Vic: Hello again, Winston!
Winston: Why, hello, Vic. What's on your mind today?
Vic: Well, we talked last time about the difference between self-enhancing purpose and self-transcending purpose. With the new year nearly here, I thought maybe we could relate that conversation to change.
Winston: Well, being a dung beetle, I was the model for change; the model for the Egyptian scarab god Khepri, representing rebirth and transformation. I know a little something about it.
Vic: Please explain to our non-ancient Egyptian audience.
Winston: With pleasure. Khepri would push the sun up into the sky every morning (just as I merrily push my ball). Out of the night's darkness, which they called chaos!
Vic: And out of chaos comes... rebirth.
Winston: Spot-on.
Vic: So my fetid friend, this ball you push...
Winston: A metaphor for purpose, Vic. A Sisyphean task. Remember our last blog?
Vic: Yes, but wasn't Sisyphus cursed with this task???
Winston: On the face of it, yes, but haven't you read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus? In this essay he concludes: "The struggle itself... is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Vic: So Camus thought that a purpose, even an apparently absurd purpose like pushing a boulder...
Winston: ... or a dung ball...
Vic: ... helps us transcend above the darkness, above the chaos of our lives.
Winston: Bingo.
Vic: That's heavy.
Winston: Speaking of heavy, Vic, I notice you're putting on a bit of a spare tire around your equator. Too many cookies during the holiday season?
Vic: I don't want to talk about it.
Winston: Then would you prefer to hear about a New Year's resolution based on a very cool study?
Vic: Be my guest.
Winston: It was recently published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science . Aleah Burson and her colleagues first threatened the egos of college students by telling them that their peers excluded them from a group task. The researchers wanted to examine the self-control of these students when their egos were threatened.
Vic: But psychologists have known for a long time that we lose self-control when our egos are threatened.
Winston: True.
Vic: And we know that our egos are being threatened all the time.
Winston: Also true.
Vic: So, what's new?
Winston: This: the researchers had one-third of the students write down their daily routine. This was the control condition. They asked another third of the students to elaborate on their self-enhancing values, and the final third to elaborate on their self-transcending values.
Vic: Self-enhancing values such as...
Winston: Fame, power, attractiveness, wealth.
Vic: As opposed to self-transcending values such as...
Winston: Relationships, community, things bigger than yourself.
Vic: Got it. Then what?
Winston: All three groups -- the control condition, self-enhancing students, and self-transcending students -- were given a bowl of 20 bite-sized cookies and a taste-test form, and told: "Please taste-test these cookies after I leave, eating as many as you want."
Vic: I like this study.
Winston: Thought you would. That was the outcome of the study: How many cookies the students from each of the three groups ate.
Vic: Clever! So how many did they eat?
Winston: The control group ate an average of 8.2 cookies. The self-enhancing students ate an average of 4.9 cookies. The self-transcending students ate and average of only 2.8 cookies!
Vic: 8.2 cookies versus 2.8 cookies. So, to connect the dots...
Winston: ... our core values are the pillars -- the scaffolding -- of a life purpose. Affirming your core transcending values and purpose could lead to greater self-control in a New Year's resolution goal. Beyond the goals you set, creating a New Year's life purpose might be the most important thing you do in 2014.
Vic: How do I start?
Winston: You can write down and write about your core transcending values, then begin to consider your bigger purpose in your life. Or... I actually created an app for this. It helps you identify your core values, then helps you create a purpose in your life. You can find it at www.dungbeetle.org. Oh, and it's free.
Vic: Happy New Year, Winston.
Winston: Happy New Year, my friend.
from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-j-strecher-phd/find-a-transcending-purpo_b_4501816.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ir=Healthy+Living
via IFTTT
Winston: Why, hello, Vic. What's on your mind today?
Vic: Well, we talked last time about the difference between self-enhancing purpose and self-transcending purpose. With the new year nearly here, I thought maybe we could relate that conversation to change.
Winston: Well, being a dung beetle, I was the model for change; the model for the Egyptian scarab god Khepri, representing rebirth and transformation. I know a little something about it.
Vic: Please explain to our non-ancient Egyptian audience.
Winston: With pleasure. Khepri would push the sun up into the sky every morning (just as I merrily push my ball). Out of the night's darkness, which they called chaos!
Vic: And out of chaos comes... rebirth.
Winston: Spot-on.
Vic: So my fetid friend, this ball you push...
Winston: A metaphor for purpose, Vic. A Sisyphean task. Remember our last blog?
Vic: Yes, but wasn't Sisyphus cursed with this task???
Winston: On the face of it, yes, but haven't you read Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus? In this essay he concludes: "The struggle itself... is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."
Vic: So Camus thought that a purpose, even an apparently absurd purpose like pushing a boulder...
Winston: ... or a dung ball...
Vic: ... helps us transcend above the darkness, above the chaos of our lives.
Winston: Bingo.
Vic: That's heavy.
Winston: Speaking of heavy, Vic, I notice you're putting on a bit of a spare tire around your equator. Too many cookies during the holiday season?
Vic: I don't want to talk about it.
Winston: Then would you prefer to hear about a New Year's resolution based on a very cool study?
Vic: Be my guest.
Winston: It was recently published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science . Aleah Burson and her colleagues first threatened the egos of college students by telling them that their peers excluded them from a group task. The researchers wanted to examine the self-control of these students when their egos were threatened.
Vic: But psychologists have known for a long time that we lose self-control when our egos are threatened.
Winston: True.
Vic: And we know that our egos are being threatened all the time.
Winston: Also true.
Vic: So, what's new?
Winston: This: the researchers had one-third of the students write down their daily routine. This was the control condition. They asked another third of the students to elaborate on their self-enhancing values, and the final third to elaborate on their self-transcending values.
Vic: Self-enhancing values such as...
Winston: Fame, power, attractiveness, wealth.
Vic: As opposed to self-transcending values such as...
Winston: Relationships, community, things bigger than yourself.
Vic: Got it. Then what?
Winston: All three groups -- the control condition, self-enhancing students, and self-transcending students -- were given a bowl of 20 bite-sized cookies and a taste-test form, and told: "Please taste-test these cookies after I leave, eating as many as you want."
Vic: I like this study.
Winston: Thought you would. That was the outcome of the study: How many cookies the students from each of the three groups ate.
Vic: Clever! So how many did they eat?
Winston: The control group ate an average of 8.2 cookies. The self-enhancing students ate an average of 4.9 cookies. The self-transcending students ate and average of only 2.8 cookies!
Vic: 8.2 cookies versus 2.8 cookies. So, to connect the dots...
Winston: ... our core values are the pillars -- the scaffolding -- of a life purpose. Affirming your core transcending values and purpose could lead to greater self-control in a New Year's resolution goal. Beyond the goals you set, creating a New Year's life purpose might be the most important thing you do in 2014.
Vic: How do I start?
Winston: You can write down and write about your core transcending values, then begin to consider your bigger purpose in your life. Or... I actually created an app for this. It helps you identify your core values, then helps you create a purpose in your life. You can find it at www.dungbeetle.org. Oh, and it's free.
Vic: Happy New Year, Winston.
Winston: Happy New Year, my friend.
from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-j-strecher-phd/find-a-transcending-purpo_b_4501816.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ir=Healthy+Living
via IFTTT
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