Quote to ponder under the apple tree
Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.
~ Pearl S. Buck (born June 26, 1892)
Resources to bite into
1. Murphy’s Law has many variations *
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly has an exercise in matching variations on Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will” – and some would add, “At the most inopportune time and it will be all your fault and everyone will know it.”) Personally, I take comfort in the idea that the universe is full of absurd maxims that can’t be reasonably fought. You have probably noticed many of them yourself, such as
The other line always moves faster – and if you switch lines, the one you were in will move faster.
If you put two pairs of socks in the dryer, when the load is finished one from each pair will be missing.
The Law of Window Polishing: It’s always on the other side.
What other ones can you add?
2. Columnist’s Day is June 23 *
Today is the perfect time to write an advice column or an editorial. What topic do you feel passionate about? Write out your thoughts and see if you can get them published in your local paper’s guest editorial column. Alternatively, think about the advice you might give to others – about dating, manners, fishing, bridge, home improvement or living well. Share it with your family or peers. If you have a lot to say, write a column weekly!
3. Happy Birthday Song is 150 years old this week! *
The melody for the song that would become “Happy Birthday” was composed on June 27, 1859 by Mildred J. Hill, according the Chase Calendar of Events. The “Happy Birthday” lyrics were added decades later by her younger sister, Patty Smith Hill. However, the words and music were eventually taken over by others and it wasn’t until long after the sisters’ deaths that their heirs won a lawsuit for copyright infringement on what is believed to be the most popular song EVER. Think of the millions of people who sing it every day! Who will you sing it for next?
* These items are easily adapted when working with people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Tips/ideas/insights to savor *
Also in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly is a discussion of an article that became a book by Amy Sutherland called What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage, (The original article for the New York Times can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html) While researching another book about how animal trainers teach dolphins to flip and elephants to paint, she realized that many of the techniques would work on her husband. We, in turn, realize they provide good advice to almost anyone. Consider these ideas:
Approximations means rewarding the small steps toward learning a new behavior and ignoring behavior that doesn’t meet one’s standards. If you are trying to teach a baboon to do a flip, you first reward his hop, then his bigger hop and so on. In Ms. Sutherland’s case, she overcame her husband’s habit of leaving his dirty clothes on the bedroom floor by ignoring the piles and thanking him for each shirt placed in the hamper.
Incompatible behavior is based on the idea that one can’t do two things at once. Birds can only land in one place at a time, so a professional trainer who did not want African crested cranes to land on his head and shoulders taught them to land on mats on the ground instead. Rather than focusing on stopping a behavior, he taught them a new one. Ms. Sutherland taught her husband to stop crowding her while she was cooking by giving him parsley to chop or cheese to grate at the other end of the kitchen.
Least reinforcing syndrome or LRS is best explained by a dolphin trainer: “When a dolphin does something wrong,” Ms. Sutherland wrote, “the trainer doesn't respond in any way. He stands still for a few beats, careful not to look at the dolphin, and then returns to work. The idea is that any response, positive or negative, fuels a behavior. If a behavior provokes no response, it typically dies away.” This is how she now deals with her husband when he huffs and puffs about the house looking for lost keys. Eventually he finds them on his own, and she just says, "Great, see you later."
Think about these ideas and how they might work with your children, grandchildren, coworkers, and others.
To order What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage, click here.
Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.
~ Pearl S. Buck (born June 26, 1892)
Resources to bite into
1. Murphy’s Law has many variations *
The current Brain Aerobics Weekly has an exercise in matching variations on Murphy’s Law (“If anything can go wrong, it will” – and some would add, “At the most inopportune time and it will be all your fault and everyone will know it.”) Personally, I take comfort in the idea that the universe is full of absurd maxims that can’t be reasonably fought. You have probably noticed many of them yourself, such as
The other line always moves faster – and if you switch lines, the one you were in will move faster.
If you put two pairs of socks in the dryer, when the load is finished one from each pair will be missing.
The Law of Window Polishing: It’s always on the other side.
What other ones can you add?
2. Columnist’s Day is June 23 *
Today is the perfect time to write an advice column or an editorial. What topic do you feel passionate about? Write out your thoughts and see if you can get them published in your local paper’s guest editorial column. Alternatively, think about the advice you might give to others – about dating, manners, fishing, bridge, home improvement or living well. Share it with your family or peers. If you have a lot to say, write a column weekly!
3. Happy Birthday Song is 150 years old this week! *
The melody for the song that would become “Happy Birthday” was composed on June 27, 1859 by Mildred J. Hill, according the Chase Calendar of Events. The “Happy Birthday” lyrics were added decades later by her younger sister, Patty Smith Hill. However, the words and music were eventually taken over by others and it wasn’t until long after the sisters’ deaths that their heirs won a lawsuit for copyright infringement on what is believed to be the most popular song EVER. Think of the millions of people who sing it every day! Who will you sing it for next?
* These items are easily adapted when working with people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Tips/ideas/insights to savor *
Also in the current Brain Aerobics Weekly is a discussion of an article that became a book by Amy Sutherland called What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage, (The original article for the New York Times can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html) While researching another book about how animal trainers teach dolphins to flip and elephants to paint, she realized that many of the techniques would work on her husband. We, in turn, realize they provide good advice to almost anyone. Consider these ideas:
Approximations means rewarding the small steps toward learning a new behavior and ignoring behavior that doesn’t meet one’s standards. If you are trying to teach a baboon to do a flip, you first reward his hop, then his bigger hop and so on. In Ms. Sutherland’s case, she overcame her husband’s habit of leaving his dirty clothes on the bedroom floor by ignoring the piles and thanking him for each shirt placed in the hamper.
Incompatible behavior is based on the idea that one can’t do two things at once. Birds can only land in one place at a time, so a professional trainer who did not want African crested cranes to land on his head and shoulders taught them to land on mats on the ground instead. Rather than focusing on stopping a behavior, he taught them a new one. Ms. Sutherland taught her husband to stop crowding her while she was cooking by giving him parsley to chop or cheese to grate at the other end of the kitchen.
Least reinforcing syndrome or LRS is best explained by a dolphin trainer: “When a dolphin does something wrong,” Ms. Sutherland wrote, “the trainer doesn't respond in any way. He stands still for a few beats, careful not to look at the dolphin, and then returns to work. The idea is that any response, positive or negative, fuels a behavior. If a behavior provokes no response, it typically dies away.” This is how she now deals with her husband when he huffs and puffs about the house looking for lost keys. Eventually he finds them on his own, and she just says, "Great, see you later."
Think about these ideas and how they might work with your children, grandchildren, coworkers, and others.
To order What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love and Marriage, click here.
Let the ever-ripening Wiser Now website become the apple of your eye.
-- Host a workshop, purchase materials or click on the blue print to sign up for Brain Aerobics Weekly. and Wiser Now Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiver Tips.
-- Host a workshop, purchase materials or click on the blue print to sign up for Brain Aerobics Weekly. and Wiser Now Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiver Tips.
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