ICreate Week Three: Connect

Strangely enough, I didn’t kill myself as much to prepare for these past two classes. I think it’s mainly due to my figuring out how to become more efficient. Two screens. Banana and organic peanut butter with a wink of cinnamon. Shelley’s book laid out in front of me at a 37.8 degree angle. Ganesha’s blessings. Boom. And the color yellow.

Week Three: Connect

I like to make my students feel uncomfortable by taking photos.

This class I began with a new type of brainstorm. Rather than writing/drawing in abundance with no limits, I tried a new tactic: establish a paradigm. This paradigm was still rather unrestrained, as all it required was the students to connect their ideas directly from each other by drawing a line and a bubble. It started from leaf and I think we ended up with things like Oscar the Grouch, video games, narcissism, and cavemen.

Then proceeded into the four ways I broke down the connect brainset: defocused attention, divergent thinking, connections/metaphors, and a dose of happiness. 

I’ve always loved teaching about divergent thinking because it’s so contradictory to the style of learning usually approached within schools. The fine arts usually tries to tackle the idea generation phenomenon moreso than other classes. And of course, it’s part of my neuroscience thesis. I first brushed upon the three types of problems: reasonable, unreasonable, and illogical. Reasonable – straightforward question and one straightforward, singular answer (i.e. SAT, school tests). Unreasonable – straightforward question with one answer as well, but one is required to “think outside the box” in order to solve it (i.e. brain teasers). The example I let them try was to draw 9 dots and  they had to connect all 9 of them with four straight lines. Don’t scroll down for the solution unless you really can’t be bothered. Okay sweet I know you already saw it.

[picture]

The last type of problem is illogical, which ties in with divergent thinking. It is a singular question that has many answers. The one I proposed to them was “What if you were about to give a speech on healthcare but your fly was unzipped and the zipper was broken?” Their responses ranged from: “Get a penguin to stand in front of you” to “Incorporate the metaphor of an unzipped fly into your speech” to “use a stamp”.

Then we jumped into actually practicing the figural portion of the TTCT. I provided these three symbols and asked them to draw whatever came to mind as long as they used these sketches. Here are responses I got (started on paper then some volunteered to draw on the board):

I felt that my section on connections and metaphors was too broad. There were so many beautiful things about metaphors and its interplay in our lives that I wanted to cover but 2 hours weren’t quite enough. So I ended up sprinting through the last third of the class (almost to no effect…).

But I did have them practice synesthesia thinking! Synesthesia – the condition of reading colors and hearing smells. Sometimes people are confused when asked to imagine what it may be like to dance textures or taste sounds, but it’s a lot more intuitive than most people imagine. We operate our lives through the function of metaphor – almost no communication would be valid without this concept. The main difference between a true synesthesiate and someone practicing synesthesia is the element of spontaneity (synesthesiates can’t inhibit this).

Anyways, I had them do the smelling-drawing activity I typically like to use. Then we experimented with listening to music, describing how being “courageous” felt in our bodies, what the word narcissism tastes like, and a few more.

Click here to see some random student responses to the DT questions and synesthesia questions.

Here is the powerpoint.

Week four will be up soon.

I promise we’ll be more productive soon.

Random thought:

I got to sit on Siri’s Art and Yoga class last week. One student’s response to my question “How’d you find the TTCT?” was “I did so bad on that test. I’m so uncreative.” I get that response from so many adults. It made me think – even just bringing up the challenge of being creative in a classroom setting can completely change someone’s mindset. Or maybe it doesn’t. Just something to chew on, like the color purple.

I Create: Week 1 & 2

Anddddd it’s been a while. I realize that. Being overwhelmed with schoolwork (behind), TFA (behind), other teaching applications (behind), and extracurriculars doesn’t really help.

One of the major things that has been taking up my time is preparing for a two-hour seminar I teach on a weekly basis. My Fridays and Saturdays tend to be consumed in preparation for a delicious divulgence in creativity and neuroscience. The class is taught as part of the HCESP (which I had to email to find out what it stands for – Harvard College Education Studies Program), and so far I’ve been introducing middle school and high school kids to concepts that I’m pretty sure not many Harvard students know about (I assured them that this is one thing I hope that they take away from this class – they can boast about how their intelligence > Harvard kids > me to their parents and friends).

It’s been a challenging experience so far and I’m already doused in the dilemmas of classroom management. When I taught English to Chinese elders, they were all very respectful and polite, eager to learn the nuances of our language. In contrast, half of my students bounce off the walls, most likely encouraged by my casual attitude (no shoes pwease and doodling encouraged) and subject matter. Shocking at first, but still a lot of fun. I’ve noticed how I always wonder how boring some material is for students, but then realize that I came to the class to teach, not to be complaisant.

I started the class with a brainstorm on the board – I wrote the word “grass” and let the students write whatever they wanted. I tried to carry out part of a study where subjects were asked to brainstorm with an anonymous experimenter planted in the room. The experimenter yelled out an unrelated word such as “disgusting” or “french fries”, which then lead to a much deeper, broader, and creative brainstorm from the participants in comparison to control brainstorms without the experimenter (most likely due to a decrease in inhibitions and more relaxed atmosphere). So I threw up the word “disgusting”. Unfortunately, didn’t really work as a) half the students didn’t see it b) most students looked at the word and said “Huh?” – perhaps writing vs. speaking issues.

I finished the class off with a food neuron building session (shameless luring of the children for future classes? Yes?)

Neurotransmitters = M&Ms, cell body = pop chip, dendrites = gummy worms, axon = chocolate wafer stick, myelin sheath = outer part of the wafer stick

Okay some are wrong, I know 🙂

Not a neuron.

Check out here for the pre-class survey, the worksheet, and powerpoint for the first class.

For my second class, I had an even greater number of students which was even more overwhelming. It’s funny to see how differently students behave/attitudes and it brought me back to my first yoga class I taught at the Veterans Association – I was completely blown away by the diversity of bodies and wasn’t sure how to cater to everyone. I guess this goes back to learning how to stay true to your teaching style (while being flexible at the same time. Paradoxes a la Dao De Jing). Also, I know teachers probably deal with this a lot – the insecurities that cloud over as you watch your students not paying attention to you at all? Now I know how it feels.

Started with a brainstorm on how to link “french fries” and “lions”. Then proceeded to review more neuroscience and jumped into the “Absorb Brainset”.  I am basing my curriculum off of Shelley Carson’s 7 brainsets of creativity, but I’m leaving out reason and evaluate as those two are taught fairly well with our current education system. I highlighted four aspects of absorb: curiousity, open mind, internal and external awareness, and lack of judgment. I also tried to introduce the kids to ADD/ADHD, the 5-trait personality scale, meditation, and alcoholism. I’m not sure how much I’m compromising breadth for depth. I just hope the students have something to think/talk about. I even introduced them to the mesolimbic/dopaminergic/reward pathways in the brain which might have been a little much.

Here are the ppts etc.

Okay, so of course I was prepared for how difficult it would be to have middle schoolers do breath meditation and mindfulness meditation. Sort of.

I tried several times and half the kids messed around. It was totally fine as you only really meet them where they’re at. Instead, I just tried to have them be respectful of the other students who wanted to meditate by asking them to either doodle or text quietly, or even sleep. For the kids who did meditate, a lot of them had really awesome reflections on meditating – one said he felt like he was soaring, another had a trippy vision, others struggled to stay awake. Ultimately, even having one student appreciate how meditation can induce you to be in the absorb state is pretty awesome.

I also attempted a walking meditation in the end – again, same dilemma. And then I teased them (okay no I didn’t – I was really trying to get them to do mindful eating!) by giving them each a bit of chocolate. I was very impressed by their ability to hold off eating the food. I asked them to smell the chocolate carefully first, then take a small nibble – allowing the chocolate to melt on their tongue. By this point, I was getting a symphony of groans and pleads, so I let them finish it off 🙂

I think my favorite thing about teaching though is finding about what kids are passionate about – what they’ll spend hours doing because whatever it is becomes the most fascinating thing in the world. I was teaching about the “Absorb Brainset” and even though I couldn’t get everyone to meditate, it’s good knowing they have their own thing going on (i.e. Zarina’s obsession with symbols which she showed me at the end of class):

Daily Nutrition Facts

Made myself a nice little homemade chickpea soup, but ultimately failed in blending up the roasted peppers (halving the recipe didn’t help too much). Still, I get a kick out of my bay leaves.

OMNOMNOM Indian food night!!! Palak Paneer and “some mixed veg thing” as my friend likes to call it.

And if you were ever curious about the type of chocolate I tried to get the students to meditate on…milk chocolate bar infused with potato chips. You don’t have to ask me how I feel about salt and chocolate (=heaven). However, you can ask me how I feel about milk chocolate (=meh no).

Week One Photos

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Student Responses to Elizabeth Gilbert’s speech about creativity and her muse

Amateurism and Imperfection

A couple weeks ago Kara put on a Boston Youth Leadership Conference and asked me to speak once again. I agreed to and developed a hybrid presentation based off of my PRISE and Chinese Leadership presentations. Lucky for me, this time it was in English so no opportunities to butcher any languages (unless I did without realizing. Oops.)

My brainstorming at Radcliffe Yard.

I quickly went through my little swimming saga, then dove into creativity and its implicit and explicit theories. My favorite part was the interactive portion: a quick divergent thinking task asking the kids to draw something with a little squiggle; a smell/taste experience which required them to draw the sensations; and finally an activity that sets up one’s mind to think more openly – visually focus on an object but then allow your attention to diffuse into the peripheral part of your vision. This translates into a metaphor for your body which puts your mind in a state of divergent thinking.

I was so pumped after giving the talk, especially since most kids stayed awake during the entirety of the presentation (I did make them do a inner visualization about the feeling of disappointment, and I may have lost a few soldiers there).

If you want to see my powerpoint, click here: Creativity and How to Think Differently

Right before giving my 90 minute (was originally supposed to be 45. Don’t worry Kara gave me permission) presentation, I held this mudra for about a minute, and also told myself: “I bow to imperfection.” Things I wish I had learned as a kid. Be imperfect, wait, what? You’re kidding.

On the new domain: I had an interesting little chat with my Dad the other day. As I moved to choosing my domain for this website (neurocholatier.com? thechocolate-apprentice.com? thechocoapprentice.com? I’m bummed that this person took x5 different ways to write my blog title) he asked me why I didn’t switch from being an apprentice to a chocolatier.

Well, it’s because I will always be an amateur.

One of the best conversations I’ve had in the past month was with a friend who I met last summer in San Francisco (who just dropped everything in his life to go sail the world. Pumped for him.) Among many things, one of the things we discussed is what he wanted in life (one of those casual ten things lists – said it took him 2 minutes. It’s taking me more than 2 weeks). And one of my favorites was that he will always be an amateur in music. He’s an amazing, talented jazz pianist but he chose to always be an amateur, never an expert. I liked that attitude.

While working at Clover, I learned that everyone wears blue aprons. Head Chef Rolando came up with the idea – blue is reserved for the apprentices in the kitchen. As with Clover, all employees, including the experienced chefs are all apprentices for life. I love this concept embodying humility and this passion for learning. Something I would love to cultivate in other areas of my life too.

So back to Kyle (friend) – it made me think of the question: what will I always be an apprentice in?

I threw that discussion back to my Dad. Thus, I am always the chocolate apprentice.

Ok yes that would be me trying to sign off with my beautiful blue Clover apron and uttrabodhi mudra…and being late to class.

Creating Corn Chowder

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2012/08/13/kobe-bryant-kevin-systrom-and-the-science-of-creativity/

I love this one quote:

You can’t train to be creative. You can’t be coached. You must allow—allow your brain to make new connections by getting out of the office, attending conferences, traveling to new places, having lunch at a different restaurant, or taking a class in a topic unrelated to your job. By doing so your passions will be stirred, your brain’s neurons will fire, and your creativity will soar.

Chinese Youth Service Leadership Conference…

Yesterday Kara had me speak at her conference involving 20 high school students from GuangZhou, China who were interested in service and entrepreneurship.

My portion? I spoke to them (in butchered Chinese – alas, not speaking for a year!) about implicit perceptions of creativity in the East and West, based off of my research paper I did for my creativity class last semester on implicit views of creativity in the East and their connections to Confucian ideals. To introduce them to the major concepts (Westerners find that the creative process involves intrinsic motivation, love for aesthetic, and willingness to break the rules), I began with my own story – how I did something I really didn’t have a passion for all through primary until college, and how that reflected in my progress in swimming. The bigger thing I emphasized was that because I was unhappy, I wasn’t willing to look around at my environment and listen to other people’s stories and make their lives better. I remember chatting with my Dad once who told me: You have to help yourself first before you can help other people. Very true.

You can check out my powerpoint here… (potential recording of me later). Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear what I’m trying to get at through some of the slides (I’m a very picture heavy, minimal word type of presenter), so hopefully you can figure out what’s going on.

nihao

I felt really fortunate that Kara gave me the opportunity to talk to these kids about my past and these ideas because I feel that these are some of the biggest issues within the East Asian education system – the lack of encouragement to fail and make mistakes, the lack of “play time” and experimentation, the authoritative teacher-student relationship, lack of emphasis on learning to take in one’s surroundings and forming connections/metaphors, etc.

And for me, it’s pretty personal. I grew up with their mentality – the “fear of disappointing” and the fear of self-expression. I really wanted to let them know that they’re okay whatever they do and that they should be enjoying their experience in the world this very moment.

I’m hoping they liked my craziness? Kara said they were more engaged than ever. I was running around the room, speaking in Chinglish, making terrible jokes, and just generally hyper about what I was talking about. I wish I could’ve spoken for longer and gone through more exercises with them (like asking what sort of music chocolate tastes like, or what colors you would use to describe your meal, etc.) but I only had 30 minutes.

Daily Nutritional Facts

Had Basil Lemonade at Clover the other day. Oh-my-goodness I think it’s the best kind of lemonade out there. Better than rose, better than lavender, and…dare I say it? Better than my one and only ginger?

I love basil. It’s such a round herb that has a hint of spice and such complexity when fresh. It’s definitely one of the herbs you don’t really ever want dried.

On that note, got my beautiful share of basil from my friend’s farm share (as I’m covering for her over the next couple of weeks) and also got my hands on way. too. much. corn. 10 pieces to be exact! Solution?

CORN CHOWDER

I loved how it came out – light enough with thyme dancing away in the background, but the potatoes added a key element of thickness to the soup. Perfect for the summer. And great cold too!

Also – my first soup ever.

I never took the time to really appreciate how soup is made. I now realize it’s a pretty solid way to create delicious food. (I can hear people rolling their eyes)

The recipe itself was taken from “The Conscious Cook”, a vegan cookbook I hold dear to my heart as it was the first cookbook I was introduced to while I did my little stint at Sandrine’s. Granted, I didn’t have the cutlery to make my setup as beautiful as his, but it still tasted pretty damn good.

Ingredients: 

Sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
a cup of diced onion
a few cloves of garlic minced
one large carrot diced into 1/4 inch cubes (I LOVE DICING)
half a celery stalk 1/4 inch dice, half of a red bell pepper (I’d now go for more) in a 1/4 inch dice
2.5 cups veggie stalk
cayenne pepper (the recipe called for 1 dried chipotle pepper)
2 small-medium size potatoes peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice, thyme (I didn’t have fresh sprigs on me, even with my undercover deals with the Harvard Community garden)
3 ears of corn
3/4 cup cashew cream (1. soak cashews over night with a bit of salt and water fully covering 2. drain and rinse 3. place in a blender and pour an inch of water 4. food process away m’dear!)
freshly ground black pepper
minced chives
1/4 cup diced tomato

1. Place a large pot over medium heat. Sprinkle the bottom with salt and heat for a minute (creates a non-stick effect! Who knew?) Add oil and heat up for another 30 seconds – make sure it doesn’t smoke. Throw in the garlic for literally 10 seconds and give it a quick stir. 

2. Then quickly add the onions, carrots, celery, and pepper. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring a lot.

3. Then add the stock, potatoes, chile, and thyme. Bring pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender (15-20 min).

4. Use the back of a spoon or a fork to mash up the potatoes. Add the raw corn (which should be stripped form the cob) and cashew cream, season with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Garnish with chives and tomato! Done!

JKZ’s Challenge

Wanted to throw this quote down…try picking one question per week to focus on. And the main idea behind it is how does your body feel, not just the action:

“On the other hand, you might also be mindful of positive thoughts and feelings as they occur. How does your body fell when you see obstacles as challenges? How does it feel when you are experiencing joy? When you are trusting others? When you are generous and showing kindness? When you are loving? What are the effects of these inner experiences of yours on others? Can you see the immediate consequences of your positive emotional states and of your optimistic perspective at those times? Do these influence other people’s anxiety and pain? Is there a sense of greater peace within yourself at these times?”

An Ode to Arm Muscle Contractions

So a girl asked for an intensive arms/core workout, and I thought building up to a forearm stand was a perfect sequence. Check this article out for more advice on building up to a forearm stand.

On a separate note, I made an effort to really understand the different kinds of contractions, and what yoga poses/physio moves were great for building arm strength in particular. Check it:

For more explanations for the types of arm stretches (ekabuhjaswastiakasjdflkwhuuuuuut?), check the article page as well.

I attended the Clover All-Team Member meeting this past Sunday at the HUB. I thought it was such an awesome concept, as all employees got free beer (Allgash White, to be precise), samples of the new 3pm special – blueberries and whipped cream, and a delicious chocolate cupcake. Again, somehow the chefs nail it with the mild sweetness but fresh taste of the cupcakes, with a light frosting that wasn’t overpowering, meeting its match with freshly picked peppermint leaves. Something about fresh mint in anything kills me.

Ayr gave a brief download on the environmental impact and growth Clover was having. My favorite part was the “tasting” game (where 12 unknown ingredients were provided and we had to guess what they were) and a food education presentation given by Chef Rolando. Both were powerful and so interesting (for me, oh the food obsessed). Interesting things:

1) Their parsnip sandwich, a combination of parsnip, cheddar, spinach (in the earlier versions), and caramelized spring onions that were caramelized with cider vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard seeds, and fresh horseradish. The idea of cooking things that weren’t sweet with cinnamon intrigued me and I did a brief search and came up with these ideas:

• cauliflower
• parsnips
• garlic cloves
• sweet potatoes
• carrots
• zucchini
• BBQ Brisket
• Squash
• Pizza
• Orzo salad
• Curried red lentil soup
• Grapefruit

2) Wheat gluten (things to make your tempeh with) looks and smells like flour (even whole wheat), but once you taste it your saliva gets everything super gooey.

3) Determining the difference between cilantro and parsley for me is….difficult. I went to the Harvard Community Garden yesterday and tried both. The cilantro tasted more ocean-y to me, while the Italian parsley taste more clovery, sprouty, and sunny to me. Let’s see if I can remember that at all…

4) Belgian Wheat Beer can be flavored with coriander, who knew?

RESEARCH MOVES FORWARD, ALBEIT SLOWLY!

Finally, finally, finally the brain data was successfully converted into a format we could use and I could start doing the reconstructing and skull stripping. Alas, I was letting the program run over night and it only got through…3/15 sessions. Derp. Oh well still letting it run.

Meanwhile, I take over the world. Or in other words, find myself amused/fascinated by some of the figural responses on the TTCT as I grade them.

 

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Daily Nutrition Facts

Made myself a salad with red cabbage, kale, cucumbers, smokey tofu, and a mix of vegannaise and BBQ spice.

Also tried green gooseberries for the first time! They are possibly one of the most interesting fruits I’ve had. Fuzzy on the outside, filled with a grape texture inside, but also with seeds that are not unlike chia seeds. Kind of an adventure in the mouth. Tart and sweet like a green grape, but with slightly more complexity and hollowness to the palette. Apparently a recipe suggestion: “Stew gooseberries with coconut milk, Indian spices and vegetables, then serve as a curry over rice.” Omnomnom. I had the pleasure of trying red currents for the first time as well. I don’t have the patience right now to try a pie, but they were deliciously fresh and tart.

I got to adopt a Patty Pan Squash and harvest rainbow chard + kale in return for teaching yoga at the Harvard Community Garden (every Tuesday from 6 – 7 pm). So. Much. Love.

Kiting Kale

Research Update: 

Totally killing it. Or not. So far we’re still having issues with downloading the data and using FreeSurfer to adjust the images, so for now I play with sticky notes and read the amusing answers our small sample size (8?) have written for the TTCT.

Brief explanation: TTCT (Torrance Test’s of Creative Thinking) was a test created about 30 years ago by Ellis P. Torrance. There are figural and verbal components, where the figural requires the subject to draw some sort of picture with a foundational doodle/pattern provided and the verbal requires the subject to practice divergent thinking, which is essentially a form of brainstorming. I’m administering these tests pre- and post- the Mindfulness Meditation program (MBSR) and checking out what neurological correlations there might be between meditation and creativity (a long shot, I know. It’s just silly and fun).

Check out this article from Newsweek for a more thorough explanation of the figural component of the TTCT and to see how it’s graded: “How Creative Are You?”

I had a few favorites from categorizing the verbal components of the tests today. My favorite responses to the question “Just suppose everyone had 6 fingers instead of 5, what would happen?” were: “A reassuring pat on the butt would feel that much larger” “People who used to be able to put their fist in their mouths might not be able to do it anymore”. One person wrote a passionate essay on environmental issues, a couple senators, and the destruction created by supporting small businesses (“That’s great guys. It’s fine. Really.”)

Ah, science.

To be a little more serious (wait, this wasn’t serious enough?), I came across a study published recently in Frontiers of Psychology called “Meditate to Create: the impact of focused-attention and open-monitoring training on convergent and divergent thinking”.

The study addressed the idea that different types of meditation can lead to different brain states. This is an extremely good approach as everyone likes to ask 1) can you be good at meditation? 2) what is it? Well, there is no short answer to either, as there are hundreds of types of meditation. To quote Patanjali from the yoga sutras (aka sort of yoga bible?): “I.39 Or [the steadiness of the mind is attained] from meditation upon anything of one’s inclination”. He states this after listing about 10 types of possible meditations.

In the study, they predict that focused attention meditation (inhalation to a specific body part, exhalation from there) leads to higher abilities to perform tasks related to convergent thinking (one correct answer, i.e. remote association task – three words are given like time, hair, and stretch, and participants are asked to come up with one answer – long). For divergent thinking (they use the verbal part of the TTCT), the authors predicted that open monitoring meditation (breath is used to “set the mind free” and allow any thoughts or emotions to arise naturally and be nonjudgementally observed, very similar to mindfulness meditation).

The results (in short summary mode) by conducting the experiment on a group of 16 people with a lot of OM and FA experience:

1. There was no difference in performance on the RAT in either group.

2. OM meditators significantly outperformed FA meditators in the TTCT verbal tests.

3. Both types of meditation elevated mood

4. Potential self-selection and demand characteristics may have biased the results somewhat

5. Check out other types of meditation in other religions? Oooh fun future project?

Anyways, glad I came across this as it is a good article to go off of for my thesis. And there’s a great chunk of it that I really appreciate in the intro:

However, the methodological diversity across these studies with regard to sample characteristics and type of meditation is considerable, which renders it question- able whether they were actually assessing the same construct and processes. Moreover, there is still no mechanistic model explaining how creative processes operate and how different type of medita- tions might affect these operations, which in view of the lack of conceptual clarity may not be surprising. To address this issue, we tried to avoid addressing meditation and creativity as a whole but, rather, focused on particular, relatively well-defined meditation techniques and specific subcomponents of creative performance. 

Daily Nutritional Facts

During my first week at Clover I tried a couple of the coffees – Stumptown (Indo) and Terroir (Colombia). Ayr had us trial taste and see if we could match the hot coffees to the cold. I guessed correctly, but when I tried to explain the flavor differences, I ended up describing these shapes instead (doodle time!):

The way Ayr described it was that the George Howell Coffee was that it was more acidic and fruity, while the Stumptown (the local coffee) was more well-rounded, dirty, earthy and complex. The Terroir was easily identifiable when hot because it still had a fruity, stringy taste and texture, while the Stumptown transformed from a complex, leveled cold to a buttery, smooth hot.

Last Friday was my friend’s fundraiser for her non-profit in Guatemala, Unmarked Streets. They seek to create a network of women who go through an entrepreneurial program, as well as distribute technologies that increase public health, protect the environment, and further education. Asides from teaching a class with the theme “Gratitude” (I referred to Roy Horan’s speech on how the key to creativity is gratitude), I made a random assortment of desserts ranging from vegan, gluten-free peanut butter cookies to the raw cacao cookies and a terrible attempt at the brownie bites (that ended up being the flattest thing ever because I made such a small portion).

Also created the love of my life – raw kale salad with miso ginger dressing. For some reason I felt like calling this dish Kale Kites. I have no idea what it means, but I felt like going with it. I didn’t realize after up to 5 days of storing kale, it largely becomes inedible because it starts going really bitter. (also there was an interesting study done by the owner of Harvest Coop that when kale is shipped across the country, the 2 week shipment – though the kale looks fresh – makes kale lose up to 70% of it’s nutrients, especially the vitamin C)

So what you need…

• kale of choice
• cooked quinoa (preferably chilled, unless it’s a cold day) – for regular, cook 1 cup of quinoa with 11/4 cups of water
• tempeh 
• soy sauce
• black sesame seeds
• any additional veggies you want (in this salad I had tomatoes)
• sauce: miso ginger dressing and vegannaise

1) Tear up the kale, leaving the stalks behind (munch on it like celery sticks!)

2) Meanwhile, you should be sauteeing the tempeh on medium heat with some olive/coconut oil and soy sauce on it. It depends how much you want to use. I like mind to be cooked fairly crisp and moderately soy sauced up.

3) When finished, cut tempeh into pieces and toss into the salad. Add a cup or two of cooked quinoa. Sprinkle lots of black sesame seeds onto it (be more risky and sprinkle poppy seeds if they’re around!)

4) Add any more veggies you’d like to the mix, then make the sauce – I like to have a ratio of one tablespoon of vegannaise to an equal amount of miso ginger. Alter the ratio to your preference. For kicks, I tend to throw in Frank’s Finest Spirulina Gomasio, a delicious spice blend of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts, Incan Spirulina, Himalayan Crystal Salt, and Onion Granules. It’s like sea in a basket. If this isn’t accessible to you, I’d go for something with umami/savory tastes like seaweed.

5) Mix, mix, mix by really massaging the kale with everything else to soften it and bring out more peppery flavors –> done!

Random last note – this isn’t so much a recipe as something I just randomly came up with. My mom introduced me to eating avocados with lemon and salt, which is absolutely delicious and I could probably consume for all three meals. Alas, I found myself the other night with no lemon in sight, but found a jar of poppyseeds instead (it took me a while to figure out that poppyseeds DO NOT equal lemon, they’re usually just paired)…so with a dollop of vegannaise, a generous handful of poppyseeds, and a sprinkle of salt, my avocado dinner was served.

raw sugar raw thought

A random thought splurge on meditation & chocolate…

RECENT CHOCOLATES TO RAVE AND RATE:

Ah, yes. The chocolatier has returned. Don’t worry, I’ve been doing the dirty deed undercover at Harvard.

Harvard also hosted a mindfulness meditation program called “Wake Up” last weekend. Unfortunately, I was too tired to participate in the entire day’s activities (deep relaxation meditation = invitation to sleep), but I enjoyed hearing about the five pillars of meditation at their initial lecture.

What they’re about (taken from their website):

Wake Up – Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, is a world-wide network of young people practising the living art of mindfulness. We share a determination to live in an awakened way, taking a 21st Century version of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings as our path and guiding light.

The Wake Up network has grown out of Plum Village meditation centrein SW France, under the guidance of Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Plum Village has been offering retreats to young people for over two decades, and the Wake Up movement was formally launched in Summer 2008.

第一：Confidence

We know that our minds race all the time, worrying or regretting about the past, predicting or practicing the future. It’s hard to have the confidence to let go of thinking and to be fully in the present moment. What a weird thought, right?

One monk said the simplest thing to do was to begin with three breaths that you paid full attention to. The moment your mind wanders off about something else, start again. It helps to breathe in and out on focus words if it helps. My personal favorite is breathe in on trust, and breathe out on doubt (as if I was breathing out any emotions of doubt). It helps a lot when I’m worrying about the outcome of something, and I just do that simple 3-breath trick to remind myself to trust that at that moment, the right words/actions will come along with emotional calmness.

Confidence is awesome for promoting a product as well. Take the founders of Komforte Chockolates, who acknowledge in their about section  that “they debated the intelligence of starting a new small business in the midst of the worst recession of our lifetimes. It didn’t occur to us that we had a huge learning curve ahead of us. We took to the kitchen and began often times frightening rounds of experimentation mixing our favorite snacks with premium chocolate until we hit upon something undeniably good.” 

But hey, look how they didn’t obsess ahead to the potential “huge learning curve” they were to face. They were instead trusting their passion and desire to mix their favorite tastes to guide them forward in the competitive world of chocolates.

I tried their Tortilla Lime & Salt Chocolate Bar – I have to say, one of the best bars I’ve had since I’ve been back at school. Although I am not a huge milk chocolate fan, I was pleasantly delighted by the spin of the lime and the crunch of tortilla. And obviously the salt was bomb with chocolate – can’t resist that sweet and salty combo. Whenever I handed out samples of Sriracha Chili chocolate for Socola Chocolatier, I always promoted it as “an adventure in your mouth”. Well, I’d probably describe this bar as “a trip in your mouth”, what with the zangy crispy lime waiting to burst in an explosion of lucid green on your palette, followed by a soothing, curved sensation of the milk chocolate (great quality too, fyi).

第二：Right Diligence

Okay so I’ll admit the first thing I thought of when I heard this one was Asian Tiger mom. Obviously that wasn’t quite what they were going for.

In fact, this type of diligence is the opposite. It’s tender and gentle. The example given was cultivating a garden and showing love to the good seeds as well as the bad seeds. For the good seeds, you show love by cultivating them and focusing on them. For the bad seeds, instead of hating on them and trying to either ignore or destroy, you simply invite them to gently go to sleep.

I hope by now you’ve figured out seeds are your thoughts (surprise). The very foundation of mindfulness meditation is to sit, focus on your breath, and notice what thoughts arise. Rather than push any of them away, simply observe and stay detached. Almost as if you’re watching a television screen, or clouds, or a river.

The diligence required isn’t hardcore meditating 10 hours a day. It is simply being mindful of the thoughts that arise in your mind throughout the day – when you brush your teeth, eat, take a walk…cultivate the good thoughts and gently watch the bad ones rise and fall (a la Craig David).

第三：Awareness

This plays into the previous pillar – being aware of what sort of thoughts arise. My mind-body therapist (more on that later) helped me with this by asking me to notice that the thoughts that arise in my head belong to a “part of me”, and are not “all of me” nor are they not part of me at all. We’ve already distinguished things like the judger, the baby Kelly, the worrier, the hoper, the protector, the achiever.

It helps to distinguish the voices and also to use my right brain to visualize where in my body or presence they are (i.e. I always feel like the judger is to my left side and slightly behind me, while baby Kelly is nestled in my lower right ribcage). It’s kind of cool, because now I can distinguish how I become engulfed by different emotions via my thoughts in situations. Kind of like watching a bunch of TV screens.

Anyways, like I said before about bad/good seeds – you gotta show some love to all your parts. There’s a reason that these “thought voices” are neurologically built into your body. In order to alter set patterns, you have to be your own mother/father and embrace the inner child or whatever is going on in there. Smile to it, nourish it with positive thinking, focus on it. Also notice the relationships of the constitutive parts (baby Kelly is terrified right now and the judger is berating her for being so weak).

On the topic of parts, I have to bring up Vosges Chocolate. Her diversity in bars is overwhelmingly awesome, and her strength is bringing in distinct parts together to create a wholesome experience. Some of my personal faves (with her descriptions because I love them):

Black Pearl Exotic Candy Bar: “Inhale warming ginger as menthol-nuanced wasabi cools. Sense the evolution of flavors in the mouth. Commence with ginger, followed by earthy cacao notes, mellow wasabi reminiscent of coriander, finishing with black sesame seeds, rich in nutty texture.” 

Gingerbread Toffee Bar: “The scent of classic gingerbread spices will have you dreaming of snow dusted pine trees in no time. We begin with the same melt-in-your-mouth, burnt sugar and butter toffee and add a touch of ginger, Ceylon cinnamon, Grenadian nutmeg and Jamaican allspice to put you in a holiday frame of mind. A generous coating of dark chocolate completes the affair on your palate. “

第四：Right Concentration

This one is simple. The right concentration brings you happiness and joy by being aware of the present moment, while false concentration is focusing hard as well, but brings you dissatisfaction and false perceptions (i.e. looking at a magazine filled with photoshopped models and drowning oneself in it).

What else has the right concentration? Chuao Chocolatier Earl Grey Milk Chocolate Bar. Granted, another milk chocolate friend (not as high quality as Komforte Chockolates). I would have preferred dark, but for what it was I approve. The concentration of Earl Grey was just right – not too overpowering and allowed room for imagination (yes I am staring directly into an Englishman’s eyes sipping some tea and chewing on crumpets), but had enough swirl to make a profound statement.

第五：Insight

This last one was both surprising and interesting to me, since creativity is part of my neuroscience research (the hypothesis that meditation lends the mind to a brainset that allows for easier connections be made –> insight!!).

The monk who opened up about his thoughts on insight reviewed the garden concept. He talked about how once someone cultivates a good garden, he or she develops a vital skillset that leads to insight. In understanding our condition and how to transforming suffering into peace, calm, and happiness, one can create a space for insight to come about. Well hello senior thesis.

I love that New Tree operates their mailing list on the basis that we want to hear more about their chocolate innovations. That’s just too cute. Oh, stop it.

Two flavors that I nearly died when I tried them were ginger (#intriguing) and thyme (#ohmygodwhatisthisbecausethisisbrilliant). I’ve always loved ginger in stuff, but the fact that they combined thyme, a little bit of flax seeds, and dark chocolate = WIN WIN WIN. What a lush creation that I couldn’t stop eating.

Ginger is sexy, apparently.

Okay the meditating chocolatier is out.

“Buddhism needs to be recognized as a source of wisdom, a long tradition of practice of understanding and love and not just of devotion. The spirit of Dharma is very close to the spirit of Science; both help us cultivate an open an non-discriminating mind. You can join the Wake up Movement as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, an agonist or an atheist. The practice of maitri, of loving kindness, the practice of sisterhood and brotherhood, is at the foundation of the Dharma.”

kanye’s workout plan 2.0

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and get them sit ups right and
Tuck your tummy tight and do your crunches like this
Give head, stop breathe, get up, check your weave
Don’t drop the blunt and disrespect the weed

We love those “core workouts”, don’t we? We’re obsessed with making our rectus abdominus (and by that I mean washboard abs) look beautiful so we can do a little laundry on them.

Athletes are also becoming obsessed with the idea of building a strong core, as it is seen as the fundamental connection for the movement of the body. Note – the core isn’t just those “washboard abs”, it also includes the external and internal obliques, the transversus abdominus (the deep stuff),  and your back muscles.

What if I told you that those 6-pack muscles are a metaphor for your identity? Or that they are the fundamental element for an innovative idea’s success? And that they are also the reason why a passion fruit flavored Yerba Mate drink by Guayaki was labled as Core Power: Passion? (hi random)

As you’ve figured out, I’m a little obsessed with different types of mind-body therapies, one of which is yoga. In yoga, the core is one of the most important parts of the body to be mindful of, as the contraction of it not only protects your spine in many poses, it also ennervates the intercostal, iliohypogastric, and iliinguinal nerves (thoracic nerves 7-12 & lumbar nerve 1).

You can get this going by doing a little navasana (boat pose) or udyanda bandha (upward abdominal contraction). In Forrest Yoga, the core is so vital to its philosphy of emotional healing, that the class begins with a 5 minute very subtle, yet very intense abdominal workout. This nerve stimulation awakens the third chakra, located behind the solar plexus, related to the element of fire.

The third chakra has to do with the ego identity and self-definition, dealing with proactivity, energy, will, self-esteem, individuation, and shame. The “igniting spirit” of a person stems from this area of the body. The nervous system patterns developed with this chakra are developed between the age of 18 months to 4 years, also known as Frued’s “Anal” period, or Piaget’s “preoperational” stage. This stage’s development happens before a child’s rational mind kicks in to justify its environment and relationships. Thus the nervous system acts on a more primitive, emotional level. And neuronal patterns developed here can last for a lifetime if not worked with.

In the third chakra, people can be energy deficient (weak will, low self-esteem, poor digestion, collapsed middle, passive), excessive (dominating, need to be right, temper tantrums, stubborn, competitive, arrogant), or even both, also know as a split, literally creating a blockage within the nervous system of the chakra due to the ongoing “tug of war”. This “tug of war” turns into a downward spiral of self-criticism.

People who have had critical parents or experienced intense feelings of shame as children are extremely liable to develop one of these three symptoms, particularly the third. Parents can even unconciously pass on their own experiences of shame, creating a culture that is hard to break out of (think East Asian cultures in particular).

Developing a strong, yet flexible core will transfer the energy to a person’s willpower, for the body is a metaphor for the mind. Breathing into the solar plexus, thus stimulating the sensory and motor nerves attached to those thoracic portions of the spine, will also release tension and allow a person to become more confident of their indivduality and less reliant on external validations of the self. Think of a person slouching vs. a person standing tall and relaxed. You know how those pick up artists are always talking about “faking it until you make it”? Well, that’s because the mind is expressed through the body, and the body expresses itself through the mind, both conciously and unconciously.

The endurer/masochist personality (Reich & Lowen): a collapsed, slouched posture blocking energy channels in the center (core) of the body.

Speaking of bodily metaphors: A week ago, I attended the Igniting Innovation Summit, organized by several students in the Harvard community and attended by speakers from many fields of social entrepenuership and non-profit organizations. One of the main themes of the summit was: movement is intelligent action. In the related panel, the founders of several local non-profits the importance of leveraging existing human behaviors for improving society. Here are some tidbits:

Panel mediator Kara Kubaryach leads the Intelligent Movement discussion with (L to R) Jason Cruz, Julia Silverman, Vic Acosta, and Sue Jones.

Sue Jones, Yoga HOPE (an organization utilizing yoga and mindfulness meditaiton to improve the mental and physical health of underserved women in recovery from domestic violence, homelessness, or substance abuse):

“These women feel an action in their body related to their unconcious, transcribed emotions and react too quckly [drugs]. They don’t realize you have choices to move your body, you can teach your sympathetic nervous system [fight & flight] to calm down.”

 

Julia Silverman, Uncharted Play (uses soccer balls to generate energy):

“There is a risk involved, always. It makes you question not just the product’s worth, but your own self-worth. You learn to harness energy, both literally and figuratively.”

 

Vic Acosta, Back on my Feet (Helps engage and motivate homeless people by teaching them to run as well as race to achieve goals):

“Movement inspires. Runnings brings them back to themselves, and makes them realize that they can do something about it.”

Jason Cruz, Raw Art Works (provides students with a positive emotional outlet and vehicle for self-expression):

“We take them from learning how to say “hi”, to making a movie about saying “hi”. We teach them to transcend physical boundaries by utilizing the power of creativity, which makes them transcend mental boundaries.”

I thought it was super cool how they were using physical actions, whether it be through yoga, running, creating artwork, or kicking a ball around, to create mental shifts for people and society. They use physical actions to reenergize and ignite the third chakras of people in need, giving them the physical and mental power to take control of their lives again.

Scott McCloud describes in his graphic novel, Understanding Comics, that “pure art” is essentially tied to the question of purpose of deciding what someone wants out of it – the core motivation of the idea. The creation of any work in any medium will always follow a certain path. Now in this case, he was referring to our understanding of a regular art mediums: comics, paitning, writing, theater, film, sculpture, design…

But you know me, I see everything as a creation. I take his “any medium” to an extreme and state that his theory can apply to any idea or any field, like science, business, athletics, education, etc.

McCloud uses an apple as an example. If the surface of an apple is shiny, but the core is hollow, there will be no flow (re: Czikhalminski and being “in the zone”). The work will eventually dry up or become meaningless because at the very core, the very passion linked to the work is not there.

It works like this:

There are 6 stages of the path. Here are how most comic book artists run through their journey:

6. Surface: The artist can draw comics as well as a professional, and impresses his friends, but the real professional sees the person as a con who doesn’t understand the anatomical connections of the body or persepective. They only know how to copy.

5. Craft: The artist now understands why the physical looks the way it is, and begins to develop a real artistic skill set by obtaining an education, whether through school or a mentor. But the storytelling isn’t there. Basically, the ability to convey ideas is missing.

4. Structure: The artist knows how to tell a story, and understands the impact of pacing and time. But he/she has no sense of identity, and only knows how to carry out other people’s ideas.

3. Idiom: The artist seeks their own person identity, and wants to express their own personal idiom. He/she is innovative and breaks paradigms, usually gaining external praise and recognition.

Here, something stops. Something feels neglected. Something fundamental. Something at the core of the artist. “It is only a matter of time before he asks that one simple quesiton…”

Why am I doing this?

Does the artist want to 1. Say something about life through his art (idea/purpose) or 2. Does he want to say something about art itself (form)

Which begs the question:

Do I have anything to say at all?

If the artist focuses on #1 (idea), then they focus on the storytelling aspect of comics. If they focus on #2 (form), then they focus on shaking things up.

So how does this work in other realms of the world? A couple examples.

Swimming [my own little anecdote]:

6. Surface: I can stay afloat.

5. Craft:  I understood the fundamental physical elements of the sport to be nominally good – the rolling of the body, the pressure of water against the hand and forearm, the steady & narrow quick required, the streamlining…

4. Structure: I train as elite athletes do – at least eight sessions a week, including morning practices with both swimming and dryland exercises. On stage, I know how to compose a race based on distance (50 meters vs. 400 meters), stroke (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, IM), and body condition. I understand the art of warming up and warming down before and after races, and what mental cues I need during the time frame. I’m implementing the details – the spark of the dive, the stretch of the finish, the whip of the turn. Basically, I deserve a spot on an elite team of some sort.

3. Idiom: This is when I stand out: I’ve been to World Championships, I am setting school and club records, and I am gaining attention. To do so, I must transcend others through effort and will. I will come in 30 minutes before anyone else does on my team to get that extra training. Innovation can come into play here, by coaches and swimmers working together to produce novel combinations of workouts and approaches.

But this is where I lose it. And this is why I can’t reach my full potential. Because I ask myself: Why am I doing this? Do I have anything to say at all?

I have no true reason for doing this. I don’t want to shake up the swim world, nor do I love the sport.

I am empty at my core. My third chakra is deficient.

I could be the most physically fit person in the world, but because my third chakra, my manipura, my will is absent, I lack the mental tenacity and excitement needed to push myself over the edge. It should feel effortless, but it is not. I am blocked and feel energetically depleted and moody. People can call be “the swimmer”, but my ego-identity doesn’t line up with my actions. I don’t want to face up to challenges set for me. I go through my coach’s training, but I don’t achieve what I should be achieving.

Free the Children’s Carolyn Miles (recently inaugurated CEO) spoke two weeks ago at the Harvard Kennedy School about taking over an organization – I’m going to go the other way on this one:

 1. Purpose: Think elevator pitch, think support. Everything must be related back to the core mission of the organization, otherwise…

3. Idiom: the core provides a stable foundation to be innovative, to create around a company identity. It involves the abilities to listen to fresh ideas, to drop preconceived notions, to takes risks, to let go.

4. Structure: as CEO, changing the culture of an organization requires cooperation and everyone’s involvement. To address efficiency, productivity, and connections, people must be reminded of the core mission. Basically, if you don’t model it internally within your organization, you won’t model it externally.

5. Craft: in creating the business model and joining the non-profit/social entrepreneurship world with other sectors, people need to know what they are investing in and whether or not they can relate to your core mission. The fine-tuning of skills and technology comes after a person’s belief in the core.

6. Surface: the pretty marketing packaging is easy if the core is defined. Logos, mottos, and all the rest come naturally.

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There seems to be an intimidating element to core passion. It stems from the core of your being, the drive and will to express your purpose in life. It is a confident energy, yet it is not arrogant. To be able to defend your passion, and clearly state what it is with as few words as possible, will not only help you succeed, but will make it easier for people to support you, no matter what realm you’re in. Because, let’s face it, you love what you’re doing. And you believe in what you’re doing. That’s pretty intimidating.

Developing the good-natured, humored, and humble confidence requires a core purpose that typically transcends the self. As Carolyn Miles said in her speech: “Always, always relate it back to the mission.” Plus, you’ll get a nice little six-pack on the side too. Eight if you’re lucky.

 Daily Nutritional Facts:Thyme chocolate. Get at it. Also, Vosges’ gingerbread toffee bar is super lush.