IDEALS AND INTERESTS

26 December 2022

America betrays its ideals for its interests.

Interesting short interview with a biographer of Kissinger.

 https://youtu.be/pTJpEAghLyE

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IS UKRAINE A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY?

26 December 2022

                 Zelensky is this much vaunted and supposed democrat, but he has more in common with the autocrats of the Kremlin.

 He closed down three critical media stations, gaoled the leader of the country’s second largest political party as well as banning 11 opposition parties and the largest Orthodox Church in the Ukraine, as well as threatening anyone belonging to any non-approved religious body.

Do democrats behave is such a way? No they don't, though The West is having democratic difficulties, but Putin does and a number of other despotic leaders of former Soviet republics do.             

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COMPARING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF TWO ENGLISH CULTURES

22 December 2022

A subject that fascinates me is how the way we think, and how we get motivated, changes over time and from culture to culture.

You and I are different. I am different from my grandfather.

But how to we think? What makes us tick? Why are we different?

The West is still the dominant world culture, I would say. It's been this way for three hundred years now. Why is this? Why do western people seem to have so much vitality? Is it true that eastern people are passive?

This is an interesting article from an interesting writer, Lucy Kellaway. It provides a few pieces in the jigsaw.

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Lucy Kellaway’s lessons on life from moving to the North East

My life until now has been low on prayer. I grew up in a house where there was much scornful talk of God-botherers, but now I find myself in a job where barely an hour passes without my bothering God in one way or another.

Earlier this year I moved to the north-east of England and since September have been teaching at a Catholic school near Newcastle. At first, this praying didn’t come naturally. I could just about say the Lord’s Prayer, hard-wired in me since primary school, but even this was of limited help. In the first assembly my lone voice rang out with my favourite bit — “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever, amen” — not noticing that everyone else had stopped, as Catholics do, after “deliver us from evil”.

Now, I’ve got the hang of it and find I like praying. Saying things in unison is one of life’s great but uncelebrated pleasures — it creates an instant state of togetherness and orderliness. I also very much like the words: peace, grace, hope and light. The last of these is particularly nice to say as there is so little of it up here, 55 degrees north, where on cloudy days around the winter solstice it doesn’t really get light at all.

Although I don’t feel any closer to Christ, I am being converted to a slightly different view of education — and, after a term’s immersion in Geordie society, to a radically different view of how best to live. Life at my school is founded on the Gospel values which, I found after a spot of googling, involve the sort of thing even the most devout atheist should be able to sign up to: forgiveness, honesty, trust, family and, above all, love.

I listened with disbelief in the first staff meeting when we were told it was our job to love all our students — especially the ones who were hardest to love. This was a departure from the successful academy school in east London where I trained, when staff would gather together in the name of no excuses, exam results and value-added scores.

This emphasis on love seems to me oddly profound, because from it everything else flows. If you force yourself to care deeply for every one of your students, you work harder for them, you want the best for them. All the other stuff I learnt in teacher training after leaving my job as a columnist at the Financial Times — differentiation and assessment for learning — seems a bit by the by.

It is not only the Gospel that is making me have a rethink. It is the experience of teaching and living 300 miles from the capital, my home for the past 63 years.

I can’t remember quite what I expected when I moved. I knew about the north-south divide. I knew the south doesn’t understand the north, and the north feels resentful of the south for hogging the money and almost everything else — which explains both why the north voted for Brexit and why we in the south didn’t see it coming.

In my old borough of Hackney 78 per cent voted to stay in the UK; in the North East 58 per cent voted to leave. I’ve moved from the richest part of the country to one of the poorest, from somewhere where educational standards are among the best to where they are among the worst.

I expected to feel alien; I expected to be treated with suspicion. But, more than six months in, and even though I still feel weird in my new setting, there hasn’t been a whiff of suspicion, let alone resentment. My fellow teachers subject me to the same upbeat banter that they heap on each other and only very occasionally do they let slip that they find me odd.

The other day, I asked a colleague what he was up to at the weekend, and then followed it up with further inquiries until he protested: “Bloody hell, Kellaway, you ask a lot of questions!” By contrast, none of them have asked me anything, which at first I found a bit flat, but which I’m now starting to see the point of. They are simply taking me as they find me.

What’s wrong with a B? I’d much rather get that than spend six hours every week on business studies

Year 12 student, Newcastle
My students are doing likewise. No one laughs at my voice, or seems to be doing any judging, at least not in a negative way. They appear to have done some perfunctory googling about me, enough to hit on the sole fact that interests them. Early on one of my cheekier Year 12s came bursting into my class, saying: “Miss! There’s a rumour going round about you: you’re loaded.”

He said he’d looked up my net worth online and found I had $1.3mn. I told him I had no idea where the number came from and, anyway, it was all down to property prices. If you had bought a flat for £27,000 in London in 1985 and had a professional job for a few decades, then the overwhelming likelihood was a net worth of more than £1mn. This was perfectly normal in the capital, where there were more than 800,000 dollar millionaires.

My tutorial on property prices did not go down well. He batted my words away — he liked the thought of being taught by a proper millionaire and didn’t want me to talk down my fortune.

In a way this should have been familiar. My students at all the schools where I taught in London shared the fascination with money and the desire to have more of it. But in every other way this new bunch of teenagers seem very different indeed.

The first difference is that in my last school barely 2 per cent were white; in this one it is about 90 per cent. The second is that they have lived in the same place for generations. One day I was talking about structural unemployment and giving an example of the region’s defunct coal mines, shipyards and steel plants. On a whim, I asked them if all four grandparents were born nearby — almost three-quarters of the class raised their hands. I remembered a related question being put to my Hackney school where an assembly hall of students were asked if both parents were born in London. Out of 200, barely 10 put up their hands, most of them of African-Caribbean heritage.

The Newcastle supporters were baffled when the club told them to leave all tea towels at home

The stats bear this out. According to the University of Essex’s Understanding Society study, the North East is the least mobile place in the country, with 55 per cent of survey respondents living within 15 miles of their mother — more than three times as many as in the capital. And, if my students are any guide, this statistic is not about to change, as few of them plan to leave. They might go abroad for a bit (I tried to warn them that Brexit has made this harder), but after that they want to return home. No one has any interest in moving to London. They know they can’t afford it, and don’t fancy it anyway.

It seems to me that London’s extreme mobility and the North East’s lack of it explain so much about the differences between the two places and the best and the worst things about each.

This stability cuts across everything. It may account for the lack of curiosity. It may also lead to insularity and innocence in how they view the world. All London schoolchildren know a lot about different cultures; my students know only their own. When last year their beloved Newcastle United football club was bought by the Saudis, in a surge of joyous exuberance some of them took to the streets wearing tea towels on their heads. They were baffled when the club put out an announcement telling supporters to leave all tea towels at home. Any London teenager could tell them about cultural appropriation, but when I tried to explain, one shook his head in disbelief: “Miss, we were showing respect! We were saying thank you for buying our club.”

A bigger difference concerns competition. In London every day 9mn people fight it out for scarce resources: for a seat on the Tube, a flat to rent, success, jobs, money or fame. Everyone is striving for something — and immigration intensifies this. When families travel thousands of miles from their homes to make a better life for their children, they don’t let them sit around doing the minimum.

It struck me that joy is something that Geordies, despite the cold and dark and lower incomes, are really rather good at

The Hackney schools I taught in were monuments to striving and, as a result, the children did very well indeed. Last month, I did a Zoom call with some of my most driven students and heard how they were applying to Oxbridge and the London School of Economics and Russell Group universities. I felt a sudden pang for my current students who, despite going to one of the best schools in the area, have few such ambitions. They mostly do the work I set them and mostly do it more or less adequately. But, for most of them, that’s as far as it goes.

Early on, in a bid to change this, I told my Year 12s that to do well at A-level they would need to do six hours’ independent work a week per subject. The class gawped in disbelief. Patiently, one explained he couldn’t do that because he worked weekends in a restaurant in the Metro Centre and needed to see his mates and watch football.

I replied that, in that case, the best grade he’d get would be a C — or maybe a B if he was very lucky. “What’s wrong with a B?” he said. “I’d much rather get that than spend six hours every week on business studies.”

The wind was taken out of my sails. I had nothing to say in reply.

Some students are aiming higher. One tells me his dad has always pushed him, and he wants to go south to a top university. “I have friends who are so clever — cleverer than I am. But they don’t care about going to uni because they don’t have the motivation or the passion. They don’t want to challenge themselves. They are in their comfort zones and they don’t want to get out.”

He sees it as a shame and a waste — and that’s what I used to think. But now I’m wondering if it might not be a sign of failure and culpably low aspirations if no one wants to go to the best universities or move to London to make their fortune. Couldn’t it be a sign of the opposite — of a close-knit community where people stay not because they lack imagination but because they like it there?

I’m reading Fiona Hill’s book about growing up in poverty in nearby Bishop Auckland and going to Harvard and ending up at the US State Department. Her dad, a miner-turned-hospital porter, once said to her, “There’s nothing for you here”, and from that came the title. But for my students, I think there are a lot of things for them here. They want to be midwives and builders and primary schoolteachers and make-up artists and police officers. One of them wants to study law at Northumbria University — for which he needs, and will get, a B. I don’t think he’ll ever make senior partner in a magic circle law firm, but so what?

Who is to say these aren’t good ambitions? And who can fail to admire the lack of stress in getting there? Even in these past six months, I have been acutely aware of the lifting of pressure. Every day for five years when I taught in the capital my stomach tightened as I went through the school gates. Now, I park my car outside after a nine-minute drive and go inside, no clenching of the stomach.

Miss, I think you should relax. Then you’d enjoy your life more

School pupil, Newcastle

In my current school the teachers seem happy and have no plans to quit. Many have taught there for 20 or 30 years and educated the parents of the current students. Indeed, teacher turnover is so low that I very nearly didn’t get a job. When I started looking last spring, there were 120 vacancies for business studies and economics teachers in London; in the whole of the North East there were only three.

In the highest-achieving London academies a quarter of the staff quit every year — not just because they can’t afford flats but because they are wrung out by the scale of the work. This is the trade-off: this sort of system gets the best possible GCSE results, but the teachers, and sometimes the students, get burnt out achieving it.

Last week at school when the third advent candle was lit — which I now know represents joy — it struck me that this is something that Geordies, despite the cold and dark and lower incomes, are really rather good at. At least they seem to be better at it than I am.

In the week before Christmas, when everyone was winding down for the festive season and preparing for a whole-school outing to the local cinema complex, I set my students some homework, which I said I’d mark the next day. One of them, a boy who is not in the slightest hard to love, piped up: “Miss, I think you should relax. Then you’d enjoy your life more.”

Straight back, I told him that I enjoyed my life very much indeed. But, as I prepare for my first Christmas in the North East, I’m starting to wonder: what if he’s right?

Lucy Kellaway is an FT contributing editor and co-founder of Now Teach.

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COMMENT

I understand or at least I think I understand this article

I can feel at some point it relate to me and to us

The writer is somebody who is open minded so she sees what is happening that is out of her previous experiences, previous assumption, previous faith (maybe) does not drove her into “ I am right and smart and this community is stupid and lazy and less motivated”

Do you think because she compare European with other European?

Do you think if what she found in the north east is not in northeast but in south east asia then the way she saw it different?

Maybe….

We understand easier to our own people…

Maybe I cannot afford to reach Europe but I don’t say I don’t need to. That north east people (according to the writer) they know they cant afford and they don’t want to…

What I don’t need to is to be an immigrant. Left behind my origin to be a lowest people in Europe. Many things in Europe is great. I would love to know and to learn and to admire. But I don’t want to throw away my own culture. Yes, at this moment I can not afford but I let the dream to stay in Spain (Andalucia) and Italy (Sicilia) and morroco keeps alive.

I myself from small city and we have to move out to get education (university)

Family, and not the place, who become a chain to make me stay….

====

Maybe what we can learn from that article is : don’t easily judge other person and other community and other culture.

Maybe it is life long learning to understand. Understand other person, even our close ones is already long life effort. Let alone a community. Let alone other cultures…

We tend to (maybe unconsciously) see everything with our own “glasses”

We (unconsciously) always compare, we like it, we hate it…

I still learn so hard to understand my brother, a man whom I knew since I was born, the second man after my father…. Same blood same genetic but how difficult to understand, to talk, to accept, to love….

====

But isn't this about the conventional rewardswe are offered, in place of what really counts which is trusted long-term relationships that we enjoy in the moment, in "the lightness of being".

It is "to be" v. "to have", again.

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I like old buildings... I like streets with pavements, just like old streets...

your original culture is in old things

new things too, but maybe influence by many other cultures not just your own... 

maybe diversity is good, but original culture is what makes us really unique...

immigrant... ambitions.. high achiever... do I missunderstand that article?

it seem like this. London school mostly immigrants who reach high achievements, while the north east is full with white student and lower grades...

if I were there, London will be safe and not North East

but actually, North East is possibly the most interesting place, in the sense of culture and community....

or do you think, we should review again the meaning of "success and failure in life"

Although many high-achievers enjoy a high salary, maybe within few years they will quit because too much stress.

my old lady is a real example of Irony

she is consider to be a succesful person ( fame and fortune) but nobody loves her, nobody wants to be with her, all people arounds is only someone who gets benefit in sense of material benefit...

is that a succesful life? 

she trade everything with money and popularity ( love and healthy trade with fame and fortune)

====

It is only my guess, but gradually you put more effort into understanding other cultures that are far from your own ( my culture for example)

if you have question, it means you already have a room in your heart for the answer

you open yourself....

you don't say people have to be like "WEST" with all the achievements, material and physical

you do not look down to the EAST, that is slow and always makes room for non physical experience and achievements

non physical,.... you can not measure ... so... for the WEST, it is not real, it is not an achievement

actually the EAST also don't understand the WEST much either, he he he!

we are always learning and it starts with an "Open mind", with opening your mind.

====

It is easier to understand your own culture when you compare it

Compare, but negatively.

Appreciate the strengths in other cultures.

I believe the Japanese were very good at this. Good, in the sense that they identified the best in others and integrated it into their own.

If you don't want to stagnate (and die), you must change (and survive).

Change means progress.

But how to proceed?

Well, maybe you are already the best! ...so be better;

Maybe somewhere else is the best ... so copy and incorporate.

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KEBAB OR SHAWARMA?

22 December 2022

Shawarma and kebab are both meat (usually lamb) dishes - 

-shawarma from the Middle East which is from Lebanon to Iran; 

-

kebab is Turkish because the Ottomans invented the vertical rotisserie เครื่องคั่วแบบหมุนแนวตั้งขนาดเล็ก, but the meat can be barbecued on a simple skewer เสียบ or wooden stick. Then the chef stops the spit ย่างน้ำลาย and slices off the meat.

Preparation is important. I think shawarma meat is marinaded in oil, vinegar and Arab spices, but kebabs are not marinaded, I don't think. 

The cooked meat is served in bread. Pita bread from Greece. Shawarma is where the meat is wrapped ผูกพัน in a lavash - lavash is a thin flat bread, usually leavened เชื้อหมักให้ฟู, traditionally cooked in a tandoor.

In the Middle East, when I was a boy, I used to save my pocket money to go down the local souk (market) and buy that bread, that I had probably been smelling all morning.

There's different types of kebab - eg a shish kebab is on a skewer เสียบ. Kebab is a bit like the Indonesian satay, or brochette in France. Doner kebab. Shawarma is a type of kebab.

The idea is to sell cooked food that is quick and easy to eat "on the go". That's what kebabs are for!

Shawarma และ kebab ต่างก็เป็นอาหารประเภทเนื้อ (ปกติจะเป็นเนื้อแกะ) -

 Shawarma จากตะวันออกกลางซึ่งมาจากเลบานอนถึงอิหร่าน

 เคบับเป็นภาษาตุรกีเนื่องจากชาวออตโตมานคิดค้นเครื่องโรตีซีรีแนวตั้ง เครื่องคั่วแบบหมุนแนวตั้งขนาดเล็ก แต่เนื้อสามารถย่างบนไม้เสียบธรรมดา เสียบหรือไม้  จากนั้นพ่อครัวก็หยุดน้ำลายย่างน้ำลายและแล่เนื้อออก

 การเตรียมตัวเป็นสิ่งสำคัญ  ฉันคิดว่าเนื้อชวาร์มาหมักในน้ำมัน น้ำส้มสายชู และเครื่องเทศอาหรับ แต่เคบับไม่หมัก ฉันไม่คิดว่า

 เนื้อสุกเสิร์ฟในขนมปัง  ขนมปังปิต้าจากกรีซ  Shawarma เป็นที่ที่เนื้อถูกห่อ รู้จักใน lavash - lavash คือขนมปังแผ่นบาง มักจะใส่เชื้อหมักด้วยเชื้อหมักให้ฟู ซึ่งปรุงแบบดั้งเดิมในเตาทันดูร์

 เมื่อฉันยังเป็นเด็กที่อาศัยอยู่ในตะวันออกกลาง ฉันเคยประหยัดเงินค่าขนมเพื่อไปตลาดท้องถิ่น (ตลาด) และซื้อขนมปังนั่น ซึ่งฉันคงได้กลิ่นมาทั้งเช้า

 เคบับมีหลายประเภท เช่น ชิชเคบับเสียบไม้เสียบ  เคบับคล้ายกับสะเต๊ะของชาวอินโดนีเซียหรือโบรชัวร์ในฝรั่งเศส  เคบับ Doner  Shawarma เป็นเคบับประเภทหนึ่ง

 มีแนวคิดที่จะขายอาหารปรุงสำเร็จที่ทานง่ายและรวดเร็ว "on the go"  นั่นคือสิ่งที่เคบับมีไว้!

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PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES

PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES

11 December 2022

What qualities must you bring out from yourself to succeed at work?

English / Thai / French versions

1. BROAD UNDERSTANDING - perspective

You must see that there is more to having your own blog than simply having "ideas" and writing posts.

You need to see how your blog works "under the hood" so that you can truly express yourself and your style.

2. ENJOY SOLVING PUZZLES - persistence

There are lots of little frustrations when you are setting up any system - including creating a blog.

You need to be patient and persistent. Never give up till you have solved the problem. You have to endure a lot of stress and repeated failure, before finally getting it right.

3. LIFE LONG LEARNING - grow

Life is about change. Change means adaption. That means learning new skills, making new arguments, bringing new tools.

You need to learn a new skillset to build a blog. If you can see that, then the door is open.

4. GOOD COMM - interpersonal skills

As you must work with other people, from other disciplines, so you must be able to understand and respect their perspective and values.

Be interested in making yourself understood in simple words, not try to impress with your own deep knowledge, but listen to the other and "echo" rephrase what they've said to be sure you've understood.

5. SPEAK UP! - confidence

As there are many roads to Mecca, so there are many ways to solve a problem.

Speak up, say what you think. Start with small suggestions, questions even, so you can find your place in the group. As your experience and respect grows, so you will propose bigger and bigger design solutions and even new concepts. But not at the beginning, at the beginning listen and maybe follow.

6. UNDERSTAND - curiosity

You learn how to do things, but be very interested in the why. If you are interested to discover the way the other person's business works, better you can support and advise.

7. TEAM SPIRIT - joint effort

With the different strengths and abilities of others, with the repartition of the work into different tasks for different people, success comes when all the contributions are reassembled like a big jigsaw puzzle.

See the strengths and abilities of others and try to understand and respect the differences.

8. DEADLINES - bring it in on time

Deadlines are usually imposed by "the real world" or sometimes worked out within the team in planning sessions.

If you agree to a deadline, after thinking / negotiating about it, then stick to it.

9. ADAPTABILITY - temporary or permanent change of plan

Contexts evolve, new requirements, it requires subtle and agile mindset to adapt to and include. 

If its temporary, leave notes to pick up from where you left off. If permanent change, you will need time to understand the new situation. Adapt, swing into the change, without getting frustrated, emotional or angry.

10. LIFECYCLE OWNERSHIP - follow through

From conception, to design, build, test, train, deploy, debug, decommission even. Your expertise from one phase may be useful in the next.

Offer your services to get the thing through the next phase.

คุณสมบัติระดับมืออาชีพ

 มันจะไม่เป็นไร.

 หากเราสามารถมุ่งเน้นไปที่รายละเอียดทางเทคนิคที่เป็นประโยชน์ในการสร้างบล็อกนี้  เราอยู่ในขั้นตอนทางเทคนิค

 คุณต้องมีคุณสมบัติอะไรถึงจะประสบความสำเร็จในช่วงนี้

 1. ความเข้าใจในการสื่อสาร - มุมมอง

 คุณต้องเห็นว่าการมีบล็อกของตัวเองมีอะไรมากกว่าการมี "ไอเดีย" และการเขียนโพสต์

 คุณต้องดูว่าบล็อกของคุณทำงานอย่างไร "ภายใต้ประทุน" เพื่อให้คุณสามารถแสดงออกถึงตัวตนและสไตล์ของคุณได้อย่างแท้จริง

 2. สนุกกับการแก้ปริศนา - ความพากเพียร

 มีความไม่พอใจเล็กน้อยมากมายเมื่อคุณตั้งค่าระบบใด ๆ รวมถึงการสร้างบล็อก

 คุณต้องอดทนและอดทน  อย่ายอมแพ้จนกว่าคุณจะแก้ปัญหาได้  คุณต้องอดทนต่อความเครียดมากมายและความล้มเหลวซ้ำ ๆ ก่อนที่จะทำให้มันถูกต้องในที่สุด

 3. ชีวิตการเรียนรู้ที่ยาวนาน - เติบโต

 ชีวิตคือการเปลี่ยนแปลง  การเปลี่ยนแปลงหมายถึงการปรับตัว  นั่นหมายถึงการเรียนรู้ทักษะใหม่การโต้แย้งใหม่การนำเครื่องมือใหม่ ๆ

 คุณต้องเรียนรู้ชุดทักษะใหม่เพื่อสร้างบล็อก  ถ้าคุณเห็นนั่นแสดงว่าประตูเปิดอยู่

 4. GOOD COMM - ทักษะความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างบุคคล

 เนื่องจากคุณต้องทำงานร่วมกับผู้อื่นจากสาขาวิชาอื่น ๆ ดังนั้นคุณต้องสามารถเข้าใจและเคารพมุมมองและค่านิยมของพวกเขา

 สนใจที่จะทำให้ตัวเองเข้าใจด้วยคำง่ายๆอย่าพยายามสร้างความประทับใจให้กับความรู้ที่ลึกซึ้งของตัวเอง แต่ฟังอีกฝ่ายและ "สะท้อน" สิ่งที่พวกเขาพูดเพื่อให้แน่ใจว่าคุณเข้าใจ

 5. ความมั่นใจ - พูดขึ้น!

 เนื่องจากมีถนนหลายสายไปยังนครเมกกะจึงมีหลายวิธีในการแก้ปัญหา

 พูดขึ้นพูดในสิ่งที่คุณคิด  เริ่มต้นด้วยคำแนะนำเล็ก ๆ คำถามแม้กระทั่งเพื่อให้คุณพบสถานที่ของคุณในกลุ่ม  เมื่อประสบการณ์และความเคารพของคุณเติบโตขึ้นดังนั้นคุณจะเสนอโซลูชันการออกแบบที่ใหญ่ขึ้นและใหญ่ขึ้นรวมถึงแนวคิดใหม่ ๆ  แต่ไม่ใช่ตอนเริ่มต้นฟังแล้วอาจจะทำตาม

 6. ทำความเข้าใจ - ความอยากรู้อยากเห็น

 คุณเรียนรู้วิธีการทำสิ่งต่าง ๆ แต่สนใจในเหตุผล  หากคุณสนใจที่จะค้นพบวิธีการทำงานของธุรกิจของบุคคลอื่นคุณสามารถสนับสนุนและให้คำแนะนำได้ดีกว่า

 7. Team SPIRIT - ความพยายามร่วมกัน

 ด้วยจุดแข็งและความสามารถที่แตกต่างกันของผู้อื่นด้วยการแบ่งงานใหม่ให้เป็นงานที่แตกต่างกันสำหรับคนที่แตกต่างกันความสำเร็จจะเกิดขึ้นเมื่อการมีส่วนร่วมทั้งหมดถูกประกอบขึ้นใหม่เหมือนตัวต่อขนาดใหญ่

 ดูจุดแข็งและความสามารถของผู้อื่นและพยายามเข้าใจและเคารพความแตกต่าง

 8. DEADLINES - นำมาให้ตรงเวลา

 โดยปกติกำหนดเวลาจะกำหนดโดย "โลกแห่งความเป็นจริง" หรือบางครั้งอาจเกิดขึ้นภายในทีมในการวางแผน

 หากคุณยอมรับกำหนดเวลาหลังจากที่คิด / เจรจาเกี่ยวกับเรื่องนี้แล้วให้ปฏิบัติตาม

 9. ADAPTABILITY - การเปลี่ยนแปลงแผนชั่วคราวหรือถาวร

 บริบทมีวิวัฒนาการข้อกำหนดใหม่ต้องใช้ความคิดที่ละเอียดอ่อนและว่องไวในการปรับตัวและรวมเข้าด้วยกัน

 หากเป็นเพียงชั่วคราวให้ทิ้งโน้ตไว้เพื่อรับจากจุดที่คุณค้างไว้  หากมีการเปลี่ยนแปลงอย่างถาวรคุณจะต้องใช้เวลาในการทำความเข้าใจสถานการณ์ใหม่  ปรับตัวเข้ากับการเปลี่ยนแปลงโดยไม่หงุดหงิดอารมณ์หรือโกรธ

 10. การเป็นเจ้าของ LIFECYCLE - ทำตาม

 ตั้งแต่ความคิดไปจนถึงการออกแบบสร้างทดสอบฝึกอบรมปรับใช้แก้ไขจุดบกพร่องแม้กระทั่ง  ความเชี่ยวชาญของคุณในระยะหนึ่งอาจมีประโยชน์ในครั้งต่อไป

 เสนอบริการของคุณเพื่อรับสิ่งนี้ตลอดระยะต่อไป

QUALITÉS PROFESSIONNELLES

 Ça va aller.

 Si nous pouvons nous concentrer sur les détails pratiques et techniques de la création de ce blog.  Nous sommes en PHASE TECHNIQUE

 Quelles qualités devez-vous posséder pour réussir cette phase?

 1. LARGE COMPRÉHENSION - perspective

 Vous devez voir qu'il y a plus à avoir votre propre blog que d'avoir simplement des «idées» et d'écrire des articles.

 Vous devez voir comment votre blog fonctionne «sous le capot» afin de pouvoir vraiment vous exprimer et exprimer votre style.

 2. PROFITEZ DES PUZZLES DE RÉSOLUTION - persistance

 Il y a beaucoup de petites frustrations lorsque vous configurez un système, y compris la création d'un blog.

 Vous devez être patient et persévérant.  N'abandonnez jamais tant que vous n'avez pas résolu le problème.  Vous devez endurer beaucoup de stress et des échecs répétés avant de réussir.

 3. APPRENTISSAGE LONG À VIE - grandir

 La vie est une question de changement.  Le changement signifie l'adaptation.  Cela signifie acquérir de nouvelles compétences, présenter de nouveaux arguments, apporter de nouveaux outils.

 Vous devez acquérir de nouvelles compétences pour créer un blog.  Si vous voyez cela, la porte est ouverte.

 4. BON COMM - compétences interpersonnelles

 Comme vous devez travailler avec d'autres personnes, d'autres disciplines, vous devez être capable de comprendre et de respecter leur point de vue et leurs valeurs.

 Soyez intéressé à vous faire comprendre avec des mots simples, n'essayez pas d'impressionner avec vos propres connaissances profondes, mais écoutez l'autre et "écho" reformulez ce qu'il a dit pour être sûr que vous avez compris.

 5. CONFIANCE - parlez!

 Comme il existe de nombreuses routes menant à La Mecque, il existe de nombreuses façons de résoudre un problème.

 Parlez, dites ce que vous pensez.  Commencez par de petites suggestions, des questions même, afin que vous puissiez trouver votre place dans le groupe.  Au fur et à mesure que votre expérience et votre respect grandissent, vous proposerez des solutions de conception de plus en plus grandes et même de nouveaux concepts.  Mais pas au début, au début écoutez et suivez peut-être.

 6. COMPRENDRE - curiosité

 Vous apprenez à faire les choses, mais soyez très intéressé par le pourquoi.  Si vous êtes intéressé à découvrir le fonctionnement de l'entreprise de l'autre personne, mieux vous pouvez soutenir et conseiller.

 7. TEAM SPIRIT - effort conjoint

 Avec les différentes forces et capacités des autres, avec la répartition du travail en différentes tâches pour différentes personnes, le succès vient lorsque toutes les contributions sont rassemblées comme un grand puzzle.

 Voyez les forces et les capacités des autres et essayez de comprendre et de respecter les différences.

 8. DÉLAIS - apportez-le à temps

 Les délais sont généralement imposés par «le monde réel» ou parfois établis au sein de l'équipe lors des séances de planification.

 Si vous acceptez une date limite, après y avoir réfléchi / négocié, respectez-la.

 9. ADAPTABILITÉ - changement temporaire ou permanent de plan

 Les contextes évoluent, les nouvelles exigences, il faut un état d'esprit subtil et agile pour s'adapter et inclure.

 Si c'est temporaire, laissez les notes reprendre là où vous vous étiez arrêté.  En cas de changement permanent, vous aurez besoin de temps pour comprendre la nouvelle situation.  Adaptez-vous, passez au changement, sans être frustré, émotif ou en colère.

 10. PROPRIÉTÉ DU CYCLE DE VIE - suivi

 De la conception à la conception, à la construction, au test, à la formation, au déploiement, au débogage, à la mise hors service même.  Votre expertise d'une phase peut être utile dans la suivante.

 Offrez vos services pour faire passer la chose à la phase suivante.

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THE DAILY RANT

9 December 2022

https://youtu.be/i1StK9gu7fk

There is something wrong in the heart of this American elite. They've come to hate America and especially middle America. What on earth is going on?

Reasons to be proud of the West's achievements

We doubled life expectancy by introducing antibiotics, insecticides and vaccines to the world. Bear in mind that nine out of 10 Africans would not be here today if it hadn't been for that.

There is no way that we got rich by pillaging the third world, not at all. It was because we were powerful, more powerful, that we were able to colonise the world; and in so doing we gave value to stuff under the ground that the people who live there would have passed over. We gave value to oil when we invented the internal combustion engine  We have value to uranium when we invented nuclear fission and fusion. We gave value to other commodities. We did not take it.

Stupidly you might say, we opened our society to the whole world and people wherever they are can more or less come and go freely in our country - you imagine being given a passport to live in Saudi Arabia or China (not that you would want one). So successful has the West been that everyone else wants to come and live in our system and no one here wants to live in their miserable systems. It's the other people who have closed societies and are racist - there are no white supremacists in the West.

The West continues to dominate the world due to its Greek and Roman inheritances, its Christian values and protestant work ethic, and its rationality. By rationality, I mean reason and logic over feeling and mysticism.

We have energy, we are dynamic and innovative and that energy is turned into force, albeit far too aggresively in America's case. We are independent, free spirits, responsible, innovative. We have better rules and institutions. We have, or had, capitalism - we invented it! Compare our successes with  communism and islamism.

Unfortunately, the zero people who came here from different cultures, the believers in big govt from the universities, the passives, the dreamers who pray and say we're here to prepare for the next world, the wierdies who don't really want a better world for their kids... this lot are not part of the majority, yet their voice counts more than ours! In earlier times they would have been obliged to conform and integrate and be loyal, today they destroy us from within.

Finish the rant now, ok.

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LOOKING FOR A JOB IN ANOTHER COUNTRY

9 December 2022

Looking for a Job in Another Country

Working abroad is an attractive option if you’re finding your career frustrated by lack of opportunities, affirmative employment barriers, or whatever, but you don’t want to move permanently to another country. You’re likely to earn more, probably pay less tax, broaden your experience, build up capital offshore, have better opportunities to travel.

Providing you have an appropriate qualification and work experience, you shouldn’t find it too difficult to secure a job on contract somewhere else as an “expat.” Companies operating internationally are often on the look-out for employees with reputations for working hard with flexibility, broad-ranging high-level skills, leadership talent, and ability to work comfortably with other ethnic groups.

Contract workers are particularly favoured for new projects because they provide skills only required for a relatively short period (as in construction), or to train local labour (particularly in developing countries). Sometimes a company employs contract workers because it’s unwilling to take on permanent staff, with all its legal obligations to them, until its new business has proved viable.

However, before you go after a job abroad, consider the matter carefully – do you really want to make a major change, live away from family, friends and things familiar in another country with a very different culture and (probably) language?

If you’re determined to give it a try, it’s important to go about it with careful planning. You can find a job either by direct contact with an employer, or through placement agencies and specialist consultants.

The first step is to prepare your “marketing brochure” – a convincing CV. You may wish to get professional advice on this. Remember that how it is read by a potential employer will determine whether or not you get that vital interview.

To create the best impression, keep your CV brief… preferably not more than two pages in length. Maintain a logical and interesting pattern to your personal details, keep the technical terminology to a minimum, and keep it simple. Remember that the reader who makes the final decision about whether or not to employ you may only have English as his or her second language.

Once your CV is ready, you can go about identifying your target companies and drawing up a list. The Internet is an invaluable tool for doing such research. Companies such as Go Abroad, Easy Expat, Go Overseas, Expat Network and ECA International offer data on pay scales, living costs, employment benefits and quality of life. The Global Expat Index, for example, lists the ten best cities for expats to live and work in as Kuala Lumpur, Tbilisi, Lisbon, Dubai, Bangkok, Prague, Madrid, Barcelona, Alicante and Montreal.

When going after a job, always send your CV to a specific person, If you are not sure whom that should be then phone each company on your target list and find out. You’re probably looking for someone with a title such as Human Resources, Personnel or Recruitment Manager.

If you are lucky enough to speak to someone helpful during your telephonic enquiries, try to get as much information about the company as possible and what job opportunities are available. If the prospects seem favourable, then forward a copy of your CV immediately, following up with a telephone call a few days later. This call could prove invaluable as, even if there is no vacancy at present, you could get an indication as to when one might be available.

Remember the international employment market is subject to constant change and demand for particular skills fluctuates according to economic trends. Companies that were expanding a year or two ago might now be downsizing, having suffered a setback to their profitability.

Don’t anticipate that you will get your job offer quickly, and don’t become disillusioned about how long it takes to achieve your aim. It all takes time, so think in terms of months rather than weeks to make progress.

Its always worth trying to negotiate better terms

When you are offered a job, it’s important to investigate the detail of the package that goes with it. The big multinationals usually have established pay and benefit structures for expats they hire, so there may not be much room for you to negotiate, but it’s always worth trying. With many employers, your skill at bargaining could determine how good is the deal you get.

If you’re wanted to work in an unstable banana republic your bargaining position will usually be stronger. If you’re a South African, for example, you may be more comfortable working in such an environment than, say, an American, Australian or Brit.

Obviously you’ll want a package which will not only bring you substantially much more than you earn in your home country, but also compensate you and your family for the inconveniences such as shipping household possessions and regular trips back home.

It’s important to check the following points:

● What taxes will you have to pay? You may be able to arrange to have part of your remuneration escape tax by being paid into a bank account you open in a tax haven. Perhaps you can get your future employer to pay any taxes on your benefits, or at least to guarantee that you’ll pay no more tax than you would back home.

● Will your pay be sufficiently high to compensate for the higher costs of maintaining in another country the kind of lifestyle that you’re used to?

● Will the employer make any contribution towards your costs of moving household and personal possessions to where you’re going to work?

● Will your pay incorporate a “hardship premium” if you’re going to work in one of the less pleasant countries?

● Will you be offered “rest and relaxation” benefits such as periodic free flights to attractive resorts in other countries?

● What living accommodation will be available? Will it be provided and/or subsidized by your employer?

● Will you have a company car, and if so, on what basis? If not, ask for compensation.

● Medical insurance. This is essential, including emergency transportation to an advanced country if the standard of local care is poor.

● Your employer should be prepared to pay for private schooling for your children, either locally or in your home country.

● What about security? In some locations, if you’re going to hold a senior position, a driver/bodyguard would be advisable.

● Insist on free private use of the Internet so you keep easily in touch with your family, friends, and the outside world.

● If you’re going to hold a senior position, you may be able to insist on pre-departure briefings such as those offered by specialist consultancies.

How successful you are in finding a job abroad, and how it turns out for you, will largely depend on how well you do your planning and structure your personal enterprise.

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AND EUROPE WILL RISE AGAIN

5 December 2022

US priorities should be 

1) China 

2) Middle East 

3) Europe. 

So what's it doing in Ukraine?

The best news for Europe - and arguably for the US too - will be when it's announced that Ukraine has lost the war. (Just dress it up a bit so that each side can claim victory.)

Of course it appears a forlorn hope today, but one day...one day...when Europe has developed its own arms industry and technologies, it will be able to ally with Russia, throw off its American yoke, and wipe the floor with America and China.

AND EUROPE WILL RISE AGAIN

Outside "The West", countries are having to build a new, alternative, reserve currency.

You can't have America bullying and stealing by leveraging the dollar for political purposes.

We want free trade and the dollar is now a threat.

We also want the American Order, so wise up American foreign policy elite as you are in self-soft-delete mode at present.

AND EUROPE WILL RIIIIIISE AGIN

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THE WORLD'S LARGEST SHOOTING RANGE

4 December 2022

The russophobes recount the nonsense of MoD propaganda propagated through the MSM.

The most important migratory fact is that Ukraine will be emptied by the tens of millions of its people if this war continues. Already the Russian sympathisers in Ukraine have moved out to Russia, now all that's left is the Kievians - the other half of this civil war -  and they will be moving in droves in their tens of millions, into Poland and Germany and I guess many of them will make their way through to the shores of the UK.

100,000 ukrainian soldiers have been killed - Ursula von der Leyen tells us. Against under 10,000 Russian solders.

And once everyone has moved out what will be left? What will be left is the world's largest shooting range with Poland taking land in the West and Russia taking land as far as Odesa and perhaps southern Transnistrie in the East ... ie former Novorossiya. All that will be left is a landlocked Ukraine with no people.

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WHAT IS BEHIND THE GREAT RESET

4 December 2022

If we think about things long enough, we do eventually get to understand what is going on.

For this subject, it helps to have the WEF goals - see The Great Reset, that paper published in Jan 2020 - in mind. They focus on revolutionary change in the energy industries (to overcome climate change that would destroy the planet), and in the digital industries (because innovation and productivity can assure continued prosperity even while the West's (the world's?...or just the Davos 1st world's) population shrinks and ages and retires).

We are talking about gov.ts in Europe and America (and Australia, NZ), leading these revolutions by force on their peoples.

But what do you call it when govt.s force "stakeholder capitalism" on corporations, allow only one voice and control dissent - control citizens - with changes on the statute books such as "hate crimes" and send in the police or FBI?

My interest in this WEF philosophy was piqued when I began to understand why ministers are quitting the Tory Party. It is not to do with the leadership Rishi Sunak, it is a realisation that the Tory Party will get panelled at the next election.

IS this because of their failures since May 2010 to manage the change needed to the benefit of the people of the UK? Or is it that in actual fact in the modern world there is no place for Tory values anymore, that the whole Burkian value-set is out of date and out of place?

So, is The Great Reset Marxist? 

Or is it a new, cleansing, puritan-type worship, western-style wahhabism served up by the secular mullahs of the universities? 

Or is it fascism-by-subsidies (instead of jack boots)?

Whatever, we have to know the enemy in all its states before we can destroy it.

And we need a clearly-articulated alternative.

SAMPLE THE DEBATE WITH EXAMPLES:

https://youtu.be/Tq34MyenrmE

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PINK FLOYD comfortably numb

1 December 2022

Comfortably numb

Try the live first

Feeling

https://youtu.be/rtzHgOuGKTc

https://youtu.be/nS7oZZLZQA8

Explanation

https://youtu.be/yj93v9j2A4A

Live

https://youtu.be/LTseTg48568

Reaction

I'd heard of and knew PF's top three songs (Comfortably Numb being number 3), but I was just a kid, a boy, not at all prepared for some of the feelings you get in this song.

Anyway...to put it another way...in the corner of your daily life is a little door that, like me as a boy, you probably hadn't noticed. Well, this video from The Charismatic Voice - and the previous from Polo - takes you to that tiny door and opens it for you. Wow, you look through, they show you this huge stunning technicolour universe of matching sounds and colours that blows you away.

Check it out:

https://youtu.be/nS7oZZLZQA8

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1: Roger Waters]
Hello? (Hello, hello, hello)
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?
Come on (Come on, come on), now
I hear you're feeling down
Well, I can ease your pain
And get you on your feet again
Relax (Relax, relax, relax)
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?

[Pre-Chorus 1: David Gilmour]
There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child, I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am

[Chorus: David Gilmour]
I have become comfortably numb

[Guitar Solo 1]

[Chorus: David Gilmour]

[Intro]

[Verse 1: Roger Waters]

Hello? (Hello, hello, hello)

Is there anybody in there?

Just nod if you can hear me

Is there anyone home?

Come on (Come on, come on), now

I hear you're feeling down

Well, I can ease your pain

And get you on your feet again

Relax (Relax, relax, relax)

I'll need some information first

Just the basic facts

Can you show me where it hurts?

[Pre-Chorus 1: David Gilmour]

There is no pain, you are receding

A distant ship, smoke on the horizon

You are only coming through in waves

Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying

When I was a child, I had a fever

My hands felt just like two balloons

Now I've got that feeling once again

I can't explain, you would not understand

This is not how I am

[Chorus: David Gilmour]

I have become comfortably numb

[Guitar Solo 1]

[Chorus: David Gilmour]

I have become comfortably numb

[Verse 2: Roger Waters]

Okay (Okay, okay, okay)

Just a little pinprick

There'll be no more

But you may feel a little sick

Can you stand up? (Stand up, stand up)

I do believe it's working, good

That'll keep you going through the show

Come on, it's time to go

[Pre-Chorus 2: David Gilmour]

There is no pain, you are receding

A distant ship, smoke on the horizon

You are only coming through in waves

Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying

When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse

Out of the corner of my eye

I turned to look, but it was gone

I cannot put my finger on it now

The child is grown, the dream is gone

[Chorus: David Gilmour]

I have become comfortably numb

[Guitar Solo 2]

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THINGS'LL BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME ... REALLY

28 November 2022

https://fortune.com/2022/11/23/how-bad-economy-recession-top-economist-mohamed-el-erian-federal-reserve/

RESUMÉ

The world isn't just teetering on the brink of another recession. Economic theory says that a recession occurs when a business cycle reaches its natural endpoint and then after the next cycle starts. But this time won't be just one more turn of the economic wheel because major changes will outlast this current business cycle.

SUPPLY DEMAND IMBALANCE

The first transformational trend is the shift from insufficient demand to insufficient supply, on account of supply chain difficulties and near-shoring, caused by covid and enormous covid govt handouts....

THE WAR

....el Erian doesn't talk about the war, sanctions and an emerging bi-polar world with two reserve currencies.

INTEREST RATES AND QT

The second transformational change is the end of boundless liquidity from central banks with substantial rises in interest rates, quantitative tightening and maybe inflation will be stabilised, but will remain at a higher level.

FINANCIAL MARKETS

And the third step-change is the growing fragility of financial markets, as capital goes off looking for new homes.

If you raise interest rates, you can also have a crash of equity markets, bond markets, credit markets, and asset prices in general that causes further financial and economic damage.

UNCERTAINTY

So these changes in the building blocks of the world economy - supply chains, monetary conditions, capital markets - help us understand the unusual economic developments of the last few years (that we've become accustomed to), but also indicate more uncertainty to come as economic outcomes become harder to predict.

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THE CASE AGAINST THE WEST

26 November 2022

It is my assessment that people are under quite a lot of illusions about Russia, illusions fed from the propaganda machine of the West

If you think that this was an unprovoked invasion after 120,000 Russian troops massed on the border, if you think that Russia is about to run out of missiles or microchips, if you think the army is in disarray and unable to fight, if you think Bucha was Russian war crimes, if you think that the Russian government is a cynical kleptocracy, if you think that the regime (as many call it) maintains power only through force and oppression and corruption, if you think the sanctions are working and the world is united against Russia, if you think Russia blew up its pipelines, if you haven't thought practically about how to house the tens of millions of Ukrainian migrants... if you believe any of these things then you are under a severe delusion.

If on the other hand you believe the war started in 2014 when the Minsk agreements brokered by Fr and Ge and signed as a UN resolution was binned by Ukraine's Poroschenko, if you think Russia massing on the border was a response to the battalions Kiev had sent to quell the Donbas, if you would like to see some sort of a deal between Russia (80% of Russians live in Europe) and Europe where Russia's commodities and food are exchanged for Europe's (Germany's) money and technology to make a world-beating trade bloc (the American fear that drives this war), if you think that it is time for negotiation and compromise and peace without victory, if you can see that there is no way short of nuclear war that the Russians will ever cede Crimea or the Donbas because of historical invasions that passed through these geographic gateways, if you think the sanctions have been a disaster for everyone except Russia and America and can see the world splitting into two reserve currencies and Orders as another disaster for us in the West... then you are on the right track to a peaceful and prosperous future for all Europe.

EVIDENCE

Before dismissing me as a crazed russophile, please consider this evidence:

-RAND_RR3063.pdf - it's the American strategy for weakening Russia, google search

-https://youtu.be/q4TV4_taLzE - this is John Meirsheimer predicting seven years ago that if America persisted rolling its tanks up Russia's front lawn, Putin would wreck Ukraine

-https://youtu.be/rm5icaLbUMA in Putin's own words (give him a hearing at least)

-https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1945-50Intel/d292 America's archives from setup against Russia (USSR) in 1948. You don't have to be a Putinist to tell stories of covert CIA operations against Russia.

It is all about the usual Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Greed, Fear, Ignorance and Hope. But we are smarter than that, aren't we?

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IS COUNSELLING A GOOD IDEA?

26 November 2022

I think everyone benefits from counselling - assistance, especially from a professional, with the resolution of personal difficulties - in the sense that we are all curious about who we are, we want to know more about ourselves, to understand and improve, as well as to stave off stresses and low-level anxiety... that is the mark of this period in human history, at least in advanced economies. It wasn't like that in the past, we have moved from an agricultural society to an industrial society and finally to an identity society.

AGRICULTURAL

In the past, people just survived, most people were right at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy. The purpose of existence was to have large families of children who would grow up and help them on the farm and look after them in their old age. And furthermore, they all belonged to the same community, the same Faith, the values and beliefs were shared by everyone, the same way of thinking, and so there was no need to question anything, no need to think too much, you just obey, you get on and do it. We saw that most clearly in Bali in the Hindu Society in Bali, where rituals and practises, repeated over the generations, take up 40% of their time and their money, apparently.

INDUSTRIAL

Then what happened is that economies started to industrialise, which means moving from fields to factory, from country to town... the development of banks made money available to entrepreneurs, building factories to mass produce things and railways to transport raw materials and finished goods. Building factories, taking people from the country and making them work in factories, living in cities and in mass housing projects, where you are less watched over by your neighbours, they know less about you and you know less about them, and care less, and so lots of funny things can happen when social controls are relaxed. 

If you live in a city, children turn from being a help and an investment on the farm, and become instead an inconvenience and an expense in the flat...so urbanisation brings many changes, notably more complex social relations, more money, more free time, more temptation.

Plus in the late 17th and 18th centuries, accompanying industrialisation, we went through the enlightenment, a period that revolutionised our thinking, from in praise of God to search for beauty truth and justice, emphasising reason and individualism rather than tradition, a time in Europe where philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith, moved us away from a society governed by rules set by a divine being who must be obeyed, to a world where it is we who remake the rules in a process of negotiation with our neighbours. The religious and political, church and state, sceptre and sword, are separated, state legislatures take over from royal families and lords, the rise in the West of democratically-elected republics.

After the food-delivery economy came this product-delivery economy. To this industrial operating model  producing things, were added layers of management to oversee operations; and expert units (accountants, legal, personnel...) to support managers. 

Thus the birth of the middle class. This moved advanced economies on from food, to products, to services ie to service-delivery.

Universal education was now needed, women went out to work, legislation for equality between the genders and human rights was passed ... all of which challenged our clear and simple traditional, stable, roles and responsibilities; increased the pace of change and complexity of our lives; thus adding to our neuroses and confusion.

IDENTITY

And then when you live in the city and you are subject to all these demands and contradictions and questions (how many children shall we have? Shall I go out to work too?...), and there are many different and diverse groups living side by side with only an oily curtain to separate them, you have started to experience personal freedom and choice, but you must start thinking for yourself, and at the same time you are stressed as family and friends networks break down, or anxiety levels generally rise as you are alienated from most processes that affect you, ie you lose control of your life, and you expect more from a partner and friends (life partner, lover, business partner, intellectual equal, parent-substitute, amateur counsellor even!...).

In all this, you'll become more awake, conscious, individualist, ie more aware of yourself, having to fend for yourself, alone in a complex world, you are a small boat navigating the tides of circumstance; and maybe seeking "self-realisation" or "self-actualisation" for yourself, wanting to distinguish yourself from your siblings, from your peers, needing different friends for these new roles and personal interests.

This is possible, through education and opportunity, and indeed entertainment, diversity and self-development become the highest goals: you are different, you are gifted, you are unique, you are full of talent and potential....but you are stressed, anxious, confused, possibly depressed by your non-conformity.

And so, you begin to ask who you are, so there are questions now about your identity, how to fulfill your potential, where you are heading, the long-term decisions that only you can take, and that's where some of us are at the moment.

 ... "why am I different?" 

Because we are a herd animal and herd animals all try to be the same as everyone else, so moving away from the group causes a neurotic - and often creative - gap to open up, as happiness and inner peace diminishes and we feel challenged to conform to the expectations of others, maybe those of our traditional parents. We are a kind of herbivore mostly, we want to be like the others, like sheep, and we don't really like to be different... and yet we do.

YOU

You want to know who you are, you want to know about yourself, you want to understand yourself, you want to know why you have not followed the traditional path in your society and how to actualise your great talent to achieve something of value ... and this is where counselling comes in as the counsellor will be able to explain these things, help you to understand, find and harness your motivation. So a journey of self-discovery and getting the train back on the rails of self improvement.

And many of us are very curious and open-minded and also troubled by complexity and diversity and alienation and lack of belonging, and this is how we become interested in identity and self improvement. Very positive developments for us all.

CONCLUSION

There is nothing wrong with seeking knowledge of self, of social relations and self improvement. Employing a competent counsellor is an effective way to advance this process. It can bring important insights, lasting improvements, greater happiness and inner peace. If shared, it can lead to enlightment and wisdom for all. 

For many, this might mean revealing one's secret feelings and thoughts. It doesn't of course mean that you are ill in some mental way! not at all ... it's just a reflection of a higher intelligence, a greater curiosity and open-mindedness, a willingness to work and change. What makes you different from other people is a source of your wonderful uniqueness, but also a source of suffering (because as I say we are herd animals), so a desire to be happier and more productive than you are at the moment ... and that is the mark of an intelligent and spiritually awake person.

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