by Steve Emery | January, 2019 | Steve Emery, Technology
We are entering a new age, an age when technology is set to take over many of the jobs and careers that were once seen as stable and secure. The new era has been labelled as the 4th industrial revolution and is likely to be the biggest jump yet in the way we use technology. It is estimated that in the next 20 years we will see more changes in technology than we have seen in the previous 2,000. A sudden change in lifestyle In the new technology era many of our daily transactions will no longer be with another human but with a machine. Amazon have already started to introduce stores where there is no human to serve you. Self-driving cars are almost here which will dramatically change how we use transportation possibly ending the era of actually owning a motor car. There have been numerous stories of AI machines diagnosing patients far better than the best skilled doctors. With so many advances it begs the question what will be the role of humans in this new world we are entering, and how will humans find meaning to their lives? Currently we go through a defined pattern in life; We start school at around 5 years of age in which we learn the basic skills we need to establish a career. At 18 we go to University to fine tune those skills towards a chosen career. So, what happens when we have finished University and find that we are not just competing with other potential graduates but with AI machines which can do the job faster and more...
by Steve Emery | January, 2018 | hope, Steve Emery
At the time of writing this blog, 2018 has just started and I have begun a new journal outlying all my goals for the year ready to create lots of new memories. We all carry memories from past events, hopefully many of those are happy ones we can look back on with some joy and satisfaction. In a TED talk by Shane Lopez he talks about how we are in 3 states of being; past, present, and future and these states determine who we are. Our past achievements show what we can do, our present state is who we are right now, and our future state offers the potential of who we may become. However, when we apply to a school a college or a job, we are judged solely on our past. Did we get the right grades at school? Have we performed well in our previous job? Of course, we don’t yet have the ability to see into the future so its understandable that we are judged on our past endeavours as this is all anyone has to go on. But just how much does this define who we really are, and how helpful is this to us when moving forward? Creating a memory of the future What happens when we take our past memories, mix them with who we are now and carry those in to the future to create new memories? By doing this we are experiencing hope. Hope is a place we create for ourselves which is better than the place we are right now or have been before. Hope is the emotion that...
by Steve Emery | November, 2017 | Happiness, Steve Emery
“Count your age by friends not years. Count your life by smiles not tears” John Lennon I was at an Open Heart Meditation class recently, which is different from a traditional meditation class in that the meditation is done through the heart and not the head. A participant is not required to do much but sit and listen to a guided meditation prayer, but there are two important subtle differences. First of all, you need to touch the centre of your chest whilst meditating in order to make a connection to the heart. Secondly and the most important part of the meditation is to smile. We were told to try not smiling for a few brief seconds and then smile again and see the difference it makes. It sounds so simple and yet when I smiled I noticed a distinct difference in feeling just by turning up the ends of my mouth. Prior to this I had been reading an article on Love by Barbara Fredrickson in which she says, in order to connect with someone she recommends the SIMS model (The Simulation of Smiles Model) whereby all that’s needed is to make eye contact and smile. Is it really that simple? I had to go and find out. A visit to see the Nurse The first chance I got was my five yearly free health-check at my local surgery. The lady in front of me was clearly having some trouble finding something “ I’m really sorry I’m keeping you waiting “ she said to me. I looked straight in the eye and smiled “It’s Ok” I said. I...
by Steve Emery | September, 2017 | Mental Health, Steve Emery
The Question What if money was spent on mental health and not mental illness? I pondered this question whilst studying happiness and work done by Carol Ryff and Corey Keyes. The work centres around how we live our lives and touches on the phrase of Psychological wellbeing. According to Keyes the optimal state is that of Flourishing whereby we live a life full of purpose and meaning. According to Keyes Mental Health is every bit as much about our Positive state of mind as it is our negative. However, when we talk about mental health we generally talk about mental illnesses much of which is related to anxiety and depression. Mental illness has reached such a proportion that the UK government is talking about spending close to £1BN to tackle this issue especially when it comes to mental health issues in children and adolescents. Whilst this recognition and subsequent funding is most welcome, there is a certain irony in that much of the mental illness this money will help to tackle has actually been caused by the system that successive governments have implemented and supported. What are the root causes of mental illness? I recently heard a talk by Martin Seligman in which he made the point that we currently live in a society that is safer, has more opportunities, and more abundance than we have ever had. But at the same time, we live in a society dominated by fear, judgement and shame. This starts almost from the moment we are born. We are told if we don’t perform well in schools tests our future will be bleak....
