behavior

Wizards & Wisdom (Actualized)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

Okay folks, let’s talk turkey. It’s Wednesday and that means I need to share some wisdom with you.

Wisdom about self-improvement.  Big topic, I know, and one which I can probably spend a countless number of posts on in the future. *Hint* I’m going to *hint*

Oh come on now, you know I can’t keep secrets from you guys and gals.

That’s right, you must have sensed that I would dedicate today to share a resource (and set up future resources) with you that cover specific skills and traits that can be worked on. The kind of pragmatic stuff we need to level up and become the best versions that we want to be and should be.

That stuff related to physical health, mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health.

The stuff we all quietly promises ourselves we will get to but often struggle with the time or simply figuring out where to start looking.

But before I begin the fabulous and (hopefully by now) familiar practice of sharing a resource, I’m going to share a theory with you. Unfortunately it is not my own, so I can’t take any credit for it, however, it’s too brilliant not to share, so I’m going to source it and we’ll go from there.

The person who came up with this thought on the matter was writing about wisdom as it exists in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, specifically the 5th edition, but let’s face it, it’s damn useful for pretty much anyone.

Lhz97

So here is what Kindulas of reddit has to say about wisdom –

First off, the 5e description is “Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition.” …The big thing I realized while thinking of Wisdom vs Intelligence as worldly vs academic knowledge is that animals have high wisdom. Low intelligence, high wisdom. Animals do not have streetsmarts or worldly knowledge, they don’t actually know the kinds of things wisdom is sometimes explained to cover. So I began, instead, to think of Wisdom as all the intelligences animals do exemplify. Perceptiveness and intuition – instinct and purely sensory awareness and alertness. We know Wisdom has to do more than just physical senses because insight, but that’s the place to start pondering.

So I came to the conclusion, especially seeing how 5e handled Intelligence (Investigation). Intelligence is all higher cognitive thinking and all conscious knowledge. Worldly knowledge, booksmarts, all just different expressions of intelligence. Wisdom is subconcious intelligence and sensory awareness. It’s your ability to spot things offhand, your clarity of thought and presence of mind, the accuracy of those “feelings” you get about people.

Now if we are really interested in wisdom in all it’s forms and variations then that sounds pretty dang good doesn’t it?

Well look no further, I’m going to share a ridiculously rad resource I totally and randomly stumbled onto when I was taking my lunch break about a week ago and when I was thinking about toxic behaviour of all things. And yes, I’ll share the first video I watched to give you a potential jumping off point, and if you are interested in letting go of what others think about you.

Actualized.org is a website dedicated to advanced personal development. Leo Gura is the founder and face of this project and has accomplished some rather impressive things in his life thus far. This claim to fame is that he teaches you life lessons which roll up into a skillset. A skillset that let’s you take advantage of your full potential and realize it so that you are consistent in your output.

The topics he covers include happiness, motivation, productivity, money, emotions, confidence, enlightenment & meditation, health & fitness, dating & relationships, sex, depression, life skills, and an assortment of other areas of life.

He has over 80 hours worth of free videos but some of his most popular videos are titled as such –

  1. How To Make A Girl Squirt – Give Your Girl An Explosive Orgasm
  2. How To Stop Caring What People Think Of You
  3. How To Meditate – The No Bullshit Guide to Meditation
  4. How To Become A Millionaire – The Truth No One Tells You
  5. Why Am I Depressed? – The Shocking Truth Behind Your Depression

What is great about timotheories.com is that I am sharing with you stuff that I read, stuff that I watch, stuff that I try, and because of this, all of these posts feature content which is met with trial by fire, trial by combat, or whatever your favourite method of filtering is and won out.

If you want to face your personal challenges head on, you should check out what Leo has to say. Now having put that down, I have not signed up or paid for his “Ultimate Life Purpose Course,” but I am considering it a viable option to focus my own efforts. And besides, the free content alone is enough to make use of.

Why not spend some time building up that wisdom? Otherwise this is just a theory until you can prove it otherwise. See you tomorrow with something timely.

Tim!

 

 

 

What A Creep Show! (DeviantArt)

Posted on by Tim Kuefler

What the heck is a deviant? And why does it send a chill down your spine when Grandma calls that guy with a mustache across the street feeding the pigeons one?

I’ve often wondered this myself dear readers, and I’ve read definitions of the term of course, to properly understand what the word means, but do these people really exist? I feel compelled to wonder, and of course they do, because people are slowly coming to terms with the idea that normative behaviour isn’t as far reaching as we’ve been told by experts. but before I go any further, this description should get us all started on the same line of thought.

deviant

(ˈdiːvɪənt)

adj

1. (Sociology) deviating, as from what is considered acceptable behaviour

n

2. (Sociology) a person whose behaviour, esp sexual behaviour, deviates from what is considered to be acceptable

Okay, so if someone differs from a norm or a standard of society, then that makes them a deviant. But why do I have a strong suspicion that grandma is somewhat biased in her outlook?

giphy

Well to be quite blunt and methodical, my rationale for this is that while psychopaths and sociopaths are decently capable of managing their illness from an external viewers perspective, there are several factors to consider.

According to this article which discusses the findings of Dr. James Fallon (a neuroscientist of U of California who accidentally diagnosed himself with psychopathy), people can have the genetic markers of psychopathy but not be dangers to society, but that doesn’t mean they are criminals. And further to that point, it can be difficult to separate “discovery” of traits from “acknowledgement” of traits and realize that doesn’t make the person a threat.

So the assumption from grandma that someone is a threat because they have strange behaviour is problematic, and further to that point, the people who DO exhibit those tendencies or follow criminal behaviour don’t exhibit the behaviour in obvious ways in most cases.

But you knew that discussing sociology and criminal deviancy wasn’t the real intent of today’s Wisdom Wednesday post.

No I want to write about the implications of deviancy and share with you a resource that encourages that behaviour in the realm of the arts. And luckily for us, the name of said source is DeviantArt.

Deviant Art is the self-proclaimed “largest online art gallery and community,” and has been around since the beginning of the 21st century. Which is fairly poetic and appropriate, given the content it churns out.

Of course I am going to over the INs and OUTs of the community with you of course, but I think this tutorial video I’ve included below is a good place to look at before we continue. Mostly because it makes me laugh.

If I’m being perfectly frank, DeviantArt is not as obviously deviant from the typical fare as it sets out to be, but that doesn’t mean it is something to avoid. As you learn to navigate the forums, you will find some really amazing content and in many cases, it will spurn creative ideas.

Where you see the deviation will be in the communication of ideas.

Don’t be alarmed by this. Because it is an unmoderated forum, there will be offensive artwork, but mostly it comes in the form of posts and groups. The questionable content is what makes the website so unique in it’s identity.

This website has millions of images on it which is amazing in and of itself, but it also features videos and written content for artists pursuing those disciplines. It is effectively both a gallery and an art forum, a place for people to submit their artwork and comment on artwork with both text and pictures. Heck, if you want can record yourself making a drawing and submit the entire process to the website for critique.

I find it incredibly fascinating that users have the option to submit their works to be used however they personally deem appropriate. Which means that work could be copyright protected or distributed freely.

You have the option to view work that is trending, artwork that is currently featured in contests, whatever has been submitted in the past “instant”, participate in art challenges, submit work to particular boards, comment on blog posts or create your own virtual gallery. And you would be surprised by all of the different kinds of artwork available from pencil drawing to painting, from child friendly to mature themes, from realism to comic book fan art, there is something on DeviantArt for everyone.

I hope you enjoyed today’s resource folks, please leave some comments and share you experiences with the website or send me an email with a resource you want me to talk about next. I’m out of theories for now, till next time.

Tim!