YOUR FILTER
May 19, 2022
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How you experience the world strongly depends on how you tell yourself what you experience.
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A little context here!
Studies show that the subjective quality of what the brain experiences, depends a lot on comparison.
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Ape A was happy with one banana for a long time. But one day Ape B in the next cage was handed out two bananas. So Ape-A went nuts and was not happy with his bananas anymore.
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My point is not to compare yourself with others, for good or bad. My point is to shift the focus of how to tell yourself the story of your life.
Are you the ape who doesn't have a second banana? Or are you the ape who is not being tempted of getting fat and die young on a heart attack?
If you change your perspective you literally change the output-content that your brain generates. by that you change the reality!
Because reality is just the interpretation of all the informations you'r brain (you) can sens.
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And the amount of informations your five senses can detect is a lot!
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Your brain needs to filter all those informations, in order to not get overheated.
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You can see the filter more like a magnifier. The moment you focus on a specific thing, or specific spectrum of things, it takes more real estate of your current worldview, while the edges become blurry.
Or you can see the filter like a storyteller.
The storyline still is the same. Because the gigantic stream of informations about the storyworld is the same. But what part of that world you choose for your main story depends on the storyteller.
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Choose your filter. Or at least be aware of it and try to tell the story of your life in a more helpful way for your given situation.
If i feel like Ape-A, gratefulness is my favourite filter (yes i'm rolling my eyes too ;D).
Again, it's not about comparing. It's all about awareness and focus.
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Think about it.
CHRISTOPHER HAWLEY
April 5, 2022
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I learned surfing.
At least a few meters I managed to stand upright on the board and surfed a little wave on the pacific ocean.
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But that moment isn't the thumbnail of my memories with Christopher Hawley from Venice, Los Angeles.
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It's the moment when we both were sitting on our boards, floating on the salty and dark water at the Californian coast, a view hundred meters away from the waters edge.
The ocean is calm out there. The waves are breaking somewhere behind us. Christopher calls it the white water. Chris is observing the vast water mass in front of us, looking for the perfect wave. I'm still out of breath, because it's surprisingly hard to paddle out here, against the power of the waves. At least for me. While I'm catching my breath I try to find a comfortable sitting position on my board, splashing water with my hands. Chris looked at me and tells me not to splash too much, because "it attracts the animals", "we don'´t say the word here!". I stop splashing and think about what might be beneath us. Obviously he meant sharks. Great white Sharks.
Like many film fans I am scared of the inner picture of a great white shark's face reaching out for my legs, dipping into the darkness.
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The same night I find myself binge watching drone videos from a youtuber who observes great whites at the LA coast. And I can't believe how close these creatures come to surfers and swimmers on a daily basis. Mostly without incidences, fortunately.
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The next day I was out there again with him; and them. Brave me! :)
Chris is not just a surf teacher, or a yoga teacher. He also is a singer songwriter.
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One day I filmed chris with my drone during a surfing lesson.
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So i picked one of his songs and put it under the drone shots.
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Thank you for the lessons Chris. You were a great neighbour and you are a real Californian original! (as far as i can tell)
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CYBER SECURITY
March 30, 2022
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Cyber Security.
This topic is becoming more and more valuable for the mainstream. EVERYBODY should be aware of it! – maybe all but Amish people.
The fast increasing shift of our "real lifes" towards the digital world has a logical side effect. The criminal part of life is coming with us.
In statistics the cliché of a typical petty criminal, sneaking in the dark, wearing a ski mask and leather gloves, is absolutely NOT representative anymore.
It's not just a bunch of filthy people anymore that have the necessary greed – and above all – the braveness or desperation, to go out and make some real life crime.
The entry qualification to do the "job" digitally attracts a much broader type of human being. All you need is a computer, time and will.
Instead of walking around checking out houses and stuff, they comfortably sit behind their screens and risking almost nothing in putting all their effort in crime like theft and scam.
This note is a quick reminder: with our identity, that becomes more and more digital, our valuables do the same.
And they are not hidden and save behind the thick walls of your house. It's a thin wall of zeros and ones that "protects" you from losing your money, photos and privacy-stuff.
The good news is most “digital real estate companies” such as microsoft, apple, google etc. seem to serve us with good and thick digital buildings. So the safety risk is more on us.
It's all about our habits, that are created by a mind that has not yet realised, in what world it lives more and more. Most people almost never lock their digital doors. And if they do, they do it poorly. They leave their windows open. Or open their doors for everybody that knocks.
This is just a quick reminder. Take this topic seriously!
Just google about the victims of hacking attacks. There are many. Celebrities and normal folks. And they all can tell you how much pain in the ass this is. And sometimes even worse.
Inspired to make your digital life saver? Check this out!
Write down your thoughts.
That's a well known rule. For a good reason.
Writing down your thoughts is not about creating output, it is more about processing your input.
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So let's first talk about input. Let's talk about reading!
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The complexity of the human brain is still a big mystery, but nevertheless scientists can describe the basic neural mechanics behind reading pretty well. So what happens when we read?
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Step 1: a brain area processes the visual image of the letters
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Step 2: another area identifies the visual pattern as letters and sends it to an area called the "letterbox", where the letters become a word
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Step 3: another brain area processes the meaning and pronunciation of the word
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For an experienced reader this process takes less than half a second.
Why am I telling you this? Because scientists found out: reading about 30 pages a day, stimulates the activity of a brain area related to memories, verbal recall and emotional regulation.
Probably that's why people feel less stress and anxiety after reading, can articulate themselves better and have a lower risk of dementia.
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Okay, reading gives you a lot of benefits. But why should you write more?
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Two reasons:
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Reason 1: when you write down your thoughts about what you have read, you basically repeat the reading process. And repeating is the most important tool for learning.
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Reason 2: When you summarise what you just read, you will understand the text better. Satisfying. Your brain produces dopamin and that motivates you to read more.
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Bottom line here is: prevent Alzheimer's, improve your memories, talk better, and reduce stress and anxiety by building a reading habit trough writing.
Got it? Then feel free to take some notes :)
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Maybe this infographic helps you more to motivate yourself.
WRITE MORE!
January 1, 2022
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SHORTFILM: THE MECHANIC
September 17, 2020
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All it basically took was a flashlight and a photo camera to make this short film.
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The cinema magic of Hollywood can usually only be created with a lot of effort. Tons of expensive lights controlling every corner of the frame, handled by lots of people. Gigantic white sheets hanging in the air, softening the sunlight. And much more to make the set look larger than life.
But there are also a lot of magic scenes in blockbuster movies, that take place in the darkness, and seem to only be lit by the actor himself with a flashlight, a matchstick, a torch or a smartphone screen.
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At least for me it looked as simple as that. But I wanted to figure out if I was right.
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So I picked up my digital photo camera (Canon EOS-R) and a flashlight from amazon.
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Okay, it took a little bit more to create that piece, but the visual atmosphere is just made with these two main ingredients. And it worked.
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You can watch the final film here!
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Have fun :)