Five thoughts, ideas, insights, or quotes to power up your mind to think differently and creatively about life and who we are. Put all previous thinking away and open up a brand new world of the Supermind. YOUR SuperMind.
This week – Climate change.
Climate change is a hot topic on everyone’s lips these days. Opinions are highly divided. Some see the weather changes in recent decades as proof positive that it’s happening. Others see it as mere alterations in patterns over too small a period to truly declare a climate change. But, whatever the view, it’s a hugely important subject and that’s the type SuperMind Saturday likes. So, let the thoughts begin….
1. Climate Agreement.
Humankind is a race of people. A group, a clan, a tribe. We exist by agreeing to follow the consensus of the majority. This is how we survive, protect our numbers, and evolve. But, climate change has, well, changed all that. It’s not that the members of our group (you and me, everyday folks) can’t agree. It’s the authority figures – in this case the scientists, climatologists, and meteorologists that can’t agree on what defines climate change.
We need a metric, a data point, everyone can largely agree on that sways the argument one way or the other.
2. Everyone or no-one.
The next driving issue is that if climate change is a real and expanding threat to life on Earth, we need everyone to help tackle it. Any huge problem for a group will never be solved if only a few are active in dealing with it. This precisely mirrors the issue today. Huge countries like USA and India, the main creators of the pollution said to fuel the acceleration of climate change, won’t support changes to their practices. What hope is there of reversing the climate trend if only small, very low polluters are working towards it?
How do we encourage the main powers said to influence climate change to alter the way they operate, manufacture, and live?
3. Population v Nature.
Life has become an almost fine line between human population growth and nature. Whether or not there is climate change, the recent increases in wild weather has impacted more people than ever. This is because of increased building of homes and communities, businesses, and infrastructures in areas prone to natural disaster effects. From floods to fires, earthquakes to tornadoes, an increasing percentage of people are caught in the full force of mother nature’s extremes.
Is it time to ban construction in such areas to save lives and their cost or even limit population growth to a managed level?
4. What else could it be?
Humanity seeks knowledge. It seeks understanding. And it seeks questions to do that. The prevailing thought about climate change is that our industrial activities over the last few hundred years has sparked this crisis. That and our creation and use of polluting cars, fossil fuels, air conditioning, and products like aerosols to name but a few. Our minds are set on this being the chief reason, if not the complete reason. But, could there be other reasons still adding to the problem we’ve not considered – increase in sun spot emissions, mass food production, even space dust or Universal gases flooding our atmosphere.
Have we asked enough questions to ensure we know what is behind climate change. And if not, which ones are missing?
5. Time to plan for pain?
For the last few decades we have been debating the issue. Much data and evidence has been shared, many gathering of top powers, huge coverage has been dedicated by the media. But….and it’s a big but……all of this has been about slowing down and trying to reverse climate change. To prevent it getting worse still. However, we have made few inroads into the problem. It appears to be escalating. And so this begs the biggest question of all.
Should we now be planning for a worse case scenario outcome and what it would be like rather than preventing the unpreventable?
PLEASE share your views or responses to these questions, we the people can solve when we come together!!
Ok, that’s another SuperMind Saturday done. Thank you for being here for the SuperMind time. Keep thinking about these. We need more minds thinking about this issue and the others issue on SuperMind Saturdays. Why? Because it’s needed. Because the world requires new thoughts and ideas. Ones from people like you!!
See you next time for more super thinking.
Photo attributions – free to use under Pixabay Content License by Fifaliana-joy. and Ri_Ya.
There are some infamous lines spoken in movie history.
‘After all tomorrow’s just another day’, from Gone With the Wind.
Michael Caine’s awesome’, You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off’, from The Italian Job.
And my all time personal favourite from Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, ‘I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her’.
But one of the greatest ones ever quoted is by Marlon Brando, the classic,
‘I coulda had class‘, he said, ‘I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been someone’, from On The Waterfront.
The last line captures perfectly the modern mindset belief adopted by vast swathes of the population. Brando’s words were from a Hollywood film’s low life character reflecting on becoming a someone in the world and rising above his meagre status. No longer just a citizen, more a star, more recognised by others. In today’s world art has become life as people all over the world use social media to be a somebody as if they are in some TV show or popular film.
Their every activity is governed towards increasing their profile and being seen. It’s like a disease. In fact, it’s got a name.
The Somebody Syndrome.
Nobodies everywhere.
Towards the end of last Century we were all nobodies. There were nobodies everywhere.
Now when I mean nobodies, I mean non-celebrity, non notable personas to the world. The few true stars, leaders, sports legends, and mega business moguls were few and stood out. If there was a tree in their field, they shone out at the very top.
The rest of us were working folks known only to others in our community, or organisation, or perhaps in some way locally or nationally but not at any elite level where anyone, anywhere would know exactly who we are if we walked down the street.
People went about their business doing what they had to do. Work, shopping, family duties, enjoying some hobbies, the odd day trip here, plus a short Summer vacation there. No desire to tell the world about themselves and what they did day after day. Their focus was their life around them and the people that mattered. As it has been in various guises for hundreds of years.
Then social media arrived. And the nobodies started to want to become somebodies.
It started off as fun. Facebook was the true first big thing. And we all wanted to be involved. In 2006 Facebook opened up to the general public having previously been campus based only with 250,000 student members to begin with. Within a year of this it had 20 million daily users. Today that has soared to the heights of 3.07Billion.
It’s main feature was to share thoughts, images and updates of our ordinary lives, our communities, our activities. Sharing and connecting with others who did the same. It was fresh, fun, novel, exciting, and unusual all rolled into one.
And we got hooked!!
Facehooked.
When it began Facebook seemed to answer an innocuous human function.
A place to go to connect and learn, see what’s out there, see others. See what the world is doing. But….the buzz is addictive. Firmly hooked by the ability to be ‘liked’ and praised and given attention by people we didn’t even know, not just from our friends, we were drawn in. People anywhere and everywhere wanting to hook up with little old us. Wow, the feeling was sooo good.
In our humdrum lives getting a thumbs up from a stranger or nice looking person sure lifted our mood and boosted our self confidence. Innocent pick me ups, good old natured positive recognition which we rarely got in our everyday lives, became a sense of escapism. Add to that gathering a group of ‘friends’ who followed our profile and well, hell, this is the place to be.
These people support me. These people like me. All of these people are keen to keep doing that even when I post a picture of my garden or me in my outfit for a Friday night out. And their comments prove I’m pretty popular after all. I’m going to keep doing this and do it a bit more often.
The Somebody has been born.
Oh No FOMO.
Word had clearly spread. Facebook is the hottest spot in virtual town.
And we headed there in our droves participating in the exact same behaviour as above. We didn’t want to be out, we wanted to be part of the in crowd. So we copied them. After all that’s what humans do. We are a tribe, a race of people, so we do what the group does. Which is hop onto Facebook and share every photo we have got (usually of the self) of almost anything.
FOMO came to life. FOMO aka Fear of Missing Out said you gotta join in or you are a nobody. Which effectively said to our subconscious, that when you are posting and sharing (which blew right out of the water when we could post videos too!), you are a somebody. Roll on enough years and now it’s an ingrained behaviour.
A belief system has taken root in our emotional and mental base.
Cue the drift into a sense of self importance. Checking out other people’s profiles to prove to our inflating ego that we have more followers, likes, comments than they do or more of the cool people coming our way.
And the greatest shock of all with this? This trait surfaced in the young twenty somethings first, the big social guys and girls, who were naturally always out and about. Then it spread. Soon the thirty and forty year olds came to the party and nowadays ever age group is mega active.
Oneupmanship surged. Every time we went somewhere – the local pub, to walk the dog, to buy a new woolly hat; it needed a FB post. We had to stay relevant, stay ahead, stay noticed. We craved the likes, we needed the recognition and respect we felt inside. Keeping that supply going became key. So we took day trips to share online. Concerts and sporting occasions were posted en masse. Traveling to unusual places were featured. Anything to keep the attention, keep the numbers up, and be that somebody we believed we were.
We became so many somebody’s.
Online all the time.
We have developed Somebody Syndrome.
The acute, and often desperate, want to be visible and seen. Oh be seen, yes, but not as just an ordinary Joe or Jane. Someone special, attractive (yes all those phone filters!!), successful, admired, and followed. We have fast progressed from seeing ourselves as a somebody, to bordering on being a star.
Somebody morphs into Celebrity.
We are going almost any place to take a picture or share a video or buy a product (from killer shoes to fast cars) to act like celebs….in our head. The completely fake and false image we have grown up around ourselves is out of control. Millions and millions of people all seeing themselves as some next big thing in some way. Posing like models or shooting a vid ‘at home’ as if they were a world renowned reality personality.
And the damage is huge. Mental health issues due to social media are hitting scary numbers. For instance – did you know 210 million people worldwide are addicted to social media? People actually develop palpitations if they can’t access social media feeds! And worse. Online they meet those who feel inadequate and insecure, people who abuse, criticise, threaten, and belittle others causing severe anxiety and depression as a result.
If it’s not our ego that suffers from overhype, it’s our fragile emotions and identity that are severely holed so we’re sinking.
Our heads have become too big, and our hearts have become too broken.
Be a real somebody.
There really is only one Taylor Swift.
Or Ed Sheeran. Or Steve Mc Queen. And only one Elvis Presley, Julia Roberts, Kim Kardashian et al. Truth is we are killing ourselves at trying to be another version of a well known man/woman/couple instead of the real version of who actually are.
Social media has changed us. We want to be the popular one, the somebody people seek out. Every day we feed that mentality monster by posting and tweeting and shooting videos to Instagram, TikTok, and all other sites we have a presence on. But, we’re missing one HUGE truth.
We were born to be who we are. A pure one off. A unique individual with their own identity. The real living breathing somebody,
Someone meant to be the best interior designer, sports coach, hairdresser, meteorologist, and thousands of other possible roles that make us make our mark. Roles that reflect our true selves in the world around us. Contributions that we will be truly remembered for and not some viral video that will be forgotten in weeks. We have special skills and talents in abundance. Ones we are ignoring chasing the online applause.
You see we already ARE influencers. By being ourselves in our own clothes, and own skin, and own ways. We don’t need some Apple phone image to enhance that nor a few likes that will be here today but gone in a few years.
We are all a somebody. A normal, wonderful somebody. Picture thatin your mind.
Anyone of a certain age was brought up on the 3 R’s of education.
The famous (though clearly incorrectly referenced…go figure!!) R’s – Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.
These were defined as the basic three foundations of learning. They have been the staple educational cornerstone in many countries for umpteen decades.
But, did you know they have a thinking equivalent?
And not just any thinking. The highest and the best. The elite level thinking.
If you didn’t know, worry not. In this post I’m going to reveal them to you so you can start developing them too.
Let us begin the great mindset lesson. Three is the magic number to learn. Three elite ways to use thinking to bring out the very best.
One, two, three….let’s go!
1. Reasoning.
Even crazy ideas aren’t that mad.
This is the foundation of pinnacle thinking. All ideas conceived, no matter how unlikely or fantastical, are treated to this triple approach. And the initial entry point mentally is where any concept, any possibility, is first processed by the mind. It is where it is fairly considered and evaluated.
It experiences reasoning.
Reasoning is the sensible perspective applied by the mind. Whether the idea is whacky or wonderful, reasoning is activated to ensure solid appraisal. Some years ago on the business investment programme Dragon’s Den on BBC TV, an inventor sought funds from established business gurus for cardboard garden furniture. It didn’t happen.
This is because of every pitfall the creator had not thought through about the product. It seemed like a good idea. It was novel. The cost was low. It was environmentally friendly. And not to mention, it was innovative. In their mind.
No reasoning had been employed. You could probably guess half of the problems the Dragons identified. But, if you get carried away with your ‘big bright new thing’ exciting your head (and future pockets), you will never see sense.
This is also relevant with bonkers ideas. At first they seem insane without a cat in hell’s chance of making it. Have a think. Switch on reasoning. See the issue it could be solving. Perhaps the concept only requires a tweak to fit into another field. It could just be the gap in a market no-one else ever noted. Nothing is dead until reason says so.
Reasoning is where an open mind meets a sensible brain.
2. Reflection.
Ever thought about something you first weren’t sure about, then changed your mind?
It’s the classic ‘let it sink in’. This is what occurs when we receive information that’s far and above our norm. Big bad news or big brilliant news. The mind asks for a time out and wants to do some inner homework before it offers its opinion.
That downtime is when the mind slips into reflective mode. It ponders and considers the info, idea, proposal, seriousness, etc. A kind of top to bottom mental review to capture what you really feel/believe/understand.
We do that on less magnificent options – what will happen if we go for promotion or change the car. Large enough a decision for us, but not earth shattering.
Elite level minds reflect as standard but elevate the scenario. They will practise reflection over opening a brand new business, how to fit in ultra marathon training while working a 45 hour week as an analyst, and financial planning for the coming five years if they were to move their savings into short term office space rental.
Sure it’s more mega stuff, but the principal remains sturdy.
Reflection is correction, connection, or condemning a possibility by deeper, calmer contemplation about what it is and what it can mean.
3. Responding.
However you start, you have to finish.
And at the end of any idea or concept, after all thinking is done, has to be a decision. Before you go for it or pull it, you have to land on one mental response that decides one way or the other.
Elite thinkers are highly adept at quality responses.
They reason that the idea is sound. That is followed up with reflecting on how it could look, develop, who it could be for, where to pitch it etc. Those two completed and the mind made up, they are comfortable at the step most become paralysed in taking.
They respond – they take action. The move it forwards. Result? Progress with a capital ‘P’.
Now there is a proviso. That response could equally be they will kill the project. Maybe it’s too soon for such an endeavour. It might be too expensive to fund. Preferences and trends are changing. Various factors (they they have identified and thought through) in the groundwork is saying it won’t work on the ground.
Hey, but it may turn out a stunning 180 flip. It could be scaled up or dedicated to a certain type of person. It might begin small with a soft launch first before the explosion onto the wider stage. Relabelling it might change perceptions and so on.
Whether it’s a big thumbs up or down, rest assured elite minds will respond to the idea and the thinking they have invested, with surefooted, confident responses. No waiting, no pontificating. The iron is hot…or cold, nothing in between.
So, where does that leave you?
4. What’s the Big Idea?
You’re not reading this post for fun, right?
At the back of your mind you want to learn how big thinking is done. Because you’ve got something to get done. Asking that girl out you’ve fallen for at the office. Quitting work to be a vlogger. Wanting to tell your parents that you won’t be going into the family business. And bigger still.
Well, you now know there’s no mega secrets to mega thinking. No inner sanctum the great leaders and business moguls in history were members of with the keys to riches. You don’t have to hold your nerve. No poker face is required or working on the art of bluff.
Just these three R’s – the reasonable, rational, reflexes of the mind. They hold true whether it’s a city you are building or simply bridges with people you need to get back.
3R’s that will help you choose the right and best path…the elite one.
Photo attribution – Free to use under Pixabay content license by RyanMcGuire.
Have you ever looked at something and seen completely the opposite to others?
What they say is clearly obvious, you can’t see at all?
Well, you are not weird. Or alone. It’s a well developed human characteristic of the mind. The mind together with the brain learn. As we grow and age they are fed information. Some of which is advice, a lot though is opinion and influence from people beyond us, even conjecture. The media, and increasingly, social media have become rich sources for our thoughts and beliefs.
All of this data gets added to the mental banks and an individual viewpoint of life and the world is formed. That gets set and from now on we will only see through the lens of that mental imprint.
And what we see can be very far from the truth.
No accident at all.
Every time a disaster or shocking event occurs, our mental projections above kick in.
In November 2020 the A46 motorway in the West Midlands in the UK was shut due to a ferocious car fire. Luckily the inhabitants made it out fairly unscathed. The very same morning a driver who was passing as the fire took hold, shared a picture they snapped to a local Facebook group (this is the header picture of this blog post) soon after.
Within minutes certain members began focusing on one part of the picture. They were sure that there was a human face within the raging inferno. Egged on by this, others joined the conversation stating it was unmistakeable. Not long after, fuelled by this obvious evidence, all manner of spirit and ghost theories were put forwards. Incredibly some began inventing a previous fatal crash near the spot that killed a young man and it must have been him coming back to help. And similar. There has been no such car smash there before.
Now, of course, as you are reading this there may be a few of you who can see a face. Others ‘might’ possibly see one. And plenty who see only a car fire. Who is right? Are the face watchers spotting what the majority seemed to miss? Or are they simply joining dots that aren’t there? Maybe they are just deluded??
The truth is it’s more pareidolia rather than paranoia.
I see what you are believing.
You have probably heard of the phrase people often say, ‘I see what you are saying’.
Change that for, ‘I see what you are believing’.
For example –
Someone who is religious and experiences some unexpected good luck or has a narrow miss from an accident, may tend to see that as their chosen God’s hand at work saving their life from above.
Another person who is a staunch supporter of a political party will elect to see everything wrong with the country if they are not in power, or working hard and fixing things when their party is the ruling Government.
And let’s not forget the good old sport supporters who decide their team are being fouled all the time while they are making no fouls in return.
In each scenario our pre-set mindset witnesses what it has a pre-loaded bias for. Whether it’s UFO’s in the sky or we are a good driver while most others need lessons. If it’s in the mind, it gets projected out into the world of vision including weird and wonderful curious cases we can suddenly explain.
Which brings me back to the photo at the top and the face (or no face).
And the psychological tendency to see patterns, shapes, faces, and more in random images. Otherwise known as pareidolia.
Buildings on Mars anyone?
We’ve seen it all before.
The well known saying tells that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’.
The phrase refers to the fact that history repeats itself, just in different forms, but remains the same theme as ever. We do and see repeat things in restyled ways. A contemporary financial scheme is actually an echo of others that went belly up in the past. The great new trend is merely the modern version from sixty years ago. Stupid little wars always erupting out of pride or self inflated desire to be powerful.
You get my drift?
Turn to the picture and employ the theory. Is there a face? A real face? Or are those who believe in the spirit realms finding what they need to keep their beliefs alive? Because that’s what we all do in what we see through our mind. Keeping our beliefs alive when we look at the world and life.
Belief that God or a spirit guide had favoured us. Belief that our politics are what everyone requires. Or belief that referees are deliberately preventing our side winning because they know they are the best.
So, next time you cast a look over a situation or story or picture of an eruption with a Devil’s evil look peering out, ask yourself what your mind, not your eyes, is not only wanting to see, but expecting to see,
Because your mind has the best eyesight you could ever imagine!!
Five thoughts, ideas, insights, or quotes to power up your mind to think differently and creatively about life and who we are. Put all previous thinking away and open up a brand new world of the Supermind. YOUR SuperMind.
This week – Homelessness.
Owning our own home is a major aim when we start adult life. A place to call home, somewhere we can call ours. Safety. Security. And, in the past, it’s a goal most people achieved. Today, not so. Since the Century began we have had to face the credit crunch crash, ongoing recessions and inflation, COVID, and the current cost of living and energy crisis.
Meaning the dream of having a home has impacted millions and homelessness has begun to appear everywhere. This is a scary fact and so SuperMind Saturday has to take a look and ask some BIG questions.
1. Affected not Disaffected.
Traditionally, homeless people in the past were those who were disaffected. Those who through some trauma or affliction like drink or drugs or family troubles, especially young people who ran away from home, became homeless. People who lived on the fringe of things. Typically called the drop outs. This is increasingly NOT the reason in modern times. Homelessness is hitting people of every background. All are being affected.
How do we change our historical view of the homeless so that we can begin to deal with the issue?
2. Home Owners now Home Owers.
In the UK alone the FCA expect over 200,000 households to fall behind with their mortgage this year due to rising interest rates. That and the increase in re-mortgages in the last 2 years plus the soaring cost of living. Some 88,000 mortgage payers were 2.5% in arrears of their mortgage balance by the Summer of 2025. The risk of homelessness is a spiralling financial threat affecting the whole country.
How can we protect people from losing their homes who are trying to simply pay bills? Could it be time for homeless protection insurance to be included in mortgage premiums? Or what ideas do you have?
3. Effects not Causes.
Modern day homelessness is clearly less an effect of some personal disfunction. It stems more so from the huge monetary pressures of life and the global issues. From the deregulation of banks to the soon to follow after credit lending collapse. From ongoing international conflicts to extensive crime and immigration costs. These events are the causes, one of the ultimate effects has been homelessness. Global scenarios creating national and even localised upheaval. We have become too global. We can no longer protect our own country or state area due to issues beyond our borders.
How do we stop this incessant march away from self contained sovereign control? Is the Terminator alive in this form???
4. Poverty for more people.
in 2024 over 320,000 people in the UK were pushed into poverty due to interest rises. This figure would rise sharply for larger countries. Multiple millions around the world have been added to the numbers classed as living in poverty. People who have full time jobs, sensible spending habits, and no previous historical record of being in debt. In other words – not from their own unwise behaviour. People who didn’t know poverty before, now know it well. More and more people being pulled into a life struggle every single day.
Is poverty something no longer cared about? Have we just become a world focussed on winning and success over standards of living for all? Are we losing our humanity?
5. Homelessness for All.
All of the above points and information point to two clear truths. People of all ages and types are being dragged into the risk of homelessness. From eight to eighty. The haves are becoming less, the have nots are becoming over subscribed. And the gap is also growing. To finish I’m just going to make a statement. One that is in plain sight and obvious if you take a look.
Governments (of any political party) don’t care about the growing homeless epidemic. They do their usual talking but seem to do less and less to help everyday people. They just seek to tax citizens in as many ways as possible. We need some Robin Hoods. The Sheriff of Nottingham has returned and wants more than before from the people.
** A rare personal point from me but this one had to be said. If you lead you have responsibility. Those that lead are not honouring theirs**
Go well all SuperMind friends.
Ok, that’s another SuperMind Saturday done. Thank you for being here for the SuperMind time. Keep thinking about these. We need more minds thinking about this issue and the others issue on SuperMind Saturdays. Why? Because it’s needed. Because the world requires new thoughts and ideas. Ones from people like you!!
