(18). Letter From An African Psychiatrist.
09/08/2021
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson.
Monday Weekly Review.
Monday mornings is when I review and reflect on the letters written over the previous week. It is also a fun time to decide what was the most significant experience of the past seven days. It happened on Sunday morning when I went into my little hot house to spray water over my burgeoning seedlings.
All six veggies are now sprouting tiny green leaves 12-17 days after sowing their seeds into small pots: carrots, onions, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage and beetroot. Nicolas and I are now debating when and which seedlings to transplant into the organic veggie garden.
There are also five small pots containing in its depths indigenous tree seeds - Vachellia Acacias that potentially can grow to a height of 10 meters, and bear thorns and fruit.
There it was: the first tiny pod like green leaf, bursting from the darkness of the soil into the room of sunlight. The miracle of its DNA breaking through the husk, combed with nutrients of the soil, and Voila!, transformed into a seedling, 19 days after placing the seeds into a special germination soil medium.
I tentatively touched it. I looked again and again from different angles. A wave of excitement flowed through my veins. A new friend. It is the first time I have ever grown Highveld indigenous trees direct from seeds. And watering the pots everyday, expecting first leaves only after 4-6 weeks. What a magnificent metaphor to guide us through life. Keep planting seeds. Water daily. Get out of the way.
And now planting the trees for my grandchildren is probable; I sense a multidecade story is unfolding, worthy of a poem, copy for a daily journal, a duty of protecting.
Planting seeds builds an inner patience, trusting the process, letting life unfold in its own time. But activating my circle of direct control - buying the seeds, pots, germination soil; and planting them, watering them, placing them next to the hothouse window - is my vital, contributing link in moving seed to mature tree. Taking responsibility. Priceless. Pure joy. Taking on an atomic role in creation of plant life. It is not what we harvest; it is the seeds we plant. What seeds have you planted today?
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Let’s now review the central ideas of the past week.
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The Monday REVIEW covered the main ideas of:
1). The 100 Year Life (Book Review)
2). Adding the responsibility component to the nature and nurture debate.
3). Cognitive enhancement by medication.
4).To vaccinate or not?
5). The twisties paralysing the mind of Simone Biles.
On Tuesday, the KNOW THYSELF series examined the two thinking systems proposed by Daniel Kahneman: fast or slow. Fast thinking is common. automatic, emotional, unconscious and requires very little effort. Slow thinking can be very slow, uncommon, actively conscious of thinking, more rational and requires lots of effort from the boss of thinking.
One way to develop deeper, faster thinking requires tons of focussed, slow thinking. As the brain is wired for laziness, effort and energy is in short supply. To achieve your expertise in any area, requires 10,000 hours of slow system thinking and focussed practice. Warning: Willpower is a scarce resource. Daily routine is the way get into the zone.
On Wednesday, the BRAIN HEALTH series opened with the Nun’s Study, proving the utility of keeping your brain fit and active throughout life. Building cognitive reserve keeps the brain ticking along, even though their is underlying disease dementing processes. There is so much to keep active. Gardening. Reading. Loving. Volunteering. Masterclasses.
On Thursday, in the RELATIONSHIPS series, the concept of loneliness was interrogated as a subjective, uncomfortable emotion; and the COVID-19 social distancing stress test on being forced into isolation and aloneness.
Loneliness, I argued, is ultimately a construct in the individuals mind. Sure, it is real and I have had my moments. It can be deconstructed. It all depends on where the locus of control resides: external or internal. Those with internal LOC respond and therefore decide differently to those who depend on others to make their decisions.
Those with internal LOC are proactive and make the best of what they have - life is packed with hurdles to be jumped. Externallers react and blame, setting up and sustaining the loneliness trap. Loneliness as a cognitive construct leads to learnt helplessness devolving into depression. Buy the dip!
On Friday, in the DEEP FUTURE series, I wrote about the process and pleasure of reading books in all its different forms. Life long learning in an extended lifespan is the differentiator between life being a curse or a blessing. Then I shifted to the future of formal education in under 25s.
EdTech is a major disruptor of the 19th/20th century factory model of teaching. Provocatively, I suggested that the cognitive developmental side will be driven by technology and virtual assessment by artificial intelligence. The best teachers, and handsomely rewarded, will then be occupied in developing emotional and social skills in students who will congregate in converted schools, community centres and offices.
On Sunday, THE WEEKLY BOOK REVIEW, focussed on the novel Origin written by Dan Brown. The racy thriller raised questions early in the storyline and circled throughout the narrative those most enigmatic of existential mysteries: where do we come from (origin) and where are we going (destiny)? Multiple (natural) intelligence theory was evoked to introduce artificial intelligence, and how AI will evolve and influence our destiny as a human species, in particular, and the planet, more generally. A recommended reading if you like thriller novels and the Big Questions.
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https://jonathandmoch.substack.com
Summary of past 5 (L12-L17). Letters From An African Psychiatrist
——————————Letter 12
Monday (02/08/2021)
MONDAY REVIEW
Themes: 100 year life, responsibility, cognitive enhancement, vaccination, and the twisties.
Letter 13
Tuesday (03/08/2021)
KNOW YOURSELF
Themes. Thinking, Fast, Slow, Or Not At All.
Letter 14
Wednesday (04/08/2021)
BRAIN HEALTH
Themes. Master Classes, Life Long Learning and Cognitive Reserve.
Letter 15
Thursday (05/08/2021)
RELATIONSHIPS
Themes. Loneliness, Mindfulness, Togetherness.
Letter 16
Friday (06/08/2021)
THE DEEP FUTURE
Themes. Books. IQ/EQ. The Future of Education
Letter 17
Sunday (08/08/2021)
BOOK REVIEW
Origin (Dan Brown)
Themes. Existential questions. Artificial Intelligence. Science and Religion - forever foes?
(C) Dr Jonathan D Moch
Psychiatrist, writer.
Website
www.jdmoch.com
Core Professional Interest
Cognitive-Behavior Therapy“Yes, You Can!”
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Overall Vision
Uplifting (ExtraOrdinary) People To Achieve The Impossible.
Links
1). Vachellia Acacia Trees
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachellia
2). History of Solitude
https://www.google.co.za/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/a328351e-73fe-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca