How is the creative process like a storm? Both begin from what appears to be nothing. Both arise out of a disturbance and act to displace and destabilize. Both gather energy, material, force and direction from its particular situation.
Month: September 2016
Penguin Roald Dahl — Discover
On this Penguin site for the bestselling author, browse and sample new collections of Dahl’s short stories for adults: tales of intrigue, desire, greed, and fear. Discover Roald Dahl as you’ve never read him before.
10 Things I Learned at Yellowstone National Park — Discover
Each year, Steph Yiu and her friends visit a national park together. Here, she compiles 10 things she’s learned — with stunning photos and videos — from her adventures in Yellowstone National Park.
via 10 Things I Learned at Yellowstone National Park — Discover
B&B Italia expands into luxury kitchens with purchase of Arclinea
Business news: Italian furniture brand B&B Italia has bought high-end kitchen maker Arclinea, marking “the first major milestone” in its growth since being acquired by investment firm Investindustrial. (more…)
How To Find Your Inner Peace
You’re reading How To Find Your Inner Peace, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
I bet you sometimes feel stressed, afraid, overwhelmed and even frustrated at times. The reason? There are plenty; the dog, the kids, the boss and even the sun shining in your face.
These negative thoughts and emotions, if not taken care of, can become so overwhelming that you can start to sink.
I can certainly relate.
I have also had my challenges and I am sure I will have plenty more as long as I am breathing.
From an early age, I became interested in finding ways to alleviate and even leverage the hard times of my life. I began reading relevant literature and started to implement some of the ideas that stuck out to me. Some ideas worked, others didn’t but the more I tested new ideas the better I became.
In this article, you will learn about a technique I have used successfully to deal with any negative thoughts or emotion. The best part? You can apply it virtually anywhere. It is very practical and easy to use. You don’t need special clothes, books or even a coach to do it. It is very simple and effective.
I. Where did this technique come from?
A couple of months ago I read the book “The Art of Learning” by Josh Waitzkin. With its help I came up with the idea of this technique. In this book, which I highly recommend to anyone, I found so many great lessons that I read the book twice in two weeks.
I took plenty of notes and even after that I couldn’t get enough.
One lesson, in particular, made a great impression on me. The lesson was, “If you avoid your thoughts, they will come back stronger”. In the book, the author explains how he learned this lesson the “hard” way during a very important chess match. At the most intensive part of it, the author was deeply concentrated trying to figure out a strategy to beat his opponent until a familiar song came to his mind and made it harder for him to concentrate.
He decided to avoid the song and try to concentrate as much as possible. No matter what he did the song became louder in his head. The author had this experience a number of times more until he came to a breakthrough. In a similar match, he faced the same challenge but this time, instead of avoiding the song, the author decided to use the chatter in his mind to his own advantage.
What he did was to adjust his thoughts to the rhythm of the song. The result? He restored his total concentration and he never had an issue like that again.
II. The Birth of the hugging technique
Feeling inspired by this story I decided to use this idea.
I thought to myself “I can use this concept to deal with negative thoughts”.
The idea of welcoming the bad as we welcome the good in our lives is a wonderful way to adapt to whatever life brings to us.
Please take a second to think for a moment. Can you remember trying to avoid or getting rid of a thought in your mind but you found yourself powerless because the thought kept coming stronger and more insisting on taking over your attention? I would also suggest that eventually, you found that the moment you stopped trying to “clean” your mind from this thought, it lost its power.
III. The Law of Non- Resistance
In other words, you witnessed the law of non-resistance that states “Whatever you resist it will persist”.
Whatever we avoid causes the greatest discomfort. If we can only understand that the only way to overcome challenges is to accept them instead of avoiding them, the faster the process of going through the discomfort will be.
Using the ideas from “The Art of Learning ” and the Law of non-resistance, I decided to visualize how I “hug” what I associate in my mind as negative.
By “hugging” the discomfort I symbolically welcome it into my mind and believe it or not when I do this I stop resisting the discomfort and I become more comfortable with the fact that it is there. Once I feel comfortable being uncomfortable I am able to assess the situation from a neutral perspective which enables me to take better decisions and end my suffering quicker.
The more intensive the discomfort, the harder I visualize how I “hug” and accept the negativity. You might want to ask me “What do you actually imagine hugging?” Well, it depends on the situation. If a person makes me feel uncomfortable I imagine hugging the person, if it’s a situation, I imagine how I simply open my arms and say sincerely “thank you” or I could hug anyone connected with the creation of my discomfort.
Sometimes I even visualize how I hug myself. Just visualizing yourself being in the process of hugging works pretty well.
IV. Are you doubtful?
Some of you might be doubting this idea but let me ask you something.
Do you like to hug your closest friends, family members or to be hugged by them? Do you enjoy putting your arms around a person who causes your happiness?
I suppose yes.
There is one important thing that you must consider:
Hugging is a symbol of appreciation and acceptance.
Normally, when we forgive someone, we hug each other as a sign of acceptance and forgiveness.
Since, historically, we hug each other for ages, our brains have developed the habit to associate hugging only with positivity.
Since our brains associate hugging with love, acceptance, forgiveness and happiness we can experience the same emotions when we visualize hugging someone.
If we visualize well, it will feel as if we are hugging this person in reality.
Instantaneously, the hormones responsible for positive emotions will increase their percentage in our bodies and we will feel happier.
The same effect can be observed when we imagine that we “hug” someone or something that causes our discomfort.
V. Useful tips
Before you implement this technique let me give you some tips.
– First of all! You must believe that it can work for you.
-Secondly, please understand that life is happening for you and not to you, therefore every discomfort is an opportunity for you to become a better version of yourself.
– Last but not least, understand that the only way to lead a great life is by committing yourself to always take the “Right” decision. Not the decision society, your friends and family want you to take but the right decision that your gut/intuition tells you to take. In my experience, when I have to face and accept the challenge in front of me, my intuition always gives me the feeling that “This is the right decision”
My greatest hope is that you find this article helpful. If you are interested in more great content like this one check out my website Guided Meditation for you. If you have any questions, feel free to send me an e-mail. I will be glad to write you back.
My name is Nikolay Kolin, founder of guided-meditation-for-you.com, and my passion is personal development. Currently, I am a business student in Germany. Since my first year in High School I became interested in personal development and since then I consume every bit of information that can help me become a better person and achieve my dreams. I enjoy solving problems and I love being of service to anyone I can help with my knowledge and experience.
You’ve read How To Find Your Inner Peace, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Basque Country, Spainphoto via lynn
In Progress: Zhang Daqian Museum / Miralles Tagliabue EMBT
Courtesy of EMBT
- Architects: Miralles Tagliabue EMBT
- Location: Neijiang, Sichuan, China
- Architect In Charge: Benedetta Tagliabue / EMBT
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Courtesy of EMBT
- Design Phase: Daniel Rosselló (Project director) Francesca Origa, Gabriele Rotelli, Verena Vogler, Vaiva Simoliunaite, Susana Oses, Davis Gertners, Ana Isabel Fernandes, Vincenzo Messina, Javier Rivero Carnota, David Mas Trigueros, David Ricardo Ramírez, Evangelia Anamourlogluo, Maria Ioanna Barka, Fabian Vargas, Pauline Suhr, Enrique Franco, Claudia Paola Martinez, Dean Mapeso, Rebeca Pérez Casterà (Collaborators)
- Construction Phase: Elena Nedelcu (Project director) Wang Lingzhe, Marzia Faranda, Ana Otelea (Collaborators)
- Embt Shangai Team: Igor Peraza (Project Director) Qiwei Hu, Chen Hao, Dee Liu, Pey Lung, Kathrine E. Thoen, Wei Song, Lorenzo Trucato (Collaborators)
- Clients: Shen Zhen Excellence Kang He Investment and Development Pty., Ltd
Courtesy of EMBT
The construction of Zhang Daqian museum, a project designed by Benedetta Tagliabue / EMBT, has begun a few months ago in Neijiang, China.
Panels
Zhang Daqian was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the 20th century. Originally known as a guohua painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned as a modern impressionist and expressionist painter.
Courtesy of EMBT
On April 2010, Excellence Group invited EMBT to design Zhang Daqian’s museum in Neijang city, the painter’s hometown. In 1956 Zhang Daqian and Pablo Picasso met in Paris, where they exchanged ideas on art and initiated their friendship.
Courtesy of EMBT
Neijiang city would like to continue this friendship between the two artists, and moreover between the two cities where they were born, Neijing and Malaga.
Panels
The design philosophy behind the museum was to integrate the cultural essence of East and West and build expressing the past and the future. The museum should grow from the existing tea house and extend its pavilions over and around a garden that moves topographically on different levels, enclosing some of the old trees within its scheme.
Courtesy of EMBT
The motives and gestures extracted from Zhang Daqian’s painting will shape the ribs of the vertical structure, while the interpretation that the Chinese painter did of Picasso’s face will informs the geometries of the plan.
Courtesy of EMBT
The site is located at the peak of Dong Tong Lu, Yuan Mountain, west of Xi Lin monastery, south of the Tuo River. The museum will be the landmark of the city.
Courtesy of EMBT
Symbiosis / Cong Sinh Architects
- Architects: Cong Sinh Architects
- Location: Huế, Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam
- Architect In Charge: Vo Quang Thi
- Project Architects: Vo Quang Thi, Nguyen Thi Nha Van, Phung Kim Phuoc, Tran Ngoc Hung, Vo Thi Kim Khanh, Tran Ngo Chi Mai, Le Thien Trieu, Do Truong Nguyen, Nguyen Manh Liem, Vu Hoang Phi Long, Tran Le Quyen.
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Hiroyuki Oki
- Contractor: Thanh An Interior & Construction Co.,Ltd
© Hiroyuki Oki
From the architect. Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, has been honored as the National Green City by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The city is divided into Northern and Southern regions by the beautiful Huong River.
Diagram
In the Northern region where the old citadel is located, construction is strictly managed by the local authority. Constructions with high density and large scale are greatly restricted, which gives more space for plants and helps create a green and harmonious area. However, in the Southern region, urbanization takes place faster and there is less and less green space.
© Hiroyuki Oki
The building is an office which is located on a beautiful street running along the bank of a small river in the Southern region. This is one of the greenest streets that remain in this area. Despite this, in recent years, the street still cannot protect itself from the impacts of the rapid urbanization. Along the street, there have been constructions with very high density, which affects the overall landscape. Likewise, before renovation, the original building was also built with 100% density. Therefore, after buying this property, the architect had a simple idea for turning it into an office: creating an architectural form that appears friendly and harmonious, and that has a symbiotic relationship with the surroundings.
© Hiroyuki Oki
The building helps heal the wounds caused by the urbanization process on the street.
The solution is as follows: First, we replace the front half of the building with an area for plants and a vine trellis. The aim is to help the office completely blend in with the landscape around it and let nature cover and protect the space for use. This area is used for reception. Then, at the remaining area behind, we put another floor on top. The ground floor is a model studio and the first floor is the office for the architects. Both of the spaces are completely open to the front space that is covered by the plants and vine trellis. People in the building will feel like the space for use is doubled.
© Hiroyuki Oki
The people, the plants and the building have a symbiotic relationship with each other and they become a single unit. Every day, people take care of the plants and the building. On the stormy days in Hue city every year, the building covers and protects the plants and people. And on summer days with high temperature, the plants provide shade for the building and the people below.
© Hiroyuki Oki
The architects hope that this is a simple and effective solution which can be applied for every building with high density in order to bring back the original greenness to the street.
© Hiroyuki Oki
Taipei, Taiwanphoto via hack
Sig Nordal 