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A Starting Mathematical Formula for My Life: YMB t2008_0326 v1 March 26, 2008

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions.
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Last Saturday I was taking a time out at the local Starbucks, just catching up on reading material from “The Folder”, (being currently a collection of obscure writings on action, language, language action, deadline busting, elliot waves, wise organizations, management practices, and a doctoral course), when entered a sprightly local mathemetician, whom I’d not yet met, to share the couch.

And a wonderful conversation ensued in which I was returned to my enthusiasm and joy for the topic of mathematics. A topic that although I do have a degreed specialization in, I didn’t quite take to a zenith … but I’ve a respectible library (including Dynamical Chaos, which i have read - at least a portion) and a brain that can actually follow and visualize the referred reality which proofs purport to prove. So it really is an area I dip into from time to time. Purely for enjoyment, that is.

Now, not quite a week later from that chai induced connection, I was updating my Professional (about) page here, and in doing so referenced a note from over dinner few weeks back when JW told me how he saw me professionally. He expressed that special combination of traits he perceived, which I happened to capture on a nearby scrap … as an equation.

Well of course, one thing led to another, and so here I am now with the (don’t try this at home) formula for a particular view of a “me” … vis,

[SF:{1/9 nuclear family + 14(dance + drama + music + art)} * {SoCal(mathematics/computer science)^systems + (5*systems:design, 5*business:project management)} + Berkeley{(2*manager:product dvlpmt, 3*consulting services manager:design/modeling tools, 3*entrepreneur:advisor, 10*consultant:facilitator)^(28*meditator) +SF(2.5*dialogue host) + Worldwide(6*transformational program participant)–>5*focus:BoostingBrilliantPeople}] ^female

= an insight generator, effective with groups, under pressure, and at any interface … with a listening that opens vast new territories for thinking and exploration … and an ability to call new creations into being.

I assure you that it didn’t start like this - the first rendition had only 5 terms and of course, the math is very simple - mostly arithmetic.  Since Mom didn’t understand the notation, for clarification I offer: * means multiplied by, / means divided by, ^ used for the exponent, -> expresses yields, : indicates function of and here numbers are mostly years). So I’ve probably butchered the expressions of logic which I can’t quite remember or didn’t take the time to find proper symbols for. (Will definitely have to send the link on this post to MK for correction.)

I wonder: are there already in the world much more elegant or complex logics and algebras for documenting such interacting characteristics? Has anyone tried to document a particular life in a formula? How would I show the important influences in the train of my thinking such as the incident of meeting MK in the Starbucks?

In the title to this post, I just added “t” for time and “v” for version. Perhaps if we review the formula and refine it over time, we’ll have a few data points and can begin to discern pathways of development. Or maybe such a elemental expression of skills and interests can be used in some kind of matching function, for e.g. candidates and opportunities.

I’m curious what the formulas for my friends would look like. I’ve since sent this to my family and requested their various submittals (the other 8/9ths), wondering if we can put these together and somehow come up with 1 or a maybe even a predictive expression of “whither the next generation?” Maybe we’ll only get input from the analytic side of the family and then have an unbalanced view that excludes the artistic. We’ll have to stick a variable (alpha)in for the artistic side of the family. Maybe put a log on it for the pronounced influence of their undeclared status.

What would each person choose to highlight about their lives? Like all modeling exercises, something important is always left out - like that I really like a good cup of chai or that grandma taught me how to thread a needle.

So here’s a challenge for your spare time, exploration, and re-creation: create a mathematical formula that captures the important features of your life, or who you are professionally, or what your mix of interests are, or where you spent your time today … and be sure to indicate the meaning or function of the symbols by which the terms are related.

How You Know You’re Dead, Part 5 March 26, 2008

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions.
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Continuing from part 4 … this download came in the middle of Valentine’s Day night - when I was sooo present to life, really. It filled 25 little pages in my notebook (I was travelling otherwise it woulda gone right into the blog) and this is about half the items. More to come …

  • When you look, you don’t see.
  • The scenery never changes.
  • The soft parts of you are really hard to find.
  • Your peripheral vision yields little new information.
  • Darkness is just fine with you.
  • Noone hears your voice, and you don’t really hear anyone else’s voice either.
  • Days of the week are indistinct.
  • You are neither warmer nor coller than you were yesterday.
  • The future is quitepredictable.
  • Singing is pretty much out of the question.
  • Children fail to inspire you.
  • The coffee just doesn’t do it for you anymore.
  • You can’t get it up.
  • You have the same hairdo year after year.
  • The color scheme at your place never changes.

(more…)

How You Know You’re Dead, Part 4 February 14, 2007

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions.
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Mostly, you know you’re really dead when … You haven’t posted to your blog for many, many months!

And then again, here are more tell-tale signs … extending the list from Part 3 :

  • You don’t recognize your shoes.
  • You enjoy only discriminately.
  • You pretend to be alive.
  • You don’t care much about reconciling anything that’s out of balance, whether it’s the accounting or a relationship or the politics of being a citizen.
  • You try to imagine a time when you were alive, but it seems so far away, so long ago.
  • You smell funny.
  • You don’t get dizzy.
  • You are completely useless at a birthday party be cause you can’t blow up a balloon, sing out loud, blow out candles or play Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey.
  • You are as good as any of the other kids at whacking the piñata.
  • You stay in one position for a really long time.
  • You can stare anyone down.
  • You wear the same color shoes everyday.
  • You have a clammy handshake.
  • You can’t tell what others are feeling.
  • You look only in one direction.
  • You are adept at side-stepping responsibility.
  • You can sleep with the light on.

(more…)

The Mirror Trick: You Are Beautiful! May 27, 2006

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions, Indirect Approach.
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A couple weekends ago, I was with a dear friend, Kaaren Henderson, a brilliant woman who has created a fabulous workshop to bring out the beauty in everywoman. For more info, check out Body Feng Shui.

At the workshop, I shared a trick I learned, and she asked me to write it up. So I thought I'd share it here too … 

We all know about the power of positive self-talk, and we all know how challenging mirrors can be, but here’s a trick that really works. 

I work from home. And there’s a mirror just to the right of my desk. Sometimes, when I’m on the phone or shifting gears between activities, I catch a glance of myself. How often, you might ask, am I tempted to judge what I look like? “Sit up straight! No lipstick? Where are your earrings … oh hush, I’m still in my p.j.s!”

Then I realized that when I look in the mirror, my image takes up only part of what I see. But there is also the background which reflects the window and the wall to the left of my desk. And that wall was blank.

So thinking I’d like to see something nice when I look in the mirror, I selected an art print of a lovely girl/goddess that is inspiring to me. 

Now when I glance to wall at the left of my desk, she’s there. And when I glance to the right, I see myself in the mirror, but I also see her serene and beautiful reflection.

Now, rather than thinking, “Oops, who didn’t do my hair yet this morning?”, I instantly think: “She’s beautiful!” Then I look at myself and just smile and feel great.

And, LOL, I don’t think my subconscious really knows the difference!

“Lost My Voice for Love”: An Inquiry Into Intentional Inauthenticity April 22, 2006

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions, Dynamics of Resistance, Evolution of We.
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This post is in further response to Rod's comment about losing one's VOICE. He's a family therapist and he's concerned about having folks, especially women, recover their VOICE. I like that, and it sounds like an interesting and useful pursuit. So I'm looking into it to see what I can discover about this dynamic of "losing one's VOICE for love".

First, let's get what he's saying about VOICE. Since he's using the all caps version of the word, I'm thinking this is really important. And although he complimented the VOICE in my blog, presumably pointing to what was written — the words and all that, here is what I think he's actually referring to:

One's VOICE is the natural expression of the essential Self.

(Let me know if I'm wrong, Rod, or if I missed the point completely, be gentle - I've got the whole rest of the post to share with you! YMB)

Such authentic expression might come out through your mouth in voice (lower case), as in speaking or singing.

Or it might come into the world through the use of other body parts, hands, feet, etc. How you move, where you go, if you dance or applaud, make art, clean grandstands, fly airplanes - that's all your VOICE too, I think. (more…)

Being Unconstrained, Things Happening, Insufficient Infrastructure April 7, 2006

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions, Dynamics of Resistance, Word in Action.
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I can't believe it's been a month since I posted to the blog. Seems too much is happening all at once. I thought time was designed so that would NOT happen - at this node of the universe, seems that time is breaking down.

So this missive is really just to touch a toe down in blogsphere again. If there's something particularly that interests you, let me know and I'll follow it up when time permits.

And I've got a rif on "happen"; for a teaser, I suggest you go look it up in the dictionary.

Earlier this month, I had a couple important "ah, hah!"s:

  1. I'm not going to do the renovation
  2. I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do about living situation/home in the next 1-2 months
  3. and mostly:

I am no longer willing to tolerate constraints on my bringing my gift to the world. So now I'm only going for what I perceive as my highest and best use … and that is "boosting brilliant people".

(more…)

On What a Life is For and Finding My Voice March 6, 2006

Posted by Yvonne in Distinctions, Dynamics of Resistance, Word in Action, beginner blogger.
2 comments

In my first Master’s level course, it was “Management 101″, the professor opened the evening asking us to provide some basic background info on ourselves, including the answer to: “What is your most important value?” He used to ask: “Who are you?” but it didn’t net much useful response because people were simply too young to answer.

When my sister was about 15, she worried: “I just don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!” So I gave her the professor’s take on it:

“Don’t worry; you’re not anybody yet.”

Being “in the make” is a tough spot when all that’s around you is pulling for a two-dimensional answer (What? No business card?) to a clearly multi-dimensional question. It’s probably best to put off the answer for as long as you can. (more…)