Today I am honoured to have a very good friend of mine join me on “Eight million and one.” Andrea invited me to share some of her inspirational and thought-provoking ideas the other day, and I asked her if I could please post them as they really resonated with me. Andrea and I finished our Ph.D. degrees around the same time, although from different universities in Canada, and so we have a lot in common on those grounds. We have also constantly been conference travel buddies and have remained very close despite our day-to-day distance. Over the past few years we have had some amazing conversations and more recently about a lot of my recent blog topics and posts. Her recent thoughts here are very much in line with some of he recent ideas I've been exploring… take a minute to comment if you are inspired too, and hopefully we can open up a discussion.
E^3… Evaluation, Examination and Evolution
It’s funny how you can look at something you’ve seen many times before, but that 87th time that you look at it, it prompts a new, original thought. This happened to me one afternoon while running around the indoor track. As I peered down at the gymnasium below, a large group of students were writing an exam. I thought to myself in the beginning, “That sucks. I remember those days… writing exams… so glad I'll never have to do that again… ha ha ha." In fact, this is the thought that I usually have when I see people writing exams. But, on this particular occasion, I let that thought linger a bit in my mind. Lo and behold, it went in a whole new direction. Two directions actually, one about my career, and one about my life, and I’ll touch on both.
Career:
As a newly appointed postdoctoral fellow, my Ph.D. defense was technically the last formal exam I would ever have to go through, as this would be my last academic degree. For most people, this is an exciting moment, and allows some relaxation of the mind and body. However, as an academic, I realize that it will not be my last exam. I will be examined every single day for the rest of my life. In our profession, and Jodie can attest to this, you are constantly being evaluated by your peers/supervisors. In essence, it is the day-to-day evaluations that people use to form their opinions about your scientific ability and integrity. Sure, everyone looks to see how many papers you have published, or presentations you have given, which are the larger of the evaluations we receive. However, when it comes down to it, a potential supervisor really wants to know how you got to that point, how you work, the type of person you are in and outside the lab, and your thought processes. These aspects of a person cannot be found in a résumé, but come for your supervisors and peers (reference letters), social gatherings (conferences), general scientific conversations, etc. Consequently, if you “pass” these examinations of your abilities, you end up succeeding in the larger evaluations, such as publishing papers. I think that these rooted aspects of a person and the day-to-day informal evaluations are what make or break a persons’ academic career.
Life:
So, if passing day-to-day evaluations is going to lead to a better career, then shouldn’t this work the same way for my life? The answer is yes (in my mind). I think that if you really want to lead a productive, successful, fulfilling, happy life, one that you are proud of, and one with no regrets, you really need to take the time to examine yourself every single day. Question yourself and your choices each day, evaluate your daily activities, etc. in order to really gain an understanding of yourself. If you ask yourself these questions and you have no answer, or you fail your daily evaluation, then you know where you need to work harder to become a better person, or to fulfill your life goals. By answering the questions, you acknowledge those aspects of your life that you are proud of, and those that need work. Most of the time, both of them (proud moments and those that need work) go unnoticed, and therefore, we have no framework on which to base our life evaluations. You may, at this point be asking, “What questions do I ask myself?”, and this is where it becomes personal. The questions you ask yourself are directly related to your values, morals, life goals, visions of success, or any other aspect of life. Here are a few that I think might be important, but your personal question list is up to you, and can be as long or short as you want it to be.
1. Have I done something nice for someone other than myself today?
2. Have I wasted anything today? Time? Food? Money? Etc.
3. What was one thing I did today that I could have done better?
4. What is one thing I did today that I excelled at?
5. What have I done today to prepare for tomorrow and my future?
If you ask yourself these (or any other) questions each day, you are examining your life. Each day, if you can answer the set of questions you have designed for yourself, even if the answers are "wrong" or unacceptable in your mind, then each NEW day you will have a framework established to become a better person, more successful, happier, or lead a more fulfilling life. This is the foundation for evolution. Animals in the wild adapt over generations to become more suited to their environment, to have a higher “fitness” and succeed over other animals. We too should be subjected to daily evolution, which over time will allow us to be the best that we can be.
LOVE this! I don't have anything brilliant to say in order to open up conversation, but it's definitely given me something to think about. =)
ReplyDeleteThis post reminds me that as a species, we are all living in different levels of consciousness.
ReplyDeleteIf evolution is naturally inevitable, my question is: By bringing E^3 into our collective consciousness, do we speed up the process of evolution, and if so, how does this benefit life and the experience of life itself? How does this raise the level of conciousness for everyone, everywhere?
Is evolution our number one priority or are we all just along for the ride?
I love two aspects of your comment, Kim. First, the idea of levels of consciousness is a very interesting one, and one that I think about quite often. On a daily basis I struggle with people around me having limited awareness of their surroundings. More recently though, in this post and others, I've become more aware of lack of self awareness and knowledge of one's self. In talking with Jodie this morning, we discussed that it might not be a lack of awareness, but an indifference or ignorance of it. This is an interesting topic I could talk about for hours, so I'll leave it at that for now.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the idea of evolution. If I were to answer your question, I would say yes, evolution, or the need to "better", even if unconscious, is a goal most people work towards their whole life.... but it's on a spectrum I think. Some people work hard to be the best they can be, while other ride along pleased in their current state.
Jodie asked me this question* today, and I'll post it here for others to read (*not exactly as worded in the conversation) "How can we raise the level of consciousness among those around us?".
I think it could be all of those things... lack of awareness due to spiritual immaturity (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all), indifference, ignorance... and many more... we are all on different paths, some of us have lived many lives before (however you want to take that) and for some of us, this is our first "go" at living… trying out this thing called life!
ReplyDeleteIt may be that we are all on this planet to encourage and support each other the old ones and the new ones of us, learn to live interdependently, which I think is the hardest... as we are all constantly transitioning between dependancy, which naturally comes with us at birth, and independence, which we strive for, say as teenagers... we waver between those two for most of our lives, learning from others, falling down, picking ourselves back up, and learning some more... it is hard to come to the place of interdependence.
So are we all along just for the ride? It depends on how you look at it, I guess. How good does it feel to give? How good does it feel to learn? Going for a ride feels good too, so maybe we are all on this planet for the ride... some of us have so much fun we line up and do it all over again!