Memory Spots : April 2017

Higher Level of Consciousness

"If you view all the things that happen to you, both good and bad, as opportunities, then you operate out of a higher level of consciousness."

~ Les Brown

(im)Possible

Faith means believing the impossible - and then realize that it is possible.

- Paulo Coelho

(im)Perfect

Perfection itself is imperfection.

- Vladimir Horowitz

Today's selection -- from The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery. Octopuses are intelligent and aware, but how much of that is centrally located in their "brain?" Is it possible that they have a "distributed mind" with each arm having a mind of its own?:

"Each arm seemed like a separate creature, with a mind of its own. In fact, this is almost literally true. Three fifths of octopuses' neurons are not in the brain but in the arms. If an arm is severed from an octopus's body, the arm will often carry on as if nothing has happened for several hours. ...

"It's even possible that octopuses have some shy arms and some bold arms. University of Vienna researcher Ruth Byrne reported that her captive octopuses always choose a favorite arm to explore new objects or mazes -- even though all their limbs are equally dexterous. She looked at eight octopuses, all of whom would jump on prey with all their arms, curling both the interbrachial web and arms around whatever food item they would find. But they all used combinations of one, two, or three favorite arms when manipulating objects. Her team counted the octopuses using only forty-nine different combinations of one, two, or three arms for manipulating objects, when, according to her calculations, 448 combinations were actually possible if all eight arms were involved.

"This could simply be an instance of handedness. Tank-bound octopuses, at least, are known to have a dominant eye, and Byrne thinks this dominance might be transferred to the front limb nearest the favored eye.

"But the bold versus shy arms could be something quite different. While arms can be employed for specialized tasks -- for example, as your left hand holds the nail while your right hand wields the hammer -- each arm may have its own personality, almost like a separate creature. Researchers have repeatedly observed that when an octopus is in an unfamiliar tank with food in the middle, some of its arms may walk toward the food -- while some of its other arms seem to cower in a corner, seeking safety.

"Each octopus arm enjoys a great deal of autonomy. In experiments, a researcher cut the nerves connecting an octopus's arm to the brain, and then stimulated the skin on the arm. The arm behaved perfectly normally -- even reaching out and grabbing food. The experiment demonstrated, as one colleague told National Geographic News, 'there is a lot of processing of information in the arms that never makes it to the brain.' As science writer Katherine Harmon Courage put it, the octopus may be able to 'outsource much of the intelligence analysis [from the outside world] to individual body parts.' Further, it seems 'that the arms can get in touch with one another without having to go through the central brain.'

" 'Octopus arms really are like separate creatures,' Scott [Dowd, aquarium biologist at the New England Aquarium] agrees. Not only can they grow new arms when needed; there is evidence that, on occasion, an octopus chooses to detach its own arm, even in the absence of a predator. (Tarantulas do this too -- if a leg is injured, they will break itoff and eat it.)"

Convert into an interesting opportunity

"Sometimes only a change of viewpoint is needed to convert a tiresome duty into an interesting opportunity."

~ Alberta Flanders

Body & Mind

Body achieves what the Mind believes!

Change yourself

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

-Andy Warhol

HiSTORY & Geography

History is all explained by geography.

-Robert Penn Warren, novelist and poet (1905-1989)

Not enough Vs Prosperous

"When I chased after money, I never had enough. When I got my life on purpose and focused on giving of myself and everything that arrived into my life, then I was prosperous."

~ Wayne Dyer

Unswerving singleness of purpose

"Determine what specific goal you want to achieve. Then dedicate yourself to its attainment with unswerving singleness of purpose, the trenchant zeal of a crusader."

~ Paul J. Meyer

No reasons for greats...

"Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason."
-Henry Fielding, author (1707-1754)

Earth Day - 2017

"This is the most joyful day that ever I saw in my pilgrimage on earth."

-Donald Cargil

Danger & Opportunity

"Wherever there is danger, there lurks opportunity;

whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger.

The two are inseparable. They go together."

~ Earl Nightingale

How we use...

"We all have ability. The difference is how we use it."

~ Stevie Wonder

Choose to do

"In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking."

~ Sir John Lubbock

Happy Earth Day

Earth Day

Every Day

...way of thinking

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking."

~ Marcus Aurelius

...Must MAKE it....

"You will never FIND time for anything. If you want time, you must MAKE it."

~ Charles Bixton

Poverty & Riches

Neither great poverty nor great riches will hear reason.

-Henry Fielding, author (21 Apr 1707-1754)

Literate men are...

There is a beauty in discovery.

There is mathematics in music,

a kinship of science and poetry in the description of nature,

and exquisite form in a molecule.

Attempts to place different disciplines in different camps are revealed as artificial in the face of the unity of knowledge.

All literate men are sustained by

the philosopher,

the historian,

the political analyst,

the economist,

the scientist,

the poet,

the artisan and

the musician.

-Glenn T. Seaborg, scientist, Nobel laureate (1912-1999)

Encash On delivery

Inspiration arrives as a packet of material to be delivered.

-John Updike

Be a giver!

Giving is a lifestyle.

Rearguard action

"History may be read as the story of the magnificent rearguard action fought during several thousand years by dogma against curiosity."
-Robert Lynd, writer (20 Apr 1879-1949)

Delayed action

"Most investors want to do today what they should have done yesterday."
- Larry Summers

Reluctant consents

"How hard it is, sometimes, to trust the evidence of one's senses! How reluctantly the mind consents to reality."

~ Norman Douglas

YES is Living

"I imagine that YES is the only living thing."

- E E Cummings

See & Look

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

– John Lubbock

Effort compensates

Abundant effort compensates for sparse talent.

-Larry Hehn

Very good at...

"Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it."

- Brian Tracy

Index to greatness

A man's dreams are an index to his greatness.

– Zadok Rabinwitz

Key to growth

Seeing yourself as you want to be is the key to personal growth.
- Anonymous

Never have to...

Focus & Power

"You are more likely to acquire power by narrowing your focus and applying your energies, like the sun's rays, to a limited range of activities in a small number of domains."
-Jeffrey Pfeffer

Single area of life

"Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives "
-Tony Robbins

Smile please !

Beginning of wisdom

"Kindness is more important than wisdom, and the recognition of this is the beginning of wisdom."
-Theodore Rubin, psychiatrist and writer (b. 11 Apr 1923)

Leadership and power

"Leadership is the wise use of power. Power is the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it."

- Warren Bennis

One step at a time

"If you're climbing the ladder of life, you go rung by rung, one step at a time. Don't look too far up, set your goals high but take one step at a time. Sometimes you don't think you're progressing until you step back and see how high you've really gone."

- Donny Osmond

For this Day: