Category: Psychology

#Book Review: Emotions Revealed – Recognizing Faces & Feelings To Improve Communications & Emotional Life by Paul Ekman | #SmartReads | #BookReview | #SocialEngineering


BreakawayIndividual.com
July 12, 2019
Zy Marquiez

Paul Ekman, who is also author of the landmark book Unmasking The Face – A Guide To Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expression, has been at the tip of the spear in regards to the subject matter of emotions and behavioral psychology.

In Emotions Revealed – Recognizing Faces & Feelings To Improve Communications & Emotional Life, Ekman speaks at length throughout the book about the extensive research he has conducted throughout his life in respect to the emotional behaviour individuals display.  This book also offers ways of ascertaining whether those individuals are carrying out deceit or not.

The book Emotions Revealed couples extremely well with Unmasking The Face because whereas the former provides ample emotional data for reading and understanding individual behavior, the latter offers dozens of concrete visual examples of these emotions – happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and sadness.

In Emotions Revealed, Ekman helps individual glean information in a manner that is reasonable and easy to follow with the photographs used and the exercises to carry out, which help individuals attain a deeper understanding of others in general.  Moreover, this book allows individuals to seep into the possible mindset someone else might employ during heightened emotional states and allows for deeper comprehension of the circumstance and emotions.  For me personally, this was significant given my passion in understanding other people, especially when trying to possibly mend bridges with people from all social strata, particular those closest to me.

The author states in the preface to the second edition that his goal is to ‘help people improve four essential skills’, which are:

(1) Becoming more consciously aware of when you are becoming emotional, even before you speak or act.

(2) Choosing how you behave when you are emotional, so you achieve your goals without damaging other people.

(3) Becoming more sensitive to how others are feeling, which is something I struggle with at times, which is one reason for me attaining a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

(4) Carefully using the information you acquire about how others are feeling.

Knowing the goals the author had in the beginning of the book, it can be said without equivocation that the author did a trenchant job at fulfilling his goal.

Not only did Ekman provide individuals with extensive data that merges with his central goals, but he also carries it out in a clear and direct manner.

This book is indispensable in the field of emotions and behavior and it is an essential tool to understanding how people behave.

Given all this, I plan on referencing this book quite often, and I hope you all do as well.

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Suggested Reading & Watching:

The Tavistock Institute: Social Engineering The Masses by Daniel Estulin
Social Engineering 101
Invisible Influence by Kevin Hogan
Lessons From Orwell’s 1984
Unmasking The Face by Paul Eckman
What Is The Difference Between Education & Public Schooling?
The Catastrophic Decline Of Public Education: 21 Facts About Why Public Schooling Performs So Poorly
What Our List Of Most Banned Books Says About Our Society’s Fears
Logical Fallacies Employed In Every Day Life
Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
Weapons Of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
13 Great Reasons To Study Logic
How A Generation Lost Its Culture – by Professor Patrick Deneen
A Different Kind Of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto
Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Philosophy 101 by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
What Is Education?  The Elite Curriculum – John Taylor Gatto
Astroturfing & Manipulation Of Media Messages – Sharyl Attkisson
Breakaway Guide To Censorship, Disinformation, Logical Fallacies & More
How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
History So It Doesn’t Repeat – The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America With Charlotte Iserbyt
Classrooms Of The Heart [Documentary] – John Taylor Gatto
Sumerhill School – A New View On Childhood by A.S. Neil
Dialectical Thinking – Zeno, Socrates, Kant, Marx by Tommi Juhani Hanjijarvi Ph.D.
Underground History Of American Education With John Taylor Gatto
The True Purpose Of Modern Schooling
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Open-Source Method: Genius Education – Examples | John Taylor Gatto
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
Cultural Literacy – What Every American Needs To Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr.
A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston
A Workbook For Arguments by David R. Morrow & Anthony Wesson
Drilling Through The Core – Why Common Core Is Bad For American Education by Sandra Stotsky & Contributors

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If you find value in this information, please share it.  This article is free and open source.  All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and  BreakawayIndividual.com

___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

Book Review: Unmasking The Face – By Dr. Paul Ekman | #SmartReads | #SocialEngineering

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
July 10, 2019

In the current state of worldwide affairs, knowing how people feel is a vital skill.  Knowing when people are lying, even more so, particularly in the realm of politics and media, which is the vanguard reason I got this book a while ago.

While reading emotions might seem like a straight forward task, it is quite certainly not for many.  A primary example of this is by the fact that many people, even though they realize politicians are corrupt in general, fall for lies of myriad types that those politicians expound, whether it is on your side, or that of the other side.    Dr. Ekman’s book engages similar circumstances rather poignantly.

Transitioning to a quick sidebar that dovetails with this topic, the highly intriguing and groundbreaking show Lie To Me [2009] brought to the fore the issue of spotting lies to solve crimes when coupled with reading microexpressions in individual’s faces.

What are micro expressions a curious mind might inquire?  Excellent question.

Micro expressions are very brief facial expressions lasting only a fraction of a second. They occur when a person is either deliberately or unconsciously concealing a feeling. These emotions have universal signals: happiness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and sadness.

Along with that, throughout the series, not only did Lie To Me feature still-frames of people acting deceitfully, but the show also began to cover various other aspects of people’s behavior in order to find dishonesty.

And it just so happens that individuals can be taught, or can learn by themselves how to spot these errant behaviors.

In plainspeak, in Lie To Me, various methods of psychology were employed in order to ascertain whether or not people were being duplicitous.  This is vital because it just so happens that the above show was in large part based on the work of behavioral psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman.

Getting back on track, Unmasking The Face – A Guide To Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions by Dr. Paul Ekman is an incredible book that details part of the knowledge that was used within the TV show referenced above.

Unmasking The Face helps individuals be able to pierce of the veil of lies that’s often cast upon them.

In his phenomenal and fascinating book, Dr. Ekman covers some of the tools and data available in order to determine people’s true feelings via their facial expressions.

At its core Ekman gives individuals the facial schematics to enable the recognition to be able to read the emotions referenced above.  Concurrent with that, the author also covers many of the psychological reasons why people carry out the actions and the decisions that they choose.

The author also notes why many people at certain times make mistakes in reading emotions.

In cataloguing facial deceit, Ekman also narrows down facial expressions to four reasons: cultural display rules, personal display rules, vocational requirement and the need of the moment.  The author then proceeds to expound upon those four reasons at length.

Coupled with that, the three management techniques individuals employ, which are simulating, neutralizing and masking, are also covered in some detail.

Without a doubt, this book is foundational for a robust understanding of reading and understanding people’s behavior at a much more comprehensive level.

With the totality of everything discussed and even more still, the topic and the skills in this book should definitely be something considered at length, being worth easily the price of this gem.

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Suggested Reading & Watching:

The Tavistock Institute: Social Engineering The Masses by Daniel Estulin
Social Engineering 101
Invisible Influence by Kevin Hogan
Lessons From Orwell’s 1984
What Is The Difference Between Education & Public Schooling?
The Catastrophic Decline Of Public Education: 21 Facts About Why Public Schooling Performs So Poorly
What Our List Of Most Banned Books Says About Our Society’s Fears
Logical Fallacies Employed In Every Day Life
Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto
Weapons Of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto
13 Great Reasons To Study Logic
How A Generation Lost Its Culture – by Professor Patrick Deneen
A Different Kind Of Teacher by John Taylor Gatto
Socratic Logic by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Philosophy 101 by Peter Kreeft Ph.D.
Brave New World & Brave New World Revisited by Aldous Huxley
What Is Education?  The Elite Curriculum – John Taylor Gatto
Astroturfing & Manipulation Of Media Messages – Sharyl Attkisson
Breakaway Guide To Censorship, Disinformation, Logical Fallacies & More
How To Read A Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
History So It Doesn’t Repeat – The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America With Charlotte Iserbyt
Classrooms Of The Heart [Documentary] – John Taylor Gatto
Sumerhill School – A New View On Childhood by A.S. Neil
Dialectical Thinking – Zeno, Socrates, Kant, Marx by Tommi Juhani Hanjijarvi Ph.D.
Underground History Of American Education With John Taylor Gatto
The True Purpose Of Modern Schooling
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Open-Source Method: Genius Education – Examples | John Taylor Gatto
The Trivium – The Liberal Arts Of Logic, Grammar & Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph Ph.D.
Cultural Literacy – What Every American Needs To Know by E.D. Hirsch Jr.
A Rulebook For Arguments by Anthony Weston
A Workbook For Arguments by David R. Morrow & Anthony Wesson
Drilling Through The Core – Why Common Core Is Bad For American Education by Sandra Stotsky & Contributors

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If you find value in this information, please share it.  This article is free and open source.  All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and  BreakawayIndividual.com

___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

New Insights on Gut Permeability and Depression


Source: KellyBroganMD.com
Kelly Brogan MD Team

If you know what depression feels like – the brain clouding, the flat moods, the tiredness – you’re not alone. Over 300 million people around the world have depression, and yet there’s a lot that we still don’t quite understand.1

Thankfully, the medical field is developing some new insights that just might help us understand depression better. In a new 2019 study, researchers decided to examine the potential mechanisms of major depressive disorder in teenage girls and found some evidence that could help us better understand exactly how gut permeability (leaky gut) can lead to inflammation, which in turn, leads to depression.

New Insight into Leaky Gut and Depression

In this 2019 study, Baylor College of Medicine researchers are directly looking at gut permeability and major depressive disorder, a study that is the first of its kind.2

With a sample of forty-one 12–17 year-old teenage girls who were medically healthy, the study measured the severity of the girls’ depressive symptoms, the activity of the autonomic nervous system, intestinal permeability, or gut leakiness, and the number of inflammatory cytokines.

To measure whether the girls were depressed, an interviewer performed the Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) and a clinical interview.  The CDRS-R is a rating scale that requires interviews of both child and parent to understand the severity of a child’s depression. Over the past few decades, the CDRS-R has become the most widely used rating scale for assessing severity and change in depression for clinical trials involving children and adolescents.3 In order to collect data on the autonomic nervous system activity, researchers measured pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) data, which are indicators for the activity levels of the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system respectively. They measured the leakiness of the gut using the lactulose-mannitol ratio (LMR), which involves having the teens first fast overnight and then ingesting a premeasured amount of lactulose and mannitol. The researchers then collected the urine for four hours after ingestion. By looking at the ratio of lactulose and mannitol that passed through the gut lining, researchers could calculate the permeability of the gut lining, or how “leaky” it was. To measure inflammation, the researchers took blood samples and measured inflammatory cytokines.

They found that in unmedicated teenage girls between the ages of 14-17, depression severity was associated with increased intestinal permeability, as measured by the lactulose to mannitol ratio. The leakier the gut, they found, the more severe the depression and depressive symptoms. They saw that the higher the concentration of the cytokine IL-1β, the more severe the depression. They also found that increased intestinal permeability may be the path between sympathetic nervous system activation and depression severity. Additionally, their evidence suggested that increased intestinal permeability may activate the innate immune system and push the development of depression.

The result of this study also helps clarify the mechanisms through which activating the sympathetic nervous system can increase gut permeability and activate the innate immune system—two things that are likely contributing to depression symptoms.

The Brain, The Gut, and the Immune System

If you’re wondering why intestinal permeability is related to depression, let’s back up and walk through the whole pipeline.

We start with the immune system. Throughout the last century, psychiatry has been exploring the role of the immune system in certain presentations of depression. Importantly, the gut houses over 70% of our immune system, which makes sense given that the lining of your gut is the barrier between your insides and the outside world. The gastrointestinal epithelium usually forms a single-cell-thick barrier that prevents the free movement of toxicants, microbes, and microbial antigens from entering into the rest of your body. This lining usually does a good job absorbing things we need (like food) and interfacing with foreign things that might wreak havoc—which is probably why most of our immune cells are located in the gut.4 The relationship between the gut and the brain is both complex and important. We’ve all felt the butterflies in our stomachs when we’re nervous or anxious, but it turns out that the relationship between the brain and the gut is actually bidirectional. Not only can our brains affect how our guts feel, but our gut can relay its state of calm or alarm to the nervous system and send those immune reactions up the vagus nerve to the brain.

To understand how the gut and depression are related, we should first better comprehend the triggers for inflammation, what inflammation is, and how it happens.

Stress Drives Inflammation

So what IS inflammation in the first place? Inflammation is the body’s defensive response to stresses, like injury or the ingestion of bodily-incompatible chemicals. Upon approaching a stressor, the immune system kicks into a higher gear to heal the body.

Stress is a catch-all term, a trigger that links hormones to inflammation. Essentially, when the body thinks something is wrong, the body releases hormones that tell the body to be on the lookout and get on defense, and inflammation occurs. These triggers can come in all forms, many of which are actually staples of modern American life, from sugar to stress to pesticides and pollution to anxiety to beyond. Whether psychological or physiological, stress drives the inflammation response by telling the brain to release cortisol, the steroid hormone that acts as nature’s built-in alarm system and makes it for our bodies to use blood sugar for energy so that we can flee from whatever is causing the stress.5

Once inflammation is started, not only does inflammation cause more inflammation, but recent studies have linked low-grade inflammation to depression. When inflammation reaches the brain, cells begin to take their limited supply of tryptophan to produce more anxiety-provoking chemicals like quinolinate.6 Medical literature has found that inflammation seems to be a consistent marker of depressive symptoms, like flat mood, slowed thinking, avoidance, alterations in perception, and metabolic changes.

How does inflammation get provoked in the gut?

So let’s understand how exactly a leaky gut can lead to inflammation – the body’s language of imbalance.

When the body is stressed, the junctions between cells in the stomach can be less effective than they should be.7 This allows bacteria and toxicants to enter the bloodstream that can continue to cause widespread inflammation and possibly trigger a far-reaching reaction from the immune system.8 Having leaky gut cause inflammation sets off a problematic chain of events because the gut has a direct link to the brain through the vagus nerve.9

The medical field has been slowly inching up on a fuller understanding of the link between intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) and depression. Previous studies focusing on depression and have found the chemical hints of leaky gut. For example…

Continue Reading At: KellyBroganMD.com

Depression & Mental Health | #Life | #Death | #Depression | #Suicide | #MentalHealth | #Psychology


BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
June 26, 2019

As a preamble, this piece on mental health is prompted by two different significant circumstances, one of which is personal, one of which is not, that took place the last day.  The personal component will lead to set the foundation for what follows.

This piece will only touch lightly on the subject of mental health as equal parts vent and equal parts reminder for others to make sure that whether you happen to know someone, or simply think someone else might have mental health concerns, let them know that you are there, no matter what.  No matter how many times it takes, for there are not enough ways to tell people you care for them.    

When any single person takes their life because they thought nobody was there for them, which has happened way more often than it ever should have, it shows the possibility that (1) these individuals were not told they were cared for, or loved, (2) they were told, but didn’t really believe it, (3) they were told, but they were not shown, (4) they were told and shown, but it never registered anyways, (5) they went through one of the above circumstances, but their health issues didn’t allow them to have their mental faculties in full, preventing them from noticing, or appreciating the truth behind someone’s actions, or (6) another issue altogether that couples to the above in a different way.

As it happens, I have been writing quite a bit about mental health the last couple of days, and all of this stemmed from a poem that I helped co-write, which was thankfully a collaboration with a very talented acquaintance that I only met nigh a week and a half ago or so.  During a conversation, she brought up the idea of a collaboration before me, and after we jumped at the chance, she settled on the topic of depression, which I didn’t mind whatsoever.

To say the least, the poem was incredibly thought provoking, and quite inspiring in a few different ways, which I kind of didn’t expect to be honest.  On a subjectively deeper level, this piece made me think of lots of personal emotions and issues that I haven’t delved into for quite some time for various reasons, and even downright buried for many years.  Having said that, what we wrote resonated with me so much that I have written dozens of poems of myriad types, some of which I plan on sharing in the future hopefully, including some the topic of depression, or darker subjects that revolve around mental health.

In fact, today, while I was stretching and writing poetry on this and other subjects, I got a text from a friend that said someone that we followed on social media had unfortunately passed away, which is where the second component of this blog posts comes in.

Through my friend I come to find out that Desmond “Etika” Amofah passed away due unfortunately to suicide.  Whether someone is a youtuber or not, it’s extremely unfortunate when someone takes their life, especially when there were significant mental health issues that were known for months beforehand, but this is also how it happens at times.

How I ran into Etika’s work was simply by watching him over a decade ago on Youtube covering gaming, which is something that I am incredibly fond of.  He was one of the content creators that clawed his way from the bottom and rose all the way to the top, and was incredibly popular for what he accomplished, and even inspired many in his journey.  I won’t cover much more than that given that there’s literally countless articles out there covering the deeper aspects of his life.  I simply mention this because although I didn’t know him, I did watch him enough to find an incredible affinity and kinship towards him, as many others have, when he was doing his work and it made me incredibly gloomy after hearing of his passing, especially given the circumstances.

The keystone point is, don’t ever assume people know you care, or even love them, and even if they do, they might still have problems reconciling that fact.  Everyone thinks differently, so how someone expresses how they care is vastly different from how another individual does.  Likewise, different people see acts of caring and love in different ways.  Some people see small circumstances and find a lot of caring and love behind it, others do not; some people express themselves in ways they think are obvious forms of caring and love towards others, but others might not see it that way given countless reasons.

With all of that in mind, it is downright crucial to show others that you care and/or them, whether they have mental health issues or not, but especially if they do.

Consistent acts of kindness, whether small or not, can go a long way to help others come out of the catacombs of mental health issues, or prevent them from getting there in the first place.

Never underestimate the power that showing others you care can have.  It might be the smallest gift you can give, but it might be the best gift someone could ever receive, because it just might change the course of their life forever.

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Author Notes:

[1] I say perhaps, because I am uncertain of what these individuals have gone through, or go through, but subjectively speaking I have found this to be true for myself and some close to me)

[2] Honestly, I wouldn’t had written this blog post if I hadn’t collaborated with the person I co-wrote that depression poem with.  It’s not that I don’t have appreciation for mental health issues, it’s just hard for me to speak about these issues subjectively given some things that have happened in my past.  But having had to privilege not only to write something on this very topic, but have it be meaningful in a way, incredibly so in fact for me personally, has nudged me in a direction that I hadn’t contemplated in going toward, but one that I appreciate to the fullest extent. I definitely let the person know that I appreciated the opportunity and I sure hope we can work together again, not only because (I think) we worked well together, but also because of how well the poem came out, but that will ultimately be up to them.

Either way, this situation is just one of those seemingly little circumstances that can change your outlook on many things, and make you realize that there are people out there that will relate with what you have to say at the deepest levels, and I haven’t been able to do that with this topic, not like that.  Especially given that I often mask emotions with metaphors and I am not as blunt as I am in my personal journal or random accounts I often employ in various nooks across the internet just to let off steam.

My main point is that many times people think that there aren’t others out there that care, or care enough to listen to them, or to help them wade through the issues, when in fact the opposite is true.  There are people that would walk through oceans of fire for them to make sure that they are okay.  But as I’ve alluded to elsewhere, many people often don’t show others that they care because they see the acts that they themselves undertake as ‘obvious’ acts of kindness, even when others might not see it that way.  And if a person sees their own actions as an obvious act of kindness and love, why wouldn’t others?  Simple: because not everybody thinks likes you, feels like you, acts like you, or ultimately lives like you, why is why you should never underestimate the power of acting out of love, no matter who this action is towards, and whether you know that person or not.

You all have a great evening, and no matter what, always show others you care.

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If you find value in this information, please share it.  This article is free and open source.  All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and  BreakawayIndividual.com
___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

Poker & Life: Pulling The Mask Card, Wearing The Poker Face | #Culture | #Poker | #Life


“People seldom change, only their masks do.  It is only our perception of them and the perception they have of themselves that actually change.”
– Shannon L. Alder

“You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are underneath it.”
– Alan Moore

BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 17, 2019

In poker, like in life, people wear masks.  In both, every single individual wears masks of different types.  Due to that, when individuals do decide to pull the proverbial ‘Mask Card’ from the poker deck of life is an intriguing proposition to consider.

Some of these masks are worn as a defense mechanism; some are worn to hide pain; some wear masks  to cover up myriad emotions; some wear them only with dealing with specific people; others wear masks to get through the bog that life can provide at times; others wear masks simply because they’ve worn it all their lives and got used to them and forgot they were masks all along.

Nigh ever individual can relate to many or most of the above.  Irrespective of reasons, masks are something that help individuals fight through the tides of the day, battle the waves that are ceaseless as we drift among the seas of life.

My argument is not that masks do not have a place, not at all.  How people live their life’s is their business.  I am merely bringing up this topic because I feel it deserves discussion, or at least ponderance at length.

Due to recent circumstances the last few days dealing with worries and concerns I’ve found myself under some of the premises above.  In fact, sometimes, it’s very easy to forget you have a mask on.  That said, it often takes someone you know to realize something is amyss before you yourself realize it, or some random circumstance that reminds you, “Hey, you still have that mask on, don’t forget.”

Some people might argue, shouldn’t you be authentic the whole time?  What is the use of masks?  One moment, and we will address that in a bit.

First: Riddle me this batman: do you know of any single place in which people are 100% authentic, and if so, what takes place in that locale?  Ponder that for a minute.

With the above in mind, my contention that follows is that people wear masks all the time, for the most part.  Some might instantly argue, “Well how do YOU know what most people do?”

It’s not just me that knows, but many people in fact, those that are least exposed to it.  What do I mean by this?

What’s the one place where individuals can see people of myriad backgrounds showing their true colors?  Facebook.  People will do and say things on Facebook that they would never carry out in ‘real life’ in a million years.  Keyboard cowboys abound many screens, and trolls are out in force.  There is no better place to see what people will do when they do not wear masks than on Facebook and social media.

There is no better place to see this war rage between individuals in myriad social strata than in Facebook, it’s always an endless flame war.  Words said in endless waves of anger, tirades made from the most hateful thoughts that individuals can manifest, all of which lead to no understanding, no common ground under which to move forward.  While many arguments aren’t that intense, a lot of arguments hold no regard for human dignity and respect.  This is (1) a failure of communication, (2) culture principles, (3) common sense, (4) education, (5) and the manipulation of the divide and conquer left-right paradigm.  Each of those incisive elements, concurrent with other ones, al provide the veritable foundation upon which the flame wars burn and lead to the very division that the powers that be revel in.

All social media platforms provide a veritable armor under which most people feel safe to share their true feelings; feelings that many times people wouldn’t share with complete strangers in real life but waste not a nanosecond in telling strangers online in far larger numbers.  This is not everyone, not by a long shot, but a sizeable part of individuals on social media platforms do this.

This type of circumstance seems to showcase why masks in society have a place.

Imagine what would happen if people went around their days doing in real life what they do in social media?  To say all hell would brake lose, would be putting it lightly.

Such circumstances show why maybe its okay for people to be a little reserved in their thoughts by wearing masks.  Not because they shouldn’t air out their thoughts, but the way it’s done is nothing but adding gasoline to fires that will never be put out, not under the current circumstances.

Perhaps its just how society is evolving with the fusion of traditional communications with social media platforms, perhaps its something else.  But the same way that masks help society from becoming overly antagonistic (in modern times at least), masks help individuals from having to deal with uncomfortable situations that they understandably don’t want to deal with [1][2].

With the above in mind, we can gather that masks certainly have a place in society.  When an individual chooses to wear is their business, but to say that masks have no place in society is akin to saying people have no right to privacy, or people on poker tables shouldn’t have a poker face.

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[1] I say, ‘In modern times at least’, because I think that if we were to take individuals from a century ago and transpose them on modern social media, the discussions that would take place would blow out of the water anything people do in modern times.  The average discussion would be much more enlightening because they were a culture of character, and not a culture of personality.  The distinction of this was learned by me from Susan Cain’s phenomenal book on introverts called Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop talking, though the idea stems from another author.  Psychologist Cain expounds upon it saliently, however.  This book is highly recommended.

[2] This was reference with me not wanting to vent with certain people in person about my current situation, though I did and do certainly vent to others.

[3] I deliberately used the Phantom Of The Opera type of mask in the post as a symbol for the individual having to wear a masks throughout most of life, just like in the story.  Moreover, I love the mask because (1) I enjoy ever variation of the Phantom Of The Opera Story, whether it is the movie, the play, the video game, or in a book; (2) the opera and story make a great metaphor for life, and (3) the mask serves as a fantastic representation for Halloween, which is my second favorite Holiday between Thanksgiving and Summer time.  I would also like to write an analysis on this story and turn it into a much larger metaphor, but we will see about that.

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Suggested Reading:

Have You Ever Walked On The Moon?
Never Underestimate The Power Of Imagination, The Power Of Dropping Seeds
Stranger On The Moon
Wings Are Made To Fly, Seeds Are Made To Grow
Breakaway Individuals Throughout History: The Individuals, The Trailblazers & You
Why A Sound Mindset Is Crucial: The Light Side Of Mindset Vs. The Dark Side Of Mindset
Mindset Mindset Mindset!
A Sound Mindset Amidst The Obstacles Of Life
Mindwaves & Mindfulness
Modern Misteps Meet Mindfulness
How TV Robs You Of Your Life
How You Deposit A Truckload Of Black Pearls Into An Emotional Bank Account
How Are Your (Emotional) Bank Accounts Doing?
Emotional Bank Accounts: Mutual Funds
Emotional Bank Accounts: Deposits & Withdraws
Emotional Bank Accounts: Gems Gems Gems, Babies Everywhere!
Emotional Bank Accounts: I Call Your 7 Cents & Raise You A Dollar
Poker & Life: Pulling The Friend’s Card
Imagination Unleashed
The Inherent Power Of Curiosity
A 7 Cent Investment Into An Emotional Bank Account To Convert A Hater?
What Do You Find Inspiring?
Poker FlashBack: Swimming With Sharks, Swimming With Whales
Imagination Rises Out Of The Jaws Of Defeat
What’s Your Story?
You The Individual Are Author Of Your Own Journey, Of Your Own Destiny
Harry Potter Fans Trash Talk?  Say WHAT?!
Consciously Creating The Road Of Change, The World Of Tomorrow
What Are Your Personal Defaults?
A World Of Grays
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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

#Book Review: Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain | #Introvert | #Thoughts | #Reflection


BreakawayIndividual.com
Zy Marquiez
April 17, 2019

Quiet – The Power Of Introverts In A World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain is masterful read into the inner workings of the reflective introverts that populate society.

This book by Susan Cain delves into the paradigm that has been glossed over in the “Culture Of Personality”.

Cain begins the book outlining the fact that we as a society have transitioned from a Culture Of Character to a Culture of Personality, which thus left us facing myriad issues from which society still faces today.

The book even elucidates that the world personality was not part of our vocabulary until the 18th century and that “the idea of “having a good personality” was not widespread until the twentieth.”  This goes to show that the notion of ‘personality’ is quite modern indeed.

Throughout the entirety of the book the author also enumerates countless examples of research and studies that have taken place which shows the notable differences between introverts and extroverts.  Its quite intriguing considering how wrong western culture has been about introverts over the last many decades, if not longer.

Even the school system has been tailored to fit the ‘culture of personality’ rather than the ‘culture of character’.  That has done a great disservice to many folks, because as the book mentions, between a third to a half of all people are introverts, and yet school is not only geared to push the personality paradigm, but people that are introverts get run over by the system due to people thinking there’s something “wrong” with just wanting to do work by yourself, or perhaps in a less noisy environment that fosters greater inner growth for such individuals.

In fact, the book names a few examples where parents, or people, thought something was “wrong” with a particular individual, when that was just their nature.  Not only that, but introverts, in many facets, outdo extroverts due to their inherent nature.  That’s not something that you will hear the modern media expound upon.  It’s not that there are inherently smarter than them, its that their process of critical thought is more efficient in many ways, not unlike two people each having a Ferrari to drive, but one isn’t capable of handling the vehicle at much higher speeds.

Ironically enough, Cain mentions how “we perceive talkers as smarter than quiet types – even though grade-point averages and SAT intelligence scores reveal this perception to be inaccurate.”

Cain also covers the interesting topic of the “Bus to Abilene,” which shows people’s penchant for following others who carry out actions – any actions.  These circumstances are the staple of extroverts by and large.

The author also covers the topic of The New Groupthink, which is given a cursory glance.

Within her thoughts, she gives her concerns for the system, which is constantly giving precedence for group work – “team work” – all at the expense of the individual, as it claims that ‘creativity and intellectual achievement’ only come via teamwork.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The author covers facts that tackle this rather incisively.

This has taken place because America has wholly shifted en masse unfortunately to teachings that reflect the business community, rather than what’s best for the individual and culture as a whole.  What’s worse, Common Core will only further these agendas in order to make sure everyone’s ready to help corporations make even more profits at the expense of true learning.  Let’s digress however.

Another example of how introverts shine is how top performers are often the ones that have the solitude that they require that isn’t available in many working environments.  When freedom of interruption is available, these people overwhelmingly perform better than in environments where excessive stimulation takes place, which hinders production/learning.

Other notions examined are the one of Deliberate Practice, which can only be accomplished by being alone.  This notion is discussed at length in Talent Is Overrated – What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else, by Geoff Colvin.

Deliberate practice is not only when individuals identify tasks to be done, but when individuals push beyond comfort and traditional boundaries to raise their performance level, whilst monitoring their progress and adjusting accordingly in order to be able to achieve what needs to be done.

This not only requires deep motivation, but can lead to incredible mastery of subjects.  It does, however, require a great commitment in many cases if one wants to achieve true expertise.

The book also covers how many extroverts were behind what took place in the 2009 economic downturn, and how introverts wouldn’t have been as careless with money.  It also covers how people tend to link velocity of speech with knowledge, but how that is a big mistake.

Group brainstorming electronically is also delved into, as well as the fear of public humiliation and how large of a role that plays a role in interactions between introverts and extroverts, how important temperament is, as well as the intricate subject of highly reactive children.  Also the topic of pseudo-extroverts is also covered.  This is important, because many people who seem rather extroverted, are in fact incredibly introverted.

If you’re a teacher, a leader, a manager, or any person that needs to know the inner workings of how introverts and extroverts interact on a daily basis, and how to take advantage of each of their strengthen, then this book is definitely for you.

I absolutely love this book and reference it quite often, and I hope that any of you who end up getting it get as much value yourselves.  It really is well worth the read.
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Suggested Reading:

Talent Is Overrated – What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everyone Else by Geoff Colvin

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If you find value in this information, feel free to share it.  This article is free and open source.  All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and  BreakawayIndividual.com

___________________________________________________________
About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.