RIGHT OR WRONG\

It seems that the foundation for a balance of life in a society is its system of morality. Morality is derived from the Latin moralitas meaning "proper behavior". Being moral is sometimes synonymous with "goodness" or "rightness", depending upon a society's values. Each person is usually introduced to morality in early childhood. Unfortunately, it is not always that simple because our environment can interfere with how we behave.

There are those who are immoral; that is, they reject a code of right or wrong possibly because of personal issues or abuse. There are those who in some cases are amoral; that is, they are unaware of or indifferent to any set of moral standards. For example, feral children born in the wild have not had any knowledge of morals. Also, there are people who have severe limited mental ability and are incapable of internalizing notions of right and wrong.
For the most part, most of us learn to live by a set of ethics, a code of behavior that is also referred to as morals. It is often said we have developed a social conscience. We conform to a personal sense of right conduct and if it is breached we experience a feeling of shame. In most instances we feel sorry and try to make amends.
Maybe that's why it is often said, "Let your conscience be your guide".  Remember the song from the original Walt Disney movie Pinocchio?Jiminy Cricket sang it to Pinocchio:

 



 

When you get in trouble and you don't know right from wrong

Give a little whistle! Give a little whistle!

When you meet temptation and the urge is very strong

Give a little whistle! Give a little whistle!

Not just a little squeak, pucker up and blow

And if your whistle's weak, yell, "Jiminy Cricket!"

Take the straight and narrow path and if you start to slide

Give a little whistle! Give a little whistle!

And always let your conscience be your guide.

Keep in mind that a conscience is one's own sense of right conduct.

It was developed from early childhood and has become a part of life ever present even in one's senior years. However, sometimes situations or conditions faced over time have allowed us to justify or make excuses for inappropriate behavior. Those of us fortunate to have a family, children and grandchildren know how they look to us as a model of ideals. When we get impatient or short tempered, it can bruise our personal connections. It seems well worthwhile to recognize that how we conduct our life provides a gift or legacy for those we love. How well do we let our conscience be our guide?





 

WALKING

 

Just taking a stroll
Making no haste
Or going to a place
Maybe going faster
 With no time to waste
To keep the pace
Hoping to win a race

 

 

 

BELLS
Sound weddings
Answer doors
Note elevator floors
Greet winter sleighs
Begin work days
Call meeting times
Signal alarms
Set clocks to awaken
Alert seat belts to buckle
Chime slot machine wins
Give lovers jingles in their ears
Lasting all their years

 

 

USING TIME

 

 

I have come to realize that the time we had off from publishing News and Views this summer didn't actually change the time I use ordinarily. I found that what I have done from day to day didn't change my daily routines. However, not meeting any deadline for a few months allowed me to explore more ideas for writing.

It seems that not having any deadline to meet let me get a little lazy and I became good at procrastinating to write. Now that I still have time, my thoughts have wandered into such a relaxed mode that I have spent much of my time reading and pondering about the world at large.

Outside of the gates of Cascade Lakes there is a plethora of good and bad news. It seems that if we allow ourselves to let local, national and international news become a big part of our free time we might get depressed. For example, the economy has been and still is in trouble. Mother Nature has given us severe draughts and devastating fires. Tragedies of major murders and personal abuses appear to be painful daily events.

However, I prefer to spend more of my time absorbing the news of sports and positive events. Television also offers us a variety of programs that are amusing, educating and entertaining. Sure our personal tastes vary and we have a myriad of choices. Emphasis on those events that are uplifting, stimulating and exciting can be a boon to us. You don't have to like baseball or football but how can you not be captivated by the wonderful athletic prowess of the young people in the Olympics.

Those of us in our senior years may not have the mobility of our younger years but our mental faculties still serve us very well and we can enjoy much of life through vicarious experiences. It is very important to keep ourselves occupied with time that is satisfying and fulfilling. Using our time with upbeat moments can lead to optimistic outlooks.

OUR INTENTIONS

 Our relationships with people can change from time to time. Sometimes we like, love, hate, envy, or resent them. We might even have these feelings toward a person we have never seen or met. To understand these feelings we need to look at ourselves and if you can allow yourself to reach out, it's amazing how much you can accomplish.

Let's begin by trying to understand the meanings of terms we often use. We speak of one having compassion; that is, showing concern for the suffering of another person. We might say we are in sympathy with one's views. Empathy involves the ability to identify with what someone else is feeling almost to the point of actually feeling the emotion of what one is experiencing, be it sadness, happiness or even anger.

There may be times when we don't get along with others or even want to be their friend. But, we all have good intentions and the capacity to wish them well. Some of us may have negative intentions but we are capable of changing those intentions to be positive. It really is a matter of the attitude we have.

Recent research reported in the Journal Social Psychological and Personality Science indicates that good intentions can be an important part in our daily experiences. One example is that one group of participants sat in an easy chair with an electronic massage pad which was turned on by a computer. A second group received the same massages but the pad was turned on by a human. The second group reported experiencing more pleasure from the massage than the first group. In another study, people were given a candy package with a note on it for Valentine's Day. For half the participants the note stated, "I picked this just for you. Hope it makes you happy." For the other half the note read, "Whatever--I don't care. I just picked it randomly." Research showed that the candy tasted better and sweeter when participants received the note of good intentions than the note that stated the candy was chosen randomly.

Acting with good intentions means we are doing something out of the goodness of our heart. That kind of behavior makes for good relationships and can provide enriching experiences. It does matter if we act with good intentions rather than to act indifferently or with meanness. It's a healthy philosophy to believe that people are generally good and want to be happy.
In essence, we do care about what another person's intentions are. The goal is for positive connections.

  Important questions to ask are: Was something done on purpose or by accident? What is our outlook? What will be our intentions to address the matter?



 



   

    OPINION

Speak what you believe

A privilege to say what you want

Without knowing all the facts

Expanding a lie

Waiting to receive an agreement to flaunt

Hoping others will twist ideas

And continue to taunt

Showing how ignorance can fly

Making the truth lost

Never to be taught

While honesty pays the cost

 

KEEP YOUR COOL

"Did you hear the way they were yelling at each other? Did you see how they became red in the face?" These are questions that you might try to answer when you witness arguments. It seems that people can get so emotional they might go out of control. But the fact of the matter is that most of the time they don't end up punching each other. The more important question is "Why don't they punch each other?" 

Theories about emotions reach back at least to the time of the ancient Greek philosophers; and, there is still no simple explanation of an emotion. However, it is considered a very complex interaction of one's physical and mental activity. Given this feeble explanation, we can readily see what a challenge it is for us to maintain a healthy outlook in life. After all, we do have happy and unhappy situations that provide us with strong feelings—emotions.

Psychology over the years has presented numerous theories to describe what causes emotional behavior. The field of neuroscience (the study of the nervous system) has emerged in the 21^st century and has made advances in helping us understand emotions. Dr. Richard J. Davidson, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a pioneer in brain research for more than thirty years. In his recent book, The Emotional Life of Your Brain, Penguin Books, 2012, he introduces Emotional Styles for helping us learn how to deal with our emotions.

Richardson claims that each person has unique emotional styles, which consist of six distinct components:
1. Resilience (how rapidly we recover from negative emotions),
2. Outlook (the duration of positive feelings),
3. Context (the degree to which we adapt our emotional responses. 
    For example, you won't talk to your employer the same way you would to your spouse),
4. Social Intuition (your sensitivity to people's facial and verbal expressions; your ability to
    empathize with their emotions),
5. Self Awareness (the degree you are aware of your emotional signals), 
6. Attention (how focused or distracted your mind is).

What makes his research interesting is that he has, through studying brain images, been able to show that there is a definite interrelation between the thinking part of the brain and the part of the brain that plays an important role in our negative emotions, such as stress, fear or anxiety. He discovered that the more connections between these two parts of the brain, the better we are able to manage our emotions. Fewer connections make it more difficult for one to recover quickly, thus, people linger longer in a negative emotion. Formerly, neuroscientists considered emotions mainly controlled by the part of the brain that reacts to stress and fear.

The evidence of his research shows that the brain is now known to have neuroplasticity, the ability to change its structure and function. We can learn to control and manage our emotions by applying the components of emotional styles. You can

 "Keep Your Cool".