Powe of the Universe
The planets revolve in their orbits, focused on only one ask. We can depend on the to continue, at least in our lifetime.  Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 x 0 $299.00 USD

Is it Possible to Multitask?

When asked, I proudly tell people that I am an accomplished multitasker, but I recently became aware of research saying that I am not.  I  ride an exercise bicycle and watch TV while doing so.  Isn’t that multitasking? while  I imagine I might be a better cyclist if I was not distracted but I would probably get bored and give up after ten minutes.

A receptionist answers the phone while greeting visitors, a parent talks to a child while preparing dinner, and partners have sex while making mental plans to see a lover. Aren’t they doing two things at one time? I once observed a very successful canvas artist work on eight, 4 by 8 foot canvases spread out on the floor of his studio. He added colorful pigments and details moving from one to the next and back again. He was fast and working on so many at once permitted paint to dry while focusing on the next canvas. I was impressed by his ability to develop unique creations. When finished, though, he did not have eight masterpieces. One was exceptionally good but the rest were mediocre. He sold them all, however, which was his intent.

As do most  working executives, I thought of myself as a multitasker, for I was able to move rapidly from one subject to the next. An hour could easily be filled with 10minute meetings on topics ranging from a broken plumbing pipe, budget and insurance issues, discussion around marketing to interviewing a prospective employee. If someone interrupted me for an emergency I was able to handle it and then turn back to the topic I had been working on. I labeled this behavior as multitasking. What I haves since learned is that most of us think we are multitasking when we aren’t. I wasn’t do two things at the same time, but rather was compartmentalizing my mind. I was a fast shifter. Each activity required complete attention and it was easy for me to go back and forth quickly.

This skill is not easily transferred to art work or writings. To paint, I need 100 percent focus on what I am doing. It is not possible to select a color, put a dab on a brush , and apply it to a canvas without complete attention. Young children who are less focused, leave art sessions with with paint on their clothes or spilled on the floor. I attest to having cleaned up quite a few messes.

For nearly all people, in every situation, multitasking is near impossible. The neuroscience presented is clear. We are wired to be mono-taskers. Attempting to do two things at the same time is an illusion for most of us.

Over the past ten years many businesses downsized to become a lean and, in some instances, a mean workplace. As employees dwindled, loads increased, requiring workers to do more, producing short term effectiveness and long term disasters. When overworked, people become stressed, develop migraines, and suffer adult ADHD according the the American Management Association. The young man Ray and I mentored was injured on the job, in part, because management worked him physically 10-12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, month after month. His manager kept challenging him to man up, go faster, paint while balancing precariously. Since it is easier to move without wearing a heavy harness, he took short cuts and was rewarded with praise for being efficient—that is until he fell from scaffolding and became a quadriplegic.

One of the keys to successful mono-tasking is to slow down, not speed up. Learning to do move from topic to topic and place to place quickly takes time. The brain and muscles have to be well trained in order to switch from one activity to the next without getting overloaded. Multitasking is a misnomer for doing any task well requires full attention to the project at hand. What effective managers learn to do efficiently is to switch between tasks quickly. Basically, they single task with intention, often using cheat lists to store enabling information. And—most importantly—they know to take brain rests. They use the full amount of time allocated for lunch and work breaks in order to turn off their mind.

I am always impressed with the skills at-home parents develop by caring for children, cleaning, and engaging in social and community activities. To accomplish a multitude of tasks they develop organizational and time management abilities that rival those practiced by corporate managers.

So, can the brain do two things at one time? The estimate is that 2 to 2.5 percent of the population are capable of doing more than one complex thing at a time. One of the tasks is usually automatic, like walking or tying a shoelace while talking.

When activities are unrelated, the two hemispheres split the labor, with each side taking on a task. However, both tasks tend to suffer and errors greatly compound, for neither has the brain’s full attention. For instance, those walking briskly down a street become slower when they talk. You seemingly can cook and talk on the phone at the same time but not efficiently. A third goal will get discarded altogether by the prefrontal cortex.

One Stanford University study showed that those who believe they are the best multitaskers are actually the worst, for they are chronically distracted and find it difficult to focus. Multitasking is more wasteful than it is timesaving. The more we multitask the less we are able to accomplish because we lose the ability to focus enough to learn. According to an article by Kabu and Machado, “empirical research has demonstrated that multitasking with technology (such as texting, listening to music, checking emails) negatively impacts studying, doing homework, learning and grades.“

So, yes, we can practice switching from one task to the next quickly and no, you will not be multitasking. It is unlikely that you will ever be able to do two things at the same time and do them well.

References:

Secrets of Multitasking: slow Down to Speed Up. (2018) American Management Association. retrieved from web site http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/secrets-of-multitasking-slow-down-to-speed-up.aspx

Goodman, N. (2013) How to Train Your Brain to Multitask Efficiently. Entrepreneur. retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225865

Glowatz, E. ( 2016) Do You Struggle with Multitasking? Why The Brain Can Only Focus on one thing at a time. Medical Daily. retrieved from http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/multitasking-splits-brain

Telis, G. (2010) Multitasking Splits the Brain. Science Magazine. retrieved from http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/04/multitasking-splits-brain

Kabu,C. & Machado, A. (2017) Why Multitasking is Bad for You. Time.retrieved from
http://time.com/4737286/multitasking-mental-health-stress-texting-depression/

Art is always for sale. Contact me at Marilynne@eichingerfineart.com

Western Blue Bird
It is spring, when birds join together to produce and care for their offspring. All creatures have a need to be connected to others of their kind.
Acrylic on canvas/ framed/ 20.5” by 24.5”/ $375

Social Isolation – a Crisis of Our Time

Most recently, an elderly acquaintance was alone in a hospital room when his heart stopped beating. There were no friends or family around to hold his hand through his illness nor to mourn the moment of passing. When younger, this man led a vibrant, engaged ilife. He loved to travel, give thought provoking talks, party with friends, and enjoyed interacting with a wide circle of work contacts. By his waning years, however, most close friends were gone and he was left stranded alone. He had no children and his few relatives were either ill or had died years earlier.

Serving as a lay ministry at the Unitarian Church in Portland, made me aware of the large number of people who are socially isolated. About one-third of Americans over 65 are alone with their anxieties, depression, and health issues. The friends and family members they assumed would always be there to help them as they aged, dispersed throughout the country and are unwilling or unable to care for their needs. No one calls or stops by their home to chat. Those without children, peers, or counselors  are not able to share the ups and downs of life.  Feelings of loneliness often become a trigger, accelerating cognitive decline and premature death.

As a stuendt of human behavior, however, I am aware that social isolation is not exclusively a problem of the elderly, for it increasingly plagues youth and middle aged Americans. Health professions consider it a growing epidemic with severe mental, physical and emotional consequences. Some of their studies show childhood isolation to be the cause of poor health twenty years later.

In the United States, adults become isolated for many reasons. When moving to a new community because of a job opportunity, many people become immersed in their work, not realizing how important it is to reestablish close friendships. In other instances, it is friends or family members who do the moving, leaving the person behind with feelings of abandonment. Drug addiction, mental illness, sexual orientation, abuse and poverty cause some people to turn inward rather than share the embarrassing truth of their situation. Their problems are likely to push close acquaintances to withdraw their love and support. After all, who wants to deal with a drug addicted friend or one who is depressed? Not fun.

My greatest surprise was to discover the growing problem middle aged men face with loneliness. According to studies by Judy Chu and Niobe Way, obesity, smoking or lack of exercise are not the biggest threats to middle aged men, but isolation is, and it threatens their health. Their loneliness is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. I started to wonder how active men slide into social isolation so I did a bit of investigating. What I discovered is certainly not true of all men, but the number experiencing isolation is increasing at a rate that is alarming to health professionals.

What I learned is that when men are in their thirties and forties, their high school and college buddies start taking a back burner to work and family. Male contacts become limited to those whose paths they accidentally cross while at work or in the locker room. Not nurturing friendships with men initiates their slow drift into social isolation. Their tendency is to have more casual relationships which are harder to maintain. According to a Boston Globe article, a contributing factor is a belief that talking about personal matters with other men is not manly.

Adding to their difficulties are changes in the job market that cause growing numbers of men to lose employment while in their fifties. In some cases, advancing technologies make their skills obsolete. Those employed in physically demanding jobs develop aches and pains as their bodies wear out. Without work, they feel rejected and marginalized and no longer needed. Years of focus on work left little time to develop hobbies, relationships, or for involvement in meaningful community activities. Not knowing how to occupy their time initiates a downward spiral that leads some to drink, take drugs or sit around the house all day watching sporting events.

To prevent this progression from happening, it is important to develop and maintain activities with other men. Bonding relationships need to be nurtured and strengthened over time. Unlike women, who can keep a friendship by simply talking on the phone, in general, men become closer when sharing activities. Hooking up with others to play cards, attend sporting events, or go hiking is more comfortable. Since childhood they have been taught not to show or talk about feelings. Relationship building, however, requires sharing and a willingness to show strong emotions. Men who avoid social isolation are those who overcome homophobic fears and make time for male companionship.

When women feel isolated they become lonely and depressed while men in a similar circumstances are more likely to become angry. A Psychology Today article notes that married women are lonelier than their husbands, but men feel lonelier when they are single. Makes one wonder about the reasons for marriage.

Since women tend to be more social and concerned about the quality of one-on-one relationships, they often maintain closer contacts outside of romantic ones. However, the links they have to other women are few and the label “friend’ is applied sparingly. Therefore, when a close relationship sours, it is felt deeply and its end is mourned for a long time. Though depression often follows, most women seek out someone with whom they can share their feelings.

Men react differently by staying silent and keeping their emotions bottled inside. Their feelings of alienation are lessened if their friendship group is dense. The group is their buffer to the loss of a close friend.

Being connected to others is a fundamental human need. According to AARP’s Loneliness Study, 42.6 million adults over age 45 suffer from chronic loneliness. 1/4th of the population lives alone. 1/2 are unmarried, and over the past half century the number of children per household has declined. Multi generation families no longer stay together. But the need for human contact is as strong as it ever was.

In order to avoid health pitfalls caused by isolation, society will have to give greater prioritization to human connectedness. It will help to start social skill training in elementary grades with programs continuing through high school. The medical profession can also help by encouraging their patients to maintain active social lives. Preparations for retirement should focus on social as well as financial well being. Community developers can play a major role by promoting shared social spaces that encourage gathering and interaction. Recreation centers, community gardens, tennis and bocce ball courts, community art centers should be within easy reach of everyone.

Social isolation is  a major public health threat in need of serious attention

References:

Khullar,D. (2016) How Social Isolation is Killing Us. The New York Times. retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/upshot/how%2Dsocial%2Disolation%2Dis%2Dkilling%2Dus.html

Ashbrook,T. (2017) Middle-Aged Men Need More Friends. On Point http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/08/22/middle-aged-men-need-more-friends

Green, M. (2017) The Terrible Price of Our Epidemic of Male Loneliness. The Good Men Project. retrieved from http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2017/08/22/middle-aged-men-need-more-friends

Asatruam.K. (2016) 3 Surprising Truths about Gender and Loneliness, Psychology Today. retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-closeness/201601/3-surprising-truths-about-gender-and-loneliness

American Psychological Association.( 2017) Social isolation, loneliness could be greater threat to public health than obesity. Science Daily. retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170805165319.htm

Down Covered Baby Owl with Mother (sold)

Is an owl wise? According to western folklore, the owl is wise, silent and solitary. It is associated with lunar deities—symbols of wisdom. It is also the animal representation of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom. In India, however, owls are considered dumb and foolish. They have a small brain for their size. It may be that their big eyes and a serious look make them appear smart. Their laser-like vision and excellent hearing allows them to easily catch prey.

Hope for Wisdom

“Between hope and despair, choose hope. It is harder to bear.” These words written by Boris Novak speak to me. They seem especially poignant in a time of discord when so many people wonder how to blend divergent view points. Hope. . .for wisdom.

All of my life I’ve dreamed, wished, and hoped. When I was young I hoped to get older quickly, when older, to feel younger. As I aged, I wanted to be wiser.

I didn’t have to do much to bring about my first wish. Birthdays marking the way were not under my control. Feeling younger was another story, one that required work. Exercise, turning away from ice cream sundaes and eliminating stress remain ongoing challenges.

But wisdom—that is my elusive hope. How does one go about becoming wise?

Wisdom has been defined as a process of integrating experience, knowledge, and good judgement. It involves accepting the uncertainties of life and knowing how how to make decisions that maintain a sense of balance. In general, wise people are optimistic, believing that life’s problems are solvable, and thus they are calm when faced with difficult decisions. They are able to see the big picture and to apply a sense of proportion to the situation. In other words, they have the ability to think.

ome think of philosophers as wise, in part, because they were the first to coin the name Philosophy that implies that they are smart thinkers. The word comes from Greek roots, philo-sophia, which means “a friend of wisdom. Philosophers supposedly practice their love of wisdom.

Men like Socrates, though, struggled with wisdom, believing that it starts with wondering about a topic and later admitting ignorance. Knowing the limits of knowledge is difficult. Socrates once said, “I do not think that I know what I do not know.” Socrates was humble and was aware that many of his beliefs were uncertain. Time might well prove them wrong. He thought true wisdom could only be only possessed by the gods, not human beings.

Despite Socrates nixing mortal wisdom, I still hope to become wiser with age and wondered how to go about doing so? Studying the attributes of those I consider  wise was my starting point. Each person I investigated was certainly well experienced. Some were old and others young but all were kind and insightful beyond their years.

Wise people are like sponges, soaking up lessons wherever they go. They also are able to see the obvious, that which is right in front of them, their relationships, and knowledge of their own mortality. They engage in mind games to balance self-interest with that of others and they look at both short and long-term perspectives. Wisdom brings with it the ability to adapt to changing situations and environments.

People who live long lives are survivors. They probably had to face one type of trauma or another at some time along the way but they didn’t succumb to their difficulties and become depressed, instead they grew from their situations. They relied unashamedly on the strong support network they previously assembled to help them through bad times.

Most of us see those who are wise as compassionate and tolerant of differences. They spend time seeking self-understanding which helps them recognize boundaries that separate their own biases from those of others. They accept that each person lives at the center of his or her own universe, realizing that individuals see, have goals and priorities, and make responses that vary from their own.

Having wisdom has many benefits besides the ability to make good decisions. Psychologists associate it with higher life satisfaction, better relationships, less depression and fewer negative feelings. Though not related to intelligence, it is related to a level of well-being. It is also interesting to note that wise actions can be influenced by relationships. People tend to be wiser among friends who help them see other perspectives—the big picture.

Now that I  put words to my desire for wisdom, it is up to me to be so. It will not be easy. Gathering facts, reflection and analysis of even the smallest decision. takes time. Judgements will have to include the impact my decision will have on others. Will my footprints contribute to the greater good?

If I hope to be wise, perhaps, like Socrates, acknowledging how little I know will be my first step.

References:
Brindle, B. (2018) 10 Wildly Wrong Animal stereotypes. How Stuff Works. retrieved from https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/10-wildly-wrong-animal-stereotypes7.htm

Wisdom: 2018. All about Wisdom. Psychology Today, retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/wisdom

Westacott, E. (2017) Socratic Wisdom. Thought Co. retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/socratic-wisdom-2670665

Rusnell, Q. (2016) If Philosophy is literally the love of wisdom, then how do you define wisdom? Quora. retrieved from https://www.quora.com/If-Philosophy-is-literally-the-love-of-wisdom-then-how-do-you-define-wisdom

Pearson, C. (2014) 7 Secrets of Wise People ( And How to become one . . . Now) Huffpost. retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/wisdom-tips_n_5086606.html

Hammond, C. (2017) What is wisdom? And can you learn it? BBC. retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170124-how-to-be-wiser