "El espíritu crítico se rinde incesantemente para incesantemente rescatarse." (The critical spirit conquers itself incessantly to incessantly rescue itself.) Just a couple of "scholia" from Nicolás Gómez Dávila that seem apropos.
Love this. Thank you for sharing your strategies and tools for thinking. Do you have any favorite online intellectual communities for creatives, artists, and designers?
Thanks! I would appreciate it. Yeah, it seems hard to come by - I see some good discussions from bits of the web. Not sure if I was missing out on some no-brainer communities
Hi there. I have been trying to develop my thinking because I believe it is so important as an artist, so this came at the most useful time. If we do not think, how can we convey something meaningful? I am wondering if there is somewhere I can find a template of sorts for the diagram you showed around 5:14 as it seems most useful. Either way, thank you for this video and thanks for helping us on this journey. You're a real one.
I love that you quoted scripture. Scripture is the main source of how to use your mind efficiently and effectively! It has helped me in my path of how to THINK properly and how to BE properly (or at least sometimes attempt to be lol)
Why do you think I couldn't stop laughing. Satan isnt Evil its DEVOLUTION God isn't Holy. Satan the Light Bringer is just the angel that reaches the next stage of human potential. The reason the messiah failed is because I've been talking to myself this entire time!!!!!!! I told you the universe communicates in Karama and riddles and irony! Its not that your humor is becoming darker. Your just picking up on the flow of karma LoL. I told you I'm the Buddha. The reason you can not translate the work of god is not because it is a sin but that you don't know how to. It is not a sudden surge of information but a shift in the context of how you view yourself in relation to the world around you. Halos are for the parent to understand that the child is ready to walk, but it is also to show the teacher that he must assume the role of a student . Karma is always a two way street. if I've told you once I've told you a million times. I am the Buddha. I AM HIM. Everything is a joke!!!!!! Because what kind of child could ever be unworthy of gods love. The fact that you haven't realized that is why WE are I Nicholas Karl Thum, and you are you. And I'm am Finally ready to listen. Because i Have seen the face of god and I have been humbled because I have failed you, we have failed each other. And so we must finally breath life into ourselves
