Postcards from the Funny Farm

These are 8 top notch psychology/inspiration posts I ran across recently.  I hope ya dig ‘em!

beekerswords.com/you-can-be-immortalized
Ridiculous amount of money makes you a lego sculpture.

andrewknight.com.au/2008/10/chris-hamilton-and-goo...
Misspelling can have funny effects on your placement.

dragonblogger.com/2008/10/dragon-bloggers-guide-tw...
From the page: “I have spent the last 72 hours becoming immersed in twitter on my free time and I believe this will be one of the most comprehensive posts”

romandock.com/how-blog-readers-are-like-cookies/
From the page: “This post was inspired by Damienâ€s recent post Can one be enough? when he is talking about trying to keep his daughter from taking all the cookies and only eating a few of them and relating it to his own obsession of trying to get more readers (cookies) to his site.”

simplydunn.net/2008/10/25/set-video-as-your-wallpa...
From the page: “having a video as your desktop wallpaper
, this is something that not everybody aware that itâ€s possible. Do you want to know how to do it? I found it in WinMatrix. Just do these steps as follows:”

childhoodspeech.com/2008/10/25/the-absorbent-mind-...
From the page: “The Absorbent Mind is one of the best ever written books by any childhood pedagogist (educator) or philosopher.”

Embrace The Car Conversation | The Man Page
What is it about getting in the car that makes many kids talk incessantly? From the moment their rear end hits the seat, their lips don’t stop moving.

Neurophilosophy : Brain immediately recognizes tra...
Really cool breakthrough for the brain and for science.

These were the best I ran across on my safari this week. If you enjoy the links, please share them through social media such as:
Stumbleupon

5 Psychological Experiments That Prove Humanity is...
Fascinating, comprehensive collection of disturbing psychological studies.

Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths...
Hard to take “truths” about human nature. I don’t agree with all of them but this is a real fun read.

Romantic Fall Ideas
My favorite was the high school football idea, but they are all great.

Aspects of Playfulness: Humble Humour: beplayful.o...
An excellent post with many facets of humor and unassuming qualities.

The Shambhala journey: discover what is intrinsica...
This is an excellent set of inspiring ideas laid out in way that is easy to ingest. I like this blog more and more.

Famous Jack Kerouac quotes &his Buddhist liter...
Jack Kerouac is one of my heroes when it comes to free creative thinkers. This is a nice assembly of quotes.

Neurophilosophy : Musical training enhances integr...
I’ve thought that music was good for learning for years, now neurophilosophy proves it. Another enlightening post.

These were the best I ran across on my safari this week. If you enjoy the links, please share them through social media such as:
Stumbleupon

Home & Gardening: Decorate Your Home for Joy U...
Intriguing article about using what the writer calls “Design Psychology” to decorate your home. Worth a read.

Neurophilosophy : Beauty &the Brain
Great introduction to a linked article about the study of beauty and neurology.

5 Ways to Change Someone
Some excellent ideas on how to change someone. She acknowledges it may not work, but they are great practices for any relationship anyway.

List of cognitive biases - Wikipedia, the free enc...
From the page: “A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgement that occurs in particular situations” A great post that every psychologist or lover of psychology needs to read and bookmark.

The A-Z of Playfulness: beplayful.org
If you are looking for a one word mantra or just a word for the day, check out this very creative and enlightening post on the meaning of words related to playfulness.

scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/09/new_neuro...
Post on how the brains uses new neurons to make new memories.

PsyBlog: How the Mind Reveals Itself in Everyday A...
Psychology and how it manifests in everyday life. An excellent post.

Eche..blah..blah: Joke Time
From the page: “If at first you don’t succeed, redefine success. ”
The one liners on this post are golden, sheer genius.

enlightenyourday.com/2008/09/18/poetic-teachings-o...
From the page: “The greatest tragedy in life is not death;
the greatest tragedy takes place
when our talents and capabilities are underutilized
and allowed to rust while we are living. Amma”

More like this. An excellent post.

These were the best I ran across on my safari this week. If you enjoy the links, please share them through social media such as:
Stumbleupon

Straining toward achievement & Ongofu - an LDS...
A very truthful anecdote comparing working out at the gym to the challenge of life for all of us.

Symptoms of inner peace
This is one of the better ones I found this week. The blogger does a great job laying out “symptoms” of inner peace, I sure want these symptoms, how about you?

Unlock Your Potential with a Little Secret! | Juic...
This 26 year old blogger has a great point here. Integrity is the one thing you should strive for at all costs. Great post and a blog worth looking deeper into.

Enhance Your Confidence & Blog Archive &...
This simple looking blog packs a powerful punch giving you step one of extreme self-esteem. If you could use some more (who can’t?) Read this post.

Love Homework: Include Your Spouse
A quick and easy way to foster more love in your marriage is to simply include your spouse in the things you do. This is a guestblog I wrote for a true bloggy friend of mine Chelle at “It Might be Love.” Check it out.

Bright Blue Rain
A very clever take on the phrase “the one who got away.”

Psychology Today: The Creative Personality
This post will help some of you see traits about yourself. It’s not a guide to becoming creative but rather an objective rendering of what creative people are generally like. Interesting.

The Age Blogs: Management Line
Wow. Who ever imagined someone would challenge personality tests like the Meyers Briggs … and make sense doing so! I mean these can be used as enablers as well, as in when people complain in drug rehab about being this or that “way” from birth. Shouldn’t alcohol rehab be a time of reckoning? Of course it should. This author brings into focus whether these tests are 100% helpful or not. What is your take on this revolutionary post??

Who is the Object of Your Blogging Affection? || B...
Michael writes an excellent “guidance” post for writers seeking to define their audience. This guy is great for nuggets regarding blog composition.

After much thought, I’ve decided to reinvent my mission statement.  The CAN page has changed and you’ll find the following(below) if you go there.

From the revised CAN page:

It has been said: “If you aim at nothing, you will surely hit it.”

That’s why I rate my own blogs monthly.

It’s also been said that if you do the right thing consistently, then the right things will happen to you.

I’m listing my mission statement here so you will better understand my what I do.  It is:

To create and innovate value for others.

These are my monthly “CAN” goals defined:

C- Circulation is measured by the number of posts and guestblogs I do each month.
A - Association is commenting I do on other blogs.
N - “Nods” are my Blog Safaris, or “link love” posts.

Each month I set new goals and record the results publicly.

Each category gets a percentage score then I add them together and divide by 300 to get the final rating.

I assign my blog a monthly rank value according to this scale:

• 90-100%=
• 75-89%=
• 51-74%=
• 30-50%=
• 11-30%=
• 0-10%=

Current and past monthly CAN. updates can be found here. I enjoy and welcome your comments on this topic.  Setting goals and achieving them must feel better than the best colon cleanser ;)

I had an absolute blast this week reading blogosphere posts about the brain and inspiration. Here are some I stumbled along the way. Please stumble them all, they are very deserving.

52 Sunday Evening Meditations on Life | Marc and A...
Great list of 52 “mantras” or meditations. Give ‘em a read.

ALEXEY TITARENKO | PHOTOGRAPHY
This is the kind of picture where you stare it it and it keeps getting weirder and weirder with the possibilities of what you are seeing.

A Blog About The Law of Inspiration: Creating Unli...
I really like and agree with these ideas to keep inspiration flowing.

Drumroll Please
CK is one of the coolest bloggers out there. She dedicates her posts to describing what mental health issues feel like. What a contribution! It so happens she nominated me for an award in this post. I want to recommend her to you.

overeating and anorexia: a dialogue
A very candid and informative dialogue on a therapist’s blog. Archive this one as an excellent, eye-opening resource on anorexia.

Life’s Little Gifts | Growing Happiness
An amazing tip on finding inspiration in the little things. This is an inspiration blog I really recommend.

D’oh! It’s not a comedy cell
I really like how this guy once again describes how the brain is working in ordinary situations, like watching the Simpsons. I can’t promote his blog enough. Did you ver see the episode where he called Chicago personal injury lawyers. Me neither because I don’t think it existed. I saw the one where they showed his brain though :) That’s the kind of fun you get on his site.