Socrates' Room

"Know Thyself:" was wise council, from one of the world's Greatest!
While we have made great strides exploring outer space, aside from a few people, people have little understanding of "inner space." In other words, we surround ourselves with harmonious colors and textures. Yet, we have unwittingly picked up ideas or attitudes which are not harmonious to our well being.
By far, the most likely time for North Americans have a fatal heart attack is: 9:00am, Monday morning! Jobs don't kill, attitudes do!

Self-worth, self-confidence, ego strength & self-esteem have been linked to a feeling of well being and fulfillment in work and at home.
It can be said that you can't respect others until you learn to respect yourself. How about a brief Self-scoring Self-respect Survey?

Would you like a Self-scoring Attitude Survey?

How about a Burn-out Survey?

Optimism has been linked to Success. How many Optimistic Traits do you carry?

Your General Scheme for Adult Learning.

Why is it some people can't be satisfied?
Find out how we can be satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time.
What energizes You?
Work: Is it drudgery or play?

The Inner Voice: A neglected part of our education!

Many of us grew up suspicious of people who talked of some "inner voice." The only "voice-inside" most of us heard as children or teens was our conscience.

Yet, we have all had trouble, one time or another with our conscience, sending us mixed messages. Inner conflict can be huge, as philosopher Viktor Frankl has pointed out. He used this example: Consider a man in battle and he says that he will kill the enemy because he loves his country but something inside him stops him. When the chips are down, he stops and says, in all good conscience I can't kill another man, who may have a family at home like me.

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The Inner Voice (continued)
Here, Frankl points to Superego, the learned conscience given us by society. But another voice, we can call it the inner voice, can speak to the contrary. Frankl would say it is the inner voice, he called it the noetic dimension, which can guide us to a self-expression that we can live with!

The Executive Jet Idea:
Often, when helping people to think about their career, we urge them to honor their interests. These seem to come from a deeper place than family and other social urging. Usually, younger people have no idea of an inner voice, beyond the conscience.
Consider an executive jet:
>> It has a sleek fuselage (a lovely Body)
>>It has powerful motors to give it motion (powerful E-motions)
>>It has a pilot, who has trained for months and years to take control in all kinds of weather conditions,etc. (Mental Control)

Eventually, the pilot gets really good at flying the plane, doing very fancy work. But, there comes a time when the pilot asks:
"What's the point anyway?"

At this time, the pilot realizes that the plane has a purpose and someone else is paying the fuel bills. The purpose is fulfilled when "the passenger" gets where they need to go.
Without the passenger giving it a sense of direction and appropriate action it is only a practice run! In some ways, we might say each run is a practice run for the next. Yet, without direction from the Inner Voice, "What's the point, anyway?

Dr. Frankl observed that lacking meaning and purpose in life can lead to emotional and physical problems, even death in the concentration camp! Our modern cultures have not been very aware of this. So, this can be one cause of epidemic proportions of stress and depression."

The following instruments await permission from publishers:

Optimism (auto-scoring survey),
Most important idea in two decades!

Styles of Handling Conflict (auto-scoring survey),

Purpose in Life (auto-scoring survey).

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