There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.Leonard Cohen

Inner Life Directions

Expanding Reality

Ggids

  • The Good in the News

    You might have noticed a break in the postings on the GGID-Giving Good Its Due page. It is due in part that I, as many others, had difficulty in finding items that would qualify as good. The field of reporting has been taken over by the events of the current US administration. As a citizen and a human being, I consume news of the administration, but politics is not a topic my work focuses on, so finding pieces about something I could call good became a challenge.  

    I predictably kept on reading, watching, listening to what is going on, things that do not fit within my value system, things that go against what I believe would be a needed direction for the country as well as for humanity. Like many I was downhearted. And still I kept reading, watching and listening.

     After a while I became more and more impressed by some of the articles and pieces I encountered, by the clarity of some of the journalists, thinkers, others. Their understanding of what is going on, their knowledge, their perceptions enriched my own. And I realized something that we too often forget, that to be able to know what is going on is a good thing, a very good thing.  

    A good thing as we know doesn’t have to feel good, it just has to advance us in some way, in this case our comprehension. I also realized that by better comprehending what is going on, I can better cope. And I hope that’s true for you as well.

  • The Mental Health Aspect of Museums

    In Neufchatel, Switzerland, you can get a doctor’s prescription to go to a museum! The prescription could also be for a garden or an art gallery. The whole idea that art can help improve mental health stems from a 2019 World Health Organization study which explored just that, the connection between art and health. They explored how engaging in cultural events could promote mental health and also with coping with illness.

    It seems redundant to me since I have used museums as a form of  well being for decades. How many times  have I sought refuge at places like The Getty Villa in Malibu when things were hard? And that’s exactly what the study found,  that going to a place like a museum can help people  lay down their problems for a while, find some peace and tranquility as respite from whatever they needed respite from.  

    What’s going on in Neufchatel is still in pilot program phase but it has proven so successful they are thinking to extending it to include theater and other cultural events. It’s good to know about the study, about the Swiss program, about its success, but for anyone needing a bit of respite from daily duties, no need for a prescription, just go to whatever museum, gallery, garden or concert that feels right to you.  And as you do remember too that you become a reason and an example of why the arts are so vital to a society.

  • Self Checkouts Failure

    Self-checkout technology was hailed as a huge game changer. It was meant to save businesses money and help profits. It has not done what was promised. It has not lived up to expectations. For businesses it was to save on labor costs. For consumers it was to avoid long lines and save time checking out. It has not done either. The machines can malfunction, they are not usually equipped to check the ID of consumers when those are required, they need repair and attention. And for consumers, the lines to the self-checkout can be longer than the ones manned by a person— That certainly has been my experience and I suspect that of many. At the beginning I loved the idea of zipping through and checking out without having to stand in line. But of course, so did everyone else.  Installing the machines can run six figures, and retailers have not recuperated their investments. As a result, stores like Target are restricting their usage and Walmart has eliminated them.

    None of the goals that were once expected in the 90’s when they became routine, have been met so why do I consider that a good thing? Because understanding the limitations of machines is important particularly in an age when we are exploring how far artificial intelligence can go. And Something that is even more important, and that is the need for human intervention. A key lesson from what is being called a failure is that human input is necessary.

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